No enemy general on the battlefield

In my current English GA campaign (around 1120) I have crushed the French and I am at war with both Spain and HRE after sneaky surprise attacks from both. The attack from HRE was particularly nasty, around 4 full stacks against my stack of archers, urban militia, hobilars and a royal prince. As I watch the enemy approach I can't spot the general, and there is no general in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th wave of attack either. What's up with this?

Btw: the enemy had no cavalry to speak of, and that saved my day! Frontal assault with UB crushing with hobbies from the rear - 3000+ prisoners in the end :2thumbsup:

It is possible that the enemy had a 1 or 2 man unit as their general's unit and may have withdrawn it immediately when the battle started. The general is always in the initial wave, and is not part of the reinforcements. The AI doesn't know how to merge and retrain units, so it cannot effectively top up a depleted general's unit.

This can be the hardest battles you'll ever fight BTW. An unkillable 9-star general with morale boost leading 4000 men is a scary sight.

You should see the ememy general dot retreat rapidly right after the deployment if this happens.

Yes, he was probably there at the beginning, but because his unit was so small, you may not have noticed (that sounded kinda of weird). Anyway, I have seen this happen quite often. I think it happens more frequently as you progress into the middle and high era of your campaigns, because, as Caravel says, the AI does not know how to rebuild its units. However, I thought troop morale was suppose to take a huge hit whenever this occurred. If it does, then I have yet to witness it with the AI, because it seems like I have fought many hellaciously long battles where the AI withdrew its general early on.

Originally Posted by Alexios:
However, I thought troop morale was suppose to take a huge hit whenever this occurred. If it does, then I have yet to witness it with the AI, because it seems like I have fought many hellaciously long battles where the AI withdrew its general early on.

This is why the AI now does withdraw such generals early on, because it's basically a trade off. Their valour bonuses still hold even though the general is gone, which is important despite the morale penalty. If however he catches an arbalest bolt and goes to meet his maker mid battle, his army lose all of their valour bonuses, and thus their morale attack and defense bonuses, and will probably start to rout, this is far worse. In previous versions of MTW the AI didn't do this IIRC.

AFAIK the only morale penalty is the lack of morale bonus that the general gives on the field. The general will start to get the "not so bold" line after a while though.

I have seen this too, even when the general fights and retreats, but he is powerful enough to still inspire wave after wave. Of course, gives me more chances to kill AI units:2thumbsup: , if i am able:sweatdrop: .