Crusader Kings II ~ Quick Answers

[Bernard95]

I just picked CKII after more than a year, and I'm a bit puzzled by the behavior of my demesne. Ok, i get that now there are rules regarding demesne, but look at this:

I have a base of 3, and +2 and +2 bonuses, for a total of 7. The game rule gives me -5, so it should be 2. Instead, my demesne maximum size is 1.
Btw, my demesne size rule is "Default". Is it normal it takes away so much?
Thanks!

People used to always joke about "Paradox math", but this is probably a case of it not updating right away if I had to guess. As for the -5 demense size though, that is definitely not the default game rule. -5 has to be the "restricted" setting at the very least (if not one step up), because the default is supposed to be zero.

 

[Dragatus]

Is sending your heir to be educated by the religion's head still the best way to switch between branches of Christianity, or has another way emerged?

The exact answer depends on whether you have the Conclave DLC or not, but in either case it doesn't matter whether the guardian is the religious head. They just need to be landed or be in the court of a landed character with the same religion as they have (not 100% that is required with Conclave as I don't have that DLC).

Without Conclave conversion happens faster if the guardian is Gregarious and/or Diligent and slower if they're Shy and/or Slothful.

With Conclave you have to give the child either the Religion focus or the Heritage focus (use Religion focus if you just want the child to change religion and Heritage if you want the child to change both religion and culture).

I just picked CKII after more than a year, and I'm a bit puzzled by the behavior of my demesne. Ok, i get that now there are rules regarding demesne, but look at this:

I have a base of 3, and +2 and +2 bonuses, for a total of 7. The game rule gives me -5, so it should be 2. Instead, my demesne maximum size is 1.
Btw, my demesne size rule is "Default". Is it normal it takes away so much?
Thanks!

That's not Default demesne size, that's Quartered.

As for the numbers not adding up, it's due to rounding. If you first round stewardship bonus and game rule effect (and gavelkind bonus whenever applicable) and then add them up (which is what you're doing by looking at the rounded values in the UI) you can get a different result than if you first add up the non-rounded values and then round the final result (which is how your actual demesne limit is calculated).

 

[jotabe1789]

People used to always joke about "Paradox math", but this is probably a case of it not updating right away if I had to guess. As for the -5 demense size though, that is definitely not the default game rule. -5 has to be the "restricted" setting at the very least (if not one step up), because the default is supposed to be zero.

That's not Default demesne size, that's Quartered.
As for the numbers not adding up, it's due to rounding. If you first round stewardship bonus and game rule effect (and gavelkind bonus whenever applicable) and then add them up (which is what you're doing by looking at the rounded values in the UI) you can get a different result than if you first add up the non-rounded values and then round the final result (which is how your actual demesne limit is calculated).

Thanks for the help. I was quite sure that i had chosen default demesne size, but i was wrong. As for the numbers not adding up, thanks for the explanation, very enlightening

 

[Slaists]

Probably a stupid question: when playing as Welsh are the levy archers longbowmen or just simple generic archers? How about retinue types other than "longbowmen" that have archers in the mix (such as light skirmish): are those also longbowmen or just generic archers?

 

[Tom013]

Probably a stupid question: when playing as Welsh are the levy archers longbowmen or just simple archers? How about retinue types other than "longbowmen" that have archers in the mix (such as light skirmish): are those also longbowmen or just generic archers?

Archers are archers are archers. There are no actual "longbowmen" in the game as distinct soldiers -- it's just a retinue name. The cultural retinues (e.g. longbow) get the full benefit of your cultural building, and so are stronger. The archers in your levy will only get that if you build the cultural building to maximum. No other retinue will get any benefits.

This is true of ALL retinues (e.g. the Byzantines really just have heavy cav with a bonus, the Scots just have pikeman with a bonus, etc).

 

[Dragatus]

All retinues get all the bonuses from your capital, whatever they are. So if you're Welsh all archers from all retinues will get the bonus. However, retinues differ from each other in that they have different hidden bonuses that are not displayed in the game.

You can find more information here: http://www.ckiiwiki.com/Retinues

 

[faiuwle]

You can actually see bonuses to troops if you open up flank composition and hover over the troops of each type in each unit. Based on that, it looks like each retinue gets bonuses specific to the retinue type, and levies get bonuses based only the technology in your capital (and vassal levies get bonuses based on the technology in the capitals of your vassals). But I don't know, maybe those tooltips are incorrect.

 

[Tom013]

All retinues get all the bonuses from your capital, whatever they are. So if you're Welsh all archers from all retinues will get the bonus. However, retinues differ from each other in that they have different hidden bonuses that are not displayed in the game.

You can find more information here: http://www.ckiiwiki.com/Retinues

You can actually see bonuses to troops if you open up flank composition and hover over the troops of each type in each unit. Based on that, it looks like each retinue gets bonuses specific to the retinue type, and levies get bonuses based only the technology in your capital (and vassal levies get bonuses based on the technology in the capitals of your vassals). But I don't know, maybe those tooltips are incorrect.

So we're all saying similar but slightly different things on the bonuses. My understanding was that the bonuses were derived from the buildings. Earlier it was always the HIGHEST possible cultural building, but looking at the wiki, it looks like it's now based on building in the capital (in addition to a special retinue bonus and the standard tech bonuses).

So, in summary, it looks like the special cultural bonus is based on the capital cultural buildings, the flat bonus is always there (and is there for any retinue), and the tech is based on the capital (but is the same as tech bonus for levy). The only special distinction from levies, since 2.4(guess I hadn't even looked since then?), is the special retinue bonus that levies do not get (which is correctly displayed in the tooltip).

Agreed?

 

[faiuwle]

I think that's basically right, except I misremembered - my demesne levies from non-capital counties use the tech bonus of that county, not the capital.

 

[Dragatus]

The only special distinction for levies, since 2.4(guess I hadn't even looked since then?), is the special levy bonus (which is correctly displayed in the tooltip).

This is the first time I hear about a special levy bonus.

My understanding is that levies use the bonus from the tech and buildings in the province from which they come and retinues use the tech and building bonus of the capital in addition to having an inherent bonus of their own that levies don't have and which depends on the specific retinue.

 

[EightDeer]

Regarding retinues: will changing the Conclave vassal obligation laws to levy-focused increase my retinue cap?

 

[Dragatus]

No, it won't. Retinues are your personal standing army and not supplied by your vassals.

 

[Tom013]

This is the first time I hear about a special levy bonus.

My understanding is that levies use the bonus from the tech and buildings in the province from which they come and retinues use the tech and building bonus of the capital in addition to having an inherent bonus of their own that levies don't have and which depends on the specific retinue.

Sorry, mis-typed the last line. Special distinction from levies is that levies don't get the special retinue bonus.

 

[Slaists]

Anyone seen that 4th level Benedictine event/mission where someone from the order approaches to improve diligence? Through tanistry, I got a ruler who is the 4th level Benedictine but I see no options for inviting anyone (to improve diligence) or to start an intrigue; there is nothing related on the portrait menu either.

 

[RedBaronFlyer]

What are the differences between an Orthodox Byzantine/Roman Empire and a Catholic Byzantine/Roman Empire when it comes to taxes and mechanics, in the situation where the pope was my vassal but also the situation where he isn't?

Also is it possible to create custom kingdoms as an emperor? I was thinking about recreating the major roman provinces.

 

[StarSword]

So long story short I've conquered all of Charlies realm as Sigurd Ring with the invasion CB, and I'm thinking about how to distribute the new lands - my dilemma is that almost all of it is in countries that is going to flip Norman, and I don't really want my family to turn Norman as well (Norse master race), so does anyone know what the odds are for that to happen if I give them some of the Frankish/Breton/Occitan lands?

Norse culture will not flip to Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, or Norman if they are part of either a Norse-ruled double-kingdom or empire, or if the head of the religion is Norse.

What are the differences between an Orthodox Byzantine/Roman Empire and a Catholic Byzantine/Roman Empire when it comes to taxes and mechanics, in the situation where the pope was my vassal but also the situation where he isn't?

Catholics probably earn somewhat more on average but the difference is likely negligible. Either the bishops pay tax to their local liege and you tax the local liege (Orthodox and bishops that like their liege), or the bishops pay tax to the Pope and you tax the pope (and get more due to fewer middlemen).

Also is it possible to create custom kingdoms as an emperor? I was thinking about recreating the major roman provinces.

You can only create custom kingdoms as a duke.

 

[StarSword]

What are the differences between an Orthodox Byzantine/Roman Empire and a Catholic Byzantine/Roman Empire when it comes to taxes and mechanics, in the situation where the pope was my vassal but also the situation where he isn't?

Some other stuff I forgot, having gotten up for work at three in the morning yesterday:

• If you end the Great Schism, Catholic and Fraticelli crusades will be permanently disabled, even if you later restore Catholicism or Fraticellism as the dominant branch and make Orthodoxy the heresy.
• If the Pope is not your vassal, even the Roman Emperor is in the same boat as any other Catholic ruler.
• A vassal Pope is a much more powerful tool than the Ecumenical Patriarch or other Pentarchs, bordering on a game breaker but for the fact you have to be an emperor to vassalize him in the first place. He can excommunicate any Catholic character and grant claims and sanctioned invasions against any Catholic realm (whereas Orthodox patriarchs are limited in jurisdiction by autocephaly). You can also demand he give you large sums of money as long as he has it to give.
• Catholics have up to five holy orders compared to Orthodoxy's one. If you wait until Catholic crusades enable and then end the Great Schism, you can add any holy orders that have been founded to Orthodoxy (or found the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and then go Catholic to add it to Catholicism), since they follow the majority denomination of their branch.

 

[redsimonDE]

In history/titles you can find all the holy orders and merc companies as duchy tier titles. If you open the files you'll then see the IDs of the characters that own them.
You can then go to history/characters in order to try and find them, but the issue is that characters are divided into files based on culture. So you'd have to guess the culture and then open the culture's character file and check to confirm.

For the various merc companies it might be easier to simply start a game.

So, unfortunately this only works with titles that exist at a bookmark. Holy Orders like the Order of the Holy Sepulchre do not exist at any date, they have to be triggered either by AI or by the player.

What do I do to find the culture of Holy Orders whose formation needs to be triggered? Which file contains this information?

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

What do I do to find the culture of Holy Orders whose formation needs to be triggered? Which file contains this information?

common/landed_titles

 

[Amniote]

Disembarkation Time from Ship to Land

Say you are commanding your troops to move from land province A to land province B. I know that you can see at what time the troops will arrive at province B if you mouseover your troops. Can you do the same thing when you have troops in ships disembarking onto a land province?

For some reason, I can't see the expected arrival date.