Generals Traits

[crpcarrot]

is it jsut me or does anyone else miss the negative traits?? amm my generals are so uber even if they sit in a provinve doing nothing for years.

[econ21]

I've seen a couple so far in my first campaign.

One of mine picked up a negative trait (-1% movement) after a long period of inactivity.

Another got a bad trait (eye for the ladies or something) after staying in a province with the sake den chain building.

Personally, I'm happy they are less common. Having to randomly move a garrison general or boycott inn towns to avoid bad traits is not fun imo.

[Leptomeninges]

I agree. I think negative traits are "not fun." I think smart developers build on elements that are fun and balance around them while weeding out things that just make the game frustrating.

One of my generals did pick up an unusual retainer. I can't decide if the trait is positive or negative. It's +1 command to attack on land (I think) combined with to -1% to attrition. I can't figure out if the -1% means that his army suffers more or less attrition than normal. On the face of it, I'd think -1% means less attrition, but I don't know what it means to the developers.

[gauch0]

My daimyo in the Oda campaign I just started has a negative trait. "Rude" or something like that. It gives him -10 percent to diplomatic relations. Anyone know if this is hardwired for this daimyo, or if it's a randomly generated thing?

[econ21]

My daimyo in the Oda campaign I just started has a negative trait. "Rude" or something like that. It gives him -10 percent to diplomatic relations. Anyone know if this is hardwired for this daimyo, or if it's a randomly generated thing?

Hardwired I guess, as mine started with it too.

[Cecil XIX]

I think negative traits are "not fun." I think smart developers build on elements that are fun and balance around them while weeding out things that just make the game frustrating.

Setbacks in general are frustrating, but if a game doesn't have them then what's the point? What is victory if one hasn't suffered? Negative traits just need to be appropriately tied to player action, or if random they need to be rare and/or not too serious. Personally, I would prefer something between their frequency in Shogun 2 and in Medieval II.

My daimyo in the Oda campaign I just started has a negative trait. "Rude" or something like that. It gives him -10 percent to diplomatic relations. Anyone know if this is hardwired for this daimyo, or if it's a randomly generated thing?

Nobunaga, right? I'd say that's definitely hardcoded.

[gauch0]

I like that negative traits are less of an occurrence in this game, for basically the reason that someone else stated, above: I hate the idea of having to gratuitously move my generals around just to prevent them from picking up negative traits. I like to imagine that my stationary generals are working hard governing their provinces or drilling the troops, not turning into couch potatoes.

[Zim]

I've gotten mutiple bad traits for a couple generals I haven't been using much. one or two "eye for the ladies" and one subtracting from movement rate.

[crpcarrot]

i'm not talking about random traits but the ones that were connected to player actions, for example the dread traits that if maxed started having negative affects and for example a governor of a very rich province getting ideas of his own importance etc. i must admit i dont remeber if this was there in the first STW but it did add to my enjoyment of the game in MTW. however it was much easier to get generals in MTW than it is here.

[Leptomeninges]

Anyone know if the different ranks of "stand and fight" increase the effectiveness of the ability or if they just add the melee bonus as listed?

[econ21]

Anyone know if the different ranks of "stand and fight" increase the effectiveness of the ability or if they just add the melee bonus as listed?

I don't know but feel certain that higher ranks of infantry general don't increase the effectiveness of the "stand and fight" (there's nothing in the wording to suggest they would).

The melee bonus they give is a big enough bonus though - it's the kind of tangible benefit command stars used to give in STW/MTW; none of this touchy feely "morale" business.

[The_Emperor]

I am really glad to see the end of the sea of "bad traits" from RTW and MTW2.

For me having every general degenerate into a gibbering, adulterous, drunk simply for spending a bit too long overseeing the local city/castle garrison always struck me as being a bit odd.

Yes I would expect generals to have bad traits but only really if they suffered a big string of defeats (demoralising his men) or repeatedly retreated in the face of the enemy. (cowardice)

[Leptomeninges]

The melee bonus they give is a big enough bonus though - it's the kind of tangible benefit command stars used to give in STW/MTW; none of this touchy feely "morale" business.

So, I guess this paves the way for another ignorance-revealing question: What exactly do command stars do? Just a morale bonus? Same with retainers or talents that add + to command?

[econ21]

So, I guess this paves the way for another ignorance-revealing question: What exactly do command stars do? Just a morale bonus? Same with retainers or talents that add + to command?

It would be nice to get an official answer to this. My hunch is that command stars (a) raise morale within the blue circle; (b) increase the radius of the blue circle; (c) improve the odds when autoresolving combat. Based on past CA answers to earlier games, there may be some benefit to combat stats (possibly melee defence) but testing in RTW suggested that, if it existed, it was slight. In STW and MTW, command stars clearly increased combat stats, but in a rather imbalacing way (peasants fought like tigers) so I think it was toned down from RTW onwards.

[xploring]

So, I guess this paves the way for another ignorance-revealing question: What exactly do command stars do? Just a morale bonus? Same with retainers or talents that add + to command?

I have asked this question (and seen it asked) multiple times at different forums but no one seems to have the definitive answer. And how would the command bonus help naval battles... I was thinking of getting a specialized naval general in future if it lifts the army significantly.



Giving bad traits to generals sitting in a castle seem a bit ridiculous with me. Not well-informed with Japanese history, but in Chinese history, being disciplined and continuously maintaining a well-fortified defensive position in the face of overwhelming numerical/military superiority for years is one of the most obvious trademarks of a respected and experienced general.