Vassals : What is to gain ?

[_Tristan_]

What is the benefit of having a vassal ?

From what I know, the provinces held by your vassal count in your victory conditions but what do you gain also ?

Can a vassal rescind his sworn fealty ?

Does he/Can he maintain is own diplomacy ?

Can you backstabbed by a vassal ?

Can you free a vassal from his oath ?

Thx in advance

[FactionHeir]

Vassals provide you with a large chunk of income if they have any florins. I think everything in excess of some 5k or 10k florins goes to you at the end of their turn.

They are otherwise quite independent but won't backstab you in terms of attacking you, but they can break their vassalage if you go to war with one of their allies or attack them yourself.

I'm not sure if you can release a vassal except via allies delcare war or you attacking them. Never felt the need to.

[_Tristan_]

So they are rather free diplomatically speaking...

[FactionHeir]

Yes.

[Gray Beard]

Actually I've had a vassal attack me! I made Egypt a vassal after a jihad had been called against me but before it arrived aty my gates. About three turns later the Jihad arrived at Constantinople and laid siege putting me at war with a vassal.

No problem however, I just defeated the jihad and put the sultans head on a pole and converted his poor benighted subjects, or those who survived, to the true religion.

[TevashSzat]

So they are rather free diplomatically speaking...

And will even attack you should you attack one their allies, which IMO is not realistic at all considering the bounds of vassalge....

[homefry]

The satisfaction of making another faction your .

[Ciaran]

Vassals provide you with a large chunk of income if they have any florins. I think everything in excess of some 5k or 10k florins goes to you at the end of their turn.

They are otherwise quite independent but won't backstab you in terms of attacking you, but they can break their vassalage if you go to war with one of their allies or attack them yourself.

I'm not sure if you can release a vassal except via allies delcare war or you attacking them. Never felt the need to.

Well, you can always end the alliance treaty which you get by making a faction your vassal. Simply send a diplomat over. I would be careful with making demands from your vassal as well, since sometimes factions choose to end a treaty they have wit you if you come up with demands.

They are otherwise quite independent but won't backstab you in terms of attacking you, but they can break their vassalage if you go to war with one of their allies or attack them yourself.

I´d like to emphasize this. What matters is who is the attacker. In M2TW, factions seem to keep up their alliances with the defender, not the aggressor, as a rule. So in order to keep your alliances, make sure to provoke the other faction to attack you.
On that note, you also count as the aggressor if your army assists an ally of you in his attack, but not if you assist in his defense.

[Alexander: The hellenic empire]

Actually I've had a vassal attack me! I made Egypt a vassal after a jihad had been called against me but before it arrived aty my gates. About three turns later the Jihad arrived at Constantinople and laid siege putting me at war with a vassal.

No problem however, I just defeated the jihad and put the sultans head on a pole and converted his poor benighted subjects, or those who survived, to the true religion.

It happened to me too! The Egyptians attacked me during a jihad and I defeated them. However, to my great surprise the Moors, my vassal sent a navy with a jihad army in it to take my capital (Constantinople, of course) and nearly succeeded. The Infidel traitors killed my faction leader and heir but my varangian guard said and the moorish party was soon over...

[Brutal DLX]

Well, vassals don't backstab you, the only real exceptions are cases of you being catholic or islamic and having a vassal of the other faith (or you beign catholic and getting excommunicated). Then there is a chance (which is less than 100%) that when a crusade or jihad is declared against you, your vassal will join in. From my experience, I believe that, although I never bothered to look into any files, your keeping your relations to the vassal faction high will decrease the probability of them joining a crusade or jihad against you. However, if you are planning on getting vassals in order to achieve victory rather than conquering all regions yourself, you should really avoid getting excommunicated or, when playing an islamic faction, offer vassalage to catholics only when you can clinch victory within a few turns after that.
Usually, vassals will try to ally with the same factions you are allied with (at least in v1.2) and, as others already mentioned, will take the side of the defender, not the agressor in wars that include the protector. So, after getting a vassal faction, your policy should focus on getting your vassal to break those of its alliances with any faction that you could come in conflict with.

[Cadwallon]

As the Apachean, I went to war with the Tarascans, who were also being mobbed by the Aztecs. I decided to give them a break, offered them 5000 to become my vassals...which they did on the following turn. I was rewarded with the Tarascan treasury of something like 200,000. Of course I also automatically got into a war with the Aztecs over my new protectorate...but I'll never go hungry again!

[aimlesswanderer]

I haven't managed to get one yet, my enemies just get gradually wiped out. Have to remember to try it more.