Famous Heroes...where are they in SP?

[greymeister]

The French general in charge of Champagne's fort at the beginning of the High ages is Henri Cour but I'm not sure if this is a hero or not (he's not that great). Anyone else know?

[Theodoret]

With regards hero monarchs:

I have had Frederick II (Barbarosa) as emperor when I played the HRE. He even had a custom portrait with a prominent red beard. I think he appeared towards the end of the High period in my game.

Some of my Byzantine Emperors had very familiar names as well but I am not sure whether the were heroes or just a product of random name generation (I have had a Michael Paleologus, but not as Emperor alas).

[Huzzah!!!]

I know this is an old thread, but in case anyone else googles across it while searching for hidden heroes in M:TW, i've found that poking around in "c:\\Total War\campmap\names" gives most of the information you'll need, Gisbourne is ANY assassin made by the english after 1190; and there are a whole list of other tweakable things you can do to the game.

[edyzmedieval]

Who exhumed this post?!

Huzzah, you chose an original way for an entry

[ichi]

One of my favorite hero-types is El Cid, I think he starts the game in Valencia and can be bribed (not always tho) giving you a 5-star gen.

ichi

[British Mutt + Viking]

The heroes are very tricky, for some will only appear with rebels in certain provinces which a good ruler should never have to worry about rebelling, like Robin Hood in Mercia during the 1300s, William Wallays in Scotland, a real nasty Irishman in Ireland, & so on. Some have some useful traits, but the price of drivin a prvince into rebellion, no easy task for real old provinces, losing a province full of infrastructure, bribing the leader (IF they actually show up, for the years can be tricky) & then rebuilding the damage is just not worth it. You are more than likely to have trained up better generals by then.
Also, a lot of these heroes are not well done, having skills now representative of their historical impact. For example, El Cid was not a great attacker, he was known for the love he inspired in his troops & the people of Valencia (They wouldn't have tied him to a horse to keep the troops fighting if he wasn't loved), and his near blind obsession with loyalty, even to kings who treated him as little more than the scum on a boot, which is represented almost perfectly by the "fearsome4" trait (+3 loyalty,+6 morale,+10 happiness), but instead, he gets a wimpy "attacker" trait (+ 2 stars, only when attacking). This must be a game balancer ( thye must have meant to give him the fearsome4 at first), but it is a rather silly one. If one wants to balance the game & prevent El Cid becoming the dominant force on the map, make it a King's Ransom + interest to bribe him, or give him merely two stars, for he was not actually a great general in terms of strategy or tactics, his men fought like demons for him, overcoming the odds.
Now myself, I admit I decided to make three copies of the names file, re-wrote one to be realistic historically, then another which I personally tailored to give me an army of ready made governors (high piety, loyalty, & acumen), super generals to lead armies (high stars, +morale traits, high loyalty), & made an assassin who never fails or dies. The third file, I keep unchanged in my back-ups incase I make a change that causes trouble. I agree I "cheat" in that regard, but who cares, it is only SP. ~)