Two things would be very helpful for this page: Explanation of the different buttons to click, how often you have to worry about them, what you need to do, etc and then the more intangible stuff about knights and duchies.
First of all, unless you know what you're doing, don't use any courts apart from just courts, as most regions only need just courts.
Second of all, sell your food according to your banker/duke/whoever organizes such in your realm, for it benefits you and your knights.
Third of all, tax your region appropriately, I shall elaborate on this later. Most regions should have "some people are complaining about taxes" and no more, no less.
Quote from: Foundation on May 10, 2011, 06:03:25 AM
Second of all, sell your food according to your banker/duke/whoever organizes such in your realm, for it benefits you and your knights.
While this is generally a good rule of thumb if you have few allies and no personal political agenda, if you do have allies and do have a political agenda, it might not be advisable. For tips on what to do then, go here:
http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php/topic,530.0.html
Speaking of mechanics...No one mentioned the duchy alignment...
Now why would it matter? You may have noticed that if you are the lord or knight of a region, your civil work, police work, and bureaucratic work is more effective. Now what if you and your knights are all occupied and can't tend to your region? Worse, your region happens to be a recent acquisition from a week before, and currently hates your realm with seething passion. Well, keeping it an Imperial region would not be a very good idea for most cases. You would lose out on the slightly more effective work that anyone in the duchy can do. That is not that much of a big deal, but depending on the situation, your realm size, and external factors, you might want as much optimization as you can get.
Aligning to a duchy also means that your region will go along with the city during secession. As well, in places that have the option of appointing lords to regions, the duke then has appointment rights over any region in his duchy. And finally, a new character can start in any region contained within the duchy of the realm he chooses.
Quote from: Foundation on May 10, 2011, 06:03:25 AM
First of all, unless you know what you're doing, don't use any courts apart from just courts, as most regions only need just courts.
I am curious what has led you to this conclusion -- my experience is that a region with just above average taxes and with good estate support almost never needs any courts at all, and if they are not well managed, then they need just and mercy courts about equally (perhaps slightly more mercy), and harsh courts to varying degrees.
My advice would be to learn how to best use each of the three courts, because it's likely you will need to use them all at some point -- especially if you find yourself short on knights and don't have enough estates, like to run your tax rate high, have your region starve, have your region invaded, have a priest stir things up, or become lord of a recently TO'd region. In other words, you will certainly need to use all the courts at some point, so best know how to use them. Luckily it says mostly what they do in the game. But for a more in-depth lesson:
Mercy Courts raise morale, and lower realm control. I haven't kept track of exact numbers, but I'd say . . . a gain of about 9% +/- 4% morale, and every three or so mercy courts, control goes down by one level.
Harsh Courts lower morale and raise control. Usually one court will raise the control level one step, but sometimes it takes two. You lose probably about as much morale as you gain with a mercy court.
Just Courts raise loyalty and have a random effect on morale. About the same effect on loyalty as a mercy court on morale, you randomly lose or gain morale, up to about 4%.
Now, all this means that generally you should not hold mercy or just courts unless morale or loyalty respectively is below 90% (and really, you can wait until it gets down to like 85%), and harsh courts unless control is at Main or lower (and don't feel the need to rush until it gets down to Provence).
Now, a note -- if you try to hold a mercy or just court in a region with very low (below about 30%) morale or loyalty (I don't know if it's both or either), you risk starting a riot that will lower region stats. This chance is extremely high below about 20%, above that but below about 30%, it's chancy but possibly worth the risk. Harsh courts do not have this risk.
Note that all numbers in the post are approximate, and based on memory and experience rather than any sort of study -- I've simply spent quite a lot of time with Lord characters, and at least twice was given regions that were in horrible shape and told to rebuild them, plus having mentored other people through that process.
Again, unless you know what you are doing is the key here. If you know how to use the other two well, all the more power to you. 8)
Well, I figure that's what this topic is for, then. . . .
Quote from: BardicNerd on May 22, 2011, 04:10:21 PM
Well, I figure that's what this topic is for, then. . . .
Yep, your post was great. I was simply explaining that it does not void my quick suggestions for those who tldr.
I'm new to lordship and am trying to get some help with my region. I read this guide and one on the wiki, but I'm still having trouble raising loyalty. Harsh courts seem to have a random effect on loyalty. Would it be better to hold harsh courts until region control is at Core, then hold just courts in order to raise loyalty?
Is the region in really bad shape? If you're close to losing it, then harsh courts may be needed; if the region is just not perfect, they may do more harm than good. Over the long term, high loyalty will increase the control.
We just got through with a brutal takeover, and the region has very low morale and loyalty.
Control is probably your first concern then. It will be a long process.
Ambassadors can help you.
Quote from: Vaylon Kenadell on May 30, 2011, 11:35:31 AM
We just got through with a brutal takeover, and the region has very low morale and loyalty.
When the region has been freshly brutally taken over courts don't work. Harsh courts raise control if you're on the brink of losing it to a revolt, but are otherwise not useful to stabilize it. The other 2 kind of courts will typically end in a commotion, worsening the situation even more.
The recipe to stabilize such region is simple: a lot of normal police work done by troops to keep control at core, then civil work, courtiers surveying administration and ambassadors praising your realm. Over and over again, until morale and loyalty reach decent levels, the "people here hate being ruled by us" becomes "people dislike being ruled by us" and then you can start holding just courts to fix the region by yourself as the lord.
Clearly estate coverage to authority must be as high as possible and taxes as low as possible.
I see -- so harsh courts are for control, then, and not loyalty. I've gotten the region to Core status already, lowered the taxes, and put estates on authority, so hopefully things will improve. Thanks for the advice!
Yes, you want Just Courts for Loyalty. Harsh Courts are for Control. I advice you to not try Just Courts unless Loyalty is at least 20% or higher, but some people even recommend higher numbers.
Quote from: Vaylon Kenadell on May 30, 2011, 11:58:14 AM
I see -- so harsh courts are for control, then, and not loyalty.
Exactly, but use harsh courts only when really necessary since the peasants don't like them very much.
Harsh Courts - raise control, lower loyalty and morale
Just Courts - raise loyalty (only with a sufficient base loyalty)
Mercy Courts - raise morale, lower control (only with sufficient base loyalty)
These are the basics, if anyone wants to elaborate, feel free to do so.
Harsh courts can raise loyalty, actually, it's pretty random.
Just courts have a variable effect on morale as well. For these options, it seems like there is one primary variable that has a predictable result, which would be the raised variable that Foundation mentioned. Of the two remaining, the court options generally affect one negatively and one variably. Just courts are probably the exception.
Mercy: Raise morale, Lower control, Variable loyalty(?)
Just: Raise loyalty, Variable morale, Unaffected control (??)
Harsh: Raise control, Lower morale, Variable loyalty
Quote from: Bedwyr on May 30, 2011, 10:11:24 PM
Harsh courts can raise loyalty, actually, it's pretty random.
I'm pretty sure I haven't seen consecutive harsh courts raise net loyalty, only lower it...
Quote from: Foundation on May 30, 2011, 11:23:42 PM
I'm pretty sure I haven't seen consecutive harsh courts raise net loyalty, only lower it...
Maybe not consecutive. But I know the limited deployment of harsh courts can cause a loyalty boost. I've done it many a time.
Quote from: Vellos on May 31, 2011, 02:23:45 AM
Maybe not consecutive. But I know the limited deployment of harsh courts can cause a loyalty boost. I've done it many a time.
I don't disagree that harsh courts
may increase loyalty occasionally. I'm pointing out that in general, it does not raise loyalty consistently (you can get on the good side of randomness once, even a few times, but not regularly).
If you dig through the d-list archive you'll find Tom commenting about how harsh courts do make people more loyal sometimes, other times disloyal. The rational was fear can inspire loyalty as much as hate.