Question on heirs

[nahg nohz]

hello all,

I'm new to the game .. just picked it up 2 weeks ago and find it immensely fun n challenging. BTW i'm still using the original MTW version (i think its 1.0 ) ie i haven't done any updates yet...

Got a question though : I'm playing as Spanish.... and naturally I would want the best heirs to my throne... my question is i have 3 heirs who have matured and my king is already 60. my 1st heir is 35 with command rating of 4, my 2nd heir is 34 with a command rating of 3 and my youngest heir is only 21 with a rating of 6 So i was wondering, when my king dies , does the heir with the highest ranking succeed him , or does the eldest heir take over ?

oh and a 2nd question : I've heard that when a heir takes over as king, some of the new king's brothers will be 'off the royal line' ie no longer in running for heirs. Instead they become normal generals ... however this doesn't seem to happen to me In the case I mentioned , I would rather hope my 6-star heir takes over and leaving me with a 3-star and 4-star general... could this be done ?

any help is appreciated =)

[RedKnight]

Hiya Nahg,
And welcome to the Org Tosa and others run a great place here... hoist an ale http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

You can see definitively who is scheduled to be the replacement, by clicking on the Crown button. The person at the top of the list is who will go next.

Many people will kill off bad heirs by sending them into hopeless battles or, how shall we say, unwise charges, in order to leave themselves with the best ones. All things being equal, it's better to have the youngest one ascend, because it takes time to build up good virtues like Steward... and if they're younger, they have more chance of living longer and spreading the wealth.

Indeed some folks even kill off their king. But this can be a lot harder to do, since they will always be pretty tough to kill, and likely to cut and run before dying (unlike for anyone else, the king will always be the general of any army it is in, and generals get health/life bonusses). A sure way to kill someone is to 1) transport them to the fight province via ship, 2) withdraw the transporting ship the same turn (so they have no possibility of automatically withdrawing), and 3) refusing to pay the ransom, if they're captured instead of killed. Of course, make sure they won't WIN, as it can be horrific to your kingdom's happiness if the king is stranded with no line of communication to the rest of the world. And I've seen some odd things, like 5x the number of enemy troops abandoning a province when one RK shows up...
Good gaming http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

[nahg nohz]

Thanks for the swift response http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif and for your kind 'succession tips'

Well, something weird just happened to me (i've played 20 yrs since last post), my youngest heir now is only 18 with a 6-star ranking, while my heirs at the top of the crown list are all above 50.

My King just died , and the heir to take over ? the 18 yr-old So it seems it doesn't necessarily means the oldest heir will take over, or is there something wrong with my game ?

So, ultimately, which heir is next in line. Oldest (top of the crown list) doesnt seem to be the formula for me ...

All's well for me though, I have 4 new generals with 2-6 star rankings, all thanks to the 18 yr old. Nice

[RedKnight]

nahg, are you sure you looked at the crown list back when the guy who made it was, say, 16 or 17? you will always see actual sons of the current king, jump ahead of all the uncles. did you really see him at the bottom of the list at 17, then he's made king next year? I'd like to know if so; it'd be news to me... it's not like I keep a perfect eye on that

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

[nahg nohz]

sure i'll go check it out again n keep u posted. Thanks anyways http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Bjorn Bjornson]

Quote[/b] ]did you really see him at the bottom of the list at 17, then he's made king next year? I'd like to know if so; it'd be news to me...


Quote[/b] ]BTW i'm still using the original MTW version (i think its 1.0 )

One thing I liked about the updated game, was you didn't have to guess which heir was going to become king (although with experience you could usually guess which one, it's nice to have the little punk highlighted).

I used to get all worried about having a bad king, but then learned (eventually) that if you just develop your economy (trade is a big thing) - and have good acumen governors (I won't allow anything lower than 4 acumen, prefer more for key provinces), then the slight hit to your coffers having a retarded king ascend the throne won't matter too much, and if the new king has any more competant living brothers, they make excellent field generals and governors. I've especially like this method for factions that don't get many unique generals from unit raising, like Danes, Polish, etc.


And just a suggestion, you should patch your game as soon as you are able. They really fixed up the information windows, so they are much more useful then in 1.0.

[RedKnight]

You're absolutely right Bjorn, and I should've said it too - nahg, you should patch up asap. My comments are based on MTW/VI 2.01, although I played the patched MTW for a while. It's my understanding that the very first unpatched MTW had a number of bugaboos that nobody wants, but I almost never buy games until they've been out a while and built rave reviews (plus a patch or two).

Kings add 2% to overall income for each acumen feather, unlike governors, for which each feather is 10%. However, their Steward or Trader virtues do add 10% to all provinces - so in a sense a king's acumen doesn't matter as much, but Steward or Trader virtues do. The sages say that to build these up, have your King (and princes in training) be in provinces as of the turn they finish building farms (for Steward) or mines (for Trader); some folks even have a training province that makes and re-makes first-level farms or mines over and over. I'm not entirely sure how reliable this is, but it's clear that having the king be steward or trader is a big plus - 10% to the respective income, for all provinces.

Happy hunting http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

[nahg nohz]

Quote[/b] (RedKnight @ June 11 2004,23:54)]nahg, are you sure you looked at the crown list back when the guy who made it was, say, 16 or 17? you will always see actual sons of the current king, jump ahead of all the uncles. did you really see him at the bottom of the list at 17, then he's made king next year? I'd like to know if so; it'd be news to me... it's not like I keep a perfect eye on that

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif
OK, I checked. Seems to me that, yes you're right, the king's actual sons will take over the throne, jumping ahead of all uncles. But what is confusing is that the son doesn't go to the top of the crown list (ie remains at bottom as he is youngest), So does it mean I'll have to keep track manually who are the uncles and who are the kids ? hm or it could be down to me using 1.0 version, who knows ?

Yet another thing I noticed. A King with 2 old heirs(both are his sons) , if the elder one is past a certain age (i don't know. Maybe 45 ?) , that heir doesnt get to the throne, the younger one will. So can anyone confirm this ?

If only we could choose our next heir manually. Ha.. I'm sure Kings could do so in the past ....

[RedKnight]

Quote[/b] ]If only we could choose our next heir manually. Ha.. I'm sure Kings could do so in the past ....

Ah yes well, you can do so in the present. Simply lift up the bad heir and drop him into the midst of a lot of enemies. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif All the royal chronicles will sing his (or her) praises, eh? So the game makes us acknlowledge what we're doing, I can live with that...

Do go ahead and patch up; it sounds like ascender at top of list must've been added past the original CDROM...

I don't know the answer to your q about, an heir being past a certain age... it makes sense. I really haven't paid close attention... anyone else know?
Keep on conquering the world and save a small yet rich island for me. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

[Xiphias]

You will be able to choose your heir manually in rome:total war.

The first son born to the current king (sons born to the old king but appearing after he has died don't count) will usually become king.

I beleive if you're playing the Holy Roman Empire (the germans) then the heir with the best command will become king.

[katank]

not true for HRE. I've had lower command heirs become king.

however, if no heirs, then highest ranked general becomes king IIRC.

I also routinely suicide worthless heirs.

sometimes, from a few unsuccessful suicide attempt (ie. he actually killed his way through that furball of enemies) then, I may decide he isn't so bad after all.

v20 something knight isn't bad even if it's only 1 man.

he may only be a little worse than the other candidates anyhow and tons of attacker virtues with uber jedi status may win it for him in my books.