King's Influence?

OK, I'm kind of curious as to how many people have had this happen to them. I was playing as the Turks, Early, Hard, GA, VI. It was about 1145 and I had conquered the Egyptians, as well as takent Cyrenacia and Tunisia from the Almos. Up north, I conquered all of the Turkish peninsula, with my territory ending at Constantinople. My other border was set at Georgia.

Now, I got sort of lucky with my royal line, a lot of my princes were very good, with balanced stats. I even had one prince with 6 command, 8 dread, and 9 acumen. Now when one of my kings died at about 52, his influence was full and he resided in Sinai when he died. My heir took over at about 28 years old. However, when he took over, his influence was also full, right from the beginning. I've never(except with the byzantines) had an heir take over with max influence right off the bat.

This might sound a little ridiculous, but does owning Constantinople automatically upgrade your influence? The new king was coronated at Constantinople, so I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it.

I've definitely noticed that my heirs come of age with better Influence when I'm holding Constantinople. This, and the +2 influence, +1 command starting bonus for the Byzantine faction leader, is what makes the Byzantine such a potent force. So I believe there is a hidden, hardcoded, bonus of some kind.

That the heirs stats is a major factor for the staring influence might also be a factor to consider.
Generally, if atleast 2 stats are above 6-7, the starting influence is high enough to make the bloodline almost self-sustaining in quality.

Would erradicating the Imperial family promote a four stars general to the throne with higher influence than my foolish and elderly emperor in a HRE game?

Possibly. I should caution you, however, that my experience with the HRE indicates the great nobles may not elect as Emperor the man you feel is your "best" general. Often times yes, but not always.

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Originally Posted by Ironside

That the heirs stats is a major factor for the staring influence might also be a factor to consider.
Generally, if atleast 2 stats are above 6-7, the starting influence is high enough to make the bloodline almost self-sustaining in quality.

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Well, that would certainly expain some of it. My new king had 6 piety, 8 dread, 7 command, and 8 acumen.

OK, I think I've officially hijacked the Byzantines royal line.

The uber king has died, to be replaced by the oldest heir, 18 years of age. He also began his kingship with max influence. His stats are even better then the last king's however. He's got 6 piety, 9 dread, 8 command, and 8 acumen.

Also, relating to the same Turkish campaign. Is there such a thing as having too many Jihads handy? Currently I have 21 markers sitting in Palestine in preparation for the Mongols. Plus, all of my provinces leading up to Georgia have 75% or more zeal. I'm starting to think that I might have gone a *little* overboard, since currnently I can barely even see the fortress in Palestine. I'm currently 6 years away from the mongol invasion.

Twenty one jihads? Here's the place to find the influence overflow bug if ever there was one. :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Maloncanth

Twenty one jihads? Here's the place to find the influence overflow bug if ever there was one. :laugh4:

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Ok, I kept going a little further on some different save lines. The mongols appeared and I launched EVERY crusade at Khazar. In total, I had 23 jihads from Palestine and 3 more from Antioch. Of note, I personally found it hilarious that I COMPLETELY blotted out Armenia on the way there.

When the Jihads arrived in Khazar, they each had at least 1200 soldiers, some with many more. I also sent an 8 star general with the "natural leader" and "captured" traits(+5 morale total) along to lead the troops. The mongols, seeming to sense their impending doom, took all their troops to Khazar and stood there, without expanding at all, save for Volga Bulgaria, which, it seems, joined them when they arrived.

The mongols, smartly, retreated completely out of Khazar to VB. This made things rather a nuisance, since all the Jihads broke down into smaller, regular stacks due to capturing the target. However, I stuck with it and took ALL of the Jihad troop I had gotten, and moved them into VB, along with the general. Also of note, my income went from plus 5k to losing 30k per turn.

The final battle was my forces: 46,000 versus Mongols forces: 12,000. I decided to auto the battle, I didn't really want such a massive battle at the moment. I might do the battle later, I saved a separate line for it. Anyways, I auto'd the battle, and after my computer lagged for 10 seconds, I found out that I won with a mere 800 casualties.

As for influence overflow, I actually got Piety overflow instead. My king's piety somehow dropped from 6 to 2 after I finished all the Jihads. Meanwhile, his influence stayed at nine. Actually, I think I did get influence overfow. I just checked and hired a bunch of mercs. Every single merc had max loyalty.

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Originally Posted by Maloncanth

Twenty one jihads? Here's the place to find the influence overflow bug if ever there was one. :laugh4:

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I find it every time I play. If I do more than 1 successful crusade in my king's lifetime, influence starts cycling around. Invariably, my heir comes of age on a low point in the cycle. :furious3: I have however just learned to live with it.

Sorry for a beginner question, but how do you make your king coronate in Constatinope ? Does that mean leaving your next heir in the Big C when your king about to die ?

The king is coronated in the most politically advanced province among the territories you hold. Since Constantinople has so many of those buildings, any empire that takes Constantinople almost always coronates there from then on.

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Originally Posted by dknight

Sorry for a beginner question, but how do you make your king coronate in Constatinope ? Does that mean leaving your next heir in the Big C when your king about to die ?

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The new king will spawn in the province with most buildings, usually the one with the title giving buildings. Atleast it's the current theory about it.

I have a question somewhat related to the topic, but too small to start an entirely new thread about. Does the "Bloat-effect" effect my heirs? In my Polish campaign my current king has 8 command stars and maximum influence (is it 8 or 10?) and overall very decent-to-good stats (e.g. 4 acumen). But now my three princes have turned out real losers when compared to their father. 0 command stars for each of them and nasty vices (Chinless Wonder, Secret Adultery etc) although pretty good acumen. Is this purely bad luck or has this something to do with the "Bloat-effect"?

The vices are probably just bad luck, and as their other stats are ok, the 0 command is probably caused by the command star loop bug. The effect of this bug is that heirs come of age with 0 stars where the king is around 8 or 9 star. This is a common problem for the Byzantine.

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Originally Posted by Cambyses II

The vices are probably just bad luck, and as their other stats are ok, the 0 command is probably caused by the command star loop bug. The effect of this bug is that heirs come of age with 0 stars where the king is around 8 or 9 star. This is a common problem for the Byzantine.

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Starts at 7 stars, but happens rarely at that point.
AFAIK the wrap-around bug only affects the command on hiers (the kings got it on piety and influence, although the influence one is only temporal).

On the plus side, if you got good other stats, it will only take 2-3 generations to get good commanding hiers again. The low star ones often makes good governors too.