I've rewritten the
installment on the feudal system.
The old version, for comparison:
In Crusader Kings II, and Feudal Europe, realms have a highly hierarchical structure, almost every single noble serves someone else. As a liege, your most important job is keeping your vassals happy, as they provide most of your power.
First off, there's the economic aspect of it. Every single vassal you have has the potential to pay you tax. How much they pay you depend on three factors:
- How much they earn.
- What tax laws you've implemented.
- How much they like you.
Number 1 is rather obvious, the more they earn the more they're able to pay you.
Number 2, your laws, decide what percentage of their income they're
supposed to pay you. Starting off this is something like 20-30% for cities and churches, and 0% for baronies.
Number 3, how much they like you, is also very important. If a vassal has an opinion of you below 0, this will reduce how much tax they pay you by as many precent as they're below 0. For example, if a duke is supposed to pay you 10% of his income, but has an opinion of -50 towards you, he'll only pay you 5% of his income, as 10% * 50% is 5%.
Thus, if you're unable to keep your vassals happy, you will have very little income beyond what you get from your own personal holdings. Do also note that bishops will only ever pay you tax if they like you more than they like the pope.
Furthermore, and about as importantly, the feudal system has a huge effect on your warpower. Generally almost all your levyable troops will be from your vassals, not your own holdings. And like taxes, how many troops they'll let you levy is once again based around three factors:
- The available manpower in the province.
- Which levy laws you've implemented.
- How much they like you.
These three factors work essentially the same way as it does for tax.
So what can easily end up happening is that after an inheritance, no one likes your heir and you thus lose out on most of your potential levies, and will as such be much harder put to defend your lands or put down rebellions.
As an example of this, in my current campaign when my previous, highly loved king died, my levyable manpower went from around 40 000 men to about 20 000 men due to the large drop in opinion I got, with the taxes from my vassals dropping by a similar amount.
Tl;dr: The feudal system means you have to keep as many people as possible happy if you want to survive. Without happy vassals you'll have little income, and little power.
I love your guide. How about a section on culture? I started an AAR in Spain and I'd dearly love knowing how to maximize converting those provinces over.
Thank you for the suggestion, added to the list.
.png){kind=avatar}
