The Comprehensive Guide & Mod Overview for Europa Barbarorum 1.2!
Changelog:
last change: August 1st, 2014
- updated info on EB Online Multiplayer
- some polishing of presentation
- changed titel of thread, before: BEGINNER'S GUIDE & MOD OVERVIEW
Note: For folks using windows' UAC it's best to install RTW (ie: the basic/vanilla "Rome:Total War" game) in a folder other than "Program Files" - or to disable UAC. Otherwise their might in some rare cases occur problems running a RTW mod and in this case EB.
0.) Before Installing EB / EB is mod-foldered !:
- Have a clean installation of RTW 1.5 or 1.6
- Europa Barbarorum is completely mod-foldered and doesn't interact with the basic/vanilla RTW and Barbarian Invasion, or other mod-foldered mods
- After installing EB you can play the basic/vanilla RTW and Barbarion Invasion or other mod-foldered mods without any trouble
- EB will install into a new folder - eg. : "...\Rome - Total War\EB"
1.) Install EB 1.1:
- Install EB 1.1 into the folder "...\Rome - Total War" (= the folder that contains eg. the "RomeTW.exe") after that, you'll be asked to install:
- The EB Documentation, the EB Trivial Script and the EB Recruitment Viewer; install all of them where asked (or in a folder of your choice)
- For the Recruitment Viewer choose the native version here (as you will seperatly install the english version after the installation process)
2.) Install EB 1.2:
- Install EB 1.2 into the folder "...\Rome - Total War"
3.) Install the three fixes for EB 1.2:
- Unpack the three fixes into the folder "...\Rome - Total War\EB\Data"
4.) Install the English version of the Recruitment Viewer:
- Install it the Recruitment Viewer you already downloaded (from above "Download 4.)")
- Choose any folder you like
- Go to the Start menu and select "Europa Barbarorum"
- Choose "Configuration"
- Make your choices and select "Play EB" to start EB; -> example
- Choose a faction in the -> EB Main Campaign screen and set the difficulty settings...
DIFFICULTY SETTINGS
Official Recommendation
According to the FAQ Europa Barbarorum is best played on very hard (campaign) / medium (battles); the AI is aggressive on the campaign map (in particular the slave faction) but it doesn’t get stat bonuses on the battlefield
General Info on Difficulty Settings for Battles in RTW
- Easy: -4 attack for AI units
- Medium: (nothing)
- Hard: +4 attack for AI units
- Very Hard: +7 attack for AI units
Note: the above are verified by the senior RTW-modder Aradan ; speculations on any morale boost for AI units are not verified and highly speculative
Adviced settings for a first campaign
- Choose campaign difficulty medium or hard: so the AI isn't too strong on the campaign map
- Choose battle difficulty medium: so that the AI doesn't get bonuses in battles; esp. fighting archer-heavy steppe factions the +4/+7 to attack (which also applies to archers) can be hard
- You can always go harder for your second campaign!
ACTIVATING THE BACKGROUND SCRIPT
EB uses a background script. To activate it after starting a new campaign or loading an ongoing one, simply select on of your settlements or right-click the faction overview button (O). Then press the "Show Me How" button on the advisor that just popped up.
LOADING SAVES PROPERLY
Because of the background script and the way RTW works, it's not possible to load campaigns of more than one faction in a RTW session - eg. loading a Romani campaign after playing a Makedonia campaign, will trigger a serious game-breaking bug. Reloading save games from your current campaign is not a problem.
To avoid that "bug" shut down RTW completely and restart it, if you want to play a different save game with a different faction.
EB is a total conversion of RTW and thus features many new and unique gameplay features, which create a very immersive and historic "feel". EB also allows you to role-play your family members to a certain extent, using it's unique traits & ancillaries system.
After starting a new campaign, handling your economy and income can be very difficult for some factions. Unit recruitment costs and esp. unit upkeep costs are relatively high compared to default RTW and most other mods, which forces you to make tough decisions. Do you scale back on your military to build up your provinces or do you attempt to blitz your neighbours?
Province development (ie. the construction of buildings in any given province) in EB is totaly new and quite complex. The list of buildings constructable depends on the level of government building you build - and the government buildings also principally determine what units you are able to recruit. And to make it more vexing: every province has a preset, undestructable building that only allows you to build certain government buildings in that specific province.
Read the FAQ!
Reading the FAQ is vital and necessary to being able to play EB. You can read it right now or continue this beginner's guide and open it up later - but do read it!
Here's a overview of how EB's province development works.
Spoiler for Province Development:
Province Type Buildings
Each province in EB has a non-buildable, pre-build and undestructable "Province Type Building" that determines that provinces relation to your faction. For eg. the Koinon Hellenon faction these are:
"Homeland" (in the Recruitment Viewer named: Homeland)
- allows all options for government buildings: allows Government Building Level I, II, III and IV
"Subjugation Available" (in the Recruitment Viewer named: Expansion)
- allows medium options for government buildings: allows up to Government Building Level II, III and IV
"Alliances Available" (in the Recruitment Viewer named: Others)
- allows least options for government buildings: allows up to Government Building Level III and IV
Each faction in EB can construct one of four government buildings once a province is conquered and the basic subjugation building - aka "Provisional Military Government" - has been constructed:
1.) "Provisional Military Government" is the prerequisite for construting one (and only one!) of the following actuall government buildings...
2a) "Government Building Level I"
2b) "Government Building Level II"
2c) "Government Building Level III"
2d) "Government Building Level IV"
So first you have to build the "Provisional Military Government" and after that you can choose from one of the other four possible government buildings.
These government buildings offer different advantages concerning the construction of military barracks and thus indirectly for the recruitment of units, and also offer modifications to eg. population growth, trade and the like.
The highest level (Level I) allows the construction of the best factional military barracks, which enable you to recruit the best factional units and only offers low-tier or no local units; whereas the lowest level (Level IV) allows the construction of the best local military barracks, which enable you to recruit the best local units and offers only low-tier or no factional units.
Government Building Level I:
- allows the construction of factional barracks up to level 5 / and local barracks up to level 2
- allows for recruitment of all factional units that are available in the province
- allows for recruitment of the up to low-tier local units that are available in the province
- offers other features such as: modifications to population growth, trade, tax, public order etc., which can be viewed in the in-game info scroll of this building
- it's also a prerequisite to construct all possible buildings of your faction
Government Building Level II:
- allows the construction of factional barracks up to level 4 / and local barracks up to level 3
- allows for recruitment of the up to high-tier factional units that are available in the province
- allows for recruitment of the up to low-tier/medium-tier local units that are available in the province
- offers other features such as: modifications to population growth, trade, tax, public order etc., which can be viewed in the in-game info scroll of this building
- it's also a prerequisite to construct the highly advanced buildings of your faction
Government Building Level III:
- allows the construction of factional barracks up to level 3 / and local barracks up to level 4
- allows for recruitment of the up to low-tier/medium-tier factional units that are available in the province
- allows for recruitment of the up to high-tier local units that are available in the province
- offers other features such as: modifications to population growth, trade, tax, public order etc., which can be viewed in the in-game info scroll of this building
- it's also a prerequisite to construct the advanced buildings of your faction
Government Building Level IV:
- allows the construction of factional barracks up to level 2 / and local barracks up to level 5
- allows for recruitment of the up to low-tier factional units that are available in the province
- allows for recruitment all local units that are available in the province
- offers other features such as: modifications to population growth, trade, tax, public order etc., which can be viewed in the in-game info scroll of this building
- it's also doesn't allow you to construct any advanced buildings of your faction unique features:
- it allows you to recruit recruitable generals, which can either become "Client Rulers" or "Allied Generals" in EB (for more on this see further below)
- family members cause unrest in provinces with this building, so that only "Client Rulers" can function as governors.
In EB there are two complexes/tiers of buildings that allow you to recruit units. These are referred to as: barracks or MIC-buildings (Military Industrial Complex buildings) in EB-speech. The one building tier allows the recuitment of factional units only and the other the recruitment of local units only.
Each of the two tiers contains up to five succeeding buildings (barrack level: 1, 2, 3 , 4 and 5 - with 5 being the best), which are not dependent on the settlements size. So you are able to construct even the fifth (= best possible) barrack for both the factional and local units in a village or town.
Local Barracks:
These barracks mostly have the terms local/regional/allied in their name and allow you to recruit local units of the populace of that province. Eg. local Germanic, Celtic or Italic units - from a Koinon Hellenon point of view.
The construction of barracks / MICs is limited to the government building level of that specific province/settlement:
- Government Building Level I -> allows factional barracks up to level 5 / local up to level 2
- Government Building Level II -> allows factional barracks up to level 4 / local up to level 3
- Government Building Level III -> allows factional barracks up to level 3 / local up to level 4
- Government Building Level IV -> allows factional barracks up to level 2 / local up to level 5
EB features an elaborate area of recruitment system (AOR). In theory each province in EB has a very large - so to say "global" - pool of units that could be recruited. But the actuall availablity of units is lessened by the factors listed in the below spoiler.
Start the -> Recruitment Viewer via "Europa Barbarorum" in your start menu, to see which units you can recruit in a selected province.
The "Province Data" box shows you the Level of barracks you need, to be able to recruit a specific unit. The Complex of barracks stands for a specific tier of barrack. For most factions there are only two complexes/tiers of barracks shown in the province data box - factional and local barracks (represtented by a number). But for factions with unique military reforms - such as the Romani with their Polybian, Marian and Augustan reforms - there may be more than two complexes/tiers of barracks listed in the province data box, as some military reforms make building new, more advanced kinds of barracks necessary. With a little experience and messing around in the Recruitment Viewer, you'll get the hang of it.
Spoiler for Factors influencing the Area of Recruitment System:
The Government Building Level
The highest level (Level I) allows the construction of the best factional military barracks, which enable you to recruit the best factional units and only offers low-tier or no local units; whereas the lowest level (Level IV) allows the construction of the best local military barracks, which enable you to recruit the best local units and offers only low-tier or no factional units. For more details see (some of the) above sections.
The Province
Each province has in theory a very large pool of possibly recruitable units. But your faction can only recruit units in conquered provinces, that it was historically also able to do - or most likely to do. Eg. -> Casse (Brito-Celts) can't recruit -> Spartian Hoplites in the settlement Sparte, even if they conquere Sparte and build a government building level IV (which allows for recruitment of all possible local units).
Your Faction
Every faction has it's own pool of units it can recruit from in any given province. Eg. -> Sweboz (Germanic) can't recruit elite Hellenic units at all, and -> Makedonia can't recruit elite Germanic units at all.
TRAITS & ANCILLARIES SYSTEM
One of the unique features of EB is it's complex traits and ancillaries system. Here is a short info of the most influencial new EB-traits or changes:
Having the government building level IV in a province allows you to recruit generals, which can either function as governors for that province (= "Client Ruler") or as non-family-member generals (= "Allied General") to eg. command an army of mainly local units. Other than in a province with a government building level IV you can't recruit generals in EB.
Beware that theses recruited generals cost upkeep, whereas normal, family member generals are free of upkeep cost.
But as normal, family member generals cause unrest when stationed inside the settlement of a province with a government building level IV, "Client Rulers" are your only long-term option as governors in such a province.
EB features unique military reforms for ten factions (Aedui, Arverni, Casse, Romani, Saka Rauka, Arche Seleukeia, Hayasdan, Qarthadast, Sweboz, Pahlava), all other factional reform units are tied to the "March or Time" event (vanilla RTW's Marian reform) which requires the Romans to build a huge city other than Rome in central Italy to trigger.
The military reforms allow you to recruit advanced units.
Tip: Read -> The Official FAQ.
Tip: Read -> Athanaric's 'Tips and Tricks for New Players' after viewing the following info. Tip: Download the -> building scroll of your faction and look at your building's benefits in their info scroll and the settlement details scroll. Tip: Install the -> Extended Unit Info Mod for EB1.2submod, that shows you all vital unit stats in the in-game unit scrolls. Tip: Use the 'Recruitment Viewer' accessible via the start menu in "Europa Barbarorum" - Fiddle around with it! It will give you lot's of infos on your faction and on units recruitability.
Tip: Visit the -> Online 'EB Unit List'to view unit's stats, recruitment area etc...
Here are some basic infos, guidelines and tips for playing EB:
On 'Rebels'
Settlements of 'rebels' (= the Eleutheroi) have large and well-equipped garrisons, often lead by good generals - so blitzing isn't that easy
Unit Upkeep
Cavalry and elite units - and esp. ships, elephants and siege units - have (very) high upkeep costs in EB. So only recruit them once you have the necessary income, and perhaps dismantle (some of) them at the start of your campaign if they aren't vital.
Normal/Family Member Generals don't cost upkeep in EB, so be sure to adpot generals with good traits or wait 'till your family 'breeds' new ones.
Recruited generals (= "Client Rulers" and "Allied Generals") in EB do cost upkeep, so be aware of recruiting too many. On the other hand "Client Rulers" can come with or develope multiple traits that benefit trade, taxes, mining etc. And they can also gather ancillaries that boost your income... but they can just as well be lazy, corrupt and cowardly scallywags (or anything inbetween).
Schooling Your Generals
All factions in EB have one 'school'-building tier. These are buildings that give generals stationed in these settlements advanced/good (traits and) ancillaries. The higher the 'school'-building level, the better the (traits and) ancillaries are the general gets. So constructing an advanced 'school' building and sending your generals there - esp. 'newly-breed', young ones -, will give them good (traits and) ancillaries.
---
Note: I'm not sure if the school buildings influence the traits, but they doubtlessly give generals good ancillaries.
Note: EB's traits system is highly complex and interactive, so it's likely that 'school'-buildings also influence the traits.
Note: The 'school'-buildings are only one of many factors that influences the generals traits and ancillaries; see section '3 - Basic EB Mechanics Explained / Traits & Ancillaries System'.
Which government building to construct in a conquered province?
In general government buildings level I are best for recruiting factional units and allow you to construct all buildings; and level IV government buildings allow you to recruit the most local units, but prohibit you from building many more advanced buildings. Level II and level III government buildings are somewhere inbetween.
See the above sections for details.
Economy
Tip: Use the settlement details scroll of your settlement to see what exactly a building will grant you.
Spoiler for Settlement Details Scroll:
This is NOT a screen-shot from EB, but simply an example:
Build mines where possible. They give you really good income.
---
Note: The displayed income in the info scroll of mines is inaccurate. Use the detailed settlement info scroll of a settlement - with the mine first in the construction queue - to see the actual income it will generate.
Build civil ports where possible, as they grant (more) naval trade routes, which add a lot of income - plus they add to general income bonuses.
Build markets, as they directly give you increased income and also are a prerequisite for many more advanced buildings.
Build roads, as the give you increased in-land trade income with neighbouring provinces and allow your units to move more swiftly.
Download the -> building scroll of your faction and look at your building's benefits in their info scroll and the settlement details scroll.
Unit Recruitment
In EB you only need factional and local military barracks to recruit units. No other building or building-tier allows you to recruit units!
For detailed stats and recruitment areas of specific units view the great -> Online Unit List
Battles
Tip: I advice you to install this submod that shows you all vital unit stats in the in-game unit scrolls EB has to offer: -> Extended Unit Info Mod for EB1.2
In general cavalry in EB has a good or even devastating charge-bonus, but mostly bad stats once engaged in hand-to-hand combat. So let your cavalry charge into the enemy, and then pull them back for a second (and third...) charge.
Many units in EB have a secondary weapon (use via Alt+RMB), so make use of it.
All slinger units in EB have the ap-ability (= 'Armour Piercing' ability = halves the enemy's armour). So use them to attack heavily armoured units.
Use spear-units to attack/fight cavalry, as they get bonuses fighting cavalry.
Use units with the 'Armour Piercing' (ap) attribute to attack heavily armoured units, as the ap-ability halves the enemy unit's armour-value.
In EB you can build military ports - which allow you to recruit naval units - only in selected provinces. Some provinces allow you to build large navy ports, which offer all possible naval units; others only allow you to build small navy ports, which offer only lower-tier naval units. Here's the -> map for navy ports.
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR NEW PLAYERS (by athanaric)
An up-to-date thread with great basic and advanced information for all new players and even EB veterans.
Unless stated otherwise submods are NOT supported by the developer team of Europa Barbarorum, especially no technichal support is provided!
RECOMMENDED SUBMODS
These are not official recommendations of the developer team, but popular submods that I'd recommend using. They don't affect the gameplay or balance of EB, except for the AI Battle Formations Mod which changes the AI-behaviour in battles a little.
Spoiler for Recommended Submods:
-> Force Diplomacy Minimod by Jarardo
Allows you to force the AI to accept any diplomatic proposal you make. Helps countering weird or unwanted AI behaviour, or when you're roleplaying historical-accurate campaigns.
-> AI Battle Formation Mods by Lysander 13
This mod allows the EB Player to play EB using alternative battle AI formations and/or player formations. Included are: Darth Formations 16.2, Sinuhet’s 7.0 AI Battle Formations and/or Marcus Camillus Player Formations (with new formation buttons for the Roman UI), plus a backup of the original EB formation files. All AI formations are compatible with EB1.2 and both the BI-exe and the ALX-exe. -> link to the .ORG thread
These are more optional that recommended submods. They also don't change the gameplay or balancing:
-> RS2 Environments for EB by Hannibal Smith (the actuall environments are from the RS2 Team)
Allows you to play EB with the awesome battle-map environments (and campaign textures) of Roma Surrectum II.
Note: Make sure to use a self-made shortcut and not EB's Trivial Script to start EB, unless you replace the map.rwm in "mp game edu backup" and "sp game edu backup" with the new map.rwm that is created after you install the RS2 environments and start EB at least once!
-> Extended Unit Info Mod by Casual Tactician (disclaimer: that's a mod I did!)
Displays extended unit information such as lethality, range and ammo of missle weapons as well as morale, discipline, training, ground stats and others in the in-game unit-info-scroll
HOW TO PLAY EB WITH BI-EXE OR ALX-EXE - LESS CTDs!
Using either the BI-exe or ALX-exe will make the AI smarter and naval invasions of the AI factions more likely, and also EB will be more stable and the risk of CTDs will be severly reduced! If you use any other submods or modifications for EB, it's best to install the BI-exe or ALX-exe at the end after all other submods have been installed.
Spoiler for How to play EB with BI-exe or ALX-exe:
-> EB with BI-exe by Oleo
A guide how to use the RTW-BI.exe with EB. This approach only uses the BI-AI, but there won't be any night battles or units using shield_wall ability and such.
The BI-exe makes the AI somewhat smarter and naval invasions of the AI factions are more likely. It also makes EB more stable and reduces the risk of CTDs severly.
-> EB with ALX-exe by the Alexander EB Team, posted by maksimus
Link to the submod 'Alexander EB' that requires a full installation of RTW: Alexander. Though it also provides instructions and a file-package that allows you to play standard (vanilla) EB with the RTW-ALX.exe; with night battles and appropriate traits for charcters included.
The ALX-exe makes the AI noticeably smarter and naval invasions of the AI factions are even more likely than with the BI.exe. It also makes EB more stable and reduces the risk of CTDs severly.
Note: Make sure to add -noalexander to the target line of your EB-shortcut. Example: "...\Rome - Total War\RomeTW-ALX.exe" -mod:eb -show_err -noalexander. -> link to the .ORG thread
- Easy: -4 attack for AI units
- Medium: (nothing)
- Hard: +4 attack for AI units
- Very Hard: +7 attack for AI units
Note: the above are verified by the senior RTW-modder Aradan ; speculations on any morale boost for AI units are not verified and highly speculative
GENERAL'S ATTRIBUTES
Spoiler for General's Attributes:
Command
- Increases the moral of units (+1 per command-point) in a radius around the general.
- Adds +1 attack per 2 command-points in a radius around the general.
- A higher rating increases the radius in which the above bonuses are granted to the units.
- A higher command rating makes it more likely for the general to rally fleeing troops.
- Most likely influences the outcome of auto-resolve battles a good deal.
Note: concerning traits as - for example - “Infantry Commander” (+X command when commanding infantry) and “Cavalry Commander” (+X command when commanding cavalry)...: These bonuses are activated only when half or more of the units are infantry/cavalry, but when activated they affect the entire army. -> they then show up in the info screen prior to a battle
Traits like “(+X command when defending)”, “(+X command when attacking walls)”, etc. apply to the entire army, but only in these specific circumstances (eg. when defending or attacking walls). These bonuses should show up in the info screen prior to the battle.
Management
- General with highest management becomes the settlements governor.
- Adds to the settlements income via “admin”-bonus (seen in the settlements detail scroll).
- High management rating can perhaps increase the likelyhood of getting good administrative traits.
Influence
- High influence encreases public order and reduces public unrest. (probably +5% per point of influence)
- (For the faction leader only) It seems to improve the chances to get a good diplomatic deal. And increases the likelyhood of other factions offering a ceasefire or alliance, and becoming a protectorate.
- It also seems to increase the number of bodyguards (as influential leaders attract more followers).
Loyalty
- The less loyalty the more likely it is for a general to turn rebel or of joining the rebel faction if there is a rebellion.
- Less loyalty makes it more likely to get bribed by other factions diplomants.
ARMOUR UPGRADES
Shields: Bronze +1, Silver +2, Gold +3 to armour value
Swords: Bronze +1, Silver +2, Gold +3 melee+missle attack
UNIT EXPERIENCE & CHEVRONS
Bronze Chevrons: +1/+2/+3 to melee+missle attack and defense skill
Silver Chevrons: +4/+5/+6 to melee+missle attack and defense skill
Gold Chevrons: +7/+8/+9 to melee+missle attack and defense skill
Re: Link Collection for new EB Players (Unofficial) [WIP]
Here are the ALX-engine-files (for playing EB with only the improved Alexander-engine).
PS: Perhaps you could post in the Alexander EB-thread, so they know that the link is dead; or PM maksimus. After it's their files and they've deserved the attention/credits for that.
Re: Link Collection for new EB Players (Unofficial) [WIP]
Originally Posted by aithiopikoi machariphoroi
Does someone have a premade EB.exe that uses Alex? I don't know to change the target line without screwing it up. Please help. Thanks!
I'm not sure what you mean when saying "a premade EB.exe that uses Alex", but here's how I play the standard/vanilla EB1.2 with the ALX.exe (= the normal EB1.2 without the 'Alexander EB' Mod, but with the ALX.exe and it's better AI and less/none CTD's)...
1. You need to get a hold of the "RomeTW-ALX.exe"-file, which is eg. included in "Rome: Total War - Alexander" 2. Place the "RomeTW-ALX.exe"-file in the main RTW folder -> "...\Rome - Total War" (where also the standard "RomeTW.exe" is situated) 3. Install this file package from the 'Alexander EB' Mod (and give the Alexander EB guys some +rep for their work):
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
NOTE1: THESE FILES ARE FOR ''ENGINE'' USE ONLY
THEY ARE NOT A PART OF THE EXTENDED EB ALEXANDER MOD
USE THEM ONLY TO PLAY VANILLA EB WITH ALX.exe
4. Create/change the target line of (standard/vanilla EB1.2) to [EXAMPLE!]:
-> "...\Rome - Total War\RomeTW-ALX.exe" -mod:EB -show_err -ne -noalexander
Note: Make sure to place the inverted commas as seen above (very important!); and you have to add the -noalexander at the end
PS: I'm playing the standard/vanilla EB1.2 with the ALX.exe (=RomeTW-ALX.exe) for a very long time now, and it's to 99% without CTD's and the AI behaves better (more naval invasions...).
Re: Link Collection for new EB Players (Unofficial)
Great job CT. You're the same player who was asking about EB Online issues over at the Guild/Org, right? Well done with the Link Collection. PM me if you need EBO-related info or updates. This may be a useful page to have on the EB wiki I've been sketching the past couple years.
Re: Link Collection for new EB Players (Unofficial)
Originally Posted by Holdfast
Good job Casual Tactician, thankyou.
Thanks.
Originally Posted by mamik_yev_konak
Great job CT. You're the same player who was asking about EB Online issues over at the Guild/Org, right? Well done with the Link Collection. PM me if you need EBO-related info or updates. This may be a useful page to have on the EB wiki I've been sketching the past couple years.
Thanks. And: you might get a EBO-related PM sometime soon, if I can't sort out the one are other matter by scanning the forums. Btw, that's your EB wiki linked in section 1, eh?
Re: [Unofficial] Mod Overview & 'First Steps' Help
Did a small update and polished the presentation a little.
If anyone has links to good guides, tips, maps, AARs, videos etc. or suggestions what to improve... Please post a reply with the suggestion and/or a link to the original source, so I can implement it here.