How does the game decide when your king dies?

[Glup Shitto]

Im curious about how eu4 kills rulers. is there a coin toss every month? is it decided before hand? do the chances of your king dying increase as he gets older. i only ask this because in my last 2 hungary games i got 3 regencies in a row. needless to say im a little upset about 6 consecutive regencies across 2 games.

[tinisiyo]

Ruler always dies in the most unsuitable moment :D
But really there are every month coin check depending on his age and another coin check whether he is a general (even not designated to army) or not.

[Tulduil Iphukiir]

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Ruler#Chance_of_death_and_life_expectancy

[Erik_Rex]

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Ruler#Death

the death calculation is close to the bottom. th link sais it better than I could.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

there's also a 3rd check if he's actively participating in a battle as a general (this can kill people who aren't at risk of Age related death).


If you hover over Age it'll tell your chance to die (just double that if he's also a General).

Once he has a chance to die, it's best to keep an eye for alternatives if you don't have an heir lined up or he suddenly decides to go hunting. (like checking if there's any pretenders rebels you could coax into rebelling and let them win to get a younger/possibly better ruler).

having a lot of royal marriages also can potentially generate higher age heirs of your dynasty. But can also potentially be someone else's dynasty.

[Drakulas]

Rulers and generals dying in battle must be extremely rare though.
699 hours in this game and I've never seen it happen.

[Tulduil Iphukiir]

Originally posted by kaiyl_kariashi:

If you hover over Age it'll tell your chance to die (just double that if he's also a General).

The startscreen tip proves true again: I have nearly 1800h and never hovered over the ruler's age.