General's names should appear on unit

[Chilly5]

Hello,

I sincerely hope that someone at CA will see this and implement this into the game.
Given how short of a time there is left before the game comes out, I imagine that the earliest this can go in would be in a patch down the line.

We learn history, especially Roman history, through the actions of "great men."
We learn household names like Julius Ceasar, Mithradates, Hannibal, etc.

However, as I understand it, these "great men" don't get factored very well into the gameplay of total war games.
What I mean is, I can see the name of my 10 star general and enjoy his conquest of Gaul by simply looking at the units tab, but if I want to see the name of the Macedonian 10 star general conquering my lands, I have to scout him out and then access his separate unit tab. It's tedious, and not something I end up doing.
I usually only go far enough to recognize an enemy general as, "oh, that's a 5 star enemy general coming with a big army."
What I wish could happen is: "Ah, it's you again Vercingetorix, I remember when you took and sacked my best city" or something.

Total war should play off of the importance of the generals of this era, allow there to be a sense of rivalry and visible characterization, immerse the player more. I'm no longer facing a faceless 4 star general, I'm facing y'know, "Hamilcar" that bastard that defeated my retreating troops or something.

I noticed from the recent video that armies now have names.
Why not also have General's names be visible?
This can be implemented is by simply showing the name next to the general on the campaign map, much like right now you can see their star-rank (meaning you won't have to tediously open up a unit panel to see it, the name should be directly visible).
In-battle the General banner should also display the name of the general (allows for differentiation if there are multiple general-characters in one army).

Generals and their exploits should also be listed off when an invasion force comes in ("[Parthian general] of Parthia has invaded our lands!"), and an option to drop-down "more information" would allow us to see the general's exploits ("conquered Armenia, faction heir, famed cavalry commander"). This way we can see a history and depth in the game, that the otherwise faceless/nameless/characterless armies that we, as the superior human players, crush in battle, had a background. That the parthian general you just spiked with your spearmen was really important, and that you should feel good about defeating him and avenging the Armenians (could also open up the option of general-related diplomacy. if you have a general that's known for killing Germans maybe you could trade him to the Germans to ease your diplomatic relations with them. Or if there's a Ptolemaic general known for killing Macedonians, you can hunt down this general and offer his head to the Macedonians - would be even better if there was a "capture" option where you could capture the general for ransom).

TL;DR - Show the names of generals on the campaign and battle maps next to the unit model so we can immediately identify the general. Will add more personality and immersion to the game.

Side note: I can see the veterancy of my units pretty easily, since the unit card panel is directly visible to me, but it's not as easy to see the enemy's veterancy. I understand that in Shogun 2 the unit upgrades were displayed on the unit flag, but it was a little hard to see/notice/care. I should be more concerned if I'm facing a 5 experience unit vs a 2 experience unit, there should be more impact. Hopefully this feature will add more emphasis (make the upgrades show up more visible or something)

[DogSoldierSPQR]

Yes. Anything which adds more immersion to individuals is most certainly welcome. I would love to see a familiar face causing trouble in my territories time and time again until I finallly meet him battle with one of my best Legions and kick his seater with a beautiful toe-poke.
However, a bit of a problem on my side, I usually defeat most armies I face haha so if anything, it's always a new dude coming in to start trouble

You know what I would love to make this even more immersive? Is recognisable second names. How awesome would that be? Say I full on obliterated Hannibal's army and have done him over in the process, what I want to see is another General, somewhere down the line popping up in my territory after mustering up an army under the second name 'Barca'. How cool would it be if you literally started personal beefs with enemy families by recognising their siblings or fathers from previous battles?

Sadly the 1-tpy will kind of make individual Generals come and go pretty quickly but it sure would be good to have easily identifiable enemy family members with a very good second-name system.

[PR34TORI4N]

what I want to see is another General, somewhere down the line popping up in my territory after mustering up an army under the second name 'Barca'. How cool would it be if you literally started personal beefs with enemy families by recognising their siblings or fathers from previous battles?

YES! I want that. I thought this type of feature would be in though. I hope.

[zala]

I'd enjoy this feature.

[Lord Dakier]

It's a nice feature but 70% of battles end with a dead general. what I want to see is generals being able to flee even further but they're army be defeated at the end of the battle.

Napoleon-TW was good with this. Defeating the French sod then him running away was a beautiful sight for me and my great British Empire only for him to come back wanting to be put down again.

If I remember rightly my Wellington defeated him and he fled, then he came back with another stack and defeated me where Wellington fled I then came back to put the nail in the coffin.

[SturmChurro]

It's a nice feature but 70% of battles end with a dead general. what I want to see is generals being able to flee even further but they're army be defeated at the end of the battle.

Like in SHOGUN 2 with suicide stacks literally full of Generals. Not to mention whenever I fight the AI their Daimyo is usually the first to drop.

Another point to add: especially important considering how generals in Shogun 2 were given unique models/faces.
I want to see their names and associate them with their names.

In response to DogsoldierSPQR - Not every battle won necessarily equals the enemy general dies. I've had a lot of times where generals make it out and live to fight again. But you do bring up a good point. One way to amend this would be to modify the way news is presented to you in the campaign map.
- When a known faction has a switch in leaders, there should be a news message saying "Varus has sucessed Marcus as the new leader of Rome" (or something).
- Exploits within known factions by generals should be broadcasted. If Parthia takes over...Armenia or something, it should display a message saying "[Parthian leader] has finally conquered [city] and brought an end to the Armenians!" More information would be broadcasted if you had vision of the area (who beat who, the size of the battle, etc)
- When an invading force comes in there should be a news message stating the general that has arrived "The Athenians led by [Athenian leader] have beached on our shores!" etc.
- Whenever an enemy general is announced there should be a drop-down option to see "more details" which will list things the general is known for (ie. "Conquered Pergamum, Conquerer of the Macedonians, Cavalry commander, Faction war-minister" etc)

In this way yes the general will probably die after facing against your superior human-controlled forces, but you understand and are aware of the history behind the leader and you are made witness to the greatness of the man you just destroyed.
And as the player, you will feel awesome.
As opposed to the now- oh thats just another big Date army led by some big general, whatever, nameless/faceless no history behind that army's conquests, don't care.

No way, why would I want more annoying popups all the time? It would get ridiculous fast.

[Lord Dakier]

Like in SHOGUN 2 with suicide stacks literally full of Generals. Not to mention whenever I fight the AI their Daimyo is usually the first to drop.

No way, why would I want more annoying popups all the time? It would get ridiculous fast.

A simple fix would be CA making only a certain amount of generals per territory say no more than 3 per province. Certainly hope to see warriors generals. It'd be even better if there bravery was mentioned in a 'Great Battle' event.

[SturmChurro]

A simple fix would be CA making only a certain amount of generals per territory say no more than 3 per province. Certainly hope to see warriors generals. It'd be even better if there bravery was mentioned in a 'Great Battle' event.

With the amount of factions in the game? My god it would be horror.

Also, there is already a popup in SHOGUN 2 when an invasion force lands, though it doesn't give leader details.

Good stuff Chilly, read my mind.

Well there would obviously need to be some balance to it.
For instance if you've ever played the game Civilization 5. You get drop-down news of things like "your city increased in population!" or "this city state has a request from you!"
Which is really important and immersive early-game when you are only privy to a handful of news drops.
Late game however, you might know 20 city states and have 50 cities, and you could give a crap if they increased in population. But the game will relegate this stuff as "side information," as in it will not be as obtrusive on your screen, and will not be a big deal/concern.
This is similar to how the early days of Rome there's a lot of worry about someone like Hannibal threatening the very survival of Rome as opposed to some late, less famous Parthian general that while did a good job conquering stuff, is not as important in the face of the sheer size of the rest of the Roman empire.
Some of the things I suggested are already in the game. Such as "an invasion force has landed on your shores!" That already happens in Shogun 2. Why not just say "invasion force led by [Carthaginian general] has landed!" It's the same news but with more personality.

Bigger, more important generals' exploits would be broadcasted with more emphasis. So something like a Scipio Africanus figure finishing off Carthage would be more known than just the governor of some province putting down a rebellion.

Of course if any factions want me to do something for them I would want to see the popup. Like the mission popups we already get.

Yes, maybe find some way to include them with popups we already have like whenever we get those faction destroyed ones, but also including the General's name? Either way I wouldn't read any of them, like I do now.

[Chilly5]

Like in SHOGUN 2 with suicide stacks literally full of Generals. Not to mention whenever I fight the AI their Daimyo is usually the first to drop.

No way, why would I want more annoying popups all the time? It would get ridiculous fast.

Well there would obviously need to be some balance to it.
For instance if you've ever played the game Civilization 5. You get drop-down news of things like "your city increased in population!" or "this city state has a request from you!"
Which is really important and immersive early-game when you are only privy to a handful of news drops.
Late game however, you might know 20 city states and have 50 cities, and you could give a crap if they increased in population. But the game will relegate this stuff as "side information," as in it will not be as obtrusive on your screen, and will not be a big deal/concern.
This is similar to how the early days of Rome there's a lot of worry about someone like Hannibal threatening the very survival of Rome as opposed to some late, less famous Parthian general that while did a good job conquering stuff, is not as important in the face of the sheer size of the rest of the Roman empire.
Some of the things I suggested are already in the game. Such as "an invasion force has landed on your shores!" That already happens in Shogun 2. Why not just say "invasion force led by [Carthaginian general] has landed!" It's the same news but with more personality.

Bigger, more important generals' exploits would be broadcasted with more emphasis. So something like a Scipio Africanus figure finishing off Carthage would be more known than just the governor of some province putting down a rebellion.

[Captain W. Handberg]

Like in SHOGUN 2 with suicide stacks literally full of Generals. Not to mention whenever I fight the AI their Daimyo is usually the first to drop.

No way, why would I want more annoying popups all the time? It would get ridiculous fast.

OUAH GENERAR IS IN GREAT DANGAH MAH LORD.
(accual is crushing 2 units of archer)

[zala]

OUAH GENERAR IS IN GREAT DANGAH MAH LORD.

DISHRONERBLE DRISPRAY MAH LERD

[Chilly5]

Another point to add: especially important considering how generals in Shogun 2 were given unique models/faces.
I want to see their names and associate them with their names.

In response to DogsoldierSPQR - Not every battle won necessarily equals the enemy general dies. I've had a lot of times where generals make it out and live to fight again. But you do bring up a good point. One way to amend this would be to modify the way news is presented to you in the campaign map.
- When a known faction has a switch in leaders, there should be a news message saying "Varus has sucessed Marcus as the new leader of Rome" (or something).
- Exploits within known factions by generals should be broadcasted. If Parthia takes over...Armenia or something, it should display a message saying "[Parthian leader] has finally conquered [city] and brought an end to the Armenians!" More information would be broadcasted if you had vision of the area (who beat who, the size of the battle, etc)
- When an invading force comes in there should be a news message stating the general that has arrived "The Athenians led by [Athenian leader] have beached on our shores!" etc.
- Whenever an enemy general is announced there should be a drop-down option to see "more details" which will list things the general is known for (ie. "Conquered Pergamum, Conquerer of the Macedonians, Cavalry commander, Faction war-minister" etc)

In this way yes the general will probably die after facing against your superior human-controlled forces, but you understand and are aware of the history behind the leader and you are made witness to the greatness of the man you just destroyed.
And as the player, you will feel awesome.
As opposed to the now- oh thats just another big Date army led by some big general, whatever, nameless/faceless no history behind that army's conquests, don't care.

[Raikou]

Another point to add: especially important considering how generals in Shogun 2 were given unique models/faces.
I want to see their names and associate them with their names.

In response to DogsoldierSPQR - Not every battle won necessarily equals the enemy general dies. I've had a lot of times where generals make it out and live to fight again. But you do bring up a good point. One way to amend this would be to modify the way news is presented to you in the campaign map.
- When a known faction has a switch in leaders, there should be a news message saying "Varus has sucessed Marcus as the new leader of Rome" (or something).
- Exploits within known factions by generals should be broadcasted. If Parthia takes over...Armenia or something, it should display a message saying "[Parthian leader] has finally conquered [city] and brought an end to the Armenians!" More information would be broadcasted if you had vision of the area (who beat who, the size of the battle, etc)
- When an invading force comes in there should be a news message stating the general that has arrived "The Athenians led by [Athenian leader] have beached on our shores!" etc.
- Whenever an enemy general is announced there should be a drop-down option to see "more details" which will list things the general is known for (ie. "Conquered Pergamum, Conquerer of the Macedonians, Cavalry commander, Faction war-minister" etc)

In this way yes the general will probably die after facing against your superior human-controlled forces, but you understand and are aware of the history behind the leader and you are made witness to the greatness of the man you just destroyed.
And as the player, you will feel awesome.
As opposed to the now- oh thats just another big Date army led by some big general, whatever, nameless/faceless no history behind that army's conquests, don't care.

HOLY CRAP DUDE YOU ARE OS RIGHT THIS WOULD BE SO AMAZING AND ADD EVEN MORE FACE TO YOUR ARMIES/ENEMIES ARMIES.

It would feel as if you are a commander being brought news from scouts and messsngers and the like. have some WELL-deserved rep on me friend !

[DogSoldierSPQR]

Another point to add: especially important considering how generals in Shogun 2 were given unique models/faces.
I want to see their names and associate them with their names.

In response to DogsoldierSPQR - Not every battle won necessarily equals the enemy general dies. I've had a lot of times where generals make it out and live to fight again. But you do bring up a good point. One way to amend this would be to modify the way news is presented to you in the campaign map.
- When a known faction has a switch in leaders, there should be a news message saying "Varus has sucessed Marcus as the new leader of Rome" (or something).
- Exploits within known factions by generals should be broadcasted. If Parthia takes over...Armenia or something, it should display a message saying "[Parthian leader] has finally conquered [city] and brought an end to the Armenians!" More information would be broadcasted if you had vision of the area (who beat who, the size of the battle, etc)
- When an invading force comes in there should be a news message stating the general that has arrived "The Athenians led by [Athenian leader] have beached on our shores!" etc.
- Whenever an enemy general is announced there should be a drop-down option to see "more details" which will list things the general is known for (ie. "Conquered Pergamum, Conquerer of the Macedonians, Cavalry commander, Faction war-minister" etc)

In this way yes the general will probably die after facing against your superior human-controlled forces, but you understand and are aware of the history behind the leader and you are made witness to the greatness of the man you just destroyed.
And as the player, you will feel awesome.
As opposed to the now- oh thats just another big Date army led by some big general, whatever, nameless/faceless no history behind that army's conquests, don't care.

This written piece right here deserves a rep, dude!
I really like the emphasis you are putting on specific individuals. Yeah, this feature really would put a 'human face' on Total War as it is names you are reading instead of just the faction name who is making moves etc.

I would love to get a pop up saying "Athenian army under Patroclus" or something to pop up. Now I know that some dude name "Patroclus" is up to no good. It becomes personal. I start getting paranoid about what Patroclus is up to. I have a target in mind when I send an assassin etc. It just all becomes more personal.

This would be a great way to add emphasis on invidividuals even with the large amount of time passing with each turn. Great idea, friend.

[Raikou]

This written piece right here deserves a rep, dude!
I really like the emphasis you are putting on specific individuals. Yeah, this feature really would put a 'human face' on Total War as it is names you are reading instead of just the faction name who is making moves etc.

I would love to get a pop up saying "Athenian army under Patroclus" or something to pop up. Now I know that some dude name "Patroclus" is up to no good. It becomes personal. I start getting paranoid about what Patroclus is up to. I have a target in mind when I send an assassin etc. It just all becomes more personal.

This would be a great way to add emphasis on invidividuals even with the large amount of time passing with each turn. Great idea, friend.

Agreed the only thing is I feel generals this time around will be overall less important than the armies they lead

It seems unfortunately they are switching all the emphasis on battles on armies than the actual generals that lead them (hopefully I'm wrong)

So unfortunately this kind of detailed stuff about generals they will overlook since generals will be gained from a seemingless endless pool (more than shogun 2's which to me was ALOT already)

I just hope I'm wrong in this but I probably am not

[DogSoldierSPQR]

Agreed the only thing is I feel generals this time around will be overall less important than the armies they lead

It seems unfortunately they are switching all the emphasis on battles on armies than the actual generals that lead them (hopefully I'm wrong)

So unfortunately this kind of detailed stuff about generals they will overlook since generals will be gained from a seemingless endless pool (more than shogun 2's which to me was ALOT already)

I just hope I'm wrong in this but I probably am not

Sadly, my friend, it is starting to look that way. However, CA did mention generals ranking up a LOT faster so I'm happy that a beautiful heroic or decisive victory could do wonders for a general's traits and overall rating? What do you think?
I personally would like that.

Families need to be more obvious now though. We cannot get attached to one dude for too long but if we have famous second names and people spawning with them, we can really get attached to specific families etc.

[MagPiesRUs]

I think you guys are in luck.

[Raikou]

Sadly, my friend, it is starting to look that way. However, CA did mention generals ranking up a LOT faster so I'm happy that a beautiful heroic or decisive victory could do wonders for a general's traits and overall rating? What do you think?
I personally would like that.

Families need to be more obvious now though. We cannot get attached to one dude for too long but if we have famous second names and people spawning with them, we can really get attached to specific families etc.

Yes! this would be a great alternative to generals dying off slightly faster than in previous games if family names took more form !

+rep for you !

[Raikou]

I don't think chilly is saying more clutter and popups just a better detailed and RICH alerts you know?

Alot more details like instead of Shogun 2's "A Date enemy force has landed on our shores" it would be like "A Carthginian force led by General [Hannibal Barca] has landed a force of [7500] on our shores of [region] !!"

More details in the messages than just a generic message you know? I like it chilly

[Lord Dakier]

I don't mean I want 'Great Battle' events for every battle. Only the ones that the game sees as heroic victories.