Originally posted by thermon
Deep within the Q&A there's a Bort quote saying that the power of SAs is only controlled by the number of points in the SA, but who knows what got updated after that.
this!
agreed that the general abilities absolutely work, if you have 1 center with line general and 1 center without, you can track the play-by-play morale and see that the average morale gain is greater on the plays with the LG center. I did a study on a DG linebacker years ago. You can actually tell which plays it fires for as you're going through.
My memory is the same as thermon's, that the "general" abilities *only* key off of the number of points in the ability, and are not tied to confidence. Confidence is used for resisting all of the morale-reducers (pummel, aura, glare, monster hit, etc.) but is not used for powering any of the morale abilities (including generals).
I'm a defense guy so I'll let others with more knowledge decide if it is worth it.