Elective Gavelkind Or Elective Monarchy?

[Bill Nye The Soviet Spy]

Which is better?

[Wahmbo]

Elective is good at the very start when your vote is binding. Once you have a few counts it becomes difficult to control as they usually vote for older members.

[quarre]

Any Glavekind is sucks if you have more than one son.
And Elective Monarchy can be tricky if you have big realm and tons of vassals.
My choices are Seniority or Primo, depends on what i want.

[Azunai]

elective gavelkind is easily the worst succession law. i think they made that terrible on purpose to balance the super powerful tribal casus belli (tribals are stuck with elective gavelkind). your titles are split between your offspring and the law can even create titles that don't yet exist and give the siblings of your heir independence.

*anything* else is better.

elective monarchy can be risky since your vassals may actually vote another dynasty, so you might lose your main title and become a vassal again. not a great succession law. still better than starting from scratch with every new generation.

[Merkatz]

Of the two, elective monarchy is the superior... for reasons already stated. That said, save for Elective Seniority (Merchant Republics) I personally hate any and all elective governments in this game. So much so that I will stay in and exploit gavelkind until I can get into primo/ultimo/seniority.

[Rat Master Keyser]

I almost exclusively use Elective Monarchy. I need that sweet Imperial adminstration. I land my dynasty as Kings & powerful Dukes, and if I run out of family members I grant viceroyalty. This way there is next to no chance that my dynasty will ever be kicked off the throne. If you start breeding right at the beginning of the game, you will only very rarely have an heir who is ♥♥♥♥.

[Valentine Michael Smith]

elective monarchy is pretty great if all your electors are kin. that said I have very little problem with elective gavelkind. Your primary duchy always goes to whoever is elected and as along as you have enough extra counties it won't break up among your kids. I usually end up having to take several concubines so my sons don't end up inheriting more than 2 counties each expansion is so easy as tribal.

[ambi]

Elective monarchy is pretty fun. There's more intrigue and backstabbing involved as you try to get your heir to the throne.

Gavelkind is ♥♥♥♥. Drop it as soon as possible.

[Newton's Flaming Laser Sword]

I used to generally run with Elective Monarchy, and it's perfectly doable as long as you try to land as many of your family members as possible. Every now and then, a Genius duke/king comes along that threathens your dynasties' rule, but if you assassinate those or remove them from the inheritance through other means you should be solid. It's very important to keep in mind that if you're running with elective you're going to want a culturally and religiously homogenous realm.

As for elective gavelkind I agree with that it's easily the worst inheritance law. Gavelkind is bad, but elective makes it so that you even have to make sure that your family members don't have children lest you lose everything if they get voted for.

[Fóka Úr]

Elective Monarchy is the best succession law imo. You can vote for the children with the best education and traits and it only can become risky when you are ruling an empire or your dukes hate you. To avoid that, make children have grey eminence education and 20+ diplo and problem solved!

[Jerubius]

Gavelkind is not great, but at least it's predictable, and any predictable system can be gamed to your advantage. Elective gavelkind, on the other hand, removes that element of predictability. Secondary heirs may go independent, and may form new titles. Who people tend to vote for is complicated and difficult to accurately predict. So your ability to control it is limited. You can try to keep a small dynasty, and you can try to expand in chunks. As do not conquer more than 50% of any de jure title unless it is lower than your primary title or part of a higher level title you are prepared to create.

Elective, on the other hand, still has a degree of randomness, but is far more controllable. Vassals who like you are far more likely to vote your way. Only the primary heir gets anything, so you don't have to worry about who else is nominated. Only direct vassals of duke or above are potential nominees beyond family, unless you are a duke, I think. Vassals who likely you vote the same as you with far more regularity. There are a lot less risks you are taking with elective, and the payoff for a well oiled elective realm is you get to put your best heir on the throne every time. It's riskier than primo or seniority, but the payoff is actually proportionate to the associated risk, unlike EGK.

[PyroSaphuron]

Elective Gavelkind is literally the worst succession type in the game. The only priority if you have Elective Gavelkind is to get rid of it. It's the most glaring weakness of Tribal rulers.

[Dialask]

I'm pretty sure elective Gavelkind can also kick titles over to non-children dynasty members... at least I've had that happen before when playing as Poland (I had to beat up an uncle to get my titles back). Suffice to say, it's a bad thing and a pain in the posterior.

[Joe Danger]

Honesly none of the above, like everyone else has said you need seniority or primo

[Kraek]

If you have to chose between these two, I'd go for elective gavelkind. It is the one you can prepare the most for, and you are assured it's your dynasty on the throne. Even if it's always a bit of a hassle to "reunite" at your death, especially if we're talking about kingdoms.

Still... you can even opt to leave it and not reunite. Somethimes that is the safer course of action, or a good consideration depending on the breakaway kingdoms. A good blood-related ally is much more trustworthy than a vassal (and as I have played this game a long time, i find more appreciation in a couple of kingdom alliances than empires, especially with the new combat system).

Elective monarchy doesn't guarantee you your dynasty gets the throne. And frankly, that is a step closer (on the very long road) to game over. It can be good, temporarly, if you are desperate to avoid a rebellion you can't win... but other than that, na... skip it and face the sour coffee table with your back straight.

[MrBonkers]

Gavelkind is actually the strongest inheritance law if you know how to game it for the 30% higher demesne
Electice gavelkind is the scourge of the world though