The colour code system and Armies.

**Lionheart11** · June 13, 2019, 07:01 PM

Took me a while to work out this game, The 5 colour codes in Generals and what they can recruit.(since the game does not tell you this).

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Metal.

Red being focused on Horses.
Yellow focused on Leaders?.
Purple focused on Sword and axe infantry.
Blue focused on Archers and artillery.
Green focused on Spear infantry.

Now the question on Armies can only consist on three Generals and only three colour combos, I feel this is very limiting to get a good all round army force. For instance you cannot have spears, swords, archers ,leaders and horses in the same army, or rather need to leave one out.

Thus I'm not a huge fan of this system, Shogun 2 was much better, only needing one general and can separate stacks under captains. So saying this game is more complex seems a trick to me.

Do you enjoy this system ?. or are you like me that just finds it unnecessarily frustrating and game crippling system?. I still worry this franchise will be dumbed down to suit consoles, ive seen it happen to other games like Battlefield 5 series.

**LestaT** · June 13, 2019, 07:33 PM

You can actually. Except some specific mid tier units, you can basically recruit and command any units of different color. Unless you're really into some meta stuff, the stats and bonuses does really feel any different.

I think you only get a bit of extra buff if retinue is the same color but no negative buff if use diffferent color than the general. Not entirely sure though.

In my mid to late campaign, I mostly mix and match units in my armies regardless of the colors.

**JupiterMoneta** · June 13, 2019, 11:39 PM

I actually really like the system!

It offers something fresh to the TW series, without being gimmicky or unbalanced, and there is nothing stopping you from ordering your forces the old fashioned way once on the battlefield. Even the old sorting system is selectable in the options menu. Also, the advantages units can get are quite strong. Getting 50% more ammo for ranged units, or +70% additional health for the duelling general, is not to be underestimated.

And then you have the skill tree, which can be divided in 3 groups

Skills for the retinue only (own retinue)
Skill for the entire army (own army)
Skill when commanding the army (own army)

(i'll leave administered settlement out of it, although that +75% commerce/spice/silk bonus, or that -50% corruption bonus, is really useful mid-game onwards)

It is usually best if you put a Green as “Commanding General”

Bonusses
When Commanding:
Red: replenishment and movement range
Purple: -
Yellow: +10 morale buffs
Blue: increased rate of damage to walls/settlement when sieging, movement range
Green: replenishment, movement, morale, reïnformcement buffs

Own Army:
Red: -
Purple: Night Battles, Armor Piercing
Yellow: Night Battles
Blue: Night Battles, capturing officers, +10 supplies in enemy territory
Green: -

Own Retinue:
Red: charging, running and shock cavalry bonusses
Purple: Fire Arrows, negate enemy charge bonus
Yellow: Fire Arrows, charging and running bonusses
Blue: Fire Arrows, Flaming Shot
Green: speed, fatigue resistance

Also, many generals come with personal bonusses from the get go, seen in the “military” tab of a general. From scare, to charge reflection, to fatigue resistance, they are all quite useful (especially scare) and is often the decider between, for example, one Lvl 1 Blue vs another Lvl 1 Blue.

Administration
Red: -25% bldg upkeep
Purple: +15% industry, +40% commerce, +5 Public Order

So roughly, this is how they stack up to eachother:

Red: flanking
Green: duelling
Yellow: defensive
Blue: sieging and ranged attacks
Purple: administration

I'm still confused about the duelling mini-game though, so if someone would to chime in that would be great

**Lionheart11** · June 14, 2019, 02:49 AM

Originally Posted by LestaT

You can actually. Except some specific mid tier units, you can basically recruit and command any units of different color. Unless you're really into some meta stuff, the stats and bonuses does really feel any different.

I think you only get a bit of extra buff if retinue is the same color but no negative buff if use diffferent color than the general. Not entirely sure though.

In my mid to late campaign, I mostly mix and match units in my armies regardless of the colors.

Thanks , my biggest issue is getting swords men or melee specific units, ive only been able to recruit them with Purple so far.

Originally Posted by JupiterMoneta

I actually really like the system!

It offers something fresh to the TW series, without being gimmicky or unbalanced, and there is nothing stopping you from ordering your forces the old fashioned way once on the battlefield. Even the old sorting system is selectable in the options menu. Also, the advantages units can get are quite strong. Getting 50% more ammo for ranged units, or +70% additional health for the duelling general, is not to be underestimated.

And then you have the skill tree, which can be divided in 3 groups

Skills for the retinue only (own retinue)
Skill for the entire army (own army)
Skill when commanding the army (own army)

(i'll leave administered settlement out of it, although that +75% commerce/spice/silk bonus, or that -50% corruption bonus, is really useful mid-game onwards)

It is usually best if you put a Green as “Commanding General”

Bonusses
When Commanding:
Red: replenishment and movement range
Purple: -
Yellow: +10 morale buffs
Blue: increased rate of damage to walls/settlement when sieging, movement range
Green: replenishment, movement, morale, reïnformcement buffs

Own Army:
Red: -
Purple: Night Battles, Armor Piercing
Yellow: Night Battles
Blue: Night Battles, capturing officers, +10 supplies in enemy territory
Green: -

Own Retinue:
Red: charging, running and shock cavalry bonusses
Purple: Fire Arrows, negate enemy charge bonus
Yellow: Fire Arrows, charging and running bonusses
Blue: Fire Arrows, Flaming Shot
Green: speed, fatigue resistance

Also, many generals come with personal bonusses from the get go, seen in the “military” tab of a general. From scare, to charge reflection, to fatigue resistance, they are all quite useful (especially scare) and is often the decider between, for example, one Lvl 1 Blue vs another Lvl 1 Blue.

Administration
Red: -25% bldg upkeep
Purple: +15% industry, +40% commerce, +5 Public Order

So roughly, this is how they stack up to eachother:

Red: flanking
Green: duelling
Yellow: defensive
Blue: sieging and ranged attacks
Purple: administration

I'm still confused about the duelling mini-game though, so if someone would to chime in that would be great

Thanks some good info there I didn't know. Sorry I'm still rather confused about everything in game lol.

**LestaT** · June 14, 2019, 05:02 AM

While you can only recruit trebuchets and crossbows from blue generals only, if he died then you can replace with any color generals and still keep the units.