Units too expensive !!!

[The God of War]

Units are too expensive and buildings take way to long to build !!! I don't think mines cost a fortune !!! building them is more of a loss than a gain !!! Is there some files that I should download to resolve this problem !!!

[beatoangelico]

afaik there's no minimod that cuts the costs, probably because most of the players (including me) seems to appreciate the slow gameplay that is the main effect of the increased prices. Also this way you won't face endless stacks of enemy troops every turn as other mods

[kingsword]

There are 1200 turns in EB campaign IIRC, I finished all buildings by 165BC in whole Italy and I have over 4,5 million mnai. It's fine.

[The God of War]

afaik there's no minimod that cuts the costs, probably because most of the players (including me) seems to appreciate the slow gameplay that is the main effect of the increased prices. Also this way you won't face endless stacks of enemy troops every turn as other mods

you mean even the enemy will have economic problems as well at the start f the game ??? and cannot make armies that easily as in the orginal RTW ???

[Papal_Knight]

i think everyone labors under the same constraints...

[Ludens]

The A.I. does get financial aid at the start of the game, and lateron it will also receive bonuses if it goes bankrupt. However, the units are as expensive for it as they are for you.

[QuintusSertorius]

Uh, I'm having to create legions just to soak up cash and queue lots of buildings in my game. If you're struggling for money you're doing something wrong.

[King Arthur]

EB have the balance just right - the game forces the player to think carefully about their actions, building armies and Empires was a slow process and an expensive one!!! Rome itself was crippled due to the mounting costs of 25 or so Legions - why should the units & buildings be cheap??? They weren't historically and EB is all about history.....

[Madlax]

And now you can also fight a real "decisive battle". THE battle to end it all. I am happy that the units are not so cheap ( thinks of the Makedonian phalanx stacks of horror ). With Rome I was able to destroy the entire Makedonian army in 1 battle, then it was simply taking their cities and preventing them from building another army.

[thelord]

i never played RTR again after the 2-3 full stacks of elite phalanxes descended on me every turn when they only held about 5 towns lol.

[Solar]

i never played RTR again after the 2-3 full stacks of elite phalanxes descended on me every turn when they only held about 5 towns lol.

Funny thing, Carthage did (almost) the same to me when fighting them in EB. I must have destroyed at least a dozen full stacks (of which about half were heavy armored troops and about the other half were elite units) while taking over their lands... and they were still building elites and swimming in money meanwhile. Even with the increased costs, the AI money script in EB is still excessive, IMO.

My own empire, which extends over iberia, britain, the western half of north africa, sicily, corsica, sardin and parts of gaul, on the other hand, can only sustain three full armies of mixed quality troops plus the garrisons needed to keep order to a minimum level. Granted, I'm playing with the lusotannan, which can't even build paved roads to help with trade, but still..

The end result of the excessive money for the AI is that the game doesn't necessarily become more difficult, only more tiresome and actually kind of boring after a while. And you can't even let the battles auto-calc, because the AI's uber stacks always defeat your mixed-strength armies if you do that.

To sum it up: higher unit cost is fine for the player, and it certainly helps a little bit in controlling the AI (it isn't as excessively stack-spamming as in RTR), but the large money bonus the AI gets still does allow it to crank out a lot of elite armies, which not only gets tedious, but is pretty innacurate for a realism-focused mod.

[beatoangelico]

Funny thing, Carthage did (almost) the same to me when fighting them in EB. I must have destroyed at least a dozen full stacks (of which about half were heavy armored troops and about the other half were elite units) while taking over their lands... and they were still building elites and swimming in money meanwhile. Even with the increased costs, the AI money script in EB is still excessive, IMO.

I've never seen any stack as you have described, I'm playing VH with the Romani and I always keep an eye on carthage, the best stack I've seen is one with 2-3 elite phalanx, 1 sacred band infantry, numidian skirmishers, the usual lybian and lybian-phoenician spearmen, some generals and lybian-phoenician cavalry. And in general I have yet to see a real uber stack full of elites.

[AqD]

i never played RTR again after the 2-3 full stacks of elite phalanxes descended on me every turn when they only held about 5 towns lol.

Yes. In RTR the upkeep is very high but initial cost is not. So while you cannot maintain a super huge army, you can always replenish it very fast.

BTW I wonder if anyone have calcuated the historical cost of roman army? The actual cost could be even higher because the state has to give them land and huge amount of money for completion of service
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HOMEMADE SOLDERING STATION

[The God of War]

Yes. In RTR the upkeep is very high but initial cost is not. So while you cannot maintain a super huge army, you can always replenish it very fast.

BTW I wonder if anyone have calcuated the historical cost of roman army? The actual cost could be even higher because the state has to give them land and huge amount of money for completion of service

Units initial cost not too high ??? with all due respects is a minimum of 1500 Mnai for recruiting every unit not high enough already ???

[QuintusSertorius]

BTW I wonder if anyone have calcuated the historical cost of roman army? The actual cost could be even higher because the state has to give them land and huge amount of money for completion of service

No they didn't, not until after Marius changed the relationship between soldier and state from citizen-soldiers to professionals. The cost to the state was very little (besides lost agricultural productivity).

Before that time all citizens got was a share of the plunder. They might, if their commander was generous get some other compensation along the way, but they were expected to provide for themselves. They were expected to train and equip themselves too, it was for older relatives - fathers, uncles, cousins to train young men. The panoply was often a family heirloom passed down.

[QuintusSertorius]

And now you can also fight a real "decisive battle". THE battle to end it all. I am happy that the units are not so cheap ( thinks of the Makedonian phalanx stacks of horror ). With Rome I was able to destroy the entire Makedonian army in 1 battle, then it was simply taking their cities and preventing them from building another army.

I had a couple of decisive battles, since then they keep sending stacks of mercs who run after a brief contact.

[Ancient Hunter]

And now you can also fight a real "decisive battle". THE battle to end it all. I am happy that the units are not so cheap ( thinks of the Makedonian phalanx stacks of horror ). With Rome I was able to destroy the entire Makedonian army in 1 battle, then it was simply taking their cities and preventing them from building another army.

This statement alone is enough to turn me on to the mod.

A quick question to any of the coders out there, is it worth my time playing vh/m or does the script offer enough money to the AI to just go m/m?

Just started my DL, however, im going to put it on the external HD and wait until I get my new computer to play it!

[Solar]

Ability to fight a decisive battle, tc

This statement alone is enough to turn me on to the mod.

Hmm it doesn't always work like that, tho. I did have two decisive battles against the Casse while conquering britain, for instance, killing two stacks, and then I was able to proceed and take the rest of their lands without fighting stack spams. On the other hand, I've fought Carthaginians, as mentioned above, and had to contend with several stacks of strong troops being sent over and over. I've also had to defend from roman and ptolemaic attack, and they too tend to send plenty of stacks my way

Worse yet, the ptolemies decided to attack me with six full stacks just a couple turns after I liberated three of their cities from carthage and donated those back to them!! (granted, three of these stacks they got for free when I handed over the towns, and didn't have very good troops in them) Meanwhile, the baktrians were pounding at the ptolies' levantine and anatolian possesions, plundering, pillaging and conquering, and they didn't seem to care; they'd rather waste their plentiful stacks instead (fruitlessly) attacking ME, who should be their best friend ever after all the donations... But again, I digress.

[beatoangelico]

This statement alone is enough to turn me on to the mod.

A quick question to any of the coders out there, is it worth my time playing vh/m or does the script offer enough money to the AI to just go m/m?

Just started my DL, however, im going to put it on the external HD and wait until I get my new computer to play it!

I suggest H for a first campaign. But VH is a must for "easy" factions like Rome, Ptolies or Carthage.

[Ludens]

Have a look at the guides in the gameplay subforum. They will tell you how to manage your economy. EB is a bit more difficult than most mods.