Quote Originally Posted by Count Fudgula
Thanks for the information, folks. Looks like "vitus" is the one that did it, now if only I could work out how to get that again...

I tried doing a reload to check the deaths of the two generals on the same turn, and I noticed that if I refused the husband for the daughter the two older generals would survive. I also refused to adopt two other captains from Man Of The Hour type opportunities that same turn. The two old guys are still going strong after a few more turns, and a few more refusals of adoption opportunites.

My theory is that the chance of your older generals dying off is greatly enhanced whenever your generals-to-provinces ratio gets too high. I currently have the same number of generals and potential generals (sons and possible husbands to daughters) as I have provinces. Has anyone got any hard figures on the ideal ratio? Or can anyone else confirm that this kind of behaviour is occuring?

That is VERY interesting. I had not noticed the link before but recalling circumstances it sounds quite plausible, I'll start watching for this. I think I'm going to start refusing adoption of generals with poor pedigrees. I have been arranging retinue transfers whenever my generals hit their mid 50's. It really helps the upstarts to get rolling. I park the old guy in a big province where he can make lots of money for me, keep order up/squalor down, recruit units cheaply, and build stuff at a discount. He spends his retirement years in comfort governing cities and transferring some of his retinue.