novice question about vassal involvement in war

[matezzo]

Okay I started low, possibly at the lowest level, ruler of a small territory. My liege is often at war, but he doesn't order me into war, not even invite me. Sometimes my territory is taken, I can't do anything to prevent it (or could I?)
What could I do differently? I'd raise my army, but it's only a few hundred, wouldn't do too much difference anyway, I just find it strange that my liege doesn't call for his vassals army to help.

[brownacs]

You can't call your vassals to war so that's why your liege isn't doing it. How to fix that? Become independent really. It's been a while since it happened but I wanna say you can use your armies in conflicts your liege is involved in if they involve your territory (the enemy armies should be orange I think) but I might be completely wrong there and if you don't have the army size to make a difference, it won't really matter anyway. Generally you don't want to be a vassal to a liege who's not the biggest kid on the playground and even then I'd be plotting my independence. It sounds like your liege isn't brilliant militarily, could you claim their throne? It's the first ability in the right hand tree of the stewardship lifestyle.

[armyissue69]

I like these focused questions!! I have your answer. I once moaned about Haestienn rampaging Germany and wiping them out with me along with it. came here, got an answer.

Offer to Join War!! Click Liege and offer up. Is it grey'd out? Try raising your armies. Are their armies brown? you CAN attack them. If they are not attackable, can you declare war on them? Even just a 1 county holy war will allow you to attack them and if you lose the attack, you don't lose your county. Lil tricks here n there you will learn over time. I don't mind above post about independence BUT...having a liege is a great way to climb a rank ladder.

[brownacs]

Originally posted by armyissue69:

Even just a 1 county holy war will allow you to attack them and if you lose the attack, you don't lose your county.

Ha, does that work? If so just learnt something new after 800 hours. I'm not sure the joining the war options are relevant (the OP said they don't have enough troops) but if this works, that's their answer.

[matezzo]

How bad is it to lose my army (in terms of gold)? Because as far as I saw it replenishes in time anyway.
I find it strange that a liege would ignore its vassals help. Btw He won his wars so far, but sometimes I got conquered while the boss would send its army to capture the enemy territories (instead of liberating me).
I also found it strange that I could fabricate claim and attack a province under the same lord and they don't say anything (maybe they like me less), but I got my neighbor's land. I wonder if I could claim a land under a different liege and still take it in a local conflict without involving the big guys... (on the other hand this seems unrealistic)

[brownacs]

Originally posted by matezzo:

How bad is it to lose my army (in terms of gold)? Because as far as I saw it replenishes in time anyway.
I find it strange that a liege would ignore its vassals help. Btw He won his wars so far, but sometimes I got conquered while the boss would send its army to capture the enemy territories (instead of liberating me).
I also found it strange that I could fabricate claim and attack a province under the same lord and they don't say anything (maybe they like my less), but I got my neighbor's land. I wonder if I could claim a land under a different liege and still take it in a local conflict without involving the big guys... (on the other hand this seems unrealistic)

Losing an army isn't ideal but it's not the end of the world. The main drawback's that you could get attacked while having no troops then you're a bit buggered. The AI does take note of your troop strength going up and down, and how many wars you're involved in.

Generally the AI prioritises offence over defence in wars so that's why they're going on the offensive and not recapturing their conquered territory. I think the exception's if they're in a defensive war and the attacker controls the war target.

And no, you attack the overlord (the most senior liege) if that makes any sense so er... if you attacked a count under a duke under a king under an emperor, you'd have to fight the emperor, not the count. Armyissue69, I think, was referring to that ability to attack your fellow vassals without attacking your liege when they said, "having a liege is a great way to climb a rank ladder."... I think.

[Hydra_360ci]

You're boss is already using your army and gold for his own war. in the form of Taxes. He can also take your counties away from you at will. All of them except for your capital. It's not in the AI's interest to do so, though. because you're providing him free gold/Prestege/Piety, and Troops. Most times he'll grant you vassels (controlling a county) once you're a Duke/Duchess (have a Dutch Land Title).

You can ask your liege to join his war, if you really want to. The penalty of losing your troops is that it costs extra resources (Gold/Piety/Prestige expense: depending on your form of government) to restore the troops via your monthly expenses (there is a check box in your Army menu to disable the added expense, but if you check the box, your army won't restore) Once the numbers are restored the maintence cost takes over... which is a much cheaper monthly expense than restoring your losses.

As for your lands, you're main goal is to have all the counties inside a Duchy to youself (not easy to do when inheratence breaks them apart between siblings, early game) . Why do you want to keep your personal lands together? because every Capital City of a Duchy has a special building tile on the very far right that is only availiable, if you personally own every county within the Duchy Land and have high control (u want 100%). And the Buildings for that Dutch Building Tile is very powerful.

The game only let's you have 2 Dutch land titles under your direct control before penalizing you with an unhappy vassal, penalty. 3 Duchys are about the most you can keep, safely (though you have a cap on how many counties you can hold, anyways; (usually 3-12 depending on your Stwardship stats+Steward council+your spouse+any cap unlocks). And Ducys can be as small as 3 counties (i think) and as big as 5 (i think).

Once you get an Empire you can hold as many Kingdoms as you want with no Penalty.... but you have a cap on how many Vassals you can have directly, under you. And the 3 or more Dutchy penality is always in effect.