Post by pathdoc on Nov 3, 2017 12:28:14 GMT
Inspired by a reply to a Sun Tzu post (and copied directly across)
For the newcomers, Tavern generals are generals who can be bought for a small fee in conquest mode, in cities or ports with a beer mug icon. They cost a certain number of gold and wrenches, plus some medals (which you win in combat).
The upsides:
1) You don't have to spend hundreds of medals to get them
2) You can have as many as you can find in that conquest.
The downsides:
1) They leave your service at the end of the conquest. In effect, they are mercenaries for rent.
2) They cannot be upgraded, and the only Items, nobility and rank they can use are already with them. (These are, after all, mercenaries you scrounged out of a drinking-house.) So if you're trying to get a feeling for how a particular general performs before buying him in the academy, remember that his tavern equivalent may not be completely representative (though of course if you like what you find, the real thing can only get better).
3) Sometimes you get to the tavern to find that the AI has already deployed all those generals and there are none left for you.
4) The better ones are not available until thirty or forty turns into the game (not an issue if you're capturing them; it often takes you that long to get there anyway).
5) The selection you get can be random and sometimes unhelpful, e.g. a naval general spawning in a tavern multiple hexes inland; a cavalry general spawning in a city rather than a stable.
Strategy for selection or refusal:
As above, sometimes a general suited to a particular unit can only be found in a place unsuited to generating that unit (e.g. cavalry general in a tavern in a town, artillery general in a stable). This will mean generating the unit elsewhere and moving it into the place containing the tavern. (Sometimes this is not possible; e.g. Fischer, an admiral, in a tavern dozens of hexes inland.)
If you're grinding for expensive items or powerful generals, you need every medal you can get; it isn't the time to be using lots of tavern generals. (Right now that's me.)
If you're rushing for elite princesses (Isabella to some extent but particularly Lan, Victoria), the better tavern generals won't even be available until you've finished. (Right now that's also me.)
If you're going for your first couple of princesses, you've got at least fifty or sixty turns to finish the game (I think I got Sophia at turn 69); provided the tavern you capture isn't too far from the battle and the generals are good, having one or more of them is MASSIVELY useful.
If you've got all the items you want or need right now, and you either have all the princesses or you're taking a break from rushing, yeah; go for broke. But the clue then lies in what you said - not buying them frivolously. (Unless you want them to try out for fun, but then we have to remember that neither starting generals nor tavern generals can take on items, except the ones they're issued by the AI.) My Kindle Fire HDX, on which I mostly play, has the old 99 turn limit, so it's sometimes difficult for a tavern general to make all his medals back by the end of the game, and that's why I haven't used them much. But on my Android platform I've got 999 turns to play with, and that's a different matter; a good tavern general or two working together with other units can become an effective medal grinder, and you can get your investment back.
If you are working up a grind save (for medals, rank or both), having a few very powerful tavern generals on the scene can be helpful. No, you cannot grind their rank or nobility, but if they hit hard enough they can easily grind medals for you (example: Dobeln on a double machine gun). And since you will be reloading that grind save and using it over and over, the paltry number of medals you spent will not be much trouble to recover.
Original discussion was at: european-war-4.boards.net/thread/31/sun-week-major-easytech-games?page=12#ixzz4xN1CHz00
For the newcomers, Tavern generals are generals who can be bought for a small fee in conquest mode, in cities or ports with a beer mug icon. They cost a certain number of gold and wrenches, plus some medals (which you win in combat).
The upsides:
1) You don't have to spend hundreds of medals to get them
2) You can have as many as you can find in that conquest.
The downsides:
1) They leave your service at the end of the conquest. In effect, they are mercenaries for rent.
2) They cannot be upgraded, and the only Items, nobility and rank they can use are already with them. (These are, after all, mercenaries you scrounged out of a drinking-house.) So if you're trying to get a feeling for how a particular general performs before buying him in the academy, remember that his tavern equivalent may not be completely representative (though of course if you like what you find, the real thing can only get better).
3) Sometimes you get to the tavern to find that the AI has already deployed all those generals and there are none left for you.
4) The better ones are not available until thirty or forty turns into the game (not an issue if you're capturing them; it often takes you that long to get there anyway).
5) The selection you get can be random and sometimes unhelpful, e.g. a naval general spawning in a tavern multiple hexes inland; a cavalry general spawning in a city rather than a stable.
Strategy for selection or refusal:
As above, sometimes a general suited to a particular unit can only be found in a place unsuited to generating that unit (e.g. cavalry general in a tavern in a town, artillery general in a stable). This will mean generating the unit elsewhere and moving it into the place containing the tavern. (Sometimes this is not possible; e.g. Fischer, an admiral, in a tavern dozens of hexes inland.)
If you're grinding for expensive items or powerful generals, you need every medal you can get; it isn't the time to be using lots of tavern generals. (Right now that's me.)
If you're rushing for elite princesses (Isabella to some extent but particularly Lan, Victoria), the better tavern generals won't even be available until you've finished. (Right now that's also me.)
If you're going for your first couple of princesses, you've got at least fifty or sixty turns to finish the game (I think I got Sophia at turn 69); provided the tavern you capture isn't too far from the battle and the generals are good, having one or more of them is MASSIVELY useful.
If you've got all the items you want or need right now, and you either have all the princesses or you're taking a break from rushing, yeah; go for broke. But the clue then lies in what you said - not buying them frivolously. (Unless you want them to try out for fun, but then we have to remember that neither starting generals nor tavern generals can take on items, except the ones they're issued by the AI.) My Kindle Fire HDX, on which I mostly play, has the old 99 turn limit, so it's sometimes difficult for a tavern general to make all his medals back by the end of the game, and that's why I haven't used them much. But on my Android platform I've got 999 turns to play with, and that's a different matter; a good tavern general or two working together with other units can become an effective medal grinder, and you can get your investment back.
If you are working up a grind save (for medals, rank or both), having a few very powerful tavern generals on the scene can be helpful. No, you cannot grind their rank or nobility, but if they hit hard enough they can easily grind medals for you (example: Dobeln on a double machine gun). And since you will be reloading that grind save and using it over and over, the paltry number of medals you spent will not be much trouble to recover.
Original discussion was at: european-war-4.boards.net/thread/31/sun-week-major-easytech-games?page=12#ixzz4xN1CHz00
