Quote Originally Posted by dknight
Stills, I notice sometimes the list of heir changed with the oldest one being listed after some young prince, even though they are all from the current king. I need to look more closely about the "red" then. But thanks for the helpful tips.
That is a common experience, and sometimes annoying when you're not paying attention. It all comes down to who was which persons son. Sounds confusing, but fear not I can explain all with an example. This means I get to show off as I am guessing there are still a couple of people who dont know how this works.

King Bob I has three sons who are:
Sam (23)
Jeff (21)
Rob (19)

King Bob I dies and Sam (named Sam III) rises to the throne. Now the heir apparant is Jeff with Rob on standby.

The new King Sam III has a son named Tim. The heir's list now looks like this:
Jeff (23)
Rob (21)
Tim (1)

18 years later (sorry but I forgot the actual age a heir comes of age) the heir's list looks like this:
Tim (19)
Jeff (41)
Rob (39)

Why did Tim jump up in to become the Heir apparant? Because Tim is the current King's son, and in direct line to the throne. Tim being the current King's son takes precendence over Sam and Jeff (who are actually Tim's uncles)

Now just a little further in depth. The current King, Sam III dies in a horrible battle that year. Obviously, the young Tim will rise to the throne. Now what does the Heir list look like? It looks like this:


That's right, its blank. Jeff and Rob have disappeared, the game has considered them too far removed from the throne to be on the Heir list. Jeff and Rob will become a regular generals, and they will be given a surname that is used for the royal house line. When young Tim I gets married and starts having boys the heir list will be repopulated.

It can become much more complicated than that, but it is in essence still the same basic rules.