Military leader

Choosing a leader in the army leader tab

Military leaders come in two styles, land and naval. Land leaders can be placed in command of armies and come in four types; Monarchs, Heirs, Generals and Conquistadors. Naval leaders can be placed in command of navies and come in two types; Admirals and Explorers.

• Generals and Admirals can be recruited at any time, and cost -50 military or diplomatic points respectively.
• Conquistadors and Explorers can only be recruited if the nation has purchased the 2nd idea from the Exploration idea group. They cost -50 military or diplomatic points respectively. They are the only leaders capable of exploring Terra Incognita.
• A male ruler of a nation with a Monarchic government can be made into an army leader at any time. It does not cost monarch points to do so, but the chance of dying increases slightly. Female Monarchs may not be made into leaders.
• A male Heir in a Monarchy can be made into an army leader after he has reached maturity (age 15). It does not cost monarch points to do so but the chance of dying increases slightly. Female Heirs may not be made into leaders.

A leader's skill is dependent on the army or navy tradition at the time they are hired. A Monarch's or Heir's skill is additionally affected by their military rating.

The cost for recruiting leaders can be reduced by a nation's Innovativeness, and by 50% if a nation has Army Professionalism at 100%.

The odds of a General or Admiral dying from combat are fairly low. Most leaders last around 12 years before dying.

Land leaders that drill armies may get an increase to their pips at times. A leader may increase more than once if they continue drilling. Leaders that win a battle may be awarded a special trait that enhances their performance.

Having at least one 3-star General or Admiral is an Age Objective in the Age of Revolutions.

Assigning and recalling leaders

Generals and conquistadors can only be assigned to armies that are not in battle, hostile territory, or embarked at sea. They can be assigned in provinces that are owned, allied, neutral, or un-colonized. Exiled units may assign leaders in the same circumstances non-exiled units are able to. Admirals and explorers can be assigned to any fleets within supply range that are not in battle. When assigning leaders to armies and fleets, it is possible to select leaders that are already assigned to another unit, if that unit is not in battle, in hostile territory, or on an Exploration mission. In this case, the chosen leader will immediately teleport over to lead the currently selected unit regardless of where he was previously located.

The requirement for recalling leaders is the same as that for assigning them, although generals can be effectively recalled from embarked armies by reassigning them.

Abilities

Leaders are rated on a scale of 0-6 for each of the following skills:

Shock

The leader's shock ability is added to the dice roll during the shock phase.

Fire

Like leader shock, leader fire is added to the dice roll during the fire phase.

Maneuver

The leader's maneuver affects the movement speed of the army or fleet it is assigned to.

Each point of land leader maneuver:

• reduces unit supply weight by 1, reducing attrition in low supply provinces. (This does not negate base attrition from sieges, winters, or "Attrition for Enemies" modifiers.)
• increases local reinforce speed by 10% in unowned (occupied, ally, subject or enemy) terrain, but not beyond 100%.
• River and strait crossing penalties can be negated if the attacking general has at least 1 more maneuver than the defending general.

Each point of naval leader maneuver:

• increases engagement width by 10%.
• increases fleet trade power by 5%.

Siege

Siege pips have different effects for land and naval leaders:

• For land leaders, each siege pip adds +1 to the siege roll, making sieges go faster.
• For naval leaders, each siege pip adds +10% to the amount of development the fleet can effectively blockade.

Even with very high tradition, very few leaders have high siege pips, since siege pips are allocated a third as often as other pips (see below for details).

Ideas that improve leaders' abilities

The following ideas improve new leaders' abilities (up to the usual maximum of 6):

• land leader fire

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1	—	Offensive idea 3: Superior Firepower Ming idea 7: The Red Cannon Rajput idea 6: Martial Ethos Smolenskian idea 5: Hold The Line	Bohemian ambition Mori ambition Oda ambition Qara Qoyunlu ambition Utsunomiya ambition	Expansion-Quality: The Mining Act

• land leader shock

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1	Manchu traditions Qara Qoyunlu traditions Scottish traditions Shirvani traditions Timurid traditions	Offensive idea 1: Bayonet Leaders Ajuuraan idea 6: Expelling the Infidel Aq Qoyunlu idea 1: The White Sheep Arawak idea 7: Jungle Warfare Bengal Sultanate idea 5: Conquest of the Gangetic Plain Charruan idea 3: Bolas Warfare Chiba idea 5: Katori Jingu Crimean idea 4: Despoilers Hatakeyama idea 2: Indomitable Generals Hojo idea 2: Night Combat Horde idea 4: Steppe Leaders Jerusalem idea 5: Crusader Aristocracy Lithuanian idea 1: Warlord Dukes Mexican idea 6: Heroes of the Revolution Oda idea 3: Oda Generals Rassid idea 6: Like Salt Dissolves in Water Shan idea 5: Raiders Shoni idea 5: Bear of Hizen Tibetan idea 2: Bön Influence. Tyrconnell idea 5: Lessons of Knockavoe Wallachian idea 5: Legacy of the Impaler Yamana idea 4: The Western Army	Air ambition Arabian ambition Manchu ambition Swedish ambition	Humanist-Quantity: Inspirational Leaders

• land leader maneuver

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+2	—	—	Shawnee ambition	—
+1	Ainu traditions Burmese traditions Carib traditions Crimean traditions	Defensive idea 3: Improved Maneuver Air idea 6: Nomadic Traditions Albanian idea 2: Land of Ambushers Arabian idea 6: Clan Loyalties Caucasian idea 3: Hit and Run Kazani idea 5: Steppe Warfare Nagpuri idea 2: Exploit Harsh Terrain Pacific Northwest idea 5: Legacy of Raven Permian idea 5: Warriors of the Taiga Qara Qoyunlu 4: Dynamic Warfare Romanian idea 2: Skilled Commanders Tapuian idea 5: The Way of the Jaguar Tyrone idea 6: Ambush Warfare Zaporozhian idea 4: Hit And Run	Lithuanian ambition	Quantity-Exploration: Hired Adventurers

• leader siege

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1	—	Nepali idea 7: Envelopment and Blockade Oda idea 4: Influential Strongholds	Full Aristocracy Meath ambition	Innovative-Offensive: Modern Siege Weapons

• naval leader fire

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+2	—	Dutch idea 4: Instructie voor de Admiraliteiten	—	—
+1	—	Naval idea 3: Naval Cadets Tunisian idea 5: Board of Captains	Madyas ambition	Naval-Innovative: The Nautical Education Act

• naval leader shock

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1	—	Naval idea 1: Boarding Parties Madyas idea 4: Masters of Maritime Warfare	—	Naval-Religious: Zealous Captains

• naval leader maneuver

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1	Madyas traditions	British idea 7: Britannia Rules the Waves Mahri idea 4: Pilots of the Arabian Sea Mogadishan idea 2: Somali sailors Omani idea 6: Skilled Captains Spanish idea 4: A Spanish Armada Swahili idea 2: Monsoon Season	—	Innovative-Maritime: New Naval Tactics Maritime-Offensive: Hold the Weather Gauge

Formulas for stars

The formula that gives the total number of stars on a general is:

${\text{stars}}=\lfloor {\frac {{\text{fire}}+{\text{shock}}}{6}}+{\frac {{\text{maneuver}}+{\text{siege}}}{18}}+1\rfloor$

where ${\text{fire, shock, maneuver, siege}}$ refer to the general's pips.

Formulas for point distribution

This section is based on actual game code, not experimentation.

Summed up, a pool of points is generated, and then semi-randomly distributed between the different abilities.

Pool

First, a pool of points is generated using the following process:

1. Start with $\text{random}(1-6) + \left\lfloor \frac{\text{effective tradition}}{20} \right\rfloor$.
2. $\text{effective tradition}%$ chance of +1.
3. $(\text{effective tradition - 20})%$ chance of +1.
4. $(\text{effective tradition - 40})%$ chance of +1.
5. $(\text{effective tradition - 60})%$ chance of +1.
6. $(\text{effective tradition - 80})%$ chance of +1.
7. $50%$ chance of +1.

Effective tradition is computed as follows:

Leader type	Effective tradition
Generals	$\text{Army Tradition}$
Conquistadors	$0.8 \cdot \text{Army Tradition}$
Rulers/heirs	$0.5 \cdot \text{Army Tradition} + 7 \cdot \text{Military skill}$
Admirals	$\text{Navy Tradition}$
Explorers	$0.8 \cdot \text{Navy Tradition}$

Below is the ranges, mean values and probabilities for pool generation a number of different military tradition levels:

Tradition	Min	Max	Mean	Percentage probability of rolling pool of at least:
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
0%	1	7	4	100	91.67	75	58.33	41.67	25	8.33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20%	2	9	5.2	100	100	93.33	78.33	61.67	45.00	28.33	11.67	1.67	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
40%	3	11	6.6	100	100	100	96	84.33	68.33	51.67	35	18.33	5.67	0.67	0	0	0	0	0	0
60%	4	13	8.2	100	100	100	100	98.4	91.33	77.93	61.67	45	28.33	13.27	3.67	0.4	0	0	0	0
80%	5	15	10	100	100	100	100	100	99.68	96.99	88.65	74.68	58.34	41.67	25.32	11.35	3.01	0.32	0	0
100%	7	17	12	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	99.68	96.99	88.65	74.68	58.34	41.67	25.32	11.35	3.01	0.32

Distribution

This pool is then distributed between the different stats.

If the pool is larger than 10, it is reduced by 4, and 1 point added to each ability. Since the maximum pool is 17, this can only happen twice.

Bonuses (see #Ideas that improve leaders' abilities) are then added.

Then, the remaining pool is distributed point by point as follows:

• $which = random(0-9)$
• If land leader, and which = 0, and siege < 6: $siege = siege + 1$
• Else, if which < 4, and shock < 6: $shock = shock + 1$
• Else, if which < 7, and fire < 6: $fire = fire + 1$
• Else, if maneuver < 6: $maneuver = maneuver + 1$
• Else, go back to generating a new $which$

Effectively, this means that each point has a 10% chance of being assigned to siege, 30% of shock, and 30% of fire, 30% of maneuver, but when individual abilities are capped the probabilities change:

• If siege is capped (extremely unlikely), the 10% goes to shock instead
• If shock is capped, the 30% goes to fire instead
• If fire is capped, the 30% goes to maneuver instead

Types of leaders

Ruler

A country's ruler can be turned into a general - in any form of government other than papacy and theocracy, but for males only. A ruler leading troops into battle faces the risk of dying on the battlefield. This can be used to shorten the reign of a bad ruler for a better one, particularly if the country is a monarchy and the heir has decisively better stats (likewise, this can be used to get rid of a bad heir in the hope of a better one). Do note however, monarchies face an additional -1 stability hit if their ruler or heir dies on the battlefield, for a total of -2 stability in the case of the ruler. The chance of a ruler or heir dying in battle is directly proportional to the number of days a battle lasts.

Heir

An adult male heir may also be converted into a general, and like its ruler counterpart, also faces the risk of death on the battlefield. Heirs that will die this way will also cause a -1 stability hit upon death. Republics cannot use this option as they have no Heir.

General

Generals are the ordinary leaders of land armies and give them bonuses, which are based on the general's stats. They cannot explore Terra Incognita unless they are at war with the owner of the province.

Conquistador

Only troops led by a conquistador can enter and explore land provinces classified as "Terra Incognita". A conquistador gets 20% fewer pips (before idea modifiers and similar) than a general.

Admiral

Admirals are the ordinary leaders of fleets and give them bonuses, which are based, like generals, on the given admiral's stats. They cannot explore Terra Incognita.

Explorer

Explorers are essentially admirals who can enter and explore sea provinces classified as "Terra Incognita". They will die if their entire exploration fleet succumbs to the sea and all ships sink (without El Dorado) and can conduct Exploration Missions to reveal territory (with El Dorado). An explorer gets 20% fewer pips (before idea modifiers and similar) than an admiral. Explorers can only be made available through the Exploration Idea group unless you are playing as Portugal, which starts with one, and Norway, whose second national idea allows recruitment of explorers and conquistadors, or Russia, who can gain one from completing a mission in Siberia.

Leader upkeep

All countries have a base value of 1 leader without upkeep. Further free leaders are granted by the following:

	Conditions
+1	for all AI controlled countries
	with difficulty set to ‘very easy’ for human players
	for embracing feudalism
	as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
	as Curia controller
	with at least 25 power projection
	as empire

Ideas and policies:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1	Kanem Bornuan traditions Mysorean traditions Piratical traditions Thüringian traditions	Aristocratic idea 6: International Nobility Innovative idea 7: Formalized Officer Corps Maritime idea 6: Seahawks Bosnian idea 3: Empower Bosnian Nobility Colonial idea 7: Liberty Heroes Croatian idea 1: Hrvatski Ban Ito idea 2: Unify the Ito Domain Québécois idea 6: Commissions for Noble Sons Ryukyuan idea 7: The Three Mountains Takeda idea 6: Twenty-Four Generals Ulster idea 1: Highland Connections	English ambition Hungarian ambition Incan ambition Kongolese ambition Kurdish ambition Nagpuri ambition	Diplomatic-Aristocratic: The Tenures Abolition Act

Events and estate interactions:

	Event modifier	Trigger	Duration
+1	Dhimmi Nobles	Dhimmi estate interaction: “Promote Dhimmi Nobles”	for 30 years.
−1	Reduced Number of Generals	Tribes estate event: ‘Demands of the $ESTATE_NOMADIC_TRIBES$’ Option: “Agree”.	for 5 years.

Each leader more than the free leaders of a country will cost 1 military power per month as upkeep. Rulers and heirs that have been turned into generals do not count, and will also never cost any upkeep.

Chance of death and life expectancy

Every day, a military leader that has been employed for at least 5 years has a daily chance of death ${\frac {max(a-20,0)+1+g+5\cdot b}{18250}}$ where $a$ is the number of years elapsed since the leader was hired, $g$ is 1 if assigned to an army and 0 otherwise, and $b$ is 1 if in a battle or siege and 0 otherwise.

Years since hiring	Yearly chance of death			Life expectancy
	Unassigned	Assigned	In battle/siege	Unassigned	Assigned	In battle/siege
0	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	24.2	20.4	11.9
1	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	24.2	20.4	11.9
2	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	24.2	20.4	11.9
3	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	24.2	20.4	11.9
4	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	24.2	20.4	11.9
5	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	24.2	20.4	11.9
6	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	24.5	21.0	12.8
7	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	24.9	21.6	13.8
8	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	25.2	22.2	14.7
9	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	25.6	22.7	15.6
10	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	25.9	23.3	16.6
11	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	26.2	23.8	17.5
12	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	26.5	24.3	18.4
13	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	26.8	24.8	19.3
14	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	27.1	25.3	20.1
15	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	27.3	25.7	21.0
16	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	27.6	26.1	21.8
17	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	27.8	26.5	22.6
18	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	28.0	26.9	23.4
19	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	28.2	27.2	24.1
20	2.0%	3.9%	13.1%	28.4	27.5	24.8
21	3.9%	5.8%	14.8%	28.5	27.8	25.5
22	5.8%	7.7%	16.5%	28.8	28.2	26.2
23	7.7%	9.5%	18.1%	29.2	28.7	26.9
24	9.5%	11.3%	19.8%	29.7	29.2	27.7
25	11.3%	13.1%	21.4%	30.2	29.8	28.4
26	13.1%	14.8%	22.9%	30.8	30.5	29.2
27	14.8%	16.5%	24.4%	31.5	31.2	30.1
28	16.5%	18.1%	25.9%	32.2	31.9	30.9
29	18.1%	19.8%	27.4%	32.9	32.7	31.8
30	19.8%	21.4%	28.9%	33.7	33.4	32.6
31	21.4%	22.9%	30.3%	34.4	34.2	33.5
32	22.9%	24.4%	31.6%	35.2	35.1	34.4
33	24.4%	25.9%	33.0%	36.1	35.9	35.3
34	25.9%	27.4%	34.3%	36.9	36.8	36.2
35	27.4%	28.9%	35.6%	37.8	37.6	37.1
36	28.9%	30.3%	36.9%	38.6	38.5	38.0
37	30.3%	31.6%	38.2%	39.5	39.4	39.0
38	31.6%	33.0%	39.4%	40.4	40.3	39.9
39	33.0%	34.3%	40.6%	41.3	41.2	40.8
40	34.3%	35.6%	41.8%	42.2	42.1	41.8
41	35.6%	36.9%	42.9%	43.1	43.0	42.7
42	36.9%	38.2%	44.1%	44.0	44.0	43.7
43	38.2%	39.4%	45.2%	45.0	44.9	44.6
44	39.4%	40.6%	46.3%	45.9	45.8	45.6
45	40.6%	41.8%	47.3%	46.8	46.8	46.5
46	41.8%	42.9%	48.4%	47.8	47.7	47.5
47	42.9%	44.1%	49.4%	48.7	48.7	48.4
48	44.1%	45.2%	50.4%	49.7	49.6	49.4
49	45.2%	46.3%	51.4%	50.6	50.6	50.4
50	46.3%	47.3%	52.3%	51.6	51.5	51.3
51	47.3%	48.4%	53.3%	52.5	52.5	52.3
52	48.4%	49.4%	54.2%	53.5	53.4	53.3
53	49.4%	50.4%	55.1%	54.4	54.4	54.2
54	50.4%	51.4%	56.0%	55.4	55.4	55.2
55	51.4%	52.3%	56.9%	56.4	56.3	56.2
56	52.3%	53.3%	57.8%	57.3	57.3	57.1
57	53.3%	54.2%	58.6%	58.3	58.3	58.1
58	54.2%	55.1%	59.4%	59.3	59.2	59.1
59	55.1%	56.0%	60.2%	60.2	60.2	60.1
60	56.0%	56.9%	61.0%	61.2	61.2	61.0
61	56.9%	57.8%	61.8%	62.2	62.1	62.0
62	57.8%	58.6%	62.5%	63.1	63.1	63.0
63	58.6%	59.4%	63.3%	64.1	64.1	64.0
64	59.4%	60.2%	64.0%	65.1	65.1	65.0
65	60.2%	61.0%	64.7%	66.1	66.0	65.9
66	61.0%	61.8%	65.4%	67.0	67.0	66.9
67	61.8%	62.5%	66.1%	68.0	68.0	67.9
68	62.5%	63.3%	66.8%	69.0	69.0	68.9
69	63.3%	64.0%	67.5%	70.0	70.0	69.9
70	64.0%	64.7%	68.1%	71.0	70.9	70.9
71	64.7%	65.4%	68.7%	71.9	71.9	71.9
72	65.4%	66.1%	69.4%	72.9	72.9	72.8
73	66.1%	66.8%	70.0%	73.9	73.9	73.8
74	66.8%	67.5%	70.6%	74.9	74.9	74.8
75	67.5%	68.1%	71.1%	75.9	75.9	75.8
76	68.1%	68.7%	71.7%	76.9	76.9	76.8
77	68.7%	69.4%	72.3%	77.9	77.8	77.8
78	69.4%	70.0%	72.8%	78.8	78.8	78.8
79	70.0%	70.6%	73.4%	79.8	79.8	79.8
80	70.6%	71.1%	73.9%	80.8	80.8	80.7
81	71.1%	71.7%	74.4%	81.8	81.8	81.7
82	71.7%	72.3%	74.9%	82.8	82.8	82.7
83	72.3%	72.8%	75.4%	83.8	83.8	83.7
84	72.8%	73.4%	75.9%	84.8	84.8	84.7
85	73.4%	73.9%	76.4%	85.8	85.7	85.7
86	73.9%	74.4%	76.9%	86.7	86.7	86.7
87	74.4%	74.9%	77.3%	87.7	87.7	87.7
88	74.9%	75.4%	77.8%	88.7	88.7	88.7
89	75.4%	75.9%	78.2%	89.7	89.7	89.7
90	75.9%	76.4%	78.7%	90.7	90.7	90.6
91	76.4%	76.9%	79.1%	91.7	91.7	91.6
92	76.9%	77.3%	79.5%	92.7	92.7	92.6
93	77.3%	77.8%	79.9%	93.7	93.7	93.6
94	77.8%	78.2%	80.3%	94.7	94.7	94.6
95	78.2%	78.7%	80.7%	95.7	95.6	95.6
96	78.7%	79.1%	81.1%	96.6	96.6	96.6
97	79.1%	79.5%	81.5%	97.6	97.6	97.6
98	79.5%	79.9%	81.8%	98.6	98.6	98.6
99	79.9%	80.3%	82.2%	99.6	99.6	99.6

Footnotes

Warfare