Just united Ireland, Cant defend against Scotland

[towerbooks3192]

I started with Dublin for the first time after knowing I inherit Leinster after my father's death. I tried to reunite Ireland with Munster before but I only managed to do it now under Dublin. I tried to set my eyes on Wales so I could have a good land hold when I will invade the British Isles however I have one huge problem.

I got invaded by Scotland because they want to claim Munster and I could barely raise an army that could defend Ireland. How could I defend against giants like Scotland and any tips on how I could field a decent force?

(I have LoR installed but I am still confused about standing armies)

 

[Sacrist]

Try to take advantage of things like that they have to do an amfibious assault, also try to save up for mercs to help in the fighting. (as a general rule I always keep enough cash around to be able to hire mercs in a tough situation)

 

[Dracko81]

You should be able to beat them without too much hassle by placing your army in a position that requires the Scottish army must attack over a river or attack you on a hill.

Make sure you use good Generals also, Martial skill is important. But Generals with Brave and Patient (also cruel if possible) will help to ensure victories whilst outnumbered without much difficulty.

 

[Sleight of Hand]

There's a bug that may have worked against you here: the Scots' unique infantry have a 150% defensive bonus, so attaacking them is suicidal in most cases. I think it should be 15% like most other cultural bonuses.

 

[Casiru]

If you have upgraded your holdings sufficiently a players Ireland should field more troops than the AI's Scotland. If you are quite far behind save up for mercs. Remember to build retinues, they start at 1 man and slowly build up to 500ish at a rate of 25ish a month. If you hover over the retinue cap (the 0/2k) area, it will tell you the exact number you can raise. Be careful with which you choose as some units costs 2pts each(or even 4pt).
If you are engaging the Scottish troops with 15+ martial generals, 1-2k more troops and no negative terrain you should win the battle easily.

If worst comes to worst marrying a child to the king of Norway, England, France or the HRE is a good way to call in lots of troops that are unlikely to be caught up in another war. AI usually honors defensive alliances but make sure they are not currently fighting a revolt and have high relations with you.

One last thing about mercs, when you win the war you will likely get 300+ gold and all the gold from sieging provinces so don't hold back. Get your numerical superiority and maybe even good leader while your at it (There is usually at least 1 merc leader with 20+ martial).

 

[telegraph]

I have never played Ireland, but I guess my generic strategy might work for you:

1. know when to fight and when not to fight. Sometimes you will be cought with your pants down and have no other choice then yield. If such thing happens - go ahead an surrender. You will get your duchy back a few decades later.
2. secure yourself. When you are small and feeble - monitor who has claims on your titles. if any of them may become a problem in future - kill them. I personally dislike "assassinate" button because of roleplay and because of it's high gold cost. o I usually remove potential claimants by plots.
3. befriend the big guys. Have your chancelor improving your relationships with kings around you. offer to join their wars and answer their calls. If they love you - they will not be likely to DOW you.
4. keep your levies alive.
4a. Do not use levies when you can use retinue. Do not assault castles with levies. Always disband levies in your territory(when it says that ALL will return to their homes.)
4b. After any war your first priority is to rebuild your strength - send your marshal to recruit new levies wherever the pool is not full.
5. If you know your enemy and war is unavoidable - specialize your retinue to counter enemy strengths. In case of Scottland - make them attack, and have a lot of arhers.
6. Always keep a pot of gold. Just in case everything else fails - have a healthy ammount of cash to get you mercs and keep them going for a while. Mercs are ideal cannon fodder to assault castles with. This can also help to pay their bills.
7. If you have yielded - wait for a good time to get back what is yours. A nice moment is a succession crisys or a big war, when the enemy is divided and badly blooded.

 

[unmerged(527492)]

I'm guessing they're fighting to press a claim on Munster. This means someone in Scotland has a claim on the land. Try killing that person, and any other claimant to Irish land for that matter.

 

[CelticMutt]

Yeah, some of the Scottish Counts & Dukes have a nasty habit of constantly trying (and eventually succeeding) in forging claims on parts of Ireland. I've never seen one go for Munster, but in one game the Counts of Argyll continuously made the attempt on Ulster. I don't know how many Chancellors and Counts I ended up killing.

 

[Lord Finnish]

Lose the war, build up a few years and strike back when Scotland is in trouble. Unlike in HoI or EU, losing a war is rarely decisive in CK2.

 

[Hoeya]

Allies are key. Having an ally of the king of England, whoever wins, is a great thing for any potential would-be king of Ireland. Also, make sure you upgrade your holdings. Tax generation is very important, so you should be focusing on that after getting a palasade down and a militia training ground at each castle you own. Don't give away too many provences, either. Ulster is a great place to start for Ireland, you can potentially own 7 castles, Munster is a good one as well, you can own six.

It's better to fabricate claims early on than to conquer them de jure or put a claimant on the throne. Remember, in those early wars, never accept peace until you've sacked everything you can possibly sack. Sacking means gold. You need a lot of early gold. For the first one or two generations, Scotland is going to be worrying about reconquering the Isles, not Ireland. If you can help confound the Scottish troops there, you'll be helping yourself as well.

Getting involved in other people's wars is good, too. Unfortunately, there's very few that you ever get called for in Ireland. My suggestion is try to wed one of your children to one of the Spanish kings or independent dukes. They'll be calling you to war every couple of months. Or one of the Russian Grand Princes, same deal, though a bit harder to get to.

Lastly, don't claim the throne too early. It might seem like a great idea to claim the throne of Ireland as early as possible, but then you have to contend with pretenders and factions and all sorts of wonderful things. Don't claim it until you have a good, solid hold on Ireland with a good, solid heir.

 

[whosthebestcop]

Ireland is only 13 counties. You should be able to hold every county personally. If not try to marry a high stewardship wife to get you personal demense to 13.

Just revoke everyone 's title. You'll then be able to raise more troops then Scotland.

 

[gornard]

I dunno if anyone's mentioned it already but theres a land bridge from northern ireland to scotland. Place your troops on your side of it and it should give you an advantage at least.

Also try to leave yourself with a minimum amount of cash to buy mercenaries in a pinch

 

[Ness_Uno]

I've played in Ireland a lot, and I agree the Scots nearly always invade. However, this can be overcome relatively easily.

The key is mercenaries and terrain defense.

Others have discussed the land bridge and rivers and hills. This is vitally important.

As for mercenaries, when you play trying to unify Ireland you need to keep a stash of cash as large as you can for just this reason. Here are some important tips on using mercenaries. First, as you probably know, they auto-reinforce, which helps you in long campaigns. So don't go for knockout punch, and don't be discouraged if you lose a battle. Second, you pay less in monthly fees the smaller the mercenary force is. This also is to your benefit, really, because it means you might be able to keep a larger (at the start) sized force than you otherwise might assume. On the same note, when you sack a holding, it gives you gold. If you are aggressive at assaulting, this means a mercenary force can pay for itself.

 

[towerbooks3192]

I am not sure if I conquered and formed Ireland too early or not. I was in a hurry this time knowing that in some of my previous attempts, Scotland always holds Tyrone,Tyrconell, and Ulster by the time I got hold of the rest. This was with games where I played as Thomond. The current situation of my last auto-save (because I quit when my army got obliterated) was that my main ruler died and left it under his young son (he is still a boy) and I was doing some holding upgrades here and there.

Any advice on which holdings to prioritize upgrading and the order of how I should upgrade them? I haven't tried using mercs ever and I haven't tried having a retinue yet because I don't know what are the conditions of being able to create a retinue. I was already setting my eyes on an un-united Wales until Scotland chose to invade me.

As for alliances, I was worried to have close allies like England or some of the Spanish kings because they might form an alliance with me only to make a claim on some of my lands. I am a CK2 noob and so far my highest achievement is uniting Ireland and I want to do more than that

 

[jfinley12]

so I have only ever played as Ireland This is the strategy that I developed to beat Scottland.
1. Marry into the HRE or England so you can call them to help.
2. build as many castles as you can in your holdings.
3. Kind of dirty but assassinate the Irish king Malcom and his heirs (not sure if this is really all that effective but i do it anyway).
4. As some one said they get a huge defensive bonus that is a typo so I let them attack me I never attack them.
5. Hire as many mercs as you can afford.
Following these steps I have been able to repulse them every time. It is kinda funny when you whack their king and they end up in a civil war.