The most important thing to do in Crusader Kings 3 (CK3) is to conquer the whole planet and feel good about yourself.
To do this, however, you will need big enough armies to destroy your neighbors.
Recommended Read: What Are the Best Lifestyle Traits in CK3?
Somehow, most of the dukes and kings around you are stronger. Luckily, there are some simple methods to get an army strong enough to compete.
To allow you to conquer whatever you want, here is how you can get a bigger army in Crusader Kings 3.
Table of contents
How to Get a Bigger Army in Crusader Kings 3
There are a couple of factors that decide how big your army is in CK3. The biggest factor is your Martial ability.
Martial Focus
Every point over 8 in Martial your character has will increase your levies by 2%. So, a character with 28 Martial will have 40% more levies than normal.
So, something you can do if you want to increase your levies is to choose a Martial Focus, preferably the Strategy Focus, and maybe get one of the Martial Lifestyle traits.
The Strategist trait, for example, will give you +3 Martial. By doing a Martial Focus, you also have a chance of getting special events that will allow you to get even more Martial.
Depending on your situation, even a +2 or +1 bonus can be good enough. That little boost will make a big difference if your neighbors have similar power to yours.
This means that one of the simplest methods of increasing your army in CK3 is to choose a Martial Path.
Gettings Territories
Another relatively straightforward way to get more troops is to personally control more land.
The more domains (castles) that you directly control, the more troops. Try to reach your Domain Limit and then even increase it a bit.
Every county or barony that you control will provide you with troops. So, make sure you always control enough territory to reach the Domain Limit. Otherwise, if you can’t conquer some, take it from your vassals.
Marshal Task
If you are in urgent need of troops, you should set your Marshal to Organize troops. This will increase the total size of your levies and will also make them recover faster.
Putting your Marshal on the Organize troops task will get you a quick boost to your army size and will also allow you to quickly get to that higher level.
Depending on the skill of your Marshal, you can increase your levies by more than 20%.
Military Buildings
In all of your territories, you can make special buildings that will increase the number of levies that the castle will provide.
Click on one of your provinces and then press the “+” button in the bottom right corner of the screen. You will then open the buildings menu, where you can increase your levies by thousands.
However, this will take some time, patience, and money. So, make sure to stockpile some money to invest in your army size.
You should also upgrade your castles (or tribal holds), as this will usually boost your levies the most.
If you have a lot of territories and still don’t have a large army, it means that your control of the regions is really low.
You can check this by selecting a territory. Having 0 control in a county will lower the levies that the territory gives by 50%.
Players can increase control in a region by either using their Steward or by choosing a Lifestyle and Focus that increases control.
Change Vassal Contracts or Improve Relations
You can negotiate with your vassals better contracts where they offer more levies. This only works if you are a Feudal lord.
To do this, you just need to open the options with your vassal and choose the Negotiate contract option. You will usually be better off if you have a hook on the vassal beforehand. Otherwise, you can get tyranny for changing the contract.
If you really want to do it, make sure to either lower taxes or give them some other privileges.
Otherwise, if you have a Clan government, you will have to improve your relations with your vassals. This can increase the number of levies they give you by 30%.
To get this bonus, you will need +100 relations. Otherwise, you will still get bonuses, but they will be lower.
As a Tribal ruler, all you can do to get more troops from vassals is to increase your Level of Fame. This will get you more money and levies from them.
Create Men-at-arms
The most powerful troops you can get at any time in CK3 are the men-at-arms. You can get these from the military menu.
If you have a Feudal or Clan government, you will just need to pay a large amount of money and then some money in upkeep to get hundreds of troops.
As a Tribal ruler, you can get these men-at-arms for Prestige and upkeep them with a combination of Prestige and money.
Get Mercenaries
The last thing you can do to make your army bigger in CK3 is to hire mercenaries. They are incredibly easy to use, and their mechanics are very simple.
All you need to do is head over to the military menu and press the Mercenaries tab.
There, you will see a long list of mercenaries that you can hire at a flat rate for three years. The money you will pay for a mercenary band will depend on their quality and size.
At the start of the game, you can hire a mercenary band of around 2k troops for just 600 gold. They will serve you loyally for 3 years, a time in which you can conquer and defeat a lot of powerful empires.
That’s everything you need to know about how to get a bigger army in Crusader Kings 3!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
