Like many strategy games, Crusader Kings II is about ruthlessly conquering your neighbors. Unlike many strategy games, however, it is also about marrying their daughters and then having affairs with their maidservants. This can sometimes be a difficult aspect of the game for even the most battle-hardened strategy gamers to get their heads around, and so I thought it might be appropriate in honor of VGG Valentine’s Day Weekend to post a guide to the complex world of love and marriage, Crusader Kings II style.
--Please note that for stylistic purposes, this guide is generally written from the perspective of a male, Christian ruler. Nonetheless, most of what is said will hold true for non-Christian and matrilineally married female characters.--
Finding a Spouse
Before delving fully into the reasons one should marry in CKII, I thought it best to include a note about the interface that could save a lot of headache when trying to find a suitable spouse. Many new players go about locating a character to marry by navigating through the Character screens until they find a character that seems acceptable to them, at which point the propose and are rejected. Then they repeat this process ad infinitum until someone mercifully accepts.
There is a much easier way to go about this. On your character screen (or your heir’s or whoever you are trying to arrange a marriage for), you will see a small button next to their portrait with joined rings. Clicking this opens a “marriage browser” of sorts that displays a sortable list of all available spouses who would accept a proposal from that character. Occasionally, something changes while an offer is in transit any you’ll still get rejected, but this is very uncommon and using this interface takes a great deal of frustration out of the process of finding a match.
Marrying for Procreation
Many veteran Crusader Kings players prefer small-dynasty starts, i.e. starting a campaign as Count Neverheardofem of Backwatersville. In these scenarios, and in instances where your once proud dynasty has been pruned by plague and misfortune to a single, struggling branch, marriage with the primary focus on procreation is probably advisable. After all, if you are not able to produce heirs (or exclusively male heirs under some succession laws) you could watch all your hard-earned titles evaporate upon your passing. Here are a few points to keep in mind when marrying to procreate:
Age matters. Especially for women, the age of peak fertility in Crusader Kings II is short and belongs to the young. The closer to 16 (the age of maturity in game, before which only betrothal and not marriage is possible) the better. For men, the fertility drop off is a lot less steep, and as far as I can tell male characters can continue to father children, though with increasing difficulty, into their 70s or 80s. So even if you are pushing 60, get over the creepiness factor and marry that 16-year-old. The future of your dynasty may depend on it!
Look for fertility-increasing traits. Lustful is an obvious one, but there are other traits in CKII that boost a character’s fertility. Those studied in the more advanced ways of diplomacy and stewardship will receive increased fertility (I suppose they understand the political necessity of getting the job done, so will give it that extra bit of effort). There is also a genetic component to fertility, though the stats are buried in the game engine and never visible to the player, but characters with a ton of siblings and especially those who are twins (rare, but you will see it in game from time to time) are likely to have inherited high fertility from their parents. Of course, the flip side of this equation is to be sure to explicitly avoid fertility reducing traits, of which there are many ranging from temporary conditions like illness to less transient traits like inbreeding.
Treat your lady right. You will be presented from time to time with opportunities to earn your wife’s affections. Make the best of these. Go the extra mile. Buy her jewelry, a fine steed, maybe even that hunting falcon she’s had her eye on. These can provide fertility boosts. If you can earn her love along the way, even better.
Be ambitious. I have only anecdotal evidence, but it seems like setting your ambition to “have a son” or “have a daughter” provides a slight fertility increase. Even if it doesn’t, it provides a nice little prestige bonus when you succeed, so it’s worth a shot.
Focus on the family. As of the Way of Life DLC, you may choose a focus for your ruler. A great way to boost your fertility is to choose the family focus. Not only that, but this will give you some extra opportunities to improve relationships with other family members. It’s a win, win. Except when it doesn’t work…
When all else fails, fool around. If you’ve done all of the above and nothing has worked. Perhaps your wife, despite all her traits is secretly infertile. Perhaps she has aged out of her fertility window without bearing any children. Perhaps she finds you disgusting and won’t come within a mile of you no matter what you try. Regardless, if all else fails, you can use the Way of Life DLC’s focus mechanism to select the seducer focus for your ruler. This will greatly increase the chance of events presenting you with the opportunity to take mistresses and generally get busy with everything that moves. The potential downsides are many (a hostile marriage, sexual diseases, angry husbands), but the potential upside is a child to carry on your legacy. Be sure to legitimize any out-of-wedlock children so that they can inherit titles and grow your dynasty.
Be gullible. Of course, you may not be the only one in your marriage fooling around. Especially if your wife is lustful, she’s likely engaging in her own extracurricular activities. It’s not uncommon in this situation for your wife to become pregnant at a time when you’re pretty sure she was at home while you were attending that mead and ale convention three counties over. If she’s claiming the child is yours, it’s best not to question these things. Though he may look suspiciously like your steward, the child will be born of your dynasty and will be able to inherit as normal. Being a father is so much more than just contributing genetic material, isn’t it?
Marry off your daughters matrilineally. The goal here is the long-term growth of the dynasty. You ideally want to get to a point where your dynasty is large enough that you don’t need to worry for the rest of the game about it dying out, and can therefore marry for reasons other than procreation later in the game. One of the most effective ways to do this is to marry all daughters in the first generation off matrilineally. This will greatly reduce their pool of potential suitors, but all offspring of those unions will be of your dynasty instead of their husband’s. Of course, no self-respecting landed gentleman would agree to this, so it means you will be marrying them off to bastard sons of noblemen and local stable boys instead of dukes and princes, but if all you care about is head count, it’s a great way to grow a dynasty quickly.
CONTINUED.....
