How are traits gained?

[oilers41]

Like the title says, how do generals and admirals gain traits from battles? I had assume it was a percentage chance based on the unit composition the leader was commanding, but I recently fought a naval battle where my fleet had 52 galleys, and nothing else, and my admiral gained the Big Ship I trait which now gives a -5% penalty to my galleys. The only big ships in the battle were the 4 first rates commanded by the enemy.

 

[Ri0Rdian]

The only big ships in the battle were the 4 first rates commanded by the enemy.

This probably means it's either totally random or your admiral got really impressed by those first rates and would like to command one too.

 

[unmerged(227032)]

I always get the cavalrymen I,II,III when my generals command cavalry troops.
But to be honest, I never really pay attention to the traits pop-up and will probably disable them in my next game.
So maybe once they get a trait, they're forced to upgrade this one only.
What I'm trying to tell you is that maybe your admiral already had a BigShip trait and just went on with it.

 

[oilers41]

I had also thought that it had to do with what units they comanded, I've seen cavalry traits for generals commanding cavalry for example, but the ship of the line trait that the admiral got certainly makes me think there there either is some random element to it, or that in this instance something didnt work correctly. It was the first battle this admiral had been in so he was completely traitless when it started

 

[Ri0Rdian]

It's probably random, my general just got artillery trait while the army he is leading doesn't have any. So either totally random or random with bigger chance for what he actually commands.

 

[macphineas]

It seems to be totally random, at least with naval units. I do think you can only get the "entrecher" trait when defending, though.