Quote Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
I was of the opinion that morale/valour bonuses or penalties listed on a general's V&Vs affect him as an individual only, not his whole unit, let alone the rest of his stack or the entire battle force.
Not true, 'captured' vices make the entire army harder to rout, not just the general's unit. Also, princes with great warrior virtues always have higher valour bodyguard units then princes without, which you wouldn't expect if the bonus just applied to the unit leader.

The valour boost from the backup general will still kick-in, in it's own right, applicable to the entire force, not just his unit, in the event that the high-star general is captured or killed during the battle. Thus it seems advisable to bring at least one backup general with you. It must be the sudden 'global' loss of valour which makes your army rout so readily when the general is lost and the melee is still ongoing, even if you were actually winning at that point.
No, there is no second-in-command at the battlefield. CA has confirmed this. Once the commanding general is dead, there is no valour bonus anymore. The effects of the commandings general's V&V may last, however.

All your suggestions make sense from a realistic point of view, but unfortunatly CA decided to keep things simple. Or perhaps it is fortunatly, because it would make the interface even harder to understand .

A belated Happy Birthday, EatYerGreens .