As part of the Lance (1.9) Update, Crusader Kings 3 has changed the way holding buildings work and how they improve a ruler's men-at-arms. Instead of providing a global bonus to the ruler's men-at-arms, buildings now benefit the regiment stationed in the same holding.
This new system is more complicated than how Crusader Kings 3 used to be, but it also provides an opportunity. If players know how to exploit the system by stacking the right buildings in the right county capitals, they can make their men-at-arms regiments as powerful as an army two or even three times as large.
The Stationing Mechanic
First, players will need a men-at-arms regiment. This works the same way it always did: open the military menu (the two swords crossed over a shield on the right), then choose the "Create Men-at-Arms Regiment" button, and finally pick from the available regiment types. Most rulers start with at least one or two regiments, and players can increase or decrease their numbers based on their Culture's Innovations and Gold income.
However, something new players will see is the word "Unstationed" in red on each regiment's portrait. To fix this, players should click on the regiment, then click on the spinning-arrows button on the regiment's info screen.
Doing this will bring up a special map mode that highlights all the player ruler's directly owned holdings. The ones that have no regiments stationed are highlighted in green, while those that have regiments already are highlighted in blue. Players can always choose a blue holding in this mode, but they'll then need to find a home for the newly replaced regiment. Only directly owned holdings work for this, and even baronies in the player ruler's home counties don't count if a baron is in charge.
This map mode also displays the bonuses each regiment can get for stationing in the holding. Every holding offers at least a small bonus thanks to the basic castle or temple building, and so players should always station their regiments if they have enough holdings to spare. However, players can get even more bonuses by choosing the right buildings in the right holdings.
Stationing Bonuses
Several buildings can improve the stats of some types (or every type) of regiment. As of the Lance Update, this improvement is exclusive to the regiment stationed in the holding. However, these bonuses can stack up quickly.
For instance, the Armored Horsemen regiment in the image above starts with 100 Damage, but it has 480 Damage thanks in large part to being stationed in Paris. Here's how:
- Level 3 Castle: +30%
- The level 2 Tournament Grounds duchy building: +60%
- Level 6 Walls and Towers: +30%
- Level 5 Stables: +100%
- Level 5 Regimental Grounds: +50%
- Level 5 Blacksmiths: +50%
- The Realm Capital bonus: +10%
- All added up: 330%
The rest of the bonus comes from a good Marshal using the Train Commanders job and the Chivalry Tradition held by the French culture.
Other buildings improve other regiment types, including special Cultural regiments that still belong to one of the regimental categories. As an example, the regiment in Paris will get even more dangerous in the Late Medieval Era. That's when the French culture gets the Valets Innovation and unlocks Gendarmes, which starts with 187 Damage instead of 100. Make good use of this mechanic, and a small army of men-at-arms regiments will be enough to take down even the horse archers of Genghis Khan.
Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
