Succession

[KampfHase]

Hi there,

here's my problem:

Exemplification:

In the campaign I always start up with good generals and smart governors. It lasts for some years and a couple of territorial expansions...

But as my chief grows older (and so are my other governors) the problem really begins. I'm always getting followers and successors that are either unable to lead an army (no command stars) or are as stupid as a brainless (no intelligence or influence points). So... there's a problem with the succession. Because all of a sudden, when my leader dies, I'm short of able and smart governors and leaders.

Am I doing something wrong? Concerning the succession chain/tree?

There's a time at the beginning when I just don't have a need for non-talented wannabe generals and then years later I have to use some common stupid to fill in the place of a smartass.

It seems to be a tough thing to get able men as successors because after a while those stupid guys guit knocking on your door, ya know what I mean and I just stand there with angry citizens and ...

Well, hope you know what I mean.

What can I do?

Marriage? Or just take what you can get and hope that the stupid ones will grow smarter throughout the years?

Or just be pacient and wait for smarter successors?

Thanx in advance and if this topic war written before please give me a note and cancel this one.

KampfHase

[IliaDN]

Advices:
1. There is a great article about generals in the RTW guides;
2. Some traits of your generals depends on your faction ( for example: barbarians often get good commanders and some civilized factions get generals with good influence or managment ( at least they have more chances of getting such traits )
3. Also if you want develop some traits you need to do some actions focused on recivieng them ( to get stars you must give your new general some action , to gain managment you need to build some scriptoriums e.t.c in the city ).

[KampfHase]

Hi there,

thank you for the recommendation of the article. Really great infos.

Now I really got the idea of breeding and raising characters.

I'll go and practice.

Thanx

[Mahrabals apprentice]

I have a problem with succession aswell.
When my faction leader dies, and his heir become the new leader the game automatically selectes a new heir, and he is invariably not the person i wanted as heir. So i when i change who the heir is on my family tree the guy who loses heir status get the 'disinherited' trait and loses some influence.

Is there any way i can selct an heir and his heir aswell, so i do not get dumped with a poor heir when the leader dies? or have to make the computer selected poor heir even worse by disinheriting him?

Also can someone tell me how new family members (adopted, coming of age and marrying into the family) are placed on the campeign map? Because, as the brutii, I have 4 family members each Cronton and Traentum and its getting on my nerves having transporting them.

[Conqueror]

I think the computer assigns the family member with the highest influence as the new heir. So when your leader is getting old, try dumping good retinue to your preferred fm, to raise his influence.

As for where family members appear, the sons who come at age should appear in the same settlement where their father is governor. If the man is out on the field or dead already then I think the sons will appear in your capital.

[Hefaistion]

I think the best way to do when you've ran out of good generals is simply to fight as man rebel armys as you can , this will surely raise your generals command bonuses , and also give him a few more stars. You can also fight rebels whiteout a "part of the family general" to bring forward new talented generals by winning your battles ,this will make you able to adopt the general and SmacK! you have your self a good general prepared to fight for his and of course our honor!

[Krauser]

You can set the faction heir in the family tree screen. This is accessed by pressing 'O' and then checking the icons in the bottom right corner. You can't set the heir to the heir. Just remember when your leader dies to set the new heir.

[Mahrabals apprentice]

You can set the faction heir in the family tree screen. This is accessed by pressing 'O' and then checking the icons in the bottom right corner. You can't set the heir to the heir. Just remember when your leader dies to set the new heir.

I am not sure you understand what i was asking
I have a leader and an heir. The leader dies, the heir is the new leader AND THE COMPUTER PICKS AN AWFUL NEW HEIR WHO I WOULD NOT WANT AS LEADER.
But if i change the heir to someone i want then the man i didn't what loses influence

[Kagemusha]

I am not sure you understand what i was asking
I have a leader and an heir. The leader dies, the heir is the new leader AND THE COMPUTER PICKS AN AWFUL NEW HEIR WHO I WOULD NOT WANT AS LEADER.
But if i change the heir to someone i want then the man i didn't what loses influence

You cant get around that.

[player1]

You could always mod vices and virtues.

Find in export_descr_character_traits.txt (from data folder):

Trigger disinherited
    WhenToTest CeasedFactionHeir

    Condition not Trait Exheir = 1
          and not IsFactionLeader

    Affects Exheir  2  Chance  100

Change Exheir value to 1, so that it only loses Hair bonus, but not gains disinherited trait.

[Krauser]

I am not sure you understand what i was asking
I have a leader and an heir. The leader dies, the heir is the new leader AND THE COMPUTER PICKS AN AWFUL NEW HEIR WHO I WOULD NOT WANT AS LEADER.
But if i change the heir to someone i want then the man i didn't what loses influence

Oh sorry. That's part of the game though. I think it's supposed to represent resentment or jealousy for making the other family member the heir.

[sapi]

If you don't want to change the game files i THINK you can do

add_trait "name" disenherited_0

[bippukt]

You could always mod vices and virtues.

Find in export_descr_character_traits.txt (from data folder):

Trigger disinherited
    WhenToTest CeasedFactionHeir

    Condition not Trait Exheir = 1
          and not IsFactionLeader

    Affects Exheir  2  Chance  100

Change Exheir value to 1, so that it only loses Hair bonus, but not gains disinherited trait.

This is great information. Thanks!

[pezhetairoi]

though it's only fair that you don't change it. Anyway, if the disinherited guy loses influence, then just use him in battle instead of keeping him in the cities. I don't see the big problem with that.

[Mahrabals apprentice]

though it's only fair that you don't change it. Anyway, if the disinherited guy loses influence, then just use him in battle instead of keeping him in the cities. I don't see the big problem with that.

The problem i am having with the situation is not that disinheritage = loss of influence, its that i can not pick my future heir, so i am put in the situatoion where someone loses their influence.

[pezhetairoi]

well...you can remedy that by bribing other factions' factioners. The situation itself is unavoidable, so it shouldn't really be a problem or issue... Sorry if I'm not getting at what you're getting at, but this whole issue really looks pointless to me.

[BobTheTerrible]

He's saying that the AI automatically picks an heir for him. And the AI generally picks a bad heir. So he is forced to make the man who the AI picked as heir lose influence to choose the man he really wanted as heir. His problem, as I understand it, is not anything to do with the existence of the "disinheireted" trait, only that in order to choose the heir that he would like, the man that the AI picked gains the trait. He is powerless to pick the heir that he wants without the AI selected heir becoming disinheireted.

[pezhetairoi]

Well, if the AI picks a bad heir anyway, that means he's nothing desirable to start with. So what's an additional disinherited trait on top of all that if you already didn't care for him having any leadership positions in future anyway?

[LestaT]

So far playing as Romans I never had bad heirs. It's because maybe I ise them both (FL & FH) as army general and no governors.

But the bad thing is after 30-40 years of gameplay then sometimes I get almost new faction leader every time because all good traits general are old by the time they are promoted from heir to leader.

Last time I played I remember I got a new faction leader 3 turn in a row..

Cheers...

p/s: I never change my heir. Always trust the AI to decide for me.

[PseRamesses]

It´s amazing that CA didn´t make it possible for the human player to be in control of the succession feature don´t you think?! It should completely automatic or manual IMHO.

[Geoffrey S]

I tend to follow the Roman approach. Basically I try to get the youngest generals into a lot of smaller skirmishes (usually against rebels) to gain valour and some command stars. Once they've leveled up a bit they command larger armies against other factions. When they get a bit older and have built up their influence they get put into administrative duties, at first usually near some kind of academy near the center of my empire, the better generals get the settlements near borders or even conquer a new region.

This approach tends to lead to more experienced and balanced generals. Remeber, even awful looking generals can (and should) be trained into a better leader with some care. The earlier you start with that, the better!

[Gaius Magnus]

For me it's either feast or famine. Either I'm looking under rocks and in tortoise burrows for another family member, or they're falling out of every nook and cranny, clogging up the cities.

[grapedog]

i usually move my kids out from the center.

say if I'm playing a roman, I have my centers of learning and when someone has a kid, his kid takes over governership and the father moves out a step. trade isn't as good as it used to be for a few turns, but after a bit the kid has a decent retinue with maybe some extras for the father and it's fine again. but the father with the already good management goes out and brings law and order to the lesser towns and cities of my kindgom bringing in better rewards. it does take a little micro management, but I'd rather lose a few dinarii here and there, then move the kids out to lesser provinces where it's harder/slower for them to pick up good retinue or traits.

[OlafTheBrave]

I agree that this is completely annoying. For example when your original faction leader dies and his son takes over you would think the new faction leaders son would be next in line if he is of age. Nope the game decides one of the new faction leaders brothers should be the heir instead.

Personally I set it to who I want and just ignore the dis-inherited trait, although I wish when a faction leader died we could set things as we want it and not how the AI wants it. After that set if a heir is changed the dis-inheirited trait would make sense.