What to do with daughters?

[Wayreth]

I'm currently playing as a Duke in Ireland. My plan is to create the Kingdom of Ireland, which should not be too much of a bother since the island is fragmented into small earldoms, and then move on to either Wales or Scotland, depending on the then current state of affairs. And finally England will be mine.

On the topic of daughters: am I better off marrying them to foreign powers like Normandy, France, Portugal or nordic kingdoms (and gaining overseas alliances), or should I just marry them to british nobles?

[pete3great]

What Leroy said. Daughters are generally your alliance makers. It's worthwhile to marry them to smaller local powers too. Alliances don't last forever, so marrying your daughters to a Scottish/English duke/king (or even count since you'll be facing off against counts anyway, so you don't need super powerful allies) won't hurt you in the long run.

[MikMogus]

You can always make them into intrigue bombs. Educate them to have high intrigue and marry them into courts that you want to carry out plots in.

[Velvet Waltz]

Alternatively. marry them matrilineary to a king's third son and murder the other two. If this works, you might gain an actually long lasting alliance, but you should be careful that the kingdom doesn't have feudal elective (I think all frankish cultured kingdoms in the 867 tend to go for this) and you don't target to expand into this kingdom.

[VoiceGS]

Originally posted by jj_vita:

Alternatively. marry them matrilineary to a king's third son and murder the other two. If this works, you might gain an actually long lasting alliance, but you should be careful that the kingdom doesn't have feudal elective (I think all frankish cultured kingdoms in the 867 tend to go for this) and you don't target to expand into this kingdom.

Thats what I did on one of my previous European games. Marry them matrilineary and then if I couldn't make a plot to kill them and if I was stronger with them I force thier claim. Which incidently makes your dynasty grow stronger when your grandson or daughter takes the throne.

Voice

[DrZana]

Like Leroy said, foreign powers are the way to go.

I would recommend getting sending most of your daughters to the English princes, actually. Until you actually plan to conquer them an English king would make a powerful ally. Other than that the Scandinavian powers and France are who you want to help you take down England when the time comes.

As for your targets after becoming King of Ireland, you have it figured out. But don't forget about Brittany! It could make a nice little addition before trying to take on the beefier Scotland.

[Segovax]

Another +1 to what Leroy said.

[RodentofDoom]

Matrilineal marriages have a second benefit, they strengthen your dynasty at the expense of someone elses.
If your bothered about dynasterial stuff that is.

[markdb92]

that tatic only works if ladys can inhert land not all releams are male perfered women can inhert law.

[Velvet Waltz]

wrong. The point is that the male from the other dynasty gets landed and HIS heirs will be of your dynasty. The tricky part is to arrange these marriages as the AI is obviously not interested in giving their land to your dynasty.

[Wayreth]

Thanks everybody. There are some really useful tips here. I'm a bit leery of matrilineal marriages because I haven't quite worked out how the assassination mechanics work, and I'm afraid of being caught in failed murder attempts.

Oh, I'd forgot about Brittany. Well reminded, thanks.

[klionh87]

Don't worry too much about getting caught in an assassination plot.
I've been caught successfully murdering the 3-year old only son to the Empress of Spain and the only consequence was a -15(or so) "Dishonorable" malus to relations. Heck, she even consented to the marriage between her eldest daughter and my eldest son, less than a year later...

On the other hand, be wary of the actual "Assassinate" button. You will get counter-assassinated if you are discovered with it.

[Yxklyx]

If you have a genius daughter keep her in court to educate your kids.

[pete3great]

Originally posted by DrZana:

Like Leroy said, foreign powers are the way to go.

I would recommend getting sending most of your daughters to the English princes, actually. Until you actually plan to conquer them an English king would make a powerful ally. Other than that the Scandinavian powers and France are who you want to help you take down England when the time comes.

As for your targets after becoming King of Ireland, you have it figured out. But don't forget about Brittany! It could make a nice little addition before trying to take on the beefier Scotland.

In all the game I've played in the British Ilses, I've never conquered Scotland. I've inherited it every time. It sounds crazy but that's just the way it always seems to work out.

[RodentofDoom]

Originally posted by markdb92:

that tatic only works if ladys can inhert land not all releams are male perfered women can inhert law.

Not at all, it can be a sneakily effective way of snatching land without needing an army, or using exploding manure .... :)

Though the exploding manure is useful in turning an unlanded non-inheriting son-in-law into the heir apparent, by which time it's too late as he's already married and the kids belong to your family, which means when he dies after inheriting so does the land.


As you may have noticed I prefer the dynasty building aspect to this game .. have far more fun with it than with just stomping the AI with armies.
The -150 malus to various entities for being a "scheming bastard" I can live with :D

[Sohei]

If you have some extra daughters you can also send a couple of them to marry matrilinially to a count in lands as far away as possible. This way they are insurance that your dyanasty (and thus your game) can continue just in case everything goes wrong with your main line. The distance should help to keep them from interfering with your plans too much. It can be tough to get a landed noble to agree but if you marry off enough daughters to second or third in line heirs some of them will wind up with land even if you don't create any plots yourself.