CA: what do command stars do?

[Dorkus]

Does anyone konw?

In mtw, i think every 2 stars gave 1 exp. Clearly, that's not happening in rtw. probably for the better. High command generals in mtw could turn a peasant army into a monster.

but what exactly does it do now? Morale bonus? Hidden but nerfed valor bonus?

If you're speculating, please say so.

[Bob the Insane]

Speculating.....

I have read in the forums that the Command Stars now only give a morale boost, no experience boosts...

I also think that the morale boost is in a zone around the General and requires him to be close to his troops...

I have no evidence for this but it does sound good... Troops fight longer and harder for a good General but do not become magically more skilled....

[Kagetora]

I think that it helps to add moral to the troops, I know that still involved somehow, but units can only get experince by fighting.

[Sjakihata]

I think it was a good idea that troops had experience fighting for a good general. Maybe +1 valour for every two stars is a bit much, maybe 3 or four is better.

I dont like that he doesnt give any bonuses at all, if that is true.

[Bob the Insane]

Personally I didn't like that they got an experience bonus...

It could be argued that being under the command of a good general would mean that they were drilled harder and trained better, but why did they lose these benfits the moment they left his command???

[andrewt]

I think it's to simulate the fact that the general is giving better orders, has a better strategy, etc. Of course, since the player controls the strategy, they have to do it another way.

[Psyco]

AFAIK, the more command stars the general has, the quicker the troops respond to the orders you give.

[Thoros of Myr]

The effects are a bit more subtle now and for the better...
I never liked how there was soo much importance placed on command stars in MTW. It made it feel like some arbitrary stats were more important then your actual ability to think and play the game.

Still, a gen with a bunch of stars next to him looks neater

[Murmandamus]

...units can only get experince by fighting.

Maybe there is a bug, but I always have a good look through my battle stats and a couple of times I have seen a unit that did not engage, had 0 kills and 0 losses gain experience. They were units that had fought several battles so maybe there is some small bonus for simply being in a battle?

[Dorkus]

Bump.

Someone from CA throw us a bone?

[Dorkus]

bump for the start of the work week.

[maestro]

Yeah, I'll #bump# this one too..

What bonus does a generals command rating give?

And what does experience of troops do?

[econ21]

Experience, aka honour in STW and valour in MTW, used to give +1 attack +1 defence +2 morale. We have no reason to think that has changed. However, attack and defence stats have a bigger range in RTW, so the proportionate effects may be smaller.

The puzzle with command is that it used to be 2 stars roughly equalled one rank of experience, but CA said they were changing it so that command did not directly affect attack and defence (leaving presumably morale).

[Kraxis]

The interesting fact is that Command never granted Morale in MTW... So it seems CA has turned the system upside down.
And the proportions are not changed unless the combatequation is changed or the opposing unit is that much better.

[JeromeGrasdyke]

It currently affects both morale and combat ability - we tried it for a while with just morale, but it ended up being not enough of a bonus. The combat calculations have changed so much from Rome to Medieval as to be unrecogniseable, so it's no longer easy to equate stars to experience.

As a rule of thumb it's one point of attack per command rank, up to a maximum of 10, and this can become negative for very bad generals. This combat bonus is applied to all troops under his command on the battlefield. Experience is one point of attack and one point of defense per chevron, plus a morale bonus as well.

The general's command also controls his radius-of-effect, which is set to 30 m + 5 m * command + 2 m * influence. This is used to award morale bonusses to nearby units (in addition to the combat bonus), and when testing which units are affected it tests the distance between the actual general's position and the centre-point of the unit being considered.

Hopefully that answers your question.

[Kraxis]

So if I understand this right, the general adds his presence-moralebonus only... As moralebonus. And his stars affects how widely that bonus is used.

And a very good commander makes his troops very good attackers? Nothing else?

Oh btw, thanks... I think this answered a good deal.

[Jambo]

Influence also appears to have a major role, albeit slightly less than the command rating.

[econ21]

Thanks, Jerome - it is nice to see what is going on under the hood. What you say helps explain why my Julii are cutting through the Gauls like a hot knife through butter on medium battles - I know the Gaul units don't have stellar stats, but they are still not that much worse than hastati. However, they seldom seem to have many command stars, if any, whereas my main general can easily get to 8+. (It seems easier than in MTW - maybe this is just because of the retinues and traits, plus fairly frequent small victories.)

[Scorpion]

.

As a rule of thumb it's one point of attack per command rank, up to a maximum of 10, and this can become negative for very bad generals. This combat bonus is applied to all troops under his command on the battlefield. Experience is one point of attack and one point of defense per chevron, plus a morale bonus as well.

I´m sorry, but I don´t think I like that at all.
I don´t want my Hastati to become the equal of Praetorians in hacking people just because they are well led.

Morale bonuses, responsiviness, etc, they are all great, but I don´t want combat bonuses for my troops any more than I want combat bonuses for the AI due to game difficulty.

The problem is compounded because the human player generally racks up those stars at an entirely different rate than the AI, which spreads them about and doesn´t win as often anyway.

I wonder if there´s any way to mod this away?

[Dorkus]

First, Jerome thanks SO MUCH for the response. I think everyone on this board really apprecaites your input on this board. (especially since we're all addicted to this god forsaken game you've created :)

Second, do you think you could provide us any more insight into the combat resolution system?

I believe in MTW it was something like

Kill %=x*y^(atk-def)

And for every 1 sec or so, each engaged soldier would get a chance to kill (so units could simultaneously kill each other)

I don't remember the exact numbers but it was something like that.

If you can't provide exact numbers, an approximation (how much effect does 1 atk or def have) would be nice.

[Oleander Ardens]

Well, as Simon said, the experience bonus isn't strinking so hard as in MTW due to the higher values for defense and attack in RTW, at least it seems to be that way. Still initially the high level generals make a very big difference, playing right now the Gaul and at 263 BC I have five + 7 stars Generals, and i definatly need all of them, having to fight all the Romans, the British, the Spanish many Rabels and very soon the Germans - on half full stack is coming it's way to Alesia...

I only started the war against Rome, all the others stroke first, had to ward of after already two years a british attack at Alesia, could get back Brennus from the South right in time - conquered a Rebel city - to defeat the British..

Well now the Spanish are down to one region, the British are kicked out of the continent, although they land almost every year a invasion army, the Julii are down to one region in Italy and only the mighty Senate Army with his 7* General saves them and Rome and I'm pushing eastwards...

OA

[metatron]

Experience, aka honour in STW and valour in MTW, used to give +1 attack +1 defence +2 morale. We have no reason to think that has changed. However, attack and defence stats have a bigger range in RTW, so the proportionate effects may be smaller.

The puzzle with command is that it used to be 2 stars roughly equalled one rank of experience, but CA said they were changing it so that command did not directly affect attack and defence (leaving presumably morale).

In MTW, if the troops were within 50m of the general, it was one valor for each star.