How to best keep my family tree clean/improve it?

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

I will start off by saying i have never played with an objective to really keep my family tree clean of any bad traits and adoptions.

I am at year 1174 currently, my 4th generation is coming of age right now, all of my generals are pretty chivalrous and are ok to good governors, but only a few are good at leading armies, only 5 of all my generals have 5 or more command, and 4 of the good ones are 40+

Many of my family members now are young, and can obtain more command trough battles, but rarely are my generals already born with natural command abilities, even my current kings (10 command) 3 sons have 2, 2 and 0 command, the oldest of them was on a crusade with him, surely they should have had more command than 0, 2 and 0 at start.

Other problems i have encountered since i started playing with this mod are illegitimate kids, my heir of the moment has 4 sons and 2 of them that have come of age are illegitimate, trough they have some good traits like prolific, so they have a good bonus on popularity + a title "The handsome". Im now unsure if i should keep them around or get them into and "accident" where they happen to die, i definitely dont want an illegitimate son to become a heir or king later on.

Another smaller problem is that i married my 3rd generation illegitimate and not too gifted princess to a very chivalrous Portuguese family member and they now have 3 sons, they are actually pretty good overall, i obviously wont let them marry, unless i absolutely must, or they turn out to be some half gods that would produce great kids, i thought about killing them on purpose to make my family tree smaller, so that i get more options to marry my "true" family members faster.

I would love to post some pictures of the family tree, to explain everything much shorter with some text on on pictures, but i always end up writing a long story from a short question, like here , but i dont how to take them in game, if anone could explain i would be grateful.

[Mr.Lannister]

The best way...
I always try to get rid of my worst family members while they have a glorious death( Just send them against rebels, if you win they are worthy.)
About the low command, you can always send them to the school or university, until they learn something (3 or 4 turns)
and i am having the same problem about the low command, i was really annoyed until i learned to deal with it (Rebels, send them to rebels)

I recommend you getting the next heir crown mod, wich is really useful in case you don't want a illegitimate guy on the throne

EDIT: Just noticed your question about the screenshots, you have to press InsImpPnt, or atleast in my laptop, in works on both strat map and battle.

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Heir ancillary: i already have read about it and would gladly use it, but it is not savegame competitable, if i decide to start a new campaign i will definitely use that mod.

I am about to kill both of the handsome yet illegitimate kids, i also have 1 that has the a bit odd trait + few more bad ones, he is definitely going in the gutter.

Im not so sure about the rebels being good to train command, ofcourse i can crush them with a single bodyguard even if outnumbered crazily, but, i rather take it to serious business fast as my reputation is high and i can afford to dissapoint the pope, as he is from Scotland, so right now i better just use good the situation while i can, i am crushing Norway right now, only 2 family members and Oslo left to be taken.

The button you're talking about i think on my pc is the PrtScr button, it is the usual take screenshot button, but it dosent work in games, i think stuff like fraps can take screenshots in-game.

[Mr.Lannister]

In my laptop, the PrtScr key does take pictures.

Try sending your low-command family members with along with a big army to deal with family business, you should look for the trait called "Military minded", because(As far as i know) it will make your generals be able to learn more in battles, or barracks (I am quite confused about this) the FM with "Administrablahblah Minded" you should send them to universities and schools, maybe your new generation are some bunch of good governors.

About the ones with bad traits, maybe they could be good governors...Just look for the trait or try sending them to a school.

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

In my laptop, the PrtScr key does take pictures.

Try sending your low-command family members with along with a big army to deal with family business, you should look for the trait called "Military minded", because(As far as i know) it will make your generals be able to learn more in battles, or barracks (I am quite confused about this) the FM with "Administrablahblah Minded" you should send them to universities and schools, maybe your new generation are some bunch of good governors.

Well those traits are pretty self explaining, its a shame now that i look back to my game in the beginning i had one of the 3 sons with good command, but i used the one who was a good governor as my general because i wanted to up his chivalry by doing things like occupying cities instead of sacking them and so on.

Im guessing i will start a new campaign, with the submods and what not, will make my life a lot easier.

[Strengelicher]

If you want your generals to get more command stars, first see to it that they get a proper military education. If they have the trait "militarily minded", they are good material for the field. In this case, on the turn they come of age move them immediately into your biggest castle with the barracks building line maxed out and leave them there until they are at least 21. They should have at least "basic military education" (preferably higher) as a trait by then. As a next step, let them fight some battles as army leader. Rebels are excellent material, as you can crush smaller rebel armies very well in the open field with just your general's bodyguard unit, even if the odds are strongly against you. If you obtain a couple of "heroic victories" that way, your general should gain command stars very quickly.

If you take screenshots by pressing the "printscreen" key on your keyboard, you will find the screenshots in the subfolder "tgas" in your "Medieval II Total War" folder. They are in tga format, you can convert them to jpg format using any simple editor.

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

If you take screenshots by pressing the "printscreen" key on your keyboard, you will find the screenshots in the subfolder "tgas" in your "Medieval II Total War" folder. They are in tga format, you can convert them to jpg format using any simple editor.

Thanks for this info especially, also i did not know that barracks help you get military education, also i figured out the rebel part a long time ago, they are always easy targets, i have gotten the trait great victor (no effects) and i think the second stage/upgrade was renowned victor(+1 piety), by getting heroic victories, however i havent progressed it more than that, is it the final stage for this trait or is there more? Just want to know if it is worth throwing my general into death mission for that extra piety/command .