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There are different ways to capture a new city, including a peaceful one. War isn’t always the only way to expand the kingdom. But if war is inevitable, you should begin it properly, on your own terms. Let’s consider how you can capture the cities of your neighbors in Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign.
Capturing Cities by Force
Remember the most important rule: never declare war without any reason; it isn’t wise. The best way to conquer foreign territory is to destroy your target from the inside using spies. War is the last tool in your arsenal.
Let’s say we want to capture some Belgorod. The first step will be to explore the target. Look at the picture below. As you see, Halych-Volhynia has a Non-Aggression Pact and Trade Agreement with us, not to mention as many as 5 friends. If we declare war on this country now, we’ll get serious consequences, such as the dropping of crown authority, the deterioration of relations with many countries, lowered opinions, and so on.
In addition, Halych-Volhynia has a Defensive Pact against us. This means that if we try to attack the kingdom or its allies, all of them will join the war.
As I said above, war is often not the best way out. Do you still want to fight? Well, let’s do it.
As we’ve just found out, we don’t want to lose our crown authority, society’s opinions, and so on. That’s why we must take the following steps:
- Wait for the death of one of the kings to legally terminate the Non-Aggression Pact;
- Destroy relations between the target kingdom and its friends;
- Form a Plan Invasion with our friends;
- And finally, declare war and capture the province.
Preparing for War
The first step is the easiest because we only have to wait. So this step will run in the background. And while we’re waiting, we should prepare for the coming war.
First of all, we should destroy relations between Halych-Volhynia and its neighbors. But there is a small problem: if a kingdom doesn’t share a border with its friend, a spy won’t be able to destroy their relationship. But don’t worry; work with what you have. Let’s start with Poland.
Well, if we can’t destroy relations between our target kingdom and its friends, we can always improve relations between them and us. To ensure the security of the kingdom, we should maximally improve relations with the most powerful friends of Halych-Volhynia, as well as those of them who share a border with us.
In my case, there are two such kingdoms: powerful Bulgaria and the rest of Ryazan. It’s very important to create non-aggression pacts with them. Since I’ve already done this, it only remains for me to send my diplomat to one of them with the “Improve Relations” mission.
After that, we will periodically receive messages about the progress of our spies and diplomats.
After one of the kings dies, we will receive the following message.
This means that we can declare war on each other without severe consequences. So our next step will be to form the Pact Invasion. You can use a diplomat to do this.
You should invite everyone you can to this pact, including enemies and neighbors of the target kingdom, as well as your friends and vassals. And only after that you can declare war and attack. It will be easier if the target already has a front.
Ensure Loyalty to Avoid Rebellion
Before attacking, make sure the province is loyal to you. Otherwise, rebels will appear from time to time.
You can increase the loyalty of neighboring provinces by spreading the culture of your kingdom. To do this, convert all your settlements to your traditional religion with a cleric, and then send him to travel throughout your lands with the “Bolster Culture” mission.
If the province isn’t loyal to your kingdom, don’t suppress the rebellion by force. Wait for rebels to appear and defeat them. If your kingdom’s stability is high, after some time the province will accept your authority.
Declare War and Capture the Province
The first thing we have to do after declaring war is to send our diplomat to the enemy kingdom with the “Negotiating Peace” mission. This will help us end the war in the future.
After that, we will have to spend some time at war and, finally, capture the province. As you see, our allies have also joined the war.
After capturing the province, we must achieve peace. Unfortunately, it can only be done by force. Since we’ve already demonstrated the power of our army, there are big chances that some enemies (allies of Halych-Volhynia) will decide to sign peace with us. We were previously working to improve our relations with them for this very reason. Thus, I immediately took Bulgaria out of the equation.
If some enemies (like Ryazan in my case) don’t want to make peace, you can try to bribe them with gold, marriage, or something else.
By depriving the main enemy allies, we weaken his negotiating position, which means that he becomes more inclined towards peace. So, eventually, when he is left alone, surrounded by foes, he will sign peace with you with great pleasure.
Congratulations! The war is over. We had gained a new province in 5 minutes of real time.
How to Capture Provinces Peacefully
To take a city peacefully, we must ensure its loyalty to us. Only then will we have the logical right to claim it. But don’t be deceived, thinking that the neighboring kingdom will simply give it up. You will pay for it in gold, marriage, or even by supporting its wars. There is no other way.
So our first step is to spread our kingdom’s culture to gain loyalty. As I mentioned above, it can be done by converting all your provinces to the traditional religion using a cleric. Then you’ll be able to assign him the “Bolster Culture” mission. This will take some time, but eventually it will bear fruit.
Well, let’s say we have some Belgorod, and it’s loyal to us. Then, we should send a spy into Halych-Volhynia to start destroying the kingdom from the inside.
After a while, you will find that there are many ways this can be done. You can sow dissent, try to bribe marshals, incite loyalist rebellion, and so on. At the same time, you should from time to time demand the land (Demand → Land → Belgorod). If you have enough gold in the royal treasury, at some point, your neighbor will agree to sell the province.
You’re recommended to buy the city during peacetime, since if you offer such a deal while the owner of the province is at war, he will almost certainly demand that you join his war.
That’s all! We took Belgorod without fighting. If you still have some questions, you can ask them in the comments below. Perhaps I’ll be able to help you. If I don’t, other readers will instead help you with great pleasure. Thanks for reading, and good luck 🧐.