Do you use Client Rulers and recruitable Generals?

[QuintusSertorius]

My trials and tribulations with a host of bugs related to cloned AI Client Rulers have brought me to this very question. It may be that my extensive use of Client Rulers and recruitable mercenary generals is atypical. As in most people don't bother.

The two are included together, because you can't really have one without the other. Unless you've had a typeIV government (which of course automatically spawns a client ruler - who is technically a general), you can't build the fifth tier of regional barracks which enables the recruitment of mercenary Generals.

In the only way I can gauge such a thing, I thought of a poll. Feel free to comment on how/why you use them or don't.

[Slim_Ghost]

I don't use client rulers early in my game when I have more family members than I have settlements. I can put at least one family member in each settlement as the governor, and then use the rest as army commanders.

But later when I expand too fast, or come into situations where my family members die out too quick to be replaced, I set up very few type IV settlements for producing generals - for the purpose of providing emergency governors or commanders (though if that mercenacry general turned out to be very effective at managing a settlement I let him remain as governor instead of letting my family member take over).

[konny]

I have made Equites Consulares recruitable in Rome and use these pretty much everytime playing the Romans my Empire expands beyond what could be staffed with gouvernors form the family tree. Thanks to hundreds of Senators and dozends of ex-magistrates, the Romans would have always been able to send (more or less) suitable members of the ruling class to every province.

[Ravenfeeder]

Use Client Rulers all the time. I love them. I've never had any problems with them except for when I used the speed-up script.

Mercenary Generals very rarely - only when I have a mainly regional troop army to lead.

[Swordmaster]

I haven't used any recruitable generals in my current Seleukid campaign so far, but I have in all my Roman campaigns. Client rulers are a main stay of my government, though.

[Strategos Alexandros]

I use both, mainly for roleplaying I.E. type 4 settlements are counted as separate nations with their own armies and generals.

[Skandinav]

I, too, am very fond of both client rulers and mercenary generals, it is a great innovation by EB and I am grateful for the feature every time I play; when at all possible I try to insert them historically; under different circumstances I use them where it seems plausible. The generals are most for the fun and role-play of leading allied armies of foreign units.
I´ve never had any problems with them besides the occasional need for a manual add_trait "..." Type4Governor.

[QuintusSertorius]

I, too, am very fond of client rulers, it is a great innovation by EB and I am grateful for the feature every time I play; when at all possible I try to insert them historically; under different circumstances I use them where it seems plausible.
I´ve never had any problems with them besides the occasional need for a manual add_trait "..." Type4Governor.

Now the latter is something I never considered using. In my current game I deleted the client ruler section of the script, which has made things a lot more stable. Using that I could turn generals into client rulers and use type IV goverments again.

[bigmilt16]

I use client rulers heavily at the first half of the game.

Typically I follow QS's houserules closely. I don't worry about conquering too early because every conquered settlement gets a client ruler installed, and the settlement is ruled autonomously in every fashion. Thus, it is still an independent state, and vassal ally. I don't even move spies or assasins into the cities to add challenge. I don't bump up the govt. until the CR is dead, allowing for the settlement to fully stabalize itself and have some ready-to-go components (roads, military, some minor economy) already installed by the time the FM shows up.

Thus, romanization can take 20-25 years, thus, I can conquer much earlier with less guilt.

Once the late republic gets started, there are never enough FM's to go around, this is when I turn to recuitable generals

[Cartaphilus]

I used client rulers but lately they are all developing the nasty trait of "interloper".

Is there any way to solve this?

[bigmilt16]

on the flip side.

i just started a new romani campaign using konny's houserules, and i must say that it makes more sense. the provinces develop much easier and you economy doesn't take such a nasty hit.

A type four government is nothing more than a permanent alliance with a small settlement. just as if you were allying with a large faction, you must pay a tribute/bribe to keep the ally happy with you and doing your bidding. The same is true with a type IV govt: you are paying the client ruler to keep the settlement in check for you. The fees of keeping up a client ruler is negligible; however, more than 3 can be taxing esp. when you are trying to expand or at war with a competitive faction.

my best advice is to not use a type IV unless you NEED it. they are really expensive to keep up and are nothing more than a sure-fire way to make (and keep) an alliance.

[QuintusSertorius]

On my last Roman game, I never found the expense of client rulers to be a big deal at all. And I had a lot of them. Literally every new province would get one, and I'd progress through the government types at 30-year intervals.

[Swordmaster]

On my last Roman game, I never found the expense of client rulers to be a big deal at all. And I had a lot of them. Literally every new province would get one, and I'd progress through the government types at 30-year intervals.

Yeah, but Rome has a strong economy. Then again, if you expand so much that your client rulers become a big upkeep, you should also have a strong economy as a result of that expansion (or you've been expanding into the desert or something).

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I'd like to know what roleplay excuses you employ to change your lvl 4 gov to something above. After all it is an allied state, where you don't have any rights officially. People might know that they have to obey Makedonia or your respective faction, but they still consider themselves independent.

For example, yesterday the client ruler of Mytilene died. What I generally do is to destroy the gov building, move the garrison out and set the taxes to very high. Normally that makes for a good riot, but unfortunately it didn't work so I voluntarily destroyed the Temple to Asklepios and the Askleipion of the city. that brought me my riot, and the subsequent turn I took a general and let him march into the city. Now I ordered a lvl 2 gov.

So I roleplayed that Makedonia, as the "good shepherd and protector of the people of Lesbos", took the initiative and marched into the city, to re-establish "the good order etc.". So how do you do it?

[Ibrahim]

both are widely used: in my AS campaign for example, I had 10 trained genreals, another 5-8 clients, and lots of other things by 205BC (when I won).

In IBFD, its even more pronunced a trend: my best general was trained (a guy named Asparus); he is legendary to this day (one of only 3 10 star generals I ever had; if only those F***ers the WRE didn't attack him at sea). 50% of all IBFD generals by 442AD (when I won), were trained.

[HayGuy]

My client rulers nearly always end up with the Impostor trait because I inevitably upgrade to type I or II government after the province has been developed as far as possible. I love using these guys, they can make a big difference if the garrison gets attacked but also they can become good earners too.

[Gaius Septembris Minor]

Normally i don't use client rulers but during a terrible war with Macadonia (as Romanii) i had to use the last of my reserves cuz Maca had like toooooo many fullstacks. Mind you i didnt start the war, but took a border town from the Getai. Maca was even my ally!!!!

But i started winning and had to little time to establish gov II's and had not enough FM's so i started building gov IV's. Now the whole of Greece is ruled by client rulers. So if needed i use them extensivly.

Merc. Generals i use as fireman to plug holes in my limes. If the need is there my two Merc. Generals are there to try to fix a border dispute or slow down the enemy till the legion or consular army (if needed) can take over the war or battle.

My two cents.....