A question about AI generals

**Sagittarius** · 10-22-2008, 10:51

I am new to this mod. Playing Roman campaign on settings VH/VH, when I started it of course my generals were totally retarded - as far as I remember a faction leader standing one leg in grave due to his old age was 2 star general, and most promising which was appointed to command the only availabe legion was a 1 star general. What surprised me that every enemy general (including rebel general) whom I faced was at least 4-5 star general, with an average usually reaching up to 8 stars. I carefully started reading their traits - to find out what makes them so deadly, and usually I was finding no more than 2-3 stars among their traits - then why do they get +6 stars or something like that when they fight against me? Does VH level tweak their stats, like unit stats too?
Thanx for the answer, and thanx to mod creators for such entertaining game.

**SwissBarbar** · 10-22-2008, 11:11

VH/VH is not recommandable anyway, the enemys' soldiers will get unrealistic strong, able to slaughter your heavily armed soldiers by throwing cotton balls at them. I'd play on VH or H campaign / M battle

**Sagittarius** · 10-22-2008, 11:55

Yep, I noticed that recommended level is VH/M, the problem is I first started campaign as usual on VH/VH settings and then when I ran into first troubles - (was unable to build roman barracks on conquered territories) started to read FAQ's and so on :)
But... it is extremely high fun to play very hard game. It is year 255 BC and carthaginians are reduced to posessions in spain (2 towns) and one minor city in africa, Mediolanum was just taken after a bloody assault - 300 men of gaisatae under command of 10 star general plus 900 support troops decimated (1200 total) my assaulting legion commanded by 0 star faction leader which included only 3 units of triarii and 3 units principes + auxiliary troops - around 3000 men total. After bloody assault which only 1000 romans survived however Aedui lost 10 star general and the mediolanum itself. The only problem is... I am really afraid to move into gaul territory with generals I have in Italy. Gaisatae were a real pain...
I am playing RTW and various mods since it was released, so.. I know that army commanded by 9 star general on VH level easily beats exellent enemy units comanded by average/bad general. The problem with EB is that enemy, not me has those high star generals, that makes game a lot harder.. and a lot more entertaining :)

**SwissBarbar** · 10-22-2008, 12:07

aren't the stars more important for an auto-solved battle? When you play the battle youself, then YOU are the general, not the 2-stars-guy ;-) and you have 15 stars *G*

even a 10 star general can not beat an army of 3000 heavy roman infanterists alone. The Soldiers win the battle.

Of course the enemys' general is very hardy, but thats more because of the VH-Status than his stars. I'd be more worried about the Gaesatae ;-)

btw: the enemy having a general can be a advantage for you, because when you kill him during the battle half of the enemys will rout *GG*

**Sagittarius** · 10-22-2008, 12:29

Hmm... in RTW the number of stars is very important in tactical battles too. Yes, it is me who guide the troops, not the general with x stars, however I believe general with lots of stars boosts up the stats of toops he is commanding (attack, defence ratings and so on). Of course this is not visible, but.. the stars are not just decoration - they have practical usage. Try to fight same battle with 9 star ranked general on your side, and without him - you will feel the difference. Without general not only morale gets reduced, but unit killing power too.

**Foot** · 10-22-2008, 12:36

Covered this ground so often. Command Stars represent the personal prowess of your general, not how good his army fights. They are thus much harder to get unless your general fights against the odds several times over. Instead, look out for the morale boosting traits, these represent the tactical, strategic, and logistic abilities of your generals and are much easier to get.

Foot

**Sagittarius** · 10-22-2008, 12:49

Ok, thanks for the answers and explanations, now it will be a little easier to plan campaigns when I know game mechanics a little more

**ziegenpeter** · 10-22-2008, 13:43

Originally Posted by Foot

Command Stars represent the personal prowess of your general, not how good his army fights. They are thus much harder to get unless your general fights against the odds several times over. Instead, look out for the morale boosting traits, these represent the tactical, strategic, and logistic abilities of your generals and are much easier to get.

So this means the stars are less important than the morale boosting traits and even harder to get.
Then what are the stars for?
Sorry if these questions seem stupid but I'm not an native speaker of the english tongue and thats why I probably miss sometimes the point.

**Aper** · 10-22-2008, 14:37

Originally Posted by ziegenpeter

So this means the stars are less important than the morale boosting traits and even harder to get.
Then what are the stars for?
Sorry if these questions seem stupid but I'm not an native speaker of the english tongue and thats why I probably miss sometimes the point.

Stars give a bonus in defense and morale only to soldiers near to the general AFAIK but are hugely overpowered in autocalculated battles, so you are often forced to fight on the battlefield if you don't want your Thorakitai Agemata Basilikou to be slaughtered by a bunch of peasants led by a 10 star AI general.
EB team gave AI generals lots of stars to grant them superiority against the player at least in auto-resolved fights.

**ziegenpeter** · 10-22-2008, 15:01

Originally Posted by Aper

Stars give a bonus in defense and morale only to soldiers near to the general

Ok it's THAT bonus. I think the general has to stand behind the troops

**Valion** · 10-22-2008, 16:20

Bah forget the stars.. they are only over polished decorations for you'r FM while standing in the battle map. I prefer morale boost many times over than any number of command stars. and i dont like the idea of my FM always standing behind his men blowing his horn from time to time. i ussualy order my FM to flank the enemy, engage the enemies cavalry, charge the enemies infantry(so long as its not heavy infantry or pahalnx) and so on. This way my FM always get traits such as Roman Hero to Legendary Hero(+5 to morale) this way my men are hard as bricks to break and would end-up fighting to the last man rather then run like little girls Lol.

Although i have been wondering why the AI's FM have like 6-10 stars when their trait list only depicts them to have only 4-5 O.o