Question/Dilemma

[postm00v]

In my current game I started with the Count of Nice.
This used to be a bishopric, but I modded it.

now, about 40 years in the game I face a problem.
Clemente da Romano, Duke of Alexandria is heirless.
That is, there is one son, but he turned out to be a bastard.

Now my question/dilemma :
Clemente is almost 40 years of age and has little prospect of having another son.
I was hoping that the bastard son grew up soon enough to have sons of his own, but I'm not sure if they can inherit.
I COULD always change the inheritance law, but that feels kinda cheap.

What should I do ?

< I'm playing with CK+DV and with the latest BETA patch>

 

[Nick B II]

Bastards can't inherit under any law but Elective. Their kids too.

So you've got two choices. The first is to make the little bastard a Count. Landowners can get an event de-bastardizing them so that might work. If he gets the event before you die.

The second is to switch to Elective Law, and give the little bastard more land then any of your other vassals. If he has the most Counties of all your vassals on the day you die he'll be elected to the Ducal throne. The risk here is that if some other schmuck inherits a second County that gy can jump ahead of your beloved bastard son. And if your bastard son has a son himself he's hard-coded to make that guy a Count. Which means he'll have one less County, and can be more easily displaced by one of your other vassals.

BTW if you have a pure Salic inheritance law you're fine (kind of). When you die without heirs a Country Cousin will be randomly generated to take over. His stats'll suck, but you'll keep playing.

Nick

 

[postm00v]

Thanks for that ! I would've waited forever for that event.
I knew there was an event like that, but I didn't know it was only for landowners.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

There is also an event that can legitimize a bastard even if he doesn't hold a title.

 

[unmerged(183166)]

Also one for him to disappear. (I just had a King with lots of bastards)

One game, I took over a ruler who was 60 years old, got him a young lustful wife, and he had 3 kids before he popped his clogs. Lustful trait is very good for getting kids.

 

[postm00v]

Yeah I'm kinda having trouble producing enough children.
The bastard son got his own county and soon enough he also married.
But no kids yet.

I've been playing with DVIP some time ago and I'm getting the feeling that it was easier to get kids with DVIP.
Or is this just me ?

Also, a LOT of children die when still very young, some even within a year after being born.
I've got the latest patch so I'm assuming this is normal ( ? )

 

[Nick B II]

Midieval infant mortality was huge by our standards, even among the high nobility.

It sounds like you've got an unhealthy and/or unlucky dynasty.

Nick

 

[postm00v]

Is a lucky/unlucky/healty/unhealty dynasty pre-determined, or will a new game change this ?

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Is a lucky/unlucky/healty/unhealty dynasty pre-determined, or will a new game change this ?

Luck is complete random.

Health and fertility are passed on to the next generation, so marry into families who are more healthy and fertile (check for large families).

 

[unmerged(183166)]

No, it is mainly luck of the draw.

What I always do is always do the "bastard" events, and have lustful wife, etc. It ensures I have a big long bloodline. It always gets better when sometimes I am really successful in wars, and I split kingdom's between sons and you start having a "Habsburg" effect across Europe.

What is a shame in CKV, there needs to be more on Bloodline. I pretty much always split my lands and vassals to those of my bloodline, even if there is a non-bloodline which is a better choice. Unfortunately, the AI doesn't carry on this tradition.

 

[postm00v]

Does having a low efficiency affect fertility ?

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Does having a low efficiency affect fertility ?

No, but low efficiency can give your character the stressed trait and that trait lowers fertility.

 

[postm00v]

Okay, thanks !
My luck finally changed I guess when my wife announced she was a fierce rival of mine. (yes I know that sounds weird)
They are having children by the dozens now and the dynasty is saved !

I'm almost ready to declare myself King of Egypt now, I just need one more province, but all remaining provinces are held by Christians and the Orthodox Kingdom of Nubia.
I have a rule where I'm not allowed to grab titles from other Christian rulers, the only way I can get a claim is by events.
So hoping for the 'a neighbouring ruler has insulted you' event for either the King of Wales, the Duke of Luxembourg or the Pope !

 

[Nick B II]

Keep in mind you only have to vassalize one more Count to get the King-title. And force-vassalize is a peace option.

Nick

 

[postm00v]

I didn't want to open a new topic for this, so here goes.

How do I tidy up my Kingdom ?
I have counts who are direct vassals of the King, how do I get them to sway loyalty to the DUKE ?

 

[Evil Crusader]

I didn't want to open a new topic for this, so here goes.

How do I tidy up my Kingdom ?
I have counts who are direct vassals of the King, how do I get them to sway loyalty to the DUKE ?

You cannot make them sway. But having played Byzantium recently, I noticed they tend to stray away and get under a Duke if that Duke is strong enough and fits their liking.
A Duke from your realm whose capital is reasonably near them, of course.

 

[postm00v]

Okay, I'll just have to live with it I guess.

I know this probably not the place to post this, but I just HAVE to post it somewhere.
In my current game, the bastard son of Clemente da Romano inherited everything.
The Pope didn't like Leone (the bastard son) obviously, because soon I got excommed and my Kingdom was in chaos.
From the 7 vassals I had, 6 of them declared independence.
The Hammadids and the Fatimids declared war on me, so I was fighting a war on two fronts AND a civil war.
I struggled to survive, but eventually I did, leaving the coffers empty at -800ish.

By now Leone had developed a serious mental illness and became depressed and crazed.
And when I finally started to make some money again, Leone found it amusing to rebuild the effin' tower of Babylon .. TWICE !
Even my courtiers were turning themselves against me, and my spymaster and diocese bishop were doing everything they could to twart me !
The spymaster stole gold from the coffers at 500 gp a pop, also twice.
The bishop made sure my standing with the church would never become good again.

And then, on the morning of 6 October 1141 Leone the Mad FINALLY died, and his son Cangrande II rose to the throne.
Rebuilding the land and reclaiming lost land, Cangrande made himself very popular in a short time.
But now another crisis lurks, as Cangrande has had 3 children so far, but all of them were girls !

My god, I love this game.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Sounds like a great game you currently are playing !

 

[postm00v]

Okay, another question.

The game seems to make characters with the same last name as my dynasty.
They even have a blood tie according to the picture with the drop of blood.
Where do these guys come from, and why does the game make them ?

Strangest thing is, they have no parents and none of them have the 'Bastard' trait.

 

[Nick B II]

Those are randomly generated courtiers. You happen to have picked a ruling dynasty that spawns in some counties. The spawned courtiers are, for all practical purposes, members of your dynasty.

Think of them as some long-lost cousin from your dynasty's hometown.

Nick