This should be changed !

[Old Templar]

While playing the Egyptians and Turks I noticed the "power" of these unrealistic 8- and 9-star Byz-generals. Although only appearing with 40 kata-units they routed and defeated my 3000 well-equiped troops lead by a 4-star general. This is unrealistic and has not happened since Hitler (just kidding).
This needs to be changed.

[Sir Robin]

What difficulty level were you playing on?

I have noticed that the harder the level you are playing on the better your opponents' generals will be.

Though the Byzantines do have some outstanding royals early on. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[Old Templar]

I played Turks/Hard. I s this hard-coded or can this be changed a little?

[The Gauch0]

I don't know how much of this stands up to solid history, but there is a strong anecdotal and folkloric tradition of great warriors defeating vast numbers of enemies during this period of history.

Although I couldn't say what kind of numbers were involved, I remember from reading about Hannibal years ago (pre-Medieval, I admit, but perhaps relevant) that his army defeated drastically superior numbers on numerous occasions, and those victories were almost always the result of superior generalship. (Most often by surprising the enemy with unorthodox tactics).

I'd say it's an exciting challenge to face such a superior general. An answer might be to look to your missile troops and ballistas and try to decapitate the enemy's army. Or try to draw the general into a trap--maybe a feasible tactic if the general commands a cavalry unit. Get him to charge a faster unit that can lead him into a swarm of spears, then close from the flanks.

Personally, I'd like to see the problem of tough enemy generals a bit more often.

[hrvojej]

You're playing the Turks, use the numerous archers that you have at your disposal. Same with the Egyptians. Pester them with horse archers and only once they have been seriously dwindeled press on. Although you might still have problems with those tanks in early, they are bound to do way less damage. Turks have nothing that can take the kataphraktoi head on for a very long time, so think about how you can change tactics to adjust to that. And use Armenians for the final charge. Good luck http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ziphnor]

When playing as the spanish on hard i had a similar problem. I took out the almohad and egyptians in the first 20 turns or so, after that i went for the byzantians.
I nearly lost a battle that should have been easy because the enemy general managed to fight 2-3 units of fedual sergeants + 1-2 units of royal knights(at the same time), and almost decimated them all(he fought as 1 single guy for 15 minutes or so before dying). I've had similar problems with other byzantian generals as well. After a while i just learned not to tie up too many units against the general(which is otherwise a pretty safe bet since it usually means the enemy routs).

[Sir Robin]

It is hardcoded.

[Portuguese Rebel]

If you have VI this is not hardcoded. Go to campmap\names\Default_heroes.txt and edit the famous kings line. I think the number under (a.) gives the command rating (not sure, try out the numbers, one changes acumen, other piety...). You can give your turks good kings if you want.

[Leet Eriksson]

its not impossible,i read on those kats by arab historians and they admit the heavily armoured kataphraktoi packed a punch(in arabic they called them Al Fursan Al Rum,or Al Qawareh="Heavy hitters")

EDIT:err sorry did'nt provide a good tactic on how to defeat those generals.the only way i did it was by sending vast amounts of troops and hit them early on before the byz establish a good economy and an army.If they did,i would retreat from every battle they went into to thin out and spread their forces and slowly retake the lost territory.

[Nowake]

I really don'y understand ... Your troops have the valour 0 or what? Anyway, use crossbowmen, you'll get each and everyone of them.

[hrvojej]

Just playing the Egyptians, and camelry in combination with Ghazis works wonders against kats. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Brutal DLX]

I understand his problem. Ever tried to hold ground or even attack with a 0 or 1 star general against a 9 star one? No matter the quality of your units, it will get ugly, especially at higher difficulty settings.
So, my tip would be, always getting your best general out there, and if you have just a low one, whittle down the enemy army by attrition first, sending cheap stacks in, the AI doesn't retrain units, so after you did that a few times, there should be a lot of battered enemy units on the field who can be routed more easily.

[hrvojej]

Quote[/b] (Brutal DLX @ June 16 2003,03:21)]So, my tip would be, always getting your best general out there, and if you have just a low one, whittle down the enemy army by attrition first, sending cheap stacks in, the AI doesn't retrain units, so after you did that a few times, there should be a lot of battered enemy units on the field who can be routed more easily.
But the units still gain valour from the kills, which they are bound to get if you send in the rabble, so although you might be facing fewer men, they'll have even higher morale etc. And the AI doesn't retrain units, but it does combine them ("tidy up") after the battle, so instead of 2 units of valour 0 kats, you might be facing 1 unit of valour 2 kats. This is the reason why I would opt for counterunits, such as camels.

[The Gauch0]

Try as many of your best missile units as you can field with a barely adequate screen of spears. If you can really load up on missiles and keep your distance enough to keep them from charging, you might be able to wear them down enormously. Sometimes you can get them sitting in a good defensive position and send missile units a few at a time without provoking a charge. Spend all your ammo (and your reinforcements' ammo) and then withdraw if you haven't suffuciently decimated them.

Another tactic is to simply mass such a large army that they retreat to the castle, and then lay seige and wait for the big, tough general to croak in his sleep. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

On defense, it can also be really effective if you sit on the high ground with as many missile units as you can protect (seige weapons help too). If you can keep them from flanking you and keep them from mounting a successful charge, you can wait them out. Just make sure you have plenty of missiles in your reinforcements so you can keep bringing out fresh ammo. I've had great success against really tough generals doing this. If you can fill the air with so many arrows (downhill of course) that he can't initiate a successful charge, then often he'll retreat, gaining the "good runner" vice. A few of these, and he's much less intimidating.

[Brutal DLX]

Quote[/b] (hrvojej @ June 16 2003,22:16)]But the units still gain valour from the kills, which they are bound to get if you send in the rabble, so although you might be facing fewer men, they'll have even higher morale etc. And the AI doesn't retrain units, but it does combine them ("tidy up") after the battle, so instead of 2 units of valour 0 kats, you might be facing 1 unit of valour 2 kats. This is the reason why I would opt for counterunits, such as camels.
Of course they do, if they have a lot of the same units. But even then there will be some units that are soemwhat depleted. Of course if you attack it's nice to have an army specifically tailored to counter the units the AI has, but it's even more important to have a good general yourself. People tend to underestimate the influence of generals.

The valour gain isn't that important as those units get a high valour anyway because of the 9 star general.
Bottom line is you have to reduce the enemies' numbers or else you will stand little chance, whatever army you're using.

Oh and missile units are really important, you could use those for the attrition attacks, but take less of them for the real battle, as you will need punch to rout the enemy and possibly capture/kill the general.

[Captain Fishpants]

Quote[/b] (Sir Robin @ June 13 2003,15:53)]It is hardcoded.
No, it's not http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

MikeB ~ CA

[Papewaio]

My cunning plan is to use pointee sticks.

Long slow 'uns called speazs

Short fast 'uns called awwows and boltz.

[monkian]

: )

And paint red sripes on the hosses to make 'em go fasta

[o_loompah_the_delayer]

On the plus side your own king and princes are often just as tough to kill so you could use them to take on the katas, after tiring them down a bit first of course

[Sir Robin]

It's not hardcoded?

Yeah http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Time to unleash my modding skills and break the game... again.

Uninstall and Reinstall here I come