Hey, the only stupid question is the one you didn't ask. As for why I have gavelkind succession listed, it's because I'm taking advantage of a trick I learned about here on the forum for combining succession types. I have the Empire of Alba (unofficially the Irish Empire) set to A-C gavelkind and my kingdoms of Éire and Albain set to A-C primogeniture. I get the best of both worlds: +30% demesne limit, +5 vassal opinion, and no prestige loss for unlanded sons, but also no title loss on succession.
The only thing to be careful of with this is that the succession logic for gavelkind and primo are just slightly different. You can end up with different heirs for empire and kingdoms if your heir pre-deceases you after giving you grandchildren.
Thanks for answering. That
is an awesome trick. I might use it, actually, though the potential for different heirs is definitely a major downside, since my rulers thus far have each reigned for 50 years and kicked the bucket at like 70---both times I picked a child born late in the ruler's life to be heir, since they were both geniuses---and the first heir also had the Strong trait, while the second was a woman, which normally wouldn't be a plus, but with a member of my dynasty as King of Scotland, it was a huge bonus. (I've been using Elective, but switched to Primogeniture during this Queen's reign, as there are just too many Dukes serving as electors, and I definitely do
not want the eventual Empire of Britannia to be Elective). One issue, though: My capital Duchy, Flanders, where I hold all the Counties, is outside of England's de jure boundaries, and I don't have the Kingdom of Frisia created, mostly because I want my powerbase to eventually be concentrated under the Kingdom of England, so I can, if necessary, lose the Empire and my vassal Kings, but keep a huge chunk of my power. Though I suppose forming Frisia could accomplish the function of safety net (a weaker but more reliable one) because it's small enough to keep as Elective and still have only a few electors to keep happy.....ah, I rambled again. Anyways, Flanders is not de jure under the Kingdom of England, so if I make the Empire Gavelkind, won't that split my Duchy upon inheritance, assuming I don't create Frisia?
My collection of positive traits are mainly from personally raising and grooming my heirs (and maybe occasionally transferring the heir to somebody else for a different lifestyle trait right before he turns sixteen: e.g. Emperor Conchobar had Brilliant Strategist but I gave Crown Prince Rián [pictured] to my steward so he'd become a Midas Touched).
With Conclave, that's not how it works anymore. Educators have much less influence now, you pick a childhood Focus at any point between 0-5 which gives childhood traits which grow into adult traits, and you select an Education at 12, and both Focus and Education are permanent----you can't change them. Each childhood trait can grow into one of three options, and generally there's both positive and negative options. An event can fire that gives you the chance to choose one of those options, but a lot of the time, it's just up to chance. Without Elective Succession, there's basically no way to ensure that your heir will be a good one anymore. Though with your Gavelkind trick, I'll bet it works for Elective Gavelkind, which can only go to a member of your dynasty.
That's an interesting proposition....But here's my question: For some reason, a bunch of my vassals get
two succession opinion modifiers: Elective (Brittany is still Elective, because I'm the only Elector, being King but leaving the Duchy un-created), and Primogeniture. In this case, Gavelkind would be a counteracting force to Primogeniture, but I'd still like to know why this happens. Note that my King-level titles are Brittany and England---I have
not founded the Empire or inherited Scotland yet.
Also, just as an aside, my last three characters (Founder of Dynasty, Ruler Designer, King Robert 'the Wise' of Bretagne; his son, King Onfroy 'the Strong' of England and Bretagne; and Onfroy's daughter, Queen Elisabeth 'the Black' of England and Bretagne) have all been Midas Touched, to get that sweet, sweet demesne bonus. This is about to end. Now that the sub-realm (still a vassal of Francia, you see) has grown larger, I'm educating my heir, Prince Lelouch of England, Scotland, and Bretagne and future Emperor of Britannia, to be a diplomat. I should also mention that I currently have nearly all of Wales (Deheubarth is still independent), and between England and Scotland, I'll have most of Ireland when Lelouch inherits from both parents. So in a realm of French, Norman (yes, I've console-given a few vassals the Norman culture, because it's still a French-based occupation of England, and it's stupid not to eventually get Longbows---just because the language will be a little different doesn't mean the historical reliance on Longbows wouldn't exist)---right, so in a realm of French, Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Breton, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and Frisian (I have Holland, the County of Brabant, and the County of Gelre) people, it's going to take a hell of a lot of charisma to hold all that together. And, of course, Lelouch will have to lead an independence revolt against the Empire of Francia, which now includes West Francia, Aquitaine, Navarra, Aragon and Barcelona and part of Leon, Burgundy, Middle Francia, Germany, Saxony, and extends all the way to Austria. In a few years, Germany and Saxony will be de jure parts of the Empire of Francia. All the created Kingdoms except West Francia are Elective now (Aquitaine, Burgundy, Middle Francia, Germany, Saxony), and Burgundy is a pathetic scattering of Counties, but that's still a
massive Empire. To get independence, Lelouch is going to need lots and lots of allies and faction members. Also, Vassal Count. I've also taken the precaution of betrothing Prince Lelouch to a commoner woman, but one who has an awesome 20 Diplomacy.
tl:dr Diplomacy is the new Stewardship when it comes to necessity.
Another trick, I frequently have one or both of my grand mayors as councillors or commanders if their stats are up there. One benefit of picking a grand mayor with high Stewardship, you can make him your steward, which with Conclave completely blocks him from revolting if your council has war declaration powers. And just focus on creating a single republic for now; you can make another later if you want.
This is a great idea, and one reason I'd like to make Brittany my vassal MR----whoever holds that Kingdom (because I
am going to have to spin that off---having three demesne slots and three vassals, or six vassals, however I break it up, is just too much for Brittany) whoever holds that Kingdom is certainly going to be a "Powerful Vassal" for a long time to come. Less so once I've got vassal Kings of, say, Wales and/or Ireland running around in addition to that super-duke of Mercia, but definitely for a while. Having my MR be King-level means killing two birds with one stone----both my MR and my King-level vassal of Brittany are going to want to be on my Council, so why not have them be the same person, thus allowing me more freedom to pick good members of my Council? I'm pretty much resigned to having
some Powerful Vassals ticked at me for not being on the Council, since some of them are going to have terrible stats, but I'd like to keep at least a few of those Powerful Vassals happy.
For me, Brittany just ticks off so many boxes---I have to keep it as a King-level Vassal anyways (or a Duke-level, but let's be honest, in an Empire, that Duke is going to create or try to usurp the Kingdom anyways), and it's the smallest Kingdom I have access to, to keep them as low-powered as possible. Keeping them as a King vassal means I'll never, ever have to deal with that -20 malus, and all Brittany's provinces are coastal (that's good for a vassal MR, right?). I get that you can deal with that malus, but with Primogeniture succession (or Gavelkind/Primo, using your idea) means that I'll eventually have a bad heir that I can't kill off because you can't assassinate your own kids. This is especially true because of the reduced influence you have over your kids' development in
Conclave. Not having that -20 malus might make the difference. Also, because it would be a King-level vassal, I never, ever have to worry about losing it as a direct vassal if I need to reduce my Vassal Count. Plus, it'll be a whole Kingdom that can never, ever be inherited by another vassal, especially a King vassal, through claims or matrilineal marriages.
Of these all these benefits, Mann has only one (keeping it low-powered) and Holland has one and a half (Low-powered, but I also won't need to deal with the opinion malus for a long time, until de jure drift puts it under England). Holland also has the benefit of being next to my demesne for easy crushing of a revolt, but that sword can cut both ways, I guess. Also it is the hardest to obtain control of, since a dynasty member is on the throne there and has all of the Counties in it held personally (I had to push a claim, there was no other way to get it, and I could push for multiple Counties at once by assassinating the Duke, who had multiple sons, and Holland is Gavelkind). So what I need to know is, what are the
disadvantages to Brittany? Is it hard to keep in line? Is it not very profitable?
Merchant Republics can't have vassal Republics though they can have Burgher vassals.
I wouldn't give him all feudal vassals though; give him all three counties, give two other Patricians one county each, or make Lord Mayors out of the Mayors in the other two counties and then transfer them to him. He'll have a higher income and pay more taxes to you that way.
Right, sorry, I meant Lord Mayors. Would giving the Patricians a County give them too much influence in the elections? I think I'd like to keep the leadership of the MR rotating.
Also, general question about creating vassal Kings: The Prestige bonus of giving them out to members of my dynasty (naturally, ones without claims to my titles) is an obvious bonus, but I'm a bit worried about one thing: The AI seems to love inbreeding. Really, really love it. I've discovered a ludicrous number of intra-dynasty marriages among dynasty members outside of my direct control. I'm worried about intra-dynasty marriages between vassal Kings and Queens causing a super-King that will be a headache to deal with. After all, that's how I've got to the point where my heir is going to inherit enough territory to form the Empire of Britannia the day both of his parents are dead. What's your solution to this? Do I give out those titles to non-Dynasty members, sacrificing prestige in return for stability? That's where I'm leaning.
Okay, I have
two concerns. As Queen Elisabeth, I noticed that a member of my dynasty, a cousin, was plotting the death of my husband, King Sichar of Scotland. I don't remember if this was before or after my heir's birth, but I definitely did
not want Lelouch to inherit Scotland yet, where I'd lose control of his education and who he marries. So I invited my cousin to my court and then had him murdered. I killed my cousin to save my husband, in one of those wonderful twists we all love about CK2. That, of course, netted me the "Kinslayer" trait, which is why Queen Elisabeth I will go down in history as "Queen Elisabeth the Black." Dynasty members hate this. If I have this kind of thing crop up again, and my Dynasty members are my vassal Kings, I could have an instant revolt on my hands.
I'd like to apologize for my tendency to ramble and the massive size of this post, and thank you all for your patience. And if anyone gets the reference I've made with my heir's name, I hope I've made you smile.
