Crappy New FM?

[Valion]

Weh why is it that my FM coming of age have almost "all" crappy traits? i find it utterly hard to believe my 16yr FM's are these crappy with traits having the complete set of dull/uncharismatic/languorous plus the disloyal trait not to mention he has the "Like his father" trait which makes me laugh since he's not even NEAR the likeness of his father Are roman children in the past of Patrician and nobile lineage this badly raised? i expected much from them since i am in desperate need of FM to govern my cities instead my excitement was a huge letdown

How do you guys manage with crappy new FM? and is there a way to increase the chances of not having crappy new FM? If i was their fathers i'd smack them to death Lol

[Tyrfingr]

Crappy new FM is put into high-level schools and will eventually develop good management skills, then used as governors. I have also noticed that three or four of my latest dull/uncharismatic/languorous-FMs are given the "powerful advisor"-ancillary, which greatly improves their chances of not becoming totally useless.

[Valion]

Ugh i just hate it when my new FM are born idiots >.>

[zooeyglass]

Ugh i just hate it when my new FM are born idiots >.>

i remember hearing a story on here of someone (apologies for forgetting who it was) who hated their new fm and realised he was completely useless so sent him on a madcap adventure to get him killed. the fm refused to die, and won battle after battle, finally earning all sorts of accolades, completely against the odds, and becoming that player's best general. so....do not despair. after all, being 16 everyone is a tad lazy/weird/whatever, and given the right schooling/experiences something good could happen. that or just send them on suicide missions: remember the game will provide you more fms if it thinks you are understaffed, either through increasing birthrate or offering man of the hour and adoptions to choose from.

[Valion]

It just anoys me on how i carefully micro'd their Fathers becoming great FM with little to no negative traits and their children become retards Lol.

[Aemilius Paulus]

their Fathers becoming great FM with little to no negative traits and their children become retards Lol.

That's how it usually is in real life. Just think of all of those rich spoiled kids in today's society. (example: Paris Hilton)

However, in-game-wise, about half of the sons of my best FMs turn out useless (most of the useless ones have 3-5 influence, but for my FMs, influence is really easy to gain, so I usually look for management - that the spoiled sons lack due to the multitude of negative traits decreasing management) but the other half of the sons are absolutely brilliant.

All that really matters in a general is ultimately whether he is sharp, charismatic and optimistic and lacks management reducing traits. Influence is incredibly easy to gain in EB and just about every one of my generals has 10-17 of influence (although only 10 shows up), regardless if they are plebeian. Even the not-so-capable generals manage to turn out really well. In the beginning of my Romani campaign I was lacking FMs and heavy cavalry, so I recruited a couple of mercenary generals. Eventually two of the mercenary generals got 10 influence and management, with one of them even becoming a consul. Not only this, but both of them were dull, pessimistic, plebeian, and with a couple of traits reducing influence!

[SwissBarbar]

lol ,yeah if the parents are meatheads the sons will not be any better ^^

let the idiots die in battle and let your daughters marry some sharp/charismatic etc guys

[Ibn-Khaldun]

What I find interesting is that the same thing is happening in my Romani campaign, almost all kids are stupid, but in my Qarthadastim campaign I always get sharp/charismatic/vigorous new FM's!
Is there some specific reason why the Romani kids are .. well.. stupid?

[Valion]

Yeah i also noticed that with the other factions new FM., their FM arent as retarded as my new roman FM maybe it's just that roman greatness sprouts from total retardedness And why do most of them have to be disloyal fools, being nobile is quite stupid if their that disloyal to the system

[zooeyglass]

Yeah i also noticed that with the other factions new FM., their FM arent as retarded as my new roman FM maybe it's just that roman greatness sprouts from total retardedness And why do most of them have to be disloyal fools, being nobile is quite stupid if their that disloyal to the system

having told you not to worry about it and kill them off, i surged on in my baktrian campaign and had two of the sons i'd been eagerly awaiting to come of age turn out to be retards. i sent one immediately to his death, and against the odds he survived (3 battles I believe - charging spearmen and the like and surviving) so in the end he got a job managing a city and has not got a couple of management points.

on the other hand, his younger brother who turned up a year later was EVEN worse, so he HAD to go. in roleplay for me i imagined my faction leader speaking to his younger brother, the father of these two idiots, and explaining that there was no place for them in the system. or rather, encouraging them to go and seek their fortunes away from society, and prove themselves a bit more. the idiots that they are, they wandered off and did so! (with the death of one of them)

[Ca Putt]

maybe it's the cultural decay of the roman empire :D (or, no that was later^^)

when a boy comes of age i either send him to sparta, Athens, Rhodos or Demetrias(where i had time and money to invest in Schools), to get him a proper education and to ensure him getting at least some elite troops. Only exeption is when he comes of age too far away fronm greece and too far away from the coast.
and having stupid FMs is not as bad if you aslo have some smart ones to govern cities and youre bodyguard is at least usefull(i mean, a bunch of elite Hoplites which don't have to be brought to a high level MIC is more than usefull^^)

[Valion]

Ok is there a way to make a disloyal FM loyal? .....i would send these retards to their deaths if i wasent in such a desperate need of governors and generals since all over the conquered terretories unrest is brewing.

[Maion Maroneios]

example: Paris Hilton

Aemilus, that was about the best example you could give!

Maion

[Zradha Pahlavan]

Send them head first into Seleucid pikes.
If they die, no one cares. If they live, they might become heros.

[zooeyglass]

when a boy comes of age i either send him to sparta, Athens, Rhodos or Demetrias(where i had time and money to invest in Schools), to get him a proper education and to ensure him getting at least some elite troops. Only exeption is when he comes of age too far away fronm greece and too far away from the coast.

out of interest, can an FM benefit from a school/academy/building of education in a settlement if they are not the governor? ie can two FMs both be in one settlement and be learning things/gaining management improving traits/ancillaries?

[Grriffon]

out of interest, can an FM benefit from a school/academy/building of education in a settlement if they are not the governor? ie can two FMs both be in one settlement and be learning things/gaining management improving traits/ancillaries?

i apologize for the offtopic question, but this question reminded me of it. does anyone know if it is at all possible to select which general "leads" your army i.e. which general gets credit for wins?

I like to send more than one general with my large armies, but when my faction leader has Seen The Elephant and the other generals with him, who will eventually take over my empire, are still Green, it can be kind of annoying.

if not possible in this version, is it something that is being considered for EB2?


as for the topic: MOST of my sons who come of age are total idiots. the one who is actually useful is QUITE rare for me. but, i select my faction leaders and heirs based on traits, not family, and there is usually at least a couple kicking around somewhere in the empire who are Great General material. the others i just live with.

[Foot]

It is impossible in both RTW and MTW2 to select the general who leads an army or governs a settlement. The Faction Leader or Heir always leads the army or governs the settlement if he is in the army or town. If not then the general with the highest command or highest management will lead the army or govern the settlement, respectively.

Foot

[Celtic_Punk]

what about gaining traits ancillaries in cities? I believe both get it. but for the other people, as well as I, would like a definitive answer

[Valion]

Hey guys what does loyalty and disloyal actually do to a FM other than decreasing the cost to bribe?

[zooeyglass]

what about gaining traits ancillaries in cities? I believe both get it. but for the other people, as well as I, would like a definitive answer

i have just had three different casse FMs stay in ynys-mon and get "ynys-duvall - island of darkness" as a trait, while my faction leader was governing it. that is to say, they all trained, one after the other, while he was there running the show. unfortunately i didn't try putting all three of them in at the same time to see if more than one of them could train at the island of darkness concurrently - perhaps i should try that next.

anyway, that suggests that if the governor of a given settlement has got everything he can out of certain buildings for gaining management skill, then others can come and do likewise. i'm building up a school now to test that out.

[Aemilius Paulus]

out of interest, can an FM benefit from a school/academy/building of education in a settlement if they are not the governor? ie can two FMs both be in one settlement and be learning things/gaining management improving traits/ancillaries?

Yes, definitely so. I have something like five young generals/FMs each in Arretium, Roma, Capua and all of them are getting tons of useful traits and ancillaries although none of them are the governors. However, actually governing the town offers even more possible traits. For the traits/ancillaries that you get from academies, it does not matter if the certain character is the governor though.

[zooeyglass]

Yes, definitely so. I have something like five young generals/FMs each in Arretium, Roma, Capua and all of them are getting tons of useful traits and ancillaries although none of them are the governors. However, actually governing the town offers even more possible traits. For the traits/ancillaries that you get from academies, it does not matter if the certain character is the governor though.

thank you for that response - i wondered if multiple FMs who are not the governor could all simultaneously train in a settlement - seems like this is the case.

[Ludens]

Hey guys what does loyalty and disloyal actually do to a FM other than decreasing the cost to bribe?

Like all personality traits, it does not do anything directly, but influences the acquisition of other traits and ancillaries. Disloyal characters are more likely to develop corruption and similar traits.

[QuintusSertorius]

out of interest, can an FM benefit from a school/academy/building of education in a settlement if they are not the governor? ie can two FMs both be in one settlement and be learning things/gaining management improving traits/ancillaries?

Yes, everyone in a settlement with an academy gets the benefits of it, not just the governor. Same goes temples.

What always seemed to happen in my Epeiros game was that competent men would have incompetent sons. Almost universally. I gave up on trying to kill off all the idiots, and occasionally the generation after that would be alright.