Hint: Passing on ancillaries to younger faction members

[Guyus Germanicus]

This is not news to old timers and veterans. But I like to share with new players of Roman Total War that there is a way you can pass on the ancillaries in one of your faction member's entourage to other/younger family members in your faction. Got a governor who has a bunch of people in his entourage that you'd like to pass on to a younger member of your faction so they don't get lost when the governor dies? Got a really obnoxious ancillary (slubberdegullion or pet idiot) in the entourage of one of your good generals or governors you'd like to pass off to the mad man in your family?

Simply co-locate the faction member who possesses the ancillary you want to give away to the same gameboard map position with the faction member you want to pass the ancillary off to.

Left click/select the army or city where they're located. Then right click on the faction member's icon who has the ancillary you want to pass off. Put your cursor on the image icon of the ancillary (be it a chirugeon, mercenary captain, whatever) and drag and drop it to the faction member's picture that you want to receive him located at the bottom of your game screen where it shows the units of your army. Yes, it's that easy. :sweatdrop:

Sometimes I have faction members that I am well satisfied to keep stationed as governor in one of my important cities. They're doing me more good there than leading an army in the field. But they have acquired ancillaries in their entourage that are beneficial for army command (like a chirugeon) that they will likely never use. I like to pass those kind of ancillaries to my new in-laws or coming-of-age sons. It is highly likely that some of those good ancillaries will later be restored to the faction member that you took them from. So in the end, you haven't lost anything. If they stay put in the city they're currently governing, they will likely reacquire the ancillary.

Also, there are times when your talented faction members acquire some really obnoxious member in his entourage. :furious3: The bad ancillary reduces that family member's administrative skills, or influence, or command talent. If you can manage it, co-locate that faction member with one of your family members who is hopelessly plain, hopelessly debauched, or mad as a hatter. The lunatic or loser will likely not be any worse off once you pass him the loser ancillary, and your family member with the talents and abilities will be free of debilitating influence in his entourage. :balloon2: And interestingly enough, I have not yet had the experience of a faction member reacquiring a bad ancillary after I gave the badboy away to another faction member. Of course, someone might want to confirm if they've experienced otherwise.

There are some interesting ancillaries and entourage members out there. I believe Aesculapius has a write up posted here at the Guild. I printed it off once. It's very useful information.

If any of you have interesting stories or strategies to share about ancillaries - chime in!

[Myth]

I usually get the Faction Leader's entourage at the start of the game and distribute them amongst the younger members (as the FL is usually close to 60). When the game starts spewing worse and worse family members (insane, drunk and incompetent) you can designate the family fool to carry around all the "Drunken uncle"s and other such bad ancillaries. Once he is done with the cleaning, suicide him - now you have a cleaner genetic pool for your faction AND you have gotten rid of those annoying escorts.

[ReluctantSamurai]

If you can manage it, co-locate that faction member with one of your family members who is hopelessly plain, hopelessly debauched, or mad as a hatter. The lunatic or loser will likely not be any worse off once you pass him the loser ancillary, and your family member with the talents and abilities will be free of debilitating influence in his entourage.

I had a rather amusing experience with this particular tactic. As the Seleucids, I believe, I handed all of my not-so-good ancillaries to the above mentioned "mad-hatter". I sent him off on a suicide mission all by himself to capture Palmyra. The place had been attacked several times by the Egyptians, who were repulsed, so the garrison wasn't at full strength.

But still....Arab cavalry, Camel Archers, a couple of depleted Desert Infantry....I figured he'd be a pile of bones in the desert sands. But.....................

..............noooooooooooo! He captures the place:dizzy2: all by himself:dizzy2:

After that, I didn't have the heart to have him attempt suicide again, so I left him as resident governor until he died. Thankfully, he had no children:laugh4:

[Guyus Germanicus]

I had a rather amusing experience with this particular tactic. As the Seleucids, I believe, I handed all of my not-so-good ancillaries to the above mentioned "mad-hatter". I sent him off on a suicide mission all by himself to capture Palmyra. The place had been attacked several times by the Egyptians, who were repulsed, so the garrison wasn't at full strength.

But still....Arab cavalry, Camel Archers, a couple of depleted Desert Infantry....I figured he'd be a pile of bones in the desert sands. But.....................

..............noooooooooooo! He captures the place:dizzy2: all by himself:dizzy2:

After that, I didn't have the heart to have him attempt suicide again, so I left him as resident governor until he died. Thankfully, he had no children:laugh4:

Now THAT'S one 'elluva story! Wish I'd a seen that one. :)

[ReluctantSamurai]

Yeah....it was an eye-opener. I used auto-resolve, of course.....it was a suicide mission, after all:laugh4: He went from a single bronze chevron to three silver:dizzy2:

I like RTW but not enough to archive all the zany twists, so no screenies:embarassed:

[Myth]

Had a similar expereince in one of my Brutii campaings. Pubilus the Mad went on a rebel slaying spree in Italy and died from old age despite my best efforts :)

[Shibumi]

Clearing up rebels is a great use for unwanted generals...

Generals do however seem a little squishy, compared to, say, the generals in M2TW.