Announcement: Europa Barbarorum II 2.35A R3.5 released!

[QuintusSertorius]

Posted this in the wrong section, haha. Will there be a changelog listing the most striking or vital changes of R3 (which will hopefully be out very soon)? Just like, up to 5 bullet points or so...Might as well call this the EB2 2.35 R series...haha!

I'll keep dumping the logs from the SVN in this thread.

[Aodh Mór Ó Néill]

Is R3 in the oven?

[bismarck 1899]

Just had an heroic victory with a Pritanoi youth in which he killed quite a few and lost 40% of his unit. He is also vigorous. Still got the weak kingetos trait directly after the battle. Before that he was an aux general in a clear victory in which the main general got the kingetos title???

[QuintusSertorius]

Is R3 in the oven?

I'm still compiling changes...

[bismarck 1899]

I started an Averni campaign and the Aedui have two towns and a really big army. So I looked at the faction rating. The have an army twice my size (I have three towns and barely make 1k a turn) and from turn 5 to turn 17 their fortune jumped from 4k to 34k? I'm playing on hard. Is it supposed to be like this? I played on hard so that the rebels actually attack but this money thing is extreme.

[Shoebopp]

I started an Averni campaign and the Aedui have two towns and a really big army. So I looked at the faction rating. The have an army twice my size (I have three towns and barely make 1k a turn) and from turn 5 to turn 17 their fortune jumped from 4k to 34k? I'm playing on hard. Is it supposed to be like this? I played on hard so that the rebels actually attack but this money thing is extreme.

Yep, that's the money script. Normally it helps the AI recover from debt, but every Spring the script also gives the AI a massive stimulus check to encourage it to build stuff. Looks like you checked the faction standings right after the AI received their check.

[bismarck 1899]

Yep, that's the money script. Normally it helps the AI recover from debt, but every Spring the script also gives the AI a massive stimulus check to encourage it to build stuff. Looks like you checked the faction standings right after the AI received their check.

phew... that seems a bit much. Thanks, I thought I was crazy.

[QuintusSertorius]

There are multiple parts to it. Their debt is zero'd every turn, they get a small amount based on the number of provinces they have (past 6 provinces this disappears) and every spring they get a big lump sum.

They also have any totals over 50k taken away.

[redin5ide]

Sounds like it's a lot to be compiled. Should we wait for a sort of a big thing ��?

[QuintusSertorius]

Sounds like it's a lot to be compiled. Should we wait for a sort of a big thing ��?

No, keep playing and giving me feedback on what's working and what isn't. That makes it less likely that there will need to be a Release 4...

[Aodh Mór Ó Néill]

About the Eperiote reforms:

- I believe that you're encouraged to transition to federalisation from centralisation if all of the Aikides die out, right? But as it stands, doing so would require voluntarily giving up Sicily. If the goal is to encourage players to federalise in the late-game, the Sicily requirement should probably be removed from the federalision path.

- I'd be interested to hear the reasoning behind federalisation governments being available in Rhegion and Korinthos? I would have thought Taras would have been a better Italian candidate?

[bismarck 1899]

Would it be possible to make the forth settlement level available for the Pritanoi if the reach the Kingdom arise level? It always bugs me that I become very strong as them but still cannot build cities. Could it be modded in if you have very little understanding of how to mod the game?

[QuintusSertorius]

About the Eperiote reforms:

- I believe that you're encouraged to transition to federalisation from centralisation if all of the Aikides die out, right? But as it stands, doing so would require voluntarily giving up Sicily. If the goal is to encourage players to federalise in the late-game, the Sicily requirement should probably be removed from the federalision path.

- I'd be interested to hear the reasoning behind federalisation governments being available in Rhegion and Korinthos? I would have thought Taras would have been a better Italian candidate?

No, they're actually alternative paths, rather than there being an expectation that you do one, then the other. You can go direct for Federalisation by killing off the Aiakides early on if you wanted to.

I'll have to ask, but it was very specifically intended to be those two.

[leongiannakos]

Will the AI backstab me if I have an alliance with it in very hard mode ?

[Aodh Mór Ó Néill]

No, they're actually alternative paths, rather than there being an expectation that you do one, then the other. You can go direct for Federalisation by killing off the Aiakides early on if you wanted to.

I'll have to ask, but it was very specifically intended to be those two.

Ah I see, I thought I saw someone here mentioning the opposite.

Thank you, I just thought those two were a bit of a random choice (not that I'm any sort of expert).

[bismarck 1899]

For the guide. For the celtiberian city state reform you need an client or merc colony. Problem is that the guide is a little confusing because only one of the three mentioned cities is named correctly. The other two are actually the name of the province.

[Shoebopp]

Will the AI backstab me if I have an alliance with it in very hard mode ?

It's possible that backstabbing behavior is tied to both the "war-weariness" script and if the allied AI faction borders regions not allied to it. If the AI suddenly becomes "warlike" due to the script, and is completely surrounded by allies or powerful neutral nations, it will have no choice but to attack an ally. We all know that the AI prioritizes attacking the player... so take these into consideration when evaluating a longtime ally's current schemes. Try to have spies scour your neighboring factions to see what their situations are.

For example, when playing as Pontus, the player can expect Hayastan to almost never attack you since Hayastan is surrounded by rebel settlements. Pergamon, however, is a different story. Once they've taken the kingdom of Bithynia, which itself borders your starting capital, they'll have nowhere else to go. Pergamon is surrounded by the powerful empires of the Seleucids and Ptolemies, and the hellzone known as Galatia is rather unappealing. Pergamon will surely attack you upon bordering you. Of course, paying them 10,000 mnai to secure an alliance will reduce the likelihood of this scenario, and may even nudge them to expand into Thracia instead.

Now, here's an interesting strategy to penalize (not prevent) an allied faction for backstabbing you. In the M2TW engine, if faction A is allied with faction B and faction C, and B attacks C, faction A will almost always side with the victim, which in this case is faction C. To take advantage of this mechanic, you could ally yourself with an ally of your ally, creating an ostensibly reliable triangle of alliances. You're not doing this for mutual defense though, but instead for insurance. If either of your allies backstab you, their alliance with the other will be broken. Now the backstabbing aggressor will have not only an enemy faction (you) and a disgruntled former ally to deal with, but also suffer a MASSIVE hit to its reputation from backstabbing an ally and breaking ties with another.

You should take into account the starting alliances of EBII when planning your Triple Alliance. The best example IMO are Hayastan and the Seleucids, which are an appealing pair for Pontos. In the unthinkable scenario that Hayastan betrays the Pontic player, Hayastan would have to deal with a pissed off Seleucid Empire at its doorstep.

Anyways, TLDR, alliances don't guarantee anything, but they do provide a small measure of security and even insurance if played right.

[bismarck 1899]

a celtiberian problem. Just had my faction leader die in battle and his heir just started a 5 year merc journey to Sicily. Which means 5 years with a leader outside of the capital, with 1 authority. There should probably be some kind of event. Like heir recalled. Another question, if I send somebody to Sicily as a merc does this means that his herd will implode?

edit: i tried to take the new faction leader out of the settlement but even after 4 turns he could only move one field. I guess that means a five year nosedive for the Celtiberians until he is done.

[Shoebopp]

a celtiberian problem. Just had my faction leader die in battle and his heir just started a 5 year merc journey to Sicily. Which means 5 years with a leader outside of the capital, with 1 authority. There should probably be some kind of event. Like heir recalled. Another question, if I send somebody to Sicily as a merc does this means that his herd will implode?

edit: i tried to take the new faction leader out of the settlement but even after 4 turns he could only move one field. I guess that means a five year nosedive for the Celtiberians until he is done.

It's probably too late for me to be saying this, but NEVER move a mercenary FM out of their settlement. It messes up the script/traits. Is your faction leader permanently movement-impaired? Though you're right about a recall event. I wonder if it's possible to have a trigger that fails the mercenary adventure if you step outside your base of operations settlement. Kinda like the Agoge mechanic.

[bismarck 1899]

Ok, this has to be shared.
I'm trying to get the 4 Archons as the Hellenes and the game is breaking me.
The first time I got the 4 Archons, that very turn the faction leader who was one of them died.
After another another 20 turns I got the 4 Archons again but now another one of the Archons died on that very turn.
I was sitting here, laughing in disbelieve.
Now I have to wait again 12 turns for another guy to reach 40... and one of the Archons is already 63...