Why can't I recruit lords?

[Sir Shrek]

A while ago I couldn't recruit lords and the reason seemed to be because I did not have an unclaimed fief. I now have an unclaimed fief and still can't recruit. This is everything I can think of telling you about my game.

Faction: Sarranid Rebels - I am the ruler of the Sarranid Rebels according to my Character report and the Factions section of the database.
RTR: 99
Honour: 149
Captured fiefs: 3 towns, 6 castles
Available fiefs: 1 castle, 1 village

I was helping Arwa. I told her to go when my RTR was over 50. I have wiped out nearly all of what was left of Sarranid Sultanate after their war with Rhodocks. I have 3 towns and 6 castles. Only one castle and village remain. I made myself lord of all fiefs until the last castle I captured because I didn't know I needed at least 1 open fief.

I now have 1 open castle and village and still I can't recruit. Whenever I talk to a lord, the conversation is always the same. This last one was on the world map but he was alone. I asked to talk to him in private giving 2 options
"What do you think of kings, lords and politics?"
"What do you think of king Graveth?"

If I pick the first one he makes a statement. If I pick the second he says "Long may he live". That's all there is. After either option I end up back at the previous screen with the 2 options. There are no other dialog options. It's like that with every lord I talk to.  What am I doing wrong? Is it because I haven't conquered the original faction yet? It doesn't make sense that that should be a requirement. 1 castle and village remain.

 

[AfLIcTeD]

If he is saying "Long may he live" then the lord has too high relations with his King and won't even consider leaving. Try to pick lords that have negative relations and it should work.
Best way to find out relations is to send out companions on spy missions.

 

[killer-blead]

You can also leave a fief without an owner and lords will flock to your capital to join you.

 

[AfLIcTeD]

You can also leave a fief without an owner and lords will flock to your capital to join you.

Only when they get indicted or defect, they won't just join your faction.

 

[Sir Shrek]

If he is saying "Long may he live" then the lord has too high relations with his King and won't even consider leaving. Try to pick lords that have negative relations and it should work.
Best way to find out relations is to send out companions on spy missions.

That doesn't make sense. If that's true it will make my game impossible. There are no doubt lords with low relations with their king but I wouldn't want to recruit any of them. You're supposed to recruit lords that you have a good relation with. The "List of known lords by relation" tells you who you have good relations with. So if they're not on the list then I wouldn't be recruiting them. I set 20 as the minimum relation for anyone I would recruit. As you play the game, honour is always rising and many lords will like you because you have high honour so when you get to the mid-game you should have high relations with many lords. With several lords the relations should be 70+. Well I have relations of 20+ with 39 lords. That sounds like a lot. I have relations of 70+ with 9 lords and 80+ with 6 lords. That all sounds good to me. So for a while I've been thinking recruiting will be no problem. Well, of the 39 lords that I have relation with of 20+, all but 4 have relation over 95 with their king. I went through the list carefully. The 4 with relations below 95 are 85, 63, 21 and -8. So only 1 is negative. Lords with a negative relation with their king do not have a high relation with me so there's something I'm missing. Right now, it looks like there's no one on my "List of known lords by relation" that I can recruit. 

 

[AfLIcTeD]

Your best chance then is to finish off the sarranids then and hopefully some will join you. Lords are not going to betray their Kings if they like them. At first you're just going to have to take lords that you don't want until you get the lords you do. Take the fiefs of the lords you want and eventually they will lose relations with their king. Unfortunatly starting you're own kingdom isn't easy, if it was everyone will be doing it.

 

[Sir Shrek]

Your best chance then is to finish off the sarranids then and hopefully some will join you. Lords are not going to betray their Kings if they like them. At first you're just going to have to take lords that you don't want until you get the lords you do. Take the fiefs of the lords you want and eventually they will lose relations with their king. Unfortunatly starting you're own kingdom isn't easy, if it was everyone will be doing it.

I think it's more time consuming than difficult. There's a lot to know. If you don't know what you're supposed to do, it's hard. Once you know what to do, it's not that hard. I had been trying to recruit from kingdoms I was not at war with. I now think that's usually a waste of time.  You should focus on the kingdom you're at war with. After conquering the kingdom I was fighting, all 4 lords I had a good relation with, joined me on their own. I loaded a saved game I made before capturing the last castle and went through it again and it was the same. So, it looks like that can be counted on to always happen. Going forward, it should be easier now.

 

[Sir Shrek]

Best way to find out relations is to send out companions on spy missions.

The database usually tells you the relation of a lord with his king.

If he is saying "Long may he live" then the lord has too high relations with his King and won't even consider leaving. Try to pick lords that have negative relations and it should work...Lords are not going to betray their Kings if they like them

I still have the same problem and I just tried recruiting 3 lords from a kingdom I am not at war with. I spoke to them when they were alone in their fiefs except for ladies and in one case, a claimant. All 3 have negative relations with their king: -6, -6 and -16. However, they all have good relation with me: 48, 53 and 52. So they like me and they don't like their king yet the conversation is the same as before. When I ask them about the king they all say "Long may he live!". That makes no sense. I should have been able to recruit these 3.

 

[EirikrRaudi]

A rebel faction is not an own kingdom... Possibly, none of these "recruit lords" features are available to rebel factions. It would make sense, as in real life, no lord would side with a guy that is in the middle of a civil war. Defeat Sarranids, it might actually solve your problem.

 

[Sir Shrek]

A rebel faction is not an own kingdom... Possibly, none of these "recruit lords" features are available to rebel factions. It would make sense, as in real life, no lord would side with a guy that is in the middle of a civil war. Defeat Sarranids, it might actually solve your problem.

It's no longer a rebel faction. It wasn't when I tried to recruit the last 3 lords. The Sarranids are gone. I renamed my faction which you can't do when you have a rebel faction. Since I couldn't recruit by talking to a lord, I sent an emissary. He came back and told me what the lord said. The lord wouldn't join me and gave reasons. So that makes sense but I should be able to have the conversation with the lord myself.

 

[AfLIcTeD]

A rebel faction is not an own kingdom... Possibly, none of these "recruit lords" features are available to rebel factions. It would make sense, as in real life, no lord would side with a guy that is in the middle of a civil war. Defeat Sarranids, it might actually solve your problem.

You don't need to have your own kingdom to recruit lords. You can recruit lords to a rebel faction and to another faction that you have joined.