Boii - Guide to avoiding Weak Kingetos

I am playing a Boii campaign on V2.3 difficulty level VH. Here are my observations on avoiding Weak Kingetos.

First some basics:

Kingetos training is necessary only for family members coming of age. Generals marrying into your family come with the Kingetos title.

Weak Kingetos is the title received by family member who has failed in his training. It includes a penalty on influence and command, and if I remember correctly fertility. Due to these penalties it is important to avoid such failures as they cripple the potential of your key generals.

How to do successful Kingetos training:

You have a window of 8 turns to organize the training. When a family member comes of age he shows up in one of your settlements. You can start the Kingetos training immediately, or you may chose to wait for 7 turns before you do so. If you leave this family member in a settlement for 8 turns the game will automatically generate a title - either Kingetos or Weak Kingetos. The odds depend on the character of the family member. In general, you don't want to do that, because characters that are not vigorous are very likely to get Weak Kingetos. Mind you, vigorous characters can also become Weak Kingetos.

My strategy is the following:

1. I wait for domestic revolt. When your Empire is 15-20 regions this happens practically every year (4 turns) even if tax level is low. If, it is the early part of the game, when you control fewer regions, you can create revolt by raising taxes. Until the revolt starts the family member stays inside a settlement.

2. Once the revolt starts - there is a rebel army in my territory - I move the family member (prospective Kingetos) out of the settlement and in the general direction of the revolt. He should be relatively close - within striking distance from the rebels.

3. Once the new turn begins I get a notice that the family member has begun his Kingetos training.

4. I position the family member next to the rebels. Then I give him an army and attack the rebels right away. It is crucial that you give the army in the same turn when the attack will happen. Otherwise, the general may revolt and if you are at the start of the campaign that event would change completely your course. Obviously this happened to me :)

5. The most important thing here is the composition of the army that the prospective Kingetos is going to lead. In general, troop numbers should be equal or slightly fewer than the Rebels. Also, army strength should be similar. If you insert only elite units and you face a bunch of skirmishers the odds will be heavily tilted in your favor. The odds must be at most 1:1 to avoid Weak Kingetos.

6. Finally, during the actual battle, I make sure that the family member makes at least 70 kills. You do that by charging at the enemy - of course avoid them spearmen. Taking prisoners increases the experience of the general, but does not help earn the Kingetos title. Focus on kills.

7. The final outcome of the battle should be such that the enemy general is killed and over 90% of the army is either killed or taken prisoner.

8. Once the battle is over, the family member immediately receives a notice that he has earned the title of Kingetos.

In this manner, the actual Kingetos training is reduced to just one turn. No need to move family members all over the place in effort to exhaust their movement points.

It is really advisable to focus on domestic revolt rather than the large rebel armies roaming neighboring independent regions. When facing a large enemy army the priority is always victory first, which may force you to miss some of the above benchmarks.

The smallest rebel army that helped one of my family members earn Kingetos title consisted of two sling units.

Cheers!