Line of heirs

[Earl of Sweden]

Im playing the Spanish in SP. My Original King is alive and he has 5 heirs to the throne. The oldest one is 43 and should get the crown when daddy falls....(at least I think so).

The oldest heir (the 43 guy) is off in Tunisia to chase off the last of the Almohads while the second guy in line (39 years of age) is in Aragon (King is in Castile).

When the King dies mr 39 gets the crown and he happens to be a pervert. I only had one good heir (who now will become a great gouvenor and general) and the game elects the next oldest prince.

The only reasons I can imagine this happening is:

My oldest Prince was too old??

He is to far away from the "homeprovince"?, alltough its connected all the way...it would have taken him 4 years to get back to Castile.

[ToranagaSama]

Similar thing happened to me last night.
In history the eldest son did not always inherit the throne.

Anyone, know what conditions govern this in the game?

Was 43 married? Was 39 married?

In my game, the younger prince who became King was married while the older was not. Also, the older had some very bad traits, which were worse than the younger, who also the "coward" trait.

[Magraev]

I assume the oldest son of the LAST king gets the crown. Maybe mr. 43 was the last son of the king before?

I've actually considered keeping a block and paper by the comp just to keep track of heirs and where they stand in line to the throne. This way I only have to worry about the first in line and I wont be assasinating/framing any potential decent governors...

Off course it would be nice if the game could do that (hint hint)

[Earl of Sweden]

Quote Originally posted by Magraev:
I assume the oldest son of the LAST king gets the crown. Maybe mr. 43 was the last son of the king before?[/QUOTE]

No he was son of the original king.

And I actually dont think that anyone of them was married cause I had big problems staging weddings at this point (with foreigners that is). I do however suspect that my pervert prince (who now is King) is secretly married to an french emissary.

[smap1024]

hi, i think it was probably mentioned , but i will rehash what others said b4.

the "first" heir who comes of age "after" your present king inherited the empire will be the one chosen to take over.

doesn't matters whether he's a son of your present king, or a brother, or even sons of a "dead" brother. et cetera.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Right after a king dies for a few years, the new kings brothers stay around as princes even though any pre-existing new-kings heirs may be "of age". This is in case you have a sick king who dies early on in office. Last time that happened to me, my new king dies of a disease or something and his brother was "elected" even though he had sons. Kinda wierd - but i think i got it. Eventually, the kings brothers just become royal nobility

[Pragmatic]

Be careful of ex-royal-family who become generals. Watch their loyalty. My best generals were the brothers of the second king. When he died, his son took over, and they were relegated to mere generals. A few years later, POOF!, civil war. Guess who's the rival? Yep, one of my ex-heirs. Guess who's supporting him? All of his brothers. These doddering old fools (all about 65 or so) rebelled, turned several provinces rebel, caused to extinct factions to reappear, and left me with lots of rebel armies...

[ToranagaSama]

I assume the oldest son of the LAST king gets the crown. Maybe mr. 43 was the last son of the king before?

The way I understand it, is that a King's brothers remain Princes and in line for the throne, until the King's Son comes of age.

At which point they are no longer Princes and become simply Royal Generals.

Hmmmm...thinking on this some more...Perhaps the King's brothers remain Princes and in line for the throne behind the King's "single" son, UNTIl the King has a "second" son which then "secures" the line of succession to the throne; and THEN the King's brothers are "demoted", no longer Princes, but simply Royal.

Seems to make sense...NO?

This would explain how, in the game, that sometimes the heir at the top of the list (and the list is sorted by AGE, not by "Succession Rights"!!), does NOT succeed to the throne upon the King's death.

This is the ONLY thing that makes sense to me; and if factual highlights a significant Oversight (and/or bug) by the Devs and needs to be corrected and Patched!

OR, is it simply that the King has a right to choose his own successor, which may not always be the eldest son. Especially, as in my case, the eldest son is a complete freaking wacko whom, despite arranging as many as six marriages for my the King's other son's, NO ONE will marry the supposed, wacko, heir. In which case, the King "Passes" him over.

If this is the case, I think we need better information/documentation. (I cannot find my manual!)

Can you help us out here, CA???

[This message has been edited by ToranagaSama (edited 10-10-2002).]

[jas]

Quote Originally posted by Earl of Sweden:
I do however suspect that my pervert prince (who now is King) is secretly married to an french emissary.[/QUOTE]

LOL!

I feel your pain, as I also wound up with a perverted Danish King, although mine had no brothers. What's more, he had no heirs at all for many years and I began to get very worried about his procreative capacity, thinking that perhaps this Vice would mean he was completely sterile ... "Come on, just a little bi- experimentation" his advisers would implore him, but he took a lot of convincing. 20 years passed before he got the Queen up the duff, and then it was four princesses before a prince appeared. Once a second prince followed, Mr. Weirdy Pervert King was on a one-way boat ride to the Holy Land.

Anyway, Toranaga, my observations tally with what you've said: the first-born of the current king seems to become the next king. After his birth, the king's brothers hang around for a while as heirs, but I've not noticed what triggers their conversion to regular nobility (having a second heir would fit, and make sense). This is something I look forward to: I can rely on them as generals more heavily, and they usually rock ('cos I've weeded out the wussy ones heh).

[Pragmatic]

First King.

Sons of First King: A, B, C.

First King dies. Son A inherits, becomes Second King. Son B and Son C stick around. They're married and raising kids, too.

Second King has son, Grandson D. Before Grandson D reaches age 15, Second King dies. Grandson D can't inherit yet. Son B becomes Third King. His sons also are in line for the throne.

Third King, being old, dies soon. Who inherits? Well, Grandson D is the oldest son of the oldest son of First King. He inherits. The sons of Third King are in the pool. At this point, Son C is demoted to general status.

An heir remains an heir until the mantle of kingship is passed to the next generation. As long as someone of this generation is a king, they can inherit. So, if you have some good princes with great loyalty virtues, and the next generation has some incredible prospects, kill off the current king as soon as the next generation reaches age.

Just watch out, however, for disloyal previous generations. They'll be only too happy to rebel if your faction gets too big, and your king is too young. And, being old, they'll die off quickly.