What is your tactic to convince a duke to be your vassal ?

[BaronNoir]

I played mostly as Spain minors thus far (where the ''convincing'' was done more easily) and I'm not very experimented in the matter.

I'm trying the historical technique of ''marrying my daughters to the local ruler, then try to persuade the scion to be my vassal'' but it's not working very well.

 

[Yenzen]

- Holding the de-jure king or imperial title
- Being of the same culture
- Being two tiers above (ie emperor-duke, king-count)
- Having him like you a lot
- Being about 3X stronger than him

In general, at most two of these are allowed to be false.

 

[BaronNoir]

Ok, so what I do if I want to make of Wales my vassal as England ?

 

[delra]

Ok, so what I do if I want to make of Wales my vassal as England ?

Fabricate claims on their counties until you are able to take both duchies for yourself. Or through marriage and murder manufacture a pretender of your dynasty with a claim on their titles.

 

[Gingerninja]

Remarkably enough, marrying of your daughters does nothing but create an alliance. As for wales, it's damn near impossible. He's wrong culture and not dejure. I find if both of those are checked, it's completely impossible. So I think just fabricate claim and conquer is the only way.

 

[6ix]

Or you could build a barony, find a claimaint with a strong claim to the title, invite, give the barony to the claimant, then invade.

 

[fargoniac]

Conquer a province from him to humiliate him.

 

[generalolaf]

I use armies. Conquest is easier, unless they're de jure your vassal. In that case, gold will do.

 

[unmerged(602449)]

I managed to get the Duke (Grand Prince) of Ryazan to accept my Vassalization offer playing as the King of Ruthenia. After this happened I've been on the lookout for any and all bloodless expansions but the same offers were shoved in my face by a number of smaller types who should have paid me to become my vassal. It seems apart from power and them actually liking you (I killed some rebels in Ryazan to boost by 25) the main things you have to get around are Are they de jure and are they the same religion. As has been pointed out, claim and conquest are the sure way. Even if they meet all the criteria Yenzen pointed out, they also have to be at peace.

 

[yezhanquan]

Conquest is probably your best bet. Fabricate claims on his counties, then once you have enough for the duchy, usurp the title and fight him every 5 years until all counties under the duchy are yours.

 

[unmerged(489981)]

My daughter.

 

[brxbrx]

Bribing and infiltrating (getting someone of my dynasty and culture to hold the title). Also claim warring. Depends on which is fastest, really.

 

[Arokel]

war

 

[Bob_the_Insane]

Starts with bribes, usually ends up with swords and pointy sticks...

Often though it is part of a conquest so I would have grabbed a couple of the counties through personal claims which will have either destroyed the Duchy title or put me in a place to usurp it. So it is a case of convincing the "former" duke to join you...

 

[Malibu Stacey]

I played mostly as Spain minors thus far (where the ''convincing'' was done more easily) and I'm not very experimented in the matter.

I'm trying the historical technique of ''marrying my daughters to the local ruler, then try to persuade the scion to be my vassal'' but it's not working very well.

You're trying to use diplomacy in this game. There's no point until we get a patch (more likely paid DLC) which fleshes out Diplomacy (and hopefully Intrigue too).

 

[Portal]

Here is a way that allows you to swallow up large amounts of land in a single war.

1. If the title you are attempting to acquire is a same-level title, marry your heir to the daughter of the title holder. If not, any kinsman will do.
2. Assassinate heirs until the woman is third in line. This minimises time and money (plots cost money too for bribes). Also, sometimes a heir is loved by the entire world due to his traits. This strategy means you can just kill his idiot sibling to get the woman in the line of succession.
3. Kill the title holder. The woman will be a pretender and have a strong, inheritable claim.
4. Wait for the woman and your kinsman to have a child.
5. Kill the woman. The child now has a weak claim on the desired title.
6. If the title holder is not under regency, kill him, make his young child inherit and press the weak claim.
7. The title holder will be vassalized as the claimant is dynastic. If it's not a lower title and you made your grandson the claimant, congrats. You will become the title holder in a while.

 

[FabiusBile]

You're trying to use diplomacy in this game. There's no point until we get a patch (more likely paid DLC) which fleshes out Diplomacy (and hopefully Intrigue too).

Depeds upon the game. Inviting and marrying people with claims on duchies can result in a very rapid expansion, much faster than fabricating claims and actually warring etc.

But on most other levels, I agree with you.

 

[yezhanquan]

Pressing your vassals' claims for them is also an option, provided they don't break free once you're successful.