Agents | War Total War: Attila Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

Agents are your special forces. You can have a limited amount of them, to train them specific buildings are required, they work alone and give you access to various actions, which can improve the growth of your country or hurt your enemies. They aren't vital for winning war, but they can make it much easier. Agents have their ranks and skills trees, they can have households, but they can't get married. They don't gather influence and they have no loyalty.

All agents skills have two levels. First one unlocks new ability, usually active one, the second upgrades it. Additionally, every second level increase one of statistics by one point. Because of that, agents don't have useless abilities, only those you don't need currently.

Messengers gain experience for every action, even a failed one. For that reason you should send them on hard, but not hopelessly hard missions. Even if they won't succeed, an agent will benefit from it anyway and on next mission his success chances will be higher.

Every agent action has three possible positive and three negative outcomes. The better or worse effect, the chance for him to occur is larger. Most spectacular successes and failures, like death of agent, have always the smallest chance for happening.

Scouts

This agent has only two actions that can be used on your own territory - surveillance that reduces corruption in province and tracking, which increase the range of moving for allied army. All other actions are used against enemy armies and cities. Except for subterfuge, that increase scout chance for remaining undetected.

Misdirection lowers enemy army movement range, military infiltration increase its tiredness, and observation allows you to know details about units it consists of. Diversion allows you to keep attention of enemy agent, murder kills a specified character, while coercion convince him to join your forces. Corruption increase corruption in enemy province, opportunism allows you to steal money lost due to corruption, civilian infiltration reduces food production and increase squalor size in a settlement, and bribery makes placing buildings take more time.

Such wide variety of skills makes scout a perfect agent for times of war. At first let him help allied army get to enemy city quicker. Then let him kill a general that protects it and convince nearby agents to join you. In the meantime other scouts should increase corruption and squalor in neighbor provinces, by which they will weaker enemy economics and create a chance for disease to spread. If a scout is discovered, simply move him back until he becomes invisible for enemy.

Priests

Despite appearances those agents have only three skills that can be useful on the territory of your country - spiritual leadership increase order level, rhetoric spread religion and conviction increase army integrity. Other skills can be used against enemy.

Provocation lowers order in enemy provinces, imposition makes them more volatile to agents actions, pessimism lowers order on a province territory, prejudice increase discontent caused by religious differences. Enemy agents can be distracted with mystery, they can be killed as well with retribution or convinced to change sides with dogma. Enemy armies can be given an admonition that lowers general's statistics, instigation lowers integrity, and doom lowers morale.

Similarly to scout, a priest is very useful agent during war and he should be used mostly against enemy armies. Lowering statistics of general can make it much easier to kill him in battle, just as lowering army morale and integrity. Lowering order and spreading religion is useful skills as well, but you should use them when there are no enemy armies around, like in more far away provinces of enemy.

Heroes

Agent created specifically for war. Training increase experience of chosen allied army, provision increase speed of replenishing ranks, glory allows you to recruit more troops in one turn. It makes him a perfect agent to accompany allied army.

When in combat, hero can use personal combat in order to kill enemy agent, intimidation to make him change sides and ruse to distract him. Against settlements this agent can use raiding and sabotage that will damage buildings, sapping that will do the same with walls and terror that reduces the amount of formations trained in province per turn. When facing armies, he can use skirmishing and tactics which reduce their numbers, and sabotage army that damages weapons, armors and lowers the ammunition supplies.

Hero is perfect for weakening enemy armies and defenses before battles or sieges. Few effective actions of him might greatly lower numbers of enemy armies. And if you don't want to take enemy cities, you can reduce their effectiveness by breaking buildings and help allied formations gather experience and replenish their ranks.