Nomads: Constant Rebellions

[bartokislife]

I am currently Playing an Ironman Game as the Bolghar c.900 AD.

I am Nomadic and control a very large amount of land, consisting of nearrly the entire Northern Steppe, as well as a noticable piece of eastern Europe.

I was doing fine, until one of my rulers died, at which piont all of my 5 vassal Kahn's declared independence, and subsequently about 4 different peasant revolts and 1 clan revolt started.

It has been about 30 years, by which time I have just recenlty managed to reclaim all of the land that I lost (except for those foul Lithuanian peasants who managed to gain their independence).

Even so though, I just have constant rebellions. Every time I put down on group of peasants, it feels like two more declare a new rebellion (there are currently 6).

I am surviving right now, but it is basically just anarchy. Right now I am holding all of the land in my realm, so I know that is causing the clan uprisings, but I don't understand how to stop the rest.

Does anybody have any suggestions about how to manage a large nomadic realm without either rebellion or secession?

[☭Woodsman☭]

I honestly have VERY little experience as nomad, but I know there's a game rule at the start that allows clans to go independant on succession, if you have that turned on, it's definitely the problem.

[Zsrai]

If you are just getting regular peasant revolts that often, then I take it you are pillaging the snot out of everything? You should pace yourself, as it gives a pretty big Revolt Risk modifier to the province. Holding a bunch of Wrong Holdings gives you some beefy penalties too, so you may want to give some of those castles and cities away and revoke them later. Regarding your nomadic lands, you should really give out lands because the Revolt Risk for minor clan uprisings scale pretty fast; you could be up at 40% or more RR because of that. You will likely still get some rebellions, mostly from disgruntled landed vassals and peasants from pillaging, but you can keep it down to a minimum.

The best way to handle Succession, with the Unstable rule on (the default), is to just pray for the best and expect to take over the lands that have split off. You SHOULD get CB's on everything that split off, which helps.

[bartokislife]

Early game I pillaged everything, but now I have cooled off a bit. The trickiest part is that the clan rebellions started when everyone seceded because I held all the land, but if I gave away land, my population would sink because I wouldn't have enough land to sustain them.

The clan uprisings are constant, but really easy to manipulate. (Often times I just surrender and then kill their ruler, then I inherit 60,000 fresh troops.)

The peasants are squishy as well, but when there are 5 rebellions at once it becomes virtually impossible to keep the realm stable because it takes about a year to March from one side of the country to the other.

I am enjoying the ride, but I am just wondering if it is ever going to end. I used to get rebellions from time to time, but never like this.

[Mordovorot]

There was a nice nomadic guide in the guide section.

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by bartokislife:

I am enjoying the ride, but I am just wondering if it is ever going to end. I used to get rebellions from time to time, but never like this.

It's never going to end if you keep managing your realm that way, no. You have to give away lands to other clans as a Nomad. Slow down and consolidate your lands more before gobbling up half the world, letting those province modifiers run down too.

Something you can do is not pillage EVERYTHING; if you keep 2 baronies in each county and pillage the rest, it doesn't count as Nomad land. I suggest 2 cities or 1 city & 1 temple being left behind for max cash. Sometimes you just have to deal with losing some population too. Don't forget, you don't have to pay attention to the de jure set up when giving out lands to Clans. You can just keep the best (most holding slots) provinces for yourself and give away the low count provinces like in the northern Finland and stuff. Give the Clans 1-3 holding counties and keep the 5-7 ones for yourself, you'll always be more powerful than them.

[Random]

there is a game rule called "nomad stability" by default it is set to unstable, meaning every vassal upon your succession is presented with an otpion to declare independance. Upon their fracturing however your new ruler will have claims on every title that was lost, however I do understand it is a pain in the ass to declare war to get your stuff back.

Most vassals will remain loyal, however they will go independent if their opinion is in excess of about -25.

So to prevent it in future you would need to change that game rule at the beginning of your game. To prevent it in your current game however you would need to make a little more effort to ensure they are all positive opinion of you.

Also there is zero reason to hold extra land as a nomad. you will always be 4x the size of any other khan while giving out equal plots to your vassals. Never hold extra... EVER.

Losing 5 is pretty bad, normally I would lose 1-2 out of 9 if anything, and generally only the ones with conflicting religions to my own.

[Red Earth]

Originally posted by Zsrai:

Originally posted by bartokislife:

Don't forget, you don't have to pay attention to the de jure set up when giving out lands to Clans. You can just keep the best (most holding slots) provinces for yourself and give away the low count provinces like in the northern Finland and stuff. Give the Clans 1-3 holding counties and keep the 5-7 ones for yourself, you'll always be more powerful than them.

If you're doing that, which you should, don't create many duchy or kingdom titles. You're likely sharing de jure land and the other clans will covet the titles and if you give them the titles they'll covet the land under the titles. Better for the titles to not exist at all so they don't become a point of contention.

[bartokislife]

Thanks for the advice. I have had minor secessions before, but nothing of this calliber. I just assumed it was because I was getting so large.

One last question though. Do you guys prefer lots of tiny clans or just a couple really powerful ones?