The 'Retire' option for unwanted generals

[General Maximus]

In RTW, we couldn't stop our generals from having a whole tribe of kids, and these tribes grow up into generals in such large numbers that not everyone can be afforded to stay in a town. It usually encourages you to find more land to make them governors.

But rather often, I like to play as a city state, owning just a single province and nothing more. This becomes a problem. You cannot garrison your only city with a stack made completely out of generals. And, you cannot make them stand outside the city too, because you won't want them to die.

So what I wish from CA is: an option to retire the generals we do not need. They would just disappear with their bodyguard, and free up space for more useful troops. And, an option to call them back up immediately.

Sort of like we had family members in Shogun II who didn't come of age even after being over 16 years. The generals could retire just like that. Their portraits would appear without armour, and they would appear in the family tree as if they have not come of age. Non family generals would 'generals' tab of the family tree. If the family tree interface is same as Shogun II, that is. But the difference would be, there will be a 'call back from retirement' type button, which would call them back. Or rather say, make them come of age.

This would make them appear near the capital, inside the capital if free space available, or wherever CA chooses to make them reappear. And with their general's bodyguard, so they will take up space again out of army stack slots. This could be Napoleon TW style, where the special general of each faction would appear in their capital.

It was good in Empire and Napoleon, where you could recruit and dismiss the generals as you pleased. But they were not family members, since there was no represented family tree. In Shogun II, this feature was removed and family tree restored. So, it was only in Empire and Napoleon that we were able to play a city state. It would be good to have that feature as 'optional'.

Those who have played Paradox games know what I mean. In those games you have the option to use a general or not, and you can retire him as you please.

So please CA, give this option a consideration. It will not hurt the game anyway, since those who wish to play old style and keep their tribe of leaders intact, it will be only optional to retire them or call them back. Those who say that they won't like to dismiss their generals, just don't hit the 'retire' button and all will be same as older games.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Side note: In RTW, I used to make a fort in the Aegean islands, and send my generals unwanted generals on that island when playing as a city state. After some time though, the fort got full with 20 generals, and I had to quit. But since we don't have those forts, it would be make a good feature.

I always kept one useless general alive as a 'bad-retinue dumpster.

For those who haven't played Empire Total War, or Napoleon Total War, look at this picture:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Notice, there are two buttons on the info bar. One to enlist a new general, another to demote him. Demote button is grayed out currently because the general in question is Gebhard von Blucher, who is a special general and cannot be disbanded. These buttons appear when you select only the general, not any other unit. And I have selected the unit.

In ETW, when you select any army unit and press 'Enlist General' button, a new random general is recruited for a cost. It is like how in many RTW mods and BI you can recruit generals. In NTW, this works differently. You get a pool of three greatest generals in your realm, currently not recruited. The better they are, the more they cost. The further they are recruited from the capital, the more they cost again. These two costs combine.

In this pic, I am playing as a Prussian city state of Berlin. I have no other general except Gebhard von Blucher, nor I have any other province. See? This is an advantage of NTW, and that is why I said ETW-NTW were best for playing city states. Or better, having no annoying generals who breed like rats, and have a tribe of 20 kids. In ETW-NTW, you don't like a general? Fire him!

[Zimmy]

Agreed. I had a whole chain of forts devoted to useless generals too.

[Orlorin]

Generals should also move much quicker across the map compared to armies, thus making getting governers to their cities, and generals to armies needing them. off topic....

Yes I agree, you should be able to retire generals, choose heirs, and orchestrate the end of rival heirs families (not easily) So that you can chose a line to support, or or act only for practicality. I think there should many more options in that window, allowing for intrique and dynastic struggles. imo

[Zimmy]

Don't generals already move quicker? I have not played Shogun 2, but in Medieval 2 this was the case.

[Orlorin]

Don't generals already move quicker? I have not played Shogun 2, but in Medieval 2 this was the case.

I mean double or even triple army movement speed (in your territory) It simply does not take 4 or five years to travel across france and germany. (M2TW tested) Army movement does take awhile. The point is that generals should be able to rapidly travel to ungoverned cities and unlead armies, not sit around at the capital.

[douglas]

In Rome and Med II I would usually create an army out of the extra useless (undesirable trait gatherers) generals and family sons, and use them to some affect. Legions of the Lost, Armies of the Damned, The Futile Family Brigade were just some of the names I used, that I can print. I was pleasantly surprised at times with how well some of them turned out in action.

Other times I would just put them on a slow ship and look for Pirates.

[BM309K58SMERCH]

Yes please.
I mean, are we going to pay for generals (with bad retinue sometimes) who do nothing but drink wine, or sit around at our capital which is usually very far from our conquest zone? The pay is not always the problem, especially if you have good income..But you know what I mean.

[Stath's]

Nice idea. Maybe some "bad fruits" could do their own petty rebellion when you say "you are unwanted. Go home and die". This should take place rarely, though, and their army shall be small.

EDIT: And it would be make more sense if the general's age is around 40-50, not say 70 or 20.

[Wowwars]

The Age limit of retirement if added should also be modded, and maybe that eevnt from FoTS saying a noble's son wants to join war or some think like that , maybe make them mobolizeable.

[HanSomPa]

The Age limit of retirement if added should also be modded, and maybe that eevnt from FoTS saying a noble's son wants to join war or some think like that , maybe make them mobolizeable.

There was no "maximum" on age when it came to qualification... only a minimum. Life expectancy should be fixed, life expectancy was much smaller in the Ancient Times. The game should accurately reflect that. 100+ year old emperor's make the game seem like Warhammer 40k rofl

[General Maximus]

Yep, you won't have to pay for them if you can have them disbanded and still alive, better call them 'grounded'.

The thing is, those generals may be useless, but they can still be used. But I guess none of you, including me, wants to pay equally to a useless general who is the laziest of the era, and a great general who conquered whole kingdoms alone. So, it would be better to just retire them, not kill them. By chance you ran out of family members, what would you do to survive if you killed them already? If CA implements this feature, you can just call those lazy bastards and useless generals born when not needed, out their villas and whip them to do some work.

Oh, I used to gather them all in Narbo Martius, put them all on a single Bireme, and send them to wherever ships can go. They found some enemy ship who was eager to attack, and they would all be gone forever. Otherwise, pirates found them. Same thing.

The problem is, you cannot control your generals' fertility. If I need only two kids out of him, he will make at least twelve. What am I going to do with those extra ten generals? I don't want to keep them, but still want to keep them. This thing, if CA makes it, is going to help us keep them.

Not every senator was roaming around with 45 elite horsemen who shouted, "General's Bodyguard!!" anyway.

[Gaius Marius Maximus]

Ave
I agree with you "General"
in RTW I always choose only one or two among the generals and after I send all other attacking the enemy to die before their son arrives but this time I'm really for this idea

allow our killer trying to murder the generals allies will be great idea too! or from the beginning have the possibility of conversion this unit to Assassins, Déplomat, spies or the even to a Simple Guards of general's ... can be a beautiful think

Merci

[General Maximus]

Ave
I agree with you "General"
Merci

Call me Maximus, friend.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Déplomat? Merci? You certainly speak French, mate.

This is an amazing idea and I would really love this. In my Third Age Total War campaign, I have about two stacks of generals as my family descends into the third and fourth generations of their family. I have only lost one, so I'm at no shortage of generals. They're actually costing me so much gold, that I can't sport as many arms as I'd enjoy. I also have a thing about not killing off my family, so I couldn't do that.

Yup, exactly the reason I made this topic. I spent my whole fortune just to feed these lazy goons.

In M2TW, you at least get to decide if a general marries or not. But in RTW, they automatically marry an unlucky lass, and force me to look after their tribe of twenty kids. And then pay them when they are older.

Perhaps sometimes if you retire a general he will "go rogue" and create a rebel stack?

Good idea . In Europa Universalis - Rome, the legion commanders and generals who have low loyalty rating can refuse to give up their men, and march on their own faction if they are forced to do so.

But I think a simple 'tell him to temporarily go home' won't bad though. He may never know that he is not temporarily, but permanently getting off the military and political life.

[The Useless Member]

I thought you could disband generals in S2?

Well, not really disband, they seppukued themselves.

[Ethien]

This is an amazing idea and I would really love this. In my Third Age Total War campaign, I have about two stacks of generals as my family descends into the third and fourth generations of their family. I have only lost one, so I'm at no shortage of generals. They're actually costing me so much gold, that I can't sport as many arms as I'd enjoy. I also have a thing about not killing off my family, so I couldn't do that.

[EmperorBatman999]

Perhaps sometimes if you retire a general he will "go rogue" and create a rebel stack?

[Okuto]

I certainly expect some benefit to retiring my general.....

Cause I retired extra generals by sending them off to die.....why'd I bother paying their wages.....

Just a retire button...nah......I'd like some actual benefit....it can be as simple as a free event, temp bonus to trade etc etc.....

[General Maximus]

I certainly expect some benefit to retiring my general.....

Cause I retired extra generals by sending them off to die.....why'd I bother paying their wages.....

Just a retire button...nah......I'd like some actual benefit....it can be as simple as a free event, temp bonus to trade etc etc.....

You get several bonuses if you can take them, like you get free space to stack up extra unit, you will not pay any wages to their bodyguards, you will not pay them their 'salary', and you can still keep them alive to use later.

I thought you could disband generals in S2?

Well, not really disband, they seppukued themselves.

Nope. Shogun II had the old RTW-M2TW system, the only difference being the coming of age at a random life point, and appointing the generals as ministers (well, not new, it was in ETW and NTW). The only way to make them go away was to put them on a bow Kobaya, and hope that an enemy navy, or Wako raiders assault the ship and kill them. Or let them die in battle, but their bodyguards are too powerful for that.

For those who haven't played Napoleon or Empire Total War, here is a pic:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Notice, there are two buttons on the info bar. One to enlist a new general, another to demote him. Demote button is grayed out currently because the general in question is Gebhard von Blucher, who is a special general and cannot be disbanded. These buttons appear when you select only the general, not any other unit. And I have selected the unit.

In ETW, when you select any army unit and press 'Enlist General' button, a new random general is recruited for a cost. It is like how in many RTW mods and BI you can recruit generals. In NTW, this works differently. You get a pool of three greatest generals in your realm, currently not recruited. The better they are, the more they cost. The further they are recruited from the capital, the more they cost again. These two costs combine.

Similarly, if CA decides to implement the feature we want, they can induce a small cost penalty for recalling the general. And that cost can be explained as "Cost to re-arm his bodyguard, pay their salaries and maintenance cost in advance."

Side Note: In that pic, I am playing Prussia as a city state with nothing left other than Berlin. I gave all of my eastern lands to Russia, Silesia to Austria, and exchanged Cleves-Mark provice with French in return for their alliance and trade agreement.

[RexImperator]

Perhaps the ability to send them places.

Making them an ambassador to the Seleucids or Ptolomies would then allow you more instantaneous diplomacy and greater friendliness between your states (or worse depending on their traits).

Exiling them would make them disgruntled and increase the likelihood of a civil war.

Sending some to study at the Academy, the Library of Alexandria or becoming stoics might confer special bonuses on them when they return (say after 10 turns)

Some could be made into priests or cult leaders and have effects on your citizens happiness.

Making them ministers would remove them as generals but affect how your empire is run.

[Okuto]

You get several bonuses if you can take them, like you get free space to stack up extra unit, you will not pay any wages to their bodyguards, you will not pay them their 'salary', and you can still keep them alive to use later.
.

I know that but what I want is a least something for retiring a general.....an event, temp bonus/pen