Royal Family Questions

[Black John]

While playing the 6.4 I have a few questions about the family.

How can I predict whose next in line for the throne?
What effects does recuiting generals have?
Should i let the family grow and preserve its members or have a small but elite family with recruited gen/gov?
Age old questions dread/chivalry?
Downsides and Upsides to recruited gen.?

And really anything else you guys think is important to consider

[PapaRosario]

Dread for army generals and chivalry for governors is generally considered the best way to go.

The biggest upside in my opinion to recruited generals is if you can get a Citadel and get the Armored Bodyguard unit. Those guys are a wrecking ball of pain. But I'm sure other people will probably have better reasons.

[Kaidonni]

How can I predict whose next in line for the throne?

Authority usually determines who will become the next heir once the current one becomes leader (there is an exception, and that is when the current heir dies *before* becoming leader). There is a mod called Next Heir Ancillary which gives you an ancillary to hand to the person you wish to be the next heir; it boosts Authority by about eight or so points, increasing the likelyhood you get whoever you want in that position. You can't actually change the current heir, that is hardcoded unfortunately. Otherwise, Authority is only really useful for the faction leader in keeping generals and captains from rebelling, especially the ones with lower loyalty.

[Duck of Death]

If youre considering having a large or small family, remember recruited generals count toward your total general count the same as family members.

So if you have 10 territories and recruit 8-10 generals, your family is going to stay pretty small wether you want it to or not.

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Can i pop in here with a few of my questions?

Is the "martial ties" trait always given when i marry a non-noble princess to my general(a princess that isnt ever on the map, and only comes up in the scroll with an option to marry her to my family member).

How big is the chance that the general that is married to such a princess will have illegitimate children? I noticed that from my 2 generals that were married to royal princesses i only ever had 1 kid turn out to be illegitimate.

Are there any ways to reduce the chances of having illegitimate children from my generals - such as not keeping them in cities with brothels?

And a family tree question - im playing as Scotland in early campaign and i begin with 3 sons of the dead king who dies in 1099 - this makes the family tree somewhat different from the most that are in the game at start - the king has 2 or 3 children and one of them is heir, but here the 2 older sons are FL and FH - will the FL and FH now always get passed on from left to right? and not from top to bottom?

[CoeurDeLion]

If I am not mistaken, marital ties only applies to generals or adoptions that marry into your royal family as they are not eligible for the "Of XYZ Blood" trait. When they have children, their kids will have the "XYZ Relations" trait. That said, if your general marries a royal princess (i.e. a princess on the campaign map), their kids will have the "Of XYZ Blood" trait.

Don't know the mechanics of bastards.

Faction heir does not go in any particular direction. It is determined by the Authority characteristic, which is visible only on your FL (takes place of loyalty) but is present for all characters regardless. The Next Heir Ancillary mod greatly helps standardize and control the selection of heirs.

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

If I am not mistaken, marital ties only applies to generals or adoptions that marry into your royal family as they are not eligible for the "Of XYZ Blood" trait. When they have children, their kids will have the "XYZ Relations" trait. That said, if your general marries a royal princess (i.e. a princess on the campaign map), their kids will have the "Of XYZ Blood" trait.

Sorry, i should have used "Family member" instead of general in my previous comment, here is a more in depth explanation, also it proves that you get "Martial ties" to any of the family members that marry a regular woman:

I ended up marrying the youngest of the three sons to a woman/princess from the message that randomly appears at the beggining of a new turn - a woman of fitting breeding state has been found for this man, bla bla bla... Anyway he got the "Martial ties" trait and i was worried that he will end up having almost all of his kids with the "Illegitimeate son/daughter" trait, but he ended up having 2 sons, both legitemeate and they both have "Of Scottish blood" and "Biological Son" traits.

Another thing i can tell is true is that your illegitimeate kids will also have the "Of X blood" traits, dont know about the"X relations" trait in case your general has been married to a royal princess and has illegitemeate kids - i had a princess like that, but she is married for a long time now, so i cant check.

[Stario]

Age old questions dread/chivalry?

Firstly, remember that executing prisoners will make it impossible to use diplomacy as you head towards untrustworthy. Albeit, if you can manage to train up a good dreaded General you will be able to deploy shock tactics type warfare much easier- those cavalry charges from the flank will make the AI rout almost on impact with a high dreaded General leading. However, if you want that spear militia to hold that line... better is chivalry. So it all depends on ones playing style & army composition-generally infantry= chivalry, cavalry=dread.

Finally, for Governors, chivalry and piety is a must, as this line offer the best traits for population growth, public order, & extracting taxes etc.