A Very Admirable Admiral

[Good Ship Chuckle]

I come across many admirals in my hours of playing RTW, but I must say that this one I've found is a true gem among stones. In fact, he has FIVE STARS of command!! I'm sorry, but he could put some good generals to shame. When I saw this admiral for the first time, he blew me straight out of the water! (no pun intended)

Has anyone else has seen a better captain sail the Mediterranean?


Old Sea Dog +3 command
Soothsayer +2 morale
Navigator +2 command
And still at the strapping young age of 44.

You ROCK, Admiral Kallinicus!!!

[Quirinus]

I've seen an admiral with a +2 Command himself and a Navigator, which adds up to four-stars. It was, I believe, a Greek admiral, from fighting all those Romans and then Pontus and then the Egyptians, all with formidable fleets.

I think admirals get command stars if they win battles against the odds, or at least close battles.

I have a question: if an admiral has a -1 Command (Seasickness, I think), does that adversely affect the fleet's combat strength the same way a + Command improves it?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

The best I've ever seen is a four star admiral who just happened to be my own. He was sunk quite quickly - commanding a force of Biremes when the enemy are using Triremes isn't very advisable. You've certainly found something fairly rare there Good Ship Chuckle.

I've always found it hard to build admirals up command star wise. I'm not sure whether its because their available command boosting traits are limited, or because I'm not especially good at getting involved in naval combat. Sometime though, my best admirals have ended up getting demoted to a normal sailor when I've merged them with a stack which was lead by a worse admiral. This "bug" prevents them from using their entire potential, stopping them from becoming even better than they already are.

I have a question: if an admiral has a -1 Command (Seasickness, I think), does that adversely affect the fleet's combat strength the same way a + Command improves it?

Nope - I don't think that technically having command stars in the negative numbers is possible. Due to this, the effect remains at the same as it is with no stars.

[Caius]

I've had Old Sea Dog. But I don't think he went THAT far. Well done!

[Quirinus]

Sometime though, my best admirals have ended up getting demoted to a normal sailor when I've merged them with a stack which was lead by a worse admiral. This "bug" prevents them from using their entire potential, stopping them from becoming even better than they already are.

Really? In my experience, merging fleets is highly idiosyncratic-- sometimes, admirals will just refuse to hand over their ship(s) even to a superior admiral. But as a rule of thumb, a starred admiral will not be demoted. For example, if I want to merge the fleets of one-star Admiral Flavius with two-star Admiral Herius, I will have to leave at least one ship on either side.

I've always found it hard to build admirals up command star wise. I'm not sure whether its because their available command boosting traits are limited, or because I'm not especially good at getting involved in naval combat.

I think the dilemma is that if you just overwhelm the enemy with numbers, the admiral won't ever get any command stars, but in close situations, you are as likely to lose as to win, so the promotion of admirals is rarely ever intentional. Or at least that's how I see it.


In the Scipii game I just started this morning, though, there are lots of starred admirals running about-- Scipii, Carthagenian, Greek, Macedonian..... even pirates. I think this probably has to do with how many fleet battles there are-- my war with Carthage, for example, is as much a naval war as a land-based one. Probably not the best of strategies...... but I find it more realistic.

[Punicus]

I can't even remember the last time I saw an admiral with more than two stars... some of my admirals have fought in 50+ naval battles and not gained a star. I can't explain it. I guess I'm on the same ship (terrible pun intended) as Omanes.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

I wish I had a clear cut stragety to getting a wonderful admiral, but in this case it really just boiled down to luck, and a bit of prudence as well.

I just know that I never put him in a battle that I didn't think he would win, and immediately after sustaining casualties after a battle, I sent him to port to retrain. I wish I had more of a method to my madness.

When I saw Kallinicus, I just had to share him with someone. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in the real world that plays RTW. All I know are you guys, my cyber buddies!!

Sorry for being a little cheesy there. But thanks for the feedback.

I have to go now, I have some more sailing to do. Arrgg!

[The Wandering Scholar]

Port defenders usually get good command sars, keep them in safety and train another unit if needs be to win back your port. If one more is not good enough, wait another turn for them to move on.

[Hannibalbarc]

I've had a 4 star admiral before, One thing that annoys me though is that the admirals don't get along to well because you can never join fleets, so you have to train a fleet for each admiral that you get.

[Caeser The III]

wow very nice

[Quirinus]

I've had a 4 star admiral before, One thing that annoys me though is that the admirals don't get along to well because you can never join fleets, so you have to train a fleet for each admiral that you get.

Yeah, what I said too.

I also hate the fact that the admirals get so awfully attached to their old rickety ships. Most of my starred admirals are biremes, but by the time I get to train triremes, it just seems odd that a bireme is leading a fleet of triremes and even quinqiremes (sp?), like how a peasant unit is captaining an army full of hastati and principes is odd.

Wait, does that make sense? I'm a little groggy, so I don't know if that came out right.

[General Appo]

As the Seleucids I´ve gotten a Legendary Admiral with Soothsayer and Navigator. That´s 7 stars! From the age of 18 to his death at 75 he as involved in a battle almost every year, mainly against pirates and egypt, but the last 20 years he only fought Brutii. Great guy, I gave him a almost full stacked fleet to clear the Med from ships, which he had finished doing just 2 years before his death. Great man indeed.

[Quirinus]

Most land-based generals never even get to seven-stars, lol. Amazing.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

A very interesting achievement there General Appo

[Good Ship Chuckle]

@ general Appo
Bless me lucky stars, Seven stars! He could teach ol' Kallinicus a thing or two. lol

It would be great if you could get a picture of this famed admiral. Feel free to post it in this thread. This thread is more meant for praise of all earth-shattering admirals, not necessarily Kallinicus.

[puklo]

...it just seems odd that a bireme is leading a fleet of triremes and even quinqiremes (sp?), like how a peasant unit is captaining an army full of hastati and principes is odd....

I play M:TW a lot more than I play R:TW (pls bear with me for a while with this, Rome people); and more oftentimes, I have captains of peasants as my provincial governors (many of them have acumens 4 or more; heavier warriors have only 1 or 2)--and I mostly use them as stay-at-home garrisons so that my best troops could go traipsing around the conquest road. And I don't mind having a peasant big-wig to command my (acumen 2 or less) Huscarles and Feudal Knights. Biremes are faster than triremes and quinquiremes, I believe, so I wouldn't mind placing my bigshot admiral on the command chair of one, leading my fleet of heavier species, were I in your place.
Bye-bye, good folks.

[The Wandering Scholar]

goodbye

[Quirinus]

I play M:TW a lot more than I play R:TW (pls bear with me for a while with this, Rome people); and more oftentimes, I have captains of peasants as my provincial governors (many of them have acumens 4 or more; heavier warriors have only 1 or 2)--and I mostly use them as stay-at-home garrisons so that my best troops could go traipsing around the conquest road. And I don't mind having a peasant big-wig to command my (acumen 2 or less) Huscarles and Feudal Knights. Biremes are faster than triremes and quinquiremes, I believe, so I wouldn't mind placing my bigshot admiral on the command chair of one, leading my fleet of heavier species, were I in your place.
Bye-bye, good folks.

Are biremes faster? I thought they were all the same. Also, I think units of different movespeeds slow down to that of the slowest unit in a stack. For example, a cavalry column still won't move fast if it has a couple of infantry units/onagers tagging along.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Are biremes faster? I thought they were all the same.

I think that you are correct there Quirinus - ships are usually of equal speed.

Also, I think units of different movespeeds slow down to that of the slowest unit in a stack. For example, a cavalry column still won't move fast if it has a couple of infantry units/onagers tagging along.

Yes, that is the case, although Onagers and similar seige weapons slow the stack down to a much greater extent than infantry does to a cavalry stack. Due to this I always either separate my main stack from the siege weapons (with an escort of course) or I try to avoid using them under in cases where rapid assault moves are needed. Sometimes though generals have extra movement points which negate this problem by a fair amount.

[Telys]

6 stars. In my current campaign.

[Paradox]

6 stars. In my current campaign.

I guess that answers Chuckle's question.

Has anyone else has seen a better captain sail the Mediterranean?

[Good Ship Chuckle]

I guess that answers Chuckle's question.

...



Okay Omanes, you can now close this thread...

[The New Che Guevara]

[QUOTE=puklo] I have captains of peasants as my provincial governors.QUOTE]


I think I can beat that, I used an entire army of peasants when I was extremely bored.

[puklo]

[QUOTE=Vladimir.Lenin.Returned]

I have captains of peasants as my provincial governors.QUOTE]

I think I can beat that, I used an entire army of peasants when I was extremely bored.

Well, what happened next? did you win the battle? or the entire war? I think, with a navy of several fleets of biremes, one can still win the campaign in RTW--Total War games are mostly decided by land troops and money, anyway; but having a fleet would be a great advantage if you are Roman or Greek or Carthaginian or whatever. Have a great day, boys.

[RLucid]

On upgrading Admira's ships, I think I've had some luck doing it, when you have the transfer screen, with 2 navies next to each other. By shifting the old ship into the other admiral's fleet the transfer took place.

It's a while since I've done it, so I can't quite explain exactly, but it's when fleets have admirals, multiple ships and they are adjacent.