Investigation of general bodyguard size

[A.Saturnus]

On request of Simetrical, this thread investigates the factors influencing the size of general bodyguard units.

[Kraxis]

Obviously the faction leader and his heir have enlarged guards, now since those two have a special trait then perhaps it could be generated in the traits. That fits somewhat effectively with the common feeling that the bodyguard of a good commander is often larger than a poor governor.

[sunsmountain]

I've seen three types of bodyguards:

Faction leaders,
Faction heirs, and
Governors (neither leader nor heir)

From observation so far (not checked): The base bodyguard (on Huge), for leaders is 80 cavalry men, heirs is 60, normal governors 40. To this number is added a certain amount based on age, as far as i can tell. Retinues and ancillaries should expand bodyguard size as well, but i am not sure.

It's clear however, this time around, that bodyguard sizes are also scaled to unit scale, as opposed to MTW. (Where playing Denmark meant playing on a lower unit scale to make your princes fight better)

[A.Saturnus]

I checked all my family members in my current Germanic campagne. Hard/hard, large units. I only noted ancilliaries and traits that seemed possibly relevant.

[table 1 2 2]
=#Men|=Command|=Valour|=ancilliaries|=traits
=26|=2|=1|=Fam.Warrior, Vet.Warrior, Shieldbearer|=InthePink Berserker
=36|=1|=0|= |=BeeninWars, FactionHeir
=24|=2|=0|= |=BeeninWars
=24|=0|=0|= |
=24|=0|=0|= |
=24|=2|=1|=Shieldbearer|
=48|=6|=5|=Bodyguard, Fam.Warrior|=FactionLeader
=38|=6|=4|=Shieldbearer|=BeeninWars, Disinherited
=26|=0|=0|=PriestofWoden|
=26|=2|=1|=PriestofDonar|=UntouchedbyFear
[/table]

Any ideas?

[Simetrical]

Let's change that slightly. Assuming you're using vanilla:

[table 1 2 2]
=#Men|=Command|=Valour|=Personal Security|=HP|=Faction
=26|=2|=1|=+1|=+2|
=36|=1|=0|=+2|=+2|=Heir
=24|=2|=0|=+0|=+2|
=24|=0|=0|=+0|=+0|
=24|=0|=0|=+0|=+0|
=24|=2|=1|=+0|=+0|
=48|=6|=5|=+5|=+0|=Leader
=38|=6|=4|=+0|=+2|=Disinherited
=26|=0|=0|=+0|=+0|
=26|=2|=1|=+0|=+0|
[/table]
Let me formulate a hypothesis. My guess is that the variable of primary importance is the state of being a) a faction leader, b) a faction heir or former faction heir, or c) a regular family member; and of secondary importance is a random factor. Organizing the table by the primary factor first, then by bodyguard size, we get:

[table 1 2 2]
=ID#|=#Men|=Command|=Valour|=Personal Security|=HP|=Faction
=1|=48|=6|=5|=+5|=+0|=Leader
=2|=38|=6|=4|=+0|=+2|=Disinherited
=3|=36|=1|=0|=+2|=+2|=Heir
=4|=26|=2|=1|=+1|=+2|
=5|=26|=0|=0|=+0|=+0|
=6|=26|=2|=1|=+0|=+0|
=7|=24|=2|=0|=+0|=+2|
=8|=24|=0|=0|=+0|=+0|
=9|=24|=0|=0|=+0|=+0|
=10|=24|=2|=1|=+0|=+0|
[/table]
I see no correlation between the two-man differences in unit size and any other factor I've charted. Any of the four factors should put #5 as less than or equal to #7-9, but it has more guards. Two uncharted possibilities are Influence and age. I'll do some more research into this when I get the chance, but I don't expect that to be for a while.

-Simetrical

[Dearmad]

Regarding the above:
Wrong data gathered = wrong conclusion drawn.

I think it has more to do with influnce... something like X*influence + base size modified to bonus faction leaders and maybe heirs.