Just how does general get more stars

[RedKnight]

Can somebody explain the intricacies of a general gaining rank (past giving them titles, and assuming you win almost all battles http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif). It seems easier to gain rank at lower levels; almost any battle will get you to 1-star. But at higher levels, like 6 stars, it seems real hard to get a star... and, for example, I wonder if it helps to win against big odds... or other things that might help.

[Blodrast]

(won battles - lost battles) = x.
when he won more battles than he lost, he gains a star.
for the first star one battle is needed (x = 1), for the second star x = 2 (_another_ 2 extra battles need to be won and none lost, or 3 more won and 1 lost, etc), for the 3rd star 4 extra battles, etc.

[katank]

it's very difficult to win extra stars as you can see but titles help and a 5* with say const. gov title is effectively a 7* but only need the victories necessary to advance from 5* to 6* to go to 8*.

try to also get skilled vices.

skilled attacker/defender vices can be obtained by winning when outnumbered and this can quickly progress to create nice generals quickly as often you only need some attacking gens, some defense ones, other assault ones, etc.

these vices are a lot faster than obtaining full command stars.

[Blodrast]

yup, katank is right.
there are a lot of provinces that give you command stars.
btw, is there a full list of what each province gives you ?
i mean, just the bonuses, nothing else...

[RedKnight]

ah thanks you too, that clarifies it. Blodrast, for 3*, you meant to say that one has to win 3 more battles, not 4, right?

I suppose there's also a bit of a strategy to assigning titles that give stars... since it's harder to earn higher stars, they are best given to guys who are already high stars. and since they can be stripped and swapped at will pretty much, it's not a big deal to re-arrange them later if/when somebody else turns out to have higher stars naturally.

Edit - yeah Blodrast, Yakobu and Tricky Lady made a region spreadsheet that includes that, here (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=18344;hl=income). Also it's in the campmap\startpos\ .txts, if you want to see the raw info.

[YAKOBU]

Thanks for the reference RedKnight http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Blodrast]

sorry for the slow reply, crappy junior patron status.
no, i meant 4. the required number of _additional_ (won battles - lost battles) is doubled for each subsequent start.

so, supposing you _never_ lose any battle, this would look like:

1 battle -> 1st star
2 more battles -> 2nd star
4 more battles -> 3rd star

so for 3 stars you would need 1 + 2 + 4 = 7 battles won more than lost.

sorry, hope this was clearer than before.

thanks for the reference, too ;)

[RedKnight]

omg, that's gonna be a LOT of battles for the 9th star a 2^n rule, where n= number of current stars (e.g. 1st star is 2^0=1 battle)... for 9 stars, 2^8 is 256 and the total number of battles fought along the way, would've been 512. (more, if you lost some)
speaking of more... I think I need some more ale http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/barrel.gif

I see what you mean, katank... and it's good to know that stars from a title don't count toward the number needed

[katank]

yep.

I almost always try to get Const. and Trebizond.

add to that COnstables and marshals can I can immediately grant two generals 4* apiece and 5*'s aren't nearly as hard to come by to be made into a 9* this way.