I can Enjoy Vanilla Rome more because of EB

[James the Red]

I have been playing Rome Total war a bit lately after a long time, but before recently when I switched to EB I haven't looked back.

Before I had EB, all the hilariously inaccurate history in RTW and other problems (such as being able to train your best troops with a barracks that belonged to another faction as soon as I take the settlement, ect) really hindered my enjoyment of the game. But now that I have EB to play, it no longer bothers me. Because I am free to play EB when I want to role-play and be historical and stuff (And when I play TW I usually do).

With EB an option to play, RTW Vanilla is now just a wacky thing that I can enjoy for what it is. Most of the time when I play TW, I play EB or another TW game or mod, but sometimes I just feel like conquering the world with gladiators and wardogs.

Does anybody ells here feel the same way?

[Giurza]

and the burning piggies! and don't forget the freakin' sharks with freakin' lasers on their freakin' heads!
seriously though, I don't remember when I played Vanilla RTW... must be when I bought it... like one campaign, until marians kicked in (with lorica segmentata (sic))

[Agent007]

For my part, I can't go back to the burning pigs or the gladiators, among others. I played Vanilla RTW when I bought the game, back in 2005; then, like in every other historical strategy game that I like, I went over to the mods, and didn't come back to the original product.
In fact, in my experience, the truth is that EB set a very high standard and I now only really enjoy mods that have an "at least comparable degree of perfection", or something like that. Many times, this leads me to do my own modifications in the mods I want to play.

[Iaius Statius Laurentius]

EB's spoiled me for pretty much any other RTW or MTW2 mod. I can't play any of them because they don't have the massive list of culture-specific traits, unique buildings, government dynamics, [insert any other EB feature here], etc. It's a shame because there are some mods that are visually quite beautiful, but they just seem so superficial in comparison to EB that I can't play them. There's no satisfaction.

[Boriak]

EB's spoiled me for pretty much any other RTW or MTW2 mod. I can't play any of them because they don't have the massive list of culture-specific traits, unique buildings, government dynamics, [insert any other EB feature here], etc. It's a shame because there are some mods that are visually quite beautiful, but they just seem so superficial in comparison to EB that I can't play them. There's no satisfaction.

I agree completely.

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

The very thought of playing vanilla makes me crindge! And anyway I don't think calling it vanilla is fair, I like vanilla icecream

[Durnaug]

Just to be a contrarian for a slither of your time. I actually miss the contrived civil war that the vanilla game imposed on the roman factions. That was the great turning point in the game - eventually you must face down your rivals. And sometimes I miss the Senate being an antagonist. It somehow gave more meaning to the city of Rome itself.

Of course, EB is a far superior game and I love its historical accuracy and balance. I can never go back to vanilla after playing as KH. But the civil war mechanism, though silly, definitely added to the gameplay and addictiveness of the original. But the real game killer is Egypt. I can never return to vanilla knowing that abberation of a faction lurks on the map.

However, you have to admit that CA crafted a great engine that suggested new possibilities and vistas to the user community. There is no better accolade for a piece of software....um unless CA had listened to the EB team in the first place and actually created EB...ack you know what I mean!

[Vasilefs]

Europa Barbarorum is impressive mod (best mod ever on any total war game)
But guys keep one thing in mind,if there was no vanilla RTW there would be no EB,Europa Barbarorum is perfect child from good father(Vanilla RTW)

[Ixor_Drakar]

Europa Barbarorum is impressive mod (best mod ever on any total war game)
But guys keep one thing in mind,if there was no vanilla RTW there would be no EB,Europa Barbarorum is perfect child from good father(Vanilla RTW)

Paper is good, in fact its great, but its nothing until someone writes or draws upon it.

[Rhomphaiaphoros]

Paper is good, in fact its great, but its nothing until someone writes or draws upon it.

Well technically speaking, the RTW game engine is the 'paper'. And to be fair to CA, they actually wrote/drew stuff on that 'paper', and that stuff is the vanilla RTW. While this 'paper' does have more content drawn/written on it in EB's case, I still wouldn't say that it was a totally empty sheet in vanilla RTW's case, either.

- Rhomphaiaphoros

[Iaius Statius Laurentius]

Paper is good, in fact its great, but its nothing until someone writes or draws upon it.

Good papyri or nice vellum takes a great deal of craftsmanship, and the quality is very well evident.

[delra]

Do you remember pink cataphracts?

[Rhomphaiaphoros]

Do you remember pink cataphracts?

Sorry, what exactly is the point here? They're pink (or actually, magenta), but they're still Cataphracts. Their colour is funny at best and ugly at worst, but they are still a working unit. And a historically correct one to boot, even though the ones in EB are probably even more so. I understand the -reactions towards units like Arcani, Screeching Women, or just about any vanilla Egyptian unit, and magenta Cataphracts seem quite plausible when compared to those units. And besides, we all do know that Armenia was the one and only proper Cataphract faction back in vanilla, for their colour if nothing else...

- Rhomphaiaphoros