How does the game choose heir/faction leaders?

[child_of_air]

This thread here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=140898

made me wonder exactly how the game chooses heirs and faction leaders. I mean, it just seems silly and really has no basis in reality. I've gotten many adoptees being chosen as the heirs to the faction, even when the King had more than one son that was of age and a few had some decent traits. So I'm wondering, is it completely random? I feel it must be......since it's totally illogical.

This is my one big beef within the game, has anyone created a mod that actually lets you chose the heir or leader yet? What about a mod where all women in the faction can become princesses? I'd really like to know. Having no control over who gets named faction heir or leader is really driving me up the wall!

[Joel92]

if you go to the family tree scroll in your faction summary, you can change the faction heir. you need to wait untill your faction leader dies for the heir to become leader

[Korvash]

You could choose the heir in RTW, sadly this option was removed in M2TW.

By the way, it's not random who is being chosen as the heir.

If your king has, say, 3 sons and 1 adoptee, if the adoptee was adopted before any of the sons were born (maybe even before they came of age). Then he is in effect his oldest son, thus the next heir.

[miccofl]

it's not random who is being chosen as the heir.

I would say that it is not normally random but there are times when it follows no logical progression. In my last campaign (DLV), my 42 year old faction leader caught the plague and died. His 22 year old son had an heir but he was only 4 years old. The regent then became the dead king's father's youngest brother who died of old age on the next turn. He had sons but the regent position went instead to a 17 year old at the bottom end of an adopted line not related in any way to the founding family.

I was however, able to stuff him off in a settlement until the faction leaders' son came of age. Once the false heir met with his unfortunate end the line reverted to where it was supposed to be.

[eggthief]

if you go to the family tree scroll in your faction summary, you can change the faction heir. you need to wait untill your faction leader dies for the heir to become leader

I think that you are confusing m2tw with rtw.

[Canaris]

Why do you want to change heir ????:hmmm: being a faction leader ( or heir ) dont give you any powerful bonuses or traits ( some minor traits maybe didnt noticed :/ ) in all of my games i never felt like i must change my heir

as for princesses : 99% of the time their sit in a castle , in ever actually used them ;/ ( maybe in first couple of turns as an extra diplomat )

of course i play in vanilla MTW 2 dont know if there are any diffrences in mods about it

[child_of_air]

Why do you want to change heir ????:hmmm: being a faction leader ( or heir ) dont give you any powerful bonuses or traits ( some minor traits maybe didnt noticed :/ ) in all of my games i never felt like i must change my heir

as for princesses : 99% of the time their sit in a castle , in ever actually used them ;/ ( maybe in first couple of turns as an extra diplomat )

of course i play in vanilla MTW 2 dont know if there are any diffrences in mods about it

Well then, I'd have to say you aren't using your princesses correctly then. I use them to steal generals from my enemies, and even sometimes my alllies. I mean, an 8 star general with a low loyalty rating is a terrible thing to waste! Also, I like doing marriage alliances because it resembles real life royalty- they were always allied with the world's major factions. I'm glad my Spanish King married the French Princess, because if not- France would have wiped me out at the beginning of the game. (Sadly though, she died after I wiped them out. )
Anyway, I'd also have to agree with the extra bodyguards as well. It can be really nice.
So I take it, nobody has made a mod for either/or?

[Zadith]

I wonder if there is something in the program files that you can change the way you can change the playable factions and stuff like that.....

[Joel92]

I think that you are confusing m2tw with rtw.

o sorry i thought you could do that in m2tw too

[masterbaker]

Having 40 extra bodyguard units can be awesome in battle.

[Canaris]

:hmmm::hmmm: maybe . But i only use general in battle to attack routing units so to me 40 extra bodyguards is irrelevant

[Gotee7]

:hmmm::hmmm: maybe . But i only use general in battle to attack routing units so to me 40 extra bodyguards is irrelevant

Using my General's Bodyguards has won me many battles I should have lost being outnumbered and outmanned. They can be great tools on the battlefield if used correctly.

[Canaris]

Using my General's Bodyguards has won me many battles I should have lost being outnumbered and outmanned. They can be great tools on the battlefield if used correctly.

i know and i agree but i just dont like the idea of my brilliant 10 star young general getting killed by a peasant with spear ;/ pisses me off so i try to keep them away from the fight

[eggthief]

In m2tw cavalry units strike so fast and they kill peasants in one blow, so I wouldnt worry about those.

[Zadith]

my problem is my King's sons NEVER become the next king...no matter what it changes from cousin to cousin...I have never had an heir that was the son of the previous king except for my 2nd king and that is because you start with your main king and his sons.....

[Pontifex Maximus]

randomly

[Doge]

The only other option, if you have Kingdoms, is to change your faction so that it has NO family tree, and the strongest general simply becomes leader, just like the Teutons campaign.

You can change this in the descr_sm_factions.txt file, change:
has_family_tree yes
to
has_family_tree teutonic

of course, this assumes you know how to unpack and all that, which you can learn in the tutorials forums

[child_of_air]

The only other option, if you have Kingdoms, is to change your faction so that it has NO family tree, and the strongest general simply becomes leader, just like the Teutons campaign.

You can change this in the descr_sm_factions.txt file, change:
has_family_tree yes
to
has_family_tree teutonic

of course, this assumes you know how to unpack and all that, which you can learn in the tutorials forums

Hmmm.....never thought of that. *ponders*

[Doge]

Hmmm.....never thought of that. *ponders*

This would actually be quite an interesting adjustment for factions like Venice and HRE, which realistically had electoral systems rather than a singular royal house.