a CURSE OF DAUGHTERS ON YOUR HOUSE SIRRAH!

[Ledge]

Hey, what gives with HRE heirs in MTW. As a rule the ones I've got in my current campaign (H/GA early) are degenerate fiends. They are either chinless wonders, alcoholics or perverts! Except for the one who had no V&Vs but with nothing else besides. Yep no command stars, acumen and a single skull in dread. I've reached 1264 and this is the worst run of heirs I've ever had, ever, ever, ever! Even Henry the Lion descended to being an unhinged loon! I've had to bump off a couple of really bad ones to enable a half decent candidate become emperor. Now this has been tricky because I've always been a bit short in the male heirs department.
My current ruler became emperor at the age of 21 with 4 command stars and a couple of points in dread and acumen. Thankfully I've managed to expand and increased his influence to nine crowns. Now he's 36 and managed to finally pump out a couple of sons and hopefully they will mature without the traditional family "quirks". Yet no one will marry them because the HRE has become too powerful....aaargh! Still I suppose it makes a change from the hordes of daughters I had to support.
P.S. Does the fact that the new emperor is selected have an impact on his starting influence? I swear in previous games with other factions new rulers never lost more than two or three crowns on influence while for the HR emperor it's more like four or five.

[Martok]

Hey, what gives with HRE heirs in MTW. As a rule the ones I've got in my current campaign (H/GA early) are degenerate fiends. They are either chinless wonders, alcoholics or perverts! Except for the one who had no V&Vs but with nothing else besides. Yep no command stars, acumen and a single skull in dread. I've reached 1264 and this is the worst run of heirs I've ever had, ever, ever, ever! Even Henry the Lion descended to being an unhinged loon! I've had to bump off a couple of really bad ones to enable a half decent candidate become emperor. Now this has been tricky because I've always been a bit short in the male heirs department.

I don't think you're alone, Ledge. There have been quite a few players over the years who have said that the German royal family tends to produce heirs who are of less-than-stellar quality. I myself have had difficulties getting decent heirs with them as well, although I don't really play the HRE often enough to say with certainty that this is commonplace for them.

P.S. Does the fact that the new emperor is selected have an impact on his starting influence? I swear in previous games with other factions new rulers never lost more than two or three crowns on influence while for the HR emperor it's more like four or five.

That's been my feeling as well, although again I haven't played the HRE enough to say so with surety. Still, I have noted that Emperors in my German games tend to start with less Influence than their predecessors (as compared to new rulers of other factions).

[macsen rufus]

I found my German royals to be more of a squiggle than a bloodline. However, there is hope with this faction so long as you remember that the Emperor is ELECTED. That's right.... if your royal line comes to an end (say if you happen to "misplace" it during a battle, or your assassins get a bit free 'n' easy....) then your best general will be elected. So consider training up your best general, then let something .... unfortunate .... happen to the inbred bunch of wasters and let the new kid on the block take up the reins of power.

Many players will also deliberately engineer a civil war as the HRE so that they can choose the better of the two factions.

[caravel]

Martok and macsen rufus have said it all. I find the turks have a similar low quality heir problem. I usually have to prune the family tree somewhat by selecting the prince that I want to become the heir. Then I get the remainder, and sometimes the Sultan himself, usually a whole load of raging chinless horseshoe sucking cowardly perverts, and send them on a "mission" to a nice rebel province with an 8 star general and no port. Then I refuse the ransom and wave them all goodbye.

Another way to do it is to assasinate the lot of them or try them for treason. In my last campaign I had a general with 0 stats pop out at the head of a unit of Ghulam Cavalry. A treason trial took care of him leaving a decent general in his place.

-Edit: Move to the MTW forum perhaps?

[Ledge]

Hey Manco there's always more to be said! In this case I have 13 border provinces and not enough good generals. Playing the campaign as a GA game I have been fairly conservative and turtled quite a lot. Thus I have a single general with more than 4 stars and three of those came from titles! By 1264 all I have to show from my military experiences is a single skilled defender general and one who is a skilled attacker/defender...shocking huh!?
Playing without an early blitz opening I pursued my GA goals and acquired territories to push back and punish those factions that tried to invade the HRE. As such some of my territories only have two star generals to lead their defence (usually those with river borders). The one really good general I have is employed to lead counterattacks and/or expansion. Not that I didn't consider civil war but I figured I had more to lose than just a lousy emperor!