Is '56' an unlucky number?

[Turbo]

Randomness and ignorance are better than knowing for sure that the king's ticker stops at 56, and no heir means game over.

Based on a recent email I received from activision customer service, no patch is planned for VI.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to workaround this? I know you can play the Germans and avoid the problem but the AI definately suffers from it. Would a possible fix be in enabling the AI to build princesses? More women more heirs?

Thoughts anyone?

[MiniKiller]

Maybe its supposed to be set at 56. I was thinking and back then didnt people generally die at a pretty young age? like under 60 or am I thinking to to far back?

[Brutal DLX]

Guys, check the threads in the main and entrance halls.
Kings die at 56 because 40 years is the lifespan of any general unit, and since heirs get to command a unit at age 16... it's hardcoded and needs a hack or patch to change.

As for now, the only workaround is to type the cheatcode .unfreeze. as soon as your king is 39 and has no heirs thus far. That will give you an heir on the next turn that will come of age just when you king is about to die and thus at least lets you continue your campaign.

[rory_20_uk]

I think that the age is approximately right, but that should only mean that your king is very likely to die after that age, not dead at 56.
A better solution would be that your sons are allowed to have wives and children, so that if the king's sons die and his grandchildren are old enough the lineage can continue.

[Demon of Light]

Quote[/b] (rory_20_uk @ June 21 2003,10:59)]I think that the age is approximately right, but that should only mean that your king is very likely to die after that age, not dead at 56.

The king in any game with the expansion installed dies at 56. If you don't have the expansion installed then there is no problem but the computer kills ALL monarchs after you hit "turn" when their age is displayed at 56 with Viking Invasions installed.

Workarounds: unfreeze is a viable option. I've also heard that kings on a Crusade don't die while the Crusade is active. Can anyone check into this?

[Magraev]

Another option is to turn back to 1.1 (uninstall VI). That worked for me, but I find that I miss some of the other features of VI - like the battle setup screen and the higher valor spies and asassins.

[GilJaysmith]

Just to confirm there is no non-cheat-code workaround possible for this. The code says 'you will die at 56'...

Sorry.

[Magraev]

Too bad but thanks for the reply. We'll just have to wait for the patch then Maybe CA should do what eidos does. The latest patch for Championship Manager 4 is called "enhancement pack 4". The game is only barely playable with enhancement pack 3 installed, so it's kinda far fetched to call it enhancements.

[Jacque Schtrapp]

Quote[/b] (rory_20_uk @ June 21 2003,12:59)]A better solution would be that your sons are allowed to have wives and children, so that if the king's sons die and his grandchildren are old enough the lineage can continue.

They are and they do. One thind the "death at 56" bug forces you to do is actually pay attention to securing a wife for your heirs because they will start breeding once they are married. Track the age of a king to 56 and then take a look at his heirs before he dies, the turn after he dies look again, if the heir who inherited is married you will see new princes listed in the heirs list. Pay attention and pursue royal marriages.

[rory_20_uk]

So there is a point to getting the prince hitched I'll have to remember to get the emissiaries out getting him laid ASAP.