Generals best left in cities or leading armies?

[katank]

Generals really depend. I tend to pursue blitz strats and these use and perhaps abuse the BG's power. Those BGs regenerate provided the character is not killed.

The game tends to try to balance the number of generals and cities so you get more breeding if you have only a few.

I like to take Athens and the prebuilt academy there makes for good studying ground for new generals. They will get some nice traits and head off for the front. I also transfer bad ancillaries onto deadbeats and use them as suicide cav force, often in my armies (not commanding). They can rally troops and also charge protected missile units, often taking them out at the cost of their own lives.

[LordKhaine]

If a family member shows promise as a governor I'll keep him in a city. Otherwise I'll send them into battle. While a bad family member can do more harm than good in a city, even the worst family members can usually end up worth using in battle.

As a result I usually have one or two uber generals who lead all major offensives in an area, and a few other newbie generals in the field leading smaller armies. One of my uber generals often ends up as the faction heir/leader

[MajorFreak]

I like to take Athens and the prebuilt academy there makes for good studying ground for new generals. They will get some nice traits and head off for the front. I also transfer bad ancillaries onto deadbeats and use them as suicide cav force, often in my armies (not commanding). They can rally troops and also charge protected missile units, often taking them out at the cost of their own lives.

Brutii rules!

I use the deadbeats to shuffle the ancillaries about, so i can keep the governors in place to breed. Deadbeats are also great for breeding the one/two good ancilliaries in a town that has alot of stupid ones as well (just pack the deadbeat with the bad ancillaries of that town and wait for the good ones to pop, then drop by with your courier deadbeat.

I'd only really use the deadbeats in battle if they were absolutely full up with stupid ancillaries &/or past the 65yr mark.

The good ancillaries can be broken up into 4 main "paths"

• the grower (pop boosts)
• the builder (unit discounts)
• the trader (mass trade/admin bonuses)
• Battle (movement, morale and healing)

only sucky thing about brutii are the useless "priest of mars" (+2command attacking)...why would anyone want that sort of boost?

[screwtype]

I usually pair my deadbeats with a good general in a stack and use them in battles. They may be useless characters, but they still have a useful bodyguard attending them which is a quite good combat unit, so that's how I get value out of them.

[Craterus]

For reference on the correct plural of "bonus" please check your dictionary.
Or alternatively, check this online one: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=bonus