So, tell me how the marriage game works

[BaronIronmaggot]

I usually play as a pagan and don't really bother with the marriage stuff. But I want to learn how the marriage game works for my current campaign.

Lets say that I am a Count and want to get anyone from my dynasty to rule another county. I try to marry the siblings of the inheritors, but they always refuse. When I want to marry a dude from my dynasty with a female sibling of the inheritor, I am refused due to "Desires Matrilinear Marriage". And marrying my daughter to one of the inheritors siblings is kinda pointless, because AI will never accept a Matrilinear marriage unless its his own daughter.

I am currently playing in France. My plan is to spread my seed to as much counties and duchies as possible and then unite all of them through seniority succession.

 

[Silversweeeper]

It is generally very hard to get a good marriage with someone of a higher tier, especially if they are anywhere close to inheriting or you are ttrying to get matrilinear marriages. Either shoot for your own tier or pick characters who are very far removed from the order of succession and then arrange some "accidents".

 

[Frank327]

With conclave a new feature is that if someone owes you a favor you can use it to get a marriage that's not with a ruler or primary heir. I'm not sure if you can marry matrilineally with a favor. That's how you can marry with their siblings, and that's how you can easily marry "up" the ladder.

It's easier to get marriages with children further down the line of inheritance. You generally can't "fix" inheritance with their primary or secondary heir. Look for the third/fourth/fifth etc. in line. So look out for big families and try and get those to work for you. Also click on titles and press the button "claimants". Very often there's more characters than just direct family with claims you can marry into. For example in the 1066 start there are marryable women with strong claims to england.

 

[FrosT37]

I usually play as a pagan and don't really bother with the marriage stuff. But I want to learn how the marriage game works for my current campaign.

Lets say that I am a Count and want to get anyone from my dynasty to rule another county. I try to marry the siblings of the inheritors, but they always refuse. When I want to marry a dude from my dynasty with a female sibling of the inheritor, I am refused due to "Desires Matrilinear Marriage". And marrying my daughter to one of the inheritors siblings is kinda pointless, because AI will never accept a Matrilinear marriage unless its his own daughter.

I am currently playing in France. My plan is to spread my seed to as much counties and duchies as possible and then unite all of them through seniority succession.

First, you need a strong power base before you can do anything.

Also, you need to think outside the box a little. Take a look at all the claimants of the title you want. Do they have inheritable claims? They do not have to be direct relatives from the current king (it's very hard to marry these girls).

 

[Spearton95]

I'm quite as dubtful as you. However, I discovered this stuff which you could eventually appreciate.

If your heir is a woman, you can marry her off matrilinearly to one of their children (maybe the 3rd or 4th in line), so when they grow up you can push your husband's claims to the other country, and your child will inherit both. You can also do that to make your children inherit a title of higher rank than yours (for example, if you are a king, you can marry the 5th son of a Byzantine Emperor and then when he dies press your husband's claim: your son will inherit the empire and the kingdom).

You can make your dynasty (not you directly, though) rule another title by (again) marrying off one of your children (matrilinearly if she's a girl) and then pushing his/her son's/daughter's claims to that title, which will be gained when his/her parent with the strong claim dies. You just have to invite him/her to your court, first. If you are a duke and the claim is on a county, you can make the claimant a vassal of yours by giving him a county, and then when you press his claims he will get the other title but still remain your vassal, thus expanding your realm.

And of course, alliances. That's the main purpose.

Be careful if some title has gavelkind or something elective, that may and WILL screw everything up.

 

[BaronIronmaggot]

It is generally very hard to get a good marriage with someone of a higher tier, especially if they are anywhere close to inheriting or you are ttrying to get matrilinear marriages. Either shoot for your own tier or pick characters who are very far removed from the order of succession and then arrange some "accidents".

Yea, indeed its hard to get a good marriage with someone with a higher tier. However my problem is that it is hard for me to get a good marriage with people of the same tier.

Also, I don't have the Conclave DLC, so no favors for me.

 

[Frank327]

An example of how to get your dynasty to rule the kingdom of France (only works with agnatic-cognatic):

1. Be a direct vassal of the king
2. Get a favor on the king either by being on the council or donating to the war chest
3. Use said favour to marry/bethroth your heir (son) to the king's daughter
4. Kill the king's male heirs (easier if you're on the council)
5. Depose/kill/wait for the king to die, you should have a new queen whose heir will be your heir's heir.

Killing the other heirs and keeping your daughter in law alive will be pretty difficult. Intrigue education and intrigue focus are pretty much vital for this kind of strategy. If you can become spymaster of France, it's pretty much in the bag barring unfortunate diseases.

 

[Arona]

Use favor to invite someone in court, then marry him, her and kill all wo are before him/her. good day work. If you have prestigious dynasty you have better change to marry 3 or 4 th in line characters