Hidden Bonuses

[English assassin]

Are there hidden valour bonuses in the game? I've noticed a few times that certain units from certain provinces seem to arrive with a valour bonus not mentioned in the province description (at the moment in a HRE campaign I am mysteriously getting valour upgraded FS from bohemia, or is it bavaria, anyone, one of them). Its NOT because there is a master level building there.

I've noticed this sort of thing before.

Do some provinces give hidden bonuses and if so is there a list?

[Sinner]

There are regions with hidden bonuses, although none that give them for Feudal Sergeants in the standard game. Hidden bonuses occur whenever a region provides a bonus to more than one unit, with only the first shown. Similarly, there are a couple of units with two bonus regions, but only the first region provides the bonus, the second region is simply a guide for the AI to build up the region to enable it to produce the unit.

Here's a list of bonus regions/units, with the oddities highlighted...

Almohad Urban Militia...... Granada
Armenian Heavy Cavalry...... Armenia
Berber Camel...... Morocco, Algeria
Billmen...... Mercia
Bulgarian Brigands...... Bulgaria
Chivalric Foot Knights...... Ile de France
Chivalric Knights...... Toulouse
Gallowglass...... Ireland
Genoese Sailors...... Genoa
Ghulam Cavalry...... Lesser Armenia
Gothic Foot Knights...... Brandenburg
Gothic Knights...... Saxony
Highland Clansman...... Scotland
Hospitaller Foot Knights...... Rhodes
Housecarle...... Norway
Janissary Bows...... Georgia
Janissary Heavy Infantry...... Bulgaria
Kataphraktoi...... Constantinople
Knights Hospitaller...... Malta
Knights Santiago...... Leon
Knights Templar...... Jerusalem
Longbows...... Wales
Mamluk Cavalry...... Egypt
Mamluk Horse Archers...... Sinai
Nizari...... Syria
Ottoman Infantry...... Rum
Ottoman Sipahi...... Edessa, Rum
Peasants...... Provence
Pikemen...... Tyrolia
Pronoiai Allagion...... Nicaea
Saharan Cavalry...... Libya
Sipahi of the Porte...... Tripoli
Swiss Pikemen...... Switzerland
Teutonic Knights...... Prussia
Trebizond Archers...... Trebizond
Turcoman Foot...... Anatolia
Turcoman Horse...... Tripoli
Turcopole...... Antioch
Urban Militia...... Tuscany
Woodsman...... Lithuania

Assassin...... Syria
Inquisitor...... Castile
Grand Inquisitor...... Castile

Caravel...... Portugal
Cog...... Wessex
Dhow...... Tunisia
Galley...... Venice
Gungalley...... Aragon
Longboat...... Denmark

Due to the bizarre naval combat system, the regional bonuses for ships are effectively worthless, as are those for the 3 foot knights since they cannot be built. The bonus regions for the 3 crusading knights are a little more usable, especially Leon.

[CherryDanish]

Great list, but in Norway I thought the viking units got a bonus, I wasn't aware of the huscarle bonus. Like a dumbass I've been teching up Sweden and building them there as early as possible. Bribing Sweden is always one of my first 25 moves. I love Huscarles.

[Adrian II]

The bonus regions for the 3 crusading knights are a little more usable, especially Leon.

I believe Leon gives a bonus to any kind of horse, from Mamluk Cavalry to Kataphraktoi.

[Sinner]

Cherry Danish:
The Housecarle is the internal name for the Viking unit. I extracted this list way back from the crusader_unit_prod11.txt file & never bothered altering that since I knew which unit they meant. My bad. There isn't any region in the main medieval campaign that gives a bonus to the Huscarles - it's a nice wish though!

I also like to grab Sweden when playing the Danes, grabbing it on the very first turn and then building straight for Huscarles, Metalsmith & trade. Definitely a favorite region at any time, but especially as the Danes.

AdrianII:
Leon should only give a bonus to the Knights of Santiago in the standard game

[Procrustes]

I dunno - I suspect there is something extra special about Leon. In my last game as the French I was able to crank one- and two-star jinettes out of Leon almost every turn.

[CherryDanish]

Cherry Danish:
The Housecarle is the internal name for the Viking unit. I extracted this list way back from the crusader_unit_prod11.txt file & never bothered altering that since I knew which unit they meant. My bad. There isn't any region in the main medieval campaign that gives a bonus to the Huscarles - it's a nice wish though!

I also like to grab Sweden when playing the Danes, grabbing it on the very first turn and then building straight for Huscarles, Metalsmith & trade. Definitely a favorite region at any time, but especially as the Danes.

Thanks for the clarification on the huscarles, I was confused when I first read the list (happens more and more these days ).

I have a habit of bribing Sweden no matter what faction I'm playing. As soon as I can get an emissary there and if it's not taken already I risk it and bribe it. I agree with you competely, sweden is an awesome province to own.

[Adrian II]

In my last game as the French I was able to crank one- and two-star jinettes out of Leon almost every turn.

Thanks for that correction: I meant command bonuses, not valour bonuses. I'm churning out Mamluk generals there right now and one in every three is a 2-star. Must be sumpin' in da water.

[Sinner]

As far as I'm aware there aren't any regional effects on command rating, it's purely down to whether a unit is preferred or not as a general, with the command rating relying upon the king's stats - high influence/command kings tend to get better generals in newly built units.

Try building the same units in another region and over the same time frame you should get a similar number of ranked generals.

[Adrian II]

Try building the same units in another region and over the same time frame you should get a similar number of ranked generals.

I am, I'm raising Mamluks in Egypt (which has the valour bonus) as well as Constantinople and Nicaea, but no dice there. I noticed Leon's 'command bonus' in various other scenarios to the point where I'm now counting on it. If I conquer Spain and start specializing there, no matter with which faction, Leon is Cavalry, Navarre and Aragon are ranged and infantry units.

[Sinner]

That is odd... my first thought is that it might be one of the hardcoded features, like the Byzantines having high influence, etc.

Never noticed it myself, but then I'm usually English or, occasionally, Danish and the only Iberian region I use as a recruiting center is Navarre for Jinettes.

[English assassin]

I've certainly noticed command bonuses. I'm playing the HRE at the moment and virtually every swiss halberdier I make (in switzerland obviously)has at least one star, sometimes two. This doesn't seem so true for other units. I've noticed this with Boyars in the past but put it down to them being a "noble" unit, but swiss Halberdiers aren't.

[Adrian II]

I've certainly noticed command bonuses.

If only I were an accomplished modder, I'd flip though a series of files and come up with the script. Alas I'm not.

[Sinner]

Unfortunately there's nothing in the various data files that give a 'command bonus' to a region, so it can't be modded in.

The only moddable factor for units is the 'General preference' field, which can have a value of PREFERRED, OK or DISCOURAGED. Prestige units, particularly cavalry, tend to get be preferred as a general's unit, while most peasant units are discouraged. There are some peculiarities, such as Billmen being discouraged, while Urban Militia are rated OK.

[Adrian II]

Unfortunately there's nothing in the various data files that give a 'command bonus' to a region, so it can't be modded in.

Thanks for that snippet, Sinner. Anyway I wouldn't want to mod the file, I'm just curious if it's in there. That would be the easy way to the hard evidence, as opposed to an n-series of campaigns to test for statistical correlations which I guess none of us would much care for...