Newb Questions about baronies and heirs.

[VoodooEconomist]

Hello everyone!

I've recently bought CK2, which I've been meaning to do since the SoI DLC was announced, but Vicky 2 kept me occupied. Now that I dod though, after reading the manual and some guides, including those in this forum's FAQ section, yet I still have some questions.

The first one: considering that baronies you hold are included in your demense limits, as the newly crowned King of England (William the Conqueror) should I get rid of or my baron titles and concentrate on counties and duchies, creating barons in every province taken from the Saxon? Or is the benefit of being a baron in the county you rule in somehow offsetting the reduced demense? I'm having a real hard time deciding how to divide the Kingdom post-conquest.

Secondly: should I give duchies to my underage children, or will that just spoil the brats? I've noticed that when I proclaim them dukes, they leave my court and (I'm not sure about this one) seem to change tutors. So should I wait until they come of age before giving them any major titles, and keep them close, or should I give large areas to my children hoping that they'll remember that blood runs thicker than water?

I apologize for the newbishness of the questions and I'm really interested in your opinions!

EDIT: Oh, and also, I'm left with my 8K army after the conquest, but nothing happens to it after I click the "disband levies" button, an disbanding the unit manually tell me that 0 of them will return home because of "enemy presence" (there are no enemies in my kingdom). Is this a bug, or a feature I don't understand?

 

[Velger]

You shouldn't give your children landed titles pretty much ever, as they'll turn on your heir like vultures the moment you die and start playing as him instead.

 

[Mods]

I assume you started as William the bastard? He starts with a 'bonus' army you can't get back after disbanding it, you pretty much have to get rid of it eventually (if you ever want to declare war)

 

[VoodooEconomist]

Ok, thanks for clearing up questions 2 and 3, you've been most helpful!

Can anyone help with question 1?

 

[Ithvan]

It's always better to hold on to counties instead of baronies. You still get one holding, but you also get 2-3 baron vassals extra, and those guys won't plot against you, rebel, ...

You don't get an opinion penalty with count X who "desires barony of Y" either.

 

[Wezqu]

I don't know how other people always seem to get vulture children. I have given my family members land almost always when I had land to give and they rarely cause much trouble. Not any more than any other normal vassal. The funny thing is that I roleplay my games chosing education by the traits my ruler has not by what would be the best and still I don't get those vultures people are talking about.

 

[OrdepNM]

I believe most people who suffer from vulture children also happen to have a large demesne. I tend to play on a 1 county demesne and never ever had vulture children as they only really got 1 claim on my empire/kingdom. Sure the heir will get a relation hit with his brothers from that claim but unless he also has a ton of relationship deterioration traits, things will go smoothly most of the time. With that said, better safe than sorry so apply common sense. If youre emperor, its probably not a good idea to make your second son the freaking king of france, things may go wrong.

As for the baronies, usually giving them away, either to useless nobles in order to clear your court, or through the create a vassal function is the best option. You may want to keep it for a while if you see an heir reaching 16 shortly and you dont feel like giving him proper land tough. Same goes for cities and bishops.

As for giving titles to underage children, theres nothing wrong with it. The child will lose the tutor automatically but will quickly get a new one and the regent will keep things going in the meantime, so unless the kid has a kickass tutor, go for it. Do consider tough that he's still a child so certainly not the best ruler even at 16, so consider not giving them a very unrestful piece of land unless youre hoping he dies at the hands of a mob. Also apply some reason and dont give titles to 0-years old babies, as they have no traits at all and have the highest chance of dying.

Also a tip I found helpful. Try to ensure everyone has their de jure vassals under them. If you create a castle in your vassal's holding, the new baron will be your vassal, but the count of the province will dislike you and petition for you to handover the vassal, and will dislike you more if you refuse. Although you do get extra troops and money from keeping a direct vassal, I believe its better to keep your bigger vassals happy and transfer vassalage without being asked. Happier big vassals means less revolts and factions and as your progress in the game, it becomes increasingly easy to muster enough men and coin to meet most challenges without vassal hoarding.

 

[nestorius]

Maximum amount of Duchies you can hold is two, any more than that and you get a negative penalty. I dont give any of my children land, notably if you do you lose control over them like their education and who they will marry. Due to this, unless your Muslim, dont give them land, if your Muslim you may have to. Giving your adult heir some land can be ok at times though I prefer to not give my other members any.

Otherwise keeping in mind the Duchy limit you basically want to have as many counties as possible, with Baronies only a late game thing really. So basically give out all but 2 Duchies, the ones that are left should be the best in the game ideally also the biggest in terms of counties (though being close to each other is also a bonus). In the Duchies make sure you own all counties till your demesne limit is reached only then should you start to hold baronies. Also note that some counties are better than others so try to hold the best ones yourself. The county with Westminster in it is basically a must have, and as William I I would choose the Duchy of Bedford and the Duchy of Normandy as the two I would keep. Slowly get rid of the other counts in these Duchies and you set.

 

[VoodooEconomist]

Thank you all so very much for your input!