Quote Originally Posted by drone View Post
I've always heard that command stars was related to the king's influence, not command.
It's true but only to some extent.

We discussed it quite extensively a few years ago (we discussed heirs but I would guess the same is applicable to some extent to other non-historic generals) and my recollection of that discussion is that influence has only an impact on the average roll you get when the stat of the new general is determined but that the basic value from which the result of the random roll is added is the command rating of your ruler. The result is of course further affected by V&V that the character/heir gets.

To give a few examples with respect of heirs:

- you have a king with six command stars. The result of the random roll can vary between -2 or +2 (IRRC) compared to your king's command rating. If that king has a high influence, you more of your heirs will have 7-8 stars. The opposite will happen if your influence is low and most of your heir will have between 4-5 stars before the V&V kick in.

- you have a king with 0 starts. The best you can hope is a two stars heir. Chances you'll get one depend on how high your influence is. If it is low, the odds are that all your heir will be as worthless as their father.

- your have an 8 stars king. Same principle apply but beware that for the game a result of ten, you will end up with a 0 star king. Thus getting what would be the best possible result for other kings give you the worst possible heir. Check the Byz in early, most of the heir have high command value but very often one of them has 0 star (great news when if affect the eldest son - unless you play as the byz yourself of course).

For standard generals, I would assume that the same applies (together with the cap I mentioned before) and that the odds that you get a three stars general out of the blue depends on high the influence of your highly skilled ruler is. I have played a few campaign when I had a great ruler with loads of stars and influence and any decent unit that I produced during their rules had two or three stars (it can even becomes a bit tedious when you want to reorganise units after a battle).

There is nothing scientific in the above since nobody has examined closely the inner working of the game on that point (which I believe is hardcoded) but it fits with all others and I have seen after playing the game for quite a while.

Hope it helps