Ranked Admirals

[Parmenion]

I've seen many AI controlled factions that have Admirals that are ranked (ie; have 1 or more stars) but none of my units have ever had an admiral of any note. Do you have to train admirals specially or do you need to put a faction heir in command of the fleet?
I'm currently the Carthaginians and I totally own the mediterranean but I have no admirals with any ranks.
Also, in every naval battle I have (and I win 90% or more battles at sea) none of my units have gained experience - ever.
Is this a known bug?

[71-hour Ahmed]

Nah, I've had a two star admiral in one game dominating the eastern mediterrean. Maybe you are too dominant in your naval battles, or need to let the same ships fight several battles?

[Lichgod]

In my Carthagian long campaign, I eventually got some 2 star admirals by building the 3rd sized ship at Syracruse. I dont think I recruited at any other location, just normal ships. Not every ship built there and it was awhile.

[Nelson]

I have a Scipii admiral with 4 stars. Admirals can have retinues like generals. Ships built in ports or spending time in ports having academies, scriptoriums or curias can add to an admiral's retinue resulting in extra stars.

[SpencerH]

I have a Scipii admiral with 4 stars. Admirals can have retinues like generals. Ships built in ports or spending time in ports having academies, scriptoriums or curias can add to an admiral's retinue resulting in extra stars.


I also have a 4 star admiral as the scipii and whole boatload of two stars. In fact, I have too many admirals since they cant merge fleets (ie I cant have a stack with two 2 star admirals).

I'm not sure if they only occur when you build quinqiremes but thats how it seems to be.

[RedKnight]

Nelson, thanks for that tip - it makes a lot of sense. I know where I'm gonna park my boats a little while!

But Spencer - did that port have a library, like Nelson said? Try building a bireme in that same port. Or a quinqereme elsewhere. (I just started a new game so I'd be hard put to do either.)

[SpencerH]

Nelson, thanks for that tip - it makes a lot of sense. I know where I'm gonna park my boats a little while!

But Spencer - did that port have a library, like Nelson said? Try building a bireme in that same port. Or a quinqereme elsewhere. (I just started a new game so I'd be hard put to do either.)

Yes, it's possible that the scriptorium or even the ludus magna makes the difference since I've never built a quinqereme in a city without one. I'll look and see later, but I'm pretty sure I've built a few biremes in cities with at least scriptorium and they were not admirals (but then not every quinqereme is either).

[Dorkus]

According to export_descr_ancillaries.txt, there are 4 retinue who get command:

1. Shipwright (1) linked to shipwright building, only available to newly created admirals. 4% chance for every new admiral.
2. Seamaster (2) linked to dockyard building, only available to newly created admirals. 20% chance for every new admiral.
3. Navigator (2) linked to movement. 5% chance for every admiral that has 0 movement points left.
4. Priest of Neptune (2) linked to neptune temple (second level). 15% at creation.

There's also one unique ancillary linked to the academy (that goes to generals, not admirals) and is turn limited. But i'm not convinced all of these unique ancillaries actually exist, since the probabilities indicated in the file are too high (80% chance for samos)