why are most factions poor?

[Ca Putt]

the first few settlements you conquer generally tend to be homeland provinces tho and not only pontids get them nasty traits from sacking them. It surely varies from faction to faction and on how many Mercs you plan to hire but as a general rule of thumb I'd advise against choosing option 3 for homeland provinces, they normally are not that hard to keep order in (earlygame) and sewers or the like normally lift the approval high enough to raise taxes, well or you just keep taxes low to get some population grouth.

razing barracks and gov buildings is standard fare ofcourse. should always do it, whatever you do.

!this should be a pop up ingametip! It really is very usefull for getting a few coins in hand and slightly reducing the unrest