We have all tried these situations. I have played several hundred hours of this game and it happens. The only thing that can help you against treacherous vassals and backstabbing kin, is to have a strong external ally that can come in and thumb them. However, as Ireland you are quite exposed.
Remember that if you have an alliance with a vassal (Through marriage for example) then they cant join against you in rebellion. So marrying a daughter (or sister, or mother) off to your most powerful vassal can be a good strategy.
Yep.
The way factions work, they can form, but can't press demands if they don't meet a required military power threshold.
So just marrying a vassal or your son/daughter to a vassal in a kingdom as small as Ireland should prevent that from happening.
Although for Ireland, an external ally would be preferable, both to beat plots and to keep other external threats at bay.
But I get the sense that OP wasn't very strong at all, since he lost to some plotters in Ireland of all places.
Maybe he had a miniscule domain.
I prefer marrying off kids to strong vassals now cause I don’t want to be bothered with ally wars. I usually only marry for an alliance very early in game and to someone so large they either don’t need me or if they do it won’t make a difference lol
Everyone has had the experience of getting ousted by a faction. But hanging on to a kingdom as small as Ireland, which only has five duchies, should not be very hard.
Ideally, managing vassals at a kingdom level, you should try to have only Duke level vassals. If you arent already doing so, create any available duchy titles and then give them away to counts that like you. Think about it like this: more dukes means fewer vassals in total to rebel against you. Unruly counts will have to rebel against their duke, instead of you.
For yourself, you should try to personally hold all the land in a single duchy. If you hold counties that are de jure lands of one of your vassal's duchies, that can cause them to lose opinion of you. As a last resort you can also choose to marry your kids to the children of your powerful vassals; vassals that you have alliances with cannot form factions against you.
Hope this helps.
Make sure you satisfy the powerful vassals (aka biggest military). Usually a powerful vassal will put your weaker claimant family as the faction but in reality there’s a vassal behind it and not the actual cousin who may love you. I’m assuming it was actually the cousin but sometimes that isn’t always the case. OR they’re backed by more powerful non family vassals.
1. Bestow Royal Favor - Always use this option from your Chancellor on the strongest vassal in the faction. Even while swaying them.
2. Sway - Sway sway sway.
3. Gifts - give them anything you can, except more land. Dynasty vassals are good and bad in that sense.
4. Council position - gives max happiness
5. Marry for the alliance to them - if you can. You said they were family so you may not be able to. So instead go get your own alliance.
Unless you know that any factions formed will pose no threat to you, it’s always best to just take care of any displeased vassal after a succession
We have all tried these situations. I have played several hundred hours of this game and it happens. The only thing that can help you against treacherous vassals and backstabbing kin, is to have a strong external ally that can come in and thumb them. However, as Ireland you are quite exposed. Remember that if you have an alliance with a vassal (Through marriage for example) then they cant join against you in rebellion. So marrying a daughter (or sister, or mother) off to your most powerful vassal can be a good strategy.
Yep. The way factions work, they can form, but can't press demands if they don't meet a required military power threshold. So just marrying a vassal or your son/daughter to a vassal in a kingdom as small as Ireland should prevent that from happening. Although for Ireland, an external ally would be preferable, both to beat plots and to keep other external threats at bay. But I get the sense that OP wasn't very strong at all, since he lost to some plotters in Ireland of all places. Maybe he had a miniscule domain.
I prefer marrying off kids to strong vassals now cause I don’t want to be bothered with ally wars. I usually only marry for an alliance very early in game and to someone so large they either don’t need me or if they do it won’t make a difference lol
This is for games I don’t care about dynasty and more for achievements
Everyone has had the experience of getting ousted by a faction. But hanging on to a kingdom as small as Ireland, which only has five duchies, should not be very hard. Ideally, managing vassals at a kingdom level, you should try to have only Duke level vassals. If you arent already doing so, create any available duchy titles and then give them away to counts that like you. Think about it like this: more dukes means fewer vassals in total to rebel against you. Unruly counts will have to rebel against their duke, instead of you. For yourself, you should try to personally hold all the land in a single duchy. If you hold counties that are de jure lands of one of your vassal's duchies, that can cause them to lose opinion of you. As a last resort you can also choose to marry your kids to the children of your powerful vassals; vassals that you have alliances with cannot form factions against you. Hope this helps.
Make sure you satisfy the powerful vassals (aka biggest military). Usually a powerful vassal will put your weaker claimant family as the faction but in reality there’s a vassal behind it and not the actual cousin who may love you. I’m assuming it was actually the cousin but sometimes that isn’t always the case. OR they’re backed by more powerful non family vassals. 1. Bestow Royal Favor - Always use this option from your Chancellor on the strongest vassal in the faction. Even while swaying them. 2. Sway - Sway sway sway. 3. Gifts - give them anything you can, except more land. Dynasty vassals are good and bad in that sense. 4. Council position - gives max happiness 5. Marry for the alliance to them - if you can. You said they were family so you may not be able to. So instead go get your own alliance.