New best county and duchy?

[MilanZ]

See I kind of like that. It's super hard but you get to start in a really good duchy. There are lots of awesome duchies you can start in but the game is too easy.

IT's not hard because it's challenging, it's hard because of a broken mechanic/bug

 

[ewlyan]

i have to say, Cordoba is amazing, 4 holdings with 3 in farmland area, the capital hold have "the great mosque of Cordoba" a really good wonder and 4 build slot plus one duchy slot.
The duchy have 4 county.

 

[Dahoota]

Rome is also pretty amazing. It has the Aurelian Walls and the Colosseum, lots of barony slots and farmland.

Though, I think more generally inland capitals are better now thanks to the rally point mechanic and AI behaviour - you can raise your troops anywhere meanwhile being protected from the AI behaviour of sailing their troops directly to your capital and reducing your control level there for years or worse, capturing you or your children. Not to mention vikings in 867.

 

[Alblaka]

England seems quite strong:
york with 0,21 cph is quie good, water access combined with essex (0,26 cph) and London, a special project possibility, is 9 counties together which might be possible to achieve as demense limit. Alternatively, east anglia next do both wait for you, with 7, respectively 8 combined counties.

Just finished (as in, got most achievements and can't be arsed to wait around the other 300 years for the other one) a Britannia playthrough.
Can confirm that Seax + Hwicce make for a great core domain. You get Stonehenge (+2 learning, +15% Learning Lifestyle exp), Tower of London (generic good special building) and later the Oxford University (+5% Lifestyle exp, if I remember correctly). Additionally, 2 Duchy Capitals, with Middle Seax (London) being a 6 slot farmland.

There's probably better spots out there, but it served me well enough. Also, England is really large kingdom title.

 

[Hootieleece]

Dublin is pretty good for an Irish King for a county. 5 holding slots...two empty at 1066 start. Makes for a good place to dominate Ireland from....

Also I have noticed that the AI doesn't upgrade castles and or build new holdings.

 

[Kapi96]

Bohemia is awesome. Lots of big counties with a load of holdings. Plenty of farmland for high development county capitals. The mine in Caslav to give you plenty of income. And even a lot of hills/mountains on the borders which if fortified make it fairly easy to defend too.

 

[Kinasawa]

Rome is also pretty amazing. It has the Aurelian Walls and the Colosseum, lots of barny slots and farmland.

Though, I think more generally inland capitals are better now thanks to the rally point mechanic and AI behaviour - you can raise your troops anywhere meanwhile being protected from the AI behaviour of sailing their troops directly to your capital and reducing your control level there for years or worse, capturing you or your children. Not to mention vikings in 867.

The problem with Latium is that the fucking Pope will build all churches and there is no decision or event (to my knowledge) to destroy them and rebuild half of those as castles.

 

[Alspego]

I can't recall the name correctly now, but the county above Ragusa has 8 holdings, 6 of which are mountainous, 1 hills, 1 plains.
I use it as my capital as King of Croatia. Mainly stacking defensive buildings, hoping the Byzantines will break like a wave on rocks, because they have way more troops than I do. I really like it so far.

You are talking about Zachlumia. With the option of 8 holdings, this is the largest county and therefore certainly a candidate for one of the best counties. I would argue that Madurai (In South of India) with 7 holdings might be slightly better due to better terrain + high initial development. Bagdad (Irak) and Pagan (Burma) have six holdings, but both are located in a holy city, so they can build a temple providing additional Boni. With that said, Bagdad starts with higher development, and the special building is already present from the start. Ile de France does not start as a holy site but it has a special building for the capital together with 6 holdings (and start with an already build extra castle in 867). The last one, I would mention is Vengipura (Middle-East India). It has only 4 holdings but can build the most profitable mine in the game. Göttingen (Germany) has the same mine but the county has only access to two holdings. Additionally, Vengipura already starts with a second castle.

So, it depends a bit on your preferences, but I would make the argument that Bagdad is the overall best county. Zachlumia has the possibility to produce the highest amount of levies and quality for troops. Vengipura can get the most income in the early game. Ile de France is the best county in Europe and has the advantage that it is located in a fairly large duchy. However, I do not think that the size of the duchy is particularly important. But if we consider this an important factor, Bohemia is a nice option providing multiple six holding duchies and a high amount of counties..

 

[Booo]

Jungles are pretty interesting, because they have elephant buildings that give massive buffs to knights and heavy cavalry while adding income. There's probably a build that lets you blow up entire armies just by stacking that building.

 

[KermitxTheFrog]

bohemia seems very good and it has a special mine building that generates alot of money

 

[rluo92]

Just finished (as in, got most achievements and can't be arsed to wait around the other 300 years for the other one) a Britannia playthrough.
Can confirm that Seax + Hwicce make for a great core domain. You get Stonehenge (+2 learning, +15% Learning Lifestyle exp), Tower of London (generic good special building) and later the Oxford University (+5% Lifestyle exp, if I remember correctly). Additionally, 2 Duchy Capitals, with Middle Seax (London) being a 6 slot farmland.

There's probably better spots out there, but it served me well enough. Also, England is really large kingdom title.

For empty holdings within counties, is it better to build additional castles and own them yourself, or build additional cities to potentially own more counties in regards to the domain limit?

I have been playing the Ireland tutorial, and I have almost conquered all of Britannia, it seems like the duchy of York is indeed quite good with 19 total holding slots for only 4 counties. I'm assuming it would be better to build cities for money and not take up your domain limit, so we can own more large holding slot counties, and thus own more cities and temples?

Also, what are the best buildings you guys think we should build within castles? Since AI seems to develop cities and temples themselves without us having to interfere, I suppose that means we don't have to worry about cities and temples' constructions? Or should we at least set what buildings for them to develop, then let them upgrade the buildings themselves, as maybe they won't always build the optimal buildings for cities/temples?

Thanks!

 

[Manbearpig]

The problem with Latium is that the fucking Pope will build all churches and there is no decision or event (to my knowledge) to destroy them and rebuild half of those as castles.

Well with Duchy Buildings you never really want to build tall in a Duchy anyway, you want your holdings spread out over two duchies to make sure you get those capital bonuses.

For empty holdings within counties, is it better to build additional castles and own them yourself, or build additional cities to potentially own more counties in regards to the domain limit?

It depends on circumstances, but probably more counties filled with cities, if only for the above reason about duchy buildings.

 

[Manbearpig]

It would be really helpful if someone was able to dig into the files to quickly compile a list of all the special building slots in the game, because they are all over the place and are probably really easy to miss if you aren't already aware that they exist.

 

[Alspego]

For empty holdings within counties, is it better to build additional castles and own them yourself, or build additional cities to potentially own more counties in regards to the domain limit?

Generally speaking, owning an additional county is better than an additional castle in your own county. However, since you can always retake control over a barony without getting any tyranny, etc. and your heir will always inherit all baronies in your capital county, having additional castles in the capital county are extremly useful early on. It gives you a lot of flexibility.

 

[Manbearpig]

Jungles are pretty interesting, because they have elephant buildings that give massive buffs to knights and heavy cavalry while adding income. There's probably a build that lets you blow up entire armies just by stacking that building.

Sounds like I have to give Crusader Pagan a shot

 

[Alspego]

It would be really helpful if someone was able to dig into the files to quickly compile a list of all the special building slots in the game, because they are all over the place and are probably really easy to miss if you aren't already aware that they exist.

Check the CK3 wiki:
Special Buildings: https://ck3.paradoxwikis.com/Barony#Holy_buildings
List of Counties: https://ck3.paradoxwikis.com/List_of_counties (I think it contains some errors, some counties seem to have only one special slot, but the wiki mentions two).

 

[Manbearpig]

However, since you can always retake control over a barony without getting any tyranny, etc. and your heir will always inherit all baronies in your capital county

Wait, how? Do Barons not get families anymore either? I know they got rid of it for mayors but I thought barons still would since there are hardly any on the map anyway.

 

[Alspego]

Wait, how? Do Barons not get families anymore either? I know they got rid of it for mayors but I thought barons still would since there are hardly any on the map anyway.

It works the same way as with mayors (and depending on your religion with clerks). Once you have the crown authority level 2, you can do this at any point in time. If you inherit the province, all barons from additional castles are removed automatically.

 

[Alblaka]

For empty holdings within counties, is it better to build additional castles and own them yourself, or build additional cities to potentially own more counties in regards to the domain limit?

In most cases, holding more counties is always superior to holding fewer countries and more baronies, simply because that one barony cannot, in any form, exceed the value of just the county capital holding anyways.
There's some edge case arguments, i.e. farmlands barony possibly being better than a plains county capital, but I don't think that difference is significant enough. Baronies are easier to handle though, afaik you'll never have to worry about losing baronies to partition (unless you lose the county they belong to). As well, you can freely grant and revoke baronies with zero risk or penalty, so they are relative flexible when it comes to domain capacity. (I would still simply go with granting counties to high-age lowborn characters. They always come back around.)

As to whether build cities or temples... it might be that, with a realm priest, temples beat cities in both money and troop count (assuming you keep the priest at 100 opinion), plus giving bonus piety.

Also, what are the best buildings you guys think we should build within castles? Since AI seems to develop cities and temples themselves without us having to interfere, I suppose that means we don't have to worry about cities and temples' constructions? Or should we at least set what buildings for them to develop, then let them upgrade the buildings themselves, as maybe they won't always build the optimal buildings for cities/temples?

Generally, you can ignore levies, since they are worthless (by the point where you can seriously invest in buildings).
This gives an easy priority to all the money-producing buildings (especially mansions in farmland). Farms are as well highly cost effective, with 150 cost and 0.5/month return. And keep in mind that, in the mid-to-late-game, wars are won by MAAs... who cost money, not levies.
There's thought to be given to any buildings that buff MAAs though, which usually are those giving levies. I would pick one MAA (i.e. a cultural unique one, since those tend to be stronger), and then equip your castles with all building chains that buff those (usually ~2), and fill in the remaining slots with money-makers. Maybe use one of the slots in your capital for additional walls, just in case some AI boats it's troops over there.
Shout-out to coastal holdings' access to the harbor building chain. It produces money and developement growth, which is always nice to stack for more taxes and tech rate.

And yeah, cities and temples will mostly end up upgrading themselves. You could throw surplus money at them, though. I.e. upgrading your vassal baronies buildings that give developement growth, in your capital (since developement spreads and it's entirely sufficient to have a single high-developement capital for that).

 

[rluo92]

In most cases, holding more counties is always superior to holding fewer countries and more baronies, simply because that one barony cannot, in any form, exceed the value of just the county capital holding anyways.
There's some edge case arguments, i.e. farmlands barony possibly being better than a plains county capital, but I don't think that difference is significant enough. Baronies are easier to handle though, afaik you'll never have to worry about losing baronies to partition (unless you lose the county they belong to). As well, you can freely grant and revoke baronies with zero risk or penalty, so they are relative flexible when it comes to domain capacity. (I would still simply go with granting counties to high-age lowborn characters. They always come back around.)

As to whether build cities or temples... it might be that, with a realm priest, temples beat cities in both money and troop count (assuming you keep the priest at 100 opinion), plus giving bonus piety.


Generally, you can ignore levies, since they are worthless (by the point where you can seriously invest in buildings).
This gives an easy priority to all the money-producing buildings (especially mansions in farmland). Farms are as well highly cost effective, with 150 cost and 0.5/month return. And keep in mind that, in the mid-to-late-game, wars are won by MAAs... who cost money, not levies.
There's thought to be given to any buildings that buff MAAs though, which usually are those giving levies. I would pick one MAA (i.e. a cultural unique one, since those tend to be stronger), and then equip your castles with all building chains that buff those (usually ~2), and fill in the remaining slots with money-makers. Maybe use one of the slots in your capital for additional walls, just in case some AI boats it's troops over there.
Shout-out to coastal holdings' access to the harbor building chain. It produces money and developement growth, which is always nice to stack for more taxes and tech rate.

And yeah, cities and temples will mostly end up upgrading themselves. You could throw surplus money at them, though. I.e. upgrading your vassal baronies buildings that give developement growth, in your capital (since developement spreads and it's entirely sufficient to have a single high-developement capital for that).

Make sense, thank you for the detailed explanation!