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Spending money is a lot easier than making it in Crusader Kings 3. Most investments require several years' worth of income, and there are almost always other matters that require your financial attention. Having plenty of gold in your treasury makes the game much easier, but getting to that point can take generations of investment and preparation.
Below are several ways to bring more wealth into your coffers, both for short-term injections of cash and long-term growth opportunities. Whatever you plan to use the money for, these methods will help make it happen.
Updated on January 1, 2023 by Matt Arnold: Filling up the royal treasury isn't always easy, so we've added even more ways to make money in Crusader Kings 3 to this guide! In addition to adding tips to existing strategies, we've also looked at ways you can cut costs in-game. Most of your expenses in Crusader Kings 3 are fixed, so being able to reduce an expenditure is almost as powerful as finding a new source of income.
Go Raiding
If your Culture, Government, or Religion allows Raiding, sending armies to plunder rich lands is an easy way to get quick cash. Raise your armies as Raiders to let them loot and pillage. With raiding enabled, the army will be considered hostile by the holder of any land outside your realm that they enter. Be sure to brush up on the best Raiding strategies before raising your host!
Raiding armies will fight and siege like normal, but do not generate War Score. Instead, they gain Loot whenever they successfully besiege a holding. Larger armies can carry more Loot, and when they return to your land their Loot is converted directly into money for your treasury.
Wealthier holdings generate more Loot when raided, so look for high-Development areas close enough for you to easily get in and out. A Raider army will lose Loot if defeated in battle, and if the army is completely destroyed so is their plunder.
As an added bonus, Raiders also have a chance of taking captives after a successful siege, allowing you to ransom them back for more gold.
Non-Raiding societies can achieve a similar effect by declaring war against an easily-defeated neighbor, but the money gained from sieges in a proper war is much less than that earned in a Raid. In either case, remember that raised armies incur upkeep costs so be fast or your troops will eat up any profit you stand to make.
Arrest And Ransom Criminals
If you're in need of some extra coin right away, check to see if there is anyone in your realm that you can rightfully imprison. Traitors, murderers, and malcontents can be arrested using the Imprison interaction, then ransomed back to their respective lieges.
When using this tactic, it's important that the criminal be important enough that the vassal is willing to pay their ransom. Family members, councilors, and the vassal themselves are the best targets. If you're targeting a vassal, look for one with a high rank but a weak position; Duke-rank characters with few holdings are best, since ransom amount is determined by the rank of the prisoner. A weak Duke will be easily subdued and will pay the most to get out of jail.
Even if you have a justification to arrest and imprison a vassal, doing so will severely upset them and their relatives. Don't try this against someone whose support you need, such as one of your Councilors.
If you don't have a valid reason to imprison a character, you have three options. You can just imprison them anyway if you can afford the Tyranny penalty with your other vassals or if your Dread is high enough that it doesn't matter. Alternately, you can send your Spymaster to dig up dirt on them. This takes more time, but everybody's guilty of something in Crusader Kings 3. All you have to do is find your target's dirty secrets then expose and arrest them.
The third option is only available to Intrigue-focused characters. If you have the Kidnapper trait in the Schemer tree, you can plot to abduct your chosen target then ransom them back!
Inheritance
Whenever a character dies, their primary heir gets any cash they had left over at the time of their demise. This is neither a guaranteed nor a consistent source of income, but it can result in a useful windfall every once in a while, especially if a childless sibling meets an early death.
If a vassal has no heirs, their wealth and holdings go to their liege when they die. You can exploit this by keeping an eye out for childless vassals and hastening their departure from the world. Alternately, give new holdings to old, unmarried characters - they'll earn some coins while they're running a county in your name, then pass the money along to you. Rinse and repeat.
Raise Vassal Taxes
If your vassals like you enough, or if you have a Hook on them, you can get away with modifying their feudal contract to require more tax money from them. This has to be done on a vassal-by-vassal basis, so you won't be able to simply issue a blanket tax hike.
Vassals have to agree to modifications to their contracts, so if you don't have a Hook you may need to give them something in return for a greater share of their money. Guaranteeing them a seat on the Council is usually enticing enough, but you could also enact a Sway scheme or set them up with an advantageous marriage to raise their Opinion before the contract negotiation.
Ask Your Religious Leader For Gold
If your Religion has a Spiritual Head Of Faith (you can check in the Religion tab) you can hit them up for money. Catholic rulers have the easiest time with this, as the Pope is usually loaded. Right-click on the portrait of your Head Of Faith and choose the Ask For Money interaction.
The Head Of Faith will only agree if they like you enough, and the amount you receive will range between 100 and 750 Gold, again based on how much they like you. Whether or not they agree, asking costs 250 Piety and incurs a minor Opinion penalty with the Head Of Faith for several years.
You cannot ask for money if you're currently at war with the Head Of Faith or have been Excommunicated, for obvious reasons.
Downsize The Royal Court
If you have the Royal Court DLC, characters of King tier and higher must maintain a court. This incurs several monthly costs, which can be adjusted - the more you spend on your court's amenities, the higher your Grandeur will be, unlocking bonuses and abilities.
Of course, running a kingdom is expensive, so if you need to cut costs then the court is often the first place to look. Reducing the quality of your court's food, fashion, servants, or lodging might cause your grandeur to drop, but bankruptcy is a much worse look.
Construct Income Buildings
When you have cash on hand, one of the best things you can do with it is increase your overall income by investing in your holdings. Each holding has several buildings available to construct and upgrade based on your Culture's technology level and the terrain type of the holding in question. In most cases, the best choice is the Farms And Fields building chain which provide the most income.
Coastal baronies can build the Tradeport building chain, which is an excellent source of income. You can also build Tax Offices in a duchy capital for a significant boost - just remember, each duchy only gets one such building!
The extra income from buildings is designed to be small and incremental, so you'll want to build and upgrade them whenever you can to maximize the amount of money you can make over the course of the game. A single farm can take decades to recoup its investment before it becomes profitable, but upgrading your holdings is necessary to keep pace with your rivals.
Reduce Military Spending
Men-At-Arms are an important part of your army, but they cost gold every month even when they aren't raised. If times are peaceful, you can save some coins by reducing the size of your Men-At-Arms regiments, or even disbanding them completely.
While it's true that reducing or disbanding a retinue can incur greater costs later on as your re-hire them, this strategy can serve as more than just a short-term fix if you play your cards correctly. As the world situation changes, you may find that your enemies deploy different troop types. Disbanding old Men-At-Arms gives you the flexibility to change units when you hire new ones. Having the right counters and terrain advantages is essential for winning tight battles, after all.
Assign Your Steward To Collect Taxes
By default, your Steward will travel your realm ensuring all the required taxes are being paid to you. In most cases it's best to keep them in that role and let them do their job. Not only will a Steward assigned to this task increase your overall tax income by half a percent per Stewardship skill point, but they will occasionally collect extra taxes, giving you a lump sum right away.
Increase Development And Control In Your Lands
If your income is less than you expect, check to see if any of your holdings could benefit from increased Development or Control. Development slowly grows over time, and can be sped up by assigning your Steward to a County. Each point of Development in a County increases its tax income and levy size by one-half of a percent, making high-Development Counties especially valuable.
Development only increases income for Feudal and Clan governments. Tribal governments gain no economic benefit from Development, but can almost always Raid if they need funds.
Control can fluctuate over the course of a game, but ideally you want it to be at 100 as often as possible. For each point of Control under 100, a County will pay one percent less tax per month. Control tends be low in recently-conquered territories, especially if the people are a different Religion or Culture than their new overlord. Failing to protect a County from besiegers also lowers Control.
If you need to raise Control in a County quickly, send your Marshal to impose order. The Increase Control task does what it says on the tin, and can remove the effects of Corruption (if any) as well!