How to squeeze the most out of your vassals in ck3

Want to learn every way you can create theocratic vassals in a realm that doesn't already have them?
Watch my video on it here: • Every Way to Create Th...
I remember some people tried to notify me of this overpowered strategy for Crusader Kings 3 all the way back in my W I D E vs TALL video. To those people I apologies it took me so long to try this out. This is probably hands down the best way to grant land to vassals in CK3, as even with the 2nd or 3rd last tier of devotion you're still making 35-45% tax from all your vassals. I think you guys should seriously give this a try. Love ya ❤
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[@e34YT]

Holier Roman Empire

[@tai9704]

Indeed lol

[@jai-kk5uu]

Holiest roman empire

[@Zieley]

Took a little longer than usual to get this one out but I just wanted to add some extra polish for you legends. I will be releasing 'all the ways to create theocratic vassals' video in a couple days to make sure you guys can test out this OP play style with any realm on the map! Hope you enjoy this one, missed ya 💋

[@apotato1717]

Missed you back 💖

[@JerryCanTheThird]

your content is always worth the wait

[@joshuabarlow9048]

conquer a county with a non primary temple and pause before you finish war. Finish war - the priest won't be changed to your court priest until you unpause so you can grant the priest that is filler until your priest takes over titles. This will spawn in a new priest to take over for the old priest giving endless priests until you unpause.

[@GammaGaming22]

Where is the video on how to make theocratic vassals Zieley!

[@JudgeMagikarp]

Hi @Zieley While waiting for the next video I restarded my Tall Bosnia game, and I'm having a lot of fun being King of Bosnia with two Dukes Prince-Archbishops, and two Counts Prince-Bishops of my Reformed Neo-Krstjani faith! Also having two Grand Cathedrals in Rama and Ragusa every ruler I'm playing have plenty of Faith and so Gold and levies! Next step will be to Unite the South Slavs with full Theocratic Vassals!

[@doctorm5]

You got me to buy CK3, I've spent hours on it, bonded with my roommate and it has dominated my friend group. I appreciate your content a lot!

[@molybdaen11]

If you play with your friends: always marry a lesbian woman!

[@big_slurp4603]

imagine the smell

[@Klongu_Da_Bongu]

Now draw him oppressing his vassals

[@SwetPotato]

Dominated my housemates, then they quitted CK3 🤣🤣

[@itsmikewatts]

You could have also increased your crown authority which should have pushed you to 100% tax.

[@Zieley]

Good shout, another way to get even more tax

[@Ninja_Aubergine]

I always love trying to guess where you'll pop out from in the picture for your intro and I never get it right

[@Zieley]

hahaha love that! keep an eye on the columns 👁

[@iGleeson]

I wish I was bad at CK3 so I could send Zieley my disaster saves and he could make more videos but I'm really good at CK3 because I watch Zieley videos 😭

[@ItIsYouAreNotYour]

I started out bad, ended up better, but still really bad. I've plateaued.

[@joaquinbravin7274]

​@@ItIsYouAreNotYour MOOD

[@DummyThiccc]

i suffer from success in that exact same way 🥲

[@Mecrobb]

being chaste is like being chased by a scary man wearing a rune full helm

[@Sir_Howie]

Making an HRE with a super centralized power structure solely on prince-bishops just feels right. A shame we dont have antipopes/investiture yet. We could make an HRE that is Holy Roman and an Empire.

[@duncanharrell5009]

HOI4 Italy Pope and Rome focus tree be like

[@Mattissimo82]

I hope this exposure and the republics people have been doing lately motivates paradox to flesh out the governments a little because I am afraid this stuff will be nerfed pretty soon..

[@lilschlagen]

If I remember correctly this was a strat in CK2 as well but it was rather contentious in the community.

[@alexkangaroo301]

You basically described early Holy Roman Empire. Where the emperors tried to be as holy as possible and use Bishops instead of feudal vassals.

[@Mobius1105]

This is also possible with Feudal Vassals. I tried it back in April before Tours and Tournaments and got to about 87.5% tax rate. I knew there was another modifier to stack even then, but I didn’t see it as likely to be able to stack all the modifiers in one lifetime. Tours and Tournaments lifted some restrictions and added a couple of new, easy to get tax contribution modifiers since then, so I’m confident a 100% tax rate on feudal vassals is totally possible. Only problem is that it’s gated by tech, so theocratic vassals will be better at least until high medieval.

[@Gremlin4498]

So interesting. I hope they don't nerf this, it is obviously strong but you also have to clearly put the work/strategy in to make this happen - kind of the point of a strategy game.

[@ClayinSWVA]

You also get all of the levies from your bishop so build levy buildings in his holdings

[@Ottersonn]

Just want to say I appreciate your content man. One of the few people I have notifications turned on for. Always Interesting stuff!

[@anyacarlson5219]

I am definitely going to wreak some havoc with this strategy.... thanks for the video and the tips!

[@NmLs42]

I was trying to focus on what you were doing but... what the hell is going on in France? Burgundy that eats up 4 kingdoms. Léon that consumes both France and Aquitaine. Some weird Norse dutchy in Brittany. I've never seen so much weird stuff in France happen by itself.

[@jackgeary6928]

Nice vid. I always hated theocratic vassals before. I always tried to eliminate them. Now this opens new possibilities. Thanks

[@shaka2tu]

i have been trying theocratic vassal roleplay this weeks. giving fired realm priest a county and then give another county to that temple priest from that county. then keep spread it out, so every county is theocratic and every holding is full of church (build by myself). then give my pope a county, vassalize them then give them a duchy and kingdom.

[@bungalo50]

This is basically re-enacting the start of the Investiture Controversy and I love it

[@TheHolyBunny]

This is my favorite CK3 content by far, I know you’ve said you don’t do mods but would love to see you tackle the Game of Thrones full conversion. Not sure if you’re into that universe at all but I’ve been playing and it’s pretty awesome.

[@kyilar5423]

lets gooooo, realy excited to watch this !!

[@jacoblamb3535]

Everyone else: Frankia Zieley: France-E-uh

[@MolonyProductions]

31 minutes into the video, 32 gold per month and it's 908AD.

[@lightwalker222]

Remember that if they are paying like 100% of their tax to you, they aren't gonna have any gold to upgrade the buildings in their baronies. If you want well developed land in your realm you'll have to personally invest the money in those baronies Edit: I see now that you are indeed doing this a bit later in the video

[@edgyguy7084]

the best thing about all of this is that, once u set it up properly, u can make your heir focus on learning which increases piety per month, lets u easily pick the "embrace celibacy" decision and after that a b line to "buy titles" to feed the maschine...

[@Critical_Cabbage]

Holy shit this tactic is insane. Just have all your vassals inject you with money while you can make all your personal holdings military and development focused :D Definitely wanna try this next time I play CK3.

[@sampsjt]

gonna give this a try, combo it with my favorite religious tenant Megalithic Constructions

[@BBCBusinessMen]

Hey Zieley I have a challenge for you: First you have to play as the Assyrians or “Syriacs” which are located in Mesopotamia. You can create a new character for this so that you have the culture. Your challenge is to start in the single county in Mesopotamia that is of Assyrian/Sryiac culture. You need to keep your religion of Christianity and spread in through the Middle East with most of the counties in your land being Christian as well as the Assyrian/Syriac culture you will need to conquer Jerusalem, Rome, Egypt, and the Middle East including Anatolia. You will also need good rulers so get at least 2 amazing traits (like genius, Amazonian etc…). You also need to get the development in your capital to over 50. You’ll need to complete this within 300 years or less depending on how hard you want to make it. Good luck!

[@fortunepeter7285]

I never think of you often , but when i do , you end up posting ❤

[@Thetb93]

can you refrom the religion to hold tempel holdings directly and create new theocratic vassels that way really easy?edit: tried it with bohemia. made myself head of thait, lay clergy, ect. but when i apointed a same faith person to the tempel holding it was a barony. only old faith people became theocratic. i tryd converting them but it turned them feudal. the problem is i think lay clergy. as when i converted to cathlic faith and the old faith ruler followed me they stayed theocratic. unreformed faith -> reform -> apoint choosen ruler of old faith to tempel holding -> grand them count holding, theocratic -> convert to new faith (without lay clergy) to have theocratic vassels of same faith (wich is the whole point of this mess)

[@BiglerSakura]

So, the best tactic is to reform your Catholic faith into a "protestant" one with lay clergy and then convert back to Catholic?

[@carltonleboss]

I love it when you upload, man.

[@stefanmohr8450]

i played my last time as Sicilian Italian Emporer with only Republic vasals, lots of money lots of fun.

[@edgara6135]

I love all of the work and memes you put into the video! Amazing work. Quick question. Does the radiant perk in the learning tree double the amount of taxes and levies you get from these special vassals? Much love from Colombia!

[@keano2921]

Not a big deal at all Zieley, but one thing to be aware of; The % Vassal Tax increase from Fear Tax, Heregeld and the Dynasty Legacy is based on their current contribution. For example a +10% takes the 55% contribution to 60.5% contribution (110% of 55%), not 65%. Therefore if they give 55%, and you have Fear Tax (+30% for terrified), the Dynasty Legacy that I believe gives +20% terrified, and Heregeld, that gives you +60% of 55%, giving 88%.

[@Mecrobb]

lets go new zieley video

[@petrockstoreowner9421]

I remember there was a huge Reddit post about an all republican vassal Byzantine empire the other day as well

[@siviwematikinca9401]

Do you ever end your regency🤣🤣? Don't think I've seen you do it in a Vid before🤣 Love the videos, honestly mate. Keep dropping bangers like this, please🙏

[@skulblaka17]

heisting would be fun ---> somewhere there is a koifish listening

[@super_splinter7709]

phew I was scared you wouldn't return, after waiting so long for a new video 😅 But I'm glad to see you back zieley! Love from me and my friend Owen, we liked the video👍

[@TheDirtyShaman]

A similar trick also works with republican counts, though you should be careful not to go beyond 99% taxes. If they have any expenses, they will start to go into debt and send your realm into a spiral of county corruptions, unless they have the absolute control martial lifestyle perk.

[@XYNTEN]

You could probably makes transition between rulers easier on yourself by picking up reforming faith with rite and aniconism, keeping pope as money dispenser and still being catholic aligned.

[@Ffourteen]

Are you going to do a wide and tall game where you build tall and surround yourself with Theocratic vassals, feeding them more and more territory?

[@mexicunrice]

Love your content man! It's always a treat to see a new vid come out

[@Masnokinza]

I havent played much but one thing I noticed when I did a playthrough in India was swaying my religious leader to almost max made a huge difference on my income. It was one of the first things I did for each new character after death of the last.

[@Masnokinza]

I was also trying to spread my dynasty as wide as possible and could force most of them into religious service on a whim, so that probably helped.

[@aspacelex]

If your faith has temporal you can just make the temple the county capital, turning it into a theocratic title.

[@FreeHughes]

That's pretty cool, never tried that

[@MausOfTheHouse]

I love making theocratic vassals as a Christian state after huge holy wars, they're very very useful

[@PauperJ]

Challenge- Have the best Empire; highest development, most troops, most religious sites, best royal court, et cetera. Stipulations: 1) Start with one unpretentious barony. 2) No more than one barony per county. 3) All baronies must be in multi-barony counties. 4) No barony (in different counties) may be geographically adjacent. I think you can do it.

[@andreyrussian2480]

I remember times in CK Deus Vult when I ended feudal wars with 40 archbishops owning all the Europe.

[@narutoxley]

So... this is why everybody was kissing up to the church...

[@theunlverse5241]

you can change the county you want to make a theocracy by changing the county capital to the local church and then grant that away, by doing so the whole county will become a theocracy

[@wastelander89]

Awesome video

[@rashisti]

Zieley is awesome.

[@IgniteVashj]

Another banger

[@lukzloty]

Hey it's my map on 0:27! Yay!

[@Praetor_Jeep3r]

Zieley: Ahhh crusader Kings.... wait a minute.... CRUSADER Kings, it's right in the title tsk tsk tsk

[@badusername9903]

bro its that one video of the giant bell ive heard that

[@gladr9272]

IM LATE, definetly a mechanic Ive never really explored before

[@alcaras]

Thank you! Can you not just give all counties to the one OG vassal and they'll take care of creating new theocratic vassals? Or do you have to make new vassals out of the other vassals manually using the barony-hopping trick you showed?

[@haha_9383]

Babe wake up Zieley just uploaded

[@jeffreyhornblower6515]

2 years are rookie numbers

[@Meme_Deity]

I like in total war shogun 2 in which lower taxes means more development so in the long run you make more money.

[@maximegagnier8448]

Does personalizing your itinerary when going on a pilgram, and adding more stop and a make the trip longer, gives you more piety/piety events ?

[@carltonleboss]

If you're reforming or creating a new religion, pick Theocratic so that this strategy works if you want to use it! Additionaly, create a spiritual HoF so you can give them land and have them become your vassal.

[@ryane3703]

Do you just never hire a caravan master?

[@ceegle]

Bro sold all his crownland to the clergy 💀

[@kylebarnes3680]

I don't know how I did it but my archbishop is a powerful vassal of mine. I'd send you my game file if you wanna have a look. Personally terrified of his status and want to get rid of him lol

[@osaftkiller6991]

I personally prefer more republik vassals, its easyer to get republik vassals and there are also easy to control with high feudal law

[@micayahritchie7158]

Thing is I like lay clergy though

[@benderrodriguez5425]

This'll be great with isle of Man and creating your own religion with your ruler as Temporal. Iirc those vassals also don't rebel or create factions but that might aswell have been in ck2.

[@ryane3703]

Pretty sure you can't have theocratic vassals if you have the doctrine where you can hold temples

[@ashtonbarwick6696]

Why does Italy always end up with that county in Flanders? Anyways nice job with the end of an era achievement. You should do a run through with Count Eudes of Anjou and become King of France

[@aceman8156]

Awesome

[@WassupMrNoob]

AGOT mod next ? Winterfell has 10 barony. Perfect place to do a tall run !!

[@wyattboyer6540]

I could trim that full helm for you

[@derekhunter7632]

salt bae eckbert lol

[@hircenedaelen]

Could you do a video on the roman legacy republican vassal thingy, it sounds cool, but I've never seen anyone do anything with it

[@MrMuttly55]

how do you do that with a halfgodi? They are lay clergy

[@raptordianxanum4033]

Are yoy aware that you can change the county capital while the ai cant? So u can give it away and it will always be theocratic/ republic based on the county capital being a temple or city even if conquered, by default if it is taken away it will revert back to feudalso u'll have to repeat everything to recreate it

[@symphonysystem4846]

I wonder how much you can min-max this? Like, if you focus on making your own custom religion & culture, how many more bonuses for this playstyle can you get? Aniconism will probably be super important.

[@symphonysystem4846]

It might be an interesting follow-up video, at least. Love your content!

[@liviuursegr]

A piety focused run is really great in this context. Being Catholic the Pope will also drown you in gold. It all comes together. Also you can just keep all of Europe's mines for yourself to get even more gold

[@87ddmc]

If they give all their money to you, will they still be able to develop their holdings?

[@greenmushroom4258]

Where is the link to how to make these vassals?

[@scotlandinvestor7779]

New Player - i conquered Scotland and England i have 33/20 Vassals I already gave all of my Earldom Titles away to get below my holding limit - but im way over the Vassal Limit so im losing all the taxes and levis. I dont know what to do about it since i dont have the 'grant vassal' option and still new to ck3

[@runeberntsen5890]

if you use lay clergy and republican vassals (which can also get their tax countribution pretty high with the right traditions and legacies) then the vassals can hold all baronies personally giving you taxes with absolutely no middlemen. It might be an even better strategy although more difficult to set up.

[@ChaoticArcane]

OH MY GOD I was on the r/CrusaderKings subreddit, and I had so many people telling me about Theocratic Vassals, just for you to post this THE NEXT DAY. Did you see my post??? 💀

[@giorgikoridze8608]

In Russian orthodox church the mafia calling themselves the priests and bishops have the same scheme till this day. This mechanic works IRL

[@yeremialuwskia1470]

Your PC seems very fast to run the game Zieley with speed 5

[@JudgeMagikarp]

What about a Custom Religion to exploit even more Theocratic Vassals?

[@Pancho7up98.3]

Can this be applied to other religions like Islam or the Hindu/Buddhist faiths? I want to create Mughal India but it’s not very easy as a Islamic oghuz/karluk character in the heart of India 😅

[@Jam-xg3qx]

This put me in the mood to reinstall the game now

[@mathijs1987j]

I'd like to see a video where you try to maximize your monthly income. As in, how much can you earn a month in, say, 1453 if you try to make that number as high as possible.

[@LeoNepeta]

Zieley lied to me. The theocratic vassal video isnt out yet 😢

[@whitewolfsp]

Once i had a kingdom with only Theocratic vassals and then a religion event made they all turn to another religion and became feudal vassals , it was really really problematic ....

[@iKyleTz]

hi, how do you get the 'pinned characters' at the top right ? thx

[@UncannyBeagle]

Right click on a character and their will be an option to pin them.

[@UncannyBeagle]

Or if you meant how to view thise characters, right below the demense limit indicator in the top right is a parchment icon that will show personal demense, pinned characters and raised armies.

[@iKyleTz]

@@UncannyBeagle thanks very much dude ! Always learning with this game :D

[@UncannyBeagle]

@@iKyleTz You're welcome, this is one of those games were KZbin is a better teacher of the game than the in-game tutorial.

[@UncannyBeagle]

@@iKyleTz Oh yeah I should've mentioned that the option to pin them is a literal pin icon, at the top of the right click menu.

[@thatdudethat7824]

Sorry to ask (probably a dumb) question... are cadet branches good for the dynasty?

[@TheR00k]

If a member of the dynasty you're a head of creates a cadet branch, you lose all control and hooks over the new house, but they still provide renown to you. If you're creating the cadet branch, you're basically breaking all control the dynasty head has over you, which is always good unless you want to take over the dynasty by killing all your older relatives. All in all, they're not bad and I wish the AI made more of them for flavour.

[@thatdudethat7824]

it just kept happening over and over and over again, so I started wondering if I was doing something wrong 😅

[@BiglerSakura]

If possible, you should choose priests with higher stewardship stats.

[@timbucktoo7568]

Cursed León

[@duncanharrell5009]

Where is your video on how to create theocratic vassals?

[@nothuman3319]

So, this is definitely an exploit right? Like firing the realm priest and giving him land while the game is paused and cant properly register what a person is.