Figured these are always nice threads. 
be interested to read other people's general advice. Let me know if you disagree with anything here, I've not played the demo enough to know for sure there hasn't been some change that nerfs one or more of these. Certainly some of them may be of limited use within a 20 year time limit but by release hopefully this thread will be quite long.
#1 - Always make sure you have the best council you're capable of having, particularly your chancellor and spymaster. If they are lower than 20 then you should look to hiring new guys immediately ** Exceptions: Zarine says:
It's worth pointing out though that vassals in a low crown authority country being on your council can be a pain in the backside, as when you most need your chancellor to fabricate a claim, or your spymaster to build a network, they may be leading troops for months warring your other vassals.
#2 - If you have a good spymaster and enough money, then a good way to get what you want in diplomacy with a country is simply to kill everyone who says no. For example if you want to betroth your daughter to a child ruler of a kingdom, and they refuse on the grounds of wanting a better alliance, then removing the regent (building spy network to increase odds in advance) will have a presumably less suited regent take over, who will perhaps be less wise with their choices of allies and say yes to your betrothal proposal.
#3 Use your council. It's easy to forget about using their abilities, but you should always be researching techs, or fabricating claims, or sowing discontent, otherwise you're not using the council to their fullest. Also, if assassinating, always get your spy master to build a spy network in the provence your target is in (viewable on the right of their main character page) or if arresting, always send out your marshall in advance to facilitate the arrest. It's almost always worth waiting for their job to be re-assignable before carrying out your intended action unless it needs doing immediately. 75% chance of arrest may seem like a lot, but you'll be kicking yourself if a powerful duke evades capture and brings your empire down because you didn't want to wait three weeks for the marshal to be freed up.
#4 Try and always choose your heir's wife for him, don't send him out to govern lands while single, unless you do so while he's a child because you have little choice (in which case try and bethroth him first). I've seen my heir make some stupid marriage choices, or stay single way too long.
#5 If your current character is troublesome, or you are preparing for your heir to take over, then you can use this opportunity to take out some enemies with little repercussions. Providing you've stockpiled a bunch of money, and have a good spymaster, you can go assassination crazy on a kind of kamikaze blaze of glory. If you succeed, you can remove troublesome enemies. If you fail, then your character will gain negative modifiers which will clear once he's dead (and if you do it properly that will be just about immediately) and you take over your heir. Preferably you eventually get found out and killed in retaliation, giving you control over your heir, who after all wasn't responsible for any of the tyranny himself. This can be risky however, as if you don't manage to get him offed before you run out of money, then you'll have hell to pay. Only use this tactic if you've got enough money. When you're getting low you may want to consider hiring an idiot as a spymaster to increase chances of you getting offed. Not very RP I admit, but it works.
#6 Marrying yourself or your heir to a princess means (most of the time, at least) any children born will gain a claim to the throne of the princess' country once she dies. And also you'll be able to push the claim of that princess to install her as queen. Over successive generations you can ultimately accrue a great deal of claims through strategic marriages.
#7 for all your children except your heir, always go for kind or honest in any child upbringing option (or, and this is complete conjecture, have them educated by someone who is kind/honest which I would assume increase the chance of them picking this option). This will mean that as pretenders, they are very unlikely to plot to have your heir killed. Also, in the same vein, always try and marry them to a kind/honest wife.
be interested to read other people's general advice. Let me know if you disagree with anything here, I've not played the demo enough to know for sure there hasn't been some change that nerfs one or more of these. Certainly some of them may be of limited use within a 20 year time limit but by release hopefully this thread will be quite long. #1 - Always make sure you have the best council you're capable of having, particularly your chancellor and spymaster. If they are lower than 20 then you should look to hiring new guys immediately ** Exceptions: Zarine says:
It's worth pointing out though that vassals in a low crown authority country being on your council can be a pain in the backside, as when you most need your chancellor to fabricate a claim, or your spymaster to build a network, they may be leading troops for months warring your other vassals.
#2 - If you have a good spymaster and enough money, then a good way to get what you want in diplomacy with a country is simply to kill everyone who says no. For example if you want to betroth your daughter to a child ruler of a kingdom, and they refuse on the grounds of wanting a better alliance, then removing the regent (building spy network to increase odds in advance) will have a presumably less suited regent take over, who will perhaps be less wise with their choices of allies and say yes to your betrothal proposal.
#3 Use your council. It's easy to forget about using their abilities, but you should always be researching techs, or fabricating claims, or sowing discontent, otherwise you're not using the council to their fullest. Also, if assassinating, always get your spy master to build a spy network in the provence your target is in (viewable on the right of their main character page) or if arresting, always send out your marshall in advance to facilitate the arrest. It's almost always worth waiting for their job to be re-assignable before carrying out your intended action unless it needs doing immediately. 75% chance of arrest may seem like a lot, but you'll be kicking yourself if a powerful duke evades capture and brings your empire down because you didn't want to wait three weeks for the marshal to be freed up.
#4 Try and always choose your heir's wife for him, don't send him out to govern lands while single, unless you do so while he's a child because you have little choice (in which case try and bethroth him first). I've seen my heir make some stupid marriage choices, or stay single way too long.
#5 If your current character is troublesome, or you are preparing for your heir to take over, then you can use this opportunity to take out some enemies with little repercussions. Providing you've stockpiled a bunch of money, and have a good spymaster, you can go assassination crazy on a kind of kamikaze blaze of glory. If you succeed, you can remove troublesome enemies. If you fail, then your character will gain negative modifiers which will clear once he's dead (and if you do it properly that will be just about immediately) and you take over your heir. Preferably you eventually get found out and killed in retaliation, giving you control over your heir, who after all wasn't responsible for any of the tyranny himself. This can be risky however, as if you don't manage to get him offed before you run out of money, then you'll have hell to pay. Only use this tactic if you've got enough money. When you're getting low you may want to consider hiring an idiot as a spymaster to increase chances of you getting offed. Not very RP I admit, but it works.
#6 Marrying yourself or your heir to a princess means (most of the time, at least) any children born will gain a claim to the throne of the princess' country once she dies. And also you'll be able to push the claim of that princess to install her as queen. Over successive generations you can ultimately accrue a great deal of claims through strategic marriages.
#7 for all your children except your heir, always go for kind or honest in any child upbringing option (or, and this is complete conjecture, have them educated by someone who is kind/honest which I would assume increase the chance of them picking this option). This will mean that as pretenders, they are very unlikely to plot to have your heir killed. Also, in the same vein, always try and marry them to a kind/honest wife.
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