Manageable decadence

[gornard]

I played a bit more and answered some of my own questions:
1, The decadence growth per character does appear to be based on their relationship to the dynasty head
2, The AI does suffer from decadence growth. In my game at around 1115 the Seljuks fell to a new conquering dynasty and at 1120 the fatimids are just under 70%. It seems to work as a balancing feature for the powerful muslim kingdoms

[DominusNovus]

Once you're large enough, I say, just divorce all but one wife. Sure, you can't stop your kinsmen from breeding like rabbits, but you can limit the damage. Of course, I'm particularly fond of my main wife because she also happens to be Theodora Doukas, with a juicy claim on the Byzantine Empire (er, whats left of it). It would be nice, of course, if she would produce something other than daughters, though.

And, of course, being large should offset the prestige penalty.

[gornard]

Once you're large enough, I say, just divorce all but one wife. Sure, you can't stop your kinsmen from breeding like rabbits, but you can limit the damage. Of course, I'm particularly fond of my main wife because she also happens to be Theodora Doukas, with a juicy claim on the Byzantine Empire (er, whats left of it). It would be nice, of course, if she would produce something other than daughters, though.

And, of course, being large should offset the prestige penalty.

I found that 4 wives aren't too bad, even if a wife doesn't have kids they will attempt to plot against another wife or another wifes child. So you can easily send them to jail. With my current sultan i have a policy where by after i have enough kids my wives go to jail as soon as possible, then they stay their until they are 45 (and are less likely to make more babies) where i will release them, preferebly during Ramadan so that i get the decadence and piety bonus. The benefit of this is that they don't make kids but i keep the prestige bonus of having 4 wives.

[HabemusZlatan]

Well the decadence reducing events are pretty damn powerful in that regard. For a few coins and a single risky decision (the Ill one, you will always be ill during ramadan) you can lose a big amount of decadence.
So well, with my Almoravids game I've never seen it go over 7%. Also if your son is decadent AND a bad heir you can always kill/imprison him and be done with it.

[Arumba]

I find it funny when people say that you "can't afford a single cadet branch", and habitually kill off all their family to avoid claims on their territory/decadence. I find that having powerful dynasty members in your kingdom is very beneficial in the long run. Sure, you don't want a single member to have 50% of your military strength, since he could revolt and now its 1:1 ratio, but as long as you make sure the dukes each have 1-15% of your kingdom's total power, they are very PRODUCTIVE. They go on their own wars, they annex land into your kingdom on separate truce timers from your own. They can rapidly aid your expansion goals. And if they get to big, or become decadent, THEN you plant your military adviser where they are, arrest them, and execute them. If they rebel, make sure you are trying to arrest them when you have more power than they do.

But I think just forcing the game to be You vs The World, without any of your vassals doing any work or conquest on their own, is a slow and boring game.

I love when I'm focused on something else, I look up to see some little grey armies mobilized, check it out to see where they are going and why, and find that the entire fricken kingdom is conquesting against someone because they are all allied family members. They take turns helping each other expand. Its great.

[jcinq4]

I'v noticed the AI is VERY bad at managing their decadence. The shia caliphate 50 years in is at max and no signs of going down anytime soon.

[neondt]

I'm finding that for the most part the AI handles it quite well. It's only the really huge dynasties that end up with massive decadence - the Shia Caliphate, the Seljuks, and (if they blob) the Almavorids. That seems about right to me. Now if only there was something similar for the Byzantines...

[DominusNovus]

I found that 4 wives aren't too bad, even if a wife doesn't have kids they will attempt to plot against another wife or another wifes child. So you can easily send them to jail. With my current sultan i have a policy where by after i have enough kids my wives go to jail as soon as possible, then they stay their until they are 45 (and are less likely to make more babies) where i will release them, preferebly during Ramadan so that i get the decadence and piety bonus. The benefit of this is that they don't make kids but i keep the prestige bonus of having 4 wives.

Perhaps it would be wise to only marry ambitious women with high intrigue?

[moldeh]

Perhaps it would be wise to only marry ambitious women with high intrigue?

Until they kill your genius midas touched son.

[ChaK_]

was wondering the same yeah. Just started a game, and already have 9 childs...

[Jack Pace]

I have a huge empire and the decadence created by random dynasty members is getting old. I have over 40 dynasty members in jail right now and 2-3 pop up adding decadence every single month. If I go on a lengthy war and forget to check, I may have 20 people adding decadence after a few months. I still can usually keep it under 20, it just gets old spending the entire game arresting my unlanded relatives and jailing the vassals of my vassals. And I have to answer a pop up for someone wanting me to be lenient every 30 seconds.

[TheChronoMaster]

Do as the Ottomans did.


Whenever a new ruler comes to power, imprison and behead all his brothers.

[Anenu]

Its a fairly simple 5 step process

1. Grant lands to sons so no decadence occurs

2. Upon rulers death immediatly imprison all brothers and nephews and anyone in your dynasty who is a male and not your son

3. Keep all of these people alive in prison and once a son of yours comes of age chose a brother and kill him and all his male children so you get the land he still possess even though he is prison

4. Grant land to son so no decadence occurs

5. Repeat 2-4 as soon as you die and your chosen heir takes over.


I find that this setup works best since you don't have to worry about landing your sons and you can have 1 powerful duchy you give to your chosen heir so that the game selects him to succeed you. I currently have something like 8 brother/nephews/cousins who are Emirs in my Arabian Empire all of them are in prison and eventually all of them will die to make room for my sons/grandsons.

[Emre Yigit]

Aren't there any chaste or celibate women out there for secondary wives?

[moldeh]

Aren't there any chaste or celibate women out there for secondary wives?

Sure there are. And if you pair chaste with a relatively high age then you'll only get a few kids.

[tabmorte]

Aren't there any chaste or celibate women out there for secondary wives?

I often pick homosexual wives for second and third wives. Also, for what ever reasons the European wives never seen to produce as many children either. I tend to go with 1 primary wife, one homosexual or chaste wife and then one christian wife who has her own claim to something.