Getting Great Generals

[DeathEmperor]

So I've been playing EB for about a month and a half now and I'm still stumped on how I can get great generals. The only great generals I seem to get are the ones I started my campaigns with (Did a long Epeiros one and currently a long Arche Seleukeia one). Other than Pyrrhos I have yet to get a 9 or 10 star general, and the rest of my guys struggle to even get 3 stars.

Meanwhile the ai is churning out 5+ star generals as though they're nothing, and on top of that when I attack them get 2 or 3 free stars.


I just wanted to know of any veterans or EB team memebers could give me tips on how to "even the odds" so to speak and help this EB initiate get some awesome generals to help me take the fight to the Baktrians and Romans (main superpowers in my AS campaign) and conquer the world.


p.s.- I've tried training my new characters in cities or capitals with schools and academies, but they never seem to get any command related traits just the dreaded "lover of beauty" trait which spells for any rising general.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Educated generals pick up good traits easier.
EB is designed in a way that it is very difficult for anyone to get a general more than a couple stars at best.
Autocalc seems to give command traits better an fighting a battle. The most command stars I get are when I have a general and a town garrison autocalc a small group of rebels.

[Velvet Elvis]

This is cheap, but it works. While 'enrolled' @ a school of higher learning and a band of rebels pop up near by, take them on with your young general solo. Use 'auto_win' when you sim the fight. I hate how I have to do this, but I've picked up some really cool traits that I know I would never have earned legit!

[Fondor_Yards]

Command stars aren't too important, they only help if the general is near the units. Morale boosting traits are better, they help all units no matter what is happening.

[DeathEmperor]

Thanks for all tips guys.

I was aware of the trick using auto calc, but I kindof hoped there would've been another way instead of doing that since I usually like to fight all my battles but don't always get traits or retinue characters for victories.


Oh well I'll just train my future Alexandros' and Seleukos' the same way I've been doing since Vanilla...beating up on rebel scum.

[Bava]

Here´what i do with promising young generals (makedonia campaign, VH/M):


I normally have a bunch teen generals in my capital (with an acadamy o/c) to "educate" them. At least one of them will get the Tutor ancillary (imo one of the most important ancillaries) and i give it to the most promising gen. When he´s ~20 , its time for rebell hunting. With an army of 2 Hypaspistai/2 Hetairoi/1 or 2 merc units he should able to defeat most rebel stacks on autocalc. As soon as the gen has 2/3 command stars and/or enough moral boosting traits and the Hypas/Hetais have 1/2 silver chevrons they are incorporated in one of my full stacks at the front.

[shlin28]

Wish i did this with my Macedonian campaign, at the end only my faction leader and another guy have any command points at all!

All of the others got unbelievable amount of management and influnce though.

[Sygrod]

I have a slightly different problem.

Most of my family members are not doing their "husbandly duties". I am lucky if a third of the couples actually have any children. To boost the "family" I have had to bribe Eleutheroi and enemy generals. On top of that, I successfully bribed a young ptolemaian general south of Kyrene, and he seems to be suffering from hermit syndrom. The guy has no movement points.

Really strange.

/Sygrod

[Tellos Athenaios]

Certain factions, such as KH, that were not historically ruled by one very powerful family will hardly see the amount of generals increasing through getting babies: EB has limitted this to such an extend that it is nearly impossible. This triggers another aspect of RTW: adoptions & men of the hour. (The engine uses a certain FM's/territories ratio as a measure to 'decide' when a new guy joins the campaign.) So if you want to have more generals, you just need to fight a couple of larger battles with your captains - and hope for the best.

[Boyar Son]

But what really makes the man is the player, you, the AI obviously can't stop the human war machine, generals with command stars doesnt really matter to me so long as I'm controlling them.

Unless you auto calc alot...

My opinion is fight larger battles with smaller armies (but not that small), lots of hard work, but in the end your general and you will get more experiance!

[DeathEmperor]

But what really makes the man is the player, you, the AI obviously can't stop the human war machine, generals with command stars doesnt really matter to me so long as I'm controlling them.

Unless you auto calc alot...

My opinion is fight larger battles with smaller armies (but not that small), lots of hard work, but in the end your general and you will get more experiance!

Whoa wait a second here. Just because I'm asking for help and advice don't talk to me like I'm a complete newb to the game.

I got Vanilla the first day it came out and I've been playing it ever since in one form or another. I mainly played Vanilla and RTR, and I'm a newb to EB but don't take asking for help as a sign that I'm inexperienced and like to slack off okay?

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Hehe. KC recently said he hasn't even played EB yet.

I do understand his point though: it's like just being human gives you 4 stars to your command level (in the big scheme of things) even if your name is Mr. P. Wnd. At best it can mean a 10 point boost or more. It is a good point - if folks manage without using autocalc to get their general to 10 stars in EB (not counting the EB general who won "Most likely to get 10 stars", i.e., Barae), then they are doing a really terrific job.

[Spectral]

One thing that I've found is that it takes a lot of battles for a general to win the first star, but from then on it's easier to get them. Might be wrong though...

[Fondor_Yards]

It is a good point - if folks manage without using autocalc to get their general to 10 stars in EB (not counting the EB general who won "Most likely to get 10 stars", i.e., Barae), then they are doing a really terrific job.

Speaking of Mr Super Star General Barae, Steppe generals gain command stars too fast I think, much faster then other faction.

[BozosLiveHere]

There are a lot of things that affect the chances of a general getting command stars. Among them are natural intelligence, energy, fighting big, hard battles or ambushing the enemy with large armies. Don't expect to earn command stars when all of your battles have 2:1 favourable odds.

[Kull]

Don't expect to earn command stars when all of your battles have 2:1 favourable odds.

Here, here. If you want your generals to get stars, stick them into against-the-odds battles. It's great fun, and it REALLY challenges your skill. Any human should be able to win an even-odds or better battle without a great deal of trouble. My most memorable battles were when I threw a small army at an advancing force simply hoping to buy time, and yet was able to pull off a victory through the use of superior tactics.

This stuff is a learned skill, btw. If you normally don't take risks, start small with non-general led units against rebel forces. Look at the makeup of the enemy army and think of a unit mix which can counter it, especially when smaller in size. Then try it out and see what happens. Learn from your mistakes and eventually you can put some young generals into VERY stressful battles and they'll come out as Heroic Victors again and again. Then you'll see some stars (and a whole lot more!)

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Sometimes the game overestimates the power of a unit or underestimates the power of one. Use some units that the game engine things sucks against some guys that the game thinks should win. I find that Vigiles are underestimated by the game when estimating odds before battle. (Example: I once took a green general and two Vigiles [a city garrison] angainst something like 3 groups of lugoae and the prebattle odds were in their favor, I autocalced and my general got a command star.) Chariots are also overestimated, though they will be overestimated with autocalc aswell.

[Dumbass]

Speaking of Mr Super Star General Barae, Steppe generals gain command stars too fast I think, much faster then other faction.

That's because most steppe armies comprise of horse archers, which are probably the deadliest unit type in the game. Thus the armies are small, because there is only horse archers, but they still beat the crap out of armies twice the size of them. Thus lots of heroic victories.