Rant!

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

There is one really annoying thing missing from RTW (and BI).

The ability to dismiss family members.

Playing as the hard-luck Franks has really made it stand out.

For whatever reason, the Franks breed like crazy, especially when you don't need nor want more mouths to feed. I would do okay until the next generation matures (sometimes with two sons at the same time!). Then I go right into debt, over guys who are "useless assessors" and other nasty things.

It would be neat if you could "disown" a member, even if they became a rebel general. Even if they took a small following with them. It would be a lot better than trying suicide attacks on any and all enemy armies to get the bugger to die - and he won't even get that right!

[rebelscum]

How about this. Find a faction with a good assassin and move him near enough for them to take an interest. You never know.
How about moving him to a city that you know will plague.
Or, stick him on a boat and send him sailing around pirate filled waters.
Anyone know any more interesting ways to kill off your useless faction leader.
Also, take a look at your succesion tree, if you think that some craphead will inherit, change the successor, this can be brothers, or even uncles.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

None of those suggestions is neat, nor easy, if:

There is no good enemy assassin waiting at your beck-and-call.
You don't own a city with the plague.
You don't have boats because you don't have a province by the shore.

And I can't keep them as brothers or uncles because they still suck down my limited denarii.

The point of the game is not supposed to be finding frustratingly inventive ways to eliminate your own people. I hope the next Total War game (hint, hint) allows for dismissing or disowning family members.

As an aside, can you dismiss agents?

[rebelscum]

Yes, pity they don't introduce some 'et tu Brute' into the game.
Agents, hmm, try an assassin.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Yeah, assassins work, but it can be difficult and expensive.

Agents should have a "dismiss" option as well. Especially agents, since they are more likely "hired" than really "trained".

[Ciaran]

Charge the guy into a forest of spearpoints, that usually does it. Maybe they cause a bit damage, so they´re not completely useless.

[player1]

Beware of corruption trigger.
And it's much harsher in BI.
And since Franks can get a lot of extra money early if they horde and do some conquest...

Trigger corruption1
    WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

    Condition EndedInSettlement
          and Treasury > 11000

    Affects Corrupt  1  Chance  3 
    Affects Aesthetic  1  Chance  10 
    Affects ExpensiveTastes  1  Chance  3 
    Affects Epicurean  1  Chance  3 
    Affects BadAdministrator  1  Chance  3 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger corruption2
    WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

    Condition EndedInSettlement
          and Treasury > 17000

    Affects Corrupt  1  Chance  3 
    Affects Aesthetic  1  Chance  10 
    Affects ExpensiveTastes  1  Chance  3 
    Affects Epicurean  1  Chance  3 
    Affects Embezzler  1  Chance  10 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger corruption4
    WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd

    Condition EndedInSettlement
          and Treasury > 23000

    Affects Corrupt  1  Chance  7 
    Affects Aesthetic  1  Chance  15 
    Affects ExpensiveTastes  1  Chance  3 
    Affects Epicurean  1  Chance  3 
    Affects Embezzler  1  Chance  15

[edyzmedieval]

Still playing normal RTW.

My Seleucid empire is lacking family members....
And to bribe a general, I need at least 200.000 denarii!!!!

[David]

I modded down the upkeep of the guards, takes care of the problem quite nicely.

But does anyone know if the AI builds a lot of them? They are expensive and it takes a long time to train them, so the AI probably won't right?

[Germanvs]

As an aside, can you dismiss agents?

You can simply disband them.

[Papewaio]

Group up all the bad family members and send them off to there deaths in battle.

Or if they are all low star generals, add in your best general and the rest of your elite troops. Use your family members in battle sensibly as bodyguards for your general and as shock troops. You will have a rather nasty force for its size.

[Bob the Insane]

Or if they are all low star generals, add in your best general and the rest of your elite troops. Use your family members in battle sensibly as bodyguards for your general and as shock troops. You will have a rather nasty force for its size.

That is what I do, if the family member sucks simply make sure he is not the heir and stick him in an army for a bit of heavy cavalry work (you never know, he might redeem himself... I have also found that puting even a zero star general in charge of an army has advantages.