suggestion based on playing EB and ExRM

[Dunadd]

Having played EB 1.1 and 1.2 a fair bit an the Extended Realism mod for RTR i wondered if EBII might include anything like the system for recruiting characters and units that there is in Extended Realism 3.5.3.

It allows generals to be recruited in any of a factions starting cities taking 2 turns and costing 3,000 but creating small bodyguard units of 16 men with a total upkeep of 100 per turn.

This greatly reduces the frustration caused by shortages of governors and generals, but since most light cavalry units have an upkeep of 400 to 750 and most medium or heavy cavalry units have an upkeep of 750 to over 1000 it doesn't result in too many cavalry units.

ExRM also makes all recruitment of units depend on the region and the level of 'Auxilia' building you have there - which represents how integrated into the rulers' culture a settlement has become over time, pretty much replacing all barracks buildings with different levels of this building.

They'd both be features EBII might be able to adopt in some form?

(This is not a criticism of EB 1.1 or 1.2 which had lots of great features of their own - i especially liked allied generals an client rulers and historically accurate heavy cavalry capable of skirmishing with javelins - the ExRM features just seem pretty nice too and might make EBII even better than it'll be anyway)

[Spike]

well, Allied generals is more than enough, plus, if you are short on governors, pick up some stack of captain-led army, and go conquering, he'll get man of the hour, and usually becomes a very good lad.

[Ichon]

What are the chances to see more disloyal generals and rebellions btw? A few MTW2 mods have made loyalty more important and it is actually refreshing to consider that aspect so some mods its impossible to let captain led armies do anything as they will almost always rebel and even family members can become disloyal if not treated well and take whole cities into rebellion with them if you don't pay attention.

[fightermedic]

What are the chances to see more disloyal generals and rebellions btw? A few MTW2 mods have made loyalty more important and it is actually refreshing to consider that aspect so some mods its impossible to let captain led armies do anything as they will almost always rebel and even family members can become disloyal if not treated well and take whole cities into rebellion with them if you don't pay attention.

thats one of the very key improvements i expect from EBII

[Dunadd]

well, Allied generals is more than enough, plus, if you are short on governors, pick up some stack of captain-led army, and go conquering, he'll get man of the hour, and usually becomes a very good lad.

Allied generals are nice but you can't get enough of them till late in the game.

Plus having two generals for every army is nice - and historically accurate too - as e.g Roman armies had two consuls as generals and most other armies had at least one sub-general (e.g Demetrius serving as sub-general under Antigonus Monopthalmus)

What are the chances to see more disloyal generals and rebellions btw? A few MTW2 mods have made loyalty more important and it is actually refreshing to consider that aspect so some mods its impossible to let captain led armies do anything as they will almost always rebel and even family members can become disloyal if not treated well and take whole cities into rebellion with them if you don't pay attention.

I really don't think that'd improve EB. There are already so many factions (with Total War diplomacy meaning they'll all go to war on you if they border you and there's nowhere else to invade) and so many independent armies (and large ones in EB on very hard) that it would make the game not merely hard but impossible.

It might be appropriate to have a rare 'disloyal' trait though, to represent the exceptions (e.g during the wars of the diadochi, when changing sides was common)

[Ichon]

I really don't think that'd improve EB. There are already so many factions (with Total War diplomacy meaning they'll all go to war on you if they border you and there's nowhere else to invade) and so many independent armies (and large ones in EB on very hard) that it would make the game not merely hard but impossible.

It might be appropriate to have a rare 'disloyal' trait though, to represent the exceptions (e.g during the wars of the diadochi, when changing sides was common)

There should be less armies on the map in EB2 even on VH if replenishment pools are smaller. In EB1 the AI could recruit as many armies as money and population allowed which led to excessive numbers in my opinion. I'd often get bored fighting 5 battles to move a full turn length of distance in crowded regions.

With a hopefully about 1/3 or 1/2 as many armies on the map each battle is a bit more important and if the AI actually composes its armies better each battle is also more fun than some of the EB battles which varied between easy routs of low quality enemy to a few tough battles against stack full of elite units.