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Civil War Prevention Guide

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HolyOne said:
Yes, I am familiar with the concept. And landing relatives is fine for role-play purposes, but not fortunate in a guide specifically for avoiding civil wars.
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If you do make a habit of landing relatives, keep tabs on the first couple of generations (the ones with strong/weak claims). Once the claims are bred out however (the third generation), landed relatives often make great allies. They help generate prestige (which can help you snag better marriages), and also serve as a dynastic insurance policy in case your main line dies out.
 
HolyOne said:
Yes, I am familiar with the concept. And landing relatives is fine for role-play purposes, but not fortunate in a guide specifically for avoiding civil wars.
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Landing relatives who don't have claims is good for stability due to the shared dynasty opinion bonus. It's just the claimants that are problematic.
 
I never claimed landing relatives is all bad, you just have to be really careful with it. Like in that situation, that Iron Chariots described it's quite beneficial. Although should the shit hit the fan (rivalry, factions, regency), you are in deep trouble. Only one DOW and you will be fighting your whole realm because of dynastic alliances.
 
1. whatever you do, DONT land your heir. he will turn into an demons spawn and get so bad even the demons spawn is horrified by his sins. i often see him picking up kinslayer if i have a lot of relatives as well.

2. there seems to be a thought that civil wars are bad. in thruth, only LARGE civil wars are bad, small ones are an blessing. they allow you to pick up prestig, revoke some titles from the largest troublemakers, break their powerbase, and then distribute these titles to new lords that are now loyal to you. on top of this, you also get to imprison them so they will never bother you again if you dont let em out.

3. landing family for non RP purposes is an double-edged sword. on one hand, they help eachother and regulary expand on their own, increasing your own power and having you not bother with expansion, with the hidden benefit that this lowers their millitary power and thus making their factions weaker, and have an free +5 modifier with you. on the other side, they intermarry like crazy and can form superdukes like that, a small succession war in the duchy of nowheristan can set the realm ablaze and prevent succession law changes and their claims on your titles can often be very annoying, although in elective any duke can start an faction anyways. the dysnatic prestige beats all though, as getting a free 100+ prestige on your heirs birth and possibly with marriage is just plain awesome.
 
grumphie said:
1. whatever you do, DONT land your heir. he will turn into an demons spawn and get so bad even the demons spawn is horrified by his sins. i often see him picking up kinslayer if i have a lot of relatives as well.

2. there seems to be a thought that civil wars are bad. in thruth, only LARGE civil wars are bad, small ones are an blessing. they allow you to pick up prestig, revoke some titles from the largest troublemakers, break their powerbase, and then distribute these titles to new lords that are now loyal to you. on top of this, you also get to imprison them so they will never bother you again if you dont let em out.

3. landing family for non RP purposes is an double-edged sword. on one hand, they help eachother and regulary expand on their own, increasing your own power and having you not bother with expansion, with the hidden benefit that this lowers their millitary power and thus making their factions weaker, and have an free +5 modifier with you. on the other side, they intermarry like crazy and can form superdukes like that, a small succession war in the duchy of nowheristan can set the realm ablaze and prevent succession law changes and their claims on your titles can often be very annoying, although in elective any duke can start an faction anyways. the dysnatic prestige beats all though, as getting a free 100+ prestige on your heirs birth and possibly with marriage is just plain awesome.
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For one, there are both benefits and potential pitfalls. The benefits are added prestige, a shorter new ruler malus, inherited tech points and money, etc. There's not much better than having your ruler die and finding out you just picked up 200+ military tech points and 500 gold that your heir generated. You're also almost guaranteed to have an extra vote (his) if you're using Feudal Elective. If he's a king he might have generated 2000 prestige which gives him the max opinion bonus as well.

The flip side is that there are a TON of potential issues. I try to have as many dynasty vassals as possible, which means that my heir has plenty of allies inside the Empire. The downside is that there's a good chance your dynasty members will hate you for: called into wars, dishonored alliance, dishonored dynasty, kinslayer, etc.

So if you're desperate to avoid a rebellion I'd suggest not landing him as the consequences can be pretty drastic, but in general it's not a total cut and dry issue.
 
+! - Great advice.

One corollary presents itself - once your character reaches old age he should stop handing out honorary titles. Having a growing "reserve" of candy treats for your heir to hand out on succession is as good as or better than bribes since the bonus is permanent AND will cost him/her nothing.
 
I find it useful to immediately raise levies and move them to the faction heads capital province.

It is a bit gamey, and if you do if for too long it can make things worse, but if you know you are going to get civil warred it can be helpful to head it off in such a way.
 
I found that keeping enough gold for hiring a mercenary army and just fighting the civil wars is often ideal. Even better, if you're tribal and not a child, you can keep around 1k+ prestige as well, which gives a nice source of soldiers in a pinch. Civil wars are an opportunity to, in the words of Francis Urquhart, "put some stick about" and kill off, imprison or otherwise diminish rivals or miserable vassals.
 
Zolotaya said:
Always digest when an OP is written and then adjust it for the current release. 12 months of revisions and changes might mean you need to make adjustments but overall the advise is very sound still.
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Or the advice could be for characters who are relatively developed games, like not 967, but 1100.
 
wraithstalke said:
Or the advice could be for characters who are relatively developed games, like not 967, but 1100.
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The guide isn't just for late game, the suggestions stated can be applicable to both the 768 (Charlemagne) and 867 (The Old Gods) startdates.
 
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