Demesne Configuration

[Bramborough]

I've always been tempted (and often have given in) to keep and develop secondary (sometimes even tertiary) castles in my capital county; building "tall" for personal demesne. The rationale is to maximize the capital bonuses and build the largest personal levy size possible relative to my vassals'. I think that helps a lot to keep factions in check, reduce the threat of rebellions (maybe not whether they occur, but makes 'em pretty trivial to put down), and ability to conduct wars without having to put up with negative vassal opinion for keeping levies fielded too long.

That said, I always kinda feel like I'm gimping myself in some way by doing this. Maybe by foregoing too much potential city/church taxes?

Just interested to hear some other folks' approaches on how/why they put together and develop their demesne holdings.

Edit: for reference, am running LoR, SoA, WoL, and HF. If (and it's a big "if") I were to add more DLC in the few months before CK3, would most likely be Charlemagne and/or Monks & Mystics.

 

[Naughtius Maximus]

The "tall" method is great for realms under gavelkind as you will keep your capital.

The "wide" method is more profitable long term as you have more (barony) vassals to tax and raise levies from. It is more susceptible to succession however, so beware.

I would say stick to tall while new, and transition to wide once you are more comfortable with managing factions and understanding succession.

 

[MK1980]

generally speaking, both approaches are viable. you're not doing anything wrong by stacking castles in your capital. they get the levy bonus from marshal training troops and the levy bonus from being the capital and you probably also want to have your steward collecting taxes there so they also generate more taxes than other castles.

overall it depends a lot on the situiation which approach is better. for a small realm the demense levies are much more valuable (and important) than for a big empire with mid/lategame tech levels that can raise tens of thousands of retinues.

going wide will usually yield more money, but if you only have garbage counties available then it won't be all that great either. a demense with a dozen large counties (5+ holding slots each) filled up with cities will crank out crazy amounts of cash on its own, but if you only have size 3 counties with a single city and temple it's not quite as impressive.

 

[RobbieAB]

Interestingly this is going to depend on the DLCs in play: Conclave tax/levy rules really are a game changer for a feudal monarch.

With Conclave, as you gain some feudal taxes, you are less dependent on your city taxation to bankroll your government.

 

[Snake_Squeezins]

I think everyone should have at least one extra barony in their capital, and do so ASAP as they start a new game - it gives you a huge early-game advantage as you conquer your way to further power.

And on top of that, I am a huge fan of stacking all castles in my capital. You end up with such a massive available army that you basically prevent anyone from ever challenging your authority - not your vassals, not your neighbors.

I haven't found that stacking capital castles has ever hurt my income. A big percentage of my money comes from 1) shifting city/church tax to the maximum available limits, 2) establishing a few Merchant Republics and Archbishoprics, and 3) forcing outside Merchant Republics to pay 40% tribute.

 

[GeorgieBest]

The "tall" method is great for realms under gavelkind as you will keep your capital.

If you play tall with gavelkind, the castles you've built in the capital will still go to different children.

 

[Bramborough]

Interestingly this is going to depend on the DLCs in play: Conclave tax/levy rules really are a game changer for a feudal monarch.

Good point, will edit OP.

 

[RobbieAB]

Without Conclave my preferred strategy for a feudal monarch was to hold as many counties as I could and to pack those counties with as many cities as I could. The lack of significant feudal taxes meant that those cities basically became the key to my government economy, and generally I did what I could to optimise them, and keep their mayors loyal.