Is there a base tax limit to annex a vassal?

[Beerchugger]

I have an opportunity to make the Timurids give back a ton of lands back to Persia (my vassal), but I am afraid to do so because it will raise their base tax over 40.

Questions:
1) Will I still be able to annex my vassal in 10 years if their base tax is over 40?
2) If I make my vassal large (note: they will still not be even close to my size), will they revolt against me if their relations are around 200?
3) Any other surprises I should expect, or should this go smoothly like it does with all my other vassals?

 

[aitaituo]

1) Nothing affects the ability to diplovassalize except relations being 190.
2) If they think they can beat you in a war, perhaps because they have more troops than you, they may try for independence.
3) If you have Conquest of Paradise and they are strong enough to want independence, they can try to get foreign powers to join their war.

 

[grommile]

1) Will I still be able to annex my vassal in 10 years if their base tax is over 40?

Yes. The base tax 40 limit only applies to making them your vassal in the first place; in principle, any vassal smaller than you can be diploannexed.

2) If I make my vassal large (note: they will still not be even close to my size), will they revolt against me if their relations are around 200?

They will only revolt if they go Hostile, and they won't go Hostile at 200 relations (and IIRC are really quite unlikely to do so in the 170s).

 

[Beerchugger]

Great, then it looks like Persia is about to be reborn!

Thanks for the replies Grommile and Aitaituo!

 

[Carkasjak]

If your vassal is MUCH larger than you, it could become impossible to annex it. I wanted to try some HRE sillyness, so I played France and sold all but one province to my vassal Orleans. Could not annex it. They do get a slight relations penalty for being bigger than you, but it's very minor, and as long as you keep them happy they won't demand independence.
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EDIT: added pic from my silly game:

 

[BigHamster]

There is one limit, if vassal is bigger then you, then you will need high diplo reputation to annex it.

 

[Beerchugger]

If your vassal is MUCH larger than you, it could become impossible to annex it. I wanted to try some HRE sillyness, so I played France and sold all but one province to my vassal Orleans. Could not annex it. They do get a slight relations penalty for being bigger than you, but it's very minor, and as long as you keep them happy they won't demand independence.
¨
EDIT: added pic from my silly game:

How did you do that Carkasjak? I thought you could only give lands to a vassal when they have a claim, a core, or previously owned the province. But Orleans has none of those on many of those provinces? What is your secret lol... :laugh:

 

[MiniaAr]

You can also sell lands to your vassals when you have cores on the province, which France does.

 

[Carkasjak]

My "secret" is that since patch 1.5 vassals will also buy any of YOUR cores. I love it. You can basically divide your country into vassals any way you want. The only problem is that you can only sell one province at a time and have to wait out the diplomat travel time and cooldown :\

Unrelated to this, vassals will also buy any province that they previously had a core on, even if that core has expired. Sometimes it's worth checking the history of a province.

 

[Beerchugger]

Ahh, I see. That really opens up some strategic possibilities, thanks for letting me know.

 

[Carkasjak]

One nice use for it is to use vassals as a buffer between yourself and your favorite great power ally. That way you won't get border friction relations penalties with them, and they usually remain friendly for a lot longer. (Until they randomly rival you for no apparent reason regardless of relations.)

 

[Alblaka]

One nice use for it is to use vassals as a buffer between yourself and your favorite great power ally. That way you won't get border friction relations penalties with them, and they usually remain friendly for a lot longer. (Until they randomly rival you for no apparent reason regardless of relations.)

Uhhhhhh, shiny! I'Ve got to keep that own-core-selling trick in mind.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Each province your vassal has more than you reduces the annex rate by .3%. The base rate is .5%, so to annex someone bigger than you by more than 1 province you need diplomatic reputation. If they are bigger by 5+ provinces (for most nations not even by that much), you will essentially never be able to annex them until you get larger yourself. Distant overseas also adds .5% penalty BTW.