Great Man Theory of History – Vanilla
"Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here."
It’s always bugged me that you can swap out generals, governors, spies, agents, etc… in Rome II and in many mods and face only minimal consequences for your choices. Personalities, traits, and ancillaries carry little impact in the game world. The game is basically designed to make these systems mostly inconsequential.
Well NO MORE, I SAY!
As a brute force method around this lack of meaningful choice, I doubled the bonus/malus value for traits, ancillaries and experience levels.
What this means: you need to carefully consider sending even a veteran army with a 1-star commander against a 3+ star commander. Troop composition will no longer guarantee you victory. Depending on the traits, ancillaries, and personality of the generals involved, outcomes will play out very differently.
You will need to pick the right man, the right army/navy, the right role, the right province, etc…
And these choices are TWICE as meaningful, because I literally doubled everything.
Q: Does this unbalance the campaign?
A: I’ve never experienced any major issues, bonuses/maluses apply to player and AI. Let me know if this breaks some part of your campaign and I will fix it.
Q: Is it fun?
A: I think so. I’ve played thousands of hours in Rome 2. Outcomes become predictable. And I don’t want to just hit a difficulty slider and give the AI morale bonuses, I want to draw out more meaningful character differences and personalities.
How does it play out?
Consider that you level a general in Zeal-related skills, acquire ancillaries related to melee skill and armor, and an army is specialized in close combat.
In this scenario, a 3-4 star general with this combination could theoretically defeat a heavy infantry force with light infantry or even skirmisher troops, if the terrain, conditions and relative maluses of the opposing general are correct.
This is the type of outcome I am aiming for, where engagements become unpredictable.
The basic premise is to emphasize the right man, right army, right terrain, at the right time, and ANYTHING can happen.
Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
