uber AI generals

[s0meguy]

So I've been seeing a lot of 10 star generals (and 10 star management and influence) in EB lately, or something along those lines, and I've been told that the makers of EB did this on purpose to make the game more challenging. Thing is, it hurts the roleplaying aspect of the game for me. Is there any way I can make the generals normal again? A 10 star general should be rare. I think the uber stats are given by a hidden trait, because I can't find any traits in their character scroll that give them that much bonus. Can anybody please tell me which trait it is so that I can disable it? and maybe help me fixing my save game, because just disabling a trait doesn't make the effect go away.

[Moosemanmoo]

I know how you feel, it pains me to see my grand Argead conquerer (Alexander 2 lol) with only 3 stars after non stop victory after victory

I know the traits with morale bonuses are more important and that the AI needs those stars, but I agree, to me it feels as if this completely inexperienced rebel scum has cheated

[Watchman]

It's for autocalc purposes AFAIK. The stars have rather little practical effect on the battlefield (especially compared to the morale-affecting traits, which affect the whole army period as long as the general lives), so all it really does as far as the player is concerned is look intimidating and cause pe- erm, star envy...

[stupac]

Don't stars increase the attack/defense of nearby units or am I mistaken?

[bovi]

Jerome Grasdyke (CA dev) recently explained how this was changed in 1.5: Nearby troops receive an unspecified but not very high defence skill bonus from command stars. This makes them somewhat more resilient against melee attacks but little more effective against the main weapon of the human, which is superior use of anvil&hammer tactics. In EB, defence values are rather high in general, and we've had no chance to remove the suicidal nature of AI generals, so you may not notice any particular effect on the AI.

The foolishness of the AI is offset in vanilla M2TW by the instant killing once the lines meet, as you hardly ever manage to maneuver before either line breaks. I believe command stars may have more effect there.

As for how you can reduce it, look up "AI" in export_descr_character_traits. Be warned: You may be disappointed with the AI expansion after changing this.

[Theodotos I]

One of my Pahlavan generals is up to nine stars in my current campaign. I think that's the limit, right? Anyway, he's about fifty-five and been fighting(and winning) ever since he was a teenager. Not bad for a Dull/Charismatic/Vigorous character. This is the first time I've ever seen them get this high, but it's pretty neat. Wonder if anyone else has hit the limit. :inquisitive:

[mcantu]

Jerome Grasdyke (CA dev) recently explained how this was changed in 1.5: Nearby troops receive an unspecified but not very high defence skill bonus from command stars. This makes them somewhat more resilient against melee attacks but little more effective against the main weapon of the human, which is superior use of anvil&hammer tactics. In EB, defence values are rather high in general, and we've had no chance to remove the suicidal nature of AI generals, so you may not notice any particular effect on the AI.

The foolishness of the AI is offset in vanilla M2TW by the instant killing once the lines meet, as you hardly ever manage to maneuver before either line breaks. I believe command stars may have more effect there.

As for how you can reduce it, look up "AI" in export_descr_character_traits. Be warned: You may be disappointed with the AI expansion after changing this.


bovi,

i think you many have mis-read what Jerome said. IIRC, the defense bonus is applied to the entire army under the general and the morale bonus is effective to a certain radius around him.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Hi there,

Just a little role-playing 'explanation' to make you all FEEL better about the enemy generals having lots more stars than yours.

Imagine that your own general's stars are 'correct'. They show how good your general really is. As faction leader, you know the truth about your own generals.

But for other faction's generals, imagine that their stars = how many great victories they CLAIM to have won! Those stars indicate how good that general SAYS he is. And talk is cheap! And since he's not one of your own generals, you don't know him well enough to know how good he really is. He could be lying.

So, imagine that an enemy general with 9 stars is most likely just a vainglorious bighead who's won a few battles against inferior opponents, and is now boasting that he's the best general who's ever lived! Which will make you feel good when you prove him wrong..... :D

So when you see all those stars, remember, that enemy general is only half as good and successful as he claims to be. Possibly even less!

[bovi]

bovi,

i think you many have mis-read what Jerome said. IIRC, the defense bonus is applied to the entire army under the general and the morale bonus is effective to a certain radius around him.
Possibly, or I may remember it wrong. Do you happen to have the link?

[mcantu]

Possibly, or I may remember it wrong. Do you happen to have the link?

Here you go...

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1805294&postcount=19



Just to clear this up ( as requested ;-) ), from the old code on my machine at CA the General's command modifier on attacks is still there in the last version, but it only applies to melee attacks and it is -inverted- so the quality of the defender's general is applied as bonus directionless defense for the defending soldier. It is also rescaled to range from -6 to +6, changing quickly at low bonus levels and then slowing down towards the top of the range. The idea was to limit the number of stacking bonusses which speed up the battles, i vaguely remember.

Also, the bonus is not limited by physical distance, and is supposed to represent a good general's ability to get superior performance from his troops through training in small scale maneuvers. The only way for this bonus to result in faster combat death rates rather than slower ones is if the defender's general has bad command traits...

If you want to test it, I would suggest a battle between some big peasant units, fighting the units 1v1 and timing the length of time to rout; then repeat giving each army a 10 star general. You should see a slower time-to-rout with the generals. In the end though 6 pts is not enough to make up huge troop quality differences, so don't expect to see miraculous differences.

[bovi]

Thanks, I stand corrected.