Advice on Abandoning my Empire

[Cavalyn]

Hi all. Just made this account quick as I'm having trouble and wanted some advice on a few things - I've searched for answers but not had the best success.

Situation: I'm a lvl 35 character with good stats, high-tier armour and a decent set-up of companions all well levelled. I'm playing normal difficulty and I'm doing well at the game, even if it's still hard for obvious reasons. I joined the Bacchus Empire some 300 days in and took two castles. The first was refused to me, but the second, Almerra, was approved. I garrisoned it well, fought off a siege and started my CKO. It's had about 6-7 sets of 3-week training and I just invested 130k in getting it some Noldor armour.

Now, things have taken a turn for the awful. The Bacchus empire through some Harlaus levels of idiocy has managed to feast its way to several lost wars. It's been reduced after the most recent war to Janos, Cez and Almerra. Yes, I now hold the only Bacchus castle. In the last war I took two castles singhle handedly, one of which was a nightmare (olegar, I think, the one near Janos - the in-battle map was horrid!). Knowing I'd be refused them for obvious reasons, I chose not to request to keep them. They both got given to other lords.

Garrisoned with... 20 men. Wow. Naturally, both were taken back almost instantly. One by a D'Shar lord with only about 200 men. When he took it and left, I swept back in to try and reclaim... and it had a 350 man garrison. Huh. Okay. I took it again after two siege assaults. Bacchus lord took it. No garrison. I stayed there. One week later, it has 20 men. D'shar arrive in force and I flee, and it's lost again. Meanwhile, there's a feast in Janos and Ethos has just been lost.

Things look bad now, as you can well imagine. I'm sure to be targeted, we just lost two lords to defection and I can read the writing on the wall.

My questions are about how it works to renounce my claim.

1) Is it worth it? Should I stick it out and hope the AI stops being idiots and claims some land back? I'm quite poor now from running full merc armies for these endless sieges to try and help my useless empire out. Would it be better for me to renounce, lose my CKO and go back to being a mercenary to make money again? It feels bad to lose so much progress on my CKO, though. They're not amazing yet (around 350 proficiency and 30 Str on the knights) but they're on the way and I just sank 135k into them.In your eyes, should I pick up ship and abandon the Bacchus empire to its doom?

2) What will happen to my CKO? I know another lord will claim it, but if I ever re-take Almerra, will it become mine again? And if I retake it say as Sarleon, but it was founded as part of the Bacchus Empire, will I even be able to use it? Will it be locked to using "Empire Knights" and "Empire Armoured Pikemen" for its units? or does the CKO switch to match the faction units of who owns it? (If it does not, does that mean it's never worth making a CKO before becoming King? As when you do, you'll lose it because it'll be stuck on whatever old faction it was on)? This is important for me to know since I could theoretically create a new chapter house for my CKO (I think) but that will be useless if it requires Empire Knights, and I'm now a part of Sarleon or Ravenstern.

3) Any advice for stopping your allies being useless if you're not marshall? Should I have claimed a castle and defended it for 2-6 weeks for an allied lord's behalf until the war ends and he can garrison it? Even if it means leaving mine with only its basic garrison? I did go out and imprison lords to try and stifle the D'shar wave, but it's meaningless when my guys are busy running between feasts at Cez and Janos.

4) Should I just become and stay as a merc, rescuing lords from prisons until I'm filthy rich and everyone loves me, then start my own Kingdom? Or should i try and become a vassal for a less useless Faction, start a new CKO and carry on from there?

Sorry for the wall of text and appreciate any replies.

 

[Gorvex]

Hi!

1) If you can't restore some territories of the Empire by yourself, then you are better off renouncing your oath and join another faction. This has never happened to me personally, as by day 200, I can usually carry the kingdom I joined on my back. In any case, Ravenstern is the most "peaceful" kingdom among the 5, I suggest joining them. Either as a mercenary or a vassal, although you can't be a mercenary again after a certain amount of renown, and you can't be appointed as a vassal either after 30 right to rule. Otherwise you have to get by on your own, as a freelancer. You have the Hideout (previously Old ruins) to help you build up a force if you need it: https://pop3.fandom.com/wiki/The_Old_Tale_(Parts_1_and_2)

2) Your CKO chapter will always remain in the fief you created, kings and lords are only able to create new chapters of the already existing knighthood orders. Therefore you can reconquer it and it will be yours again. You don't need to own the chapter to train them further (the most time-consuming process), you only need it for equipping. Also, you can just create another chapter in another walled fief if you can't take the original back, the units and their progress are connected. In the long run, you won't lose any progress, it's just that the lord owning your CKO chapter will get reinforcements from it for both his party and the garrison until you take it back. Also, your CKO will remain in existence no matter what, even if you dismantle the last chapter. This also means that you can have only 1 Custom Knighthood Order per game. Lastly, your CKO is ultimately yours (hence why you can continue to train them via speaking to companions), meaning that they will change faction with you all the way through. So if you become a vassal in the Kingdom of Sarleon, then they will be trained from Sarleon troops instead of Empire ones, and if you create your own kingdom afterwards with Pendor faction, then they will switch again to Pendor culture. As such, it is best to create your CKO as soon as possible, as training takes quite a while. To get more info on the subject, I recommend reading the respective pages on the Wikia, like so: https://pop3.fandom.com/wiki/Custom_Knighthood_Order

3) Your only option is to become friends with as many lords as possible, so that they will listen to you even if you are not the marshall. 30+ relations start to be good, but the more the merrier. With upstanding and good-natured lords, this process is automatic, since their relations with you will go up with your honor rating. Then you can command them around rather successfully. Usually it's better to keep on conquering new fiefs, far enough from the enemy marshall force, rather than bothering with the defense. Unless the given fief can be defended against huge armies with minimal losses (there are some, but can't remember them by the castle's name without seeing the scene). Those can be used to weaken the enemy forces greatly.

4) I'd suggest to try being a vassal instead of a mercenary. That way you can keep on equipping your CKO (also takes a lot of time), conquer new fiefs and garrison them with strong reserve troops (lots of faction top-tiers, etc.) so that you'll have a base of operations to start your kingdom via rebelling when the time comes. Basically to be able to steamroll the whole map from that point onwards.

 

[Cavalyn]

Thanks. I did what had to be done and renounced my oath. The Kingdom of Almerra (used to the be the Baccus Empire, but hard to call it that when my old castle was the last to remain) fell last night. I was there when it did, planting my axe through Marius' skull. That'll teach him for holding so many feasts. I'd kinda hoped the D'shar would give me Almerra back for the ultimate irony, but my new liege refused. Guess I'll need to take a new castle and try to swap it for Almerra.

 

[Gorvex]

Oh right, you can trade fiefs too, good point! Also, the reason I suggested to join another faction is because once the snowballing effect takes place, kingdoms won't be able to recover without your help. And if you can't hold the enemy off on your own, then it's time to move on.