Third Generation All Barren

[Hoady]

There are a few fertility threads active, but seem to address only first generation fertility issues.
My original character and his two brothers had 5, 7 and 9 nine kids respectively, so I know how to make it happen.
Our kids had only 2-3 children themselves, but I was at war a lot so didn't think anything of it.
My original character has died, and the third generation has come of age. All married to young wives (18,19,20 years old), and no babies. I've tried leaving them in a Town keep with their wives for weeks on end and nothing happens.
I'm trying to conquer the whole map as an independent clan over multiple generations, so I'm not part of a kingdom. I don't have enough family to Govern all my towns/castles, and I only have less than a third of the fiefs. I'm now worried that my clan will die out before I complete the job.
Is this lack of fertility situation by design, a bug, or just bad luck?

 

[DrDragonlance]

I am guessing bad luck.

On e1.6 I had my grandson have at least 4 children. I have not yet hit there on live yet.

Can you save/reload to verify its bad luck?

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

It's been speculated before that there is a max amount of clan members and then they stop having babies, but a developer said it isn't so.
@SadShogun any change to this? Could @Hoady just have too many clan members?

If you've been bringing the couples to a fief and waiting there and re-loading and trying it many times, it seems like you're doing all you can and it's strange that no pregnancies have came.

 

[Zerosaiko]

I don't know if there's an explicit max, but NPC couples do get a penalty the more members (not counting companions) their clan has, based on their tier.

 

[Hoady]

Thanks everyone for your replies. All good advice/info. I'm pretty sure I have way too many clan members, but a few have died off recently, so I was hoping that if any maximum clan population cap exists, it would get refilled.
I have 58 family members and an additional 9 companions in the clan. My 78 year old father has just married his third wife. I constantly receive marriage proposals for all my old widowed family members, so it doesn't seem like a hard population cap is in effect.

 

[Emperor1997]

I don't know if there's an explicit max, but NPC couples do get a penalty the more members (not counting companions) their clan has, based on their tier.

But this should only for AI clans and not the player clan, because AIs are stupid and don't know how to use their family members.

 

[Lesbosisles]

In about 11 in-game years of my latest playthrough, my char has only been lucky to have only one baby. All clan members also have either 1 or none. Something's been done to the fertility system, and it looks like it's bugged.

 

[Hoady]

In about 11 in-game years of my latest playthrough, my char has only been lucky to have only one baby. All clan members also have either 1 or none. Something's been done to the fertility system, and it looks like it's bugged.

That's what worries me. There is a Mod that allows more control of family planning, but I understand it only works for the main player character, not other family members.
Its very disappointing, because the inter-generational playability is a unique feature of the game. To be this broken kind of undermines the whole system.

 

[DrDragonlance]

In my current game on live, my Grandson's wife is now pregnant.

 

[Hoady]

In my current game on live, my Grandson's wife is now pregnant.

Thanks @DrDragonlance. Can I ask how many total family members you have? I've pulled all my grandkids out of the Town so I can get on with the game. It can't just be bad luck. They all had the fertility perk, husbands and wives, and were locked up together for over 3 years of gameplay.

 

[Zerosaiko]

The issue is probably your 58 lords (as in everyone who is not a companion). But all wives except for your wife (if you're the husband) or you (if you're the wife) take a penalty as I mentioned above. In fact, I'm pretty sure that only you and your spouse can have any children by this point.

I don't know if there's an explicit max, but NPC couples do get a penalty the more members (not counting companions) their clan has, based on their tier.

The point at which AI couples in your clan start taking this penalty is after your clan has more than

4 + 4 * Tier, so if you're a Tier 6 clan, 28

lords.
And the point at which they would have absolutely no chance is twice that.

All Virile does is multiply the chance by 1.3 if either the wife or her husband has it, so a 1% chance would become a 1.3% chance, a 20% chance would become a 26% chance, and so on. And a 0% chance is still a 0% chance.

 

[Hoady]

Thanks @Zerosaiko that calculation is very useful. I'm tier 6, so 28 is my optimum family number? I should marry off a few of my girls to get the number down, which is a shame because they have all been developed to be excellent Governors. However, now that I know this calculation, in future I will try not to marry off the boys too early to allow a more natural spread of births.

 

[Zerosaiko]

Oh whoops, just realized that I forgot to put parentheses to make it clearer. 28 is the most you can have as a T6 clan before the penalty starts to kick in, and 56 is the point at which there's absolutely no chance (though even before then the chance will be so low that it's worth focusing on just you/your spouse)

4 + (4 * Tier)

 

[Emperor1997]

The issue is probably your 58 lords (as in everyone who is not a companion). But all wives except for your wife (if you're the husband) or you (if you're the wife) take a penalty as I mentioned above. In fact, I'm pretty sure that only you and your spouse can have any children by this point.

The point at which AI couples in your clan start taking this penalty is after your clan has more than

4 + 4 * Tier, so if you're a Tier 6 clan, 28

lords.
And the point at which they would have absolutely no chance is twice that.

All Virile does is multiply the chance by 1.3 if either the wife or her husband has it, so a 1% chance would become a 1.3% chance, a 20% chance would become a 26% chance, and so on. And a 0% chance is still a 0% chance.

I say it again, this should not be for the player clan, because the player clan, has other pregnancy system than the AI clans, because player clan members have to wait together with their spouse for pregnancy and the AI cheats the pregnancy.

 

[Zerosaiko]

I say it again, this should not be for the player clan, because the player clan has other pregnancy system than the AI clan, because player clan members have to wait together with their spouse for pregnancy and the AI cheats the pregnancy.

That is the way it works currently, whether it should be like that is a different subject. Right now the only check it does for if it should apply this penalty is whether the wife or her spouse is the current Main Hero.

 

[Emperor1997]

That is the way it works currently, whether it should be like that is a different subject. Right now the only check it does for if it should apply this penalty is whether the wife or her spouse is the current Main Hero.

This is the same stupid thing, that killed the Guild 3 for me.

I don't know why Devs have to add a total max. for family members, this would never be in real life, no one would stop making babies, because their family is too big.
They should allow at least 1 child per couple, if they want to control the Hero population, this would be the better solution, that a couple needs the permission of their clan leader, to have more than 1 child.

 

[Zerosaiko]

Unfortunately the only current solution is to be a male character and keep getting your wives killed. Though I imagine this is supposed to be a deterrent for both the player and AI clans getting bigger.

 

[Hoady]

Oh whoops, just realized that I forgot to put parentheses to make it clearer. 28 is the most you can have as a T6 clan before the penalty starts to kick in, and 56 is the point at which there's absolutely no chance (though even before then the chance will be so low that it's worth focusing on just you/your spouse)

4 + (4 * Tier)

Got it, thanks. My 58 strong family is no chance!

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

Thanks for this information @Zerosaiko !

 

[Lesbosisles]

Interesting stuff - started a new campaign as soon as the latest 1.1.0 beta has been released. Got married in about 24-25, spouse is 31.

Results - 3 kids in about 2 years (all are girls, though, but still). Guess, I was drastically unlucky all previous times.