COMPLETE GENERAL / FAMILY MEMBER GUIDE - Game Guides - Rome: Total War

A complete guide to generals and family members in Rome: Total War.
In this episode of Game Guides, I will be talking about generals and family members in Rome: Total War.
I cover the three main traits, command, management, and influence, and how to gain more of each one.
I also primarily talk about the advantages and uses of generals in cities, in battles, and on the campaign map while outside of a city.
Finally, I cover how to gain new generals, as well as other important information.
This game guides series consists of short, to-the-point gaming commentary videos that teach players how to accomplish certain tasks in different games.
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[@jnitz6809]

Hey thanks for doing this because honestly all my good generals who could died by turn 15 or 20 in the brutii campaign and i was stuck with i or two command star generals and i didn't how to get management on them.

[@donpendejo9468]

Esto es para lo que dijo BlueMatona La manera de adoptar generales es que en una batalla no exista un general solo tropas El juego automáticamente escogerá una tropa para ser el Capitán Si el capitán logra una victoria un tanto difícil (obviamente debes controlar la batalla) Este llegara a ser notado por tu familia y hay una probabilidad de ser adoptado en el árbol de la familia (If you don't know spanish traduce it in Google this is the way to "adopt" a general

[@mordechairogelio8864]

pro tip: watch movies on Flixzone. Been using it for watching all kinds of movies lately.

[@jrsdt2ndaccount30]

You'll know a game is dank when even after several years people are still talking about it.

[@SuperMoodyyy]

Jhay - Ar Dela Torre played this when i was young now i play the iPhone version and it’s great

[@michaelweston409]

what it do iPhone app rocks

[@CaraVerde]

I played Medieval 2, and TW is my best RTS ever since then. Now I'm a mobile gamer, and found TW in Android Playstore is like finding a gem in the mud 🥰

[@ijason8277]

GreenFace Vault Man I hope they make Medieval 2 for iOS 🥺

[@dart763]

@@ijason8277 IKR!!!!! or maybe rome remastered/2 but mostly medieval :(((

[@rookygaming6968]

Just a extra little fact for the ones here to learn: if you place any unit on the watchtower tile of the enemy watchtower, you will actually steal the line of sight bonus untill you leave that place or take the city within that influence. So you can basically have watchtowers in enemy territory as long as your army on it isn't opposed.

[@theocyberskunk4815]

This is very annoying when there are rebels on your territory. They go to the watchtowers like moths to a bulb

[@DARKREAPER8117]

Played this game for 10+ years WTF how did I not notice this

[@MadMarco]

@@DARKREAPER8117 same lol

[@Siranonim]

I think there's one more way to acquire a new general. When you have an army without a general and you win a battle your captain can be promoted to a general and become family member.

[@BlueMatona]

You're totally right. One thing I'm not happy about is how in my early videos I missed some details like this. Working to ensure I'm more detailed moving forward

[@antzy4500]

I won a battle without my general but i didn't got it to be promoted

[@roberttaylor3118]

Im not sure how random it is but you do have to defeat a much stronger opponent in order for that captain to be adopted.

[@aruatmadji1202]

​@@antzy4500 Need to won few times against larger armies.

[@officerdonut7066]

Its related directly to how many settlements you own

[@nodinitiative]

Fun fact: There is actually a Male character limi. Meaning, once you have a lot of male generals still alive, you will not get new adoptions or marriages for your daughter, nor will any of the faction family have any new males being born. The daughters then of course die of old age, unmarried or without children.

[@sauromatae9728]

also, if your empire us too karge and you lack family members,adoptions and marriage options will occur more often.

[@Qladstone]

I wonder what's the approximate ratio? Maybe 1 male family member per 1 territory held?

[@hannibalburgers477]

Wow thats lame and g

[@roberttaylor3118]

Sausage party

[@cobrazax]

also u can get man of the hour option to add a good performing captain to your family (usually with solid combat traits, barely any negatives and some other good traits) if u win a battle with a captain with heroic victory result, and sometimes with clear victory too! btw, bad generals u can just stick them in your army (alongside a high command general) and use them as a strong cavalry unit that is free to regenerate...ideal for bad command and bad management generals.

[@AWildBard]

A big factor in gaining influence is the advisors. Also, when a general gets older, you can transfer the advisors to a younger general and get a lot of benefits, including instant influence.

[@lukegood8802]

Stuff like this is fantastic, it really annoys me that i can't find this on a wiki, all the detail that's really important to know!

[@ijason8277]

So command stars affect the attack and defense of your troops? All these years I though it only affects morale!

[@insch.9547]

10 + Years

[@xximafishxx]

"Thearmyman" ;)

[@glizzygoat]

i was laughing my ass off. sometimes you dont expect usernames to be made up of smaller words

[@HonestChuckle]

These guides are very helpful! Thank you for taking the time to make them. Well done!

[@fancybluepen3489]

You also forgot to mention the possibility of promoting Captains into Generals via fighting a tough battle with them and getting the "Man of the Hour" notification.

[@MrMisjudge]

I don't think that's a feature in this game, I've won some hard battles with captains and have never had them promoted

[@afrog557]

This is actually available in the game,but It is depending on ur cities number and the number of the general u have For ex,if u control around 20 regions but only have about 10 generals,the game will detect that u r "lack" of general and this "man in hour" thing will only occur Sry for my bad eng~

[@TheAtkey]

You can also us a diplomat to bribe an opposing general to join your faction.

[@johnhenderson4833]

It happens. It's based on some ratio of cities held to family members. I've had man of the hour prock early game when I roll some peasants.

[@TheProeMe]

It's a late game feature, also it doesn't happen that often.

[@ethanchabert]

Great info, thank you for taking the time to put this video together.

[@saphyrion4257]

Very useful, the other videos as well. Thanks for making them :)

[@mohammadmehdiemamhdi1192]

Really had a nice video👍👌

[@SpikeSpiege1]

Great video. I love total war

[@redpenguin1659]

"Female daughter"

[@BronzetheGolden]

"male son"

[@simpicusmaximus]

This day and age you never really know anymore

[@eddieharrison6406]

Can you do a video about what triggers the Roman civil war, and then your advice on when you should actually start it/attack your rivals please?

[@annunakim525]

u forgot to mention if an enemy moves a troop to the watchtower then the tower doenst see anymore

[@timhand3380]

Certain buildings give "entourage bonuses " Rotate your generals in and out of cities as well as swap these entourage members between family members in order to max stars for your fighting generals and scrolls for your city governors.

[@awax69007]

Hey thanks for all the cool and helpful videos. Can you do a video on how and what influences cause the taints that a family member will get regarding building in settlements actions in battle and what they are exposed on the campaign map?

[@BlueMatona]

Really love this idea. Will look into it!

[@eniotanaka2229]

Great tips

[@ritris5165]

About the 3rd extras tip, the general adoption tip, i find the game to give more adoption cards if your faction leader does not have a son.(not a faction heir)

[@jaystrickland4151]

It is not a random event. If you win a battle in an army without a general and earn a Heroic victory you have a chance to be giving the option to adopt him. If you are short on family members you leave your general in town and send your best army to fight two stacks at once.

[@pontiusaquila6907]

There definitely seems to be some chance involved, because I have also gotten the event in clear victories. I’ve had the event trigger with literally a full stack, against a few units of enemy. I think the likeliness is mostly influenced by how many generals you have versus how much territory you control. I’ve also just learned from having this happen, but you can even get the event if you start the battle with a general, who dies in the battle

[@aorusaki]

thanks!

[@johngalt5166]

Time to rewatch this for remastered lol

[@ors5712]

i don't know how i got here but i used to play this game a lot. Going through many of the comments, i haven't seen anyone mention getting a general by bribing. This is a very useful strategy specially if you are playing against the romans. Many of the barbarian characters are cheap. In the early game, even if the enemy general has crap traits, he/they could at least serve as a breeder. bribing is even more useful if you are a roman because then you could bribe your allies. Bribing a young allied general with shady traits could be very useful specially if he is the only one near your very old but highly ranked general who has some very usefull retinue. Bribe a young crap general and transfer all the useful retinue from your OP general then send him across the map to deliver the retinue to your pet general.

[@sickmindedteenager]

Hey man this was really informing and well edited, cheers! Also wondering if theres a way to make commanders either stop taking my city's money, or take less?

[@josephzanes7334]

I do know that you can sent Diplomats to other Roman factions to extort them for money EVERY TURN (well maybe 50% of the time, but very well worth the effort)!

[@Lycurgus1982]

It has been my experience in the twenty plus years i have been playing this particular game that the single best resource at your disposal are fortifications.

[@MachinegunnerMugZ]

Or couple phalanxes with a catapult on a bridge ;)

[@darthbugge3987]

Or tons of range units

[@michaelweston409]

MachinegunnerMugZ 😢😂

[@michaelweston409]

Archers for one

[@anonimo2932]

there is a way to gain one, if you fight a difficult battle with an army without a general, you have the possibility of promote the captain

[@lasthastati]

Actually just a correction, it doesn't need to be a difficult battle: if you have less generals than the amount of settlements you own, any victory with a captain will give you the option of promoting it to a family member. Although obviously if you win a difficult battle the new general will have more command starts!

[@ranacreed7671]

thanks

[@roberttaylor8906]

i usually play on medium difficulty, but you can maximize the chance of adopting an army captain by having an army without a general win battles against difficult odds...i assume the type of victory (heroic victory, etc) will affect this likelihood. also i'm not sure whether if you're attacking or defending in the field, attacking an enemy city, or defending your own city has any impact. i think these guys tend to have more desirable attributes than ones that marry into the family on the whole...or at least they seem less likely to have negative attributes. since they don't have to marry a daughter, it basically adds a totally new branch to your family tree: it's as if you had another son.

[@imperatorjojo5276]

lmao fear my man, the army man

[@rubenheymans1988]

Nothing about passing the retinue from 20 generals to 1 young talented general and create super generals?

[@JohnnyCasey]

I just wish all the developers are open mind with all this. Not just Total War, but all games. There are no clear description about all these *cryptic* specific game mechanics(Some of them, not all). You have to look at manual, or internet. You really don't want to do that. All mechanics in game should be shown to players *in-game.* We have the right to know about all specifics in game, since we bought the game. They shouldn't keep all these as secret so we have to look through wiki. It's not fair, it feels cheesy. I hate all this. Why all the devs thinking it's a good idea to hide some of the game mechanics to players? Why? Are they enjoying watching us finding all these secrets mechanics through outside of their games?

[@GaiusCaligula234]

I absolutely love the mystic feeling behind learning about this stuff from the manual and forums

[@michaelweston409]

It’s a old game. Back then when Rome dropped it didn’t even have that many fans. Now it’s grown a cult following but it took almost 2 decades.

[@howielowis458]

I disagree completely. Leave some things for the player to learn himself. It adds a lot to the experience. I am still replaying and learning things about RTW after over a decade. That's amazing if you ask me

[@JohnnyCasey]

@@howielowis458 The learning should be happening while you're generally progressing through the game, not while you're deliberately trying to find what the command stars on general does on the internet. There's nothing to learn if you're just playing the game for yourself. You have to search outside of the game to learn the certain mechanic. That's not amazing. That's just awful.

[@howielowis458]

@@JohnnyCasey well let's agree to disagree then. I like it when the game doesn't tell me everything. Maybe the rts genre isn't exactly the best for this but in games like dark souls i learned to appreciate it if a game doesn't reveal everything and let's you find out stuff yourself (and that works for gameplay mechanics, as well as story elements). And for the record, i learned most about the game by just playing it and trying out things. You can definitely come to the right conclusions yourself if you pay some attention.

[@howielowis458]

Playing my first seleucid campaign right now. My leader right now is the first one i've ever had who has 10 commando stars (without even getting a bonus from attacking or defending). It feels like he can't lose a battle.

[@dustbinslayer]

Lol I was playing for the first time with Android version and I had 10 star general one command one influence within 20 or so rounds lol...and yup he actually recked 2nd 3rd tire units with his basic troops...lol

[@oivanurminen8946]

Oh... I have a Parthia campaign going on, and all this time I could have kept my general close by my infantry/archer line for better moral. I foolishly send him out for a little skirmish while my battle line gets destroyed.. oh well XD

[@Nutty31313]

I'm playing a Parthia campaign, I had a battle where I kept y general near the infantry to help with their crappy morale. Seleucid chariots start flanking me, I move the general away to keep him safe, my entire infantry front line breaks instantly. I still won the battle thanks to horse archers, but lost about 700-800 infantry on huge unit scale. They did not die in vain at least.

[@MachinegunnerMugZ]

Why do you guys even have infantry in your Parthian army?

[@Nutty31313]

@@MachinegunnerMugZ need something to hold units in place while you use your cavalry. Makes micromanaging the horse archers much easier.

[@MachinegunnerMugZ]

@@Nutty31313 Nah, I know how to use infantry. I mean 3 Horse Archer units cost as much as 2 infantry units in upkeep. It is much more efficient to have 9 Horse Archers, even as reinforcements under AI control than 6 Hillmen units that can drop like dead flies in a single battle.

[@Nutty31313]

@@MachinegunnerMugZ You have a point, but still, having just a couple infantry units around helps. Also you need infantry in order to use siege equipment and wall fighting if needed to take a city.

[@PAJ_L2001]

Do academies etc. just give a good entourage or do they also give good traits to a MIGHTY GENERAL.

[@gameer0037]

Could you maybe make a video about the different mercenary units?

[@Gipfegrantler]

Iguess you already found the lugotorix videos... eg kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4mUloF8f7B7j5o

[@Mr.Obongo]

How do you prevent bad traits/retinues?

[@islamispeace1253]

I think it is the army man xD

[@yahyakandemir2175]

Islam is peace good nick

[@user-ox7ob6fm7e]

You are quite wrong. The size of the bodyguard squad depends only on influence. The governor faction leader could have less command stars then the field general, but his bodyguard would be larger because of higher influence. Also there are two more ways to get a new family members. The one way is bribes. Just pay a huge amount of money to an enemy general and he will be yours. Notice that you CAN'T bribe a faction leader and his inheritor. The other way is a "hero of the day" event. You must have an army without a general and win the battle. But there are two more conditions: it has to happen a HEROIC win and the captain's squad have to receive an experience. Of course, captain must survive the battle. Then he will become your new family member.

[@28lobster28]

forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php/45969-On-the-Feeding-and-Breeding-of-Governors-and-Generals - Would highly recommend this thread if you want to go into a bit more detail. There's quite a bit of depth to which buildings you should build (for instance building anything except farms gives a chance to get Poor Farmer, build a farm to get rid of Poor Farmer before it becomes a Loathes Farmers which you cannot come back from, building 6 farms will get you Good Farmer without much trouble, but you'd have to build almost 60 trade buildings for Good Trader so that's only possible with a trade temple). Building something while on very high tax rate (only VH, high doesn't count) gives points towards Good Administrator while building on VH tax with blue face public order (below 80%) gives Good Taxman. Under-taxing your cities when you don't need to and completing a building will give you Bad Taxman. I would also note which temples have bad ancillaries (notably the "temples of fun", i.e. Bacchus) and that you can stack multiple priests by trading ancillaries or swapping the city the general is in. The temples which grant experience to recruited units have good ancillaries, but make your characters more likely to get Anger trait over time. Awesome or greater Temples of Love and Trade increase the chance of Gambling, Girls, and Expensive tastes(large temple or smaller of Love gives no traits); while Trade also gives Good Trader, Deceiver, Cheapskate, and Embezzler at a size of temple or larger. Also note, destroying buildings gives you a chance to get Despoiler (which is a good thing) and Shrines don't give trait points at all (except for the act of building them)

[@roberttaylor3118]

If you get a larger bodyguard size by being faction heir, im gonna mess around with that. Hopefully i can change my faction heir and see if the bodyguard size already increases when i end turn/begin turn. Then ill change it again to see if that general retains his bodyguard size even though hes not faction heir anymore. Hopefully in this way i can game the system and give all of my generals a large bodyguard. Also, can you do a video comparing the generals bodyguards between factions or faction types? For example i know eastern generals have the benefit of throwing javelins, which is an edge over other generals. What else can you say is unique for different general types? Do some types have better base stats, etc?

[@jonathansims525]

Would love to hear more about fort and watch tower strategy. For example, will one weakened unit left in a fort be an effective an effective deterrent if left in say the gap between Spain and France? Or is the fort only useful if you leave a sizable force in it?

[@josue_mejia]

A fort is like a town. The walls can be knock-down, etc. It depends on your units. Phalanxs would be better in a fort than, let's say, Wardogs. But, yeah. A semi-destroyed unit would be more effective in fort than in open space.

[@ors5712]

use fort to breed the plague. send a sick peasant unit to a fort. Then recruit lots of spies. Send them to the fort. Let them get sick then send them to a city where you want to reduce the population. Use with caution though. First, even if one of your settlements has lots of riots due to overpopulation, there are better ways to use those high pops instead of just killing them via the plague. Second, you might accidentally contaminate one of your generals if you don't pay enough attention to track where your sick spies/troops/cities are. Also fyi, you don't need to keep troops on a fort. A spy or a diplomat would stop the fort from completely disappearing the next turn even if you empty it out of your regular troops. I guess the poster dont need these tips anymore but others might still find it useful.

[@Iason29]

10:36 female daughter? :P

[@emrecanarduc4378]

it is 2019 so every thing can happen

[@jacobussmit1453]

Well the game is set in ancient Roman days, back when they had enough sense to know that men and women were different lol

[@josephzanes7334]

Rome needs more MALE daughters!

[@coleschemistrychannel4172]

Joseph Zanes F that, I want a female son!

[@sanguiniusi8187]

O tempora, o mores!

[@josephzanes7334]

Theermyman? Or the army man?

[@YoungSteve17]

Where do you get the information about the game?

[@obduliagonzalez452]

i once had a 7 star general. send him out with the best army to conquer Egypt, guess what happen? the whole army died by a sand ground storm swallow all of the army. WTF!!!!!

[@Zag22]

that can happen? :O I lost a lot of generals to the plague, my faction heir, Oppius Brutus, he was 8 command, 6 managment, 10 influence to the plague when i accidently spread it to 5 cities trying to save him from it, i didn't realise he was the one spreading it.

[@Djawadi90]

Obdulia Gonzalez once i got lots of money but my borders wasnt huge. i was buying nobles from other countries. so that way i was using 20 units of general cavalries. guess whathappened. an eartquake happened and half of my generals died on that eartquake. and i dont know why my retarded son of bitch nobles had no child for 40 years. my family population gone low and i removed game. cause i was siegeing carthage and my people died to earthquake not carthage people. and game calls that "willing of god" f u all Total War developers. joker bastards.

[@KitchenFSink]

@@Zag22 Aahahahahahah

[@sjonnieplayfull5859]

@@Djawadi90 because a general can only have four children. Boy, girl, adopted, alive, dead, just four in total. So all these 'children' you bought took the places of your nobles future children. Also, generals only marry in a city, never in the field. Something with young girls not running around in empty fields with wolves around. Oh, and children are also not born on the march. The wives of your generals like a decent bed without spiders in her hair. You got unlucky. All generals who could have more children died in the Earthquake or were outside the city fighting but not loving. Try again with more generals in cities and good luck.

[@Djawadi90]

sjonnie playfull ty for information

[@josephzanes7334]

Are there any documened videos explaining how to promote certain specific traits - say like Verility? I think I have seen this once or twice in a Family Member, and it should help increase the members birth rate for children, if I am not mistaken. Thanks!

[@louisdemm1758]

Certain Temples promote certain traits. I know for the Julii Ceres promotes Virility.

[@Anaris10]

Hit ~ then when Rome Shell appears, for instance type in give_trait "Aulus Scipio" Fertile 3. Makes the general Prolific.

[@johnirby8847]

@@Anaris10 Virility is Energetic 4

[@philpants44]

You can also gain generals from captains. if they win enough victories on the field.

[@sea_triscuit7980]

I learned this after a legion of mine was ambushed three times in Gaul. I was excited and treated that general differently because he earned his keep not through nepotism haha

[@cobrazax]

forts are auto destroyed if u end the turn and they are empty. the enemy can also capture them

[@ishmelwalker]

Bruhhh the horses are op It be me vs 200 of them and I still win

[@boyar1978]

only the female daughters. what about my male daughters?

[@JD..........]

No talk of Retinu?

[@garretteales1607]

It's only happened twice. But I had an army with no general that won a epic battle. So the captain got promoted to General. Rare indead. But possible

[@ors5712]

Recruit a diplomat and bride some of your enemy generals. If you are playing as one of the roman factions, im not sure if you could bribe them while still allied or you can only do so once you are no longer allies. Romans have the best traits overall, greeks/macedonians/thacians, carthaginians and egyptians next in that order. Also rebel generals depending on where they spawn. Also note when you get a marriage proposal for one of your daughters, try to check their age as they may be young enough to have another chance of getting a proposal if you decide to turn down the offer if the guy has bad traits or just poor stats.

[@mark-tk4tg]

doesnt matter what you do with generals either the game just gives it to you or not. you can exactly what the general was born for and still not gain anything, you could destroy egypt greece with the same general and still wont gain anything. just fight with your favourite family name and try build a dynasty with them and you will sure to get one or two good ones. i had a few 97 and 98 year old generals but if you have an old general you dont use him as he will most likely die if he leaves city in his 80s and 90s.

[@Nutty31313]

98 year old generals?! Oldest I've ever seen anyone get to is mid-late 60s then they die peacefully.

[@mark-tk4tg]

@@Nutty31313 keep playing. You can keep them alive by saving your game each turn. Went to 125+ then the game put my general back to 0 like he reincarnated!.

[@mark-tk4tg]

@@Nutty31313 play with scipio. Rule sicily and capua, sit on those cities as a mess about then you see how old scipio can get.

[@Nutty31313]

@@mark-tk4tg Sounds like an overflow bug, much like the opposite of the infamous Gandhi Civilisation underflow bug resulting in him becoming a warmongering nuke wielding maniac. That or CA entered a system to counter infinitely ageing family members due to any such exploits or bugs.

[@mark-tk4tg]

@@Nutty31313 actually i just refused to let them die as save before i go to next turn, if he dies i go back then he wont die for a few more turns usually. Saving the game is what changes things not a bug.

[@charleythom8031]

What happens if all family members die?

[@Decaynessvonjoey]

Hey bro iam new in this game can you tell me about a war tactics or a video about it

[@Anaris10]

Go to Melkor's channel. He post Rome TW vids all the time.

[@Decaynessvonjoey]

@@Anaris10 ok but the most important in this case the comment is 5 months ago i am now pro in this game and i am playing an new versions like rome 2 and atilla and.. thx for replaying appreciate it ♥

[@CaraVerde]

If you have to choose only task, how do you prefer to use your general (despite of his stats): To lead army, or to govern city? I just wanna know in which task the existence of a leader really matters.

[@siddarajpatil629]

If I have a general who have more management than star then I keep him in a largest city of mine with a 2 star commander for defence . If he have 3 star then for battle field

[@CaraVerde]

@@siddarajpatil629 I've thought of the same. But most of the time, I've conquered cities much quicker than I've produced leaders 🤣. So, I don't have general in charge most of the time

[@siddarajpatil629]

@@CaraVerde I don't keep general in every province . Just keep general in those cities which are huge in other garrison and remove population increasing buildings and keep poplualtion low @1% or max 2% and recruit very much troops from there and there by when you recruit population decrease and so squalor too at last public order can be controlled . I usually recruit peasants and send it to other low pop province

[@CaraVerde]

@@siddarajpatil629 I just don't like micromanage cities too much, so I always left them with governors to get some balance for the bad negatives. Fair to say, I'm more like warmongering than city builder 🤣

[@siddarajpatil629]

@@CaraVerde good bro

[@timsoen1441]

what if your general die because of old age what you do then and there is no new general to replace him

[@BlueMatona]

I actually have no idea, I'll see if I can test it out

[@timsoen1441]

@@BlueMatona did you test it out

[@NinjaSushi2]

ThearMyMan lol The Army Man not thear my man. Lol

[@tommylaramie2442]

Sup

[@annunakim525]

AND WHAT WHERE IS MY MAN OF THE HOUR??? U forgot that

[@Albtraum_TDDC]

A lot of the info in this video is just guessing or incorrect, or at least imprecise.

[@kainwittrig2180]

Elaborate

[@havfun9048]

Female daughter? Wonder where all the male daughters went.

[@Kingiron37]

Mhh pretty generic and unspecific guide, also all the part about how you gain traits from building,agents and treasury is absent. Can’t really be consider a ‘complete guide’

[@kevinbrown6286]

So loud and distinct it’s so gross

[@BrianFace182]

I'm sorry this was too funny but... it's The Army Man, not thear my man lol