Generals and Command

[Skyduke]

Hi! Long time lurker here. Howdy to everyone...

I have a question, for which I cannot seem to find an answer. Namely, what the heck do I have to do in order for my generals to gain good command? I read "On the feeding and breeding of governors and generals", but that didn't seem to be quite enough. I still have family members that are sharp/charismatic/vigorous, that I send as generals, that win tons of battles with bad odds, and still cannot get more than one or two stars. Whereas, there are others who fight one measly battle with rebels, and get things like corona civica or decorated hero on the first try. Is it all just random? Or are this better "genetic stock"? I understand that fathers sometimes pass on their traits to their sons, but here I am more looking at their capacity to learn (which I thought was sharp/charismatic/vigorous, but I must have been mistaken...).

Can anyone help me? Thanks a lot! If it really is ALL random, I'll accept it and just suck it up and fight battles against AI generals with 6+ starts routinely while the cream of the roman legions are stuck with 3 at most. But it just seems sorta silly.

[fraoula]

Okay. First of all morale bonuses are way better than command stars.
Secondly a mans gens influence how easily he gains "stars".
Thirdly you should make sure that your generals don't spend too much time in the city instead of the field since the will become lovers of beauty.
Finally if you search the unofficial modding projects I am pretty sure you can find a way to switch back to the vanilla form.

[Macilrille]

Congrats on your first piost, always good to see a lurker come out of the closet.

From experience and a couple of thread on the matter (you are not the first to ask this question) I can provide a few points that might enlighten you.

Actual command in EB has less to do with the number of "stars" than it does in Vanilla.

You get command traits by spending time in settlements with war-temples and academies+ (I think). Or my way, fighting battle after battle. Like you I send the S/C/V characters out to fight (if Roman I let them stay a bit in settlements with war temple and academy or better if Sweboz I charge them out right away), and it works fine. Just not as fast as in vanilla.

be aware also that you can transfer the Corona Civica and other such ancillaries (except a few select ones like the Coronae I think), to make better commanders.

[Skyduke]

So, is morale better than stars? In which way? And how does it interact with experience? I understand one tack of exp raises attack and defense. More morale means the troops will not break?

[fraoula]

Every command star increases the morale to the units close to the general. However it is unrealistic to have 16 year olds with 3 command stars not to add gain a command star every two battles like in Vanilla. So in order to gain morale bonuses you can train your FM's ( in settlements with schools, academies etc.) were they can increase their retinue with armoure's orators and the such or switch retinue between various FMs. Also spending too much time in the field can give them traits like strong language ,foul mouthed etc.
Finally, yes, more morale means the troops do not break. You can have a crash test on some 8 star generals near the Alps.

[seienchin]

So, is morale better than stars? In which way? And how does it interact with experience? I understand one tack of exp raises attack and defense. More morale means the troops will not break?
In my eyes this is just a common disbelieve in this forum. Stars also increase the morale of the troops and give boni for the fighting skills, when the general is around.
In EB its for the most factions impossible to get any skilled FMs, when the player uses them. The barbarian have a slight advantage, but unless you are the Ki youll never reach 10stars in EB.
There is a submod that fixes that issue so check out the minimod section.

By the way,
Although it is written that smarter FMs are better general, I alsways end up with the dummies to be better ones.

[Labrat]

The development team of R:TW has been a bit vague on the exact effects on command, but yes, it does improve the fighting skill of the soldiers. Check out this LM thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?44549-Research-Effects-of-Command) for details.

[Epimetheus]

From what I can tell, command stars mostly effect the AI's battle performance, not yours. Particularly with autocalced battles. A ten star general will be able to thrash an army of superior size and quality in autocalc, while a starless general is quite likely to lose a battle, even if he has every strategic advantage.

[mcantu]

per CA, command stars give a morale bonus to units close to the general (distance changes based on influence level) as well as a defense skill bonus to all units in the army. they do not affect attack at all...