War&Peace

[Martok]

It's been a while since I played the Byz in MTW, but IIRC the first three or four princes always had high ratings in all fields + good V&Vs. They might be scripted. Not sure though...

Yeah, the general consensus is that they're scripted. Byzantine heirs are simply too good on too consistent a basis to *not* be hard-coded in some way, especially in the Early period.

As a general rule, however, what everyone else has said applies: Your heirs' stats are primarily affected by stats of your faction leader, with Influence being by far the biggest factor.

[Sensei Warrior]

Conserning the Byz. IIRC the Byz emperor you start out with has a very high Influence rating and reasonably good stats. If that's the case, then his Princes should also have the same. If the Princes that come of age are scripted then wouldnt they be listed in the Heros file?

I was always astounded at the quality of Byz Royals when I played, but never thought them to be improbable. More than once Kings in my other campaigns pumped out heirs of equal quality when their Influence was high.

Although, it does seem to me that if there is a lot of fighting then the fighting stats seem to make out better than acumen and piety. Of course, I really have no facts to back that up so it could be purely coincidence.

[Jxrc]

Yeah, the general consensus is that they're scripted. Byzantine heirs are simply too good on too consistent a basis to *not* be hard-coded in some way, especially in the Early period.

What puzzles me in that case is that I manage to have Byz heirs that are not half as good as the original king... For IA Spanish/Byz heir it is true that they are usually quite uber but I have seen a few times the IA becoming a victim of the "wrap-around bug" and end up with a Spanish/Byz king with only one star.

My guess is rather that the AI gets some kind of hard-coded advantage as far as the generation of its heirs is concerned cause the ones its gets are nearly always better than the one I would receive playing the same faction.

I would thus say that the "problem" (a good idea for balancing purpose if you ask me) is that the IA gets an advantage for all factions but that it becomes obvious whith Byz and Spaniards cause the initial king is already very good.

Just my two cents.

[macsen rufus]

I'm sure the Byzantines get a "stacked deck" - but let's face it, he IS the Byzantine Emperor

As for the Spanish, they get jinette spam, easy prey, and rich lands, I think they just tend to do well, rather than being stacked.

[Martok]

As for the Spanish, they get jinette spam, easy prey, and rich lands, I think they just tend to do well, rather than being stacked.

That's my experience as well. The Spanish can (and do) get bad heirs; it's just not that often when it happens. This indicates to me that the Spanish's tendency to have good family members is usually more a reflection of the faction's overall good fortune than anything else. After all, it's a rare game (at least for me) when the Spanish don't do at least reasonably well -- they're often a superpower in my campaigns.

[Sensei Warrior]

That's my experience as well. The Spanish can (and do) get bad heirs; it's just not that often when it happens. This indicates to me that the Spanish's tendency to have good family members is usually more a reflection of the faction's overall good fortune than anything else. After all, it's a rare game (at least for me) when the Spanish don't do at least reasonably well -- they're often a superpower in my campaigns.

I agree. Any campaign where I am far away from Spain, and Spain has the tendancy to do really well. Of course, any campaign where their borders and mine meet usually means Spain getting stopped in their tracks. Not to mention, Spain is one of the factions that I cant auto-calc my way out of. The Jinnies kill me on autocalc but do virtually nothing in an in-game battle but play 2step with my archers, and their arrows

[Zain]

Haha, yeah, I notice the Almohads playing very well when I play as the Danes or maybe England, but when I'm the Byzantines or Spain they get stopped in their tracks and look for a way around. (Hardly ever happens)

Ahhh.... the good old days of simple little Medieval