Imperator trait, and others

[palmtree]

I've had several characters with the Vanquisher of Carthage trait, before I finally finished off the faction, and it mentioned that my general would need to get the Imperator trait before he could get a triumph. Seeing this inspired me to focus on one general and kick as much ass as I could with him in order to get a triumph, but I ran out of enemies and the only result was that I had a very wealthy general from all that plunder. Not bad, but I wanted my triumph. That was back in the 250's.

It's now 237 and, supported by another general I decided to send out my green new adopted family member to get some experience by defeating the Aedui halfstack that was besieging Mediolanum. I autoresolved since I wanted to focus on the Ptolemai and what do I know, post battle my green and completely untested general is now named Imperator. He didn't even have a command star.

So what I'm wondering, is this trait completely random?

And considering that the yearly history text mentions triumphs granted fairly often I find it kind of strange that I've been playing 40 years now without one.

And on the topic of generals I usually find myself up against supremely skilled enemy generals no matter what I do while my own generals, even the ones with 10+ victories and years of campaigning behind them, never seem to be able to gain more than four stars. Is there a method to this madness, or am I destined to curse Rome's crappy generals?