Best young General?

[Slug For A Butt]

I'm used to getting my Generals up to a spankingly good standard just in time to see them die of old age. But in my latest campaign I've managed to get this young fella trained up before he even needs to shave.





All this guy needs to make him complete is a few more hitpoints, but hell I'm sure he'll get them as he reaches puberty...
But seriously, I'm really chuffed with him being uber at such a young age.
Just wondered what other people have got in the way of top notch young Generals that are going to give them many years of good service.

[imnothere]

bloody excellent general (excuse my Australian). although he is certainly shaving by then (check out his portrait and age of 27). best general i have seen below the age of 30-35 and i have to crusade them. most of the time, i will be lucky to get 7 stars, much less the 10 point Alexander-the-German that you've got.

i got 3 born conquerors / 5 stars young generals. but that was the only highlight of my young 'uns. and sometimes even got fine bureucrat skills. but nothing special at all, and oh, for some reason, very low or no piety. i wonder if my English generals are actually Danish/Viking in disguise. (there is a hugh catheral in the capital they spawn from)

for some reason, in my old games alot of my generals have "unhibited"/"bearded adultress" traits/ancillaries. now my generals have "fine with blood", brave traits, extra-hit points and lately, alot of berserker ancillaries. must be due to me changing from playing like wussy to wading in a sea of blood.

[khaos83_2000]

The youngest i got for a max command general is 20yrold, i think. Born with 5-6 command, got into crusade, win a few battle, then capture the crusading target. Crusading is the best way to win command stars but I like dread more.
If not going for crusades, putting it into tough battle also does the same thing but takes a bit longer.

For the TS case, the general is a normal dude but it managed to get to max stars which is quite a feat. And for the "reliable runner", I did not get that trait before. damn... And for the dread knight, don't you people think it looks cool? Maybe the general unit should change appearance to a dread knight when it gains that trait.

[Zarky]

I got 7 star while my general was 16... Born with 6 (Born to command and strategic skill) and kicked some rebel ass. But it was harder to get him any higher since it was in Milan and i owned 2 regions to each direction by land.
Otherwise he was fine expects he had Expensive Tastes... And eventually rather low piety. Died by 2 piety Inquisitor

[_Tristan_]

The OP general smells of console...

[Slug For A Butt]

Yep, the other bonus with this General for me is the dread rating. I love dread and find it much more useful than chiv, especially after early game when you need chiv to build population. Nothing better than seeing the enemy rout after first contact from the rear with cav.
My problem is his longevity really, he is young enough to be a major player wherever I send him for a long time yet. Do I send him to the middle east where he is at risk of being left stranded, central europe where he will be a great military help but that area isn't really my priority at the moment, or Africa where he will run out of battles fairly quickly and face a long journey back ti civilsation.

[Ferret]

The OP general smells of console...

agreed, I've never seen the 'Reliable Runner' before. I had a general with 10 command, chivalry, loyalty and piety before, though the console may have had something to do with that.

[imnothere]

correction.

it seems that i do have a general with 10 command star at the age of 25 y/o. but he was the king ( i don't count kings/heirs )

[Slug For A Butt]

Console?
I take it you mean cheating.
Why? You people may want to find ways to cheat the game, but I don't see the point. See my point?


EDIT: Also Imnothere (sorry man) Tristan de Castelreng, why would I have a dilemna as to where to use him best if I could miraculously somehow make great generals all the time?
Reeks of " I haven't got one so you must be cheating" If I have misunderstood what you meant by console then I apologise.

But this is fine, the fact that you are saying that makes it quite plain that he's bloody good. Thanks.

[Grog]

Not as young as your guy, but here's one of my chaps from a fairly recent french campaign:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A few flaws, but not bad as faction heirs go; and a good 20 years of Horde fighting left in him. In fact, he's just gathered up some fresh meat from Acre/Gaza to re-take Antioch with...

His stats have mainly come about as he has been on 2 crusades (rebel jerusalem, then rebel baghdad), and I'm playing to my own max chivalry expansionist houserules, which tends to pump chivalry up in active characters.

He has some good governance traits, first doing a lot of construction and stabilisation/conversion in baghdad, eventually leaving it green when the mongols arrived.

Later in his career, he took control of the defence of antioch (now a huge city with cathedral), which topped his piety out fairly fast training bishops.

Also, rebuilding antioch after it finally fell to the depleted golden Horde gave some good traits.

Command was maxed out fairly quickly from leading two successful crusades in a chivalrous manner, and lots of defensive border wars with a strong Ai byzantine in the antioch reigon.

Anyway, even with all this chivalry malarky my empire eventually turned to extravagant corruption on a grand scale, but with such power that I had, King Robin the Fat sailed from genoa to antioch in a cog, unharmed...

[Slug For A Butt]

Nice.
Your General is a high chiv General, which do you prefer?
Personally, unless they start off with high chiv I try to turn them to the dark side by killing prisoners, killing everyone on the battlefield and exterminating towns etc.
I'd rather have my men chasing routers instead of fighting a losing battle for longer I suppose.

[_Tristan_]

Console?
I take it you mean cheating.
Why? You people may want to find ways to cheat the game, but I don't see the point. See my point?

Yes, I meant cheating... Just my feeling...

In fact, I've already got some good generals but not with so much retinue, which made me think of console...

The fact is I generally end up with a lot of generals so the bonuses are diluted among them...

But this is fine, the fact that you are saying that makes it quite plain that he's bloody good. Thanks.

Yes, he's "bloody" good...

[LadyAnn]

bloody excellent general (excuse my Australian). although he is certainly shaving by then (check out his portrait and age of 27).

Groom a female general and there shall be no need to shave :D

Annie

[Grog]

Nice.
Your General is a high chiv General, which do you prefer?
Personally, unless they start off with high chiv I try to turn them to the dark side by killing prisoners, killing everyone on the battlefield and exterminating towns etc.
I'd rather have my men chasing routers instead of fighting a losing battle for longer I suppose.

Well, I posted the example above to show that global gamestyle can develop nice individual characters. I enjoyed playing max chivalry france, occupy all towns, release all prisoners, as you can see above, about 4-5 horde stacks have already had the 'thump-release monsieur' from the chivalric french armies..

As for your general, I can see fairly easily arquiring those stats at 27.
-Operating in north italy from an early age, born to a life on the battlefield fighting venice/milan/HRE/france, lots of opportunity for battle in a relatively small geographic area, landed armies from fleets on both coasts etc, especially if you are playing the dread game and attack where and when you feel. I bet with a fellow like that your global rep is on the way to despicable though.

I personally started playing the chivalry game as it adds challenge, as I was finding dreadlords make battles very easy, for example, my Byzantine dreadlord expands the empire west into venice, with a 75% strength horse stack:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The outlying venice army is destroyed in mountains (note map countours, luckily vards run all day):


Then my mad dreadlord rushes on venice:


Fairly heavy losses, but what do you expect fighting pavise milita in a bridge battle with horses..


Finally, I did such a successful job drawing the Venitian army out, that venice rebelled, forcing my mad dreadlord to spy-rush past another 400 men:

[imnothere]

Groom a female general and there shall be no need to shave :D

Annie

don't remind me about female general... if only the games allowed me. *cries*

my initial games all my priests are secretly female. and now my best 7-10 stars command generals arent producing any children except for girls. where did i went wrong? (4/4 girls!). So i am practically sending all the girls into convents, because only grubby 65 y/o or some young crappy general would propose.

now if only i can clone Joan d'Arc. *sigh*

[Slug For A Butt]

Grog, you are quite right. My rep is not paticularly good even though I try my best to be a good boy.

[IMG][/IMG]

Although, as you said, northern Italy was a great place for him to skill up I'm having trouble finding fights for him as the Pope ain't really my best friend even though we are allied. I need to move him further afield to pick fights with people that the Pope doesn't give two hoots about.
Still got no extra hitpoints for him yet either.