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[smjjames]

Question to you guys, do you ever mess around with the vassal obligation laws? I just about never do anything with them and leave them on default settings.

[umiman]

Question to you guys, do you ever mess around with the vassal obligation laws? I just about never do anything with them and leave them on default settings.

Yeah I change them, but usually last priority.

If you max out vassal levy requirements you get less money from them but it helps against war declaration and rebellions as they consider their own massive contribution as part of the force they must fight against.

[Broseph Stalin]

Plus you temporarily step it down when you need to convince people the new ruler is alright.

[umiman]

Oh and units raised by vassals are actually free for you. Either free or super cheap, I don't remember actually.

So you could run wars with your vassal troops that cost you barely anything. Good way to deal with annoying peasant rebels and stuff.

[Dorsidwarf]

Question to you guys, do you ever mess around with the vassal obligation laws? I just about never do anything with them and leave them on default settings.

Yeah I change them, but usually last priority.

If you max out vassal levy requirements you get less money from them but it helps against war declaration and rebellions as they consider their own massive contribution as part of the force they must fight against.

I seem to recall that they don't consider their own contribution to your forces, but they do consider the supercharged contributions of everyone else.

Also if you're maxing feudal levies you'll need to establish some moneymaking cities

[Loam]

In my Zoro Persia game I actually maxed the tax obligation, and used the money to field a standing army of retinues and mercenaries (with the Immortals thrown in for free, since I vassalized them). It got up to ~50,000 men, I think, and could easily have had more.

The main advantages of such a force are:
     1) as a standing army, you don't need to muster levies every time you declare war, and can strike at your opponents before they have a chance to muster;
     2) levies don't reinforce in the field - they have to be disbanded and re-raised. Mercs/Holy Orders/Retinues all reinforce, so losing men isn't as big of a deal.

Main drawbacks are 1) cost and 2) your vassals have more troops available to cause trouble with, but neither of these is hard to surmount.

About mercenary companies though: over time the companies "grow" to have more troops - so, in 867 the Turkoman Company has maybe ~1500 troops, but in 967 they'll have ~3000, and so on. BUT that only happens when they aren't raised - so periodically disbanding and re-hiring the mercenary companies is necessary. Again, no big problem if you can eat the cost.

[scriver]

Levies reinforce when in owned territory now, though slower than mercenaries.

[heydude6]

     2) levies don't reinforce in the field - they have to be disbanded and re-raised.

I know for a fact that that's a lie. If you raise levies and lose some of them in battle, then when you mouse over them you should see a tooltip that says something like "levies reinforcing at a rate of 160 per month" as long as they are close enough to one of your counties. In some of my more difficult battles reinforcement is something I have to make use of, because it's one of the main advantages you have when the enemy is invading your homeland. If your army is damaged, you can keep them out of conflict until they heal to full strength.

[scriver]

It's not a lie, it's outdated truth.

[Loam]

Ah, I see. My mistake. When did that come in? I don't remember it from my most recent game... but then that was a few months ago.

Anyway, a standing army is still pretty fun.

[Funk]

Low cost troops are good for raiding too
As are raids that backfire or have costly assaults at keeping vassals in line.
Don't use your retinues there far too costly to replace.
Still a horde of skirmishers is good at keeping  vassals in line (they check numbers not quality)

[smjjames]

How do you break out of being a Duchy and get the throne of your lieges kingdom? I'm having some trouble with that. Been attempting to, as House de Castella, get the throne of Asturias and build Spain, but the leap to the throne I'm having real difficulty with.

edit: Actually, you know what I totally forgot about doing in my rush to expand the dynasty? Attempt to marry the daughters of the current ruling dynasty and pull some intrigue. I just realized this after I betrothed the daughter of the King of Lotharingia. *facedesks* Would have made it a hell of a lot easier. *starts over*

[scriver]

Under certain circumstances one can also plot for a claim to the throne. But I'm not sure which circumstances.

[Cruxador]

Under certain circumstances one can also plot for a claim to the throne. But I'm not sure which circumstances.

Yeah, plots are mysterious like that.

[Digital Hellhound]

Yeah, you’ll want to marry those daughters. Generally the easiest way to get yourself a throne is a claim or inheritance. The latter is generally more difficult as the AI tries to avoid making the heir to the throne someone else’s dynasty, so you’ll need plots or luck to clear the family tree so the kid in your reach can have a go. Realms with one or two sons and lots of daughters are good - you can usually marry the second or third in line and be just a few convenient deaths away from eventually inheriting. If it looks like the heir might become someone in another court or such, try to invite them to yours and matrimarry/marry them to your heir - the current ruler doesn’t ’own’ them so you can bypass the usual ’too high in the line of succession’ modifiers and steal the kingdom.

Even if you can’t inherit the place, these marriages will usually yield you kids with (generally weak) claims to the kingdom. You can try to get a faction going for you at that point, or just seize the throne in a war if you’re strong enough.

There’s also the option of declaring independence, conquering the kingdom from the outside and then recreating/usurping the title for yourself. Useful when you want the kingdom to get the same laws as your main title and don’t want to deal with councils and so - or if you can get a papal Invasion claim which, I think, gets you personally every holding in the realm to reassign as you wish. Obviously this is a bit of a non-standard option.