Family Tree bug

[Bramborough]

My FL's oldest son came of age a couple of turns ago. Which I had been waiting on for a while to designate him the FH. Geberic also appears, however, in the "Other Nobles" panel, and has no political actions available, becoming FH or otherwise.

This has actually been happening quite a bit to me over multiple campaigns, both pre- and post-patch. More than half the time when a family member comes of age, he appears in both locations, without actions available. Sometimes it clears up after a turn or two, and the character functions properly after that. In other cases, the guy stays "dual" forever.

Is anyone else having crap like this happen to them in the Family Tree?

[Slaists]

This is a reported bug; I am surprised they let it live in the new patch.

There are other tree screw-ups though. For example, a retainer can become a governor which does not make sense since a retainer would be following the 'teacher' around. When you try to remove the retainer assignment manually the game tends to crash.

There are frequent duplications of characters inside the family tree as well. I believe, the cause of these is reshuffling of the tree as family grows/marries, etc.

[Bramborough]

As it turns out, Geberic cleared up and starting functioning properly just as soon as I finished the OP and logged into the campaign. His brother Ammius, however, is "dual-natured" as well, and has been so for quite a few turns now.

Their illegitimate cousin Gento was the bastard of their uncle-by-marriage, who was married to the King's sister. Gento was "dual" also. But then his father died, and his mother was not royal. So his situation resolved too; Gento is now firmly with the "Other Nobles" and no longer appears in the FT (his legitimate half-siblings did stay in the family). This actually makes some sense, I guess....and would even have made some sense for him to appear in both locations before the death of the uncle.

Such ancestral ambiguity, however, should never have come into play with Geberic and Ammius, both of whom are legitimate offspring of the game-start FL.

I haven't seen the retainer/governor bug...probably because I haven't used the retainer action much. I do think I remember seeing some character duplications within the FT before though...although not persistent over many turns.

One other rather amusing bug I ran into last campaign. The traits "Eunuch" and "Infertile" seem to cancel each other out and, if anything, result in higher-than-normal procreation. Had a randy old uncle with both of these traits who routinely produced 1-2 offspring (both legitimate and illegitimate) per turn. The guy had over 40 children by the time he died...at least 30 of whom were born after he picked up the traits which purportedly made him incapable of such. And yes, that Family Tree graphic was quite tiresome to navigate.

[Slaists]

The retainer feature is actually working very well now (except for the buggy part).

You can assign a retainer only to a character who has a higher rank. Once assigned, the retainer will rack up ranks and influence same as the teacher (sometimes faster if the retainer has appropriate traits, ancillaries).

It is very useful for situations when you have young family members around, but do not want to raise fresh armies just for them.

Once the retainer reaches the same rank as the teacher he will abandon the retainer position. You can cancel that assignment manually at an earlier time though.

[Bramborough]

Oh sure, I recognize the retainer action is quite useful. I haven't used it much for a couple of reasons: First, I usually want the new family member to marry first, I spend the first few influence points on that. Not only because I want to ensure the next generation grows (mortality can hit rather hard), but also because I find the wives quite useful in their own right...so much more significant than in R2. Second, I like having the Companion offices filled (with characters of both sides); with 3 or 4 of these guys, it's a pretty significant agri-wealth boost. The nature of climate change pretty much ensures that all provinces will have several food slots, most likely taken by sheep/goats/camels depending on faction.

By the time I get one or both of these goals fulfilled, usually I've found a job for a guy by then.

It's perfectly possible that I've got my priorities out of whack here, and should perhaps emphasize retainership earlier.

[Slaists]

I tend to marry the young guys to foreigners. Don't have to spend influence points on those marriages (sometimes, need to pay cash though). An added benefit: you can see what the traits of the future bride to be are. My guys tend to find some weird wenches if I let them find brides on their own.

Also, by marrying foreigners you can get the guys married much earlier since you need no influence points. It is a pain to find the brides though.

[JeromeBaker]

When you marry a foreigner to your younger noble, what other benefits, if any, do you get aside from not needing to spend influence points? Does it make a difference in diplomacy or decrease the odds of them declaring war on you?

I havent really bothered to spend the time to look for brides, but I have married my guys to foreign brides when I have been presented with a good offer from another Faction.

Also, when you set someone up to be a retainer, doesnt it also drain influence points away from the person who does the training? I thought I noticed my older veteran guy losing points as the younger guy gained influence points.

[Slaists]

When you marry a foreigner to your younger noble, what other benefits, if any, do you get aside from not needing to spend influence points? Does it make a difference in diplomacy or decrease the odds of them declaring war on you?

I havent really bothered to spend the time to look for brides, but I have married my guys to foreign brides when I have been presented with a good offer from another Faction.

Also, when you set someone up to be a retainer, doesnt it also drain influence points away from the person who does the training? I thought I noticed my older veteran guy losing points as the younger guy gained influence points.

I haven't seen my "trainers" lose any influence points. It could be that your trainer has some negative trait that deducts influence per turn. The most important point about trainers is that they have to be active (fight battles every turn or so or govern and build a lot). The trainee will gain xp and influence at the same rate as the trainer (pretty much). In a sense, you get a double whammy.

If the trainer is inactive, both characters are likely to develop negative traits.

As to marrying a foreigner: you get a diplo boost with the faction of the bride. It shows up in the diplo relations screen.

[Bramborough]

I've done a couple of diplomatic marriages. In one case, had to do it this way because my FL had no political actions due to the bug which was subject of my OP. As far as I can tell, the foreigner bride doesn't have family influence and is therefore politically inert. I assumed it was supposed to be this way since they were foreign...might I have run into a bug there as well and not have realized it?

This lack of influence is why I haven't pursued diplomatic marriages more often for my own male characters. The reverse, however, doesn't seem to be the case; if I marry off a daughter or niece or whatever to some other faction, she still stays in the family tree and retains useable influence and actions.

[Slaists]

I've done a couple of diplomatic marriages. In one case, had to do it this way because my FL had no political actions due to the bug which was subject of my OP. As far as I can tell, the foreigner bride doesn't have family influence and is therefore politically inert. I assumed it was supposed to be this way since they were foreign...might I have run into a bug there as well and not have realized it?

This lack of influence is why I haven't pursued diplomatic marriages more often for my own male characters. The reverse, however, doesn't seem to be the case; if I marry off a daughter or niece or whatever to some other faction, she still stays in the family tree and retains useable influence and actions.

Hmm, my foreign wives accumulate a ton of influence. Actually, some arrive with a bundle to start with. You might have hit some bug wall there. Any mods?

[Bramborough]

No, no mods. Guess that gal was bugged then. Dang it. Rather frustrating...I really like the new (or rather, "resurrected") FT and political system. They just need to straighten it out a bit.

[Slaists]

No, no mods. Guess that gal was bugged then. Dang it. Rather frustrating...I really like the new (or rather, "resurrected") FT and political system. They just need to straighten it out a bit.

Here, a fresh foreign bride, 48+ influence in dowry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It seems, this girl has been around too, an illegitimate kid as a bonus (of sorts)...

[ichi]

I am feeling this bug right now

My Saxon has no heir, his only son died an infant; so I go looking through the family tree and everyone is misshapen or doesn't believe in an afterlife or has some issue that reduces their quality as the next leader, except one. He is perfect, even has a few positive qualities, except . . .

he has no option to be made heir. I can't adopt him since he's a family member (a bastard nephew; his dad, my brother, was heir when he died).

Gah! (haha I learned to say Gah! from this bunch 10 years ago and I still say it - LMAO)

oh well, some random young General will benefit from nephew's bad luck I guess

[Bramborough]

@ichi, funny, most of my more serious FT problems happened to be a Saxon campaign as well.

On current Ostro campaign (which was subject of OP), these issues have mostly been corrected, my family guys are functioning properly now...but I expect more hiccups when the next generation starts to come of age in about 40 turns (hope my current characters survive til then).