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Post by pathdoc on Sept 28, 2017 13:28:26 GMT
Just a light-hearted observation thread, which I will keep updating as I earn refreshes, on who's there and what I think of them. Sort of like Picard's generals guide, but from a less experienced perspective and more or less randomly selected.
On 28 September 2017 at midday, we have:
Tier 1.
1) Emil. One star in infantry and cavalry, three economic stars. Skills: architecture. Price: 300. Useful if you get him as a starter general in a conquest; Architecture is a good skill to have in the early part of a conquest, when you are trying to build your cities up and expand your economy. But his combat skills are lousy (only +5 over regular units without items), and just about any infantry trainer is worth more on the battlefield than him. Not recommended as a purchase. MAYBE recommended as a tavern general if you’ve got the resources and the medals and you’re going to be doing a LOT of upgrading of captured enemy towns etc, and none of your existing generals or princesses have architecture. Princess Fatimah is far more competent in every way.
2) Weyrother. Three stars in infantry, two in cavalry, one economic. Two movement and one re-training star. Skill: Infantry tactics. Price: 545 There are better generals, including Princess Maria (who has more econ stars to boot). A fair infantry general if you get him at the start; not worth recruiting as a tavern general.
3) Bachmann. Two cavalry stars, three retraining stars. Skill: banner. Price: 380. Just no. Save up the extra for Dumouriez, who is four stars out of the gate with focused skills. Useless as a tavern general because you can’t equip those with flags. There are cheaper two-star cavalry generals.
4) Fischer. Three naval stars, two economic, one artillery, one fortress, two movement. Skills: Navy trainer and banner. Price: 505 medals. As a navy trainer he loses out to the much cheaper Elphinstone; as an Admiral he loses out to Princess Kate (same stars, focused skills). Banners are of contentious benefit unless you have cause to group your ships together . As a tavern admiral, however, three stars is not to be sneezed at. Worth it in specific circumstances, but all too often he spawns in a land tavern and then he is worthless.
5) Huarte. Three naval stars, one artillery, two fortress, two movement. Skill: Navigation. Price: 480. He is a better combat admiral than Fischer because he has a focused skill (his ship will move an extra hex, which can sometimes be extremely useful if you’re chasing smaller ships in a battleship or ironclad). But Kate (when you get her) has this as well, and more besides. He may be of use if you can find him in a seaport tavern. Otherwise forget about it.
6) Davidovich. Two infantry stars, two economic stars, one movement star. Skills: Fence. Price: 280. I THINK this guy is the bargain-basement general of them all. Unfortunately his one skill is known to be glitched; you do not actually get a price benefit when the infantry unit he commands builds anti-cavalry fences, you would need to build a lot of them to see any real benefit, and if you are so low on resources that you need this particular skill then frankly you’ve got bigger things to worry about.
Tier 2.
1) Jourdan. Four infantry stars, three artillery, two fortress, two economic, one movement; two retraining. Skills – Ballistic, Explosive, Formation, Disguise. 930 medals or four emblems. Potent enough but very expensive for beginners. Ballistic and Explosive are both artillery focused skills (good), but ballistic is actually of little use (bad). Formation is an infantry focused skill (good; maximal attack of all units +1, which effectively adds another 5, 6 or 7 to your best result). Unfortunately disguise (decreased price of bunker building) is one of the glitched skills. The cheapest infantry trainer (Latour, 410 medals) will raise Maria to his level in infantry at a lower price. As a tavern general, he’s powerful and versatile; put him on a unit where that +1 maximum hit is going to count for something. As a starter general, he’s already going to be assigned to a unit anyway.
2) Calder. Four navy stars, three artillery, two fortress & movement, one economic and retraining. Skills: navigation. Price: 635 medals or three emblems. The same thing can be said for him as for Huarte in naval terms. As an artillery general he has no focused skills. Could be considered as a tavern general in that he is useful whether he spawns on land or water. There are better admirals (Kate plus one naval trainer). What are you doing spending Emblems on this man?
3) Claude. Two infantry stars, one artillery, two fort, three economic, three movement stars. Skills – Economic expert. Price: 535 medals or three emblems. He will make you rich slightly more quickly and he can move fast, but he doesn’t have much fight. If you have him as a starter general, his best place is in a tier 6 or 7 city where he can significantly boost income of that city. If you get him as a tavern general, you’re probably far enough into the game that you don’t need him any more. He is a waste of emblems, and probably of medals as well.
4) Drummond. One infantry, one cavalry and FOUR artillery stars; one movement, three trade, two movement. Skills: Spy and Ballistics. Price: 790 medals or three emblems. Okay, now we’re talking. A four star artillery general with the Spy skill, which gives 1.5x damage when attacking forts and coast artillery? Not bad at all. Out of the gate, he’s better than Sophia. However, there is that cost, and the fact that Ballistics is a skill of dubious value (+1 to minimum attack) whereas Sophia has Siege Master (hits troops in cities harder) and Explosive (+1 maximum attack) as well as Spy. For 820 medals, not much more than Drummond costs, you can make Sophia into someone better all round (by regrouping Kutaisov into her twice). As a starter or tavern general, fantastic. Put him on siege artillery or rockets in US conquests and smash forts with him.
I won’t cover Tier 3 because it requires emblems, lots of emblems. You have to have either almost completed this game (in which case you know more than I do) or are paying through the nose to complete it. The two currently at this level are Barclay and Dombrowski. I have paid money to open up general slots, but that is all the money I’m going to spend on this game. Others have covered these two generals better than I will ever have the hope of doing.
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Post by pathdoc on Sept 29, 2017 21:01:58 GMT
Friday 29th.
Tier 1.
Baggovut - Infantry 3, cavalry 1, artillery 1; skill = transport. 485 medals. You can get better generals for less in all these categories, and the transport skill is good for one shot on the unit he's assigned to. If generals could swap units mid-game, he would be a valuable asset in some circumstances. But they can't, so he isn't. A three-star infantry general isn't completely useless as a starter, but he's probably no better as a tavern general than as a full purchase.
Howe - 2 artillery, 2 econ. Skills disguise and explosive. Explosive is a useful artillery skill; disguise is broken. He's cheap at 395, but Carteaux (who has Engineering, with a +2 movement bonus) is better. As is Sophia, who is the easiest princess to get (for no medals at all). I wouldn't get him as a full purchase or a tavern general.
Graham - 2 inf, 3 arty, 2 econ. Artillery trainer, Infantry tactics, Disguise. 580 medals. There are better artillery generals for less, and the cheapest artillery trainer of all (Kutaisov) wipes the floor with him. Not recommended for anything, unless you get him at the start.
Arrighi - 2 inf, 2 cav. Skill = fireproof. 385 medals. Balanced, I guess, but fairly low end and his skill set isn't geared to either of his star ratings. Fireproof is predominantly a naval skill. At least you know what you're facing if you meet him in the field. Not recommended as full or tavern purchase.
Abercromby - 2 inf, 2 econ. Skills, transport and sailor. 380 medals. The best that can be said about him is that his skills reference each other: he can become seaborne for a discount and can fight on the sea as well as the land. MIGHT be useful as a tavern or starter general if you are hitting the beach a lot, but the Armoured Carrier isn't that much more expensive (if at all) than his full purchase price and can be assigned to any general. Not recommended as full purchase.
Dornberg - 2 inf, 1 fort, 1 econ. Skill, transport. 295 medals so cheap, cheap, cheap... but you get what you pay for and his one skill has already been discussed in great detail.
I found it fascinating how many of the generals in this lineup had the transport skill. If you have a hack version (which I am not condoning) and can have as many generals as you want for peanuts, this might be a good lineup for assaulting the shores of Tripoli (or Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, etc). Otherwise I reckon you can give the whole lot of them the flick (which I will be ready to do after just a few more kills).
Tier 2/3.
Unchanged since yesterday.
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Post by pathdoc on Sept 30, 2017 14:43:17 GMT
Today's "Who is in my Academy?" features my Samsung tablet, as opposed to the Kindle Fire HDX I normally play on, and because I had a few refreshes up my sleeve you get a double dose of Tier 1 goodness (or should that be Tear 1, because the incompetence of these guys makes you want to cry when you see noobs buy them - or when you become somewhat less noobish and realise how many medals you wasted on talentless hacks).
So anyway, here we go.
Refresh #1
Arrighi - We have dealt with him before. See above.
Milinovic - 385 medals, 2 arty, 2 econ, sailor. A cheap artillery general if that's what you're looking for, but he also has two economic stars which add to his value. His one skill is Sailor, so at least he can hit on the water as hard as he does on land (which isn't much). Not for purchase, maybe consider as a tavern general if it's all you've got early in the game and moving artillery to the tavern isn't an issue. But that's only if you'll be crossing water and attacking enemies onshore. Worth considering if your conquest involves attacking Africa, the Italian peninsula or the islands to its west. Otherwise forget him.
Amadeo III. 300 medeals, 1 inf, 1 cav, 2 fort, 3 econ. Skills are architecture and nobleman. If you buy him, he'll gain nobility faster, but buying him is not advisable. On the other hand, he is the starter general for Sardinia in at least one conquest, and here his Architecture skill makes him useful. The only way he can survive against Napoleon's depredations is by fleeing to mainland Europe and stealing/updating cities in his path, and because of his low start resources this quickly becomes a huge asset when having to upgrade on the cheap. If you're playing a long conquest for the fun of it, he might be well worth it as a tavern general (if you can find him).
Kruse - 350 medals, 2 inf, 1 cav. His only skill is Trench, which the experts on this board say is broken (and experiment on my part suggests this is true). You can do better.
Heinrich XV - 390 medals, 2 inf, 2 cav, 1 econ. His skill is disguise, another broken one. Are the forty extra medals worth the cav star? The magic eight ball says no. At least he's useful in the tavern regardless of whether infantry or cavalry occupies the town, but those playing longer, non-rushing conquests can wait for better.
Jerome - 335 medals, 1 inf, 1 fort, 3 econ. Business trainer, and economic expert. You buy this one to regroup him into someone like Maria or Isabella, and make her a better trader in campaign shops. But although he can trade, he can't fight - Princess Fatimah is similar in this regard, but Fatimah is actually stronger in the field and has Architecture skill to boot. Jerome is EXTREMELY useful as the cheapest business trainer, but unless you have plenty of slots and like playing small nations which badly need a start-up advantage he's not worth keeping around for very long.
If you can find him as a tavern general toward the start of a non-rushing conquest (e.g. a medal grind on a 999-turn platform where you're turning out a lot of units), he's a very good choice and will probably pay for himself before too long.
REFRESH #2.
Hull - 595 medals, 4 inf, 2 ec. Trench and Infantry formation. Trench is broken, infantry formation IIRC increases maximum hit by one. Opinion is divided on the usefulness of pure infantry generals; if you play a lot of campaign, such a one can come in handy and four stars is nothing to sneeze at even without directed skills. A possibility for the player with lots of medals (e.g. a deep pocket or a love of grinding). An excellent choice as a tavern general, unless you can find someone like Dobeln (five stars, mass fire) or another 4-star with skills like mass fire, assault or defence art.
Quosdanovih - 475 medals, 3 cav. Cavalry trainer. A little bit cheaper than Dumouriez, but Dumouriez with 4 stars has extra cavalry-related skill (surprise) and makes a better long-term prospect as a combat cavalryman before you regroup him. If you're going to get a cheap cav trainer, there are cheaper. Buy Dumouriez and you will be happier for longer. As a three-star cav general he would not be an unreasonable tavern choice, but a three-star cavalryman with directed skills would be preferable.
Graham - 580 medals, 2 inf, 3 arty, 2 econ. He has infantry tactics (not a useful skill), disguise (a broken skill) and is an artillery trainer. There are cheaper artillery trainers and better artillerymen for less, and his broken and useless skills are not geared towards his strongest suit (artillery). As a tavern general, his only useful skill (trainer) is not accessible; look for someone better.
Vandamme - 345 medals, 2 cav. Trench, transport, logistics. He can buy a ship for cheap and he can keep his men alive and fighting when the food runs out. If you are a glutton for punishment and like playing small countries all the time for kicks, he's arguably not a bad choice; given how often you are likely to risk starvation, having troops who can keep on fighting when the cupboard is bare is a major asset for these nations. A very situational recommendation.
Nunziante - 360 medals, 2 inf, 1 econ. The infantry companion to Vandamme, he has transport and logistics like Vandamme but the economy star costs you 15 medals more. He is the generalissimo for Naples and comes free for players who take on that nation, and in these circumstances his skill set is useful. If you find yourself fleeing before a Franco-Italian onslaught, you can take comfort in the fact that your escape is cheap and you are immune from starvation when the French finish occupying your lands.
Carteaux - 460 medals, 3 arty, 1 fort, 1 econ. Skills are siege master and engineering. He is a good choice as a first artillery general if you don't yet have Sophia. Kutaisov is a little more powerful, but the problem with Kutaisov is that as an artillery trainer he constantly tempts you to regroup him. Siege master gives you a bonus against troops in cities, while engineering gives you a +2 movement advantage (equivalent to the Horse Artillery item). His skills are both useful and focused on his specialty; he is well worth having.
And here I must disclose the fact that I own Carteaux on the Kindle platform and was actively looking for him on my Android tablet. So my plan to give you a triple treat today has had to take a back seat until I've ground out enough medals to buy him. Tomorrow's session will feature the Kindle once more.
I should mention that this isn't a one-man show. Comment is welcome, especially if you've bought a particular general and can share anecdotes about his usefulness (or otherwise).
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 1, 2017 13:17:11 GMT
1 October 2017.
First Refresh:
Buxhoeveden - 530 medals. 3 inf, 2 econ. Skill: formation. A one-skill infantry general. Useful enough as a tavern general early in a game, but better ones come later if you're playing a long conquest and I think better can be had for full purchase.
Bachmann - 380 medals, 2 cav. He has three training stars, increasing his survivability, but his only skill is Banner and flags are held by many to be of dubious value. You can do better in live purchase (and Sakurako is his equal, with even more skills), while his Banner skill cannot be used as a tavern general (you cannot equip them with items). Unless the tavern hands you to him with some useful item, he's pointless.
Kahia - 355 medals. The great! The powerful! The... Actually he has two inf and one cav star. His two skills are transport (which we have discussed at length) and fence (which is broken). If you play Indians in the American conquests, you will get him as a starter general. If the AI has its act in order and you don't, he will shortly be finished. Leave well enough alone.
Mercer - 405 medals. 2 cav and 2 art, 1 econ. His only skill is disguise, which is broken. Not recommended.
Klenmayer - also 405 medals. For this you get a three-star cavalry general. His skill, unfortunately, is fireproof - which is heavily weighted toward naval battle, though it can occasionally help on land if you're attacking a lot of artillery units (or defending towns against them) and thereby getting set on fire a lot. Certainly a better deal than Mercer for a tavern or starter general, but there are better generals to spend your medals on in the shop.
Milinovic we have dealt with before.
REFRESH gives us:
Chasse - 430 medals, 2 inf 1 cav 2 econ. Skill, formation. Kruse has as many infantry stars and is cheaper. Is this worth the +1 maximum infantry bonus that comes with Chasse's higher price? That's 7 hit points. If you're not an obsessive save-load junkie, the answer could well be no.
Zakrevsky - 455 medals. 3 inf. Infantry trainer (if you want such a thing; Victoria and possibly Sakurako say yes). Mass fire. Here's one who's worth buying and keeping, because the mass fire skill on an infantry trainer is worth the snare drum. Which means you can carry two attack items. The difficulty lies in finding an infantry trainer cheaper enough to boost him up. That's Latour, who has the same three stars BUT does not have Mass Fire. 820 medals will boost Zakrevsky to five infantry stars, in addition to the 455 it cost to buy him, but if that's what you want then it's cheaper to buy the very expensive Dobeln. So he's value for money if you have the slots and want to play with him a bit before you regroup him into Victoria or Sakurako. As a tavern general, mass fire makes him a very useful asset if you can get him early in game and at a low price, and if Dobeln or Lusignan are not present.
Vandamme - 345 medals gets you a 2-star cavalry general, but his skills are trench, transport and logistics. Now we have already talked about the transport/logistics combination, but even if trench were not broken it would be a poor skill for him - he has no infantry stars, and trench (if it worked) is restricted to infantry units. At least if you get him as a tavern or starter general, you know he will never starve.
Blasius - 560 medals. 3 infantry, 2 fort, 1 econ. He has spy and formation. Spy gives you a huge bonus in attacking forts, and formation gives +1 to the maximum infantry attack, and that makes him a focused and balanced general. Blasius is therefore happiest when commanding double or triple Grenadiers or Guards against forts or coast artillery. Consider whether this matches the sort of game you like to play when you are deciding to buy him. Certainly as a start or tavern general he would be of outstanding value, especially later in a non-rushing conquest when the enemy is spamming basic forts.
Davidovich - We have dealt with this el cheapo bargain basement general before. Not recommmended.
Wrede - 565 medals, 3 inf, 1 art, 1 econ. His skills are formation and banner. Blasius is five medals cheaper and has an extra (and very potent) skill which benefits infantry. So Wrede is not worth buying up front, and as a tavern general he also loses to Blasius because tavern generals cannot be equipped with those (rather expensive) flags.
REFRESH.
Zebulon - 355 medals, 2 inf, 1 cav, 1 fort, 1 econ. Skill is trench (broken). You have better things to spend your money on. He is a sharp-dressed man, but it is well known that the gloriousness of a uniform in 18-19th century warfare is often directly proportional to the wearer's incompetence.
Cronstedt - 475 medals, 3 navy, 2 artillery. Skills are sailor and banner. We've talked about banner before. Sailor only benefits him when on artillery. If you have him as a starter general, he will almost certainly already be on a ship. If you have him as a tavern general, you can put him on either if you navalise an artillery unit. Circumstances will dictate your approach. Players with only four slots are cautioned to avoid him as an outright purchase - you either need specialists or very powerful (Tier 2) generalists.
Galvez - 490 medals, 3 inf 1 cav, 2 econ, transport and trench. We have discussed all this before. He is very bad value when compared to other generals with more useful skills and the same stars. Avoid him.
Brueys - 515 medals. 4 navy, 1 fort. Skills navigation and transport. Navigation is an outstanding skill; it gives you an extra hex of movement on water, where the rules are different from land. Transport is a wasted skill as he has no land unit stars. If you want a powerful admiral while you wait for Victoria, he may be your man. His naval-directed skills and stars are the same as those of Calder at Tier 2, who is over a hundred medals more expensive. Excellent value if you feel an admiral is necessary for your gameplay, so a situational recommendation. As a tavern admiral, of course, he is definitely worthwhile.
Ferdinando I - 260 medals. 1 inf, 2 fort, 2 econ. Fort trainer and nobleman. If you believe in tying a good general down to a fortress, Ferdinando is good value. Otherwise he is not, because his two strongest suits - fortress and economy - require him to be in mutually exclusive places. If he were a trainer in anything else, he would be outstanding value. Not to be bothered with. (IIRC from reading around, there are a very limited number of campaign scenarios where a fortress must be defended to the death; otherwise, generals belong in the field. I've said it before and will say it again - if generals could be reassigned in game, or could enter fortresses with their units, fort training would be valuable. BUT this is not so, so Ferdinando must languish in the Academy.)
Latour - 410 medals. 3 infantry stars, 1 econ. Infantry trainer. He is the cheapest infantry trainer, which is why Sakurako and Victoria both want him (and if you already have both, Victoria should get him first). He has no other focused skills, which means regrouping him is not a moral struggle. If your slots are limited, buy him to regroup him. In the tavern, he is no better than any other three star infantry general and cannot be regrouped. As a starter, he will lose out to enemy generals who have infantry-focused skills. A one-trick pony with one very useful trait for selected circumstances.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 3, 2017 15:11:16 GMT
3 October 2017. I have three refreshes, but you're only getting the first because it has a general I want and I don't quite have enough medals for right this instant.
Dobrnjac - 305 medals, 2 inf, 1 econ, trench. His one skill is broken, and you can do better in both academy and tavern. Let him go.
Rosenberg - 345 medals, 1 inf, 2 cav, 1 fort, 1 econ. Skill: fence. Even if the fence skill worked, his strong suit is in a unit type that can't build them. For this reason he is an even worse buy than Dobrnjac.
Kutaisov (not to be confused with Kutuzov) - 430 medals. 3 artillery, 1 fort. Skills are artillery trainer (the cheapest, IIRC), siege master (cancels out the firing penalty of artillery against troops in cities and other buildings) and explosive (increase max attack by 1). He is an all-round good deal, whether you choose to regroup him immediately into an artillery princess (Sophia or Isabella) or put him in the field as a fighting general (which is not a bad thing to do while you are playing for Sophia). Slightly slower than Carteaux as Carteaux has the engineering +2 movement skill, but his ability to be regrouped when you have both Sophia and Isabella and have grown beyond your need for him gives him extra utility. A good deal, whether as a buy, a tavern or a starting general. The only downside is that his balanced skills and qualities as a fighter might make you reluctant to regroup him, especially if you've paid to open lots of slots. I very recently got Isabella, so Kutaisov will be joining me after a short grind.
Janssens - 330 medals. 2 infantry, 1 navy, 1 econ. Skills, Trench and Steersman. He has few skills (bad), but the ones he has match his stars (good). However, one of those skills, trench, is broken (bad). Steersman reduces the damage you take in battle, which makes him useful, but the cost to train him up to any real level of strength is more than he's worth - you can buy a more competent admiral out of the box, while Princess Kate has all his skills and more. If you find him as a tavern admiral in a seaport and he comes equipped with a naval attack, defence or movement item straight out of the tavern, he might be worth having.
Wurmb - 360 medals, 2 inf, 1 cav, 1 fort, 2 econ stars. Skills: nobleman. If you buy him, you can boost his nobility quicker. But he has no other skills, so he's not worth keeping for the long term. He will most often be found as a starter general in Hessen in the American conquests.
Blasius - 560 medals. 3 inf, 2 fort, 1 econ, Spy and Formation. We've seen him before.
Further to follow once my grind to buy Kutaisov and regroup him into Isabella is complete. I'm only about 40 medals short, so it won't take much time.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 4, 2017 15:31:09 GMT
Today we have:
Georg: 365 medals, 1 inf, 2 cav, 2 econ. Skills, disguise and trench. Aah, if only they worked, which they don't. And again, we have the strongest stars in a category (cavalry) that cannot dig field fortifications, even if the skill functioned as intended. As an infantry commander he is no better than Ferdinando I, a hundred medals cheaper. As a cavalry commander, the slightly cheaper Vamdamme is his equal with the added benefit of being immune from starvation. Give him a very wide miss.
Blasius: 560 medals. See above.
Balabio: 510 medals. 3 cav, 1 artillery, 1 econ. His skills are logistics and fence. One of these is only useful in the direst of circumstances and the other is broken. There are better three-star Cavalry generals. If you get him as a starter general, you at least know he'll never go hungry.
Lechi: 320 medals. 2 inf, 1 econ. Transport and trench. He can get on board a ship for cheap and he can... wait, he can't; that skill is broken. Dobrnjac is cheaper, and Dobrnjac is not worth his medals, so neither is Lechi.
Frederick: 450 medals. 2 inf, 4 trade stars. Economic expert, banner, logistics and nobleman. Just look at those trade stars! If you do lots of buying in campaign shops, he is one to have. With Logistics, he can't starve; with Nobleman, you can grind his nobility up faster. With banner... well, that depends on how useful you think these are. He will give you much more money per turn if parked in a high level city, but that's half the problem - if he's in a city he can't fight (not that he fights particularly hard), and if he's out fighting, his economic abilities are turned off. If you are playing for fun, and looking to specialise in small nations that can get six generals in conquest mode, he is the ideal companion to Amadeo III. The two between them can earn $$$ and renovate for cheap, while the four fighting generals take the field and capture cities for these two to work with. But once you get Fatimah, she has both skills and is a marginally better fighter (and she's free). He's good for a particular style of play, and for a player who just wants to puddle along in conquest mode with no specific goals and (depending on platform) an essentially indefinite time limit.
It goes without saying that if you are playing a longer conquest (not princess-rushing) and you get him as a starter or tavern general, he's a HUGE asset. You can't use the trade stars in a conquest, but you can in a campaign mission if you have him as a starter/purchase. Get him into a shop at all costs and let him loose with your wallet. When you've got the item you want, restart the game and play it for the win. I actually have him on my Android platform; I decided to give him a go for the hell of it. He really is for the slow, methodical grand-strategic thinker playing the long game, which is probably a good thing to do in between princess rushes.
Baggovut: we have seen him before.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 5, 2017 15:07:23 GMT
5 October, we have:
Schwerin: 295 medals. 1 inf, 1 cav, 3 econ. Logistics and nobleman. He can't starve, his nobility (damage recovery) improves faster with grinding, and he's dirt cheap. For the player who's done it all and has switched to playing small nations and running an army on a shoestring budget, he's actually not a bad choice (those econ stars will serve you well if you take him on campaign). However, his very low stars mean that until you get some items to increase your firepower and grind his rank and nobility up pretty heavily, he's not much better in combat than a regular unit. If you're the sort of person who derives a perverse pleasure from grinding medals, rank and nobility and you like small nations with limited resources, having a set of generals with 150/10 stats who can't starve is... well, it might not actually be a bad thing.
Alten: 285 medals. The second bargain-basement general in this refresh. 2 inf, 1 cav, 1 econ. Cheaper than Schwerin, but his only skill is transport (he gets a half-price boat ticket once per game). For this reason, he's not a good choice for that shoestring-budget, small-nations player who likes to spend a hundred turns hanging on by their fingernails until they can steal enough cities & farms to build a resource base and an army.
Hull: we have seen him before.
Senyavin: 315 medals, 2 naval, 2 fort, 1 econ. Skill: fort trainer. If you come across him and Ferdinando I in the same refresh, you can train your generals or princesses in forts quickly and cheaply. But why would you want to do that? Not many reasons, as we have already discussed. Senyavin is a starter general (admiral, rather) in a ship for the Russians in America 1812, so go check him out there. Otherwise I would leave him well alone unless I needed a cheap two-star admiral really badly.
Konopka: 310 medals, 2 cav. Skills: trench (which is broken). Aah, my shame. Konopka was my first ever general, and I vaguely remember that the game serves you one at the very beginning; I certainly don't remember buying him. Anyway, I spent medals to boost Konopka's rank and nobility because I wanted to see how the game mechanics worked. My advice to you is not to repeat my mistake. If he's offered to you then yeah, take him and use him for what he is, a two-star cavalry general with no specific skills.
Murad: 395 medals. 2 inf, 2 cav, 1 econ. Skill: transport. The fairest thing to say about him is that he combines the command skills of Alten and Konopka for a price less than the two of them put together. But he has none of the quirky logistical skills that make some low-tier generals useful for small-nation play.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 5, 2017 20:36:58 GMT
5 October, second refresh:
Karamanli: 255 medals, 1 inf 1 naval, skill = disguise (broken). He's cheap for a reason.
Elphinstone: 310 medals. 1 art, 2 naval, 1 fort. A low level admiral, but valuable for his navy trainer skill. Buy and regroup him immediately; unlike Kutaisov, for example, he has no other redeeming features that would tempt you to keep him around. If you have lots of slots, buy him for Kate and keep her. If you're playing free all the way, you may want to save it until you have Victoria (see and search elsewhere for discussions on four and six-plus slot lineups and how to play them).
Caradja: 245 medals, 1 inf, 2 econ. Skill: disguise. He needs one because his lack of skills and stars is embarrassing. Do not be tempted by his dirt-cheap price, because the infantry trainers you need to boost him up are all more expensive than he is and much better in every way.
Bachmann: we have seen him before.
Latour: 410 medals, 3 infantry stars, 1 econ. Infantry trainer; the cheapest of these. It's what you buy him for.
Bylandt: 375 medals. 2 infantry, 2 econ. Skills: Architecture. A somewhat stronger version of the warrior-architects we have seen thus far. If you have succeeded in unlocking Fatimah, he is unnecessary. If you haven't yet, you need to decide if that extra infantry star is worth 75 medals over Emil and Amadeo III. If you get him as a starter or tavern general in a non-rushing game, he's best put to use in the cheap upgrading of cities you either own or have captured.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 6, 2017 15:34:37 GMT
Friday 6 October:
Melas: 435 medals buys you 3 cav, 1 inf, 1 econ and war expert. This skill increases rank progression, but does not make you hit harder. (See also the items On War and Art of War, which have the same effect.) For an extra 40 medals you can get Quosdanovih, who also lacks particular strengths but can strengthen cavalry princesses when regrouped into them. As a tavern general he's probably worthwhile. As a purchase, you are advised to save up a little longer and get something a little better.
Andrade: 370 medals buys you a 1 inf 1 cav general with FOUR skills. The trouble is, only one of them (transport) actually works, and that to minimal effect, whereas all the other three (disguise, trench, fence) are broken. This makes him not worth the price. To put it in perspective, Schwerin, 75 medals cheaper, fights as hard and cannot starve.
Amadeo III: we have seen him before.
Diez: 540 medals gets you a three-star cavalry general. His skill is Move Trainer - he adds movement stars to the generals and princesses he's regrouped into, and three of these are worth an extra hex movement with Warhorse item or Geography skills. He is, to use the unavoidable pun, a one-trick pony. Buy him, regroup him. He is the cheapest move trainer (movement is expensive in this game).
Ballesteros: 495 medals gets you a 3 inf, 2cav 1 econ commander with the skill Trench. Which is broken. Latour is a better buy for infantry (and can be regrouped to Victoria or Sakurako) and there are cheaper cavalry generals who are strong. Put him aside. As a tavern or starter general on infantry, he's not at all bad.
Kozietulski: 500 medals gets you three stars of cavalry with War Expert. Spend 65 medals less and you get Melas, with exactly the same skills. Kozietulski has more movement stars, but it's really not worth it. He is neither a long term keeper nor a possessor of interesting and useful skills that benefit anyone other than him.
I will busily (intermittently) be grinding my afternoon away, so you may get another refresh before bedtime tonight.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 6, 2017 23:15:26 GMT
Refresh #2:
Junot: 425 medals, 3 cav stars, Strike. He only has one skill but it's very suited to his stars, and a cheaper 3-star cav general does not come to mind. Strike makes him more powerful in mountainous terrain, which is where a lot of the princess-rushing is normally done (Ottoman Empire). However, cavalry is more or less at the core of the game if you're going to run for princesses, and then it's probably better to hold out for someone like Dumouriez, with regrouping capability.
Bachmann: we have seen him before.
Davidovich: we have seen him before.
Silveira: 290 medals. 2 inf, 1 navy. Skill is transport, in common with many of the cut-price generals. It's not enough.
L'Estocq: 555 medals. 3 cav stars, 2 econ. Skills are Fence and Mobility. Fence makes no sense for a cavalry general (his units can't build them) even if it worked, and Mobility IIRC adds one to your minimum attack, of negligible value. With cheaper and more useful cavalry generals, you have to say no.
Alten: we have seen him before.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 9, 2017 17:41:15 GMT
Today we have:
Bouvet: 440 medals. 1 artillery, 2 navy, 2 fort. Skill: explosive. This is a useful skill in and of itself, but I don't know how much it applies to fortress play (I assume the ones with cannons benefit). If it doesn't, his only skill is in his weakest suit. Unless you already have significant hit items (e.g. 2 x 4+ or 6+ powder), he is not that much better than no artillery general at all, and in Navy he is two stars with no directed skills. Avoid as a full purchase.
Davidovich: We have met him before.
Kutaisov: The cheapest artillery trainer, and competent in his own right with balanced and directed skills. We have met him before also. If Bouvet had Kutaisov's Siege Master skill, he might be worth his medals. Kutaisov is a good choice of an artillery general to get before you get Sophia; the other is Carteaux.
Kozietulski: we have met him before.
Brueys: We have met him before.
Franquemont: 420 medals with 2 inf, 1 cav. A ridiculously high price for such a unit; his skills are banner (contentious usefulness and the items to make use of it will buy you better generals), mobility (a flawed skill) and sailor (he fights as well at sea as on land, but that isn't much).
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 12, 2017 14:58:47 GMT
Today we have:
Klenmayer: 405 medals. 3 cav, fireproof. Unless you're using him to attack forts and artillery primarily, his one skill doesn't match his cavalry specialty. If he were a three-star NAVY general with fireproof, he might be worth having.
Agha: 375 medals. 2 cav, Cavalry trainer. Let me put it quite bluntly: Cavalry trainer is the reason you buy him. Unlike Kutaisov, who is an artillery general with strong balanced skills, Agha has no such things. Buy him; regroup him into a cavalry general like Lan or Sakurako, or a Tier 2 cavalry general you're trying to get up to four or five stars. I regrouped him into Dumouriez, himself a cavalry trainer, but Dumouriez has an extra skill and starts out with four stars.
Vandamme: We have seen him before.
Georg: we have seen him before.
Cisneros: 465 medals. 3 navy, 1 art, 1 fort. Skills: disguise and architecture. A complete mismatch. He is overwhelmingly a naval general and he has skills which are best together on an infantry general (even if disguise worked, which it doesn't). If you start with him, he's a three-star navy general with no enhancements. If you need an admiral in late game to take out residual enemies inferior to him, he might do. Take my advice; buy Carteaux as your artillerist for the same price and, with Dumouriez, use him to run for Kate in America 1775 or 1812.
Bachmann: we have seen him before.
"Who is in my Academy today?" will return after I grind enough medals to buy Agha for Sakurako.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 13, 2017 15:30:31 GMT
On Friday 13th, we have:
Blasius: we have dealt with him before.
Kruse: likewise.
Graham: likewise
Slimane: 350 medals, 2 infantry, 1 naval, 1 fort, Siege Master. This skill negates the damage-evasion penalties for enemy units in cities, etc. It is most effective on an artillery unit (which can hit from a distance) or a cavalry unit which starts the move adjacent to the city and can move in immediately after destroying the defender. As an infantry skill it is not as ideal, but if you are trying to flank your opponent it is still better than no skill at all. Slimane has one naval star and can technically shell coastal cities from a distance, but I have not myself used it in this capacity. If you have him as a starter general, he is almost certainly going to be on an infantry unit. I think the chances of getting him as a tavern general are remote, and he's not worth having for that one skill alone.
Andrade: 370 medals, 1 inf, 1 cav, disguise, transport, trench and fence. I think we've dealt with him before but it bears repeating: three of his skills are broken in-game and don't work, and the other benefits him only, once in the game. If his skills worked, he would be an ideal combat engineer, laying down fortifications at reduced price for his allies. But they don't, so he isn't. If a patch ever fixes these skills, he might be worth a go for those players who like a long grinding conquest for fun.
Ferdinand: 445 medals. 3 inf, 1 cav, 2 econ. Infantry tactics. Not a worthwhile skill, and there are equal or better generals available for less (e.g. Latour, who can be regrouped into another infantryman when the time comes).
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 15, 2017 13:58:52 GMT
On Sunday October 15 we have:
Fischer: we have seen him before. Expensive for a Navy trainer (buy Elphinstone if you want that), and not as good as some other Admirals.
August I: 340 medals, 1 inf, 1 art, 3 econd. Business trainer, Architecture, Nobleman. An inexpensive business trainer, but not much of a general. You get him as a starter in HRE 1798 conquests, where he has the rather difficult task of taking on the high-level French starter generals near the Franco-Imperial border. If he survives this task, and the taking of Paris, he is worthwhile taking around with you to occupy and upgrade cities you have conquered. The Nobleman skill is only useful if you're buying him outright, which isn't recommended.
Vecsey: 410 medals. 1 inf, 2 cav, 1 art, 1 econ. Skill: Mobility (raises cavalry minimum attack by one). He comes with rank 10, nobility 0 (I should start putting these in, shouldn't I?). His one skill doesn't accomplish much on the face of it, because the low hit value doesn't get multipliers. However, consider that what it does do is slightly constrain the range of random numbers from which the computer can choose to calculate your output (it rolls twice, takes the average rounded down to a whole number and multiplies by 5, 6 or 7 depending on the size of your formation). Statistically it lifts your average output and makes it more consistent, but you have to be a hell of a save-load junkie to get any benefit out of it.
Zakrevsky: 455 medals, 3 inf, 1 art, Infantry trainer, Mass fire. If you are rushing for princesses and have an enthusiasm for infantry, he may be worth it. He is not the cheapest infantry trainer (that's Latour, at 410 medals with the same inf stars), but Mass Fire ensures that he hits as hard just before dying as he does at full health. When you grow out of him, regroup him into a better, stronger infantry general with more infantry skills and your investment has not been wasted. A boon if you can get him in a tavern; mass-fire infantry generals are precious. Comes with 25 extra health for his unit and a nobility of 1 (which is how much health he auto-regenerates).
Baggovut: we have dealt with him before. Comes with 25 extra health for his unit and no nobility.
Sokolnicki: 590 medals, 1 cav, 2 art, 1 fort, 2 econ. Engineering, Accurate. 25 health on board, 0 nobility. His skills are balanced for an artillerist, which is what his dominant stars are. This is good. The conflict is with his stars and his intended usage versus his substantial cost for a Tier 1 general. Accurate is of great use in the field; Engineering gives +2 movement, which with his +1 movement star gives effectively an extra hex on flat ground. But Carteaux, who is over 100 medals cheaper, has Siege Master and Engineering.
Are you going to fight in the fields or in the towns?
Are the 130 extra medals worth it?
He's Isabela-lite, but making him equal to Isabela requires a 400-plus medal artillery trainer and several hundred more medals for War Horse (at least you can share the latter with other generals). Perhaps he's worth it if you like playing as Italy or Switzerland and spend a lot of time fighting in the Alps, but once you have Isabela his usefulness is at an end, as are all the resources you might have spent on him.
Potentially a good choice as a tavern general, given certain theatres of war, and if you start out with him you now know what he's best at and where to use him most efficiently.
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Post by pathdoc on Oct 18, 2017 21:34:06 GMT
As a result of some pretty heavy grinding to boost Sakurako up, I had two academy refreshes. I spent one of them on Tier 1 and found myself with Diez, who I want to get for a movement star (either to give Sakurako her fifth or Isabella her third). So I spent the other one on Tier 2, and will be analysing that for a while until I can buy Diez.
First we have Nenadovic, 620 medals or three emblems. Two infantry stars, two fortress. He's not much of a combat general. However, he does have five economy stars and is a business trainer and economic expert. If you're the sort to use lots and lots of items, especially the expensive ones such as flags, On War, Napoleonic Code, etc., and you are both willing and able to fight through campaigns to get them, he might potentially pay for himself. Then you can regroup him into a three-econ-star keeper like Isabella when you are short on slots and boost her up. He comes with 28HP for the unit you put him on, plus a nobility of One.
In short, he has just enough power to keep himself out of trouble while he trades for you, but not enough to be a serious fighting general in higher level campaigns. I give him bonus points for his skills being balanced to his stars, subtracting points for his combat power being less than wonderful (by way of contrast, Sakurako is no better an infantry general out of the box but Sakurako has Bugle, which is an infantry fighting skill).
EDITED TO ADD: If you are just starting this game, or you are restarting it, he is potentially one to buy first for the savings on all the juicy items. The downside is that one or more princesses will have to wait in their antechambers in order to keep him in his slot. If you can fight your way through multiple campaigns without them, while you accumulate items, he is definitely worth having even for a four-slot player and he may yet save you his purchase price and then some.
Clinton: 715 medals or 3 emblems. 3 inf, 2 cav, 2 fort, 2 econ,1 movement, 1 training. Skills: Infantry tactics (+1 minimum hit, IIRC) and Transport (one-shot cheap sailboat). His one combat skill favours only one of his star categories (fortunately his strongest), and that one combat skill is of dubious value unless you are a stats and save-load junkie. Zakrevsky, who is cheaper, has a combat skill that is far more valuable as an infantryman (mass fire; no Snare Drum needed), and can be regrouped as a trainer to boot. Clinton is not worth his medals. Beware his cigar, and do not be his intern. He comes with 28 health points and 1 nobility.
Raevsky: 895 medals or 4 emblems. 3 infantry, 3 cavalry, 1 art, 4 movement, 2 training. Skills are Fence (broken), Surprise (+1 max cavalry attack), Move trainer (but there are cheaper options for that), and Defence Art. The latter is extremely valuable as it enables you to dish out damage without having to take it (you take 1 HP hit, which is nothing compared to his full health). If you are doing something courageously stupid like attacking Napoleon on heavy artillery when he is at full health, something like this is a necessity. Bear in mind, however, that getting it to trigger in both your turn and that of the AI is something like a one in one hundred chance (10% on each phase), so I hope your patience levels for save-load are pretty high. Comes with 36 health and +2 nobility out of the box.
You pay a steep price for him compared to the other generals in this Refresh, and Defence Art is probably why.
Gouvion: 685 medals or 3 emblems. 2 inf, 4 cav, 1 art, 1 fort, 1 movt., 2 training. His combat skill is surprise (+1 maximum hit). He also has Fence, but as you will likely not be putting him on infantry except in desperation, he will never use this skill (which is just as well, because it does not work). As a starting or tavern cavalry general, he is more than capable. As a fully bought cavalry general... well, Dumouriez is his equal and is also much cheaper. Capable, but not worth the price you pay.
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