Best way to level Agents?

[Lancaster]

I've been having some trouble with spys, champs and priests because after they fail a few turns they get wicked nasty negative traits. Like -2 cunning -1 Authority, That's a bit disaterous to a low level spy. It doesn't take much I've seen happen at the first fail.

So seeing as you can't prop them into an army at rank 1, do you guys still risk it and send them out, or has the negative traits just been my bad luck?

-Edited

Like just now, I recruitied a spy with the stupid trait, right off the bat the scout has -1 cunning. I can't see that when I spend 1100 on him it's only after I get him that I can see that. Is there a way to get rid of negative traits? I haven't seen one go away.

[Cullen's Hound]

Champions go into armies and train the men, priests are deployed in owned regions where they give a public order, tax bonus, religious conversion and spies are used to misdirect enemy armies. Those are the only ways to skill them up after deployment unless the get a special bonus skill on creation.

[Ace]

U can also deploy the agents on a enemy or territory or somwhere els to expand the corruption in there provinces:)

[Lancaster]

For anyone wondering the best way to level spies is to have them follow your army and get into a 50/50 or 40/60 battle, a battle where the enemy general will not run from but you know you can win. When you fight the battle make sure to kill the enemy general and win the battle as normal. When the battle is over and army retreats, you can have your spy misdirect the enemy's new standing officer. Which will have a cunning of 1 versus your spy's 2 or 3, giving him higher chances to succeed.

[Ashley's Boomstick]

Originally posted by Lancaster:

For anyone wondering the best way to level spies is to have them follow your army and get into a 50/50 or 40/60 battle, a battle where the enemy general will not run from but you know you can win. When you fight the battle make sure to kill the enemy general and win the battle as normal. When the battle is over and army retreats, you can have your spy misdirect the enemy's new standing officer. Which will have a cunning of 1 versus your spy's 2 or 3, giving him higher chances to succeed.

That's a good tip, I never really thought of that even though it follows logically from lower-ranking generals usually being easier to target, assuming they have no special traits, household, or agents. Taking out their general in the battle leaves only the possibility of an agent in their army (which is rare, but I've seen it).

I would add that in general recruiting agents from buildings that are upgraded produces higher-quality agents. For example you can recruit heroes/champions from a warlord or chieftan's hold, but if you have a keep or a castle you should get better agents (fewer negative traits, better chance of beneficial traits) upon recruitment. There's no surefire way to prevent the occassional negative agent trait straight out of recruitment, but that should better your odds.

Also, if you have a noble or family member in your faction with the mentor unique trait, make him a governor in the province where you recruit your agent, or if you have different agent buildings in other provinces just move that general into the province when you recruit and you'll be able to upgrade your agent right away. This is a huge help with spies because you can give them skills like "scout ahead" and put them into one of your armies to gradually level up a few ranks as opposed to having to level them by targeting armies/other agents and risking them acquiring negative troops (which as you know is much more likely to happen when they're inexperienced and green).

By the way yes you can lose negative traits, but the odds are against it not only because it takes numerous successes that are diametric to the given trait/failure but also because the negative trait itself makes success that much more unlikely.