Factions and Duchy Revocation

[unmerged(275616)]

I have found that dealing with factions while playing as the Byzantine Empire is almost trivial. Whenever one of my good for nothing vassals starts a faction against me, I simply revoke all of his duchies. I then give the duchies to either one of the counts in the de jure duchy or to one of my other dukes who has only one duchy. This has several advantages:

1. The new faction system causes vassals to almost never revolt when you try to revoke their titles.
2. No other vassals get mad at you when you revoke duchies as the Byzantine Empire.
3. Since the former duke is no longer a direct vassal, he can no longer join factions against you.
4. The new vassals who you give the duchies to will love you and thus will not join factions against you.
5. The disgruntled former duke will often rebel against the new duke, distracting both of them from yourself.

With this strategy, I have been able to maintain absolute crown authority and high taxes with ease. Just make sure no one forms kingdoms. This might require revoking duchies if anyone gets too much piety.

 

[Malibu Stacey]

I've done similar stuff in my current game but I'm playing as King of Scotland & trying to create the empire of Brittania. It's a bit 'gamey' in my opinion but I guess it's realistic from a historic point of view.
I let them start their petty factions & stomp them when they rise up against me. Since they're now traitors I can revoke their titles without incurring tyranny (sometimes doesn't let me revoke all held titles but you can always get at least one off them) and imprison their supporters then do the same to them. It pretty much guarantees I have my choice of counties to fill up my demesne allocation and reward the counts who are loyal to me by giving them the de jure duchy for their county which usually ensures stability for a generation or two in that duchy.

Just don't ever give a county or duchy to anyone with the Ambitious trait unless you like having to deal with them every 5 minutes. That goes double for anyone in the line of succession who isn't your heir.

 

[unmerged(275616)]

That is how you have to deal with factions as a regular king. My point was that as Byzantium you can revoke duchies before the rebellion takes place without causing your other vassals to hate your guts.

 

[unmerged(512626)]

2. No other vassals get mad at you when you revoke duchies as the Byzantine Empire.

I did not know this. You ERE people have it easy, ergo I know whom I'm playing next.

 

[justin6477]

I did not know this. You ERE people have it easy, ergo I know whom I'm playing next.

Same for Muslims btw.

 

[unmerged(275616)]

Yes, the Muslims and the ERE basically don't have to worry about factions. Just make sure you revoke the duchies as soon as the vassal forms the faction. If you wait for the faction strength to rise to about 50%, then the vassal will be much more likely to revolt. This is because the vassal knows that his faction buddies will back him up. I have found that if I try to revoke the duchy of a vassal in a faction with 50% strength or greater, the vassal will revolt. A few days later the faction leader will deliver an ultimatum.

"Triggering" a faction revolt in the above manner can still have its uses. For example, it is much better to fight a 50% faction while at peace instead of a 100% faction while defending against a Seljuk invasion. Determining when you put down the rebellion allows you to easily set your house in order before setting off on the next holy war. (Assuming the rebels don't get 10000 clone warriors.)

 

[Baron Jukaga]

Interesting, I've just been killing them off via plots and assassinations, I can see this as a less disruptive, cheaper option though.