Noob question regarding moving armies

[Estranged]

This is literally my first CK2 playthrough, but I've watched hours of tutorials on Youtube.

However, I'm stuck. I'm playing as the Earl of Dublin. The king of Denmark (which is the father of my son's wife) has asked me to send troops to help him with a war against someone. I chose to help him otherwise I would lose 25 prestige (is that a lot?).

I have raised my levis (abotu 800+) and the only ships I could (3 galleys).

How the hell do I get my troops all the way to his location (Denmark)?

I can't embark them cause my 3 ships can only take 300 troops...but I don't know how to get more ships or how to split the army to send only 300 men ?

Also, what happens if I don't send any troops at all after I agreed to help him ?
or If I send just 300 as opposed to my entire 800 ?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Planguy]

You can agree to fight in someones war and not actually send troops. You just have to worry about your allies enemy sending troops your way to acquire warscore by occupying your lands.

[Avionauta]

^this
by the way 25 prestige are not that much (it might be they are at beginning)
more than loosing prestige you get angry your allies, but it's not that great ally the Denmark playing as Earl of Dublin 90 out of 100 they won't come helping you anyway so

when you get a spouse if you choose to go for allies path look for someone closer to you, that can really help in case of wars.
otherwise is better to invest on skill or traits ;)

[g0r3yl0v3rz]

Or if your dedicated on honoring you alliance, split your amy into sets of 300 or less and ship them over to a safe location.

Bring your galleys back, and repeat.

[prince_of_arfon]

If you have enough money you could hire a mercenary fleet to transport your army, but you're unlikely to be able to afford that if you're just an earl. Best bet is what Ismelly suggested. Select your army, then find the button at the top of the army detail square that has the two arrows next to each other. That button lets you split up your army into smaller units, which you'll then be able to transport with your 3 galleys. Since you only have 800 men, not at all a large force, you'll want to link it up with your ally's army as soon as possible.

Or you can just hang back and let Denmark fight its own war. You've already joined, so your ally won't be angry with you, and that way you don't risk anything. That works too.

[angel of derp]

Yeah. Marrying for traits/stats is something to consider in the future, even if a famous spouse is its own reward (of sorts).

Some traits are inheritable via genetics (they are shaped like a heart, colored green), like Genius. Genius is particularly good as it gives a big bonus to everything. Those inheritable traits are the ones you want to look for in spouses. You can still recoup a negative Prestige penalty for marrying Courtiers by choosing the wedding option that gives you Prestige, not Gold.

When your ruler has only daughters, and you are lining up a Matrilinear marriage, then you really have to think of these things because you will practically never get a high ranking noble son-in-law in a Matrilinear arrangement.

[runequester]

As an aside, rather than using the "raise all levies" option, you can click on a province and just raise it's levies specifically.
This can help your boat problem but it can also be useful to avoid incurring dissatisfaction from vassals if you don't need all the men available and whatnot

[prince_of_arfon]

Originally posted by smelly tank:

Yeah. Marrying for traits/stats is something to consider in the future, even if a famous spouse is its own reward (of sorts).

Some traits are inheritable via genetics (they are shaped like a heart, colored green), like Genius. Genius is particularly good as it gives a big bonus to everything. Those inheritable traits are the ones you want to look for in spouses. You can still recoup a negative Prestige penalty for marrying Courtiers by choosing the wedding option that gives you Prestige, not Gold.

When your ruler has only daughters, and you are lining up a Matrilinear marriage, then you really have to think of these things because you will practically never get a high ranking noble son-in-law in a Matrilinear arrangement.

Absolutely! I nearly always end up marrying lowborn courtiers or lesser nobles, since I always go for virtuous geniuses whenever possible (and I rarely find a noble with all those traits!). Pursuing this policy + using the Ruler Designer to make a genius founding father led to my first 4 or 5 leaders all having the genius trait. And even though may main characters haven't had the genius trait in 2 or 3 generations now, it's still in the family, showing up in siblings or cousins. Very useful.