On a related vein, they have no way to protect themselves from rakes or their equivalents. The inability to duel can be an advantage-scholars cannot be chased away from schools or killed by other scholars or gentlemen-but it can also be a disadvantage in that they cannot do the same. Scholars cannot initiate duels, but they are the identical to gentlemen in all other respects. Middle Eastern and Indian factions have Scholars instead of Gentlemen. Finally, gentlemen can move unrestricted into any territory and act as ad hoc scouts, although they are less adept at gathering information than rakes. Dueling rakes give a much higher chance of success (75% by default) than other gentlemen (50% by default), though such opportunities are rare since opposing factions' rakes are normally invisible on the campaign map. While duels yield a higher chance of killing other agents than rakes' assassinations, they also place gentlemen at a high risk of injury or death. Gentlemen can also engage in duels, potentially killing other factions' gentlemen (or rakes) and preventing them from engaging in activities of their own. The chance of a successful theft depends on how advanced the technology is (the more advanced, the lower the chance), as well as how well-versed in research the gentleman is. In addition to research, gentlemen can attempt to steal other factions' technology by visiting their schools. Gentlemen that specialize in one particular tech tree can become very proficient over time. Traits are usually focused on specific branches of technology: for example, a gentleman that engages in many turns at a school engaging in industrial technology becomes an excellent industrial technology researcher over time, but still only passable at military or enlightenment technologies. As they conduct research, gentlemen gain traits that increase their proficiency at research. Gentlemen boost research speeds when placed in schools. They can also be sent into rival nation's schools to steal technology. Gentleman are agents in Empire: Total War and Napoleon: Total War that, when put into schools, can boost the rate of which Technology is researched.

Empire total war gentlemen