SPQR with BI.exe

[Garbarsardar]

Thanks Garbarsardar for trying to help,

But I plan on releasing very soon a version of 6.3 for BI.exe. This will have some features that only BI has like Swimming units and Hordes as well as some other things.

Lt

[Garbarsardar]

That's splendid news indeed...

[Konig]

wow! make this official, and ill definitely get BI!

[BNS]

whoo hoo ! i get to start my campaign .... again ! j/k the features this will bring are worth it in the mean while, is there a way to make the current campaign work on bi exe?.... and by that i mean playing the current one the bi engine. ( not how to convert it to a bi mod ) i know eb, chivalry and some other mods can do this....

No reason to do it now until I add the extra BI stuff, the AI is NO better.

actaully it is confirmed that the bi ai can better handle and perfom naval invasions

[Marcus Tullius Cicero]

im also not sure whether it is CONFIRMED i just thought it was a rumour plus i plyed bi for about 1 month after i first got it and was never under attack from naval invasions etc......

[lt1956]

No reason to do it now until I add the extra BI stuff, the AI is NO better.

[Garbarsardar]

No reason to do it now until I add the extra BI stuff, the AI is NO better.

In my current campaign (Rome, VH/M) I noticed much more seaborne assaults. Except the standard (Carthaginians attack Caralis) and the odd (Macedonians land in Italy) I had three landings in Messana by Carthage and two by Greeks in Taras (while Sicily is mine). Usually Carthage stoped attacking Sicily when Lilibaeum fell.

So, probably the AI is no better but it handles naval invasions in a more systematic way.

If I see any other difference I will post...

[-|I_L|-Empire]

Yea, but can't LT just over ride AI with the Current AI, i mean im finding SPQR 6.3 AI rather good!

I mean it would be good to see shield wall, horde mode and religion being important in the campaigns, and modify the AI to make it do things, like Invasions, defending, assisting etc....

(BTW LT did you make it so two AI forces act as one massive force? - because I had a battle where two almost Full forces of Gallic troops formed one huge formation, yes they were Gauls and it looked like a Roman formations but hell they owned my Legion and were only defeated because they were exhausted and my 2500 Re enforcement army came on the field.)

[Marcus Tullius Cicero]

Yea, but can't LT just over ride AI with the Current AI, i mean im finding SPQR 6.3 AI rather good!

I mean it would be good to see shield wall, horde mode and religion being important in the campaigns, and modify the AI to make it do things, like Invasions, defending, assisting etc....

(BTW LT did you make it so two AI forces act as one massive force? - because I had a battle where two almost Full forces of Gallic troops formed one huge formation, yes they were Gauls and it looked like a Roman formations but hell they owned my Legion and were only defeated because they were exhausted and my 2500 Re enforcement army came on the field.)

yh lol i had this happen to me i was seiging darantasia when the gauls had two full stacks come out of nowhere and relieve the full stack garrison the two field armies formed one huge formation while the garrison came from behind my forces!!!

my pre marian legion (already a bit bloodied) stood no chance and it was wiped out completely after i killed about 20% of their men lol

[Konig]

yeah in my campaign, Carthage sent an invasion force while i was sieging Lybaeum, but they disappeared as soon as the city fell.

[Darius_D]

Nevertheless, since start of the game the main danger is coming from Gauls and not Carthage.
This is not very logical, as the main target of expansion before Marius should be Carthage and war with them, not with Gauls.
For me Carthage should have possibility to attack not in Sicily but in Italy mainland, so it's just to apply more realistic Hannibal scenario.

[Konig]

i saw, what i thought to be a good idea in the Ortus Romani forums. In the start of a campaign have one stack of Carthaginians in South Italy under the leadership of (you guessed it) Hannibal. It could be used in SPQR as a replacement of one of the gladiator stacks. however imn not sure if the starting date for the campaign games match the 2nd punic war.

[Darius_D]

sure it's great idea. and its quite easy to change. guess what I do since 6.3 is launched...

[Marcus Tullius Cicero]

i also think this should have been the case...

the gladiator stack in Taras region at start of campaign is fairly superfluous they dont attack and you should only face them with 2 or more imperial legions or suffer monumental losses! (i should no i lost about 3500 pre marian men in total from 2 legions whilst achieving a close victory!)

Lt put them there i think to add a bit of variety to the game but mainly to stop blitzing, the hannibal army could be used in exactly the same way but be more historically accurate and it would be in Ai control and therefore it would potentially threaten romes very survival (as it should).

I think rome should therefore have an extra army to the south (near Hannibal) to represent the roman consul (cant for the life of me remember his name ) chasing down hannibal while hannibal burns roman fields etc

the army should be all raw recruits to represent a levied army (as the romans did in that time of need) with a few mercs here and there to represent a haphazard assortment of men along with the roman regulars.....

if only i could mod....... lol.

[lt1956]

On invasions, I have seen Sicily be invaded in RTW 1.5 But there may be a slight improvement on invasions, but its nothing spectacular. lol

Swimming units will help Bridge Battles, Reimmerging factions is a BIG one as I use the old Province trick now to keep Scipii alive. lol

And then there are Hordes, that would be Nice to have a NEW factions pop up later and say be HUNS. ;-)

Over all I have no plans to use Shield wall because you cant use Testudo with it, as for Religion its useless for SPQR;s time period. I am not making a BI mod, just using some BI features for those that have the game already. The difference between the 2 will be minor really.

Here is th Problem with Armies UNLESS the AI has a province in the area under their control they will just Sit and do nothing. lol Example would be Roman Rebels, place an army their on italy and they do nothing, Give them a city and they start attacking. The Same thing would be with Carthage, give them one of the italian Cities they armies on Italy will attack, without it they will sit there or hop on a ship and leave.

Sorry but CA made the game, I just try to mod it. lol So really it doesnt matter on the Army I choose, it will just sit and do nothing, it surely wont bother to attack so far away from a home province. Funny thing to watch is an Army that Rebels in SPQR and then Watch the Army MOVE to the upper left corner trying to get to that little Island. lol Reimmerging factions could fix this in BI as well as Armies not attacking? But I am unsure.

I have a few surprises for BI.exe when I make the Small Port. Download should be small like 6.3 this allows one to download without having to wait forever.

One thing I couldnt do in SPQR with 1.5 is trigger complete revolts of Citys to Rebels, but I can do so in BI. This could have serious strategical effects in the game, imagine Cities revolting with your Legions in SPAIN or Egypt!

[jegui]

I have a few surprises for BI.exe when I make the Small Port. Download should be small like 6.3 this allows one to download without having to wait forever.

now this is good news but I have the classic question Will SPQR for BI.exe be compatible with SPQR 6.3 saved games... say yes please

[Black Francis]

Looking forward to 6.3 with BI. I have not played SPQR in over a year!

[Konig]

stop talking about BI before i get a coronary, coz of the excitement!!

How about giving Taras to Carthage (or whatever the most southern Italy settlement is called). Would that make Carthage's AI more aggressive? Any way i guess it might not be necessary if a BI port is done.

[Marcus Tullius Cicero]

Lt i wouldn't mind uploading the bi patch once its finished if you so wish..... (filefront as before)

ps i cant wait!!! havent played with bi's features since i finished playing the vanilla (apart from night battles lol) it was the bright mono coloured units that put me off - garish.....

[Darius_D]

How about giving Taras to Carthage (or whatever the most southern Italy settlement is called). Would that make Carthage's AI more aggressive? Any way i guess it might not be necessary if a BI port is done.

In my tests I gave to Carthage Capua + 3 veteran stacks with Hannibal in field the same province, Taras to Greeks and Beneventum to Roman Rebels (with Samnite gladiators+ 1 army on field. I removed gladiator rebels, and 3 legions of Senate. All in close alliance against Rome (year 216bc, just after Cannae, settings M/M).
When I play as Rome, one Carthaginian stack immidiately attacks Roman Paestum, Roman Rebels filed army attacks legion of Vibius Julius standing in their province. And Gauls attack like normally in SPQR from start. Very quickly Paestum, Genua and Arminium are lost if no defense. Later Hannibal went and conquered Reghion. All South was lost. Then Roman Rebels decided to attack Asculum, but usually they do not engage unless enemy intheir province, Sometimes Greeks may help them from Taras. Senate is as very slow in helping, you need to rely on Roman Julii. So this is time to proove being true Roman...
When playing as Carthage, Roman Rebels behave same way, but surprise - Gauls don't hurry to attack Romans (they didnt even after 20 turns), so playing as Carthage it is more difficult to conquer Italy.
No doubt - gameplay cannot be perfect with this AI, anyway - this is much better to start SPQR like this.
(Of course I was playing passive. I can send my files to LT if needed)

As for BI I wonder if events like Spartacus uprisings can be triggered by Horde option.