Do you use your faction leader on the front lines?

[unseen11]

When you begin a war against someone (say Julii vs Gaul) do you guys use your faction leader to command the troops into victory? I remember in MTW it was a good idea to use your leader in battle so your underage princes get some command stars but i'm wondering if the same tactic is valid in RTW?

So what do you guys usually do? Use your faction leader as general? or let some other general go to war (maybe faction heir?)

[Browning]

I don't, provided I gave enough good military leaders. The faction leader is an old chap with excellent management skills and a high office with the Senate - he cannot be absent from internal politics.

As you see, I role-play it a little.

[AussieGiant]

As long as the family is doing well and the heir to the faction leader is a competent fellow then he is free to go running around slaughtering everything.

I role play my guys from when they come of age. The initial traits and charateristics determine what I do with them.

They either end up as administators or generals and they will hold those positions until they die or something drastic happens.

[SpencerH]

The death of the faction leader in MTW could have tragic consequences especially for a large empire. The faction leaders death doesnt seem to effect anything in RTW, so why not use em if they have multiple stars.

[Uso Da Namu]

i use the one with highest command and then 5 low"level" generals to acompany him (until they have atlest 3-5 stars and some bronze cherons)

my army is mosly made up on generals (as calvary)/infantery with whatever ranged support i can get.

[Quietus]

I cycle:

1) Faction Heir does all the main battles ( I normally use just one army unless) the AI decides I should use more by attacking me).
2) When the Faction Heir turn Faction Leader, he retires.
3) Repeat 1)

[Malrubius]

If the Faction Leader is a command type, yes. My current one is definitely an attacker. But he's getting old, and his younger brother (and heir) is more of a management type, well-educated and intelligent. When he becomes FL, Carthage's armies will be commanded by someone younger who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.

If you have younger generals in the same stack with your experienced one, they're not going to gain command stars for victories (although they may pick up other traits). I try to just have 1 general in a stack, unless I think I will split them up later to attack two enemy settlements or stacks at once, or if I need the heavy cav for taking on a lot of enemy generals.

[aw89]

Sure i use him, its not like he's going to die anyway. (in battle)

[hrvojej]

He is in command of a 50-man heavy cavalry unit with 2HP, and the only bad thing that could maybe happen is that he may die and get replaced immediately. Or that he didn't manage to have 4 children before death and the campaign is still young. In other words, the risk of using him is negligible. If you need to use him, that is.

And this time I won't go on a tangent about how this is the same as the no-bad-repercussions diplomacy model...

[Atreides]

I use them. Eespecially since they got that UBER-units at the start of the game.

Thanks to the very large bodyguard en 2HP they are not very likey to die. Just keep an extra eye on them!

[Count Belisarius]

I use the faction leader on the front lines if he's a command type. I don't have a problem with this from the early Roman historical perspective. For example, when Scipio Africanus's father was killed in battle, the Cornelii did not collapse or devolve into civil war. Rather, a new member of the family took up the mantle of leadership and led the family on to even greater glory. The faction leader's welfare should be a factor for other factions, however, such as the factions whose leaders historically were kings or warlords (Gauls, Greeks, Seleucids, Ptolemies, Macedonians, etc.).

From a gameplaying perspective, I do miss the M:TW tendency of the occasional civil war and/or factions randomly reappearing (except for the unspeakably annoying Papacy). It added a level of difficulty that I found enjoyable.

[derF]

Since i play peacefully (ie, attack only those who attack me) i will have my faction leader on the front commanding the main army and fighting the toughest regions until there is peace. I often offer diplomacy, yet i crush factions for their betrayal when they foolishly decline it.

[Craterus]

I always use my faction leader in the army. Not in the frontline though - just behind the infantry..

In my army, if you have a command star, you can have an army and go to war. If you have no talents, you sit in a town till you get some. The family members who make better governors than generals go in my major towns and cities like Tarsus, Antioch, Sidon, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Memphis, Sardis, Pergamum etc.

[Bob the Insane]

I always use my faction leader in the army. Not in the frontline though - just behind the infantry..

I am with Craterus on this, I generallt include a general or two but do not actually use them unless it is the turning point of the battle or something like that. As I use the RTR mod by Roman generals are in units of Triarii rather than cavalry so you need to be careful with them. Basically the larger the army the less like it is that the gereanl will see any actual fight unless things start to go wrong...

For new family member how have no abilities I always send them out to fight first. Usually I will put together an invasion army with at least one starred general and some newbies. After the first few battle and when a significant settlement is taken I use the main general and some troops for the garrision and send the newbie general off to see what he can do. The idea is to get him some command stars and a few useful hero traits. Then I will put them in charge of small but newely captured settlements and bump the tax rate up to try and generate some good managment traits, from that point on I will migrate to the major towns and cities as govenors and pretty much leave them there. Only the really crack generals and those family members with lots of negative traits stay out in the field. The crack generals lead new invasions and the useless family members simply make up troop numbers.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

My faction leader follows the spartan tradition and fights on the front lines until he is at least 60! Go crusty old men!

[Fist of Brutii]

hmm, my faction leader sits bag in Sparta, while my other fameli members fight the war on the Scippii, and Julii....
(Damn them! they threw my out of the senate because i didnt want to kill my faction Leader!)

[Somebody Else]

In my current RTR game, I've got my faction leader beasting on the Gauls, as the previous incumbent did before him. My generals always fight in the front line, usually taking on the enemy general - heavy duty spearmen as a bodyguard are pretty useful.

However, since I don't ever adopt/allow people to marry in, I'm running fairly thin of family members - I've had about a third of them die on the field of battle - no-one dies peacefully in my campaign. Except my first faction leader, who died after surviving a battlein which his unit went down to just his standard-bearer, himself and a couple of men.

[Aetius the Last Roman]

Who wouldn't use the faction leader if he is capable,
There is no great consequences of him dying and he gets many uber-general guards.

[*Ringo*]

I cycle:

1) Faction Heir does all the main battles ( I normally use just one army unless) the AI decides I should use more by attacking me).
2) When the Faction Heir turn Faction Leader, he retires.
3) Repeat 1)

Thx Quietus you've saved me the typing! I do exactly the same.

[The Stranger]

i do in the start of the game, but later when my empire get's too big i always see my family members crowding in my homelands (my first few provinces) and some minor/bribed members and captains mostly fight the border battles. but that's only when my empire is big.

BTW, most of the time i don't even know who and where my leader is

[Craterus]

Weirdest thing happened to me today while I was playing, I had the Faction Leader Dies three times in one turn.

I ended the turn and got the same mesage three times but with different names. Turns out my faction leader, faction heir and the guy who would have been next in line all died in the same turn. LOL, so I got some 21 yr old faction leader now, who knows nothing about anything. He has 0 command stars, 0 management scroll-thingys and 2 influence icons... Useless.. lol

[Sam Adams]

I use both my faction leader and faction heir to command armies at the front. that doesnt meen I use them at the front lines though. They mainly mop up and flank, chase down archers etc.

[Divinus Arma]

I give all my generals field time before retiring them to a city.

Generals with good traits are developed into the actual commanding generals, while those with bad traits (lewd, etc.) are relegated to supporting roles within the army.

One a commanding general reaches 50, I retire them to a city. Supporting generals (those w/ bad traits) are left in the field fighting until they die.

In this way, my cities are all well managed by able individuals who will not pick up crappy traits from a life of luxury in the city. Sticking a 16 year old in command of a city will eventually ruin his character.

[oompalumpa]

I will the first to admit I am terrible at General Micromanagement. Whether or not I use a faction leader/heir in battle depends almost entirely on where he is. If my faction leader dies and my new faction leader is right on the front lines, I will send him out and use him. If he somewhere on the interior, I will simply leave him there. (If he has like 10 stars in the inerior I might send him out, but otherwise, generally not). My strategy with family members is to throw them all into a city ASAP and then take them out when they are needed in the field. That is, unless I am performing some major campaign or something in which case I may actually strategically use generals. But that is rare.

[NobleRubberChicken]

Well, I use him to chase down routing enemies in the early parts of the game

In the later parts he isn't as useful because of the more advanced cavalry,so I tend to keep him out of combat as much as I can.

[katank]

I always blitz AI factions at the beginning of the game. Faction leaders and faction heir's uber size BG units mean that they are real battle turners.

I almost never pitch them into a frontal assault unless it's a enemy unit that is guaranteed to rout at the charge (ie. peasants or missiles). I use them to flank and deliver the crusher blow to rout the enemy battle line and then chase routers. They also guard flanks and countercharge.

They regenerate for free and rarely die if you use them carefully and sensibly. With some retinues, my faction leader and factio heir often have several silver and even gold chevrons.

That's when I transfer the valor boosting retinues to other generals and they will get the retinues again in no time.

My faction leader/faction heir almost always have might, conqueror, or victor epithets.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I think it is even more reason to use your faction leader if he is incompetent, because he will either die and pave the way for new competent blood or he will live and learn to fight well and influence well.

[The Stranger]

in my current RTR 5.4.1 and manual modded campaign, my biggest victories are fought by captains, while most family members do the city, only when a member is totally unsuited for city control or exels in fighting i use them to fight battles. it has prove worth, cause i launched a full scaled invasion vs the Carthaginian empire (damn it was huge), and minor invasions vs gaul, thrace and greece. the carthaginian invasion was a succes, 6 out of 7 objectives capture by six different armies, one army failed cause it was attack 4 times by overwhelming odds but stoud firm every battle but was halved after the 4th and a 5th army was approching so i retreated him, and let him retrain and guard the Rhine borders. a army of early legionares was annihilated by thrace with a army of mercs and family member. greece was a succes too, but due the low support of the local tribes in gaul i had to abort it after taking on settlement.

[imdWALRU5]

I always use my faction leader in the army. Not in the frontline though - just behind the infantry..

In my army, if you have a command star, you can have an army and go to war. If you have no talents, you sit in a town till you get some. The family members who make better governors than generals go in my major towns and cities like Tarsus, Antioch, Sidon, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Memphis, Sardis, Pergamum etc.

I do basically the same. I use my faction leader and faction heir as my major generals (they each have arould 9 command stars) but i still have other major generals.

In battle, I usually reserve them for the final charge to crush the enemy or in last case senarios where the morale boost and extra troops are needed.

[imdWALRU5]

But I have been holding back on attacking with my faction leader brcause he received the trait "given to ill health" (something like that) and it gives him -4 hitpoints!!!
So i just leave him in the back now