Why don`t my generals get any stars? :-(

[davethelucky]

Since playing SS 6.1 with RR/RC, BGR and TC I noticed my generals hardly getting any advancement from battle. I have 3 active generals 2 of them having 2 stars each. My warrior faction leader has none at all.

When I just sieged Lund I realised the Danish general having the full set!!! - How can this be if Danmark has been at peace for over a decade???

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Kazuhiro]

The AI gets bonuses to make the game more challenging. One of them is hidden traits that give their generals better stats.
Getting stars for your generals is not that hard though. Just obliterate the enemy and don't show mercy!

[davethelucky]

The AI gets bonuses to make the game more challenging. One of them is hidden traits that give their generals better stats.
Getting stars for your generals is not that hard though. Just obliterate the enemy and don't show mercy!

Thanks for the quick replies!

Don`t misunderstand me - I like a challenge beyond vanilla MTW2! But I`d like my generals to at least get any bonuses from victories. Does this mean I have to play despotically to get outstanding generals? No chivalric way there?

[Kazuhiro]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Don`t misunderstand me - I like a challenge beyond vanilla MTW2! But I`d like my generals to at least get any bonuses from victories. Does this mean I have to play despotically to get outstanding generals? No chivalric way there?

I find getting stars for my dread generals is much faster than getting high command chivalry generals.

Once you start getting crusades called on you, and you massacre stack after stack of crusaders, your generals will start racking up stars.

[the Commissar]

You can always edit the triggers for the command traits to make them go up faster, I suppose.

[SirKoskelot]

AI seems to get automatically command -bonuses to help it in battle, they don't need to do anything to get them. Your own stars wont rise like in vanilla, usually only by winning heroic battles so dont use larger stacks than enemy. The stars will also disappear if you decide to call off an attack after taking a look at the battle deployment...

[Maltacus]

Does this mean I have to play despotically to get outstanding generals? No chivalric way there?

Not at all. Command is still gained by winning against superior odds (usually = superior numbers). Try to give your general a small number of high quality troops who can beat superior numbers. And remember that there is no need to fight a large battle - only the relation in strength matters. If you come across a small rebel or reinforcement stack, take only a small portion of your army in order to give the general maximum training.

[Ichon]

The stars seem related to type of victories which is based on how well you do vs how well the auto-calc would have resolved. I've had Heroic victory when having more men than the enemy but it was low tier militia vs half an army of elites.

Easiest way is usually get into a war vs larger opponents and sit on a bridge. When enemy stacks try to cross your general defending can gain a command star nearly every turn. Of course that doesn't do much for your economy so I usually prefer to send my general to a region where he can capture 2-3 cities rather quickly and probably there will be a couple battles inbetween.

You can get 10 command stars without actually getting the full traits... but winning battles gives ancillaries and other traits which add +1 command etc that will quickly give your general the full +10 bonus.

Honestly though the command bonus rarely makes a difference. Only if your army is getting well and truly butchered anyway. Otherwise simply keeping your most hard hit units in the command radius even of a low star general usually keeps them from routing.

[Stario]

Since we are on the topic of stars. I always wondered, once your command stars are at 10 (this pertains to any other attribute as well) do extra traits/ancillaries still give their respective bonuses. For example, if a particular attribute; command for example, has already reached the maximum of 10 stars prior to attaining a certain trait/ancillary that gives a boost to that particular attribute does it still count. The reason I am asking is because I have two Generals "A" + "B". "A" is maxed on all attributes. Whereas "B" is maxed on all attributes except piety ( at 9). "B" has been my main General who fought the majority of battles (has 15 heroic victories and 3 statues constructed in his honour), other traits include the likes of "Legendary Commander", "Born to Conquer", "Conquering Hero", "Master Strategist" etc. Yet it lists General "A" who has been sitting in London for a while now as my best General.

[midget_roxx]

I've found that theres a small chance to gain a battle star from a trait if you just win a clear victory, but it's most noticable when you get a heroic victory since it's basically gurenteed to give you a star. But as people have said just go on a crusade and you're gurenteed to get at least 3 stars that way. Also for your faction leader check to see if he has the trait "Alchoholic" reduces command by -3

[themoob]

You shouldn't of conquered Russia, the game assumes you cheated and punishes you by giving your generals no command stars.

[SinerAthin]

Actually, I've experienced that it's easier to get chivalry than it is to get dread.

Join a crusade, build churches and priests, spare the enemies, don't run down the enemy, and voila; full chivalry.

It's good for building cities.

The only hard thing is getting your generals back home from a successful crusade before they die of old age...


I want dread, but I never seem to get any. Maybe I should stop being such a kind ruler and active builder, or at least get my dread generals as far away from any city as possible xD

[Finlander]

Maybe your general is not a warrior? (he is more administrative)
Or your general doesn't kill any enemies in battlefield?
Bad traits?

And maybe the Danish general hates you and is good in commanding.

[Ruprecht]

Hey,


I realize this is not a direct answer or solution to your problem. But you could use this as an advantage.

As my 6.2-rc4 Campaign progressed i also noticed how slow it was for my General's to attain command, even after glorious battles, heroic victories, Feats of strength. Yet still my General's had very poor Command. I also observed AI general's spawn with 7+ command, they must have been leading battles while in the woom.

So i use this now for roleplaying enhancement. I pretend i am a warlord or King and if i feel a certain general has shown great skill on the battlefield i give him commendations via Console command.

I personally hate cheating, but i don't feel this is cheating at all. fair to say the AI needs all the handicap they can to offer a challenge. But it seems like we are getting punished for AI''s lack of skill it has a negative effect and takes away realism, so i correct it while adding some Rolplaying fun too.

[davethelucky]

And maybe the Danish general hates you and is good in commanding.

That must be it!

About roleplaying: I think it wouldn`t be worth playing Total War games (like I do for 5 years now) if it was without roleplaying elements (even if they mainly exist in my mind).

The solution with crusades I will keep in mind for my next campaign with HRE. With Lithuania of course it is a different thing because I experience them sort of "from the other side"...

[worldsdead]

i find dread is very easy to build, but have a hard time gaining chivalry. in my current game i sent my prince on a crusade, with one dread, came back from crusade as a king and 6 dread! with out exterminating or sacking, and he builds church's as first order in conquered cities (i hate sending armies to fight rebels)! maybe it's the 'hates muslim's, hate's pagans, hate moor's' traits, but what else do you do on a crusade? makes everyones else in game hate me but since already dreaded i build assasin's, kill merchants, aquire goods and 10 dread. everyone he faces routes instatnly. all my games seem to go this way. plus he may only have 3 stars but almost never less than 6 in battles.