No command stars in VH

**Eco** · December 04, 2010, 08:20 PM

Im playing in VH campaign and I cant get any command stars no matter how many huge battles I win. I know it should be harder to get them, but I dont get them at all.

**Caesar Clivus** · December 04, 2010, 08:32 PM

The size of the battle isn't what matters. You have to win battles where you are outnumbered.

**RuleBritannia** · December 04, 2010, 08:42 PM

Get a military academy. I know, it's frustrating to see so many high-starred AI commanders, but it's due to military academies. Upgrade a city to a huge city, build an academy, and stars should skyrocket.

**Ichon** · December 04, 2010, 10:41 PM

Heroic victories is almost guaranteed star. Sometimes 2-3 stars from one battle. The thing that matter is the odds the game thinks you have before battle. You can get heroic victories and actually outnumber the enemy if your army was crap and the AI had quite good units. Just pay attention to the odds before battle or try and pick fights vs 2 AI armies roughly your own size or slightly smaller that you can fight in one battle but face separately as half come in as reinforcements. Or just use horse archers or lots of generals or other heavy cavalry.

I think there is something with siege defense where the AI calculates the defenders having quite higher odds so it is difficult to get stars there unless you are terribly outnumbered to the point its actually very difficult to win the battle. I find siege battles or siege assaults the easiest to gain stars.

**midget_roxx** · December 04, 2010, 11:48 PM

Go on crusades/jihads that will get your command stars up quickely

**Eco** · December 05, 2010, 05:04 PM

Thanks for the quick response. Well, Im the crusader states and Im fighting the fatimids. I have few but quality units. I have though lots of battles were I was greatly outnumbered, but yeah, due to my high quality the odds were equal.

**Ichon** · December 05, 2010, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by Eco

Thanks for the quick response. Well, Im the crusader states and Im fighting the fatimids. I have few but quality units. I have though lots of battles were I was greatly outnumbered, but yeah, due to my high quality the odds were equal.

Leave a a couple of your quality units at home and replace them with crappy units to hold the front lines for just a few minutes while your better units flank. It should lower the odds of the battle while still letting you have enough quality units to win and give more heroic victories.

I also sometimes create a training cadre of young generals. 3 generals in 1 stack can usually defeat half stacks of lower tier infantry/archers that Fatimids often field. The highest rated general will command a couple battles while all of them earn xp and traits. Then rotate the best commander out and put in a heavy cavalry or 2 javelin cavalry etc until the 3 young generals are trained. It takes a few turns but the military minded generals learn in 1-2 battles to get at least a couple stars and how many generals in history started as geniuses? Most that did conquered an empire.