Blood lines

[Darius]

I find myself purposefully turning down just about every single adoption opportunity and only rarely accepting suitors into my factions families. I just seem to find it more enjoyable to use the sons of famous generals to go on and conquer and live up to the family name. Anybody else find themselves doin this or do you guys still accept new blood into your family as long as they're good enough?

[johnhughthom]

I don't even look at adoptees, automatically reject them all. To be honest I'm not really sure why.

[Aemilius Paulus]

I find myself purposefully turning down just about every single adoption opportunity and only rarely accepting suitors into my factions families. I just seem to find it more enjoyable to use the sons of famous generals to go on and conquer and live up to the family name. Anybody else find themselves doin this or do you guys still accept new blood into your family as long as they're good enough?
I always accept every Sharp and Charismatic general if he is a candidate for adoption or man of the hour. Those are really the only two traits that matter, although it is also nice when the general is Optimistic and does not become Gloomy/Morose/Melancholic. Although Influence is quite easy to gain.

And then there will always be that Dull, Uncharismatic, Pessimistic, Plebeian Italic mercenary general I had as Romani. I recruited him because I was in need of some cavalry for my upcoming Iberian/Southern Gallic campaign. However, as I had no free generals, I used him as the head of my expeditionary force.

Eventually, he gained tons of traits, became 10 Influence and Management and had over 5-7 command (not sure exactly how much). He then became a Consul and after that a Censor, in addition to all the other steps of Cursus Honorum. He was basically my best FM (I had plenty other splendid FMs with the double ten, but few were Censors and had so much command).

[Valion]

I find myself purposefully turning down just about every single adoption opportunity and only rarely accepting suitors into my factions families. I just seem to find it more enjoyable to use the sons of famous generals to go on and conquer and live up to the family name. Anybody else find themselves doin this or do you guys still accept new blood into your family as long as they're good enough?

Wohoo more people like me!!! I'm roughly 14 years into my new romani campaign and up to date have refused all candidates for adoption and i hardly had any man of the hour since one of my house rules is to always have a FM command a battle(regardless how small xD) Since Vanilla i've always been very keen to maintain the bloodline., and if i ever allow a marriage into the Family it would either be of the Gens lvlvi, Cvria and Octavia. To note i utterly despise the gens Lvlius hehe

[K-Dogs]

Most of the time i find myself accepting the decent adoption candidates, but not letting them lead armies unless I have to.
Especially at the start of games, facing 5 star command rebel FMs in every settlement with tonnes of bodyguards and questionable historical accuracy... normally it takes a few of my adopted/manofthehour FMs just to take out one of those guys.

and benefactors? Don't even joke, money can't buy me love.

[Havok.]

I don't even look at adoptees, automatically reject them all. To be honest I'm not really sure why.

Once playing as Koinon Hellenon, i used to accept mostly of the good FM for adoptions, result

my spartan bloodline eventually died, and the destiny of the empire passed to foreign hands, the sons of the adopted dudes(Which weren't -that- bad, but i mean, no royal blood on the leadership, no fun)

(Yah, there were a athen bloodline too, but it sucked balls)


Never ever again i accepted adoptions, unless i was playing as factions that its FM's weren't very good at managment, i then accept one or two for administrating the wealthy cities.



PS: One time i was playing as the Lusos, i tried to kill every FM that had bad traits(usually the grandsons of Tantalos)

making them go berseker against rebel armies, and hoping they would die on the situation, or win and get insane traits





They usually died




lol

XD

[Apázlinemjó]

When I have money and they have good stats too, I usually accept them, someone has to control my 'colonies' afterall. :P

[HunGeneral]

If they have good traits I accept them although ususally only as governors...
Only my FMs are allowed to command troops on the field of battle. Sometimes I even end up deciding who should be the new leader according to his victories and capabilities.

[Vasiliyi]

They have to be S/C/V for me to accept them in my romani campaign. Im ok if they fear blood, (too many Romans fear blood) because ill just send them to a school for 4 years. They end up being pretty good governors.

In my recent AS campaign, I found that I got a couple good adoptees and I quickly accepted. But if they aren't S/C/V, they aint marrying one of my daughters.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Forget Vigorous, that is about the most useless of the six primary traits, along with Loyal/Disloyal (usually, as AI does not normally go bribe-happy). Sharp and Charimatic is all that matters. Unselfish is also nice, as there are quite a bit of vices you can get in EB. Pessimistic matters a bit, but if you are careful, most of your generals will not go worse than Gloomy.

Note that there are 6 levels of most primary traits, including Intelligence and Charisma as witnessed in this excerpt of EDCT:

;------------------------------------------
; Section: EUROPA BARBARORUM Primary Traits
;------------------------------------------
;------------------------------------------
;Trait: NaturalIntelligence
; o Far_Below_Average_Intelligence (1)
; o Below_Average_Intelligence (2)
; o Average_Intelligence (3)
; o Naturally_Sharp (4)
; o Naturally_Intelligent (5)
; o Natural_Genius (6)

Trait NaturalIntelligence
Characters family
Hidden
NoGoingBackLevel 7
AntiTraits NaturalIgnorance

Level Far_Below_Average_Intelligence
Description Far_Below_Average_Intelligence_desc
EffectsDescription Far_Below_Average_Intelligence_effects_desc
Threshold 1


Level Below_Average_Intelligence
Description Below_Average_Intelligence_desc
EffectsDescription Below_Average_Intelligence_effects_desc
Threshold 2


Level Average_Intelligence
Description Average_Intelligence_desc
EffectsDescription Average_Intelligence_effects_desc
Threshold 3


Level Naturally_Sharp
Description Naturally_Sharp_desc
EffectsDescription Naturally_Sharp_effects_desc
Threshold 4


Level Naturally_Intelligent
Description Naturally_Intelligent_desc
EffectsDescription Naturally_Intelligent_effects_desc
Threshold 5


Level Natural_Genius
Description Natural_Genius_desc
EffectsDescription Natural_Genius_effects_desc
Threshold 6


;Mod: EBMod001 - 4/15 : primary trait NaturalIntelligence
;------------------------------------------
Trait NaturalIgnorance
Characters family
Hidden
AntiTraits NaturalIntelligence

Level NaturalIgnorance
Description Hidden_desc
EffectsDescription Hidden_effects_desc
Threshold 1


;Mod: EBMod003 - 4/15 : primary antitrait
;------------------------------------------
;Trait: NaturalCharisma
; o Far_Below_Average_Charisma (1)
; o Below_Average_Charisma (2)
; o Average_Charisma (3)
; o Above_Average_Charisma (4)
; o Good_Charisma (5)
; o Great_Charisma (6)

Trait NaturalCharisma
Characters family
Hidden
NoGoingBackLevel 7
AntiTraits NaturalDullness

Level Far_Below_Average_Charisma
Description Far_Below_Average_Charisma_desc
EffectsDescription Far_Below_Average_Charisma_effects_desc
Threshold 1


Level Below_Average_Charisma
Description Below_Average_Charisma_desc
EffectsDescription Below_Average_Charisma_effects_desc
Threshold 2


Level Average_Charisma
Description Average_Charisma_desc
EffectsDescription Average_Charisma_effects_desc
Threshold 3


Level Above_Average_Charisma
Description Above_Average_Charisma_desc
EffectsDescription Above_Average_Charisma_effects_desc
Threshold 4


Level Good_Charisma
Description Good_Charisma_desc
EffectsDescription Good_Charisma_effects_desc
Threshold 5


Level Great_Charisma
Description Great_Charisma_desc
EffectsDescription Great_Charisma_effects_desc
Threshold 6


;Mod: EBMod005 - 4/15 : primary trait

[Roka]

i usually accept them if i play as the romani, and they have S/C/V, but as other factions I only accept them if the royal bloodline is already safe

[Watchman]

Huh. I just take them in if they're reasonably qualified. Though with factions that actually have a honest-to-Dog royal lineage going, they obviously don't get to inherit the crown unless the dynasty's managed to run out of "princes of the blood".

[Darius]

The only time I ever really do accept adoptees is during my romanii campaign. The only reason is because at the point you get them you just started, so it's still a Republic, so there is no "Royal blood line" to preserve. The only thing is I NEVER let Cotta adopt, his offspring always seem to be kick ass FM's every time.

[NickTheGreek]

In my SPQR campaign i find myself accepting good adoptees and not paying too much attention to the bloodline, just enough to make sure the starting bloodlines don't die out.

[Valion]

In my Romani Campaign i role-play as a clan., although not royalty still a prominent roman family in other words "The House of Curii" although Dentatvs had no sons i still think of the Cornelians i have and Aurelius as Curii. And when the oportunity arrives for a Curii-Dentatvs
for marriage into the family i will accept them thus regaining the male bloodline of the clan into my control, that is as long as they are not THAT retarded in traits xD

[Yarema]

i always accept guys who are sharp, and usually reject the langorous ones (they get tired very quickly by forced marching).

But i NEVER got the "man of the hour" in EB, although i fought many battles with captains, sometimes outnumbered (and some of my captains fought more than one battle). I thought the eb team removed the "man of the hour" thingy.

[Irishmafia2020]

I almost never accept adoptees, with two notable exceptions -

1. All of my male relatives are dead, and any male children are young, and the faction leader is ageing - at that point an adoption may be the only way to save a game from a loss due to FM death, but these circumstances are rare, and the adoptees are not allowed to become faction heir or leader unless they are the only option. Most often if I have only one or two family members, I use the recruitable generals to lead armies in desperate circumstances, however on occasion my tendency to use my family members as heavy cavalry has backfired (especially as Bactria) and they have nearly all died while leaving only young children and an aging faction leader.

2. When the name of the man who is adopted is very similar to the name of the ruling family - as Baktria, I was on the last Baktrios - a weak and effeminate old man who had produced no children except one daughter. He had the opportunity to adopt a young man with the last name of "Baktrias" - so I roleplayed that the guy was a nephew, or a bastard or whatever, and allowed his adoption to continue the family line.

Mostly I consider marriage to be the primary means of adoption in my game - those families that marry in become allied to the royal family, and their bloodlines mix, although if a male with the royal name exists, he is given preference in terms of inheritance. Actually I am pretty determined to keep the faction leadership within the royal family in my (non-Roman) games. One of the best features of RTW is that you can choose who you want to lead your faction, and I still have never understood why that feature was removed in MTW2. To be fair the various "title" mods that came out for MTW2 made for some great role playing, as non royal families could eventually control the aristocratic titles to more important territories than the Faction leader's themselves. Anyway, you're not alone, bloodlines are very important in my game as well, although in an emergency adoptions are worth considering.

[Mediteran]

i take whoever i find good enough.. usually i have one or two favorite FMs though, and they go on to become faction leaders.. they are usually sons of my other favorite FMs who aged. however if they are "not like their father" and i think they are not good enough, ill pick someone else who is

thats when im playing rome, anyway