Births and Deaths

[Sir Dipthong]

My Kings seem to invariably have 10+ offspring. I've noticed this with 6 different factions, the only variation being the Egyptians, who managed about 5 or 6, but as these were males only, the average would still be about 12.

Does the birthrate vary according to difficulty? All my campaigns have been normal (although frequently quirky).

Would the rate be different for each faction? I'm no historian, but I'm sure 4 would be average-ish, with 6 being quite prolific. People, even royalty, were more likely to die from illness then, so grim as it may be, shouldn't there be some random heir deaths other than just in battle?

[Negative]

Just think long winters + no birth control = lots of births.

[Papewaio]

Exactly. No TV either look at the baby booms that happen nine months after major power black outs.

A higher death rate requires a higher birth rate to replace attrition. True lots of women died during child birth... but kings could always find another bride.

Anyhow my grandparents have 81 first cousins between them.

Modern families with two children is a recent first world event. Look at poorer countries or your own family tree going back 3 to 5 generations and you will see the family size was much larger in previous generations.

[Zolt]

Would have been easier to be an heir with less births. You aren't expendable anymore to your father and don't have to worry about 6-7 younger brothers trying to eliminate you to take your eventual throne

[FesterShinetop]

I once got a message that my king had so much ofspring everybody was really amazed (well, something like that), anybody seen that one before, I only seen it once?
Does that give you a bonus or something if you are playing a catholic faction? Wouldn't be surprised. And if so, does this only count for male ofspring?

[solypsist]

My Almohad king is a virtual factory for babies, so it's probably not exclusive to Catholic countries, but a good theory nonetheless

[fastspawn]

Quote[/b] (solypsist @ Nov. 12 2002,22:36)]My Almohad king is a virtual factory for babies, so it's probably not exclusive to Catholic countries, but a good theory nonetheless

i think the muslims leaders produce more heirs as they don't have to marry princesses in other to get the married status. in fact most of them are married as soon as they come of age.

[The_Dude]

I have the exactly oposite case. I play expert, early with the French (as I am French&#33. My king became king at 35 years old, was already married and have just a little daughter. I had to wait until is 50 to have his first son and he just had one daughter in 15 years Now I just hope he will not die before is soon is 16....

[LovelyHaji]

My English kings breed like freaks, only thing is they suffer from henry VIII syndrome. no more daughters I want warriors - a shieldmaiden would be fine... an amazon even better

[Cooperman]

You'd think the rulers of muslim factions with there large harems would have more heirs than catholics.

[SideshowBob]

It can be a real pain at times, i was playing as Denmark and the king managed to bankrupt me early in the game by insisting that i pay upkeep for the massive army of royal sons he had produced. I'm not a big fan of royal knights as you only have a unit size of 20, so all these unwanted sons just cost me money. Where is my royal chastity belt?

[Caledfwlch]

Just send the worse of your offspring to war, if they survive you've probably got another region, if not then you've got lower support costs.

[Al Qasim Hussein]

What's this about Muslim princes being married when they come of age?

I've played the ALmohads Early Normal for some time now (I'm in the late 1200's) and none of my offspring ever turn up married. Nor can I get a good white-skinned maiden fair from the Northern factions to marry one of my husky, strapping young sons.

Yusuf V: See Yusuf there? He's strapping, right? Your porcelain skinned beauty would be happy with him, right? Right?

Conrad: Um, well, you see Yusuf, well, I just can't. Sorry ol' buddy.

Yusuf V: But I let you keep GENOA Precious Genoa, hmm? Certainly worth a favor, old friend C'mon, I'll stop the whole Alim/spy invasion thing

Conrad: Sorry Yusuf, no can do. Your son is so...well, Muslim.

Yusuf V: Stupid Christians, I spit on you

[SideshowBob]

Muslim kings just reproduce anyway, they are assumed to have a harem. Basically when playing a Muslim faction you don't need to worry about princesses at all. The Catholics will never marry you and you don't produce princesses or need to worry about getting hitched.

The only use of princesses to Muslim factions is to train your assassins

[Al Qasim Hussein]

but if, as several other posts claim, marrying into other nations' bloodlines increases the positive traits of your heirs (or at least SHOULD do so... ), how would I cultivate those traits? Furthermore, I have seen the AI Muslim factions w/ married heirs. So there must be a way

[LadyAnn]

I played my first campaign as Egyptian (by now, everyone would already know , it is expert mode, early era). King never produces a daughter although I saw an Elmohad's princess before. He had on average 3 heirs available, lowest is 2, highest is 5.

Annie

[Spetulhu]

Quote[/b] (Papewaio @ Nov. 13 2002,01:00)]Modern families with two children is a recent first world event. Look at poorer countries or your own family tree going back 3 to 5 generations and you will see the family size was much larger in previous generations.

Quite true. My father was born in 1944, and he`s got six siblings. Mother on the other hand was an only child, and she`s just two years younger. They never saw the need for more than two kids, so I`ve only got one brother.

Back on topic: some of those kids may well be illegitimate sons/daughters. It wasn`t unheard of for nobility or royalty to provide their bastards with an education and a high office. IIRC someone who was officially acknowledged as your child could even inherit.

[Teutonic Knight]

my german emporer really gets it on Hubba Hubba Jah baby 15 kids in 15 years ( and sometimes more than one kid a year )