Castle upgrades, I don't understand what I need

[[SPH-r] Aleix08]

Good, I have started to have castles, and the problem I have is that I do not understand the method of improving the castle, I put the money but it asks me for the cost of construction (with the symbol of some bricks it comes out). At first I thought it was to put raw materials in the reserve, such as wood, iron, and tools, but it still hasn't changed. Let's see if you can give me a hand why I'm getting desperate. Regards, and thank you very much!

[flyingscot1066]

The money is to boost construction speed. Actual construction is based on the level of your Workshop (the improvement, not the money making type), Prosperity, and your Governor's Engineering skill and perks. There's an entry called Production I believe on the Castle Management and that shows how many "bricks" are added to the completion of each improvement per day. If your Walls for example need 1,000 bricks, and your Production is 50 bricks, the walls will take 20 days to build.

[[SPH-r] Aleix08]

Originally posted by flyingscot1066:

The money is to boost construction speed. Actual construction is based on the level of your Workshop (the improvement, not the money making type), Prosperity, and your Governor's Engineering skill and perks. There's an entry called Production I believe on the Castle Management and that shows how many "bricks" are added to the completion of each improvement per day. If your Walls for example need 1,000 bricks, and your Production is 50 bricks, the walls will take 20 days to build.

Ok, I understand, I have placed governors with engineering skills, but it tells me that I have 0 construction in both castles. In the improvements, I get a 0% construction and next to it in parentheses I get (never)

[AfLIcTeD]

Originally posted by Aleix08:

Originally posted by flyingscot1066:

The money is to boost construction speed. Actual construction is based on the level of your Workshop (the improvement, not the money making type), Prosperity, and your Governor's Engineering skill and perks. There's an entry called Production I believe on the Castle Management and that shows how many "bricks" are added to the completion of each improvement per day. If your Walls for example need 1,000 bricks, and your Production is 50 bricks, the walls will take 20 days to build.

Ok, I understand, I have placed governors with engineering skills, but it tells me that I have 0 construction in both castles. In the improvements, I get a 0% construction and next to it in parentheses I get (never)

Most likely you have low loyalty. Your governor will need to be of the same culture as your castle as well as some loyalty perks. This will increase loyalty and get them doing stuff.

[RJboxer]

Originally posted by AfLIcTeD:

Originally posted by Aleix08:

Ok, I understand, I have placed governors with engineering skills, but it tells me that I have 0 construction in both castles. In the improvements, I get a 0% construction and next to it in parentheses I get (never)

Most likely you have low loyalty. Your governor will need to be of the same culture as your castle as well as some loyalty perks. This will increase loyalty and get them doing stuff.

^^ this.

and now for the REALLY bad news.

Currently castles are a terrible thing to own. They are "easier" to defend... kinda.. but they make terrible income. in fact, I believe that the vast majority of the time (probably 90% of the time or more...) they LOSE money.


So you are INVESTING denars to BOOST the castle infrastructure, to STILL be a money loser.

Sadly, this is the way the game currently is.

Do you best to get a town. There are tricks to help get towns... but a sure fire way... is LOSE your castle (if it is your only fief)... and do it as close to your faction conquering a town as possible. (remember. There are many factors that go into being up for a vote when a fief is awarded... but the BEST and most POWERFUL one.. is you are a vassal with ZERO fiefs).

Anyway... yeah castles most likely have terrible PRODUCTION throughout their existence (they are always low production), and it is USUALLY a factor of low prosperity or low culture or BOTH. (though there are even more things that can affect it).

Suffice to say... get a TOWN as soon as u can.

~cheers

[Sкiткj3ll]

Well. I guess I was lucky. After a few months of building and just general governing my castle actually earns me about 8-900 denars at least (it ain't much, but at least I'm not losing money on it xD). But yeah. That's rare. High loyalty goes a long way.

[NMGSGaming]

Castles can be a good source of money, but you need to adjust how many troops you allow it to recruit by setting their wage limit lower than the amount that is coming in (Done via the parties tab when looking at clan, this does make the castle harder to defend though), the villages bring in more than the castle itself so keeping them from being looted is important. Always make sure the Governor is the same culture as the castle, this will help offset the -3 loyalty otherwise you'll get -4 (even no Governor is better in that case) unless you have a really good governor with perks which increase loyalty or your faction has Edicts which improve loyalty.

As for upgrades i'd say Fairgrounds first followed by food production and workshops (workshops before food if you have a good amount already), but increase your loyalty to as high as you can get it (with festivals and games) before you try and build as building will stop if loyalty gets too low.

[[SPH-r] Aleix08]

Thank you everyone for your help!!
You are right that having a castle is quite stressful, I see that you can earn money in the long term with them. I pay more to garrison the castle than I actually earn from it. I've been looking at the loyalty of the governors and well, it's going up little by little but the construction is slow, but well, we can't do anything.
I had a town but they besieged me in a short time, and if it is true that with what I earned they came out more profitable

[Rhapsody]

Castles only really have military purposes like holding troops and prisoners, so they generally come with expenses, though they can still yield influence to their owner.

I'd recommend relinquishing castles that no longer serve any military purposes, or reduce their garrison considerably to reduce the expenses. If the castles belongs to culture matching yours, you could even leave only a token garrison, since even if you lose control of the fief, you should be able to take it back with little opposition. In that case they can even serve as a bait for your enemies.

[RJboxer]

in 1.7,2 AND EARLIER castles lose money.

All this "theory crafting" of the "Optimal" scenario to get them to make money, is just that. Theory crafting.


Ok...so ummm. Imma be vlandia,, and like when I take over 70% of the WHOLE western side of map, I will get the farthest castle to the west. Stick NO GARRISON in it (which has been nerfed, and now causes penalties..it didnt before.).. And since I am vlandia and strongest faction in game at beginning, its a good chance that the castle NEVER got attacked, so has had NON STOP full prosperity and no fiefs looted nothing.. so ummm. yeah Like, now ..'check out me castle' it makes money. WOOHOO


That is so unrealistic it isn't funny.

The REAL scenario is this. You move in a direction. (pick one.. doesn't matter). there is a castle, and your king orders it taken, you are "awarded" it. (dang it).. now you are the proud owner of a castle ON THE FARTHEST FRINGE of your kingdom. More good news, it has it's walls broken. Even MORE good news, there is no infrastructure. ZERO. but that's ok.. because The fiefs have been raided at least twice.. each.. probably closer to 3 times.. So their hearths are a whopping 100... WOOHOO.

Now I gotta stick troops in there (remember, this isn't cheat mode.. or theory craft.... YOU HAVE TO put in troops, if you plan on keeping it.). I'm uberduber. and can beat anyone.. so ummm, I only need 100. Sadly, the AI attacks with 500 MINIMUM.. so I will need to roam around here with my 200 man party, ready to hop in at a moment's notice. to discourage the AI and have them break off attack.

So adding it up.

I have a castle with prosperity issues, No walls, no infrastructure (hopefully my culture but probably not). and I stuck it with 100 troops.. I'm paying for all of them. I also added 50k gold to the build queue, but since all my other stuff is so low.. (starving too, I forgot that)... My production is still "5". so my walls will only take 700 days. YES!!!!!!! awesome...

good thing it is bringing in a nice phat 120 denars a day... At this rate, I'm only losing... oh about 3k a day> NICE


^^ that is far far far far more likely then u get the perfect scenario castle..

"But I DO GET THE PERFECT SCENARIO CASTLE, here check my screen shot"...

Yes.....when it doesn't matter. Late late late game. or when you are king.. You can ALWAYS hot/swap your trash fiefs in front to a back of line fief. if you use the trickery... Or buy them. But then you aren't near the front lines to fight and I'd much rather be in front of my kingdom, then all the way at the rear. .

All in all. Castles are a huge huge money loser at least 95% of the time. Probably MUCH more.


in 1.8.0 I have no idea.. haven't played it. but I'm not talking about BETA, I'm talking about the "Live" version of the game.. and how it has been since the beginning of EA.

[Clovis Sangrail]

Early on, I'll take a castle if I cannot get a town for a couple or three reasons --

First, I need a place to store my ♥♥♥♥. I'm going to go to trading, and I want a place to put thing for later use of sale.

Second, I want a castle so I can recruit noble troops. I'll do every quest for the notables in the bound villages until they absolutely love me and are willing to send the flower of their youth off into battle with me.

Third, I can make a little money on it, and a little money early game can be quite useful.

Current game example -- I was a merc for Rhagaea and pulling in a lot of cash selling battle loot and collecting my merc earnings. Rhagae loved me, and when I rode up on her besieging a castle, I scoped out the situation and determine she was a sure winner in that fight. So I resigned my mercenary commission and rode up to Rhagaea and asked to become her vassal. Of course, she accepted me with open arms. Then I joined the battle, which we won, and when the election happened, I won the castle. There was also a big ass Northern Empire army on its way to take its castle back, so I quickly pushed the Leave Kingdom button, took my little castle with me, and gave Rhagaea, who luckily was still in the neighborhood, about 50k for a peace treaty.

And so I am independent, I have a castle, and I'm at peace with the world with my little level2 clan.

My clan is Imperial, so I made my big brother governor. Being the same culture as the castle and having my big brother as gov make maintaining loyalty a piece of cake. I pared the garrison down to a minimum but let the militia grow. I put in quality of life and efficiency improvements -- garden, fairgrounds, workshop, toll guy, etc. Physical improvements like walls can wait until later.

And now my little clan has a nice homestead to operate from. Between the castle and the vlllages, the fief brings in 874 denars a day, and garrison only costs 168. So I am netting more than 700 denars a day.

Time to go horse shopping. We'll leave the wars for later.