General Tips For Newcomers Thread

Rob de Hard said:

I'd like some advice ..

1. How do I set up a son or relative as a bishop, do I have to 'evict' the current incumbant? Or can I set him as Lord Spiruitual and have him 'inherit' vacant posts within my demesne/realm? I thought lay investiture entitled me to invest my bishops not for them to just automatically spawn when one dies or vacates his office?

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You either have to revoke the title in question, or (if you have "free investiture") you can appoint a courtier as a successor to a bishopric. To do that, go to the religion tab, choose a bishopric and click on the "appoint successor" button. You can appoint the same person as successor to several bishoprics, I think, in case you only have one person you want to make a bishop as soon as possible.

24. Castles are the most cost effective way to increase your feudal levies, since they have the greatest variety of military buildings and investment there increases troop strength more than other holdinigs. Some strucutures increase fort level, some increase the levy overall (proportionately across troop types), and some increase specific troop types by the stated numbers of men (which are multiplied by those overall % boosts from other buildings). Troop selection and cost per man is higher in other types of holdings. Check the terrain map for terrain modifiers for combat and focus your troops accordingly (some light cavalry is good for pursuit - knights require several levels of upgraded stable).

However, investing in income-producing structures gives higher returns in towns than castles, and there is more variety in available structures. If you want a structure that increases technology development, you can build that in a bishopric.

25. The wrong type of demesne penalty applies when a feudal lord direclty holds a bishopric or town, and is a substantial income penalty. It may, however, be worth it if the alternative is a disloyal local vassal who won't pass along much income or release many troops for feudal service, and can attack you when your back is turned. Better is to get your vassals to love you, so they pay appropriate taxes and provide adequate levies in war - giving them titles, cash or land, arranging marriages, satifying ambitions, virtuous acts (like releasing prisoners), and other events can help improve the relationship, but study their opinion tooltip first to see if there are particular obstacles to a good relationship.

26. Rulers have 5 stats, and the parenthesized numbers on the right are the total state stats in that area (effectively boosting the ruler's performance). State stats equal the ruler's stat + 1/2 (rounded down) of the spouse's stat + the relevant minister's stat (e.g., Marshal's martial stat). Women can't serve on the council other than as Spymaster if wife or mother or the ruler, but their skills and counsel definitely do make a difference.

P.S. Don't just bump this - add tips!

Featauril said:

Can you guys offer advice as to how to deal with gavelkind succession? It really sucks when you have more than 2 sons.

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Once you've married off your heir (i.e. wait til he's sixteen) hover your mouse over the alert at the top of the screen warning which provinces you will lose upon rulers death, then grant them to your heir one at a time until the warning disappears. (start with the lowest ranked titles first)

It's a bit cheaty, so long as your heir isn't ambitious, he should have a high opinion of you though after being given those titles.

27. If playing a count, the easiest way to become wealthy is to concentrate all of the minor holdings in your county under your control. Even cities and churches are worth grabbing, since even with the wrong-ruler-type penalty you'll be earning much more (and be able to raise more troops) than your mayors and bishops are giving you. Be careful about revoking baronies--if you just have a single holding (the county seat), barons will likely have just as many troops under their command as you do.

28. If playing an independent ruler, try to keep a nicely sized emergency fund for raising mercenaries in the event of emergencies. This is especially important if you're a weaker ruler with powerful heathens nearby.

EDIT: I also had Hyzhenhok's point #27, but I will add that you should raise your troops before you revoke a title, this way you start sieging immediately if they refuse.

29. Try to concentrate a lot of holdings in your capital. If you use a steward to collect extra taxes he will collect them from all the holdings in a county that you own. A good steward (>20) can offset the wrong holding penalty too, so keep that profitable city to yourself too. I think the same applies for the marshal training troops. If you get enough money build more castles as castles give you most troops. So choose your capital to be where you can build the most holdings.

30. You can look at your finances if you click on your CoA in the upper left corner near your portrait. Using this you can estimate how many years it will take to save up money for 'Amass Wealth' or a new castle, or how many years can you keep mercenaries employed.

31. You can easily get good councilors by going into the character browser and sorting by the stat you need. To get them to your court you offer them a matrilineal marriage. If you don't have any single women available, use the 'Present Débutante' decision.

32. Try to get good educators in your court. All of the traits that they have are important, so try to get ones that have mostly green ones (virtues) and few bad ones (sins). The leftmost trait in the trait list is their education. There are different levels of education and the level can be seen by the number of dots on the trait icon going from 1 (lowsy) to 4 (great). The education gives a substantial boost to one of the five stats, and is very likely to be transferred to the child being educated.

Some of these are really gamey, I know, and will probably be nerfed in the release version and later patches.

Always try to get children (or at least heirs) of your major vassals educated at your court, by you or your heirs. This makes them like you once they succeed their parents and allows you to direct their traits. Plus if their parents rebel, you have nice hostages to imprison.

Really, you can use hostages as leverage? Does it give an opinion boost as well?

Martinus said:

Always try to get children (or at least heirs) of your major vassals educated at your court, by you or your heirs. This makes them like you once they succeed their parents and allows you to direct their traits. Plus if their parents rebel, you have nice hostages to imprison.

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how can you influence their choice of guardian?

Martinus said:

Always try to get children (or at least heirs) of your major vassals educated at your court, by you or your heirs. This makes them like you once they succeed their parents and allows you to direct their traits. Plus if their parents rebel, you have nice hostages to imprison.

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You should also give to educate future rulers to have traits like kind and content. The same with any pretenders that you will have in the future.

I wonder how this whole system works though. What exactly comes from the parents? Physical traits only? Where do base stats come from? Do the stats of the educator mater or only his traits? I'd really like to understand this system so I can make a super dynasty...Haha

Fjoelsvider said:

how can you influence their choice of guardian?

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"Educate Child" diplomatic option.

drkpendragon said:

You should also give to educate future rulers to have traits like kind and content. The same with any pretenders that you will have in the future.

I wonder how this whole system works though. What exactly comes from the parents? Physical traits only? Where do base stats come from? Do the stats of the educator mater or only his traits? I'd really like to understand this system so I can make a super dynasty...Haha

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I suspect base stats are to a large extent random and the variation there is not significant (maybe 1-5). So the traits are more important here. The type of education/profession I think is determined by the education of the tutor (or random if no tutor, I guess).

Slaxl said:

When I start with Gavelkind I just try to change it as soon as possible. I think you need to rule for 10 years before any changes can be made, and some succession choices need medium or above crown authority. I think the easiest to get from the start is elective, from where you can nominate your own heir. However if there isn't enough time then I guess you have to go the bishopric option. Just grant the son a church land holding, that removes him from succession, and I think from there if you grant him the whole county he becomes a prince-bishop. As for getting it back, I don't think it's easy, since no one looks favourably on taking land from bishops. I know the Pope tells me to release imprisoned bishops, so he might have something to say about that as well.

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If it hasn't been mentioned yet, depending on your laws, you may be able to designate a bishop's successor with one of your sons (or whoever else you fancy.) I believe this is under the religion tab.

33) If you marry off your bastard sons, they will move to their wife's court automatically. It appears such marriages default to matrilineal, with no way to undo it.

34) Once they come of age, you don't have to go through with a promised betrothal.

35) If someone tells you they'd be a better such-and-such, they're almost always right.

36) As a female ruler, you can still invite a debutante to catch your eye (working as designed?)

37) If you're getting rid of towns and churches, don't just create a new baron level vassal from the county screen. Go find a bishop you want to buddy up with (or the Pope/Patriarch) and give them those churches for the piety boost (and the head of the faith is always someone you want to keep happy).

38) Pay close attention to the Culture of people you choose as educators. That wife with great stats from far off Vlach? She might end up making half your grandkids Vlach if you use her as a primary educator. Learn from my mistakes, please, you can't count on me to do so.

Play someone other then the 4 starting that the demo lets you play. Basically to do it you have to select one of the 4 and then click play but before the map closes you have to click the one you want. I did this and played as one of the Welsh people. One territory is a lot easier to learn the game with then 4+ I won't say I'm a master at the game now, but a lot of the things I was struggling with I now understand, plus more that I hadn't gotten to yet. One thing that is still bugging me is fabricating a claim on another territory. I want to invade and take it over but my stupid stewart (or which ever one it is) stood around for years and did nothing! Also research, how does it work. I set my marshal to do research but after 5 years, no progress was made on bows. A third thing was that I sent my levies to aid a neighbor who was under attack from a huge force of rebels. We kicked their butts, but the guy I helped didn't bother to thank me! That and my character led the battle, how do I appoint someone else to lead the army? I wanted either my marshal or my heir to do it. My heir is depressed and I can't figure out how to make him not depressed anymore.