Announcement: Europa Barbarorum II 2.3 released!

[MrKhazar]

Open battles on Medium difficulty feel so realistic and balanced now. Fantastic work. Sieges need a little bit of work, but they're very exciting nonetheless. In one siege battle, as a defender, once the enemy climbed up on my walls the enemy was able to go around to another side and walk right in with no trouble. Is that how sieges are supposed to work? Also, when you look at this image have the yakety sax song playing in your head while the lonely spearman runs in place, and no one is able to kill him.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Colos1987]

Colos, are you playing a Roman campaign on 2.3 version? If so, did you have any problems with choosing your successor?

Choosing is okay, whether he will actually be successor... that's too early to tell.

[QuintusSertorius]

The pathfinding in sieges is intrinsically broken, so we are limited in what we can do with them.

[cowrecked]

They mostly are. Since I'm roleplaying (as much as possible), I 1st took Magna Graecia, then desimbarked in Sicily and besieged Messana triggering war against Carthage (I also got the pop ups for that, btw), etc. So, apart from Tarentum, Syracuse and Massilia I did not choose allied governments. I want to have a romanized province of Galia Cisalpina asap, aswell as Sicilia, and Corsica/Sardinia.

Just wanted to pass these guides along; I too roleplay my Romani campaigns, and refer to these all the time.

[EB AAR] Quintus Sertorius' Guide to Conduct Becoming of a True Roman (Redux for EB) - a bit out of date, but still some very useful info

Historical Expansion SPQR - updated city names and full Roman conquest timeline. Some city names may have been changed in 2.3

Also this list of console faction names. Every dozen turns or so I'll use "toggle_fow" in the console to see what the AI is doing, and if someone needs a boost, I'll send them some cash. Just recently Koinon Hellenon was down to one mainland city, besieged, at around 255BCE (and Rhodes), so I sent them some funds to get back on their feet:

"add_money f_kh, 10000"

Hope this helps!

[Raiuga]

http://steamcommunity.com/id/raiuga/...view=imagewall

Sorry if this is known (I did a quick forum search and found nothing) but are your Toxotai pointing their arrows backwards when they are preparing their volley?

[BHL 20]

Can someone tell me what changes have been made to Rome in 2.3?

[QuintusSertorius]

Can someone tell me what changes have been made to Rome in 2.3?

It's in the spoilered changelog on the first post.

[parthian8]

I decided to play an Epirus campaign. No-one likes a devilish challenge more than me.
I loved the sheer adoration that went into “The Soaring Eagle.’ He’s not short for sycophantic courtiers this Pyrrhos guy, is he?
The campaign has clearly been thought about with great care. I love all the painstaking little touches.
My first lucky break is that my spy happens to be thoughtfully placed right next to the city I plan to attack, and with a 59 per cent chance of getting in and opening the gates, which he does. Yay!
Not like those silly Macedonians. What were they thinking of, having their spy in Pergamon and their diplomat in Syria? Fat lot of good they are there. No chance of them making peace with Greece.
The Spartan king was foolish enough to be lured away to Krete, but has forgotten to take an army. I wondered. Is he on holiday? Makes no difference, as his fleets are also so far away (one is by Crimea!) as to make his timely return impossible. I’m wondering how he got there, as his other fleet is near Alexandria.
So Sparta falls into my lap, and far from wishing to avenge this dishonour, the Greeks obligingly decide they want to attack Demetrius, allowing me to walk into Korinth. Within a couple of turns I’ve successfully beseiged Athens itself.
Poor Milon in Taras might have paid for this, but the Romans had a change of heart, and decided they didn’t want it.
Thermon sits like a fat juicy turkey at my mercy.
Tricky to see how I can win from here…..

[Raiuga]

I decided to play an Epirus campaign. No-one likes a devilish challenge more than me.
I loved the sheer adoration that went into “The Soaring Eagle.’ He’s not short for sycophantic courtiers this Pyrrhos guy, is he?
The campaign has clearly been thought about with great care. I love all the painstaking little touches.
My first lucky break is that my spy happens to be thoughtfully placed right next to the city I plan to attack, and with a 59 per cent chance of getting in and opening the gates, which he does. Yay!
Not like those silly Macedonians. What were they thinking of, having their spy in Pergamon and their diplomat in Syria? Fat lot of good they are there. No chance of them making peace with Greece.
The Spartan king was foolish enough to be lured away to Krete, but has forgotten to take an army. I wondered. Is he on holiday? Makes no difference, as his fleets are also so far away (one is by Crimea!) as to make his timely return impossible. I’m wondering how he got there, as his other fleet is near Alexandria.
So Sparta falls into my lap, and far from wishing to avenge this dishonour, the Greeks obligingly decide they want to attack Demetrius, allowing me to walk into Korinth. Within a couple of turns I’ve successfully beseiged Athens itself.
Poor Milon in Taras might have paid for this, but the Romans had a change of heart, and decided they didn’t want it.
Thermon sits like a fat juicy turkey at my mercy.
Tricky to see how I can win from here…..

Nice description, did you saw the need to destroy buildings in Taras and Pella to gain money? Haven't played Epeiros in 2.3 but their initial campaign position seems promising.
Anyway, the most fun campaigns I had with Epeiros was getting Pyhrrus killed in the first few turns, loose everything exept the capital and then trying to conquer Ilyria with Alexandros and his army of pure levies...Such good memories

[The Despondent Mind]

Can I trouble anyone with just a screenshot of Aegean sea part of the map?

[Genghis Skahn]

Here's the Aegean.

[Ivir Baggins]

In the handbook it says that Pergamon's fallback reform requires them to own western Anatolia up to Galatia (and for the Seleucids to be evicted entirely, presumably including Tarsus).

In the Reform requirements thread it says to own western Anatolia *including* Galatia.

Which one's right?

[neo_deus]

Hi guys. Noticed something yesterday. The UC of the Hastati (Polybian Reform) does not have a transparent background. Nothing too serious, ofc, but I know that's not the kind of polished finishing you guys at EB aim for.

One other thing, while playing Roma I received a pop up about "Iberian Panoply Reform". Is this appearing by mistake or is it supposed to?

[neo_deus]

@Cowrecked

Cheers the input, mate! That is some very interesting stuff, and I'll give it a more thorough look asap. Is there such a thing as force diplomacy for M2TW though?

[cowrecked]

@Cowrecked

Cheers the input, mate! That is some very interesting stuff, and I'll give it a more thorough look asap. Is there such a thing as force diplomacy for M2TW though?

Yeah, once you've chosen all the terms you'd like, hit the "?" on the top right corner of the diplomacy window, then the AI will accept whatever you want.

In terms of roleplay, I try to not rely on that for ceasefires etc, or at the very least try to make the offer "balanced" before forcing the terms. If you're at war, for example, and the AI doesn't want to stop, I try to capture a city that I'm not really intending on taking just then so that I can offer it back as part of a ceasefire.

[myarta]

In the handbook it says that Pergamon's fallback reform requires them to own western Anatolia up to Galatia (and for the Seleucids to be evicted entirely, presumably including Tarsus).

In the Reform requirements thread it says to own western Anatolia *including* Galatia.

Which one's right?

They both are. "Up to Galatia" can be interpreted as "Up to the border with but not Galatia itself" or as "Up to and including Galatia." I see it written in the short form "up to Galicia" to mean "up to and including." For example, if you can purchase "up to 3 tickets per credit card" or something for a limited seating venue, I wouldn't take that to mean that you can only purchase 1 or 2 but not 3.


Here are the exact cities for the fallback

These must not be owned by the Seleucids but can be rebel or owned by someone who isn't you:
Nikaia (Nicaea)
Halikarnassos
Side
Amaseia
Sinope
Trapezous
Mazaka
Tarsos

The following must be owned by you:
Pergamon
Ephesos
Ipsos
Ankyra

One other thing, while playing Roma I received a pop up about "Iberian Panoply Reform". Is this appearing by mistake or is it supposed to?

All factions interested in that region are included in the reform notice. It will affect what units they can recruit there as mercenaries or in their governments (especially allied which give more locals) so they're told. Specifically, the people notified are: Areuakoi, Carthage, Lusotannan, Romans, Aedui, Aruernoi, and even the Boii. That's right, you can bring your Boiis to Spain

Yeah, once you've chosen all the terms you'd like, hit the "?" on the top right corner of the diplomacy window, then the AI will accept whatever you want.

In terms of roleplay, I try to not rely on that for ceasefires etc, or at the very least try to make the offer "balanced" before forcing the terms. If you're at war, for example, and the AI doesn't want to stop, I try to capture a city that I'm not really intending on taking just then so that I can offer it back as part of a ceasefire.

Couple of notes related to this:

1. There will be no confirmation that you have clicked this button, but when you ask them to accept the deal after you've clicked it, they will if they are able.
2. There is an innovative script we have that helps encourage the AI to be more disposed to peace if the war is not going well, since as we remember the Vanilla AI just wants constant war (btw playing on VH campaign difficulty will also make it very hard for them to accept reasonable deals without using the force diplomacy workaround). It's based on the number of turns at siege, and on how many units they've been cranking out lately (tracking replacements as armies are destroyed), and I think maybe some other factors. As the war slogs you, you should find them more willing to accept peace. Or yeah, take land you don't want to keep and trade it back is a great idea.

[neo_deus]

I used force diplomacy sometimes on RTW/EB, mostly to drive things in a more historical way. It's a lotta a work though.
Like, on my current campaign, I think I hurt Carthage too badly, too fast. In the course of our 1st war I was being overrun at sea, so I rapidly took their mediterranean islands. This has made them too weak, I'm affraid. They couldn't resist the eventual Numidian onslaught and have already lost Carthage itself, Adrumetum and the City north of Carthage (can't remember the name). They are holding out in Iberia for now, even though they're at war there aswell against the Aurekoi. The latter are also at war with me in Gaul, wich could explain some of the carthaginian victories in Iberia, with them diverting resources North.

I have been considering using force diplomacy or not. On one hand, I think "well, the Numidians, getting Carthage and the other Poeni settlements in North Africa, will get at least some punic units (I think), so it's kinda like fighting Carthage when the time comes." On the other hand, it's not like that at all and I know it.

All factions interested in that region are included in the reform notice. It will affect what units they can recruit there as mercenaries or in their governments (especially allied which give more locals) so they're told. Specifically, the people notified are: Areuakoi, Carthage, Lusotannan, Romans, Aedui, Aruernoi, and even the Boii. That's right, you can bring your Boiis to Spain

Cool! I enjoyed the reading too.


Say, is the "force diplomacy" the same as for RTW? Or does M2TW has its own?

[myarta]

Force Diplomacy has been a console command but it needs a special script to be able to trigger it at whim by the player. I think the lines of code to do that are basically the same across the two engines, but I haven't really developed for RTW so I don't remember anymore.

The current Force Diplomacy script is integrated into the main campaign script in EB2, so all you have to do is hit that advice ? as mentioned.

[QuintusSertorius]

Force Diplomacy (and perfect_spy) don't work when entered in the console, which is why they've been integrated into the script instead. You can toggle perfect_spy by clicking ? on the help menu.

[neo_deus]

Force Diplomacy (and perfect_spy) don't work when entered in the console, which is why they've been integrated into the script instead. You can toggle perfect_spy by clicking ? on the help menu.

Oh dang, that's just perfect!

@Cowrecked:
I see now that you had alresdy said this, but I didn't get it 'till now lol