My vassals are not doing anything

[Rambo]

Rumor control: player vassals have not been coded to do nothing. If they have the power and potential target they can declare war on their own. When I played a King of Ireland game last week, one of my dukes decided to attack Scotland on his own and later try a few attempts of crusading in the Levant.

Thanks Captain for allaying my fears. I am glad to see this feature is in the game. I was just surprised to never see it in my games. And I still think it needs to be tweaked because if a vassal has very good relations, they should be use their levies to support my wars. I can understand if we had bad or minimal relations that he would do whatever is in his interest, but the fact that they never raise their levies even if we have 100 relations concerns me.

And the other issue that should be added is whether or not we a liege will support a vassals war or not, there should be a choice to support them or leave them go on their own. Also in a game as a duke of the byzantines I went to war with Aleppo, assuming i would get some help, and even though it showed the emperor was in the war the emporer did absolutely nothing while all my lands were taken.

Edit: BTW I am not trying to bash the game, and hope it doesn't come off like that. I love this game, best game i played in a long time! I just miss a few of the features from CK1 that I assumed would be in the game.

 

[Dragnar]

They never raise the levies because it's not their war. You can raise their levies and depending on what they think of you, more or less soldiers will actually show up to fight for you.
So it works as it should, just not the way you expect.
And I actually prefer not having dozens of tiny stacks running all over the map doing their own thing, because you can't really coordinate with the AI. It's your campaign, so they don your colors and follow your orders.

 

[Rambo]

They never raise the levies because it's not their war. You can raise their levies and depending on what they think of you, more or less soldiers will actually show up to fight for you.
So it works as it should, just not the way you expect.
And I actually prefer not having dozens of tiny stacks running all over the map doing their own thing, because you can't really coordinate with the AI. It's your campaign, so they don your colors and follow your orders.

In CK1 you could take their levies and use them (if your relations were good enough), but if you didn't raise them, then the AI vassals would (if they chose to participate).

 

[Poddster]

They never raise the levies because it's not their war.

They never raise their levies in a defensive war, which most certainly IS there war as it's their provinces that will be sieged first as they'll be on the border etc.
Additionally, peasent revolts are their own war, but it seems like it's the Liege's job to fight them, which is exactly the opposite of how it worked IRL.

 

[flame7926]

They never raise their levies in a defensive war, which most certainly IS there war as it's their provinces that will be sieged first as they'll be on the border etc.
Additionally, peasent revolts are their own war, but it seems like it's the Liege's job to fight them, which is exactly the opposite of how it worked IRL.

I have seen them raise levies to fight rebels.

 

[Nuril]

They never raise their levies in a defensive war, which most certainly IS there war as it's their provinces that will be sieged first as they'll be on the border etc.
Additionally, peasent revolts are their own war, but it seems like it's the Liege's job to fight them, which is exactly the opposite of how it worked IRL.

I prefer not having it all controlled by the AI next to my personal levies. How else are you going to deal with the doomstacks of the Empire or the like? Hope they kindly realize the gravity of the situation and closely stick to your marching so you all end up in the same battle? What about sending expeditionary forces into high-attrition enemy territory and the AI might end up thinking it's time to retaliate and start throwing their numbers into a deadly desert?

 

[Rambo]

I prefer not having it all controlled by the AI next to my personal levies. How else are you going to deal with the doomstacks of the Empire or the like? Hope they kindly realize the gravity of the situation and closely stick to your marching so you all end up in the same battle? What about sending expeditionary forces into high-attrition enemy territory and the AI might end up thinking it's time to retaliate and start throwing their numbers into a deadly desert?

Like I said, that is why i liked the latest system in CK1, because you could just as easily take control of their levies (if you needed them) and if not they were free to use them, and they usually did use them.

 

[Avior]

Why exactly should they help fight a war you started if they don't have to? The way it works now makes sense, at least in my opinion. The vassals gain nothing from you making land grabs, so why would they want to throw down their lives and run out to help you unless you make them? Not only are they risking their lives, but they're risking their lands as well since they're leaving them relatively unguarded. It should be hard to get them to join you, and I can't think of many reasons why they would join you in a war unless you forced them to.

 

[Rambo]

Why exactly should they help fight a war you started if they don't have to? The way it works now makes sense, at least in my opinion. The vassals gain nothing from you making land grabs, so why would they want to throw down their lives and run out to help you unless you make them? Not only are they risking their lives, but they're risking their lands as well since they're leaving them relatively unguarded. It should be hard to get them to join you, and I can't think of many reasons why they would join you in a war unless you forced them to.

They do gain because they get awarded titles, and also the war could easily be defensive against a foreign enemy, like the moors for example. Finally i have a lot of vassals with 100 relations which would be like best friends, so I think they would be inclined to help.

 

[durecellrabbit]

I gave my heir a tiny duchy and he went off on a crusade, with just 200 guys.

 

[Avior]

They do gain because they get awarded titles, and also the war could easily be defensive against a foreign enemy, like the moors for example. Finally i have a lot of vassals with 100 relations which would be like best friends, so I think they would be inclined to help.

There's no guarantee they'd be awarded titles. Rulers aren't exactly known for their honesty. If it's a defensive war, all the more reason to keep their troops at home to protect their lands. Finally, it's a court, not a nursery. 100 relations means they might think twice about stabbing you in the back, it doesn't mean they want to take you to the spring formal.

 

[Dakk]

I gave my heir a tiny duchy and he went off on a crusade, with just 200 guys.

Without even a "kthxbye!" to you, before he was never seen again?

EDIT: Also, 200 guys? That's .. that's almost MADNESS.

 

[Rambo]

There's no guarantee they'd be awarded titles. Rulers aren't exactly known for their honesty. If it's a defensive war, all the more reason to keep their troops at home to protect their lands. Finally, it's a court, not a nursery. 100 relations means they might think twice about stabbing you in the back, it doesn't mean they want to take you to the spring formal.

I don't think you even played CK1 did you?

 

[Alerias]

I admit Id like to see more initiative at least in putting down local peasant rebellions.

 

[Avior]

I don't think you even played CK1 did you?

Quite extensively actually. This isn't CK1. CK2 is far better and interactions with vassals and courtiers are far more realistic.

 

[Pode]

I know that I can't declare war with my levies raised. Haven't played enough as a vassal to notice the answer to this question: If a liege raises his vassals' levies, does that count as having the levies raised as far as the vassal declaring war? Are they not joining your wars because you've already taken their troops and they can't? Because that would make sense, they already contributed all the troops they were willing to for your war. If you leave them their entire strength and the ability to negotiate their own peace terms, they should be more willing to declare alongside you.

 

[Garak]

The Duke of Mazovia attacked a neighboring duchy last night when I was playing as the King of Poland. So they do act on their own, just not as stupidly as in the first game. Also, you can raise their levies without problem. Just declare war with the game paused and then raise whatever you want while they're frozen. Your vassals will also fight each other if your crown authority is low enough. (Also, at least in the demo, you can hire mercenaries before declaring war. Haven't tried it in the full game yet.)

Edit: Also, it strikes me as more realistic that a vassal wouldn't volunteer his men to a fight, even if he liked the king. Isn't that how the feudal system worked? The king (or other liege) would call on his vassals to send their men if he felt the need? After all, raising even a modest amount of men and sending them abroad would have been prohibitively expensive and quite dangerous.

Edit 2: Let's face it; vassals in CK1 were amazingly stupid. They'd always be starting wars they had no hope of winning or rebelling against you when there was no way for them to get what they wanted. I can't tell you the number of times I'd be looking at my screen going "WTF are doing???" after getting a message like, "Your vassal in the county of God-awful dirt-farming has declared war on the Sultan of the Seljuk Turks, and they ask for your aid." I like that they seem a little less suicidal now.

 

[zxc]

As Duke of Toscana my powerful Count of Parma attacked Lombardia for his claim on Cremona, of his own will. He won too, so that was quite nice.

 

[unmerged(129215)]

I've seen vassals start wars with foreign realms before, obviously theyre only going to do it if they have claims. One time I had to rush in and save them because they were getting their ass kicked .

 

[Fagi]

You need to have the crown law down at medium or less to let your vassals declare war and fight each other.