Generals sure can take alot....

[JeffSteel]

...or The Achilles of Baktria!

So i was hunting down a rebellious Baktrian dog today, when I noticed that under a hail of arrows that would have anihhilated most any other unit (including this guys bodyguard in a previous engagement from which he fled, tsk tsk) this guy just stood there and took it, like it was a sweet summer rain!! Here's some screenshots to illustrate, notice the ammo bar of the horse archers as it empites. (disclaimer: dialouge added, just because....)

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/JeffCSteel/Screenshots/RomeTW2007-03-0715-48-08-07.jpg

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/JeffCSteel/Screenshots/RomeTW2007-03-0715-49-27-15.jpg


..... twenty minutes later....

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/JeffCSteel/Screenshots/RomeTW2007-03-0715-49-55-93.jpg

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/JeffCSteel/Screenshots/RomeTW2007-03-0715-52-57-70.jpg

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/JeffCSteel/Screenshots/RomeTW2007-03-0715-53-42-23.jpg

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/JeffCSteel/Screenshots/RomeTW2007-03-0715-53-58-06.jpg

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/JeffCSteel/Screenshots/RomeTW2007-03-0715-54-04-04.jpg


So I suppose the lesson is, just charge the infidel and get it over with, because otherwise your just wasting time....

[Watchman]

Talk about hardcore. :cool:

[antisocialmunky]

One of the Byzantine factions heirs must have timewarpped in from Medieval: Total War again. You gotta fix that rip the fabric of space-time in 0.81b, guys. ~:cheers:

[CaesarAugustus]

That is probably my single, greatest annoyance in EB, that generals are so resilient to, well, everything.

P.S. Don't you want to get rid of those green arrows?

C:/Program Files/The Creative Assembly/Rome Totalwar (that EB is installed to, if you made a copy)/EB/preferences.txt

Then, scroll and change DISABLE ARROW MARKERS:FALSE TO DISABLE ARROW MARKERS:TRUE.

[Intranetusa]

^ lol, that happens to me all the time during seige battles. I kill off all the enemy units and the general is the only enemy left in the town center. Then I station all my infantry & skirmishers and surround the town center & throw my pillas/javelins. It usually takes 2 minutes of javelin throwing to finally kill the general.

[Rilder]

You know his moral thing almost looks like " Unhappy over lack of casualties"

[Watchman]

Now that would be truly badass. "'Tis but a scratch."

[Danest]

I've seen the Achilles-generals too, and yet, I had a general of my own pop almost on impact with the enemy - was ramming a phalanx from behind, and he died within a handful of seconds. It's almost like sometimes something's sticking, or malfunctioning, forgetting to add damage to these lone generals.

[QwertyMIDX]

Yeah, CA decide in their infinite wisdom not to give generals independent, moddable stats, or even to tell us where their stats come from. The current theory (as far as I know) is that they use the stats of their unit, but with a lethality of 1 and multiple hit points.

[JeffSteel]

This particular incident just seemed hilarious to me, as all my units were at least 3 bronze cheverons in experience, so they could do plenty of damage. This guy wasnt the first uber general though. Back when the parthians existed, they attacked one of my towns with a nearly overwhelming force. I defeated them in a heroic victory, but their general was incredible. He sat all alone, his gaurds already slain, in a sea of my troops. It was interesting to see him drift about depending on who was stabbing at him, as if being carried on a current. It took several hundred troops surrounding the guy hacking away at him for ten or so (game) minutes (as I soon put it on triple speed) before he finnaly fell. :dizzy2:

[Juvenal]

I was recounting a similar experience with an enemy general with a charmed life in another thread when it occurred to me that they all seemed to have glass jaws in Vanilla.

I think it is great to have tough generals - it helps with role-play, you can build up an active dislike for a particular character if he has caused you casualties and escaped your clutches on several occasions.

Even though they are often difficult to kill, it is not as extreme as Medieval I, where an enemy King could slaughter whole units single-handed.

So what has changed? I know the kill rate is lower - but this wouldn't single out the general for survival. It must be something to do with traits - E.B. has orders of magnitude more traits then Vanilla. I am beginning to feel guilty for not giving them enough attention during my single-minded quest for World Domination and shiny new buildings.

[Tiberius Nero]

Yeah, CA decide in their infinite wisdom not to give generals independent, moddable stats, or even to tell us where their stats come from. The current theory (as far as I know) is that they use the stats of their unit, but with a lethality of 1 and multiple hit points.

I am a bit confused, you mean that EB hasn't touched generals' hitpoints but all depends on the generals' bodyguards' stats? How can it be then that in RTR general bodyguards have 2 hp, while generals are incredibly easy to kill (quite a few times it happens that they die on touching the enemy on the first charge) and in EB generals' bodyguards have 1 hp and the generals themselves simply don't die?:inquisitive:

[Danest]

I think it may apply to more than just generals, though. I had Pyrrhus "pop" on impact with levy hoplites just after writing my last post. Then, in that same battle, I had my elephants literally pushing around a _single_ skirmisher for about 30+ seconds, without him dying. It really looks like the game gets "stuck" sometimes when there's only one man left in the unit, and because the general is a little tougher than the normal man, he's often that last remaining invincable survivor. But I know something's horribly wrong when a little skirmisher is playing "pet the elephant" and he's become like achilles. If it's a bug, it's far from universal and constant, though, so it's hard to test conclusively - this would be the first time I've seen something as weak as a skirmisher do it.

[Tiberius Nero]

Still, in RTR it is a very rare occurence that the general will be the last man standing in his unit; most of the times if the unit has taken around 50% casualties he will most likely be among them. In EB the general is most of the times the last to die or at least doesn't die before the bodyguard unit has suffered 80-90% casualties, in my experience.

[QwertyMIDX]

I am a bit confused, you mean that EB hasn't touched generals' hitpoints but all depends on the generals' bodyguards' stats? How can it be then that in RTR general bodyguards have 2 hp, while generals are incredibly easy to kill (quite a few times it happens that they die on touching the enemy on the first charge) and in EB generals' bodyguards have 1 hp and the generals themselves simply don't die?:inquisitive:

The General's stats seem to based on his unit, with the exception of leathality, which always seems to be 1, and hitpoints, which have a base number and then are changed by traits.

[antisocialmunky]

I think it may apply to more than just generals, though. I had Pyrrhus "pop" on impact with levy hoplites just after writing my last post. Then, in that same battle, I had my elephants literally pushing around a _single_ skirmisher for about 30+ seconds, without him dying. It really looks like the game gets "stuck" sometimes when there's only one man left in the unit, and because the general is a little tougher than the normal man, he's often that last remaining invincable survivor. But I know something's horribly wrong when a little skirmisher is playing "pet the elephant" and he's become like achilles. If it's a bug, it's far from universal and constant, though, so it's hard to test conclusively - this would be the first time I've seen something as weak as a skirmisher do it.

Well, since RTW displays the exp as an average of every man in the unit and levels units up during the game by default(I'm not sure you can change it), depending on the circumstances, that skirmisher might have managed to gain several chevrons. Plus, elephants can be a little random to say the least.

[Intranetusa]

Literally took me 2 minutes on 3x speed to kill this lone general with my hoplites. XD

https://img297.imageshack.us/img297/5897/diegeneraldiecd0.jpg

[Digby Tatham Warter]

I quite like the extra long life generals, despite that it can be over the top.
It makes for difficult knife edge battles.

I was attacked by the Krauts, playing as the Dacians, and heavily out numbered I was to.

The struggle ended up being centred around their Gen, and it was the struggle of downing him, that made the battle tense, as my forces were about to break.