The Strategic Benefits of Marches?

[DubiousMaster101]

Hello everyone.


I have been thinking about this a long time, what is the strategical benefits of having marches? I findd myself rarely creating marches, could anyone give an example of a situation a march would be beneficial, what purpose do they have? Besides the obvious military bonuses of course.


One scenario i have been thinking about is for example playing as the Ottomans, instead of annexing tunis, morocco which would cost quite a bit due to their 100% coring cost traditions, since they are so low tax base you could feed let's say Tunis and create a march out of it along the coast.

 

[IIWW]

Hmm, I'm creating a marches form a nations with good military NI's (well, it was always Brandenburg so far), as this would help me more than annexing them. The ultimate goal is always gaining power, so I think it's the situation when leaving them as march is giving me more than annexing them.

 

[Teije]

As Ottomans, I did it with a Serbia that after I conquered I fed with provinces in the Balkans/Hungary. I had little interest in expanding greatly into Europe, so it was very useful to have a strong Serbia that helped out with sieges and acted as a buffer. So a classic march in other words. If you're planning on expanding in a particular direction, it wouldn't make much sense to have a march, esp. given the stab hit to remove a march, but in that case, I found it quite helpful.

 

[CaptainChiatrol]

I am always wrestling with my diplo relations limit so I can't afford to spend one on a march I can't annex after I feed especially since if I feed a march too much he will stop getting his bonuses.

There was a suggestion once that marches should not take a diplo spot but be impossible to turn away from being a march without completely releasing them as a vassal and I liked that suggestion.

Also it's noteworthy that if you are a vassal and you become a march and you declare a war for independence there is a bug where your allies supporting your independence don't actually join your word. Test it. it's weird.

 

[Kagemin]

As Qing I turned Perm into a March and fed them most of the border provinces to Europe. I didn't plan on annexing anyways to avoid trouble with Europe, and by being a March they could actually help me military.
In my campaigns there are almost always one or two vassals I don't plan on annexing anytime soon (if ever), and giving them the military benefits of a March usually makes up for the disadvantages of it.

 

[CaptainChiatrol]

As Qing I turned Perm into a March and fed them most of the border provinces to Europe. I didn't plan on annexing anyways to avoid trouble with Europe, and by being a March they could actually help me military.
In my campaigns there are almost always one or two vassals I don't plan on annexing anytime soon (if ever), and giving them the military benefits of a March usually makes up for the disadvantages of it.

I can't do that. There is something wrong with the parts of the maps that aren't the same color as mine.

I need to get my troops of painters out for every bit of this I ugliness.

 

[oblio-]

I can't do that. There is something wrong with the parts of the maps that aren't the same color as mine.

For exactly this problem I appreciate "Player map mode" - improved in 1.8. You and all your vassals now show up in the same color! Yaaay!

 

[PedroVargas]

I tend to not make any. The 40 basetax limit is a bit annoying if you want, for example, to have a fully grown Prussia as a march. And the advantages seem to be minimal compared to regular vassals.

Only once did I make a march out of Switzerland since I wanted to keep them alive and healthy as my attack dog in central Europe - when Austria surprisingly revoked the privilege and snatched them away from me :sad: Lesson lerarned: Never make HRE marches if you're not the emperor.

 

[spinoza013]

As Brandenburg I turned Saxe-Luneburg into a March and fed them German states provinces through war. The extra troops they provide have been very useful while I concentrated on conquering to the East.

Ultimately I'll integrate them when I'm ready to form Germany.

 

[Sadinotna]

I made Buryatia a march once, because I was playing Qing because 1. the AI hates player specifically and Russia will leave you alone if they only border a vassal and 2. I needed all those diplo points I would've spent annexing them to steal as much of Ming as possible before Ayutthaya did it first.