Retinues

[Fishy101]

I read a lot of discussions about retinues and I see there is a grayed out tab under the military window for retinues. What's the difference between retinues and your levies? How do I get retinues?

I also read about how people compose their armies with heavy infantry and not use archers to fight the Golden Horde etc. How do you do that? I built every single building available in my capital in Constantinople (most of it was built for me) and my Duchy (Thrace). I take my stacks and tell them to move here to fight this guy or move there to block that guy but that's the extend of my tactics. How do you control what your stacks do?

 

[gekomees]

You get retinues if you buy the LoR DLC. You can control what retinues you buy, you can't organize normal levies. Retinues are standing armies, you can declare war with them being raised and there is no need to disband them. To counter these bonuses you get significantly less retinue troops than normal levies.

 

[triplethr34t]

What I'm still trying to figure out is at what point can you actually start to buy retinues? Is it based upon your levy size?

In some games I'm able to buy them after a few decades as a mere count, but occasionally I'll have to wait a few generations as a duke before the button stops being greyed out.

 

[Darkgamma]

You get retinues if you buy the LoR DLC. You can control what retinues you buy, you can't organize normal levies. Retinues are standing armies, you can declare war with them being raised and there is no need to disband them. To counter these bonuses you get significantly less retinue troops than normal levies.

And, it they're half-depleted, your allowance dives and you see yourself being cheap on feasts, holy icons, bribes etc.

 

[Gqarz]

You get retinues if you buy the LoR DLC. You can control what retinues you buy, you can't organize normal levies. Retinues are standing armies, you can declare war with them being raised and there is no need to disband them. To counter these bonuses you get significantly less retinue troops than normal levies.

Retinues are all based on the retinue cap. The cap is derived from the total number of realm troops. The cap is multiplied by tech levels in your demesne. So, sometimes, if you have good tech levels, you can have retinues as a count. Otherwise you have to wait until tech increases.

 

[Fishy101]

Thanks for the response. I'm curious as to what people think about the DLCs. Is the LoR DLC more fun than the vanilla CK2?

 

[gekomees]

Thanks for the response. I'm curious as to what people think about the DLCs. Is the LoR DLC more fun than the vanilla CK2?

It is if you're playing Byzantine Empire, otherwise it doesn't matter.

 

[tman144]

It is if you're playing Byzantine Empire, otherwise it doesn't matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEbwZfkeIt8

You don't get retinues at all without LoR. So I think LoR is more fun.