How to optimise a kingdom for you successor

[unmerged(393455)]

King Stenkil I of Sweden has married his sons to great houses from as far abroad as Iberia and closer at hand in the HRE and Poland

He's united the de jure Kingdom of Sweden through conquest and will bequeath not just a limited authority crown to his son; Prince Erik stands to inherit six counties on top of his current holding of Dal

He's converted, revoked and murdered unruly pagan vassals

He's invested his entire fortune into growing the financial and military might his son will inherit

He's leaving sufficient income to create two new Duchies within ten years

What else should this fifty-four year old conqueror do in his final days?



OT:
My favorite moment in CK II so far:

I'm puzzling what to do with Lappland - I can't hold it myself, because it will take my son's inheritance over his demesne limit - there's noone who claims it, noone who I need to appease, noone who I want to benefit

And while I'm wondering, my Marshal, Rodrigo - tutor to my youngest son and my nephew, the eight-year-old Jarl of Upland (his father sadly choked on his own blood in 1668) - saves me from a bear

So Rodrigo is granted the county

so awesome

 

[Swuboo]

Throw as many vassals into prison as you can; if your heir has trouble with rebellions when his reign starts, you can appease everyone by releasing them as necessary.

 

[unmerged(393455)]

I've checked relations between my heir and all my vassals - only three have a negative opinion of him - you'd still arrest them?

 

[unmerged(393455)]

oh yeah, I've only played the demo before and I need to know how councillors are inherited please

 

[Swuboo]

Their opinion will get worse when he takes over.

First, you've got the Short Reign penalty. Second, you'll have -50 from whoever were second and third in line for the throne. Third, all the penalties that are currently directed at your king—desired territory, etc.—will be redirected to your heir when he succeeds you.

Vassals that are in prison can't rebel, and you get a +10 with every other vassal if you release them. It's handy to have a few people on ice for the post-coronation shitstorm.

EDIT: With regards to councilors, if your heir has his own court, he'll bring his councilors with him when he succeeds. If he doesn't, I believe the existing councilors stay on their posts. Nothing stops you from reorganizing them, though, as long as you can deal with the relation hits.

 

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right, so the only pretender is Jarl Edmund II of Uppland

He's 13 and betrothed to my 13 year-old daughter

you'd still vote for imprisoning him?

 

[Swuboo]

It's up to you. Personally, I wouldn't imprison a kid, but if he came of age and started plotting, I wouldn't think twice.

 

[unmerged(393455)]

OK

I tried to imprison three of the pagan vassals of the young jarl of uppland

I got two and the third fled to his court

one of my sons had a chance to revolt, so I imprisoned him too

lots of hate from my vassals now

hope I die soon

 

[Swuboo]

Command your own armies and piss off your wife!

 

[unmerged(393455)]

OK, so arresting people turned out to be a terrible idea: it split sweden into a hundred pieces until I had no land holding vassals (but the one mere courtier I was forced to raise to Dukedom and grant four counties) left and I had to elect my youngest daughter as heir

 

[Swuboo]

Were you just arresting completely innocent people? That's not exactly what I was suggesting. Most powerful vassals will plot against you occasionally, and at that point you can arrest them without pissing anyone else off. If you set your Marshal to Suppress Revolts on their capital, it increases the chance of a successful arrest.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.

Also, what do you mean that you had no land-holding vassals left? Arresting someone doesn't strip them of their titles, that's a separate action. They continue to hold their fiefs from the dungeon, they're just incapable of rebelling.

 

[Dorevai]

Crusade in the holy land personally, and make sure all of your vassals are present, as well as your son. When two men are both crusaders it's a mutual +30 back and forth. It also gives +2 martial which will improve your acquisition of military tech in the north. Your only objective is to personally arrive at the crusade location with your son and as many vassals as possible, then white peace out. Few kingdoms can win a crusade when the caliphate isn't in a major civil war, and Sweden in 1066 isn't one of them.

When your son takes over, he'll have +30 with all male vassals if you are thorough with giving command of the units of your army to your vassals. That will make the transition super-smooth. Only duke level kingdom claimants will irk him if he's within the demesne/duchy limits.

Personally I try to max my holdings and my sons holdings. If he has too many when he inherits (almost guaranteed) he can give them away on day one and make major friends. Meanwhile he racks up large amounts of prestige from holding so many titles as a vassal. And you still gain the prestige as well as having a county title or a count vassal is equal. Each 100 points of prestige he has when he ascends is like +1 to nobles, who should be the major powers of your kingdom.

 

[Dark3lf]

Save money,you need at least 500-1000g for your heir to hire merc. Also wait for them to plot first before you try to imprison them. Remember each duke only get 1 holding and max 3 non de jure vassal. Make each of your duke as weak as possible

 

[Raventhefuhrer]

People don't seem to have noticed but, releasing prisoners only gives your vassals a +10 opinion of you one time, much like when you give a gift and subsequent gifts don't raise your relationship any higher for a certain period of time.