Leader slain by enemies bug?

**Katsumoto** · September 06, 2010, 05:09 AM

So I was playing as Sparta, about 15 turns in, when all of a sudden I get a message that my faction leader has been 'slain by your enemies'. I also fell -9000 in debt as soon as he died because Sparte fell into -10000 from +10000 or so.

I checked the family tree to see what had happened, because I figured he'd been assassinated, but his picture and name weren't even on the family tree. Next turn the same thing happens, my faction leader is 'slain by your enemies' and I lose another 8000 denars.

Is this a bug or what?

I'm using the Alex.exe on Vista.

**Brusilov** · September 06, 2010, 05:13 AM

From what I've read in other posts about the Spartan campaign there are some killer assassins out there that take pleasure in killing Spartan family members.

The problem of losing a decent family member who has good management skills is that it can affect income badly.

I've also read elsewhere that it's possible to have more than one family tree. If all the members of one family are killed or the ruling family lose power then the new family tree is shown and there are no traces of the older family tree.

This thread mentions the 'killer assasins':
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=387068

**Katsumoto** · September 06, 2010, 05:20 AM

But that's ridicilous, my faction leader had like a million 'security +1' traits; how could two faction leaders be assassinated one go after the other? I've never been able to even get a 10% chance of assassinating a faction leader, even with the most experienced assassins.

**Brusilov** · September 06, 2010, 05:22 AM

Well in some campaigns I've run in the past I've been sucessful with assassins killing family memebers with a 1% chance....

I don't think anyone had this problem when beta testing though.

I'll highlight this in the dev forum though.

**Kallides** · September 06, 2010, 05:44 AM

Originally Posted by Brusilov

Well in some campaigns I've run in the past I've been sucessful with assassins killing family memebers with a 1% chance....

Thats is very true! On many occasion I had my own assassins take out Faction Leaders and Heirs with less than 5% success rate. It happens quite frequently.

I am also playing the Spartan campaign and my Faction Leader has been slain after about 15 years, Greeks keep sending their assassins in which are very well trained but I like that about RS2, I can't remember any other mod where I ran the risk of my family members being assassinated so frequently, I think it adds realism to the mod.

Try hiring your own assassins and keeping them close to your Faction Leader, your assassin will keep a lookout for enemy assassins. Assassins, assassins

**Brusilov** · September 06, 2010, 06:23 AM

Part of the problem appears to be that there are some killer assassins operating at the start of the campaign and killing off the Spartan Royal family.

I've posted that in the dev / beta forum to highlight it.

I don't know if it's the Greek City States assassins or the Macedonian ones - or both....

I know that in some RTW mods I've had a spy, assassin and diplomat in each army stack. The spy and assassin help protect the general and the diplomat makes the stack even more expensive to bribe (yes, I've lost a stack before).

**dvk901** · September 06, 2010, 06:37 AM

In regards to assassins, without a doubt, the game 'cheats'. An AI assassin has a far greater likelihood of killing your characters than you have of killing theirs. However, surrounding your characters with assassins and spies is a good way to stop this. I've seen cases where the AI will place 3-4 assassins around a city and kill the character in it almost every turn. It happens rarely, but I've experienced it. It becomes a bit of a fight to catch them all and kill them.

**Katsumoto** · September 06, 2010, 06:46 AM

Ah right, thanks a bunch guys. I've hired some spies now (after managing to get out of that debt) and I actually caught a few of them in the act, which was relief.

I'll be more careful from now on.

**Nordmann** · September 06, 2010, 07:08 AM

Does this only occur in with the Greek states, or do other factions try the same tactic? I'm worried now!

**Brusilov** · September 06, 2010, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by Nordmann

Does this only occur in with the Greek states, or do other factions try the same tactic? I'm worried now!

I would think it's all AI factions.

I don't know how many spies and assassins each faction gets when the game starts. I do know that in RTW mods AI factions do recruit spies and assassins.

As suggested by myself and others - make sure your famiily members, generals and settlements all have a decent number of spies, assassins and diplomats in the stack or the settlement.

Having spies and assassins in the settlement will make it harder for the AI spies to get into the settements (and cause unrest) and for AI assassins to kill people or destroy buildings.

You have been warned and should be worried!

**Kallides** · September 06, 2010, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by Brusilov

You have been warned and should be worried!

lol Way to set his mind at ease.

The thing with assassins that I found in my campaign is that during your turn of play they tend to disappear, not all the time but I had it happen frequently that assassins would vanish from the spot they were just in, I would get the letter saying that an assassin has been spotted here but if I send my spies to the area they are simply nowhere to be found.(Not sure if it was the same in the Vanilla

) But I do like that as it makes it so much more realistic, I am sure with time as I play RS2 over and over again I will start hating that fact

but for now its very cool.

**Brusilov** · September 06, 2010, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Kallides

lol Way to set his mind at ease.

The thing with assassins that I found in my campaign is that during your turn of play they tend to disappear, not all the time but I had it happen frequently that assassins would vanish from the spot they were just in, I would get the letter saying that an assassin has been spotted here but if I send my spies to the area they are simply nowhere to be found.(Not sure if it was the same in the Vanilla

) But I do like that as it makes it so much more realistic, I am sure with time as I play RS2 over and over again I will start hating that fact

but for now its very cool.

Wasn't intended to.

Well AI assassins are a bit like spies in that you don't usually see them until they've been spotted.

If you have several spies inside a settlement that is no guanrantee that you will see AI spies or assassins. The trick there is to move one of your spies outside of the settement and that can trigger the appearence of the AI spies and assassins.

Just because you can't see them it does not mean that they are not there.

Also, have you ever wondered what those diplomats are doing outside of your settlements? Ever wondered what that strange animation is? Well, it's the diplomats trying to bribe your settlement.

Be very worried!

**Brusilov** · September 06, 2010, 11:36 AM

Train up spies and assassins by sending them against units without generals or family members - they will gain experience and then you can cause chaos yourself.

Quite often I will have an assassin and spy squad that descends upon a settlement. The spies cause unrest and the assassins destroy happiness buildings to cause even more unrest.....

If you want to slow down the AI that is advancing in you send the team to a settlement they have just taken (even arrive during the siege). As soon as the settlement is taken - pile in! As you know that can be when the settlement is at it's most volatile. The AI does not always kill everyone so the settlement is not happy.

It's quite funny to see a settlement an AI faction wants rebel - it does slow then down a bit but enough to prepare your defenses properly.

**Kallides** · September 06, 2010, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Brusilov

Train up spies and assassins by sending them against units without generals or family members - they will gain experience and then you can cause chaos yourself.

Quite often I will have an assassin and spy squad that descends upon a settlement. The spies cause unrest and the assassins destroy happiness buildings to cause even more unrest.....

Yeh I do that all the time, I really like my assassins and take time to get them trained up on captains, spies and diplomats of the enemy. With spies I dont tend to do that much work, sure I send them to the settlement when need arises but thats about the extent of it. The most despicable thing I do is with the help of spies though. I find a plagued town, infect my spies and send him on a walkabout in the enemy territory, the damage one can do is unbelievable.

Originally Posted by Brusilov

If you want to slow down the AI that is advancing in you send the team to a settlement they have just taken (even arrive during the siege). As soon as the settlement is taken - pile in! As you know that can be when the settlement is at it's most volatile. The AI does not always kill everyone so the settlement is not happy.

It's quite funny to see a settlement an AI faction wants rebel - it does slow then down a bit but enough to prepare your defenses properly.

Thanks for the tip I'll try that out next time.