Married princess means a stranded general?

[Zenicetus]

Okay, this just happened to me twice... don't know if it's a bug or intentional game design. I married off one of my Spanish princesses to a good candidate in the Venetian army, near Venice. However the new Spanish general appeared at that location where the negotiation was made. If if I move him back to my homelands I have to cross Milanese and French territory, which lowers my diplomatic relations with them (I haven't negotiated military access).

The second time was worse. I married another princess to a French prince, again got a stranded general near the French city, and was immediately attacked by the nearest French army in the next turn while trying to move him back to Spain. Our relations had been neutral up to that point, although they were allied with the Moors who I'm at war with. Maybe that's what triggered the attack, when they suddenly found a lone Spanish general on French soil.

What's the deal here? Are you supposed to have a clear path of negotiated military access back to your homelands, before you marry off a princess?

I'm wondering if it's a bug too, because when I reloaded the game after getting attacked in French territory, and re-did the marriage, the new general appeared at my Spanish frontier with an easy march into my territory, instead of at the location where the marriage was negotiated.

P.S. I'm also not seeing the two new generals in my family tree, even though they're listed as "family member" on the unit card. Is that how it's supposed to work?

[Zanshin]

The only time I married a princess (spanish to a venetian general), the groom was killed by a venetian assassin the next turn.

[Heledir]

That has happened to me before but ive started using it to my advantage. I marry a princess to an enemy general way behind there front lines then I recuit a whole mercanary army and take one of there cities. It works every time.

[hoof]

A similar thing happened to me when I had a crusade enroute when someone else finished the crusade. Now I had a general and an army in territory that I hadn't gotten military access rights to. The army I could disband, but how the heck do you get your general back w/o worsening relations with the factions enroute?

[Willknott]

The part about the new family member not appearing in the family tree does seem to be a bug. It happened to me during a campaign. It bothered me so much, I aborted the campaign after that character became my faction heir and still did not appear in the tree. This should be reported to the bug people.

[Zenicetus]

Okay, this is sounding buggish so I'll post about it in the Org bug thread above. Thanks for the feedback!

[KristianSax]

I was about to write a thesis on why he would not become a part of the family tree but after reading Willknot's post I decided not to. Now it does seem like a bug.

Though the part that the general appears where the negotiations took place is quite logical. You just have to plan your moves ahead a bit.
Actually the same happens when a captain of an army is married or adopted ... he will remain at the location where he was and won't be magically teleported to your capital.

[Monkson]

This may be a dumb question, but I know you start out with one princess and I have never seen another one. Do you only start with one?

Thanks,
C

[Handel]

It's quite logical. There was no teleports those times.

[maestro]

Think of it as a way to get rid of an enemy's general, rather than necessarily how to get yourself one.

[Zenicetus]

I don't know about the teleportation rationale. Suitors who marry into your family (marriage offers that you accept) magically appear in your capital, right? Why is it different when your princess initiates the proposal? Also, that one time after a re-load, the new general did appear at my frontier instead of the city where the negotiation took place.... which makes me wonder if this is feature or bug.

I agree it would be more realistic if the new general wasn't teleported, but it's also not realistic to be attacked in the very next turn, by the same faction that you married into, just because you didn't sign a military access treaty! If military access has to be factored into princess marriage negotiation, it means you'd never try negotiating a marriage very far from your empire (unless you use it as an exploit to get a free general behind enemy lines, as mentioned up-thread). I can't believe that's what CA intended. Maybe we can get some clarification on this from the devs, at some point.

Not showing up on the family tree does seem to be a real bug though. I can think of reasons why the new husband wouldn't show up there... like if the dynamic was that your princess marries "out" of your family and into his. But if that was the case, he wouldn't be a general in your army, and his unit card wouldn't say "family member." The whole marriage thing is a little squirrelly, IMO, because it doesn't automatically trigger the kind of diplomatic perks you'd expect. I'm still not on great terms with either faction where my two princesses negotiated a marriage.

[Musashi]

Suitors who marry into your family are considered to have traveled to your kingdom to make the offer.

Your princess on the other hand travelled to their kingdom.

It's quite simple to solve this problem, just send a boat around and have it ready to pick them up when you make the marriage offer.

[KristianSax]

This may be a dumb question, but I know you start out with one princess and I have never seen another one. Do you only start with one?

Thanks,
C

Princesses are born into the family like your generals/faction heirs. If a gerneral's wife gives birth to a baby girl and you don't marry her when she comes of age to the first appearing suitor you will have your Princess.
The game mechanics seem to favour the births of baby boys, otherwise you'd most probably end up with a serious lack of generals to lead your armies.

[Zenicetus]

Suitors who marry into your family are considered to have traveled to your kingdom to make the offer.

Your princess on the other hand travelled to their kingdom.

Right, but that doesn't mean the marriage has to take place there. Actually, the idea of teleportation doesn't sit that well with me either, but neither does the idea that you can't marry your princess off at a considerable distance from your empire, without damaging diplomatic relations with a half-dozen factions when you try to bring the general home across their lands. That's just not realistic; it's not how marriages across powerful factions worked. There was diplomatic immunity for that sort of travel. It wasn't considered a military invasion.

It's quite simple to solve this problem, just send a boat around and have it ready to pick them up when you make the marriage offer.

Doesn't work in every case. I would have had to break diplomacy with at least one faction (Milan) to reach the coast in the first marriage, and the second one triggered an actual attack on my general, before he could even move. That's why I'm wondering if CA actually intended for it to work this way.

[Handel]

Of course the suitors will appear in the capital, where else? They are comming there to receive the blessing and to get married. Unlike your princess.