question about bodyguards

[Gustav II Adolf]

What decides how many a general will have? I have had Rome for a while but cant figure this one out. It doesn't seem to be influence, rank or vnvs. Well, at least not in an obvious way.

[Deus ret.]

AFAIK mainly two factors:

1) his standing in the family (faction heirs & leaders have additional bodyguards)

2) his personal security. the higher the bonus, the more bodyguards he gets.
the exact formula differs with the chosen unit size, but if I recall correctly should be 1:1 in vanilla on normal size.
note that a negative PS value decreases the number of bodyguards; this only comes into effect when the unit has lost men and thereafter regenerates to the new (lower) number.

[Mujalumbo]

Yeah, it does seem to be related to influence and/or command.

I'm mostly playing RTR 6.0 these days, but the mechanism seems to be much the same. I have piles of no-command, low-influence family members station in towns opressing the peons, er, taxing the peasants, and they all have 12 bodyguards. Then, I have a few guys with four-to-six command stars, four-to-six influence, and THEY have 30 of the hardest sonsofbitches in the whole empire for bodyguards (gold chevrons).

[Gustav II Adolf]

Thanks for your answers.
hmm, i strangely didn't think of a personal security value. It would be nice with some more bodyguards assigned to your high ranking general. I tend to use them quite often in combat.

[Deus ret.]

I'm still not sure about influence having a say in bodyguard size, and I'm quite sure that command doesn't.

There was a thread about that in the Ludus Magna some time ago if I recall correctly. You may want to look it up there.

More bodyguards would indeed be nice for a veteran general; sadly, their number doesn't grow too much because your countless victories provide you with the victor trait, which lowers PS. Some others also do (e.g. careless trait line).

Thus, keep the valuable general in the back until the decisive moment and use a second family member to carry out the "regular" charges. With some luck, he'll get the scarred trait line and is unlikely to ever die in battle.

[blurd01]

i'm not too sure as well but my 10command/10influence fraction leader with 9experience has 116people in his unit thats 115 bodyguards thats mighty kick ass. =) he is 55now and i've trained him along with his army since he was 16...maybe it has something to do with experience. however i doubt it because my 6experience 10command, 5influence fraction hair only has 52people in his unit but he is only 33years old. maybe has something to do with all the factors. but i do think that age and command seem to be the dominent one.

[King of Atlantis]

Influence does effect it.. I know as my generals rise in influence they gain men..

[edyzmedieval]

About bodyguards, what is the use, after Marian reforms, of Praetorian Cavalry?

They are fictional, and second, have the same stats as the bodyguard units!!! Same stats, same model, same skin.....

[magnum]

On Normal unit size (x2 for Large, x4 for Huge) the following factors apply

+7 for Faction Leader
+4 for Faction Heir
+1 per point of personal security (not to be confused with public security)
+1 per 3 points of influence.

No other factors have been shown to affect bodyguard size. Never got above 9 personal security so don't know if there is a top end to that.

[lars573]

Also the base size of the bodyguard unit is 6-12-24-48, for small normal large and huge.

[scorillo]

the largest amount of bodyguards i had was 57....at large scale unit and faction leader

[Kralizec]

About bodyguards, what is the use, after Marian reforms, of Praetorian Cavalry?

They are fictional, and second, have the same stats as the bodyguard units!!! Same stats, same model, same skin.....

They don't have the 2nd hitpoint though.
Agreed, they shouldn't be there.

"OMGwtf, let's not only give Rome good infantry like they're supposed to, but also 1337 cavalry! l0lz"
- some guy at CA

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Yeah, that guy was recently found dead in a gutter with my scramasax in his back.

Are you sure command has no effect because my high command generals with fairly low influence still have loads of bodyguards.

[magnum]

Yep, sure. Played Julii and Macedonians, 50 years each. Every turn I recorded every leader, bodyguard size, and all attributes and retainers. Then sat down and started figuring out what was going on. I admit that there might be rare attributes that none of my family members ever got that give additional bodyguards but I honestly doubt it.

I know that the roman list none of my family members ever got any of the three top senate offices. I doubt they'd give anything as that would give the roman factions another definate advantage. However, I do know that in some 2000 lines of data, I never saw command, management, experience nor age ever affect bodyguard size.

[Ciaran]

About bodyguards, what is the use, after Marian reforms, of Praetorian Cavalry?

They are fictional, and second, have the same stats as the bodyguard units!!! Same stats, same model, same skin.....

They can be trained, in contrast to the bodyguards.