Generals and admirals are used to command armies and fleets in battle. Their attributes influence the effectiveness with which their army or fleet fights, including their morale. They can acquire skills, character traits, and household members or objects that affect their performance as they gain experience in battle and increase in rank, as well as cursus honorum offices to convey additional bonuses. Use the drop-down menu on the right for further information or to navigate to a different part of this manual.
Agents are single characters who are used to commit acts of espionage on the campaign map. They are able to act upon enemy armies or buildings but cannot go inside them, so always remain visible and easy to locate. It is possible for your own agents to enter your forces and settlements up to a maximum of three agents per force or settlement. When agents are embedded inside settlements, the effects provided by their presence gradually diminish - so a second agent provides a further 50% of the effects of the first, and a third provides a further 25%. Before carrying out an ordered action a prompt will appear, requiring confirmation. Every agent action has a monetary cost associated with it, which is stated on its panel.
There are three statistics by which the effectiveness of all characters can be measured. They are represented by numbers that can be increased or decreased by the acquisition of skills, traits or household members and objects:
Authority is a measure of the strength of a character’s personality. It is the ability to get things done in their particular field, and also resist authoritarian agent actions. For agents, high authority reduces the cost of their actions; for generals, it increases their radius of influence and unlocks the "commander" set of abilities.
Cunning is a character’s understanding of their role and their capacity to carry it out. It is the ability to use strategy, tactics, techniques and tricks to achieve their ends, and also resist cunning agent actions. For agents, high cunning increases their line of sight on the campaign map; for generals, it reduces the cooling down time before their armies' abilities can be used again and unlocks the "strategist" set of abilities.
Zeal is a character’s resolve to achieve hostile aims. It is the ability to focus and put effort into the task at hand, be that task sabotage, spreading propaganda, or personal performance in combat, and also to resist zealous agent actions. For agents, high zeal increases the chances of wounding enemy characters; for generals, it enhances their personal combat performance and unlocks the "warrior" set of abilities.