General Dying Morale loss.

[Crouchy23232323]

If you were fighting for your life on the battlefield. Your general was killed 1000 yards away from you, you didn't see it and even if you had, you would know that next day you will have a new general in place.

Would you be more likely to fight for your life less?

Be angered and fight for your life even harder, full of adrenaline, and to avenge his?

Or would you continue fighting for your life, as you are in-fact, fighting for your life?

Or ''run away, run away, run away!!!!''

[Prof]

A more realistic approach with this would be that you lose control over your units after your general dies and they just carry out their last order or start taking action on their own.

[GrimmCro]

A more realistic approach with this would be that you lose control over your units after your general dies and they just carry out their last order or start taking action on their own.

I like this.

[Humble Warrior]

If you were fighting for your life on the battlefield. Your general was killed 1000 yards away from you, you didn't see it and even if you had, you would know that next day you will have a new general in place.

Would you be more likely to fight for your life less?

Be angered and fight for your life even harder, full of adrenaline, and to avenge his?

Or would you continue fighting for your life, as you are in-fact, fighting for your life?

Or ''run away, run away, run away!!!!''

It`s not at all unrealistic that men lose their bravery once their General is dead. Doesn`t matter if a new one will be here tomorrow. It`s the now that matters. Only elite units have the moral and courage to stick it out. Now if he is way out of sight then the men shouldn`t lose moral until others come near (to spread the word). Apart from that it`s good imho.

LOOK after your General like he is gold dust!

[wulfgar610]

It`s not at all unrealistic that men lose their bravery once their General is dead. Doesn`t matter if a new one will be here tomorrow. It`s the now that matters. Only elite units have the moral and courage to stick it out. Now if he is way out of sight then the men shouldn`t lose moral until others come near (to spread the word). Apart from that it`s good imho.

LOOK after your General like he is gold dust!

I agree. History makes the point that Donkeys led by a Lion tend to do better than Lions led by a Donkey. Many armies felt a strong personal connection with their leader, he was the guarantee of what their standing would be after the battle. But there is the issue of how quickly the news gets through. The Visigoths charged on to victory at Chalons it seems because in the chaos of the battle nobody noticed their king had killed until after.

[Crouchy23232323]

It`s not at all unrealistic that men lose their bravery once their General is dead. Doesn`t matter if a new one will be here tomorrow. It`s the now that matters. Only elite units have the moral and courage to stick it out. Now if he is way out of sight then the men shouldn`t lose moral until others come near (to spread the word). Apart from that it`s good imho.

LOOK after your General like he is gold dust!

I do. My main point being that this mechanic makes general sniping too important -not of my general, he's safe, of theirs. Battles which should not be able to be won, can be and are simply by killing their general.

It is generalising (excuse the pun) when considering how much the death of a king/leader/general would cause to an army/unit/garrison, some would have a massive effect. If your King is also looked upon as your God, his death would mean; ''what point is there in me living, all hope really is lost'', to ''that guy, only sauntered here this morning, never led a battle in his lives, if we are to live until tomorrow it is up to us to win this, forget him''.

A variation and depth I do not expect from CA nor come to them for. Was just making a point.

[Humble Warrior]

I do. My main point being that this mechanic makes general sniping too important -not of my general, he's safe, of theirs. Battles which should not be able to be won, can be and are simply by killing their general.

Well it would have helped mightily if you`d mentioned you were talking about the AI General in the first place.


Perhaps try playing without banners? This makes it harder to snipe Generals. Although I don`t find myself sniping Generals at all. In fact it`s hard just to get close enough if I haven`t got 3 or 4 cavalry.

[Evan]

For some reason, when the general dies, I always imagine it like Denethor in the Lord of the Rings movies: someone seeing the general die and going "RUNNNNNN FOR YOUR LIVESSSSSS."

[Humble Warrior]

For some reason, when the general dies, I always imagine it like Denethor in the Lord of the Rings movies: someone seeing the general die and going "RUNNNNNN FOR YOUR LIVESSSSSS."

It is kind of like that. When a General dies, there`s always someone to scream it out, telling everyone else, they look to see the General`s position is overrun or his horse is down and that`s it- panic. Men really fought on their Generals in ancient days and, in most cases, will flee as soon as they think he`s dead.

[metafish13]

Yeah. During William the Conqueror's campaign, the battle of Hastings had a few people start spreading the word that he died. He needed to personally reveal to his army he was alive to quell the rumors. So yeah, not as unhistorical as some might think.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

Yeah. During William the Conqueror's campaign, the battle of Hastings had a few people start spreading the word that he died. He needed to personally reveal to his army he was alive to quell the rumors. So yeah, not as unhistorical as some might think.

We can't deny either that the soldiers aren't fighting on their own free will.

[RGA]

We can't deny either that the soldiers aren't fighting on their own free will.

Well, nothing can really be generalized. Soldiers did fight on their free will in hope of war spoils and plunders.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

Well, nothing can really be generalized. Soldiers did fight on their free will in hope of war spoils and plunders.

yeah if they are winning :3
But true I think you are right on that one.

[Bust Nak]

> Or ''run away, run away, run away!!!!''
This one.

> ... you would know that next day you will have a new general in place...
All the more reason to be alive for the next day.

[Aeratus]

In a real battle, you wouldn't know immediately when your general died. However, real ancient/medieval battles could last several hours, whereas battles in TW games might only last 5 minutes.

[Humble Warrior]

I think soldiers do `fight to the death` if surrounded, even when their General`s dead. They did in previous TWs.

Also, if your General dies, hope that his dies as well. If he dies quickly after, the battle stabilises and you are still in with a chance of winning.

[iloveyourz]

gives me an idea...

*sneaks into roman uniform and throw away my barb garbs*
*yells''OUR KING HAS FALLEN RUN FOR YOUR LIVES FLEE TO FIGHT FOR ROME ANOTHER DAY''

slip back into barbarian robes =) ENemy turn their back and flee while we slaughter them freely woot

[veverčák]

Problem with "Generals" in real life was simple fact: It is your employer. The leader of the army is the guy who promise you part of the spoils of war and your gold and other benefits. Without him you can not expect nothing in return for your service. Also other warbands and forces were bound to dead general. Without him there is no reason to continue fight as there is no gold or glory to obtain so you can assume that they are going to root to. Dead of leader was actually pretty quick to find out: kings/generals banner. It was used to signal battle orders to units and if it fell it was sign of the demise of the leader. Of course it generalising little bit, but banners were almost universal method to communicate with rest of the army.

[Emperor Arcturus Mengsk]

I don't think it's unrealistic that an army falls into dissaray after the generals death, but it's kind of weird because the AI tries to snipe the general with the onagers it almost always has , forcing me to leave him just outside their range until they are out of ammo...

[RedGuard]

I feel like Attila total war is the first game where the ai does actively try to target your general. Don't know how I feel about that. on one hand its a realistic thing, after all Alexander knew that taking out Darius would basically win the battle of guagamla by itself. but on the other hand, I don't think anyone misses the day of empire/Napoleon where five seconds into the battle your general gets taken out by artillery on the other side of the map.