Quote Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
It\'s historically accurate

The Romans selected, sometimes even adopted, their heirs. Most cultures during the middle ages determined inheritance by bloodlines. Most Western areas used Salic law (no female inheritance, and all land to go to the eldest son) or semi-Salic (all land goes to the eldest son, or if he is dead to his eldest surviving son. If there is no continuation of the eldest son\'s bloodline then it passes to his next eldest brother, then that brother\'s sons in order of age, and so on until you run out of males, at which point the female who is the closest heir (e.g. daughter of the deceased) inherited).

So RTW was accurate for its time, and M2TW for its. I like that.
It is historically accurate for the heir to be chosen based on hereditary ranking by the computer immediately upon the crowning of a new King. It is NOT historically accurate for this to be unchangable. There were many situations in which hereditary rules were tossed out the window at the convenience of various nations. The War of Spanish Succession and the Glorious Revolution spring immediately to mind. If you want to be historically accurate, give a major loyalty drop to the disinherited family member and perhaps even an increase in unrest in all settlement and a decrease in relations with foreign powers. However, simply forbidding the choice altogether is NOT historically accurate.

If you want concrete proof of why it is not, consider the following:

King Postmortem dies at a relatively youthful age due to Chronic Sword Through Heart Syndrome. His heir, Prince Flacid, inherits, but is not yet married and does not have a son. The game automatically makes the now King Flacid\'s eldest brother, Prince Windfall the heir. King Flacid then marries the foreign Princess Viagratia and they produce a son, Prince Thoughtunlikely. The game will now prevent Prince Thoughtunlikely from inheriting his rightful throne and his uncle Prince Windfall will become the next king, even though he would have been instantly removed as heir in any medieval European monarchy.

All in all, the option should be there in some form.