A question about Generals and their stars!

**cython** · March 12, 2008, 08:23 AM

I have installed the game and I am playing with Macedonians at H/H and so far everything is great (great mod, if not the best then one of the best I have seen so far)... except one thing... I haven't managed to get not even one star to any of my generals..

I mean It is almost 250BC controlling all the Greek mainland (including Epirus' two provinces Byzantium and Tylis), and the islands (including Rhodes, Crete) and despite all these battles I haven't got not a single star! In fact at the moment (250BC) I have 6-7 Generals in total and all of them have zero stars (they have either influence or administrator skills)!

And what is more frustrating are the following two things:

I have trained three young generals in Sparta and two them became excellent administrators (in Sparta???)!
Generals of other factions have generals with many stars (6-7 stars)... and fighting them with zero star general one, two or even three times is ok ... but after fourth time it becomes annoying!

So my question is what I am doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.
Cython

**johnhughthom** · March 12, 2008, 08:35 AM

Commands stars are not as important in EB, morale boosting traits are what you need to look for. Enemy generals are given bonus stars to make the game more of a challenge. You will get stars but generals with a lot of stars are very rare.
By the way the mod is designed for medium battle difficulty, playing on hard will seriously unbalance it.

**cython** · March 12, 2008, 08:48 AM

Aha... ok now things make sense! thanks for the quick reply!

I guess I will have to restart and play at M/M and pay more attention at morale

C

**johnhughthom** · March 12, 2008, 09:17 AM

Personally I would recommend hard campaign difficulty, official EB recommended difficulty is VH/M, but I find diplomacy a bit too daft on VH.

**cython** · March 12, 2008, 09:49 AM

I know what you mean... In the H/H game, my relative easy expansion was very bloody (losing 30-50% of my army after on 1:1 or even 2:1 encounters). Without my constant investments into building a strong economy I wouldn't be able to continue conquering

**mcantu** · March 12, 2008, 10:10 AM

i also recommend H/M...

**Korlon** · March 12, 2008, 03:05 PM

I find it easier to get stars if you purposefully make your army as strong or weaker than the opposing army. This is especially easy if you're doing sieges with lots of missile units dropping their cargo on the enemy from outside of walls. If your army is too strong, like 3:1 odds, then it's much harder to get stars. And it would be prudent not to have so many generals. Just one or two at the beginning and keep adding them as time goes on.

In my Pahlava campaign, at the moment, my previous general, who was also my previous faction leader, had stars up the wazoo since horse archers are considered weak by the odds calculation thing. It was easy to completely decimate armies with 1:2 odds. By the end of his life, heck 10 years before he even died, he already had 10 command stars with the help of some ancillaries.

**QuintusSertorius** · March 12, 2008, 06:15 PM

I'd also recommend H/M - no silly bonus money for the AI factions on top of the script that stops them going into the red. Seems balanced just right to me, and they aren't completely impervious to diplomacy too, as they are on VH.

**Sh3rpa** · March 14, 2008, 10:25 AM

why do you guys recommend medium battle difficulty?

Is the EB AI tailored to medium?

I use H/VH , I like a long battle. If I find out the battle AI is better on medium I will be sad

**Ludens** · March 14, 2008, 10:39 AM

The battle A.I. is equally dumb at all difficulty levels. Hard battle difficulty gives A.I. units +4 attack, and very hard gives +8 attack and +4 defence IIRC. Medium battle difficulty is recommended because higher difficulty levels unbalance the battles. Off course, if you don't mind that the A.I. gets stat bonuses, then by all means play at H or VH. Just remember that units are unbalanced, and don't blame it on the EB team.

**Sh3rpa** · March 14, 2008, 10:42 AM

yeah. some mods tell you to keep the battle AI at a certain level that they've customized to.

glad this doesn't cause without the bonuses I would wipe the floor with them

**cython** · March 14, 2008, 11:00 AM

I agree with above posts about H/M difficulty level.

The last few days I was trying different difficulty levels i.e. M/M but that was too easy, on the other hand H/H is challenging but the battles are a little bit unbalanced (you have slightly too many deaths while you fight inferior units) so I think H/M must be both challenging and fun at the same time. At least that my experience from playing Macedonians with these difficulty levels.

so so so so... enjoy conquering the world!