Titles of Generals

[Count Fudgula]

I'm a good chunk of the way into a campaign and I've started to accumulate some interesting titles for my generals. There's a couple of guys called Nero the Wrathful and Cassius the Morbid who are both governors with suitable traits to suggest where they got the name from. My two top generals Amulius and Cassius (faction leader and his son and heir as it happens), both went from being called "Victor" to "the Mighty" due to their headlong rush into enemy territory fighting lots of big battles along the way.

In the last two turns, however, Amulius has gone from being "the Mighty", to "the Cunning", to "the Orator", to "Augustus". The Cunning title arrived after beating a vastly bigger German barbarian army with very few losses and an almost complete annihilation of the opposition (he took his core of seven or eight most experienced units against a reasonably well equipped German stack). The Orator came at the end of that same turn when (I think) he was promoted to Praetor. So far so good, but then at the end of the following turn he was given the "Augustus" title, and I'm a bit puzzled as to how or why.

In summary (!), can someone tell me how this Augustus title appears? If anyone has a brief rundown or theories on the other major titles, that would be nice too.

Cheers.

[Kraxis]

Since Augustus meant... well, I think you can guess it since all the emperors were named that. So he is quite a bit beyond just Mighty. I'm impressed, Mighty is the best I have gotten yet.

But the best total name I have gotten was Alexander the Conqueror... I mean how good isn't that? He started out as a mediocre commander and ended up after a massive conquest of Asia Minor as both faction leader and a commander of unlimited ability (that I managed to get him killed in an assault on Petra is not important here ). Alexander the Conqueror, man that was cool. I was hoping that it would evolve into the Great (it did evolve in the Mighty) but alas I got him killed.

[Count Fudgula]

Bah! My general Amulius Augustus just croaked on his way to march to Rome. He was only 64, very sad, and only six months after his brother, Vibius (both of natural causes it would seem). It's been a bad year for the Brutii.

On the plus side the new Leader is sitting outside the gates of Carthaginian Corduba, and he is almost as scary a general as his dad (but only a "Mighty" at the moment!). Also, the Senate haven't noticed yet that all my toughest troops are moving away from the fringes of the empire and back towards Italy...

If I could list Amulius's traits, would that help working out where the Augustus title comes from?

He managed to have a battle nearly every turn, and only had to slow down when he had to make a sea transfer from Athens back to Gaul. It was quite a problem sending a trail of "occupation troops" after him to keep newly conquered places under control, while he marched on looking for more fights. It got pretty bloody when he hit Germania, as there wasn't anywhere near enough troops to keep the cities pacified, so there were quite a few exterminations, unfortunately.

I think I'll miss him!

[KiOwA]

I've also had titles such as the Weird and the Cold-Hearted. The one that takes the cake has to be my general going from the Mighty to the Horseman - that's definitely a downgrade in title rank in my book, even if he is a superb commander of calvary

[Count Fudgula]

Here's a bit of a weirdy one, I did a check on the turn my faction leader and his brother died. There is an announcement for the faction leader but not the brother. Is this right?

The same turn there is a proposed husband for one of the daughters, which I accepted. Perhaps, this sent the total number of generals over the edge and they just cut one down for fun? Must try the turn again and see if turning down the husband makes a difference.

Here is the VnV list for Amulius Augustus:
Legendary Commander
Natural Born Leader
Consummate Politician
Intelligent
Conqueror
Poor Farmer
Draughtsman
Great Orator
Inefficient Taxman
Firm Personal Morality
Faction Leader
Virtus
Spymaster
Sanguinary
Great Attacker
Sly
Clean Hands
Ex Quaestor
Expert Infantry Commander
Pillager
Roman Hero
Understanding of Tactics
Ex Aedile
Office of Praetor

Anything here jump out as being a bit august?

[nokhor]

virtus is something i haven't seen before so it might evolve from that. i've also never had a spymaster but i doubt that would lead to augustus.

[dismal]

This is my understanding:

Generally the epithet titles come when you racked up a lot of virtue points in a single category.

"Spy Master", for example requires 24 virtue points in that category and brings the epithet "the Cunning".

Of the virtues you listed, the ones that require the most points are:

Spy Master (24)
Legendary Commander (16)
Cons. Politician (15)
Conqueror (15)
Great attacker (8)
Clean Hands (5)

"Virtus" takes 4 points in the "True Roman" line.

If I had to guess on what gives "Augustus", I'd guess "Consummate Politician".

[Simetrical]

What traits cause what epithets is listed in data\text\export_VnVs.txt. The title Augustus is caused by the Virtus trait. There's no such thing as going "up" or "down"; as far as I can tell, an epithet-granting trait automatically overrides any epithet the general might already have when it's first gained.

-Simetrical

[Kraxis]

Good to know... So there is nothing like a superior epithet, like a last of the line in the Mighty line isn't suprior to a 1st in the politician line? I don't think I like it.

I just had a nice convertion today. Alexander's heir, Cleitus (interesting analogy to the real Alexander and Cleitus), became first Mean, then Wrathful and after his taking the reigns he became Cleitus the Killer... I say: How fitting. Eventhough they are caused by different lines they fit each other greatly and Cleitus certainly is a nasty fellow to wrongfoot.

[Count Fudgula]

Thanks for the information, folks. Looks like "vitus" is the one that did it, now if only I could work out how to get that again...

I tried doing a reload to check the deaths of the two generals on the same turn, and I noticed that if I refused the husband for the daughter the two older generals would survive. I also refused to adopt two other captains from Man Of The Hour type opportunities that same turn. The two old guys are still going strong after a few more turns, and a few more refusals of adoption opportunites.

My theory is that the chance of your older generals dying off is greatly enhanced whenever your generals-to-provinces ratio gets too high. I currently have the same number of generals and potential generals (sons and possible husbands to daughters) as I have provinces. Has anyone got any hard figures on the ideal ratio? Or can anyone else confirm that this kind of behaviour is occuring?

[dismal]

I think many have sensed that you're more likely to get adoption opportunities if your territories/generals ratio expands, but I'd be surprised to learn your death chances go up when the ratio contracts.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever lost enough territory to find out.

The one thing from observation that I do suspect increases the chance of death a lot is being on a ship. I seem to have had more than my share of older generals die on ships.

[Kraxis]

I just remembered the way Alexander got his Conqueror epithet, well at least the interesting story behind it.

He was going on a rampage in Asia Minor, chrushing Pontic, Greek and Armenian armies right and left. But eventually even he needed help and the three closest generals were sent to help with their armies. They were: Kassandros, Ptolomy and Seleucus. Now isn't that interesting... I wish Alexander had a 'Reborn' trait, I would have believed it.

[Count Fudgula]

Kraxis, that's a little spooky. I like the way stuff comes together like that though, the game gets a little extra dimension from it, I feel.

In my game currently, my old generals are still alive and, I'm still refusing suitable husbands for the daughters, and other adoption opportunities. I'm trying not to stay static with my empire though, as I think some of the sons coming of age may cause trouble. So it's a bit of a conquerathon at the moment.

I'm going to stick with the "too many generals kills old people" theory and see how it plays out. Perhaps if I get the number of generals down to very low levels, they'll live forever?

[Oshidashi]

I didn't read whole the discussion but Augustus was the first emperor to rule rome without the senate. So if your general gets the title augustus you should by then have taken out at least the Roman senate and perhaps your former allies as well.

My general has had the augustus title as well but i don't think i conquered all that at that time

[Red Harvest]

Thanks for the information, folks. Looks like "vitus" is the one that did it, now if only I could work out how to get that again...

I tried doing a reload to check the deaths of the two generals on the same turn, and I noticed that if I refused the husband for the daughter the two older generals would survive. I also refused to adopt two other captains from Man Of The Hour type opportunities that same turn. The two old guys are still going strong after a few more turns, and a few more refusals of adoption opportunites.

My theory is that the chance of your older generals dying off is greatly enhanced whenever your generals-to-provinces ratio gets too high. I currently have the same number of generals and potential generals (sons and possible husbands to daughters) as I have provinces. Has anyone got any hard figures on the ideal ratio? Or can anyone else confirm that this kind of behaviour is occuring?

That is VERY interesting. I had not noticed the link before but recalling circumstances it sounds quite plausible, I'll start watching for this. I think I'm going to start refusing adoption of generals with poor pedigrees. I have been arranging retinue transfers whenever my generals hit their mid 50's. It really helps the upstarts to get rolling. I park the old guy in a big province where he can make lots of money for me, keep order up/squalor down, recruit units cheaply, and build stuff at a discount. He spends his retirement years in comfort governing cities and transferring some of his retinue.

[Es Arkajae]

Meh, I'm still hoping for a 'the Burninator' title in the upcoming patch myself

[Octavius Julius]

I got Alexander the Bleedin' Deadly (Colin Farrell)...

...you need a Dublin accent to say this one.

[Es Arkajae]

I got Alexander the Bleedin' Deadly (Colin Farrell)...

...you need a Dublin accent to say this one.

Well if its Oliver Stones version of Alexander it should be Alexander the bleedin' gay ponce.


You don't need a Dublin accent to say that one.~p

[Mackaaan]

when i played as the seleucids i had my general Alexander go from the Mighty to Alexander the Infantryman conquering minor asia, and his grandson or greatgrandson earn the name Podaleiros the Horseman... they should add more names in a next patch, gets me more into life with the game

[Count Fudgula]

I tried refusing all attempts at adopting people for a few more years with Amulius and got about 10 extra turns out of him. There were a few kids born into the family at this time which may have pushed the "potential and real general" number over the number of provinces I had, which may have made it more likely for him to croak. A pity, as there are some real wasters floating about in the family at the moment. I have one fella who has got to the point where cities are much better off without him in charge. Shoulda sent him off into the wild looking for trouble, I reckon.

Anyway, Amulius DID make it to Rome, and did manage to capture it in an almighty battle. He even had time to take out the largest of the Julii armies before he passed away. He ended up being called "Amulius The Infantryman" after getting the Infantry Commander of Genius trait. Bit strange that, as I was using quite a few mounted troops in some of these battles!

I have a feeling the birth rate may step up a gear when it looks like you may be running out of generals (I was still expanding at this point). Perhaps there is some extreme way of testing this by taking your initial faction leader, and sending all his sons off to get killed against massive odds somewhere, and seeing what happens.

It would be interesting to see if suddenly your initial leader starts firing out kids again, or if a lot of Man of the Hour type adoption opportunites appear.

[soibean]

it seems that the only nickname I can get is "the infantry man"
normally with the greeks... my starting general in syracuse always gets it because he sits around for about 20 years doing nothing buit defending siege after siege until he can train archers and hoplites
then the fun begins

[Don John]

OP, I got this too: