Whats the difference between BI and Alexander engine?

[Megasalexandros]

As the threads name suggest, i wonder what i would i gain if i use alexander instead of Barbarian invasion?
Does it worth the effort, i mean i have made already a bi instalation of the mod, and i also have alexander but not installed, does it worth the effort to use it in alexander or iam fine as iam?

[Arbitrary Crusader]

Better AI, Since they are able to retrain their units, on Alex, that from what I've heard.

[Brusilov]

You can simply copy the RTW Alexander exe to the mod - clearly you need it installed somewhere. You also need to have the chat_filter.san in place (I think - I can't remember if it does that for you).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm fairly sure it's best to do the copy before you install RSII. There are some traits that need to be changed as otherwise your faction leader cannot die of old age....

The advantages of Alex are that the AI retrains it's units (if it can) and there is supposed to be better phalanx co-ordination.

There have been a number of threads on this before - so searchie is your friend.

[Arcadia]

From what I've heard taught, the Alex and BI engine are each their off-shoot off the original RTW engine. Because of this there are features in BI that aren't in Alex. Namely that in BI light units could swim across rivers, whereas in Alex they can't. Also in BI there are certain shield formations that aren't in Alex. BI also has the capacity for the barbarian "horde" feature, but Roma Surrectum doesn't use that at all.

From the most common observations on the difference between engines, Alex has better naval invasions and (marginally?) better battle AI. The Creative Assembly also fixed the Phalanx bug in Alex.exe which would mess up a Phalanx formation if a calvary or possibly another unit else charged into it from the front. Alex also has a more efficient engine and people find there's better performance from it. But there is one camera bug in Alex which is if you click on a unit portrait in battle to zoom to it, any movement with the keys, or scrolling will revert back to where you started zooming from. This is worked around by clicking the battle map instead.

The AI also retains their units instead of merging them, like Nelson already said.

If someone sees me say something incorrect please correct me.

[mfdoom]

But there is one camera bug in Alex which is if you click on a unit portrait in battle to zoom to it, any movement with the keys, or scrolling will revert back to where you started zooming from.

THIS IS A PAIN IN THE ASS!

[Lastexile01]

From what I've heard taught, the Alex and BI engine are each their off-shoot off the original RTW engine. Because of this there are features in BI that aren't in Alex. Namely that in BI light units could swim across rivers, whereas in Alex they can't. Also in BI there are certain shield formations that aren't in Alex. BI also has the capacity for the barbarian "horde" feature, but Roma Surrectum doesn't use that at all.

From the most common observations on the difference between engines, Alex has better naval invasions and (marginally?) better battle AI. The Creative Assembly also fixed the Phalanx bug in Alex.exe which would mess up a Phalanx formation if a calvary or possibly another unit else charged into it from the front. Alex also has a more efficient engine and people find there's better performance from it. But there is one camera bug in Alex which is if you click on a unit portrait in battle to zoom to it, any movement with the keys, or scrolling will revert back to where you started zooming from. This is worked around by clicking the battle map instead.

The AI also retains their units instead of merging them, like Nelson already said.

If someone sees me say something incorrect please correct me.

Actually that "camera bug" is because alex.exe made the default camera mode RTS instead of Total-War. Just go to camera preferences and change it to Total-War style and it solves that problem.

In my experience, I prefer Alex because it feels like the battlefield ai is somewhat better at trying to flank you and better at defending its own flanks. Also alex has the added advantage of naval invasions and ai troop retraining. BI is good if you want all of the extra features, such as swimming and hordes, but you would have to manually add those because I don't think that the RS team did that.

[Brusilov]

Actually that "camera bug" is because alex.exe made the default camera mode RTS instead of Total-War. Just go to camera preferences and change it to Total-War style and it solves that problem.

In my experience, I prefer Alex because it feels like the battlefield ai is somewhat better at trying to flank you and better at defending its own flanks. Also alex has the added advantage of naval invasions and ai troop retraining. BI is good if you want all of the extra features, such as swimming and hordes, but you would have to manually add those because I don't think that the RS team did that.

There is no hording in RSII - the reason is that it requires 'horde' units. With the unit roster full there is no room for such things. It would need uints removed to do so.

Also if hordes were in -game then it would not work for RTW.

I've seen units with the 'can swim' trait in the game - so if you are using RTW BI then you will see units attempt to swim across a river. I always laugh at that as the units are usually so tired at the end of the swim they can be slaughtered by my units on the opposite bank. More often than not they all drown as they get attacked with missiles first.

RTW Alex has more unit slots than RTW or RTWBI - someone could make a sub-mod for RSII just for RTW Alexander with more units.

[rory o'kane]

RTW Alex has more unit slots than RTW or RTWBI - someone could make a sub-mod for RSII just for RTW Alexander with more units.

As far as I'm aware, it's the number of models that is increased, not the total number of units available.

[Tsim]

Is it ALX or BI BAI that sends one unit at a time running back and forth towards your lines

[ROFL Copter]

But the so called better AI is tedious and always seems to resort to cheap surrounding tactics. I just stay clear of Alex.

[Arcadia]

What do you mean by 'cheap surrounding tactics'?

[ROFL Copter]

All I ever got in battles were the AI simply breaking and going around me. This isnt realistic or fun.

[Border Patrol]

flanking?

[Siegfriedfr]

The main difference is that the BI AI will conduct naval invasions very often whereas Alex AI barely does.

Alex AI can swim and do night battles, if the units are given the proper attributes.

[Brusilov]

The main difference is that the BI AI will conduct naval invasions very often whereas Alex AI barely does.

Alex AI can swim and do night battles, if the units are given the proper attributes.

I have do disagree with you on the naval invasion thing with Alexander.

I was running a Carthage campaign with RTW Alex the other day.

At the start of the game I did not use Hannibal's forces in Italy properly and lost them. I was then consolidating my holdings in Iberia and North Africa.

I was defenfing Sagunton against Roman stacks. The Romans were sending reinforcements by sea to Iberia. I had some fleets in the area and they were sinking the weaker transports that the Romans were using (it's against the 'house rules' but I'm not bothered by that). I also had a fleet or two off the Italian mainland and the Romans were also sending stacks to Sicily which I had taken from them also Sardinia.

So, factions do naval invasions woth RTW Alex. There is an entry in one of the files (descr_strat?) that has an entry like 'prefers_naval_invasions' - if that has been set my the developers (I play unmodded RSII) then that faction will do naval invasions.

This is my 'Carthage Empire' in th Summer of 558 AUC.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: