Upgrading Generals and Victories

Hi guys, just got back to playing total war after quite some time away. I just got NTW a while ago and I'm quite enjoying it.

Not sure if this has been asked before but I would like to find out why its seems that my general hardly ever gains any experience and ancillaries when I personal command a tactical battle as compared to auto-resolving it, which does impart experience. Am I not seeing something that's there?

Also at the conclusion of a battle when the game asks if you want to end the battle or to continue, why is it always a "close victory" when I choose to continue and a "heroic victory" when I choose to end it when the former option allows me to mop-up the routers therefore securing a more decisive victory. Oh and by the way how do you get a "decisive victory"?

Hi there.
Your general will actually gain exp very easy, if you use him to chase down routers or attaking already engaged enemies from the rear. The general unit is half sized, and hence has its exp gain demands halfed too.
Because the battle is in effect over when the "end battle" option pops up. It is the status from there that counts, and every kill you make from there on does not atribute to anything but the exp of your units. Actually as meaningless slaughter it deminishes your victory instead, as the real achievement in the battle is deminished.
M. Jessen

Good to know MJ i always use my general behind the line, and giving his bonusses from there. after the battle is over i use him (and my other cavalry) to chase down routers, it's a very easy way to gain a lot of experience.

But indeed, how do you get decisive victories. i only had a few if i remember correctly

I just got the Imperial School of Strategy Crest achievement for when you achieve 3 generals all with max rank at the same time. After noticing it in the Achievements list, I decided to make it a goal of my latest French campaign.

About the only way I was able to get it was with very liberal use of auto-resolving. But indeed, the post battle-is-over window slaughter artificially makes the battle seem more one-sided (and therefore less glorious a victory) than if you choose not to kill that extra few hundred guys without taking any losses.


An interesting aside is that a 1/2 stack of all cavalry (participating solely as a reinforcement army) was able to get Ney to max stars about twice as fast as using Davout's more balanced army which I used to lead most attacks. This is also possibly due to Davout never receiving any ancillaries or traits that would give him bonuses based on the units in his army, but rather purely on battle victories (glorious general etc). Ney got +2 for the cavalry-only stack & Napoleon gets +2 with lots of arty so they were at max stars well before Davout (which made no sense to me roleplay-wise since Davout's corps was decimating literally anything that it came in contact with).

By that silly logic, the battle of Cannae should have been a "minor victory" for the Carthagenians.

Hey thx for the info guys. It makes abit more sense now although I kinda agree with the poster above me that cutting down routers shouldn't diminish an already heroic or decisive victory. Whether it is cruel to do so or not is besides the point I think.

Also when I said experience I didn't mean combat experience, I meant command experience (stars). I notice they don't seem to increase when I personally command battles as compared to auto-resolving. Why is this so?

@eXistenz: Good question. I haven't got a single decisive victory yet. How does one get them?

Hi there.
If I remember correctly, getting a decisive victory, and all types of victories, are decided by odds, casualties taken and enemies killed. And this is where my memory fades, as I can not remember the requirements for the different victory types. The info is around somewhere as I have seen it, but darn me if I can find it.

Originally Posted by wraithdt

Also when I said experience I didn't mean combat experience, I meant command experience (stars). I notice they don't seem to increase when I personally command battles as compared to auto-resolving. Why is this so?

Ok, my bad, I misunderstood you then. Stars are gain by fighting battles (the obvious, the obvious). Different kinds of battles, with different armies (eg, getting a star for cavalry command does not come when commanding an infantry heavy army, or the other way around) and under different conditions. Getting a defense star comes when having won a few, not just one, defensive battles, and so on. And yes, manually it seems totakes a bit longer (there is no proven evidence of this, as people since RTW has tried but failed to produce evidence enough to make it a fact) to gain stars, but you miss the meaningless loses auto resolve is so famed for.
M. Jessen

From my experience you also need a massive amount of luck. And if you enlist a talented general it is more likely they will 'level up'. That's just my experience though.

You can fight genius battles yourself and your general wont get anything but you can also auto-resolve an easy fight and he gets a new trait which gives him +2 command. Luck..

In one of my campaigns I had an insane amount of luck with one general:

This is how he started off, I recruited him with 1 trait, he was the best available:



11 years later he is my finest general with the best traits: