Changing Heirs

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hello Main Hall
Feels like ages since I posted in here - I've only just managed to get the game working on one of my new computers using a fix posted in the sticky at the top of this forum. My M:TW knowledge hasn't improved though, if anything its deteriorated with about a year of not playing, so please excuse the series of noobish questions I'm probably going to be bombarding you guys with over the next few weeks.

Right now I've got an XL Novgorad campaign on the go. Things are going quite well - I've got a fairly powerful and proffesional military and control all of what is modern day Russia (or the bit on the map anyway). This military is taking its toll on the economy, probably not helped by the lack of extensive wealth in the area, but I'm surviving anyhow.

I'm currently fighting a defensive war against the Polish, who recently re-emerged, the English, who have lost most of their lands to the French, and Lithuanians, who also recently re-emerged but with a fairly pathetic force mainly of archers and millita units. All of these forces are more minor irritants than major threats and are easily seen off by my military. They are, however, limiting my expansion - my other neighbours, the neutral Hungarians, which have a sizeable force and I would rather not enter a war against, I can foresee taking advantage if I take my considerable defensive military might away from our shared borders to attacks on other fronts. This would not be too good, leaving a fair amount of provinces, mainly my most developed ones, previously enclosed open to invasion.

One problem I'm having at the moment is influence and power from my "king" (or "prince" as he is called in the game). King David is currently fairly useless - he started out with one acumen, two command, no dread, no piety and started out with two influence. He's improved a little since then, mainly in the command field, but only has ever made it up to four influence compared to my previous leader ending his reign on a fluctuating five/six.

I also blame King David for the wave of invasions which followed his father's death - the turn after he died, my entire empire seemed under attack from even the weakest of neighbours. Sweden captured Novgorad for a couple of turns, Danemark, formally my allies, decided to take an obsessive fancy to Estonia, Poland, which I later annexed, went after lands on our borders, England, a little more powerful then, had a go at taking my costal regions, and the Volga Bulgas went for two of my heavily fortified Eastern regions. I took everything I lost back and wiped out some of the weaker factions along the way. Fortunately, non of these invasions were of a concern to me, if anything they gave me an excuse to invade a couple of places I'd wanted control of for a while.

The key issue about David though, is the fact that he had a set of brilliant, nearly perfect, brothers. He was, effectively, the blot on the family tree. If I'd known how, I'd certainly have given one of his brothers the role of heir to the throne. Right now I'm in a similar situation. Although the current royal family isn't too bad, my current heir isn't quite as good quality as his brothers. He did actually use to be the better of the set, but he turned into an inbred, that trait line is evil by the way, drunkard which knocked his capabilities down by a fair amount.

So, with all that said, is it possible to change heirs to somebody a little more suitable than the eldest son (without sending them on a solo mission to turn their backs towards enemies that is). I somehow think you can from comments in the Citadel complaining about M2:TW's lack of heir selection mechanisms.

All help appreciated (and sorry for rambling by the way)

[caravel]

You cannot choose your heirs in MTW. The only method open to you is killing off the runt before he ascends the throne. Known affectionately as "pruning" this can be carried out in several ways:

1) Spies can be dropped on a low loyalty prince to have him framed for treason and put to death. This is the preferred method. If his loyalty is not too low, repeated attempts at a treason plot setup will lower his loyalty even more and also give him traits that will have the same effect. He may also gain valour vs spies as part of these traits however forcing to give up and employ an assassin...

2) A decent assassin can take an inbred, secret pervert, coward out of the equation. Failed assassinations will gain him traits vs assassins but won't lower his loyalty.

3) The inquistion can be called in as a last resort if you're a catholic faction. If the target has low piety he should be out of the game fairly quickly if hit by a 4+ star inquisitor. Failed attempts can cause totally opposite traits, such as "true believer" or "atheist" so it can go either way. If the Inquisition keep trying they should get him eventually though.

4) One way boat trips are the emergency procedure. Just ensure the target doesn't have a port and don't pay the ransom and you won't see him again.

To try and avoid all of this, try to keep an eye on when your heirs are about to mature. Get your king out taking provinces and winning battles to gain influence in readiness, as the better inlfuence he has the better quality heirs he will produce. Also remember that while relieving besieged allies often seems pointless it does gain your king influence every time.

[Martok]

Omanes: No need to apologize for rambling, mate. (Otherwise we'd never have time for anything but saying "sorry" to each other all the time.)


Cynwulf is correct. The only way to stop someone from ascending to the throne is to get rid of them. Trees often benefit from some judicious pruning, and family trees in MTW are no different. Better to have weak princes eliminated, even if it is heartless.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Thanks folks

Shame that I can't change the heir conventionally though. Particularly since my favourite prince is fifth (and second to last) in line to the throne. My current king is painfully fertile compared to his predecessors - at most they only ever had two heirs compared to his six. I suppose it shows he's good at something anyway.

[Knight of the Rose]

Well, if all the brothers are good, then a good uncle-to-be is actually better. Unless you play with the green generals option, a good prince will in time naturally turn into a good general making him elegible for command boosting titles. These generals tend to be the best you can get, usually just as good as 'heroes'. Your King (or Grand Prince) will die and disappear one day.

Good luck with the campaign, and welcome back

/KotR