What is the highest level for an assasin?

[m52nickerson]

I'm new to MTW and would like to know what is the maximum amount of stars an assasin can get? I'm training one up for a date with a king and want to make sure he is ready.

[bretwalda]

7 stars was the most I have seen. By assuption if this goes the same way as command stars 9 should be the max. Considering that promotion requires on average 1,2,4,8,16,32,etc wins (if I recall correctly) pretty hard to do. I stick to swarms of 5* assasins from Syria... The problem when you can't produce enough of them... Damn Byzantine uber-emperors and their endless chain of heirs...

[edyzmedieval]

* Laughing out loud!!!

What's with the BYz??? They are my fav faction!!! Useful heirs because they are the very powerful Kataphraktoi!!!!!!!!1

And about assasins.... Maximum in 9 stars...

[Togakure]

I've only seen up to 7-star assassins as well, but I agree that it's probably possible to get them as high as nine stars.

Why produce assassins in Syria? Do they get a valor bonus?? I thought Syria produced +1 Valor Nizaris for the Egyptians ... .

You like Kataphraktoi, Edyz? In my current Byz campaign I've capitalized on something I learned about in my previous one--Avar Nobles from Moldavia in the Early Era. They ROCK! They have the same stats as Kats (armor and all), except that they are faster and have a better charge (6 as opposed to 4). They only require a Master Horse Breeder and Armorer to produce (and automatically come out of training with +1 valor because of the Master Horse Breeder ...). I bribe Moldavia on the second turn, and from there it takes 42 years and 4800 florins to develop the necessary infrastructure to produce them. All things being equal they will defeat Valor 1 Feudal Knights, which are the best cav you will likely encounter in the Early Era and early part of High. I produce Kats in Constantinople also, but use them mainly to replenish my royal commanders. Their lack of speed makes them less than desirable for the tasks I normally assign to assault cavalry. Avar Nobles do the trick beautifully, and when combined with Steppe Light Cav and either Byz Cav or Steppe Heavy Cav, you can really kick some butt.

[bretwalda]

There are some undocumented ;) features and I was happy to learn that you get +2 valor assasins in Syria. So you can get the maximum of 5 star dudes coming off the assembly line...

I am not that much fan of heavy cavalry. Actually I find it easy to live without them as long as I have nice horse archer types like steppe heavy, turcoman horse and so on... Heavy cavalry tires too fast thus it does not fit my playing style that much.

Kats are easy to counter if you have the mobility and / or you have the appropriate pinning unit and javellins. However when I started playing with the original mtw (no vi) and also no experience I felt that Byz are unbeatable...

Once I had my whole army standing around 3 depleted Byz units: Varangian Guard, Kat and Treb... And I did not have the unit that could scratch them... (not the valor because I did not have a decent general) So I lost despite outnumbering them 10:1...

Since then I am more advanced ;)

[Patron]

Byzantines can get the best units in the game in the early period. Kataphraktoi and to a lesser extent varangian guard. Also if you are a human player you can start building byzantine cavalry which are multirole battlefield owners in conjunction with the command lvl 8 princes the byzantine royal family keeps on churning out.

[metatron]

Yes, Syria gives +1 to Assassins, just as Portugal gives +1 to Grand Inquisitors (I think...).

Also, Katanks are bleh. They're too slow to pin most cav down, they're only useful to break the enemy with their sheer inertia. I'd rather train PAs or Byz Cav.

[bretwalda]

It is Castile with Inquisitors. Although it says it gives valor +1 I see that both Castile and Syria give +2 to Inquisitors, Assassins respectively. (Portugal gives valor to Caravels although I never see actual command stars appearing. Might be broken, too)

[ShadowMagnet]

Some few years into an early campaign you get a message about fanatical sect of hash-smoking assassins led by The Old Man of The Mountains. Hence, I believe, higher assassin valour. But I'm 99% sure the whole thing concerns Tripoli rather than Syria. On province info parchment, does it say anything about Syria producing higher quality assassins? I just don't recall right now.
I just don't see a reason for Syria-trained assassins to get any bonuses because AFAIK there are no hints about it in the game.
Please correct if I'm wrong cause I'd love to see myself producing 5-star killers.

[bretwalda]

Try it. You WILL get 5* assassins with fortress and max. assassin building (rookery?) in Syria.

By the way there are quite a few hidden bonuses: like Jannisary Heavy Infantry in Bulgaria. If you look for it you will find them in some faq, unit description or listing.

[lilljonas]

Absolutely correct. Syria is one of the handful of provinces that has a "secret" valour bonus, and in this case it is for assassins.

[mfberg]

The valor bonus listings for provinces just includes the first unit that gets the bonus. Thus Brigand are listed for Bulgaria while they also get JHI, Nizari are listed for Syria and they also get Assassins.

Here is my full listing: It should be correct for MTW:VI, but they may change for the mods.
Berber Camel - Algeria
Turcoman Foot - Anatolia
Turcopole - Antioch
Gungalley - Aragon
Armenian Heavy Cavalry - Armenia
Gothic Foot Knights - Brandenburg
Bulgarian Brigands - Bulgaria
Janissary Heavy Infantry - Bulgaria
Inquisitor - Castile
Grand Inquisitor - Castile
Kataphraktoi - Constantinople
Longboat - Denmark
Ottoman Sipahi - Edessa
Mamluk Cavalry - Egypt
Genoese Sailors - Genoa
Janissary Archers - Georgia
Almohad Urban Militia - Granada
Chivalric Foot Knight - Ile de France
Gallowglass - Ireland
Knights Templar - Jerusalem
Knights Santiago - Leon
Ghulam Cavalry - Lesser Armenia
Woodsmen - Lithuania
Saharan Cavalry - Lybia
Knights Hospitaller - Malta
Billmen - Mercia
Berber Camel - Morocco
Pronoiai Allagion - Nicaea
Vikings - Norway
Caravel - Portugal
Peasants - Provence
Teutonic Knights - Prussia
Hospitaller Foot Knights - Rhodes
Ottoman Infantry - Rum
Ottoman Sipahi - Rum
Gothic Knights - Saxony
Highland Clansmen - Scotland
Mamluk Horse Archer - Sinai
SwissPikemen - Switzerland
Nizari - Syria
Assassin - Syria
Chivalric Knights - Toulouse
Trebizond Archers - Trebizond
Turcoman Horse - Tripoli
Boyars - Tripoli (if you haven't added VI IIRC)
Sipahi of the Porte - Tripoli
Dhow - Tunisia
Urban Militia - Tuscany
Pikemen - Tyrolia
Galley - Venice
Longbows - Wales
Cog - Wessex

mfberg

[bretwalda]

So the hidden bonuses are:

Janissary Heavy Infantry - Bulgaria
Grand Inquisitor - Castile
Ottoman Sipahi - Rum
Assassin - Syria
Boyars - Tripoli (if you haven't added VI IIRC)
Sipahi of the Porte - Tripoli

(The rest can be viewed in-game. Just for the convenience I listed them.)

[metatron]

Boyars?!

[2faced]

Boyars. That's a funny blooper.

Anyways, does this same idea apply to inquisitors and grand inquisitors? Spies and emissaries too (very unlikely I know)?