Very true! Basically, just make sure every duke and king is a viceroy, and you'll be fine. Do not let their large territory and large armies fool you - it doesn't take much to plunge the Caliphate into a massive civil war, which will completely divert resources away from an external threat. Now obviously the Republic had been gone for centuries, but the Senate based in Constantinople was still a powerful institution. When you create the Holy Sepulchre and arrange it in such a way that the title pops back to you on the death of the Grand Master you get ALL THE MONEY - this happened a few times for me but only with male heirs, never with female heirs and not all the time with male heirs either. Let's just run down a checklist for what are a few basic tenets for what a centralizing empire would strive to do. Just buy favors from a few people and you can force them to vote for your candidate. The Byzantine Empire is one of the few empires that is already created at both the 8 start dates. Also, invest in your retinue when you can - this increases your power relative to your vassals, and is a big deal. This also means you can choose whoever you want as an heir without the need for Absolute Crown Authority and the thousand prestige cost.Maybe I'm too soft. This doesn't mean you can afford to keep swapping it around, but it is a helpful tactic should your heir die or a disinherited son look more appealing as your next ruler. For a cheaper and less hostile option, disinheriting the children of your heir costs half as much and they won't hate their father when he takes the throne after you, which is nice.Įither way, if you decide to use this strategy, know that you can also Re-inherit children should the need arise for a fraction of the cost.
This will still be a major hurdle to building a Legacy so it's a trade off whether you want to proceed with it. This is why it is best to combine with the Embrace Celibacy decision to make sure you don't have to do it with more than one or two children per generation. Renown can give permanent and powerful buffs to your whole family tree and spending huge amounts will hurt you in the long run. This is not without its problems though, as not only will your children hate you for it (-75) but it also costs a lot of Renown to do so. Using this on all but one of your potential heirs ensures that the titles will all go to a single individual. Next up is the Disinherit character option. This decision decreases your fertility to zero and makes sure that you don't keep making ticking baby time bombs. We discuss this in more detail in the Lifestyle and Perk Guide but for the sake of brevity, you want to gain the decision to become celibate. To start with, you'll want to focus on getting a few points in the Learning Lifestyle. This dire situation may leave you feeling stressed and lead to war after war to reunite your realm, but there are a few things you can do to ensure stability.
These Power Vassals will also agree to a Law change if they are imprisoned or Terrified of you. For that the best option is to move onto the Single Heir systems but it takes a long time to unlock these through the cultural technology system.īe aware, that you will have five Powerful Vassals made up of the strongest of those beneath you and they all need to approve of you in order to change any Succession Law. Even so, any form of partition will cause problems keeping your country intact. At the most basic level of Confederate Partition, the game will automatically create lower titles for them to inherit (such as duchies), while with Partition and High Partition it won't, meaning you can avoid losing duchies by simply not creating them.Īt High Partition, the player heir will always inherit at least half of the titles. If no equal titles are available they will be given lower ones. For example, if you are the king of two countries, the second oldest son will take the second kingdom on ruler death. If you have multiple children eligible for inheritance, the others will be given titles starting with those of the same rank as your primary.
By default this means that your eldest son will inherit the Primary Title along with the Realm Capital and any direct De Jure titles associated with it. At the start of the game, and well into the first few centuries, you will only really have access to gravelkind succession which divides your lands amongst your eligible children.