Valour and Morale

[Gilrandir]

I have always regarded valour as the most essential feature of a unit, because (as I believe) it helps the unit stay fighting longer without routing. But now I'm told that morale is also important. So, the questions arise:
1. Am I right in guessing that it is the valor that is responsible for the unit's staying longer in fight, or does morale have anything to do with it?
2. If it doesn't, how is high-morale unit different from a low-morale one in terms of its performance on the battlefield?
3. Which is better - a high-valour unit with low morale or a low-valour unit with high morale?
4. Can one see the morale of a unit in any stats?
5. I know that constructing religious buildings increases the morale of units produced in the province. Is morale somehow influenced by the happiness of the province (do I have to build the brothel chain as an additional means to boost morale)? And how does happiness matter anyway?
6. I know that in battle the troops get a morale boost from the proximity of the general. How close the general must be? At what distance (and measured in what units) does the morale-boosting string, that ties the general and the unit, snap?
Too many questions, ain't it?

[Ironside]

I have always regarded valour as the most essential feature of a unit, because (as I believe) it helps the unit stay fighting longer without routing. But now I'm told that morale is also important. So, the questions arise:
1. Am I right in guessing that it is the valor that is responsible for the unit's staying longer in fight, or does morale have anything to do with it?
2. If it doesn't, how is high-morale unit different from a low-morale one in terms of its performance on the battlefield?
3. Which is better - a high-valour unit with low morale or a low-valour unit with high morale?
4. Can one see the morale of a unit in any stats?
5. I know that constructing religious buildings increases the morale of units produced in the province. Is morale somehow influenced by the happiness of the province (do I have to build the brothel chain as an additional means to boost morale)? And how does happiness matter anyway?
6. I know that in battle the troops get a morale boost from the proximity of the general. How close the general must be? At what distance (and measured in what units) does the morale-boosting string, that ties the general and the unit, snap?
Too many questions, ain't it?

1. One valour adds 2 in morale to the unit (the valour added from the general is excepted), so higher valour pretty much defaults to longer staying power before rout. Outside this, the only bonus valour gives, is that stronger units wins more, thus being less prone to rout.

But it's only the morale value that decides if the units stays or flees. There's some full data about this but basically you have the base value, add all morale factors (both positive and negative) and if this is below a certain number, the unit will rout.

2. High morale units are very hard to rout. My super general (8-stars and +10morale) had only 1 single unit breaking under his command under his whole career. That Saracen infantry had 98% losses, so it's understandable. 12 morale + indirect bonuses by the general.

3. Depends on the situation. High morale units are hard to rout, while a strong, but low morale unit can be routed by a flanking attack. High valour has a tendency to combine both so it's always preferble.
To take a unit example. Regular halbs got good stats, but low morale. That means that they can still rout in a fight that they should eventually win. Ghazi infantry dies in drowes in a bad situation, but stays until the end.

4. Been a while since I played, but F2 or F1 should do it. It gives the base data for the battle, while the added factors are shown while hovering the speciffic unit (afraid of flanking, confident that the flanks are covered, loosing badly, confident by proximity of the general etc.)

There's a list of those added factors here somewhere.

5. Only church type buildings gives the morale boost (well those buildings that says that they increase morale, can variy in a mod). Happiness is irrelevant here, it has only to do with province loyalty.

6. Don't remember this one. Maybe something about 50 or 100 feet. It's the "confident by the proximy to general" added moral modifier anyway.

[econ21]

Gilrandir, it sounds like you would benefit from reading Frogbeastegg's guide to MTW:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...eval-Total-War

For example, that explains what valor does - point for point, it's better than morale, because not only does one valour give two morale, it also gives one attack and one defence. However, comparing valour and morale seems something of a false dichotomy as - at least in SP - you can't choose your valor. It's just essentially just experience and more experienced troops are better than less. You choose your units and their morale stat is something to consider, along with the "harder" stats of attack, armor, defence etc.

To see morale stats of individual units, you could look at frogbeastegg's unit guide:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...War-Unit-Guide

However, I don't recall being that concerned about morale when picking troops in MTW SP as typically you choose the best units for their role (rock-paper-scissors) and morale either doesn't differ among the possible picks or is higher for the better equipped units (feudal sergeants to chivalric sergeants is one salient exception to this; I suspect the lower morale of the upgraded unit is a balancing issue because chain armor is just so good).

However, when using troops, I am mindful about their morale. I would be careful some fragile units like woodsmen (morale -2) and line units that were suprisingly poor in morale such as Chivalric sergeants, Byzantine infantry etc (morale 0). They need to be kept out of missile fire if possible, supported and ideally near a general. Conversely, some high morale units like ghazis are like psychotic energiser bunnies and can be left to do or die, usually dying but to glorious effect.

[Stazi]

Is valour gained during battle added instantly to a soldier or is calculated after the battle?

[drone]

As the others have stated, morale is the sole measurement as to whether a unit stands or runs. I think I got all of the morale modifiers in the wiki, most came from the official guide or the numerology threads. The page also has the sliding scale used to determine the morale state of a unit.

For #6, it's 50 meters for the +1 per general's star.

Valour adds +1 attack, +1 defense, and +2 morale per level. So it's important for unit effectiveness, and a high valour unit will have a high morale as a result.

[econ21]

Is valour gained during battle added instantly to a soldier or is calculated after the battle?

I suspect it is instant. In later games (RTW onwards), you can see it being gained in battle, as there is a shiny, star glittering effect around the unit.

[Ironside]

Is valour gained during battle added instantly to a soldier or is calculated after the battle?

Instant. It's even calculated for every induvidual in the unit. The displayed value is an average.

[Gilrandir]

So, to draw a conclusion, valour (not morale) is a key factor for a unit to stay fighting longer. But several times I had an army headed by a six-star general (thus, the troops having valour 3) pretty close behind the frontline which routed a minute after the first impact clash with the attacking enemy headed by, say, an eight-star general. As it couldn't be explained by the significant valour supremacy of the enemy, I was told that morale of my army could be responsible for the rout. Well, in that case morale did matter?

[Stazi]

Morale is always key factor. Valour is one of the variables that changes it. One of the most important but not the only one. Your high rank general can e.g. has some vices that reduce morale. Commanders of each unit can have them too. There are several effects that reduce morale during battle (loses, flanking, fatigue, being under fire, far from general etc.). IMO the most dangerous is the chain reaction when one of your units starts to run away and others follow. So it's very important not to send morale weak units to the front line where they can initiate such a reaction.

[Ironside]

So, to draw a conclusion, valour (not morale) is a key factor for a unit to stay fighting longer. But several times I had an army headed by a six-star general (thus, the troops having valour 3) pretty close behind the frontline which routed a minute after the first impact clash with the attacking enemy headed by, say, an eight-star general. As it couldn't be explained by the significant valour supremacy of the enemy, I was told that morale of my army could be responsible for the rout. Well, in that case morale did matter?

To clarify about morale.
A 20/20 unit with -15 morale is almost impossible to deploy and will rout for almost anything. The thing with valour is that it's very hard to get such a unit, since having 10+ valour (the valour needed to get those stats) is giving 20+ morale simply by itself.
A -20/-20 unit with 15 morale will vaporize with enemy contact, but will fight to the last man.

So combat valour is the best stat because it boosts everything (well not arrow resillence, but the rest), but your troops' staying power is 90-95% decided by morale.

Low morale can be given by generals with severe morale penalties. -3 is possible to handle if the troops are upgraded and the general got a few star under his belt, but the only general with -6 that can still be reasonably deployed are a 6+-star one and his 4-star replacement will be more reliable. If -9, then you're lucky if your line even make contact with the enemy.

To understand morale, try to fight 6 units of early royal knights with 5 spearmen, all troops unupgraded. You'll win, if you can keep your spears from routing. That's at morale 0.

Roughly, troops at -4 morale can rout even when winning and beating the crap out of an enemy flank. This is why glutttony sucks on a general, since if he routs, he gives morale penalties afterwards.
Troops at 0 are a hassle, one minorly exposed flank on one unit can cause your entire army to rout, even if there's no real danger.
At 2 they start to become more reliable, but still fragile and at 6+, you won't see any unexpected routs (at this point, you can use them as horse archer bait and let the horse achers hit them in the back).

[bunt0025]

it's 50 meters for the +1 per general's star.

Ever tested to see if it isn't JUST the general's stars that have a morale boosting radius? What about another leader (obviously not 'called' a 'general'... but a unit having a leader with many stars, also)? Think it excludes their influence, since... well basically they have no command... aside from their unit?