CK2 strategy tips for a young republic?

[MonkeySage]

In the Old Gods start, I am currently playing as the petty Prince Mayor of Mumu, in Ireland. My neighbors are a very powerful tribal chief, the recently converted Petty King of Jorvik, the converted King of Norway(occupying Mercia) , Hwicce, and Scotland.

I've got trade posts set up all along the eastern coast of Wales and Cornwall, as well as the tribal holdings of Ireland... I've got piles of gold to throw around, though not as much as I'd like, but obviously no military(I'm pretty much relying entirely on mercenaries).

On the mainland, a German Karling AI has recently created the HRE, and it looks like the anglosaxon King of Asturias is, naturally, fighting a losing battle with Andalusia.

That's the situation I'm in... I'm wanting to create the Republic of Ireland, but that chief has a pretty big event army, which would rival any mercenaries I could throw at him. And I don't have any claims on any of his holdings.

[tyckspoon]

If you have the patience, spend a ruler or two focusing on your family palace + upgrading the capital holdings in your republic. The Palace becomes a very, very rich source of both troops and cash, as well as providing neat personal benefits to your future rulers. You can also use/abuse the fact that trade posts count toward your holdings count, and thus toward your retinue cap, to have a bigger retinue than basically everybody (at least, they did last time I played a Republic. Wouldn't be surprised if it got nerfed.) In the meantime use mercenary armies to pick off targets of opportunity and expand as you can; it's not hard to win city-claim wars when you can drop a mercenary army on somebody and siege out the city without having to worry too much about the rest of the province. County claims are a little trickier, but not by a ton.

Oh, and interesting tidbit - trade posts claimed in war do not check your trade post cap (they still add to it, but they don't care if you're over or under it when you declare the war.) Fun CK2 Moment if you manage to make it to King or Empire level: Create and grant independence to a new Merchant Republic. Give them a little time to build their initial trade posts, and then repeatedly crush them in Claim Trade Post wars to expand your trade reach without regard for your post cap.

Edit: Claim-wise, it's a slow approach, but as a Merchant Republic you have default claims on basically everywhere with a coast via City Claim (wait out truce) -> County Claim.

[MonkeySage]

Hmm, also, any marriage tips? My grandson/future heir is currently betrothed to the daughter of an Italian duke. Eventually I would love to see what would happen if my heir married the daughter of an emperor, but it seems even counts are reluctant to let their daughters marry out of nobility. I actually got really lucky with the Italian.

[tyckspoon]

Hmm, also, any marriage tips? My grandson/future heir is currently betrothed to the daughter of an Italian duke. Eventually I would love to see what would happen if my heir married the daughter of an emperor, but it seems even counts are reluctant to let their daughters marry out of nobility. I actually got really lucky with the Italian.

Can't help much there, I usually married for stats (getting a really good and loyal Spymaster from a high-intrigue wife, having/increasing the chance of getting Quick/Genius/Strong on my kids, etc) rather than alliances or trying to play for claims and land. Takes too long for marriage-derived claims to become actionable for my tastes, and it's harder to do with a Republic anyway because, as you've noticed, characters that already have good land/claims aren't overly interested in marrying off their valuable sons and daughters to upstart counters of mere coins.

[MonkeySage]

How does republic county conquest work? I'm preparing to claim a city on the northern tip of ireland, but before I go I was curious if I would actually gain the county title and be able to give it to whomever I please... or if I'd just vassalize the count. I ask cause I'd like to have as few powerful nobles as possible. Nobles really hate me; I've got feudal tax set to high.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I thought you only got the city itself, though I may be wrong...

[MonkeySage]

You have to claim the city first. Then, if the county is close enough, you can wait 10 years and conquer the county. Turns out, this puts the mayor you installed in charge of the whole county, as well as the barony usurped from the current count.

I've managed to gain control of enough of eire to create the serene republic, but I think I'm gonna do claim fabrication to unite the island. Tribal vassals default to feudalism.