Ancient Empires: Divide et Impera - Upd. 2/13/2016

[Lord Dakier]

Played Epirus. 1st turn Macedon sent a stack and a half and I only start with 2 units of Militia Pikemen... pointless even attempting to play them.

Not sure what the rules of recruitment are for the AI, but every campaign I've played I've been outnumbered by twice the enemies number. Cimmeria conquered me (Armenia), Trapezos, Colchis and vassalised Pontus, in 10-15 turns with 2 death stacks that laid waste to everything.

I get making the early game harder as Total War games can be fairly easy if you rush the AI, but when the AI has as many stacks as I have units is just a joke.

[lakajadiwa]

Hey! Is there any mod that allows the armies to have a much smaller movement range? as I enjoy a slower paced campaign.

[TFCAliarcy]

Makedon will want peace, they are an okay faction, the hardest ones are likely: Syracuse, Athens, Sparta, and Parthia.

[K2810]

I really want to play this mod because I absolutely love the map but the battles are just not fun at all.. I tested for a few hours but 1 on 1 unit combat is just a slugfest. No deaths on the initial charge and over a minute before anyone got any kills. I deactivated every other mod except DEI too but the same thing. I also tried all the faster battle submods for DEI but nothing worked. When i tried the speed battle animations submod the kill rate increased to a ridiculous amount and all my units routed within 20 seconds of intial contact! Anyway, is anyone else having this issue? Maybe a different mod to try to make the battles better? I really want to play this..

[arsenal61095]

I really want to play this mod because I absolutely love the map but the battles are just not fun at all.. I tested for a few hours but 1 on 1 unit combat is just a slugfest. No deaths on the initial charge and over a minute before anyone got any kills. I deactivated every other mod except DEI too but the same thing. I also tried all the faster battle submods for DEI but nothing worked. When i tried the speed battle animations submod the kill rate increased to a ridiculous amount and all my units routed within 20 seconds of intial contact! Anyway, is anyone else having this issue? Maybe a different mod to try to make the battles better? I really want to play this..

I also have the same problem, not just the Ancient Empire sub mod, but from the original DEI itself, it seems to me that all the faster battle submods are not working because they cause the game to freeze at the main loading screen. So, after doing some searching, i have find out that you can adjust the speed of battle by changing the killrate using the Pack File Manager ( Yeah, you have to do this by yourself in order to suit your personal preference). Here's how to do it:
1/ Open Pack File Manager
2/ Click File-Open-@i_00_dei.pack
3/Open db - kv_rules_table - kv_rules
4/ Find the three lines:
_melee_hit_chance_base
_melee_hit_chance_max
_melee_hit_chance_min
You should see that they are set at default a very low killrate, adjust it yourself and test till it fits.
Mine is set at 30-60-10, this method works for me, hope it will works for you too

[Swarbs]

I also have the same problem, not just the Ancient Empire sub mod, but from the original DEI itself, it seems to me that all the faster battle submods are not working because they cause the game to freeze at the main loading screen. So, after doing some searching, i have find out that you can adjust the speed of battle by changing the killrate using the Pack File Manager ( Yeah, you have to do this by yourself in order to suit your personal preference). Here's how to do it:
1/ Open Pack File Manager
2/ Click File-Open-@i_00_dei.pack
3/Open db - kv_rules_table - kv_rules
4/ Find the three lines:
_melee_hit_chance_base
_melee_hit_chance_max
_melee_hit_chance_min
You should see that they are set at default a very low killrate, adjust it yourself and test till it fits.
Mine is set at 30-60-10, this method works for me, hope it will works for you too

Is this change save game compatible? I've tried it, but keep getting the same result - two or three Roman units (Hastati and Principes) take on one unit of Carthaginian marines, kill hardly any of them, lose very few troops, then as soon as they become exhausted they waver and then rout.

I thought at first it was due to having battle difficulty set to VH, but in fact it happens on normal as well, it just seems that the battle balance is not right in this sub mod. I don't have any problems with regular DEI, so I am at a bit of a loss how to fix this.

[GrootOpperhoofd]

Same experience here. I thought pre 1.1 DEI was pretty slow but not too much. This one is painffully slow it's unplayable.
And all you do (like in pre 1.1) is to flank with cav since about 5-10 kills are expected in 1 hours battle time from almost all infantry types. Then you win the battle with about 10X less casualties.

[ABH2]

Makedon will want peace, they are an okay faction, the hardest ones are likely: Syracuse, Athens, Sparta, and Parthia.

This. Epirus could use a bit better balance, but Macedon is already at war with a number of other factions and will grant peace. People don't explore the diplomatic options at the start of the campaign. There are complaints I get because our balance isn't the best. We just don't have the time. But some things are just different from what people are used to and they seem to instantly give up.

Cultural/political conversion in this mod does take place, it's been slowed greatly so you can't convert an area within 10 in-game years like normal. That's not realistic, it makes storming the campaign map even easier, and it forces the players to actually work to manage their empire. If you want to convert faster, you need to commit to it.

In terms of battles, if you are getting results that slow it's almost certainly a mod conflict. Something loading ahead of our mod that shouldn't be. This mod should load first at all times. There are other submods it will work with, but in general, anything that adds units, touches battles in anyway, or changes the campaign startpos will conflict.

Hey! Is there any mod that allows the armies to have a much smaller movement range? as I enjoy a slower paced campaign.

Unfortunately not. I have tried to encourage people to create little submods for this. Yukishiro had one that removed all battle elements for the last one, which isn't too hard to do. You could just delete the main_units tables (all of them) if you wanted, though you will end up with higher upkeep costs for units, as well. Shouldn't impact anything otherwise.

[SquirrelP0acher]

Would a SSD work better with compiling a new startpos than an HDD? I cant seem to get BOB to compile even when I keep the AE standard changes in TWEAK.

[K2810]

I tried to turn off ALL other mods except for divide et impera obviously but same thing happens. I tried the mod manager but I stopped using it long ago but because it doesn't launch the game for me anyway. I'm pretty sure that the ancient empires pack is on the top.. I've tried 2 of the named dei pack with a few other letters or numbers in there but get the same results. For my testing i was using roman hastati and principes against lower level barbarians and after about 10 minutes of combat they would break despite only losing about a quarter of their unit and then that would usually start a chain route and battle is over and I only lose about 30.. sometimes less but out of 2 units and a mounted general that doesn't seem like much to lose after fighting that long. I swithed it up with highter barbarians against the same roman units and the romans broke at about the same time. Even flank attacks do very little damage as well and for the first 5 minutes there was only 2 or 3 dead in each unit. So, in short, is this working as designed?? Is there a battle mod that might speed things up that is compatible? I was hoping for a challenge after playing DEI last week and reguarly beating 1000 or more losing less than 100.. and i'm not that great of a tactitian either

[LordVolk]

¿How can i change the faction icon of Pergamon for the normal one of DeI? the new its a little weird

[Superviviente22]

Umm..... This is for Ancients Empires or is for Augustus campaign? (Crete)

[Aeimnestus]

Thanks for updating this mod, it is amazing! Love the improved historical accuracy, and a walled Syracuse! Finally woohoo!

I do have 1 suggestion: In the main mod the major factions like Carthage, Macedon and Rome all have the largest military harbour from the start of the game so more military ships are recruited, I'd love it if this submod would take over that change.

[elementall]

Hello,

I have a little question, is save compatible? i'm playing a campaign with the latest DEI mod 1.1 of november 11....

Thanks for your reply.

[KAM 2150]

It is not save compatible for multiple of reasons, the most simple and obvious one being different campaign map.

[elementall]

It is not save compatible for multiple of reasons, the most simple and obvious one being different campaign map.

I thought so , thank you very much for the answer

[Aethyr]

Two units of Carthage's Dorkim Hatkafa took 18 minutes worth of rear charges from my Equites extraordinarii while engaged with Triarii after I finished routing their entire army. I couldn't hurt them or get them to quit the field.

[ABH2]

Umm..... This is for Ancients Empires or is for Augustus campaign? (Crete)

Don't know what to say about that one. I've never actually attacked Crete on the Imperator Augustus map, but we obviously can't change battlemaps in this mod. It's just the map CA gave us.

[Tough Puppy]

Regarding the increased movement range: Anabasis made a mod that does something very similar, except he greatly increased army, city and navy zones of control. In this way, choke points could be blocked and armies could reinforce each other across entire provinces. This helped the AI out no end, mainly because you couldn't pick off their armies one at a time. So now I have two questions:

1) Would Anabasis mod work with AE or not?
2) Seeing as movement range has been increased, do you plan on increasing the zone of control to match?

Trying AE for the first time, I can understand the comments and complaints about the campaign movement range. It's very, very difficult to cover any choke points, and armies can simply by-pass your army/ies leading to infuriating circumstances where small armies can outmanouevre your forces and capture your settlements. While this is admittedly a threat to your plans with Anabasis mod too, you can actually deploy your armies to cover certain approaches. You could even split your army up to defend different entrances into regions, and still be able to reinforce each other in battle.

[ABH2]

Posting this, though its mainly related to our Attila project. Asking for people to support:

I'm calling on people to show their support of not just this mod, but all the major overhaul projects for Attila. Doomon, a modder who has done several beautiful battle maps for Attila, has recently documented issues with the map editing tools provided by CA to include Terry not working at all. Terry is the mod tool which will allow us to bring custom battle maps into the campaign, but there are also major bugs with TED (the battle map editor itself).

Please go here and add your support to Doomon's complaints.

We ask that you be polite and respectful. The mod tools CA gives us are expensive and difficult to support. As a modder, I'm thankful for and appreciative of what we get. But I can't emphasize how critical they are to the overhaul mods (not just our own, but Medieval Kingdoms, Rise of Mordor, and all ambitious overhaul projects). These mods help to prolong the shelflife of TW games. We all know this, and I'm sure CA does, as well.

1) Would Anabasis mod work with AE or not?
2) Seeing as movement range has been increased, do you plan on increasing the zone of control to match?

1. No, it would not unless you removed all our of battle components.
2. This was done initially, but that produces its own problems and tends to draw in garrisons. Beyond that, the main issue as I see it is that you never actually control territory in Rome II or Attila. Zones of Control do not work as they are supposed to. By this I mean, if the army has movement points, it can *always* pass through your zone of control no matter how large it is. So, if you put your army at a river crossing, the opponents army can very easily bipass if it has the movement to cross and go through the zone of control. Similarly, if you can move beyond a cities zone of control, it doesn't really matter. You can move right through it.

Increasing it would help slightly, but also create other odd problems. Drawing in the entire local garrison from what in reality was like 50 miles away isn't exactly a great solution as I see it. It also means you can just take that territory with one battle and avoid sieges.

What I would like to do is simply fix zone of control so it operates as it is supposed to. You hold a piece of territory and to enter or go through it, you need to engage in battle. Despite what many people think, this is not how it works currently in Rome II. I learned that the hard way myself when playing a few times when the AI just skipped passed my armies like they weren't there.

It's a very easy change to make for anyone interested in giving it a go. Go into the pack file -> db -> campaign_variables -> @i_stances_campaign_variables. Find zone_of_control_land_radius and change it from 3 to 4 or 5 or as high as you'd like and see how it plays. I think I initially tried it with 5 and didn't much like the results myself for the reasons mentioned.

In terms of some of the movements mentioned here, I don't mind the results. Bipassing a major army with a smaller force, or getting across even a river guarded - those things actually happened. I get some of the frustration and it's not ideally how it should work. In real life, two armies would have met up near a river and played some cat and mouse games or tricks would be used etc. That doesn't really happen here. I'd point to Hannibal's ability to maneuver around the Roman armies even when they outnumbered him greatly. The space on the campaign map with the cities and armies ends up being congested often times, but we are still talking pretty large distances and room for armies to outmaneuver one another.

In general, I'd just advise using more armies and garrisons. Make sure that you have your territory protected.