my compilation of useful to know stuff

[Heidrek]

Hey Mods, can we sticky this thread please - it's a wealth of info!!

[Biggus Diccus]

Regarding pikes/spears in woods; I'm pretty sure the units retain their bonuses as long as their formation is uninterrupted. And if a unit has it's formation partially interrupted the part of the unit that still is in formation the individual soldiers still keep their rank bonus. You kan see this by watching the fighting animation for the individual soldiers; soldiers in both the second and third rank should have the fighting animation to aid the first rank. So I don't think spears/pikes get a flat penalty in woods, but the trees disrupt the formation and make the bonus apply unevenly within the unit.

I've had spears perform excellently in woods on the defense both against cavalry and infantry. Spears will absolutely slaughter cavalry in woods anyways.

[Martok]

I believe that's correct, as that pretty much reflects what Puzz3D has said about spears/pikes in woods.

The other thing to keep in mind is that *all* units receive a -2 morale penalty when moving in woods, so you need to somewhat careful with your lower-morale troops.

[Biggus Diccus]

The other thing to keep in mind is that *all* units receive a -2 morale penalty when moving in woods,

Do they get a -2 morale for woods in addition to the -2 for disrupted formation?

[Martok]

Do they get a -2 morale for woods in addition to the -2 for disrupted formation?

Read Puzz's earlier post in this thread (post #13).

[Jxrc]

Few useful tips regarding v&v. None of this is referred to in the manual and it's just the result of what I gathered after a few years playing the game. Hope that I have not forgotten anything but whatever:

- if you want your general not to get any random v&v just don't put them as commander of a stack of two units or more but leave their unit on its own. You will get the v&v triggered your action (builder, steward, scant mercy, good runnern, etc) but no any good or bad random vice;
- likewise if one of your general got a bad vice (pride, strange, chinless wonder), do not let his unit in command of a stack or the vice will get worse with time (lazy, cracked-brained, odd number of toes, etc.). Note that by doing so you also lose the possibility that your good v&v improves (educated to well educated, famously brave to brave beyond belief, etc) or to get a new positive v&v compensating the effect of the bad one.
- princes can get the V&V strange, chinless wonder and pride when they first appear but I have never seen them getting it afterwards even if after they had become a royal or standard general.
- your King's V&V shall not improve or get worse after he has been crowned (for instance he will remain strange until his death without turning into an unhinged loon) nor will your king get new random v&v.
- if I am not mistaken the description of "secret pride" does not exactly match its effects (IIRC the descriptionn says command -1 while the effect is -2)
- if one of you generals looses stars as a result of a v&v, he will still need to win the number of battle necessary to increase his command rating before the v&v kicked in. For instance, a two star commander who loses those as a result of "odd number of toes" still needs to win the amount of battles necessary to go from two to three stars and not just one. On the other hand, I do think - but cannot 100% postive - that if you general gets additional stars as result of a v&v (well educated) or thanks to a title, the amount of battles necessary to gain an additional star depends on the modified number of stars so that it might sometimes be worth postponing the improvement of the v&v (from educated to well educated) or the attribution of the title until you have won the necessary battles to get to the next level. I wonder if a general with chinless wonder can without title get to 9 stars or if the cap for him will at all time be eight (the max less one for the v&v). Normally should be eight but I never had the opportunity to test that.
- successful crusades increase your ruler's piety (not sure if it applies to all crusades or only to crusades to the holy land);
- apart from one Egyptian general, nobody gets the v&v "fine leader". Never seen anyone with the "legendary leader" v&v.
- apart from William II and an rebel general appearing in Greece or Serbia from time to time, no one gets the V&v autocrat and/or tyrant. I have read somewhere that someone would try to see if framing loads of general for trahison and/or re-allocating titles every turn would do the trick but can't fin the thread anymore

Hope it helps. If anyone disagree , please feel free to voice you opinion .
Bye for now.

[Biggus Diccus]

- if I am not mistaken the description of "secret pride" does not exactly match its effects (IIRC the descriptionn says command -1 while the effect is -2)

I believe there is a bug that swaps the effects of 'pride' and 'secret pride'. I am not 100% sure though.

- if you want your general not to get any random v&v just don't put them as commander of a stack of two units or more but leave their unit on its own. You will get the v&v triggered your action (builder, steward, scant mercy, good runnern, etc) but no any good or bad random vice

Not sure about this one. I am pretty sure I have seen generals/heirs on top of stacks getting random v&v's (both bad and good). But my experience is that there is a maximum number of traits a general can have before he stops getting new random ones (still getting traits from actions). So if you have a heir that is really good, and you don't want to risk him getting any random bad vices you can let him execute some prisoners, have him lead a stack of governors and give him builder/farmer etc. Heirs usually have 1-3 traits to start with and with 4-5 traits they are safe from getting new random ones.

Still a good collection of tips regarding v&v's. I have a rough guide on the subject somewhere that I could reformat and post if there is enough interest.