Idea for a trait-- Language Barrier

[Caratacos]

I don't know if its possible or not but i was thinking about multi-national mercenary armies. Anyways i thought that there could be a command penalty for any general who has an army made up of more than say... 3 nationalities-- to represent the language difficulty involved with commanding it. A general could also have a trait "grasp of languages" or something which negates this.

Just an idea (and not a particularly important one) ... anyone have any comments, scalding or otherwise?

[Lovejoy]

Yeah I like idea, and it makes sense. I dunno if its possible though.

[Tretii]

How come Hannibal has won against Romans at Cannes? As long as I recall he had Gauls, iberians, carthagenians and hell knows who in his rank and still managed to beat Romans just fine.
Personally I think that extended diplomacy trait would be solution with recruting mercenaries of different nationalities.

[Zaknafien]

well Greek was the international language of the day, and if you are going to be a professional mercenary unit, odds are some of your number, or your boss, at least, will speak Greek.

[bovi]

I do not think the language would be much of a problem. I'm not sure whether it was a later invention, but I'd think trumpets or other instruments would be able to give signals that every man would be able to memorize the meaning of. Even with only voice, at least the basic commands would be drilled into the soldiers so they'd know when to charge, retreat, shoot, flank or halt even if there's a foreigner shouting it and waving his sword at the enemy. The language barrier is a lot worse today, using telecommunication with no common visual reference or body language involved (although most people are certainly more acquianted with foreign languages these days).

But a heterogenic army (non-faction troops) might have morale problems, for instance as they are fighting far from their home for a foreign cause they care nothing about or even dislike, or mercenaries who may not be keen to fight on when the one who pays them kicks the bucket.

[Caratacos]

Trumpets and the like would definitely make things easier, however i was thinking about when a general is in the thick of battle (with his other officers, trumpeters or whatever possibly dead). To be multi-lingual would definitely be an advantage. I'm sure there would have been many ancient battles that were decided (at least in part) because of simple communication errors.