How do I increase the holds of my Demesne and personal wealth?

[DeadEyeMaster1]

Noob here.

I learn that you can simply build another building in any of your controlled Counties as your new Demesne, but its costly and my gold stash cant afford one. I think your wealth is extracted from all of your Demesnes taxes, so more Demesnes would give you a tax boost.

And the increase of Demesne size? I think it's only done by law?

And how do you conquer a country/kingdom? It looks like i can only fabricate a false claim on only one of the kingdoms counties, but I want the whole country, even I won the war, offering enforce demand peace can only get me one county and every other one had been conquered by me is going back to initial state.

And what do I do if my country has civil war? Not that kind of against me, but fellow vassals are fighting against each other. You can do this in Middle Age?

Thx vets.

[Donathan Cheadledge]

Originally posted by DeadEyeMaster1:

Noob here.

I learn that you can simply build another building in any of your controlled Counties as your new Demesne, but its costly and my gold stash cant afford one. I think your wealth is extracted from all of your Demesnes taxes, so more Demesnes would give you a tax boost.

More holdings in your demense doesn't necessarily give a tax boost if you end up going over your demense limit, as going over the limit generally makes everything work worse. Upgrading holdings (clicking on the picture gives you a nice menu) can increase the income of said holdings depending on the upgrades you pick.

And the increase of Demesne size? I think it's only done by law?

Rulers with higher stewardship get bigger maximum demense size. What type of title your primary title is also affects it (kings get a bigger limit than dukes, for example). Having gavelkind succession gives you a bonus to it but at the cost of the realm potentially breaking to pieces on succession. And yes, centralisation laws will alter the limit too.

And how do you conquer a country/kingdom? It looks like i can only fabricate a false claim on only one of the kingdoms counties, but I want the whole country, even I won the war, offering enforce demand peace can only get me one county and every other one had been conquered by me is going back to initial state.

Varied ways. You can "request invasion" against some rulers, though I can't remember the exact conditions. There's also holy wars which allow you to take whole duchies from infidels and heathens, and you can gather up claims and territory via tactical marriages. Also if you create titles that counties outside of your realm are a part of de jure, you will get de jure claims on them allowing you to vassalise the land.

And what do I do if my country has civil war? Not that kind of against me, but fellow vassals are fighting against each other. You can do this in Middle Age?

Those types of wars usually affect very little to do with what you do. Just make sure vassals that don't like you don't get too much power and you'll be fine. If you want to stop them fighting you can raise crown authority.

[DeadEyeMaster1]

Thx, by here,

Originally posted by Retired Messiah:

and you can gather up claims and territory via tactical marriages. Also if you create titles that counties outside of your realm are a part of de jure, you will get de jure claims on them allowing you to vassalise the land.

the vassalization you mean declare war on the de jure claims? and mind elaborate how to have the land without using the means of war?

More holdings in your demense doesn't necessarily give a tax boost if you end up going over your demense limit, as going over the limit generally makes everything work worse. Upgrading holdings (clicking on the picture gives you a nice menu) can increase the income of said holdings depending on the upgrades you pick.

Is there any other way than purchasing a holdings to get a new Demesne?

[CrUsHeR]

In my opinion, it is MUCH easier to learn the game as either Tribals (Vikings!) or Nomads, if you have those DLCs.
These guys are all about war and conquest, diplomacy are mostly internal affairs so you can learn the mechanics at a slower pace without screwing everything up.

Starting out in medieval europe is certainly how the game was meant to be played, but it can be extremely complicated and sometimes boring if you can't do anything but scheme and go on hunts or pilgrimages for several decades.


Viking realms have a lot of micromanagement with overseas raiding, and you need a good strategy if you want to form the scandinavian empire and reform the germanic faith. You can still convert to christianity and become feudal at any time though.

Nomads are pretty much straight forward, you keep conquering lands to increase your horde size. It's kind of cruel though since you will be exterminating all the conquered realms.

[Gnome Boy]

First things first: You are right, upgrading your demesne is very costly and will take very long. Thats why you should start with upgrades to your castle walls and castle towns, as they will give you more money in the long run. New holdings should only be build if you already have a lot of upgrades in your own demesne holding. As a rule of thumb, every castle should get a level 2 castle town asap, as this gives you a great income. Note that you will need to upgrade your castle walls as well to do this. Other than that, you should keep in mind that which kind of holding you build should depend on what you want:
* Castles will give you great troops, but they will only give you little money. You can, however hold castles yourself, instead of giving them to a vassal.
* Cities will give you the biggest amount of taxes, but only low level troops. Cities need to be held by a mayor, to give you the best amount of money. They also get a bonus for getting build at a coast and later will give you economic techpoints.
* Temples give you a good mix of mid level troops and taxes. They will later also give you piety and cultural techpoints. They need to be held by a bishop to give you the maximal benefit. Do note, though, that catholic bishops won't pay you taxes or troops if they like the pope more than you. Other religions don't have to worry about this.
In my experience, cities and temples (only for non-catholics) are the best choice for additional holdings, with cities being slightly better. Ideally you will get the greatest troop strenght from your demesne province, so getting the money from cities and temples will help you getting upgrades faster. Castles might get usefull later in the game if build in your capital, with you holding them directly. I also like to always build a church town and market (or port if possible) in a new temple or city respectively, to give it a kick start.

Demesne size can be increased by the cetralization law. This law will determin how your realm will be organized: tall or wide. With high centralization you can hold a very large demesne. You will be a very powerful ruler, but you will also have a decreased vassal limit, which means that your realm will be rather small. With low centralization you can hold a slightly smaller demesne, but can keep a lot of vassals. You will have less power and will be very dependent on the will of your vassals, but having an empire that spanns over half of Europe, Russia and Jerusalem can be very satisfying. You can also increase your demesne size with high stewardship. (your stewardship + half your spouses stewardship) * 0.15 = your demesne limit bonus. So giving your heirs a stewardship education and marrieing a high stewardship wife will help you in this regard.

You can get claims onto kingdoms by marrieing a claimant on that title. So, for example, if you are the king of France and marry the daughter of the king of Aragon your children will inherit a weak claim on Aragon. This means that you can take the whole kingdom, if certain requirements are met (any of: you are a man and Aragon is ruled by a woman; Aragon is already in a claim war; the king of Aragon is in a regency). You can also ask your religious head for a sanctioned invasion, which lets you take all this rulers land, but requires this ruler to have a very bad relation with the religious head, and you to have a very good one. You can also declare holy wars against heretics and infidels, which lets you take entire duchies directly. Last but not least, can you fabricate claims on multiple counties and declare war for all of them. But note that a fabricated claim gets destroyed if your ruler dies befor s/he can declare war.

Yes your vassals can declare war against each other. Keep in mind that each of them is a player just like you. They will aquire claims on other titles and will try to get as powerful as possible. To forbid vassals from fighting each other you will need medium crown authority without conclave and limited vassal wars with conclave.

[Empiro]

I'm assuming that you're playing as Catholic?

To take large numbers of territories at once:
- Occasionally, if your chancellor is really good (20+ for a good chance), he can fabricate a claim on a whole duchy.
-If you're a king, then you can fairly easily vassalize counties under your de-jure land without war. You might be able to get a Duke if they're your culture, religion, and they like you.
-Click on a duchy's title to see who their claimants are. Invite one or more (preferably with strong claims), land them, and then press their claim. Remember that you need to be a King or Emperor to have duke vassals. After inviting them, you can also force them into matrilineal marriages with your dynasty, wait until they have kids, press their claim, and while while the war is ongoing, plot to murder them. Their kid will inherit the war and automatically join your realm without needing to be landed first (though again, only Kings and above can have Duke vassals). Later in the game, you can gain entire kingdoms like this.
-If the pope really likes you (always send your chaplain to Rome to improve relations), and hates the other guy, you can ask the pope directly for a claim by clicking on the title and clicking the claim button. They usually need to have low piety and a few church negative traits, however.

When waging war, also go straight for the war target, followed by the realm liege's capital and personal territories. It won't get you more land, but it ends the war far more quickly.

To make money:
-If you're tribal, you can go raiding. In the early game, raid free loot. Later on, get a large raiding force that actually sieges things down. Some religions and cultures can raid even if feudal. Vassals don't mind their army being used for looting, so try to use those if you have them.
-Building holdings in a county will often take over 100 years to pay itself back. You want to eventually do this, but not until you've decided where your permanent capital will be. Cities will make you the most money.
-Build upgrades like the castle town in your personal counties instead. Those pay for itself much more quickly.
-Holding multiple castles in a county will get you less money than if you held more counties, because you get a castle worth of money in both cases, but also the town and church's tax in the latter case. The only time you'll want to hold a baron title is for castles in your capital county. They'll all get the capital levy bonus, your mashal's train troops ability works on all the castles, and your steward's tax collection bonus works on all castles too.
-If you're a king, create a merchant republic by granting a ducal title to a mayor of a coastal county. The best way to do this is by holding a county and duchy personally, and then clicking on the town's mayor within that county. Grant that duchy (along with lower holdings) to the mayor. Single county duchies are great for this (e.g. Isle of Mann). Merchant republics make tons of money and pay lots in taxes.