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View Full Version : Questions about unit statuses and morale



hrvojej
09-19-2002, 09:48
1) When a unit has an elite status, it says in the info that it will ignore the routers who are not elite. Does that mean that they'll stop chasing the enemy units iwho are not of elite status, or that your own non-elite units who are routing will not affect them morale-wise? What does "elite" really mean?

2) "Disciplined" status means that the unit doesn't get a morale penalty when the general dies/is captured, right?

3) If the general is routed off of the field, do the units get the same penalty as if he was killed/captured? Do they get any penalty at all, apart from the case where he routs through them, just as any other unit would do?

4) If general is not on the field any more, either dead or escaped, do the reinforcements receive the penalty to their morale as well, or just the original bunch who were there to witness it?

5) If the general is dead, does another general take over? Sometimes, after the battle in which I kill the original general,
I look at the enemy army and see that a new guy, who is now the general of that army, has a "good runner" or a similar vice that he didn't have before. This would indicate that he actually took over the command. But, this could also mean that somebody who is "utterly fearless" could take over, and the units would be even harder to rout than under the original general, for example.

6) I have noticed that the valour bonus for a leader of a particular unit is added to the unit although he is not commanding the entire army. Does the same apply with the morale-affecting V&Vs, say that his unit will have a higher morale than it should based on just the main general and its own valour? If the leader of the unit gets killed in the battle, is his valour bonus immediately subtracted from the unit? Does the death of the leader affect that particular unit immediately morale-wise in any way? (you can tell that he's dead by the unit's banner; if it's not in the middle of the unit any more, the former leader is dead)

7) Does the penalty on morale for the death of the general wear off with time? Sometimes, the reinforcements are tougher than they should be, which refers me back to the number 5. It either wears off, another guy takes over, or the bonuses provided by the original general actually stay there even after he's dead. Also, does this apply to the command bonuses that he was providing, are e.g. valour bonuses removed immediately upon his death?(I was fighting the groups of steppe cavalry lead by the mongol khan the other night. He had some serious boosts to morale, but I killed him early. Still, the steppe cavalry, even though they should have poor morale, kept on fighting almost to the last man, and the reinforcements were even worse.)

8) How does the dread level affect the morale on the battlefield? Does the high dread general lower the morale of the enemy, boosts your troop's morale, or it has no effect whatsoever?

9) Why do I keep seeing the morale explanation "Ready to fight as if there is no retreat" even on the units that are running away (this is in replays)? What provides that particular explanation?
Thanks http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by hrvojej (edited 09-19-2002).]

pdoan8
09-19-2002, 10:45
1. They won't get morale penalty if your non-elite unit rout. They might waver or rout if your elite unit rout.

The others, I am not really sure.

Hope that the experts aren't lazy to type because I want to know the system better too.

evan
09-19-2002, 14:46
All good questions. Unfortunately I have few answers and some more questions to add to the list.

The questions I would add are:

10) How do siege engines and naptha throwers affect morale? I'm guessing it is either a distance-based effect or that getting hit by siege weapons reduces a unit's morale.

11) When a siege weapon runs out of ammo, does it still have the fear effect?

12) How do casualties reduce morale, and how many casualties cause a reduction? Furthermore, if a unit enters battle understrength (60 out of 100 men for example), does that reduce morale like a casualty?

13) It seems that each time a unit routs its morale gets reduced up to the point where rallying is not an option. How does that work? -1 morale for each rout?

14) How does retreating affect morale? I think the message is something like "Disheartened by constant retreat," and relates to running away from the enemey for extended periods of time. Skirmishing units do not seem to be affected by their skirmishing "retreats" in this manner.

Some attempts at answers:

8) I'm guessing high dread lowers the enemy's morale. I've had a couple high-dread generals and it seemed like the enemy broke sooner.

9) I think the "Ready to fight as there is no retreat" relates to amphibious landings where you either win the battle or die, as well as other situations where retreat is not an option. I have personally never witnessed soldiers run under such circumstances, but perhaps it would be possible if there were simply a large "no-retreat" morale bonus and you somehow managed to overcome that. (Maybe you had a general with high dread, siege weapons, and a unit that had retreated for a long time.)

Rosacrux
09-19-2002, 14:49
those questions have been posed before and the answers are scattered around the boards. yeah, its a good idea to have them all in one place, but I think you could use the search option and come up with adequate results.

thats what I did, at least.