Wow, this mod is pretty ****ing hard

[D.B. Cooper]

From a guy used to Vanilla RTW, I'm clearly in over my head. I'm in the negative digits within a few turns, buildings cost too much for the time it takes to build them, and I have nothing left to complement my single weak army, who is scrambling to defend against hostile enemies from every side.

Is there any sort of noob manual or something? I don't even understand some concepts, like the subjugation of lands and the various reforms and so and so.

Or maybe you might have some advice for a struggling noob? I'm glad for the fresh challenge at least!

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

See this thread for basic tips.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=143224

Lots more around in the Gameplay forum.

[johnhughthom]

The best advice I can think of for a new player is to use the Romans or Karthadast for your first game, their economies are strong from the start.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Personally I'd choose the Casse for a newbie, like I did.

You've only got one city so it's an easy 'empire' to understand at the start, and if you get the economy wrong first time, it's no big deal, just restart the game and do it differently.

Also there's no-one but Rebels (who are not very aggressive) to fight in Britain - so you can take your time and advance in slow steps, without worrying that some other faction will attack you. The two Gallic factions and the Germans are too busy fighting among themselves to bother invading Britain to begin with.

[Canaris]

If you are new to the EB i recomend Romani .
Why ??
- secure starting position
- Cartaghe is your friend at the beggining ( powerful ally )
- rich provinces with mines and trading ports ( after securing whole penninsula which is easy )
- ofcoz Great soldiers ( even before any of the reforms )

Im playing as Romani now and after securing Italia and Sicilia ( without Syracuze ) i have conquered Epeiros and now i got like +10000 mnai a turn , experienced troops and great generals

as for advice (playing Romani ofcoz ) :
- disband your fleet ( they cost huge amount of money and you dont need them )
- feel free to leave Roma unprotected , you need those forces elsewhere
- develop economy in Roma and other cities first ; you dont need huge barracks or stables ( for now )
- first 30+ turns requires lot of micromanaging ( taxes ) and playing va banque after that its get easier and easier

[Antonius]

My advice:

Just play play play play!!!!!

It never gets boring...

[Paul d]

hehe try saka. They are said to be nigh impossible, but an army of 3 generals can wipe out an entire baktrian 3/4 stack...


personally, the sauromatae seem ahrder than saka, because you have a large empire to defend. even if isolated... i've been bullrushed by rebels numerous times

[Vann7]

Unfortunately... harder not always means better.. (neither more balance means "more realistic")

While the campaing map is more challenging than the vanilla , a plus for EB.. The battles dificulty and the capabilities of many barbarian units are screwed BIG TIME!

ITs ridiculuos to see how exagerated are the invulnerability of many barbarians.. for example in one battle it was like 300 hundred medium infantery soldiers.. with spears ,flanking in both sides of just a single ,** JUST ONE!!!** enemy general of many stars.. and it took what it looked like an eternity perhaps more than a minute. to kill him.. And that only happened after my failed attemp with several hundreds of many rounds of javelings at very close distance.. And To kill their entire bodyguard unit of ~100 ,took a very long time with *NO LESS* than FOUR units of very decent infantery units about a thousand soldiers plus my generals sorrounding them .

Naked warriors are unrealistically powerfull.. (a many other heavy gauls) even though they are ->NAKED. with just as shield and sword.. They are supermans in the game just because perhaps following to the letter the claims one historian that told that some naked warrios were "the most feared" in all europe.. but in real world .. anyone that goes naked to a battle will not have a chance that way againts rains of missiles.

they are undestructible againts arrows or javelings from the front, and near undestructible from behind.. their skin should be something special... because experienced missile soldiers seems uselles againts them ,no matter if you shoot them from the back.

and it doesnt matter their condition either.. they are incredibly powerfull even if their are exhausted againts completely fresh units. Science doesnt lie. SKin is not stronger that steel ,iron or wood, if the were really naked warriors in the past... their use should be more as cheerleaders.. or perhaps to draw away attention than anything else.. because in real world they will have no chance againts missiles in any way.period.

If anyone here one to test.. how ridiculous is [hard or very hard settings..] in EB... just play a custom battle.. (SWEBOZ vs AEUDU)
pick any decent infantery.. and calvary.. againts the naked fanatics..
wait their atack.. (place calvary behind) you will be lucky if you kill 3 of **naked** barbarians with missiles..(they are as good as romans with shield walls) yet they javelins seems also very speacial. kills lots of your army. then when they are close combat.. move your calvary behind them and . charge.. and observe how very few you can kill (in what should be enough to wipe 30% of them (at the least) and cause enough panic in them to breake them) about 5-10 kills.. and after some time observe how they win with far less sloldiers than you ..even thought though they are completeled sorrounded.

I undestand that skills are extremely important for any soldier ,but IRON can penetrate the skin of any living being in real world .a javeling or an arrow doesnt care how stong you are.. or your experience ,once is in the air.. it only follows gravity.

Im playing as SWEBOZ.. on [very hard] and winning.. but the The battles are very extremely dificult , not because of any sense of realism ,but because of the unrealistic power that many gauls /averni units have in the game. Im now not sure if a want to continue playing the campaing to continue to observe the supernatural behaviour of many barbarians units that doesnt make any sense at all. AFter some testing in multiplayer.. found that [easy mode] is the one that makes a little bit more sense of what it should be.. when a powerfull calvary charge at any enemy still formation from behind. But that would suck big time ,being forced to play the campaing in [easy] just to make the batles in the game more believable to me.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Generals, especially AI generals are all very strong. Don't judge a unit based on how well he does against a powerful general. The generals are hard too kill because of their HP, not because your guys were weak.

And the Naked guys are super elite drugged up guys. These aren't just guys who took their pants off. There realisitically should only be a handful of them, though. If possible, the number of them in game at a particular time would be limited, but the game engine won't allow for recruitment in many places with a limit.

[chenkai11]

I don't find EB unbalanced. It's more challenging to play

I find javelins and arrows are almost useless in frontal attack, but rear attack and side attack are fine. especially those units with less armour.

Just play with medium difficulty, play with hard and very hard settings and you will find yourself fighting against iron man.

The naked fanatics, I don't find them that tough. But if you will play H or VH, even skirmishers can kill generals.

[Birka Viking]

and winning.. but the The battles are very extremely dificult , not because of any sense of realism ,but because of the unrealistic power that many gauls /averni units have in the game. Im now not sure if a want to continue playing the campaing to continue to observe the supernatural behaviour of many barbarians units that doesnt make any sense at all. AFter some testing in multiplayer.. found that [easy mode] is the one that makes a little bit more sense of what it should be.. when a powerfull calvary charge at any enemy still formation from behind. But that would suck big time ,being forced to play the campaing in [easy] just to make the batles in the game more believable to me.

I hope u play vh/m becouse if u play more than m in battle u shouldent complain.....EB isent done for it...I think the best settings is h/m

[Papal_Knight]

I was going to offer him some cheese, to go along with that post.