Lousy Governors

[CynicalP]

I don't know what it is but all my generals and faction heirs receive negative traits while managing their settlements economy. Usually something about poor with taxes or some other negative trait. I remember while playing the original MTW that all I have to do was build economy improvements structures or hand out titles to boost a governors financial abilities. Doesn't appear to work under MTW2. What is the secret to develope generals who are equally gifted in commanding an army as well as their ability to boost a settlements economy? I am playing Lands to Conquer 3.1 mod if it makes a differance.

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

I dont know about LTC, but usually they just go up if you improve the economical buildings, but tax farmer isnt that bad, dont you get extra money??? Lowering and Highering taxes may change the traits recieved

[CynicalP]

That's what I thought, but the majority of my governors have negative traits and I usually focus on building structures that improve trade income and growth. I do keep taxes lower at first on newly acquired settlements to encourage population growth. Maybe that is where I getting the lousy traits.

[Korlon]

If you have governors in a city, having low taxes gets "bad traits," while higher taxes give "good traits." Note I put a quote around good and bad because they're really half bad and half good. High taxes may give traits that give tax income bonus, but higher unrest for example.

Usually, if there's a governor in a city, I set the taxes as high as possible, but if the city has no governor, I set it to low.

Keep your treasury below 50,000 as well as being above that gives a chance of getting some bad traits. 100,000 for more of a chance and 150,000 for even more.

[PBI]

I wasn't aware that having low taxes gives bad economic traits, but it's often worth doing nevertheless since it raises the governor's chivalry which is important if you want fast growth (which is more important to increasing income than governor's traits).

To avoid getting bad economic traits make sure you build at least a town hall and grain exchange in every city. I believe you get good traits from the church line of buildings as well, and I think the Brothel line gives bad ones. As Korlon said, once your treasury reaches a certain size all your governors will automatically begin picking up negative traits (Corrupt, Embezzler etc). There is nothing you can do about this, but by the time this starts you should already be making so much money it won't matter.

It's very difficult to make a character who is both a brilliant governor and a great general, which isn't that surprising. No one can be good at everything. It's best to specialise, and have separate family members for squeezing the most out of a valuable city and for leading your armies. In fact, I think leaving a character in a city for too long (which is necessary to pick up good management traits) gives traits like "Lazy" which make them a worse general.

[ReiseReise]

Having low taxes and high happiness will give your governor -tax +happiness traits. Building churches and town halls gives +chivalry. Brothels will give Alcoholic among other things so I generally build them only in 1 or 2 cities to give me the spies I need. The AI on the other hand seems to think differently and spams brothels all over the place. You don't need to build brothels to get Thieves guild because the AI will have 27 of them and you can just capture one.

[Duke Bart]

Yeah, i noticed that my family members always have crap stats when it comes to economy, but if i stick them in a city then it still often benefits it, so i guess it just isnt as big a deal as i thought.

[CynicalP]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't aware maintaining low taxes would be that harmful to my generals traits. I want to maximize my cities growth as fast as possible, but despite building farms I still seem to fall behind the AI on city/castle growth.

[ataribaby]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't aware maintaining low taxes would be that harmful to my generals traits. I want to maximize my cities growth as fast as possible, but despite building farms I still seem to fall behind the AI on city/castle growth.

You need high-chivalry governors for growth CynicalP.

My advice: Firstly, never let any general end his turn in a town/city that doesn't have a finished Grain Exchange. I always get the Grain Exchange built first before anything just so that I can get a general to govern there safely. That way they avoid the Bad Trader traits (10% trade penalty for each level).

Next get your governor to build lots of good buildings; that is have a general stay in the city for the last turn of completion of the building. Never have a governor complete a building with Normal or Low taxes. Best to move him outside if you can't manage not to do that without red faced people.

Try for the 'Good With Taxes' traits each time you complete a building. Make sure you set the tax level to Very High and try and get the population happiness to blue (75% or 80% - no more, no less) by moving garrisonned units in and out until the people turn blue in the face. This is sometimes impossible so don't worry if you can't do it every time: it's an odd set of circumstances to acheive but the rewards are worth trying.

After 'Good With Taxes' there's 'Thorough Taxman' and then 'Cruelly Exacting Taxman'. Each level gives a 10% boost to tax income.

You should aim for each general to build at least one church and one town hall. That way they'll have a chivalry point for 'Fair In Rule' and another for 'Sense of Justice'. Get them to go on a crusade for at least 2 chivalry plus chivalrous retinue, and any settlement you take with a general, choose to Occupy Settlement - roughly 1 chivalry each time.

Your governors will get 5+ chivalry in no time, and for each point there's a population increase boost of 0.5%. A 10 chivalry governor boosts the city's growth rate by 5%!

Lastly, always move your governors at least one square out and then back into the settlement before you end the turn. That way they avoid the majority of bad traits from brothels and inns and the like.

Job's a good 'un, and don't forget to look at Kobavelli's The Prince : a guide to breeding the perfect statesman

[CynicalP]

Wow, Thanks for the great tips, Ataribaby. I will put them into practice right away!

[Duke Bart]

That chivalry tip is great! Money is great but that kind of growth is worth it!

[Diehard_TH]

I must admit, i rarely care what traits my generals have. As long as i get more income from having a general in a town that's good enough for me. The one's with command stars i keep in forts so they don't get bad traits and use them for fighting the rest stay in towns.

The number of traits generals get is a bit overwhelming and makes it hard to keep track of what bonuses they actually have, so i give up usually

[Old Geezer]

About the only way to get a castle to grow up to citadel level seems to be to build all the farms and put in a very high growth chivalrous general. Otherwise mine seem to languish and even lose population. I always love it when I am able to capture an AI citadel