On why generals get traits

[fastspawn]

I noticed there is no guide on why generals get traits like good commander, or drunkard.

Just open export_descr_character_traits.txt and it will have the list of traits with their triggers.

For example for the good commander trait

------------------------
Characters family
This trait is present only in generals within the family tree.
AntiTraits BadCommander
My hypothesis is that there is a scale that all character have which go from -8 to 16. If you get negative you get bad commander traits, if you get positive you get good commander traits.

Level Confident_commander
The first level of good commander
Threshold 1
once you get 1 point in good commander you get this trait
Effect Command 1
You gain one command star.

so on until the fifth level which is Legendary commander which requires 16 points in good commander trait and gives u 5 command stars.

For the bad commander trait treshold limit is 2,4,6,8.

Points are calculated by triggers performed.
In the second half of the text document we get to the trigger section.

Trigger V0010_Standard_Battle_Attacker_Crushing_Victory_VnV_Trigger
WhenToTest PostBattle

Condition WasAttacker
and IsGeneral
and WonBattle
and BattleSuccess = crushing
and I_ConflictType Normal
and BattleOdds >= 0.5
and BattleOdds < 1.5

Affects GoodAttacker 2 Chance 100
Affects TacticalSkill 1 Chance 5

Thus from here we can see that if one wins a heroic victory (crushing) with battleodds between 0.5 to 1.5, there is a 100% chance of getting 2 points in good attacker trait, and 5% chance of gaining 1 point in tacticalskill trait.
Also

Trigger V0090_Standard_Battle_Any_Victory_VnV_Trigger
WhenToTest PostBattle

Condition IsGeneral
and WonBattle

Affects GoodCommander 1 Chance 100

Therefore since you also won a victory, you will gain 1 point in goodcommander.
Inspecting some more, if you are outnumbered by more than half, you might gain points for goodrisky attack, or if your army is >80% infantry or >50% cavalry, you will gain either good infantry or cavalry officer.

Likewise you will gain points in bad commander(most likely means that you will lose 1 point in good commander) if you lose a battle although there is only a 50% chance of that happening.

Reading on we find that ending the turn in town with full movement points

Trigger sitting_around_town_vnv_trigger
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition EndedInSettlement
and RemainingMPPercentage = 100
and RandomPercent > 90

Affects Drink 1 Chance 1
Affects Gambling 1 Chance 1
Affects Arse 1 Chance 1
Affects Girls 1 Chance 1

One has a 1% chance of getting drunk, gambling, arse or girls trait. I have no idea what randompercent>90 means.
Also having a tavern in town increases chance of drink or gambling by 5%

Trigger temple_of_fun_vnv_trigger
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition EndedInSettlement
and RemainingMPPercentage = 100
and SettlementBuildingExists >= temple_of_fun_temple

Affects Drink 1 Chance 10
Affects Gambling 1 Chance 10
Affects Arse 1 Chance 2
Affects Girls 1 Chance 5
Affects Perverted 1 Chance 5

never ever leave your governor in a town with a temple of bacchus or the like!!.

My solution is (if you really want to have a governor) is move out ur governor one step, and move him back again so he doesn't have full mp.

Trigger sitting_around_camo_vnv_trigger
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition not EndedInSettlement
and RemainingMPPercentage = 100
and RandomPercent > 60

Affects Feck 1 Chance 1
Affects HaleAndHearty 1 Chance 1
Affects Scout 1 Chance 1

there is a slight chance that if you leave ur general in the open for one turn he will gain some good traits.

Also, drunk dads tend to raise sober sons. cowardly dads tend to raise brave sons, upright dads tend to raise upright sons, corrupt dads have a equal opportunity to raise upright or corrupt sons. if the dad fearsX, the son will hateX

Also there is a self-perpetuating trigger, that is at the end of the turn, you have 4% chance of gaining a point in a trait you currently have (only some traits, like drunkard, or prim.

Also very interesting, dont keep more than 50000 gold in treasury, because as long as a governor in settlement (doesn't matter whether he has finished his mp).

Trigger corruption1
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition EndedInSettlement
and Treasury > 50000

Affects Corrupt 1 Chance 3
Affects Aesthetic 1 Chance 3
Affects ExpensiveTastes 1 Chance 3
Affects Epicurean 1 Chance 3
Affects BadAdministrator 1 Chance 3

;------------------------------------------
Trigger corruption2
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition EndedInSettlement
and Treasury > 100000

Affects Corrupt 1 Chance 3
Affects Aesthetic 1 Chance 3
Affects ExpensiveTastes 1 Chance 3
Affects Epicurean 1 Chance 3
Affects Embezzler 1 Chance 3

;------------------------------------------
Trigger corruption4
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition EndedInSettlement
and Treasury > 150000

Affects Corrupt 1 Chance 3
Affects Aesthetic 1 Chance 3
Affects ExpensiveTastes 1 Chance 3
Affects Epicurean 1 Chance 3
Affects Embezzler 1 Chance 3

;------------------------------------------
Trigger corruption3
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

Condition EndedInSettlement
and Treasury > 50000
and CultureType roman

Affects ApicianRomanVice 1 Chance 3

[Magraev]

doh and I just bragged about my 300k in the treasury as the seleucids. I can tell you, that you're spot on. Most my governors (especially my leader) have expensive tastes. Some of those traits give a bonus to trade though...

I'm not sure I can spend enough to get below 50k, and I'm not sure I want to. It's nice to have a bribing reserve when the parthians drop by.

[Armchair Athlete]

when I have hundreds of thousands in the bank I like to help out factions that aren't doing so well with gifts of about 60,000 cash at a time If they refuse, you can ask for their world map, and they will usually sell it to you for that price.

[Magraev]

I did exactly that with carthage and numidia hoping to keep the scipii off my back for a while.

[andrewt]

I have over 800,000 as the Parthians.

[rafiki]

Nice work, fastspawn

Rafiki

[The_Emperor]

I recently found out that keeping your faction guys in the field greatly helps them avoid the bad V&Vs... I made a point of this in my Briton campaign after two of my governors got Pet Idiots.

Fortunately I have now offloaded them (and the other bad retinues) onto one former faction heir in his fifties, he is currently rotting in a fort somewhere in central Britannia. The other faction members are all in ambush positions near towns all around Briton and Gaul and have pretty good V&Vs and Retinues.

[Soulflame]

So that's why my generals are accumulating bad vices. I almost never move them when they reached their town, and always try to have a huge bank account.
So now I need to give away money so my family members will not get stupid vices? And I have to micromanage all my family members each turn (move them 2 squares) as well? Seems a bit silly, and definately cumbersome.

[R'as al Ghul]

Has anybody had success by building academies?
It's supposed to give your commanders points in management.
What I haven't found out yet is if they have to spawn in that particular city with academy or do they have to stay there for decades?
The family member with the best management is the one who build Jerusalem from scratch, without an academy. Those that spawn in the capital with academy+ don't have any management points or only one.

R'as

[Captain Fishpants]

Those temples of Bacchus! Everyone has a very good time, but no one wants to pick up the tab!

Seriously, though, this is a really good bit of reverse engineering to figure all this lot out. You can probably imagine how much naughty giggling and tittering was involved at this end creating all this stuff...

[Hosakawa Tito]

Game programmers just want to have fun eh?

[Jambo]

So that's why my generals are accumulating bad vices. I almost never move them when they reached their town, and always try to have a huge bank account.
So now I need to give away money so my family members will not get stupid vices? And I have to micromanage all my family members each turn (move them 2 squares) as well? Seems a bit silly, and definately cumbersome.

That my friend is one of the problems with delving into and learning a little too much of the way the game works. People aren't supposed to know these things and hence the whole way it's done makes sense and it's not cumbersome in the slightest. Unfortunately, by knowing that leaving a general in a town opens him up to a wealth of vices, it can take away the surprise and all of a sudden keeping the general free from them is made to feel more cumbersome.

I'd just play as you normally did, and enjoy the vices as they arrive with your generals. After all, it adds to the immersion and that is playing fair isn't it ...?!?

There's another thread over at www.twcenter.com, which goes into this with a little more detail. Feel free to peruse at your leisure:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index...howtopic=11620

[Ii Naomasa]

I have agree. I had figured out the Temple of Bacchus problem early on in my Julii campaign from playing alone since I was spawning generation after generation of lecherous drunken minions and came to conclusion it was because my capital and many of my early towns had such temples. That still didn't stop me from leaving a governor there or make me tear down the buildings. I did shove off my more favorable sons to other places: "Congratulations on becoming a man, son! Here's a Priest of Bacchus for the road...now off you go and ignore what your uncle is doing over there!"

To me, figuring out why things may happen is part of the fun of deep strategy games. Trying to find work arounds for all of them, particularly in a game that sort of has a role-playing aspect, is not only tiresome as described, but to me spoils part of the enjoyment of the game. The Total War series to me has always been about ups and downs. Victories and losses, great and not so great men. I love games that don't immediately show 'game over' as soon as something doesn't go 100% right. It's not only more open, but also allows for more drama.

[Bob the Insane]

Trying to find work arounds for all of them, particularly in a game that sort of has a role-playing aspect, is not only tiresome as described, but to me spoils part of the enjoyment of the game.

Does this mean you don't swap around character's followers? Do you let good followers disappear when someone dies??

How strict are your 'rules'???

[Don Megel]

You can swap followers? How? That sounds like a plan...

[TinCow]

Has anybody had success by building academies?
It's supposed to give your commanders points in management.
What I haven't found out yet is if they have to spawn in that particular city with academy or do they have to stay there for decades?
The family member with the best management is the one who build Jerusalem from scratch, without an academy. Those that spawn in the capital with academy+ don't have any management points or only one.

R'as

I have had EXCELLENT success with academies and their upgrades. I am at a point where I am getting loads and loads of family members and I have nothing to do with them. As such, I usually pack up 16 year old newbies with no skills and send them off to govern newly conquered cities. If the cities have academies or more, these guys actually seem to turn into GOOD generals while sitting around. I have actually bred good commanders with good management and high influence without them ever moving! That said, I never build bacchus temples and I've only had more than 50k dinarii for a few turns the entire game.

[Lord of the Isles]

You can swap followers? How? That sounds like a plan...

Take 2 or more Generals, put them in the same town or army. Now bring up the fact sheet for them (double left click or right click depending on how you select them). You can now right-click & drag a retainer on to the unit card for another general (bottom of screen in the middle) and let go to transfer the retainer.

Note there is a maximum of 8 retainers that any one general can have, so you can't move anyone if all generals have their 8 slots full. I also had a theory that retainers are grouped into types and you can only have one of each type, but I haven't tested it and have a feeling that it was wrong anyway.

This means you can move valuable retainers from old family members to younger ones, and bad ones like Pet Idiot in the other direction. Then when the old generals die their crappy retainers die with them. Mind you, once you have a few Academies and their upgrades, I find I quickly end up with full sets of retainers. When that happens, I have to wait for a 16 year old to appear then quickly send him round collecting good retainers before his slots get filled up too.

[Don Megel]

Wow, now I feel really bad about my awsome fation leader dieing from old age, I could have given his retainers away...

[TinCow]

Wow, now I feel really bad about my awsome fation leader dieing from old age, I could have given his retainers away...

Don't feel bad. If you've got good academy buildings and temples and your governor sees a little combat here and there, you'll get the best retinue that's out there. Shuffling retinue really only seems worthwhile in the early game with a few important family members. Later on when you have 20-30 running around, it's not worth the trouble.