Why Alexander and not BI?

**rogergargantua** · September 13, 2009, 05:02 AM

Hello all!

Telling from all nice screenies and positive reactions of the members here, this looks like a great mod!!
I've also seen a short videoclip posted by someone in the "Pictures" thread! It really lured me in to play this mod! So good editing there aswell (to the one who made it...I believe his forumname is Marcel, not sure tho).

Anyway, got a few questions:
1) I wonder if you guys will make it BI compatible aswell in future?
2) And what was the reason you decided to make it for Alexander add-on?
3) What are the major differences between BI and Alex?
(I have never played it, but from what I've heard it has better AI then BI)

I wish you much fun and good luck with the mod!

GARGANTUA

**Aradan** · September 13, 2009, 06:02 AM

Alex = unique characters, faction-specific mercs, etc

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=84221

**rogergargantua** · September 14, 2009, 05:05 AM

Thanks for the answer! I still have a question left:

At moment I have Rome:TW GOLD (R:TW + BI). I'm about to order Alexander...so I can play this awesome mod.

But does Alex work as a standalone game?.....or will the files be combined with my R:TW GOLD edition files?

Perhaps some errors could occur but i am not sure, i have no experience with this. And I do want to play this mod! It sounds fun!

**Killerbee** · September 19, 2009, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by rogergargantua

Thanks for the answer! I still have a question left:

At moment I have Rome:TW GOLD (R:TW + BI). I'm about to order Alexander...so I can play this awesome mod.

But does Alex work as a standalone game?.....or will the files be combined with my R:TW GOLD edition files?

Perhaps some errors could occur but i am not sure, i have no experience with this. And I do want to play this mod! It sounds fun!

Np ; you can get Alex if you have gold edition

I have it too ..

Imo , Alex vanilla is better than BI

**Artaxerxes III Ochus** · September 19, 2009, 10:25 PM

Smarter AI

**Dog Fart** · September 20, 2009, 04:53 PM

Yeah BI sucks. I wish CA spent all that time and resources expanding on Alex. It's what RTW should have been from the beginning in my opinion.

**Spartan198** · September 21, 2009, 03:47 AM

Originally Posted by Soviet Thracian

Yeah BI sucks.

I wouldn't say that. Both BI and Alexander offer different, great things. BI has shield wall, schiltrom, hording, and religion (I don't personally like loyalty myself, but others do), while Alexander has better AI, unique family members, faction-specific mercs, immortality, etc.. Both have good things and bad things.

**loet66** · September 22, 2009, 08:49 PM

Hi,

ALEX is the only RTW engine to allow retraining units lost by the AI. It's an important detail in my opinion.

However CA could re-use some advantages of Engine's BI to make it even better.

The other big flaw is that everyone has not got ALEX, although less so since the release of the Gold Edition

**Halie Satanus** · September 23, 2009, 04:30 AM

ALEX is the only RTW engine to allow retraining units lost by the AI. It's an important detail in my opinion.

It's also far more intuitive when merging small stacks into full stacks.

The other big flaw is that everyone has not got ALEX, although less so since the release of the Gold Edition

Popularity was less an issue than using the specific features of Alex, mainly the unique characters.

**loet66** · September 23, 2009, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by Halie Satanus

Popularity was less an issue than using the specific features of Alex, mainly the unique characters.

Hi Halie,

Yes, you're right but ALEX is not perfect.

**Pelopidas_Of_Thebes** · October 04, 2009, 03:57 AM

There is an annoying camera bug in ALX.exe. When you zoom into a unit and interrupt the zoom pressing the keyboard arrows (which is supposed to make the zoom quicker, instant).