What should you keep in the ruler's demesne?

[Valdus]

I've been playing as the King of Denmark starting in 1066 and things have been going fairly well. The biggest thing I haven't figured out yet is how to distribute land and titles; Denmark has gained a bunch of land in Prussia and two new Duchies were added.

What should the King keep? The Duchy titles, or give those up and keep the County titles if under the demesne limit? Can I give someone a Duchy without any county titles?

What about giving the ruler's sons the Baronies or should I create new vassals?

So far my starting King died and the Heir took over with only his brother threatening to revolt... the brother is very weak with only one county so I'm not overly concerned. Having made it through the death of the ruler without imploding, does that imply that whatever tactics I was using before were decent?

 

[TheChronoMaster]

If you're holding more than two duchies, you start racking up opinion penalties -- stick to counties in the De Jure duchies you hold, and try to hold the biggest and most profitable duchies.

Anyone you give a Church to gets booted out of succession.

 

[Meanmanturbo]

If you're holding more than two duchies, you start racking up opinion penalties -- stick to counties in the De Jure duchies you hold, and try to hold the biggest and most profitable duchies.

Anyone you give a Church to gets booted out of succession.

Hum, a good reason to build extra castle baronies and give to ourself so that you don't need to hold territory in many different duchies pissing your vassals of, maybe?

 

[TheChronoMaster]

Could be, if you like having your personal levy and demesne spread out -- I prefer to keep myself more central and solid.

 

[Meanmanturbo]

What I mean was, giving more castles to yourself in a fewer amount of counties. So far I've tried to only control one holding in each county and maximize baron vassals, but that leads to either holding to many duchies or holding counties my dukes want. So it might be a good idea to build new castles and give to yourself instead.

 

[TheChronoMaster]

Well, castles are good for levies, but trust me, nothing beats having 4 cities in one county for profit.

 

[Meanmanturbo]

Well, castles are good for levies, but trust me, nothing beats having 4 cities in one county for profit.

Is it good to hold them by yourself? Because originally, creating a lot of cities and giving them to mayors was my plan.

 

[TheChronoMaster]

Oh yeah, give em to mayors.

And tax the burghers into space.

 

[jackov]

Well, castles are good for levies, but trust me, nothing beats having 4 cities in one county for profit.

Is there a castle to city ratio you try to maintain / can recommend ?

 

[themrwho]

someone posted city penalty is now upped to 66% which beats the 'city=more gold' advantage.

furthermore you are giving up 'castle=better army' advantage for nothing.

EDIT - assuming 66% penalty is true, my ratio would be 13 castles, 0 cities.

 

[Meanmanturbo]

someone posted city penalty is now upped to 66% which beats the 'city=more gold' advantage.

furthermore you are giving up 'castle=better army' advantage for nothing.

EDIT - assuming 66% penalty is true, my ratio would be 13 castles, 0 cities.

I think he meant that you should max out your demesne with the principal catsle holdings you hold as a count and fill all the slots with cities which you create new mayors for.

 

[Bertouch]

Keep on eye on your inheritance laws, too. If you've got primogeniture and a good first son, gift him with duchies. He can always gift them out when he becomes king, and (hopefully) has a good first son of his own. But there's always a measure of luck involved, and you may end up with a loon for a child (I gave one a church), or an ambitious, envious sort who's just looking to play the lead in Macbeth with your heir in the role of Duncan.

 

[themrwho]

I think he meant that you should max out your demesne with the principal catsle holdings you hold as a count and fill all the slots with cities which you create new mayors for.

Did not test this extensively yet but I am thinking building only castles in all extension slots in rulers demesne, as it gives some gold anyway and more importantly it gives troops and IMO troops is what matters the most.

 

[3inar]

Did not test this extensively yet but I am thinking building only castles in all extension slots in rulers demesne, as it gives some gold anyway and more importantly it gives troops and IMO troops is what matters the most.

Culd be quite hard to suport the troops if you only have 5 castles in a 5 settelment province.
But mabe you culd have another county with only cities as whell that wold be some powerfull stuff

 

[calol61]

iirc you can only build a castle if you have one of each settlement before you can build another. so you can only have a max of two castles in one county

 

[Dakk]

iirc you can only build a castle if you have one of each settlement before you can build another. so you can only have a max of two castles in one county

Exactly, so five castles

 

[themrwho]

In the areas I play I typically see two types of counties:

Type I: 1 main slot + 2 additional slots (poor county)
Type II: 1 main slot + 3 additional slots (I guess this is the average county type)

I try keeping Type II counties (or better if I can find) in my demesne, which gives me 2 castles per county.
And yes, they do have 1x City & 1x Bishopric so these provide some extra income.

2x castles per county gives a good troop rate and a good cash flow and with your personal army you can easily beat any individual vassal duke, actually two of them at the same time without hiring mercenaries.

As I said I am still in early stages of testing these practices though, so not 100% solid, yet.