Crusader Kings II ~ Quick Answers

[Hootieleece]

Can someone give me some tips for fighting wars? I've tried throwing all my armies into one stack and throwing it at the enemy, but I still lose sometimes, and that leaves me unable to defend the homeland from sieges... I can avoid starting wars for a bit, but I may have a war with a vassal coming up soon.

putting all your troops in one stack is a good idea. buying mercenaries also.Checking out who your enemy's allies are and how many troops they have.If a king use the independent realms page of ledger to get an idea of your opponents levies.Otherwise look at character page and what holding he owns.Mouse over the holdings and look at levies. Never declare war when you don't outnumber enemy.Gather all troops in one stack or several 10k-12k.(depending on realm size) defeat main enemy army. Then start sieging his counties.If your stack has 8:1 advantage over garrison use assault button.Otherwise wait out each siege.Siege every holding in county because the one he doesn't personally own are vassals, the enemy can still raise troops from unoccupied holdings.Rinse repeat with all enemy counties. Eventually you will get 100% warscore.Enforce demands.Congratulations you just won a war.

 

[TheTedinator]

Is there a faster way to take a whole duchy from someone? Forging a claim on one county only gives me the claim to that county, so even if I occupy the whole duchy, I still only end up with the one I forged a claim to.

 

[firestorm717]

Is there a faster way to take a whole duchy from someone? Forging a claim on one county only gives me the claim to that county, so even if I occupy the whole duchy, I still only end up with the one I forged a claim to.

If your chancellor has high enough diplomacy, you can put him in the duke's county, and there's a small chance he will forge a claim on the duchy itself. (This of course costs massively more money and prestige than for a single county). Even going county by county, if you have half the counties in a duchy, then you can usurp the duke's title and use de jure claims to conquer the rest.

The alternative is the traditional marriage + assassination route. Find someone with inheritable claims, marry them into your family (matrilineally if with daughters), make sure they have kids, then off the guy with the claim and it should go to your grandchild. Press your grandchild's claim, and the duchy should come under your domain (assuming you're a king or higher level).

 

[herrhals]

My courtier has a claim on independent duchy of provence, and I am duke of Toulouse. The tooltip says she will gain the duchy and become my vassal. Since she is claiming a ducal title, and I am a duke as well... For now, am I right to assume that the tooltip is wrong and she will merely gain the duchy and remain independent from me? She is married to my brother.. Which also could pose a problem.
Is it worth it to push the claim?

2nd question..
Is there a way to see all my casus belli? Like, an overview?

3rd question..
I married my nephew to a foreign woman with stats I would like to use for my spymaster.. Why can't I select her for the position? It says she is at my court. My nephew is unlanded, no land.

 

[themendios]

?

1. I think so, I have never pushed for a duchy for an unlanded though so it might actually make her a count of whatever counties - are you sure it's not just the county?
2. Ledger
3. She's a woman. Woman weak. Woman no can work real job, stay home make baby.* Unless specifically for spymaster/steward she is of your dynasty or your mother.

 

[SaintEsteban]

My courtier has a claim on independent duchy of provence, and I am duke of Toulouse. The tooltip says she will gain the duchy and become my vassal. Since she is claiming a ducal title, and I am a duke as well... For now, am I right to assume that the tooltip is wrong and she will merely gain the duchy and remain independent from me? She is married to my brother.. Which also could pose a problem.
Is it worth it to push the claim?

2nd question..
Is there a way to see all my casus belli? Like, an overview?

3rd question..
I married my nephew to a foreign woman with stats I would like to use for my spymaster.. Why can't I select her for the position? It says she is at my court. My nephew is unlanded, no land.

1. If she has a claim on the ducal title, she will become an independent duke. Only one county will be her personal holding, however, the rest will be held by the old vassals, including the deposed (and angry) duke. If it's a regular marriage to your brother, you'll have allies for throughout the entire game (barring the lack of male heirs), since kinsmen can be called to war. I think it's a good idea; since his wife will hold the land, not him, and she'll get a +100 opinion towards you for pressing her claim, they will not attack you. As long as his child who inherits the claim isn't a complete prat, it will earn you a valuable ally, although I still think it would be preferable to expand your own realm.

2. You can view a list of claimants in your realm from the ledger. Also, in the diplomatic relations mapmode, yellow realms are ones that you have a casus belli against. Hovering over them will sometimes show the CB (but not always, and I'm unsure of the conditions)

3. Among women, only your mother and wife, to my knowledge, can hold a council post, and only spymaster.

 

[herrhals]

Thanks a lot, it is starting to make sense. Very helpful, to both.

Another question..
I never have seemed to have much success calling in allies. It is always "maybe". Is this just the way it is? This occurs even at 100 relation.

 

[Ekyman]

Thanks a lot, it is starting to make sense. Very helpful, to both.

Another question..
I never have seemed to have much success calling in allies. It is always "maybe". Is this just the way it is? This occurs even at 100 relation.

The chance for calling in allies will always be maybe. If you hover over the maybe you can see what is influencing their decision, this will give you a better idea of if they will help or not.

 

[firestorm717]

Okay, follow-up question. I'm the HRE, and I pressed the claim of my grandson on the throne of Denmark. After I won, he became king of Denmark, but Denmark did not become part of my empire. What went wrong? Since my grandson is my dynasty, obviously, and I'm an emperor > king, shouldn't this bring the Danes under my control? If it helps, I'm currently running agnatic elective succession, and apparently the Danes are at high crown authority (although I only checked the latter several decades later - not sure if this is where they were when I first pressed the claim).

On a semi-related note, once you have your dynasty on the throne of a kingdom, is there any easier way to roll them under your empire's banner? Or do I have to do the tiresome marry, have kids, press claims (and make sure the kid whose claim I press is elected emperor) all over again?

 

[Sleight of Hand]

Perhaps it's because Denmark is not a de jure kingdom of the Empire? Other than that I don't know, as I assumed the prerequisites were either the claimant was a member of your family or something about de jure status. Maybe that only applies to duchies?

 

[Xenophon13]

Can someone give me advice on forming Finland? Who should I play as, and what should my strategy be?

 

[Sleight of Hand]

Can someone give me advice on forming Finland? Who should I play as, and what should my strategy be?

Just remember the cultural requirement:

	# Creation/usurpation trigger
	allow = {
		OR = {
			culture_group = north_germanic
			culture_group = finno_ugric
		}
	}

So you have to be Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Lappish, Ugric Baltic or Komi culture to form Finland.

 

[SaintEsteban]

Okay, follow-up question. I'm the HRE, and I pressed the claim of my grandson on the throne of Denmark. After I won, he became king of Denmark, but Denmark did not become part of my empire. What went wrong? Since my grandson is my dynasty, obviously, and I'm an emperor > king, shouldn't this bring the Danes under my control? If it helps, I'm currently running agnatic elective succession, and apparently the Danes are at high crown authority (although I only checked the latter several decades later - not sure if this is where they were when I first pressed the claim).

On a semi-related note, once you have your dynasty on the throne of a kingdom, is there any easier way to roll them under your empire's banner? Or do I have to do the tiresome marry, have kids, press claims (and make sure the kid whose claim I press is elected emperor) all over again?

I believe it only applies to titles below kingdoms. Not sure why, and it isn't stated anywhere I can find, but I had the same experience in my Castille -> Byzantine Empire game, where I placed my second son Domingo onto the throne of Denmark. (Coincidence?) He became an independent ruler, refused all offers of vassalization (I am a king! -----, should be a Well, I made you one! ++++++) and got the nickname "the Strong." He better have done some pretty impressive crap, because his kingdom was mainly won by my Irish forces.

 

[Orinsul]

If your character dies your primary title goes outside of your dynasty but you have dynasty members holding other landed titles you lose the game right? or do you switch to playing the landed relative? As you are playing a dynasty not a title so it ought to work like that but i expect it doesnt but has anyone tested?

 

[firestorm717]

Man, that sucks. And here I'd hoped to get both Denmark and Poland under the HRE that way.

He better have done some pretty impressive crap, because his kingdom was mainly won by my Irish forces.

Same!! Even afterward, I had to help him extensively to keep the kingdom together through the inevitable rebellions and independence war. *sigh* I can just imagine my old ruler (man was healthy as a bear, at 90 he was still crusading along the African coast! Didn't pass away till 94) beating his grandson over the head with his cane. "What do you mean you're a king?! Boy, I made you king! You better be my vassal! I raised you since you were in diapers! Heck, I changed your momma's diapers! Without me, you'd be spending the rest of your life married to some ugly old imbecile in Podunkville, Infidelland."

 

[xGhost4000x]

Can someone give me advice on forming Finland? Who should I play as, and what should my strategy be?

Just remember the cultural requirement:

	# Creation/usurpation trigger
	allow = {
		OR = {
			culture_group = north_germanic
			culture_group = finno_ugric
		}
	}

So you have to be Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Lappish, Ugric Baltic or Komi culture to form Finland.

As for actual strategy. Just play as Sweden, you are more than a match for the Fins. Then form K_Finland and switch it to your primary title.

 

[jaearess]

What is the benefit of granting land to holy orders (other than the minor piety bump)? It doesn't seem to increase the size of the order's army (at least, not the part that you can hire.) Is it just so they have more power to help during crusades, or is there another reason to grant them land?

 

[Orinsul]

What is the benefit of granting land to holy orders (other than the minor piety bump)? It doesn't seem to increase the size of the order's army (at least, not the part that you can hire.) Is it just so they have more power to help during crusades, or is there another reason to grant them land?

Mostly it means they start fighting with their neighbours or liege so are less help in crusades. its an easy way to get rid of titles you dont want.

 

[Mercadi]

Another question to the pros (fingers crossed for the answer xD)
What makes a ruler's rank in the demesne size calculation formula? I noticed my king's demesne limit drop by 2 points right after some duke of his won a holy war in another country. The king did not get any bad traits (nor did his wife). So I'm wondering what's going on. May be his rank dropped? Idk.

 

[feelotraveller]

Sounds strange to me. AFAIK it's count=2, duke=3, king=4, emperor=5, straight up. Only thing I can think which would drop it (other than stewardship stats changes of course) would be if you had Gavelkind succession and changed it to something else. Gavelkind gives a 1.3 times bonus (I think) on your stewardship based demense allowance.

Mouse over your demense limit and check out the breakdown in the tooltip. If you have a savegame you could go back and compare.