some random questions about kings,princes, and princesses.

**chris34au** · 02-13-2009, 07:52

i've looked through a lot of older threads about heirs but i still have a few questions that i was hoping that someone might be able to answer.

on Kings,

if you have a king at the start of a campaign that's say, 4 stars and 38 years old and you've played this faction enough times in the past to know that he'll die within 15-20 years and your first heir is also 4 stars, would it be a better move to use your king in battles or would it be smarter to work on building up your prince? would it depend on how many other heirs are going to be maturing before the King dies?

on princesses,

when they earn valor for forming alliances, does that have any kind of effect on your campaign? how about marrying your heirs to foreign princesses that have 2 or 3 stars? does that increase the likelihood of producing heirs with really good traits?

on princes,

is the acumen thing totally random? it seems like no matter how i play(turtling or blitzing), i still end up with a lot of heirs with 1 plume of acumen at the very start of a campaign. blitzing seems like it might help a little but i like to stay fairly small(4-5 provinces) for the first 100 years or so of a campaign. i'm not crazy about the idea of using spies or inquisitors. are there any other options for improving this or is it totally random?

TIA

**The Unknown Guy** · 02-13-2009, 09:26

on the first one: groom the prince. That way you improve the bloodline.

If you have many princes, and the first ones are mediocre, make sure you send them into a certain death (or use an assasin. but suicidal missions are cheaper.

I also try to build up dread, though I dont know wheter it does something or not.

**Agent Miles** · 02-13-2009, 15:16

If your middle aged ruler has very young sons ‘on the way’ then it still will pay off to develop his inheritable skills and traits. Certainly, if you have ten years before they start coming of age, then it would pay off to put some effort into him. You will benefit from his sons long before you would get any of his grandsons.

The stars of a princess only add to her survivor skills against an assassin, AFAIK. So they shouldn’t improve her progeny.

Acumen is improved by being in a province on the turn that trade buildings, roads and mines are finally constructed. This is explained in detail in FBE’s guides’ section.

**Geezer57** · 02-13-2009, 15:20

Originally Posted by chris34au

on princesses,

when they earn valor for forming alliances, does that have any kind of effect on your campaign? how about marrying your heirs to foreign princesses that have 2 or 3 stars? does that increase the likelihood of producing heirs with really good traits?

Princesses earning valor by Diplomacy is pretty iffy, as they'll just end up married to first faction that has a single Prince. Better to us Emissaries for this task. The valor either earn this way is only of benefit (IIRC) in diplomatic persuasion and in resistance to assassins. Don't think it improves heirs at all.

It might be an interesting experiment: only ask for ceasefires/alliances from factions with no single heirs until the Princess has many stars, then marry the Princess to your own first-in-line heir - see what pops out sixteen years later.

**drone** · 02-13-2009, 16:45

At the very start of a campaign, I might use the king in a few battles, but after a while I think it's better just to let him sit them out. Attacking with him may lead to unrest issues since he will get "stranded" after the attack if a siege follows.

As said before, groom the heirs. Once the sons come of age, send them into battle as commanders at every opportunity. This will make the heir a better king (and hence improve his children), and it will leave you with plenty of royal uncles with high command values.

As far as I know, stars on a princess only affect her resistance to assassination and diplomatic ability.

**chris34au** · 02-13-2009, 23:36

thanks for all of the tips. i've tried looking through older threads to find the answers to most of these questions but i've never had any luck.

**Fagar** · 02-14-2009, 01:30

I agree with what Drone said.
Use the hiers, build them up, groom them well and they will become fine kings.

I tend to find it better for the peace of the realm to keep my king somewhere in the middle of my empire as I hate constantly checking loyalty and guarding against rebellions.

**chris34au** · 02-14-2009, 01:39

does acumen really matter? my first heir in an Aragonese campaign that i started the other night was a 5 star but only had one plume of acumen. if it only effect the general happiness of your faction, it's really not that big of a deal, i guess. but it seems like i rarely get more than 1-2 plumes of acumen in my heirs for at least 2-3 generations or so. i didn't know if the tax rate or what's being built in your provinces has anything to do with this or if it's totally random. i never set the tax rate above high in any provinces but it doesn't really seem to help any, as far as i can tell.