CK3 Roads to Power: How to get land as an adventurer

Once you believe yourself to be powerful enough to take and hold some lands, you have plenty of options on how to pursue this goal. Sometimes rulers you’re fighting against as a mercenary will offer you lands to betray your employer, sometimes your employers will offer you lands in case a future rebellion is successful – but these will generally only be single counties.

In case you’re more ambitious, you can declare wars even against kingdom-level rulers to claim their throne – however, you’ll need to have reached a certain Prestige-level for that, so ensure to amass as much fame as you can if that’s your goal. Classic actions like using intrigue schemes to claim someone’s lands are available to you as well.

Another way of securing a kingdom for yourself is to find a sponsor. You could befriend, say, the Byzantine Emperor or the Pope and ask them to sponsor your invasion of a neighboring realm, helping you with wealth and troops.

CK3 Roads to Power: How to prepare a takeover

You should make sure that you are well prepared for such an undertaking, however, and the vital point here is money. As a mercenary, you’ll generally have a massive amount of men-at-arms at your disposal. As mentioned before, this is not an issue while you’re landless, since they are free of upkeep. Naturally, that changes when you get a domain and once more become subject to the regular rules of governing a fief.

With all of your camp buildings being no more, the number and size of men-at-arms regiments you can have are drastically reduced, and being over the limit costs a ton of money. Although a remedy against that is to simply disband most of your standing forces, you would lose the most critical advantage you have over your new neighbors.

This is why we’d recommend building up a massive warchest before seizing a domain – you need to be ready to sustain a deficit for several years while you establish your rule and expand your new-found domain thanks to your military superiority.

Another factor to consider is that your new territories won’t be lucrative immediately in case you decide to settle down somewhere with a foreign culture and religion. Money is the sinews of war, but also of everything else, so be sure you have enough to last you for a while.

As you gain the necessary fame to claim a kingdom-tier title, you may also be getting your first marriage offers for children despite still being unlanded – naturally, such alliances may come in very handy as you conquer a territory and establish your control over it.