What do you guys do with old knights?

[Annahri]

I have a bunch of old knights and I'm wondering what to do with them. They kept me safe and fought in my battles. Firing them, or revoking their position doesn't feel right to me. Wouldn't it be better if you could promote them to senior knight? That way they can educate younger knights and get some well-deserved rest at my court?

[Emperor2000]

Originally posted by Annahri:

I have a bunch of old knights and I'm wondering what to do with them. They kept me safe and fought in my battles. Firing them, or revoking their position doesn't feel right to me. Wouldn't it be better if you could promote them to senior knight? That way they can educate younger knights and get some well-deserved rest at my court?

How about giving them a Wife and a Title?

[Sputnik]

Like Emperor2000 suggested: wife and/or title. A little explanation though:

Wife:
That's assuming he CAN marry. Oldies have high prestige. Prestige is a commodity for marring in talent to your Court. If you find him a hot young bride, when he dies of old age (or overexertion), she'll stay on at court and become available to a better match. Great for for finding good court workers or genetic trait-breeders.

Title:
Ideally land him, he'll have a heir and then soon die (callous I know). As your vassal, the kid won't be able to join any factions against you until he comes of age.

[drake_hound]

Give them a wife and barony... if you do not want to give them a county.
Since barony can be revoked anytime if you do not like their offsprings.

Gee some CK3 players really think all the courtiers are just knights stats. something definetly went wrong from CK2 where courtiers had their own life, married themselves went and go get their own traits and life (yes I know it was axed later on cause of too demanding on performance).

Guess metagaming is getting preference over trying to create loyal vassals and vassals with a background story line, that people don't even use the Barony option.

[ChaosKhan]

Originally posted by Annahri:

I have a bunch of old knights and I'm wondering what to do with them. They kept me safe and fought in my battles. Firing them, or revoking their position doesn't feel right to me. Wouldn't it be better if you could promote them to senior knight? That way they can educate younger knights and get some well-deserved rest at my court?

I don't do anything specific with them and just let them serve until they die. Giving land to outstanding knights is interesting as far as role play goes, but most knights won't be able to get it. You might want to keep an eye on tournament winners and their artifacts though. Landing a knight that has a vault full of prized items, will make sure, that you'll have a vassal with hyperboosted prowess thanks to the items, even if the knight that collected them initially passes on.

As far as I see it from the narrative perspective:
Generally, those knights have led a very good life in your court, a way better one than 90 % of the other people in the medieval ages, bathed in glory and certainly weren't exactly losers in life. If you want to be extra nice, giving them a beautiful wife and let them live out their days in your court seems like the most natural solution. Depending on your MCs perks though, you can do whatever you want. A callous, arbitary ruler, should have no qualms about just dismissing "useless meat bags" once they "expire".

[Annahri]

Originally posted by drake_hound:

Give them a wife and barony... if you do not want to give them a county.
Since barony can be revoked anytime if you do not like their offsprings.

Gee some CK3 players really think all the courtiers are just knights stats. something definetly went wrong from CK2 where courtiers had their own life, married themselves went and go get their own traits and life (yes I know it was axed later on cause of too demanding on performance).

Guess metagaming is getting preference over trying to create loyal vassals and vassals with a background story line, that people don't even use the Barony option.

Yes, I totally agree with this. I marry my courtiers as often as possible because I like that their children can be educated at court. The problem is that at one point I run out of land to give away. When I conquer another duchy and give them a part, they will usually get thrown out. And I'm very much for the backstory line and see them thrive.

[ChaosKhan]

Originally posted by Annahri:

Originally posted by drake_hound:

Give them a wife and barony... if you do not want to give them a county.
Since barony can be revoked anytime if you do not like their offsprings.

Gee some CK3 players really think all the courtiers are just knights stats. something definetly went wrong from CK2 where courtiers had their own life, married themselves went and go get their own traits and life (yes I know it was axed later on cause of too demanding on performance).

Guess metagaming is getting preference over trying to create loyal vassals and vassals with a background story line, that people don't even use the Barony option.

Yes, I totally agree with this. I marry my courtiers as often as possible because I like that their children can be educated at court. The problem is that at one point I run out of land to give away. When I conquer another duchy and give them a part, they will usually get thrown out. And I'm very much for the backstory line and see them thrive.

I loved to educate children of my courtiers and had 2-3 "dedicated dynasties" of servants for specific tasks. It was in CK2 though...

In CK3, it feels like the court is being flooded with too many random characters and your courtiers tend to disappear for no reason because they have either nothing better to do or because the succession "cleans up" the court "to the bones". This makes it really hard keeping around whole families over a span of multiple generations. Also, for some reason, it feels like education of courtiers usually doesn't lead to good results. I feel always forced to get qualified personnel through marriage from outside, because courtier children very rarely develop good stats.

[Annahri]

Originally posted by ChaosKhan:

I loved to educate children of my courtiers and had 2-3 "dedicated dynasties" of servants for specific tasks. It was in CK2 though...

In CK3, it feels like the court is being flooded with too many random characters and your courtiers tend to disappear for no reason because they have either nothing better to do or because the succession "cleans up" the court "to the bones". This makes it really hard keeping around whole families over a span of multiple generations. Also, for some reason, it feels like education of courtiers usually doesn't lead to good results. I feel always forced to get qualified personnel through marriage from outside, because courtier children very rarely develop good stats.

True! And sometimes they just leave even when they're in a position. With lowborns I usually don't have this problem. But when they're from a dynasty and one of their family members gets land they will often leave.

Oh and thanks for the tip about the artifacts. I would have never thought of it.