Quote Originally Posted by [b
Quote[/b] ]If there is, in fact, a relationship between the command rating of a king and that of his potential offspring then it seems entirely possible that a king with a command rating of 0* might have sons of little command ability.
There is a relationship. If a 3* King gets a Battle virtue, Skilled Attacker etc, then this is generally passed on to his offspring who will be 4* or higher. This is not a hard and fast rule.

Marrying foreign princess helps keeps the blood strong and will avoid the Chinless Wonders and worse.

In a bizarre twist the 0* son of a 9* King is actually a 10* or higher but the game doesn't recognise that so they pop out as 0*, which is why they still have good stats in the other areas and aren't your typical English or Italian total loser.
So it might be a good idea to let the 9* King just do a few battles to avoid becoming Lazy and let the genes water down to 7* or 8* again before impersonating Philip of Macedon.