Slitherine

Any thoughts on how to play this Faction would be greatly appreciated. I haven't been able find a way to cope with the really dismal authority and lack of gain.
Thanks.

My standard practice (I often play small nations) is to focus on expanding population, economy, and authority-raising buildings (that's what population and economy are for). And then it's up to you to start your strenuous expansion.

Also the smaller the demesne is the more auth you get from being below the demesne size. Putting a high admin peer in charge of your province should help a little.

Try Deheubarth for an even more modest start!

Wales with a Peer will gain +0.8 per turn, that's indeed not too great. You can try to boost your stewardship production in all 3 regions, so you get the extra noble events more often.

The idea is to not care about Authority at first. Your goal is to mount temporary army with 8 frontline units and 8 supports to conquer new territories for economy. Turn them into Vassal via decision latter. Use Hire Mercs and non-Standard units at the last possible opportunity to not go negative i.e. unit attrition. These decisions go through before the movement subphase, so can use them to bait as well if you ever need to do that. Focus on gold generation (tier 2 Commerce, tier 1 not worth it) and tier 2 buildings from every branch for Authority. Noble events are too slow and inconsistent similar to getting positive tokens.

Wales is now a lot easier to play after the latest patch. What do I need to unlock the longbow? Bowyer alone won't do it.
Thanks.