The elders seem a bit too hale and hearthy, don't you think?

[GrandPanjandrum]

Has anyone else noticed that the characters are far healthier and live far longer than expected for the timeframe? I am about to broach the 13th century and have never had a ruler died before the age of fifty and my court is filled with an awful lot of old codgers doddering about. The most sprightly oldster I've seen thus far was Tancred d'Hautville, my gay marshal, who lived to the ripe old age of 96, outliving 4 rulers and leading troops till his dying breath.

 

[tanathos]

As far as realism go, I seem to recall that if you survived until 20 and was an aristocrat, reaching 60 was commonplace.

 

[h3+]

I had a king have four children well into his nineties. His seventy year old successor had a four year old great uncle.

 

[Comradebot]

It's not too crazy. From what I've seen, once you're over 50 your odds of not seeing the next year really start to climb. Sounds to me you've just had a strange run of luck with folks reaching old ages. Don't think I've seen a single person reach 90 yet.

 

[unmerged(129215)]

I've had way too many old rulers, including a 86 old one directly following a 79 year old one. And that 86 year old got sick at age 83...and recovered o.0. Something does seem rather screwy with the rulers living too ling.

 

[Sir William]

As far as realism go, I seem to recall that if you survived until 20 and was an aristocrat, reaching 60 was commonplace.

Ditto, a lot of women died in child birth, and a lot of new borns and children died, but aristocrats did pretty alright.

 

[taytaz]

I had a a few really long living rulers and a couple who barely even gave the pretense of trying to stay alive. Aside from the rulers killed in battle, the longest I have personally had a ruler live is 72 (a 65 year reign no less!), but I saw a King of England that lived until 101, which impressed me to no end. A couple of my rulers have died in their fifties and one in their mid thirties....seems fairly realistic as nobles of that time did have a fairly good life, diet etc... and it was really only if you got a terrible disease only curable by modern medicine that you found yourself in hot water.

 

[von Sachsen]

I've had it go both ways, most tend to die in the late 50's/early 60's. But I've also had rulers die in their late 30's and occasionally sons that die in their 20's.

 

[Bertouch]

Has anyone else noticed that the characters are far healthier and live far longer than expected for the timeframe? I am about to broach the 13th century and have never had a ruler died before the age of fifty and my court is filled with an awful lot of old codgers doddering about. The most sprightly oldster I've seen thus far was Tancred d'Hautville, my gay marshal, who lived to the ripe old age of 96, outliving 4 rulers and leading troops till his dying breath.

Check out the kings, queens, churchmen, literary figures, and composers of the period. Those that didn't die in infancy, from plague or in the battle often lived very long lives. Here, for example, are six of the most respected composers:

Johannes Ockeghem: 1410/25--1497
Josquin Desprez: 1440/5--1521
Orlando de Lassus: 1530/2--1594
Guillaume Dufay: 1397--1474
Gilles Binchois: 1400--1460
John Dunstable: 1390--1453

These names aren't "cherry-picked," but are simply six of the outstanding, most highly regarded musicians of their times. Most were also members of the clergy, though only in the sense that it was required to serve in a specific court capacity--and that it meant they could receive the proceedings from prebendaries and the like (a sort of sacred equivalent of secular landlordism) upon gift from a ruler.

This kind of thing was much more common than popular myth would have us believe.

 

[Sarmatia1871]

Ditto, a lot of women died in child birth, and a lot of new borns and children died

Indeed, although the game isn't really representing that either - unlike CK1, women dying in childbirth seems to be quite rare in CK2, and children survive quite readily.

 

[Dsuke]

Indeed, although the game isn't really representing that either - unlike CK1, women dying in childbirth seems to be quite rare in CK2, and children survive quite readily.

I miss women dying in childbirth from CK1 (doesn't that make me sound horrible and chauvinistic?) but am willing to accept the high infant/child-survivability as a simplification for game play purposes (the alternative being lots more messages about children being born and dying).

 

[GrandPanjandrum]

I am aware that medieval aristocrats weren't all dropping like flies, but having a court and vassals made up almost exclusively of septuagenarians+ is a tad much. Maybe if they made sickness a tad more strong. People tend to recover from typhoid and smallpox within days.

 

[Harle]

Yeah, I'm fine with it in general, but at first I assumed that when a 45+ character got sick there was a good chance they were going to die. But after recovering from every illness and horrible war wound, I stopped worrying about it. Maybe I've just had a string of good luck, but... elders should have a harder time recovering from illness without the advent of modern medicine.

 

[DeathAndDecay]

I had King Morchad I 'the Old' of Ireland live to a ripe old age of 82 in my first play through.

 

[Dadekster]

I've seen it both ways with some guys kicking around till their 70's and others kicking the bucket at 21...like my last liege. Seems really young to die and tbh I have no idea what killed him as the message doesn't tell you iirc. Disease, knife in the back, etc? He just up and died it seemed.

 

[PdoxLP]

I've had many rulers dying in their 20s. I think it's mostly luck.

 

[Raczynski]

No of my rulers lived to 60 yet, so I don't think they live to long. I agree though various illnesses should probably be more deadly.

 

[Actinguy]

My very first playthrough as a count, I lived until 79, and only died because I was jailed for a crime I didn't commit! My brother, who had no land, lived to 70. The rest of my siblings, etc, died in their 20's to 30's because I had to throw them in jail.

 

[Muskeato]

I had King Morchad I 'the Old' of Ireland live to a ripe old age of 82 in my first play through.

82? Hah! He lived to 96 in my game :/

 

[Actinguy]

BTW, when you start a new game, click the button to see everyone, and then sort by age. There's a court chaplain at the start of the game who's like 98 years old!