Building up your capital

[cephalo]

Paying for buildings is extremely expensive. With the exception of direct economic bonuses like castle towns, that money almost always is better used to pay mercenaries to expand/defend the realm.

Agree? What buildings do you like to pay for and why?

 

[Asiak]

Disagree.

I mean really it's both I like to keep money around for both those things. Once you really start to make money you keep maybe 300 - 400 around for emergency defensive mercs. If I want to go to war and may need mercs for that I may save up a bit more than that, I may stop building things for a bit.

But generally money burns a hole in my pocket. And if you build up your demesne you won't need mercs within a few generations. Generally I go for the tax income buildings first across the boards to get a good tax bases. This gives the tax base required to really start rolling in dough, and build the buildings that give troops.

And if you use mercs to expand too widely and don't have a strong central demesne to help you keep them under control?

After the money I do tend to build the things that increase levy directly first over light infantry troops or heavy.

Honestly I haven't really refined my tall strategy beyond I like troops and I like money. And if I build up these buildings they will give me more money, to build more buildings.

 

[ApocalypseMao]

OP, you do understand that having huge demesne levies prevents factions from revolting in the first place?

 

[cephalo]

OP, you do understand that having huge demesne levies prevents factions from revolting in the first place?

I know when I have a large demesne it makes it hard to revolt succesfully, but sometimes revolts can be a great way to reorganize things and deal with the root cause of the revolt. And a mercenary company makes it almost certain that the revolt will fail. Building up levy's with buildings is very expensive. You could almost create another duke vassal on conquered land for the cost of a couple of buildings.

For the game I'm playing, I might try to build up more and see if it pays off. I haven't really tried it in a serious way.

 

[schondetta]

Disagree. Characters make more money than they ever have been since conclave gave more options to spend it on.

Upgrading Levi not only keeps vassaals in place. But if your big enough you can fight your wars without using vassal levy. And thus not worry about negative opinion.Also Vikings

 

[The Shacks]

I like to build tall.

 

[FrosT37]

Paying for buildings is extremely expensive. With the exception of direct economic bonuses like castle towns, that money almost always is better used to pay mercenaries to expand/defend the realm.

Agree? What buildings do you like to pay for and why?

Build priority:
1. Castle towns / castle walls
2. Additional holdings (either castles or towns)
3. Levy buildings
4. Retinue buildings

I will use mercenaries occasionally, mostly at count level.

 

[Xinkc]

It's perfectly possible to invest in both mercs and levies. Mercs essentially are instant, but expensive to maintain troops. They're best when they can be used and done with quickly.

Personally, I only use them when a war goes unexpectedly poorly and I need quick reinforcements to decisively win. Then again, it doesn't really require much saving due to the generosity of the Jews.

 

[VoodooEconomist]

I usually build up when I feel I can. However, I have a question: since tactics are chosen partially based on troop composition, does anyone find it practical to omit buildings giving specific unit types, sacrificing quantity for composition?!

 

[LackNull]

I agree with the OP that if you can use money to conquer more with mercs or whatever then that's pretty much always the better option, at least until you're maxxed out on demesne. That said, you seem to get so much gold in the game now that you always have enough for upgrades anyway. I go for tax first obviously and then just whatever I think will increase my levy the most, ignoring troop composition. I mostly want the levies for deterrence, and by the time I could be messing around with proper army compositions I should be able to beat any enemy with sheer quantity anyway.