Having multiple Champions in an army is fine ... but what if we assign ONE champion/sov as the "general" of any given army. For instance, you have an army without a Champion ... no general. You have an army with 3 Champions ... select one to be the "designated general". The only Command related abilities/talents that would effect the army would have to belong to the General.

examples of this could even be related to Stats.

Charisma could effect the overall morale of your troops. As well as the loyalty of your troops (more defense vs mind spells ... and potential bribery).

Intelligence could effect your flexibility of setting up troops/deployment before the battle starts. Having less than 10 intelligence would give an automatic set-up like the Game currently plays. As well as small bonuses to logistical (strategic) movement.

Wisdom would effect the luck of Favorable terrain (example: starting on higher ground than your opponent, with more forest on your side of the map). And additional chances to sense traps and ambushes*. Could also help sense Assassins**.

*- the ability to sense a trap or ambush would be tied to your command level. The chances of spotting per attempt could be increased by Intelligence, while the number of attempts could be increased by Wisdom.

**-Sensing Assassins would be tied to Command level, modified by the number of assassins you have killed mid-attempt, as well as your Wisdom score.

In addition, Troop loyalty and Logistical movement could also be somewhat tied to Command level. However Charisma and Intelligence, respectively, modify these.

(more talk on traits at the bottom)

Another interesting thing would be to have "command talents" ... with each Champion having some level of inate commanding talent, that can be increased by Academy training, command experience, and level-ups in different ways.

(level-ups can include increased Charisma, and certain Command-based traits and abilities that require either a certain amount of either Academy training, Command Experience, or Charisma rating)

Academy Training opportunities could depend on Tech Level (and how upgraded your Academy building is ... if you have one). This would be based primarily on tech level, and require the Champion being in a city with a Military Academy. There could be a couple stages of Military Academy upgrades.

Academy Training could allow your Champion to use various new formations ... and the higher level the Academy + the higher your Warfare tech level, the more formations are available.

Command Experience could effect a "command level", and this experience should only increase if the Champion is the general of the army and combats with a particularly numerous foe OR any foe from a primary or minor faction. The command level of a Champion could determine the strength of each formation. Formations could be stronger (or simply increased effects). For instance, a low Command Level could have Testudo formation give some increased Archer block, and some attack penalty. Meanwhile, a very high command level could have Testudo formation give ALL archer block, and NO attack (and a higher over-all defense bonus).

Then, traits gained on Level-up could effect mainly Morale and Army Maintenance. For instance, "Logistical Mastermind" could be a certain trait that requires a VERY HIGH Academy Training rating, that greatly reduces the maintenance of any army he commands. Or he could buy "War Hero" which requires a certain command level (from commanding multiple victorious battles vs Faction armies), that greatly increases overall morale.

At the opposite spectrums of Academy Training and Command Experience, you see two radically different strategies. One relies on vast amounts of troops using a HUGE library of Combat Formations ready for ANY situation, and the other relies on highly effective "elite" troops using basic formations.

The latter could still field huge armies if he wanted, but the Maintenance would be much greater, so the War Hero would wish to focus on leading a smaller army of hardened elites ... with near un-ending morale.

// If the adventure tree includes unveiling the location of rare metals (perhaps with limited deposits), then the War Hero could focus more on Adventure than Warfare, and have a small, elite army ... while the Tech-Master Academy "by the book" buy would focus more on Logistics techs and Academy techs In the Warfare (and possibly Civilization?) tree.

In an extreme example, the War Hero could be leading some elite units + Champions with the 4 Swords of the Armageddon, in Death Armor, against a large army of musketmen, Cannons, and halberds.

***Traits***

Dexterity could increase your Dodge rating, which works separately from parry to completely negate a melee attack ... especially negating an Assassin's "Killing Strike" (which ignores your melee-parry rating).

Wisdom could increase your dodge vs an enemy's "back-stab" ability ... which has a high chance of ignoring your normal/Dex based dodge rating.

(Heavy Armor lowers your dodge rating)

(Heavy Weapons lower your melee parry rating)

Strength could increase your chances of ignoring an enemy's parry rating, as well as increasing the chance of destroying/dislodging the Shield of an opponent that successfully Shield-Parrys your attack.

Wisdom and Charisma both increase your Loyalty rating, while Intelligence lowers it. A champion with High Intelligence and Low Wisdom AND Low Charisma will be highly susceptible to mind attacks (and bribes). The Int modifier only goes into effect above 10, while the Wis and Char modifier is always in effect.

Therefore ... a low Wis + low Char is still susceptible to Mind attacks even if it also has a low Intelligence.

Of course, anyone will be some-what susceptible to a powerful Mage's mind attacks. Morale may also affect susceptibility.

A Dodge rating more easily evades a melee attack than a Ranged attack, yet dodging a ranged attack is not impossible.

Also, the Dodge rating applied to melee attacks considers the "Net Dodge rating." Two opponents with equal Dodge rating may not dodge each others attacks. The only exception is Assasin-based attacks (which deal extra damage than even your attack rating). The Defender of an Assassin-based attack is always considered to have DOUBLE his normal dodge rating***.

***- mind you, an Assassin's "backstab" ability IGNORES all non-Wisdom based dodge, so even if his normal dodge is 10, if his wisdom dodge is only 2 ... then your really only dealing with a dodge of 4 (wisdom dodge x 2)