Guide regarding Generals and traits?

[Munimentum]

So I've been searching the forum for a good hour or 2 now, and while I found tidbits here and there, they were often contradictory and usually in threads not specifically about that, so it's hard to collect it all.

My question is (obviously ), has anyone on this forum written a guide for Generals and how to get positive traits and, more importantly, respect/dread?

Some questions I had:

1. Are there any drawbacks to using multiple generals in an army? (Say, 4-5)
2. If you do have multiple generals in a stack, how are command/respect/dread points awarded? (Some of my armies got like 0 command points)
3. Similarly, I see people talking about having 1 general for command stats, with a young general for training. How does this work?
4. Obvious one here: What is the best way to go about gaining Dread?
5. And the opposite: What is the best way to go about gaining Respect?
6. What does Loyalty do, and how do you cultivate it?
7. What does Obedience do, and how do you cultivate it?
8. What is the best method for cultivating Combat Generals? Keep as few as possible to a stack? Only 1?
9. I never use Generals as Governors, which I gathered from my hour's search is a big mistake. How do you best go about cultivating good governors? (I'd love 8% pop growth )
10. When you do have a good Governor, is it best to keep it in your troop producer, or is it best to move him (or them) around and spread population around multiple villages/towns to get more cities?
11. If you keep them in your troop centre, is it a good idea to produce crap troops and then disband them in those villages/towns to boost their pop? Or has this been removed/not available in ME2/TATW?
12. Is there a way to spawn good Generals from adoptions/births?
13. Does accepting all adoptions, regardless of stats, end up stopping adoptions for possible good generals? Like, is there a limit for generals so that it is a good idea to pass the rubbish ones?
14. Can you aim for traits you want through in-game actions, or are they randomly assigned?

Pretty big list there lol, sorry. If I think of any others I'll post them too

Hopefully this will provide a more centralized location for all this information if you guys are able to answer. And, if there is actually a source for all this combined I apologize in advance. I did actually spend a long time looking

[Altimis]

So I've been searching the forum for a good hour or 2 now, and while I found tidbits here and there, they were often contradictory and usually in threads not specifically about that, so it's hard to collect it all.

My question is (obviously ), has anyone on this forum written a guide for Generals and how to get positive traits and, more importantly, respect/dread?

Some questions I had:

1. Are there any drawbacks to using multiple generals in an army? (Say, 4-5)
2. If you do have multiple generals in a stack, how are command/respect/dread points awarded? (Some of my armies got like 0 command points)
3. Similarly, I see people talking about having 1 general for command stats, with a young general for training. How does this work?
4. Obvious one here: What is the best way to go about gaining Dread?
5. And the opposite: What is the best way to go about gaining Respect?
6. What does Loyalty do, and how do you cultivate it?
7. What does Obedience do, and how do you cultivate it?
8. What is the best method for cultivating Combat Generals? Keep as few as possible to a stack? Only 1?
9. I never use Generals as Governors, which I gathered from my hour's search is a big mistake. How do you best go about cultivating good governors? (I'd love 8% pop growth )
10. When you do have a good Governor, is it best to keep it in your troop producer, or is it best to move him (or them) around and spread population around multiple villages/towns to get more cities?
11. If you keep them in your troop centre, is it a good idea to produce crap troops and then disband them in those villages/towns to boost their pop? Or has this been removed/not available in ME2/TATW?
12. Is there a way to spawn good Generals from adoptions/births?
13. Does accepting all adoptions, regardless of stats, end up stopping adoptions for possible good generals? Like, is there a limit for generals so that it is a good idea to pass the rubbish ones?
14. Can you aim for traits you want through in-game actions, or are they randomly assigned?

Pretty big list there lol, sorry. If I think of any others I'll post them too

Hopefully this will provide a more centralized location for all this information if you guys are able to answer. And, if there is actually a source for all this combined I apologize in advance. I did actually spend a long time looking

1. drawback is your sub-generals [silver star] will not growth up, they will get experience from killing enemies but no skills because they are not head-commander [gold star]

2. Multiple generals in stack, sub-generals, most of them will get 0 command and not growth because only head-commander will receive trait after many victories such as "proven commander" "great commander" etc.

No reward for sub-generals but sometime they gets some trait too [very rare] so if you want to train them, put your only 1 general in each stack

3. I have no idea

4. Act everything looks evil execute prisoners with no mercy, run enemies down after winning battle [select continue battle], some special trait that exclusive to evil factions etc,.

5. opposite to #4 release prisoner, do not run enemies down after winning, and some trait for good factions

6. Loyalty is about how your generals will likely to become rebel against you or easily be bribed by enemy diplomat, I don't know how to cultivate it...

7. This stats was used in Medieval 2 but in TATW I don't sure what it do and effects but someone tell me it increase your income when put someone with high Obedience in the town, convert peoples culture very fast rate etc.

8. Not always, you can stack them up with multiple generals as you wish but keep in mind that only commander will growth up in command points or trait, I prefer to put 2 - 3 generals in 1 stack on my Harad campaign [generals unit are powerful :p] or full stack of generals

9. If you want high population growth, put high respects stats generals to that town.

10. I prefer to stationary, not move much

11. That trick is not work I think? but its work in Rome: Total War best way to boost pops

12. Luck, in my campaign sometime damn good generals was born with "Born to conqueror" just only ages of 16

13. I don't sure but I always accept them

14. The traits I can aim so far is "command" "dread" "respect" else I don't know much..

[SinerAthin]

Using a general a lot usually boosts his loyalty, as he feels more appreciated.

To secure Dread, it's best to execute troops, join Invasions, Run the enemy down(I also believe that capturing more than half of the enemy army gives a dread trait), demolish smaller forces, and assassinate(anyone will suffice, assassination gives dread to your faction leader).

I once recruited assassins and ended up getting 'Faramir the Murderer' xD

[Withwnar]

6. I read somewhere that putting the general in the same army/settlement as the faction leader increases loyalty

11. RTW not M2TW

13. I believe that you are only offered adoptions when the game thinks you are low on generals. i.e. Many regions, few generals. If that's true then accepting poor ones could waste valuable general 'slots'.

14. Some are definitely given as a result of certain events. e.g. Build a mine: the governor in residence upon completion has a chance of getting a mining bonus trait. If you're keen, have a look at the file export_descr_character_traits.txt in the TATW/data folder, in particular the TRIGGER entries further down.

[Wolfsblut]

13. I believe that you are only offered adoptions when the game thinks you are low on generals. i.e. Many regions, few generals. If that's true then accepting poor ones could waste valuable general 'slots'.

First point is true, its a vanilla setting.

I prefer to get a couple of decent family members asap, let them marry and keep care of my little leader-stock til their children are grow up.
I only adopt generals when i am very short of familymembers in the med- lategame or i get offered a young one with really good stats who fits in my campaign.

[.:Zack Fair:.]

For the traits I found this incredible guide which explain everything about medieval 2 but a lot is applied also in TATW

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/931592-me...war/faqs/50116

[Withwnar]

9. & 10. Building makes better governors, but it only counts for the governor in residence when the building is completed, not started. A good trick is to have a few buildings under construction in neighbouring regions and move your governor between them so that he is the governor when each is completed. Some planning is required to ensure that he has time to get to the next region before completion.

[Bloodly]

What does Loyalty do, and how do you cultivate it?
Affects Bribe chances and cost, prevents them from disappearing with your forces if the force is small enough and they're in the field. Not much you can do about it. Keep them

What does Obedience do, and how do you cultivate it?
Obedience is the renamed Piety stat. Obedience keeps the Servants of Sauron from killing your generals if you play as an evil faction. Because by default you'll be putting temples and shrines everywhere for the sake of culture, you're already doing as much as you can to raise it. Joining and winning Crusades can also raise Obedience.

[Munimentum]

Thanks for all the replies guys, really helpful stuff

Couple of questions I have now, regarding some of the previous questions which no-one really answered.

1. If only your leading general gets stats, how does my previously mentioned "younger, in-training" general get stats? Do you swap out the leading general for easier battles or something?
2. Is there a way to get respect as a general without fighting? So as to cultivate governors without sending them to your front lines?
3. Is it more beneficial to have more, smaller armies of say, 6-7 units, with 1 general each, in order to have as many high quality generals as possible? Or is 2 to a stack probably better overall? (More cavalry etc)

That's all for now

Thanks again though, the past few days I've been here asking questions you all have been incredibly helpful

[fatpaul]

Thanks for all the replies guys, really helpful stuff

Couple of questions I have now, regarding some of the previous questions which no-one really answered.

1. If only your leading general gets stats, how does my previously mentioned "younger, in-training" general get stats? Do you swap out the leading general for easier battles or something?
2. Is there a way to get respect as a general without fighting? So as to cultivate governors without sending them to your front lines?
3. Is it more beneficial to have more, smaller armies of say, 6-7 units, with 1 general each, in order to have as many high quality generals as possible? Or is 2 to a stack probably better overall? (More cavalry etc)

That's all for now

Thanks again though, the past few days I've been here asking questions you all have been incredibly helpful

1. Is suspect the reference to 'in-training' merely refers to building up experience by having him involved in a battle but not as a general. he may also get some traits such as the 'marks of war' which seem to come from having been involved in a few dust ups and add fear and hit points.
2. I think so. Have had generals build up respect without ever fighting due, I assume, to them being sited in profitable growing towns.
3. I try to have a few small armies (5 or 6 units) running round with just 1 general in to pick up small settlements and then combine these into big armies when a major set to is on the cards. My army to finish of Isenguard for example had 4 generals in it all of whom were quite high experience from their individual capers. As ever its best to be flexible. If the situation demands it put them together as their bodyguard units are typically your strongest but when you don't need your strongest force to win split them up to pick up those traits and retinues.

this link way be useful - pretty good guide to traits and retinue

http://totalwar.honga.net/traits.php..._age&f2=gondor

[Withwnar]

1. Is suspect the reference to 'in-training' merely refers to building up experience by having him involved in a battle but not as a general.

That would be my guess too - experience-gaining, not traits.

Bad Traits: as buff_stacks said, it's not driven by Inn completion but by Inn presence. Governors can also get bad traits such as Lazy if they stay put for too long (which is the Governor's job description but life's unfair). Some people move governors out of cities and back in again every few turns to avoid this; I can't be bothered.

[buff_stacks]

If you manage to keep your general within a city for a while, wait as long as you can before building inn and brothel, cause they increase probabilities of getting bad traits (such as drunkard or gambler, fun traits but really mean with income and traits )

[Munimentum]

If you manage to keep your general within a city for a while, wait as long as you can before building inn and brothel, cause they increase probabilities of getting bad traits (such as drunkard or gambler, fun traits but really mean with income and traits )

Couldn't you just do the opposite to what a previous poster said, and move them out once these buildings are nearly completed? Or do they have a chance of still getting the trait if it's just in the city?

[buff_stacks]

Couldn't you just do the opposite to what a previous poster said, and move them out once these buildings are nearly completed? Or do they have a chance of still getting the trait if it's just in the city?

They must stay a while in city with inn or brothel. If you're really out of luck, few turns may be sufficient!

[buff_stacks]

Sorry, wrong key!

For your second point, you may increase respect/chivalry buy leaving generals within cities with very low tax rates. There is then a percentage of increasing Upright or Just traits (which gives respect if I remember well).
You may find all those infos within the link before

[beerin]

what determines the size of the generals bodyguard?
i mean i know that heir or kingship can but i thought in SS a combo of some traits could?

[Ozzmosis]

I think it's personal security

[beerin]

i mean what can i do to try to get the bodyguard as large a possible?

[Ozzmosis]

I'm not sure. Have him survive assassin attacks maybe?