The addition of the Ethiopian Axemen and Cavalry are a nice addition to the Saba roster.
Will there be an Ethiopian Swordsmen unit and if so, will their swords be shotels?
Actually, you're wrong! I think it only affects Alexandria for some reason, because I literally just built a provincial government in Memphis and I'm currently building an amphitheater there to improve public order, with a family member governor, not a client ruler. I have also taken Ammon and Petrae, so I have Libye, the Sinai peninsula, and Lower Egypt, but the Ptolemies have been destroyed and the Saba faction controls Upper Egypt. I will let you know about the settlements of the rest of Egypt or even Erythraea, Aethiopia, and Nubia when I get down there and conquer them eventually (although I might not expand beyond Egypt proper in Northeast Africa).
I would like to suggest something to improve some factions survival odds in the campaign. That is to have a one time scripted army spawn for that faction if they are up to only one settlement (or maybe if their capital is under siege), something similar to what TATW Dac has. Adapting it to EBII, it would simulate the gathering of armies to help their allies/friends (like in Caesar Gallic wars) and for some factions, a last stand/ditch effort against the enemy.
However, only some factions would have this feature due to historical reasons and their situation in the campaigns. It would be mostly for the player.
-The Massylim (Numidian faction) would get this feature.
Why would they get it especially when they are one of the faction that can horde? Because they are pretty limited in expansion and consequently go to war with Carthage very soon and most of the times get destroyed. In addition, every experienced Carthaginian player can destroy them quickly before they get more than 3 settlements and while they can horde after all their settlements are conquered, it isn't that hard to destroy the hording armies and once you do that, they are gone for good. That's why adding a scripted army once all but one of their settlements get conquered would help a lot increasing their chances to survive or at least giving a harder time to the player.
Historically, the Numidian tribes gave a lot of troubles to the Carthaginians in Africa and the Romans. While most of the texts speak of the wars with Roma and Syrakuse, Carthage seems to have been "constantly" in a state of war with the Numidian and tribes. We know that Carthage was waging war against them during the first Punic war, they also participated in the mercenary war and later in the second Punic war, both as allies and enemies. Therefore, it should be a lot harder to conquer them.
- The Lusitanians and the Celtiberians can be conquered by the player playing as one of those factions or as Carthage in less than 100 turns or even 50 turns (especially with Carthage) if the player gets agressive. On this two factions I have doubts because they start with only one settlement and sometimes don't expand more than that. Still, a scripted one time army that spawned when their only settlement is under siege and in danger of being conquered would help them survive (I bet some players would get their armies destroyed if they weren't counting on that army) or at least give the player a harder time.
Historically, we have the example of the siege of Numantia when the Numantines tried to ask for help from their allies/friends but that didn't went well... It would also give a bit more help to this two factions which historically took a long time to be conquered.
- The Boii - At least from the campaign perspective, they barely expand and when they encounter a more agressive neighbour (especially the player), the one time scripted army would help them resist the attacks and possibly survive longer.
- The Pritanoi - Once the player encounters them, it already is middle to late campaign (unless the player is some gaulish or germanic faction but even so, if the player is attacking them in the island it means that at least he controls a lof of regions in the continent). Giving them this one time scripted army would help them survive the "invasion".
- The Sweboz - As we know, Germanic factions were very problematic to conquer due to the terrain but also because their were great warriors. They would also get the one time scripted army.
- The Getai would also get this feature.
- The Aedui and the Arveni could get it but since they are so close to each other it should be better discussed.
Don't know much about other factions that could deserve this scripted army but if you guys have more suggestions just write them and I may add them
Caeterum conseo.... The problem you're trying to solve is that it's easy for the player to conquer the AI lands, in this case: the last settlement. In my opinion, the main source of all issues like this is that once the player gets a few settlements and muster a significant army, he is unstoppable: the army suffers only minor losses with any battle (10-20%, no marching losses, no diseases, no mutinous sub-generals) and settlements support that standing army easily (one settlement - half a full stack) and no need to detach an army to occupy an newly conquered province. It's a rolling machine: the player takes another and another and another settlement. Only public order may stop him occasionally and to a limited extent. The last-stand army won't change the matters, even if it may provide a hurdle.
The solutions, imo, should be based on the idea that the forces melt out during the campaign, the civilized factions need to have money before embarking on a campaign (and the loot enrich the generals and soldiers, but is not devoted to funding another conquest - unless you're a specific faction that can do that, like Romani), the barbarian factions can mobilize against an enemy faction only if they overcome internal divisions that spring up often etc.
It also must take time for a province to become productive for a faction. Their might be an intial loot (from sacking) but an efficient system of transferring wealth to the "center of power" should take long, long time - and in the barbarian case a cultural change. Look what happend to Gaul in 2-1 centuries BC, or Britain 1 centuries: structures of exploitation of wider lands and wider strata of society. Histocially, it was what made the Roman Empire to last for longer than one campaign: efficient tax system.
For instance, if we consider various governments in the EBII, their effects should not be like +5% tax or +1 farming income, but there should be a heavy +50% tax for upper-level govts, while -50% tax for the initial situation. I think it can be comparatively easily implemented but it needs a conviction from the EBII team. Scripted armies won't solve the problem.
I've written a piece on the ideal system, in the context of the SSHIP, parts may be relevant to the ancient times as well:
Last edited by Jurand of Cracow; March 12, 2019 at 12:40 AM.
I think you're missing some of my points. I don't intend on solving the problem of the player conquering the AI settlements, in this case, the last settlement. My point follows historical events and intends to represent those peoples who raised large armies to fight against the enemy presence in their territories, since this is hard to simulate, a one time scripted army when their last settlement is under siege would help representing that. That is why I mostly talked about the Numidians, the Lusitanians and the Celtiberians, since for the others I don't know much about their wars. We have plenty of examples of battles and wars in which these three peoples raised armies to fight against Carthage and Rome to stop their expansion. This would simulate a bit that fact and as a good consequence, make it harder for the player to actually conquer those regions.
From your post, the only thing that I would be really interested in trying would be the supply costs mechanic that would simulate the additional costs when big armies were mustered. Maybe something like 200 mnai for armies with more than 5 units, 400 mnai for armies with more than 10 units and 600 mnai for armies with more than 15 units. It would really require the player to think before sending large armies on campaign while not being too burdensome on him.
For the tax system that you suggested, Roma Surrectum actually made something interesting with that, you should try it. They created a building that simulated the tax policy with three levels, each representing a different type of increasing taxation like the growing burocracy and efficiency of your faction. They gave a lot of income bonus while giving huge public order maulus, still, it was an interesting feature.
By the way, I'm currently playing a campaign with the Ptolemai and I assure you that despite having 15 settlements, things aren't looking easier. I'm at war with the Seleucid, the Makedones, Carthage and Pergamon and on the last turns I even lost Damaskos to the Seleucid (they rebelled to them) and later they conquered one of my settlements (the one south of Damaskos). For now I have reconquered Damaskos and have three big armies on campaign and despite paying a lot of upkeep, I feel it could be a bit increased with a feature like the supply costs.
Last edited by Lusitanio; March 12, 2019 at 10:34 AM.
I like the idea, where historically evidenced, the inclusion of scripted armies, when a certain faction is in trouble. The supply costs mechanic also sounds interesting and like the idea of further simulating the logistical side of things.
Is Rome capable of recruiting Galatian units as mercenaries? The Galatian noble cavalry and retainer spearmen are among my top 10 favorite units of all time in EBII. I suppose the swordsmen colonists are really awesome too, but it doesn't look like I can recruit them. I can recruit the lighter raiders but they just aren't as good. I'm rather disappointed that, after taking Ankyra as the Roman Republic, I'm forced to choose between an allied oligarchy that only offers the Galatian cavalry, not the retainer spearmen, or an allied democracy that only offers the Galatian retainers, not the cavalry. Alternatively, I could wait about three to four decades before the cultural assimilation to Western Mediterranean polities hits above the 40% mark, and be able to recruit both the retainer spearmen and noble cavalry from a provincial government building. However, that takes a whole generation in the game, something like 100-150 turns, and only if you have really good governors with lots of green-wreath influence points.
Neither of those unit are mercenary-grade.
Hello!
I was reading the unit description for the Libyan swordsmen.
The first part goes like this:
"These men have spent their lives working on farmlands, either in their homeland, where they have to pay tribute to Carthage in the form of harvest, or in newly conquered lands as military settlers. Not anymore: in times of war they are forced to serve as soldiers, which they welcome, as military service offers them good opportunities. While under arms, they receive a small, but regular salary, which they can use to avoid or pay off debts or to obtain a better life. Furthermore, a higher status and benefits like a plot of land and tax exemptions are always potential rewards for these soldiers. Due to their toughness, gained through a life of austerity, servitude and hard physical labour, and their basic knowledge of the Punic tongue, these Libyans have become the backbone of the Carthaginian armies. As such, they are equipped as soldiers of the line, with a panoply based on the combination of thureos and sword, complimented by metal helmets, leather or metal protective gear and javelins. They are deployed where the fighting is expected to be the hardest and where their motivation and equipment can make the biggest difference to win the day."
I suggest that the word "leather" be replaced with the word "organic" in order to remain open to more than one interpretation.
would it be possible to remove the walled city icon/resource from Scandinavia and northern Europe in general? breaks immersion as it looks very odd next to the more primitive indigenous hovels/settlements.
Go to EBII/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign and open the descr_strat file with notepad++, search for "Minor Settlements section" and then search for province Skanelendo, you will see all the resources there, only the ones that don't have a ; appear. So just put a ; before the lines that don't have. Your problem will be solved
fantastic, thanks. will that change be save game compatible?
Does the AI build huge cities anymore as of 2.35? I haven't seen any other faction build huge cities, and yet I've got about 25 of them in my empire of 100+ provinces. It seems that every faction stops after reaching the large city level. Is that because you guys have stunted the AI's finances every turn, making sure there is a cap of about 20,000 mnai, was it? That could be the issue, since building huge city walls takes about 12,000 mnai. You should reconsider the whole cap thing entirely.
With that in mind, I am very, very glad that I changed the descr_strat file before playing, because otherwise the campaign would have been very boring, besieging and defending the same minor/large city models over, and over, and over. Instead, I made sure the campaign started with a handful of strategically-placed huge cities, like Athens, Alexandria, Rhodes, Rome, Carthage, Antioch, Seleucia & Babylon, Persepolis, etc. That way nobody could convert them to other cultures and it offers a fun change of scenery. Plus those cities were historically very large and important ones, so it's totally justified in my opinion.
It does. Macedon built a huge city upgrade in Athens. Though I've not seen it elsewhere (also, Athens was badly depopulated later in this same campaign)
Sons of the Wolf and the Bear (EB I AAR, Sweboz faction)
Review by Skantarios (CQ #25)
Rich Land of Plentry (EB II AAR, Baktria)
Hmm. Now that you mention it, Makedon made a Western Greek huge city at Demetrias in Thessaly before I took it (I just forgot that I didn't make it a huge city from the beginning with the descr_strat file). That being said, it's the only one I've seen the AI produce, and yet the Seleukids had enough cash and time to build large cities almost everywhere they conquered. I'm glad I made Antioch and Alexandria huge cities, otherwise it would have been nothing but Eastern Greek large cities to besiege.
No and you will have to delete the map.rwm in data/world/maps/base before starting a new campaign.
On my own build I have replaced those resources with Forts on the campaign map x)
A suggestion: removing the 2 regions (or 1) in scandinavia and add 2 regions/cities (or 1) in Greece - Boetia (thebes)/Euboa(Chalcis)/Achaia ? - to reflect the complexity of this regions at the time