How to get good Traits and ancilliaries..

[HunGeneral]

I've been wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to get some good traits or some useful retinue for my familymembers (mostly civilized factions,campaigns).

Back in Rome vanilla I din't care about them but lately I've realised what good effects they can have.

I don't need a list of all trais or ancillieries. Just the ones you think are useful or very helpful.

I already know some(please correct me if I'm wrong):
Chiurgeon: have a building wich gives health bonuses (in the same city as the family member).
Mercenary captain: hire some mercenaryes with the given family member.

Priest, priestess of (some of the many gods): till now I thought it was enough to have a temple of that god in the city but recently I noticed that of 4 FM's in the city mostly only 1 has such a priest. Does anyone know how this can be influenced?:hmmmothers have 2 both from a different dieti)

(traits)
Conquering hero: capture many provinces (doesn't seem to add any bonuses)
Edit: (almost forgot) Mater of Assassins: your Faction leader will get this trait if your assassins succeed in finishing many enemys.

Any suggestion would be welcome!
Thanks in advance.

[TheAlchemist]

How to get good traits and ancillaries? Hm, well to pick up a good retinue I usually ship my family members off to a city with a Scriptorium or Ludus Magna for a few years--they usually acquire a whole host of retinue in a short time. I also try to dump off the mediocre retinue onto characters who are either close to dying or are completely useless (Decius the Mad comes to mind...) so my important people can pick up the best ancillaries and not get bogged down with Heroic Saviors and Overprotective Nannies.

In addition to the ones you mentioned, some of the named ancillaries are pretty sweet and can be a real boost to management and influence for family members that need it. I'm not sure if being in a city with a school helps to get those guys, but I figure it can't hurt The Spymaster is another one your faction leader can get from having lots of spies running around that I like to trade to my generals for the +1 command bonus.

As for traits, I think my favorite is either Legendary Commander--you get the cool title The Mighty and a nice +5 to command--or Exterminator since I can just imagine what the opposing army must be thinking when they get attacked by Spurius the Butcher...

[HunGeneral]

As for traits, I think my favorite is either Legendary Commander--you get the cool title The Mighty and a nice +5 to command--or Exterminator since I can just imagine what the opposing army must be thinking when they get attacked by Spurius the Butcher...

Well it would be interresting to know The limited Number of retinue members can be disturbing

Yeah Legendary Commander is realy good. My only problem usualy is that my Faction leader gets it before the Master of Assassins trait so they end up with a name like "xy the Killer" - why I never understood using assassins to shorten a war doesn't make someone "evil":hmmm:

The worst traits I know are Anger and Superstitious. At fisrt there not bad but with time they develop into Unquenched Anger and Hugely Superstitious wich are very harming.

your more likely to get good management traits if you set taxes at High, as opposed to Low, Normal or Very High, in a settlement.

Aha yes. I remembered something like that. Thanks for the info.

[TheAlchemist]

The worst traits I know are Anger and Superstitious. At fisrt there not bad but with time they develop into Unquenched Anger and Hugely Superstitious wich are very harming.

I have to agree with you on that Superstitious trait--it seems to be extra pervasive in my current Roman campaign and, once a family member gets it, within a few years they invariably have become Hugely Superstitious and can't run a settlement to save their lives

The other negative traits that seem to grow at a crazy pace are the Dangerously Mad and Unhinged Loon ones. Once someone picks up the first level it seems there's no way to stop them from progressing all the way to the top level. The only redeeming feature of these traits are the somewhat amusing descriptions they have

Does anyone know if there's any way to stop some of these negative traits from growing so fast? If so, I'd be more than happy to hear what it is

[HunGeneral]

The other negative traits that seem to grow at a crazy pace are the Dangerously Mad and Unhinged Loon ones. Once someone picks up the first level it seems there's no way to stop them from progressing all the way to the top level. The only redeeming feature of these traits are the somewhat amusing descriptions they have

I can't recall to have meet these two.

Unquenched Anger was rather a problem in an older Pontus campaign of mine.
Hugely Superstitious isa problem of my current King of Macedonia (Bacis Gonatas). Starngely I din't plan for him to become King ... atleast not so soon.
His Grandfather died at the age of 92(!) and in the next turn his Father Alexander the Kind (more known as Alexander the conquerer) also joined his ancestors.
The only luck is that Bacis has many good traits to counter his Superstitions.

[Jamey]

Superstitious can be added when a character comes of age. If the character doesn't start with it, it is added by the trigger "CharacterDamagedByDisaster", which is bugged. It fires off with a 10% chance of giving Superstitious to every family member every turn (any invalid condition or trigger resolves to "True" for traits and ancillaries). Superstitious is also a self-propagating trait, so once you have a level in it you are well and thoroughly Superstitious.

Temples can be good or bad in terms of traits (I prefer the Temples of Law, Governors, and Farming in that order - Battle, Fun, Trade, and Horse have substantial negative traits). Note that the main temple gives traits and ancillaries. The minor temples only give priest ancillaries. The Temple of Battle also gives some healing ancillaries, so it isn't useless. Max level Temples of Fun and Trade can decimate your Family Members with bad traits very quickly.

The Academy line is the best way to get good traits and ancillaries. After looking under the hood and making some changes for ExRM, I've prioritized keeping the highest level Academy I can in all settlements.

Beyond that, various buildings have good and bad effects. The other killer issue is corruption. A max level Theatre, Sanitation, or Trade Road will add bad traits. So will having >50,000, >100,000, and >150,000 denarii in your treasury. So will having 10,000 in your treasury and nothing in the build queue.

Also, note that most traits and ancillaries given in towns are only triggered when a Family Member uses zero movement on the turn. You can avoid getting bad traits that way, but it gets annoying very fast.

[Jamey]

I can't recall to have meet these two.

Other than birth, Insane and Deranged are only added if a character has an assassination attempt against him fail. If you keep assassins out of your territory, they will rarely show up (2% base chance for the trait appearing when someone comes of age - but much higher if the dad is loony).

I had CrippledFromBirth and Insane on the same character in a German campaign years ago. I should have used euthanasia on him, because despite the fact that he spent his entire life building watch towers, he managed to find time to have several kids who inherited his traits...

[Lord de Lyonesse]

[quote=HunGeneral;3615466]I never understood using assassins to shorten a war doesn't make someone "evil"quote]

It is not chivalrous and honest therfore it must be dreadful and nasty..


or at least the makers of medieval 2 total war thought so

I guess what they thought was that you were killing someone dishonestly and without getting your paws dirty

[HunGeneral]

Interresting: I often see diplomats of another Faction do like they were making an offer to one of my cities but no diplomat window appears - are thoose guys trying to bribe my cities?:hmmm:

@Emperor Richard: maybe a knight in Medieval europe would have thougth so but in Antiquity ordering the assassination of an enemy assassins or an enemy general was not seen as a great sin or atleast they believed it was forth the effort.

[horatius]

Interresting: I often see diplomats of another Faction do like they were making an offer to one of my cities but no diplomat window appears - are thoose guys trying to bribe my cities?:hmmm:

I've seen that also, and have wondered the same thing. If they are trying to bribe one of my cities, perhaps I should send an assassin to end their plots. I would hate to have one of my cities become traitors, and have to slaughter the population for punishment (once I recapture the city).

[Solaris]

Damn it, there used to be a huge comprehensive list on the old RTR forums.

[Tony83]

Two things I've come across:

I think you need upgrade from a shrine to a temple before you get any priest ancillaries;

and I've heard that your more likely to get good management traits if you set taxes at High, as opposed to Low, Normal or Very High, in a settlement.