Pre-decided outcomes?

[jrexchandler]

Hello All,

I was testing some things out and I saw that one really great general with high stats was always assigned to the 5th unit that I trained after the current year.

Sometimes he was with a group of Royal Knights, sometimes with Feudal Men-At-Arms and sometimes with pesants. Whatever the fifth unit was.

Also he always had the Moral Flexability Vice.

In addition, I sent a 3 valor assassin to kill a 0 valor emissary. The percentage the computer gave me was 94%. However, the assassin was killed. When I reloaded and tried again, the same thing happened. So, as a test, I tried it about 10 more times. The assassin was always killed. Even when I tried to use a different one, he was killed too.

This makes me question the 'percentages' that the computer gives you. Is it cheating? I just don't understand how these things(general ratings, storms, assasinations) are decided.

Are the ratings of your generals, the reactions to proposals of marriage/alliances, storms, floods, etc scripted? Or are they taken out of a pool of possible outcomes?

(If this post seems jumbled or rambling, it is the result of two posts on another *ahem* less reliable *ahem* board)

Thanks,

Rex

[JoeBax]

Very interesting. I had noticed the lack of randomness when I had to reload a previous save but I did not test such things as you have. I presume only a developer can answer this question.

I would guess though, that in the case where it gives you a 94% chance of success there must be some other factors that arent in that percentage. Maybe there is a bug or maybe there are other factors that the developers didnt want to be seen by the player attempting the bribe/assasination.

[Hasek]

While I'm pretty sure the fifth year uber general is preset. I've had times with my 7 star assasin dieing when attempting to kill someone the first time but then succeeding when I reload so atleast for my campaign nothing seems to be predecided. I've also noticed that only some factions get the mentioned uber general while others are pretty random. (I got a trained a max loyalty 6 acumen viking http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif 6 ac cause of thinker virtue. So I dont dont know whats up maybe you just hit an incredibly unlucky streak http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[jrexchandler]

So, the 'Fifth Year Uber-General' is a known item. Does this happen every fifth unit or what?

Thanks,

Rex

[KukriKhan]

Interesting analysis/query of the game's algorythms jrexchandler...and BTW: welcome to the.Org http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

As Joe Bax said: only a developer can answer your questions for certain (they do read these forums, and occasionally grace us with their wisdom http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif ).

I sometimes start wondering about the random-pull-from-the-pool of possible results thing myself - not because I'm unhappy with the result so much, but I do wonder if the game's logic 'keeps track' of what I do over time, or recalculates my relative 'position' each turn.