Adopt a Special Succession Type

[IamOrion]

So I took Ireland and now I have an option Adopt a Special Succession Type - Tanistry Elective. The Ruler and all Vassals of one and two ranks below the Title can nominate a Title Heir - the Tanist - from among the members of the ruler's Dynasty. Vassals will tend to favor older, distant relatives over Close Family.

Is this better then partition?

[Sol]

Originally posted by IamOrion:

So I took Ireland and now I have an option Adopt a Special Succession Type - Tanistry Elective. The Ruler and all Vassals of one and two ranks below the Title can nominate a Title Heir - the Tanist - from among the members of the ruler's Dynasty. Vassals will tend to favor older, distant relatives over Close Family.

Is this better then partition?

Depends - can you win the election? If yes, it's the best way until it's gone but I prefer Scandinavian Elective. If you have such a title that lets you have this election rule, remember that it applies to this title and I believe its de jures that you own.

If you have 3 kingdom titles and one has tanistry, the other two will still have partition. If you can, it's advisable to either get ONE empire or kingdom title only and get it under something elective if you're popular otherwise it's better to manipulate Partition with cheese.

For example, if you have one kingdom then you can give give all heirs except the primary one, a single Duchy and its capital county, and everything else will go to your primary heir.

Just make sure you don't have enough duchies in any other de jure kingdom to actually create a title, or it will create that title and grant independence.

[CrUsHeR]

1) Tanistry election only works for your primary title - Your actual domain is still subject to partition laws, requiring the usual demand of titles for extra sons

2) Same with all elective laws, the voters are more likely to vote for (popular) landed rulers within the title's de jure lands. Giving your sons titles in newly conquered foreign lands will practically disqualify them ("he would rule from abroad")

3) Assuming you don't manage to get your favorite son to be elected, you can expect to play some random, old dynasty member with random stats and traits


So at least for me, only Partition and Primogeniture are useful.

[ste]

I would say no.

[ApricotMigraine]

Arguably better than confederate partition since it can help keep your existing demesne with the elected heir. You just need to focus on currying favour with the electors to influence their opinion on who they should vote for.
Depending on how big your demesne is, eventually the partition parts starts playing a role again, especially if you have holdings in different de-jure kingdoms.
I've been playing with Saxon Elective and it's a God-sent when starting out.

[snuggleform]

One thing you need to know about tannistry is that it gives more voting power to whoever is the dynasty head. (saxxon weights towards who has more development/popularity, and the other elective types have different weightings). You may not always be dynasty head, especially if you elected in one of your younger offspring.

I don't really like any of the special election types because there's at least some possibility a guy will get voted in who you don't want to play as.

To be fair, tannistry will feel really good the first time you use it. It will feel better than partition. It passively make vassals think better of you (+5 opinion). And since you are probably dynasty head when you first use tannistry, you are basically allowed to designate your heir as you please, specifically meaning you can pass off the kingdom to one of your younger sons who will then have more time to reign.

Tannistry will not feel so good, when they elect someone you don't want to play as. Additionally, when you grow to empire rank and you start to enact some of the Single Heir options, tannistry is nasty in that it overrides the single heir rule, meaning if you expected all the titles to go to one person, it may pass out the kingdom (and all lower de jure!) to some rando dude. Of course you'll keep the empire rank but...

Before I convince you not to use it, I would advise try it see if you like it, and remember you can always remove the tannistry from the title (as long as you hold it, for some prestige cost) if you feel it conflicts with your succession laws instead of helping it.

You may feel tannistry is worth it until you hit single heir laws, or you may decide you just don't want to risk someone getting voted in who you don't want to play as.

[TheDogeOfSwabia]

disinherit, simple as that

[snuggleform]

Originally posted by Stevo:

disinherit, simple as that

costs renown, which I jealously save for legacies. Can be quite costly if you're insular christian with 4 wives, or even if you're catholic with a fertile wife.

[IamOrion]

All great information! Thanks everyone! I think I will stick with partition since I am playing ironman and going for achievements.

[D34DLY]

yes it is better. you get to pick who you want to be your heir (and play as next). It is rare for me that my first born is the best option.

Since you can pick your culture with character creator, I pick a culture that allows for selecting an heir such as one of the Norse cultures, or in your case Ireland.

[Thor's Wrath]

Originally posted by IamOrion:

All great information! Thanks everyone! I think I will stick with partition since I am playing ironman and going for achievements.

Scotland is one of my favorite playthroughs and they also have tanistery succession. I personally like it better than any other options available up through single heir (with the designate heir added).

Reason I like tanistery until you can pick your own heir is because you're not stuck with your first born when he has ♥♥♥♥♥♥ stats (I know you can find ways for him to die, but it can also be tedious)