Best Way to Gain Command Stars

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Say that I have a promising young fellow, younger than twenty. He is Green, Sharp/Charismatic/Vigorous... Is there any way I can turn him into an epic commander? The ways I can think of are:

Commanding lots of battles - I did it, but most of my Veteran fellows only get a single or two command stars.
Building a Temple of War - No recognizable effects, though I had one of them get a hopeless case of anger that was quickly reversed. Don't know if Temple of War impacts it.
Studying in Academies: The more the better, it seems, though practical experience shows that generals will mostly become pedants and lovers of beauty, so it's not good at all for Command Stars. The "Practical" trait is a lot more useful, though.

Some Factional tools:

Spartan Agoge
Druidic Training
Etc... I don't know the rest.

So in sum, have you ever managed to get an epic general? How did you make it, and what are your recommendations?

[Leão magno]

Stars are not that much important in EB... anyway, the number of battles is not more important than the kind of battle (the dificulty of the battle) plenty easy battles will add nothing, some dificult battles will improve your general. The temples and other structures, as far as I know, will not improve your generals. So, my answer would be, dificult battles

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Command Stars add to defense and morale, if I'm not mistaken. Besides for certain factions such as Romani it's the key to the Consulship or several of them depending on the amount of command.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Command Stars add to defense and morale, if I'm not mistaken.

Just morale. So far, no conclusive evidence supports the defence or even an attack bonus, as some people claim. I would really like to know what is the radius of that morale bonus though. Pretty much the only good thing that comes out of the command stars is the fact that they look "real pretty" when you are looking at that certain general. In EB, your soldier's morale is not nearly as important as in vanilla. In RTW/BI units sustained 70% or more casualties and routed all in mere seconds, especially in cav. vs cav. engagements.

I do not really have any problem with command stars. My generals serve usually no more than fifteen and usually only ten years in the military, all of them attaining more than five stars. My average general has 7 stars but only four of my generals has 8 stars. If I actually sent my Faction Leader into battle, he could easily gain 10 stars as he gained his 8 stars by doing nothing except sitting in Roma for his entire life. Despite this, all of my thirty-something 7 star generals have 10 stars when attacking, be it a field or siege battle since just about every one of them has the Confident Attacker and Gate Breaker traits along with the Runner ancillary. I am playing Romani, BTW.

[mcantu]

Just morale. So far, no conclusive evidence supports the defence or even an attack bonus, as some people claim. I would really like to know what is the radius of that morale bonus though. Pretty much the only good thing that comes out of the command stars is the fact that they look "real pretty" when you are looking at that certain general. In EB, your soldier's morale is not nearly as important as in vanilla. In RTW/BI units sustained 70% or more casualties and routed all in mere seconds, especially in cav. vs cav. engagements.

I do not really have any problem with command stars. My generals serve usually no more than fifteen and usually only ten years in the military, all of them attaining more than five stars. My average general has 7 stars but only four of my generals has 8 stars. If I actually sent my Faction Leader into battle, he could easily gain 10 stars as he gained his 8 stars by doing nothing except sitting in Roma for his entire life. Despite this, all of my thirty-something 7 star generals have 10 stars when attacking, be it a field or siege battle since just about every one of them has the Confident Attacker and Gate Breaker traits along with the Runner ancillary. I am playing Romani, BTW.

CA has already stated that defense stars affect the defense stats of a generals entire army and the morale of units within a certain variable radius.

the radius for the morale bonus is (30 m + 5 m * command + 2 m * influence)

[Aemilius Paulus]

CA has already stated that defense stars affect the defense stats of a generals entire army and the morale of units within a certain variable radius.

the radius for the morale bonus is (30 m + 5 m * command + 2 m * influence)

Yes, but testing was done by numerous players, and in Ludus Magna with results showing no difference in performance between a unit led by 10 infl. & comm. general and a unit not led by any general. There was a noticeable change in the morale, but the basic stats - defence and offence seemed to be the same.

[ludwag]

Place him on a bridge with some phalagnites and archers :(

[Zradha Pahlavan]

Have him come, have him see, have him conquer.

I once had a dull/uncharismatic/langurous Epeirote general who ended up becoming one of the best FMs I had at the time by keeping him in nonstop battle all across the Italian pennisula. By the time he gained the "Seen The Elephant" trait he had six command stars and the good attacker trait.

His victories gained him lots of influence and by the time the Romans were kicked out of Rome all he needed was management skills.

[Maion Maroneios]

I found it quite hard to get command stars and keep themin EB. That's why I downloaded the command stars and corsus honorum mini-mod by konny. This allows you to gain command stars through certain traits that didn't give them to you before. I find things balanced now (for me). Just fight lots of battles (don't overdo it) and have him attain the Spartan Agoge if you can. Studying in Akademiai may not turn out to be good for him, as it's a sort of contradiction to warfare, if you get me.

Maion

[PriestLizard]

I wonder if other structures like "Field of Games" or high-level barracks also improve the strategy-skills of a general? I realized that academies really help to develop a character but they dont seem to give them command stars.

And about the "Lover of Beauty" thread, I always thought this trait will show up if you keep the character in town for too long so he will become attuned to that and will become rusty...

@Aemilius Paulus: What the... !?!? I have never seen something like that. I wonder what kind of structures your cities had and how you treated your FMs... I once had a very strong Pyrrhos Aikaides (8 stars?) but besides that, my best general in EB was like 5 stars maybe?... :(

[Aemilius Paulus]

I wonder if other structures like "Field of Games"

No. Field of Games might be a Field of Games in EB, but it actually stands for some RTW building. Take the Auguries building that the Romani have. I realized very quickly that the reason why all of my generals were first becoming "Occasional Drinkers" and then "Likes a Drink" because of the Augury building, which is actually a Tavern building internally. That's why I do not build them anymore and advise all other players to do the same.

or high-level barracks also improve the strategy-skills of a general

Just about every other building has an effect on a general, but not this one.

I realized that academies really help to develop a character but they dont seem to give them command stars.

They do. "Understanding of Strategy" and all of the levels of this trait are usually gained from an Academy by a "Sharp" general.

[Megalos Danielos Psychopatos]

Most important are starting traits: sharp(for better leadership)/charismatic(morale boost)/vigorous(more HP and better movement rate). Academies can help but usually they add a lot of traits which make Ur Fm better governor than general. If I try to make epic commander, i choose guy who is sharp/charismatic/vigorous and doesn't have many bad traits-usually he has only basic ones like: green, young etc. Than I make a "tournee" and take best ancillaries from other FMs: doctor/herbalist/chirurg, galloper/runner, archer catpain, armourer, mercenary captain(or I recruit a horde of mercenaries to gain him:):) ), siege engineer( if I want to conquer cities), geographer is good...(I dont know what ancillaries barbarians).If I want to use this general to fight with certain faction, turncoat is good and not so hard to gain. When U have such prepared candidate for hero...FIGHT! The harder battle the bigger chance to improve him, but big number of smaller battles will improve him to; he wil gain blooded trait, veteran trait....etc., and many others: if u will have many defence battles-u will get such bonuses, if U will atttack like mad-it will fruit in such way....Also if U will use Ur FM on Battlefield like crazy, charge with him often, conduct long fights and take big casualties among his bodyguards, he will gain traits which will improve his HP and will boost your army morale. But beware: If u bend over-he will change into bloody berserker, and thats not good.

Soorry for my english.