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Crusader Kings 3 armies: How to increase, raise, and replenish levies and armies in Crusader Kings 3Need an army? You’ll need to raise some levies.
Need an army? You’ll need to raise some levies.
Here’s how to raise and replenish your levies and armies in Crusader Kings 3.
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How to increase your levies in Crusader Kings 3
It’s a bit of a pain to get your levies increased in Crusader Kings 3. There isn’t just a button that says ‘recruit peasants and give them pitchforks’. You’ll have to be more organised than that. There are a few factors that impact your levies in Crusader Kings 3.
Vassals and holdings
Generally speaking, the more land you control, the higher your population, meaning more soldiers will be available to you. Of course, just taking over territory doesn’t necessarily give you free soldiers - ‘control’ is a big factor to your army size.
Hovering over the options in the feudal contract shows the percentage of levies and taxes taken from the selected leader, and how many more soldiers you can expect from them.
On the right hand side of the contract, you can see how many levies you’ll be gaining from the contract modification.
Your level of control is also vital - if you have low control in a holding, you’ll gain lower taxes and levies. Therefore, it’s worth you improving control as best you can, especially if you’re doing a lot of invading. Click on the holding to open the menu, and the ‘control’ level will be shown to the upper-right of the menu. If it’s below 100, you’ll lose out, and get lower levies than you otherwise would. Hover over this option to see how quickly your control is growing, and if necessary, go to your ‘council’ screen and send your Marshal there (the bottom option for Marshals) - they can often speed up control gain.
Your ruler’s martial stat
Your ruler’s stats play a part in raising levies too, most notably the ‘martial’ stat. Getting this as high as possible is vital to military dominance, and directly impacts your ability to gain levies. Here’s a few ways to improve your martial stat:
You can reset perks if you want to reinvest in a martial lifestyle too! Pop into the lifestyle tree and click ‘reset perks’ in the top right and you refund all your points - just be careful though - because it’ll make your leader pretty stressed out.
Invest in buildings for your realm
Buildings stick around, and are absolutely worth investing in if you can spare the change. Build in your own directly-owned counties for the maximum benefit, since you’ll get all the bonuses rather than only getting a bit through your vassals.
These fancy buildings cost a lot and take a long time though, so don’t force the issue. Gradual improvements are also a great shout.
How to raise an army in Crusader Kings 3
That’s all for our levies guide! Remember, when a great leader dies, it’s not uncommon for your levies to decrease dramatically thanks to the difference in martial ability and county control between your ruler and their heir. Keep these tips in mind though and you should be able to stay on top of your army and keep things going strong.
For more Crusader Kings 3 advice, why not check out our guide torecruiting and managing your knights in CK3, or our page oncontrolling and developing counties in CK3?
