Just remember, doods, "same rights as person" is not the same as "same rights as biological entity"!

What? It had to be said and I took such responsability.

But for the Fun Factor ^tm better if dumb... er... simplified. No need for angry noobs (and not so noobs) complaining that their women behave (biologically speaking) like.... you know, women. Even if realist (and interesting), it adds a layer of complexity that most won't like/accept*.

* Don't compare it to "Sovereign death = game over". Different topic and non negotiable.

I'm all for this. Screw the egalitarians. They don't live in the real world anyway.

I'd cringe every time someone suddenly had a baby like it was a big surprise. "Hey, look what fell out of me today! A baby! Let's ship it off to the nearest castle to be raised. I have a dungeon to raid."

If players end up valuing men and women differently for different reasons and purposes in the end, all the better.

In any case, special Buildings designed to "educate the aristocracy" that increase certain administrative attributes of Royal Family members stationed in the city, and grow up in the city, would be cool.

I think their should be a "Parental" talent, which could allow interesting bonuses and/or decisions in the Talent/Weakness ratio of your children, and potentially your children's children.

Part of what I envision is simply a greater sense of "Parenthood" in the empire, were all children have a greater chance to be born with more talents than weaknesses.

Another Part, however, makes me want a decision for each child (I want X gold per turn spend on this child's Education and Care!). Or (I want child to be raised in City A @ 10 gold per turn, or I want child to have his own bodyguard and accompany me on the field for 15 gold per turn) ... Bringing a toddler into a warfare environment could have a chance to raise both a Blood Crazed, Murder Crazed Maniac, but it could ALSO raise a Wise and Strong Great General.

Leaving your student Pampered in the Capital could lead him to be a slovenly and lazy oaf, or a Wise and Organized City Planner.

There are both interesting decisions, and having the Parenthood talent would give a better chance for the positive outcomes to be aquired.

Not to say that a Slovenly Oaf or a Blood-Crazed Murderfiend coming of age would be "entirely" bad. For instance, maybe the Slovenly oaf makes all buildings in the city he governs cost more, but in his creativity the Prestige is also increased per building.

Maybe the Blood-Crazed Murderfiend is also an incredibly skilled warrior fighting to a fierce brutality that demoralizes enemies, even if he is not the best commander. Would make a great Pycho Prize-Fighter to fight in the Front lines of your more Organized Child's Armies.

Also, maybe the lazy oaf has had more leisure time to think of various psycho-sematic possibilities, and is a wild-card at diplomacy. Either he does sub-par/below average on Trade or Diplomatic venues, or he shows his Savant prowess and becomes an incredibly excellent diplomat/merchant for a particular treaty or two. or perhaps you find he is a great diplomat only when negotiating with X country, for some as of yet undecipherable reason.

The Point being, that everyone has their uses, but the "good ones" are really, really good.

be better if you could only have an army of females haha.

Well, assuming that for the most part, every turn might end up = year (or 6 months, or 4 moths) ... Pregnancies probably woludn't last that long. Maybe a turn or two at the most.

So ... I think there should be an event of a Magical Pregnancy. The child is Prophesized as X, Y, and Z, and the pregnancy is lasting for an incredibly long time (5-10 years).

There could be a zillion twists, turns, and challenges to this ...

but if you do have the child, you get a really good Champion, and any good/bad results that the prophecy foretold.

Agreed. There is no reason why she could not take care of city/state administration, crying on soldiers to speed their training and such things. Let us say the pregnant heroine/sovereign cannot attack. However she should be able to defend herself, if attacked. The length of the pregnancy may be altered to best suit the game. You can even find a real world explanation for this - there is a period of time when the woman is unaware of pregnancy or is aware, but not yet limited.  

I suggested this feature not to punish female heroes, but to give the depth to the dynasty system. I don't like babies jumping out of nowhere (luckmann's description was perfect). If you play the game and you receive a message "your wife/hero is pregnant", you may enjoy the good news (and enjoy the waiting, whether the child becomes a new hero in your empire, or a little bastard and thug..."

At this moment if I get the message "child was born", the first thing that comes to my mind is: "O, really. One goes to take a coffe and suddenly has a child. What a lovely surprise!". And if you play the female sovereign, it is even more unprobable. They cannot be that stupid. All women I know have realized their pregnancy sooner or later.

A queen not knowing she is pregnant does seem highly improbable, to put it mildly. But here in the U.S. we still occasionally have women come to full term and deliver a child without knowing that they were pregnant. There's a recent story about a woman having her second child and being completely surprised. (With over 7 billion of us around now, it seems like nearly any crazy story is actually happening somewhere...)

Some 'loyalty mechanics' would be great fun for the dynasty stuff, but I'd rather see variations like the one you describe based on the individual character of sovereigns or at least have some variety by faction. Some aristocratic mothers are no more emotionally connected to their children than Frankie's dad is, and I suppose history must have at least a few male royals who were doting fathers.

Actually, if your Pregnant Wife was with you in a Travel Caravan with/behind your army, it would make an interesting strategical objective to protect during battle ... :3

all in all, I think I would like 3 popups

1st (Lady Ann is pregnant!)

2nd(A Daughter has been born named Elizabeth. How would you like her to be raised?)

A-Aristocrat of High standing ... potential for prestige bonuses, potential to be lazy

B-Warrior on the front lines ... Great General or Sadistic Murderer

C-Studies/Scholar ... Generals, Merchants, Artisans, Philosophers, ect.

D-to become a fitting mate/bargaining tool ... usually more Docile, loss of most stats, more easily goaded into political marriages

3rd(Elizabeth has come of age! She Excells in the art of Commanding, and has a lucky addition of Prestige bonus. (and you get the unit, infocard, and stats))

So the first pop-up shows who is pregnant, the second popup shows that the child is born, and tells you the name (at this point you could probably also edit their name). Part of the Second pop-up will allow you to choose how they are raised. The third and final pop-up would be upon their acceptance into proper membership of the Royal Aristocracy, and they become a unit (when they come of age).

The dynasty system does seem like a possibly vast bucket of hooks for quests and random events. Every once in a blue moon, I'd like to see the entire diplomatic landscape thrown into chaos by a starcrossed-lovers or prodigal-child type of event.

"My liege, your heir and the heir of Krax have both disappeared from their households, leaving letters that claim they have renounced their titles and eloped to the Isles Outside the Game Map. The council in Krax appear to believe we have kidnapped the boy, but it seems equally likely that your daughter is already on her way to captivity in Krax lands..."

If a turn equals 1 year, than it makes this an easy answer. Simply have Pregnanices and birth occur during in between turns, and only if the champion/soverign is at a city. Keep a constant birth Rate. So if a champion/sovereign has been out in the field for many, many turns, she/he is due for a a twin or triplet inorder to make up for lost time.

If you want spice it up a bit, don't have a constant birth rate, and allow pregnancies/births to occur only if the champion/soverign is at a city. then create a racial/faction trait the gives the ablity to have pregnancies/births to occur outside in the field or in enemy territory. This would be a more barbaric/warlike trait.

How is taking the most powerful unit of an empire out of the game NOT a weakening of said empire? Imagine if it was leading your army to an attack of an enemy army...your sov suddenly gets teleported to a city and your army wiped out.

The difficulaty is set by placing different enemy empires in the world. Difficulty by numbers is only used when you give the AIs certain bonuses. And while this is not desirable, there will certainly be some difficulty levels which do that just to give some players a challange. I dont see why one should make this dependent on cosmetic decisions by the player.

I dont really like the idea of a simple button to "make a baby". Whats stop someone from pressing that button EVERY turn? Yeah you get an army of heroes. not so fun.