Crusader Kings III - The Sequel You Have Been Waiting For

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:09 am

Damn, I'm stressed! I just found out that my Archbishop was scheming to murder one of my courtiers. I can't really afford to throw him in jail as he is a fairly useful member of the council, so I just overlook it. However, since I'm a Just person it increased my stress enough that I've had a Mental Break. At level 1 it doesn't cause any health penalties and lowers my fertility by 10% (and I've just made my lover pregnant, but that's another story line) but Stress can build up. There are three options; I can just suck it up and gain even more stress, which maybe I can relieve later on. That doesn't sound good. I can spend a lot of money to buy clothes to make me feel better, which will also lower my income by 10%, so also not a good thought. Finally I can become Reclusive which permanently lowers my Diplomacy and Stewardship a bit, but at least I lose some stress. I'll take that last one.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:32 am

The Second Crusade is now over. Participating in it was a lot easier than the first since there were so many of us and so few of them. I besieged a few castles and wandered over a lot of Spain. I avoided any battles so I don't have many soldiers to replace. My Beneficiary didn't get selected to rule, but I made a boatload of gains otherwise. The gold was especially amazing, I now have almost 1800 gold. Time to start building, securing some new titles and pump up the army a bit.

My Prestige has grown that I am now Exalted among Men

. Next step, Living Legend!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:13 am

naednek wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:17 pm This game is way over my head. I gave up. Back to wasteland 3

After a couple hours playing around last night, I am of a similar mind. It makes me want to check out the current state of Mount & Blade 2.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:05 am

coopasonic wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:13 am
naednek wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:17 pm This game is way over my head. I gave up. Back to wasteland 3
After a couple hours playing around last night, I am of a similar mind. It makes me want to check out the current state of Mount & Blade 2.

Did you guys start off with the tutorial?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:37 am

Yeah. I gave it another shot (whoa that was two hours) this morning. I managed to become King of Ireland and marry a bunch of my kids and grandkids off that got me into alliances that got me into wars and everything spiraled out of control.

Along the way, trying to consolidate Ireland after taking the title I managed to convince a Duke to join me as a vassal and then gave him a title to solidify him (and get taxes). That was a lot easier than making up a claim and then declaring war which is how I got all the others.

I'll admit it is all pretty cool, but it also all very overwhelming. There is just so much going on and I understand so little of it. I don't really have any other games calling to me at the moment so I may keep at it a bit longer (and watch some tutorial videos to try to understand it better).

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:33 am

I have almost thirty hours in the game and there are still quite a number of concepts I just am not sure about. I've gone back and re-watched a couple of the introductory videos for refreshers. Also useful has been the wiki because a number of the entries have at the bottom some suggestioned strategies. Ultimately, I've found that the only way to understand a lot of the game has been to actually play through the situations. My experience with the Crusade was a good example, it played out differently than I expected. Same way with Stress, until it finally happened to my character I wasn't sure what would happen.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:27 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:00 pm I've just posted a question over to the Paradox forums,

The advice and suggestion box is suggesting that I can create a new duchy title since I hold the one and only county of which it would be comprised. I'm a bit confused about the usefulness of creating a duchy title. If I do and it means I'll have three or more, I'll probably have to give it away. Even if I create the title, since I already have the county, is the title (if I keep it) of any more value to me? If the county is controlled by my vassal, is there an advantage to having the duchy title over him? I'll looked through the wiki and while it explains the process, I'm confused as to when it might be useful to create the title and when it would be better to not create one. I do realize that I gain 300 prestige, but it will also cost me 250 gold. So is the prestige gain the one big advantage to creating the duchy title? Or is it a more subtle decision process?

Thanks for any help on this. I'm really enjoying the game and finding the wiki very useful, but there are these issues like I mention above that make me wondering if I am missing the point somewhere
Several times the game has suggested creating a duchy title, but 250 gold is a huge bite on my wallet. I'll post whatever useful replies I get.

The replies I got weren't that helpful, more about who might inherit the duchy, stuff like that. So ordinarily the benefit of creating a title turns 250 gold into 300 prestige. However, I was doing some construction with my new found cash and came across a situation:

Trying to construct the Strategic Marches building, which really helps to raise the defensive level of my castle holding, cannot be done without holding the title to the duchy in which the holding is located. So there is a good concrete reason to create a duchy title, to be able to construct a building.

UPDATE: Also, while holding a third duchy title gives my vassals a negative fifteen opinion towards me, being know for my prestige as Exalted among Men give me a +40, so I can carry a couple more duchies if I want. So getting that extra 300 prestige for creating a title just adds to my prestige total.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:36 pm

Sorry to keep posting these odd tidbits, but they might become useful to someone. By taking certain actions against characters in the game you can make them Rivals. I wondered what good this did me, if any. Well, I found one benefit. When my Rival died, I lost 42 Stress points!

So if you get a chance to make someone a Rival, keep that in mind.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 5:25 pm

You know, sometimes this game can hit a little close to home. In the game my current character's wife just died, sending up his stress level. I've been married almost 41 years in real life, so I'm really feeling for my guy.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:03 pm

Scandinavia is a shitshow.

After multiple generations as king of Norway, my dynasty was at last deposed. Thankfully we managed to secure the Danish throne in the nick of time -- the result is the absolute hash depicted above.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:42 pm

Yes, my wife of many years is gone, but life goes on and so does the politics of power. I am to wed a sixteen year old whose uncle and liege just happens to be the Holy Roman Emperor

. Now that's an ally I can use!

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:53 pm

I've got woman trouble again. How I managed to get a girlfriend who is simultaneously my vassal, my lover and my rival, well, that takes work! Did I mention she's also a leper too?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:56 pm

Alexa, play, “Detachable Penis”.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:25 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:56 pm Alexa, play, “Detachable Penis”.

Well, sometimes going to war isn't the smartest thing. I went to war against the King of Scotland who invited the King of Danelaw to join him. I called up my ally the Holy Roman Emperor and figured we were about even. I forgot how quickly my enemies could invade Ireland and seize me and my capital. By the time the HRE armies arrived I was forced to sign a surrender document. The war cost me almost five hundred gold in reparations. So it is back to building up my powers and working through diplomacy.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:01 am

The things I have to do to get ahead in this world. My daughter, Princess Caitilin, was married to some guy who was a minor ruler but was deposed and so was just living in my court, doing nothing. Well, I needed her unmarried so I could arrange a marriage of convenience. Happy since I'm so loved in my realm I got four volunteers to help in the scheme and he died in the woods by the blade of a "robber". So now my daughter is on the market again.

UPDATE: She's engaged! Well, betrothed, to the four year old son of the queen of France. So I have another powerful ally. Would it be weird to offer guardianship of the little tyke to his 33 year old future bride?

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Why is every adult in France naked? Warning, full sized image NSFW

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:41 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:01 am UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Why is every adult in France naked? Warning, full sized image NSFW

There's a religious tenant that glorifies nudity, so there was probably heretical version of Catholicism with that in it's makeup that a lot of the nobles there signed on to.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:05 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:41 pm
jztemple2 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:01 am UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Why is every adult in France naked? Warning, full sized image NSFW
There's a religious tenant that glorifies nudity, so there was probably heretical version of Catholicism with that in it's makeup that a lot of the nobles there signed on to.

Well, it has spread, now even non-French are showing up naked. Hope this is fixed in a patch soon, it is distracting.

Meanwhile, another momentous event in my Dynasty. High King Glun-lairn has died, replaced by his brother and Elective Tanistry process heir High King Abner mac Hywel.

High King Glun-lairn fought five offensive, three defensive and two Great Holy Wars. In prestige he was Exalted among Men, while in piety he was a Devoted Servant. At his death he had five holdings and a number of titles. During his reign of 32 years he established himself as well loved, except I guess for the son-in-law he had murdered. Ah these little family quarrels!

High King Abner started off with just one holding and a war he inherited from his predecessor. With powerful allies (whom he did not inherit) and in spite of losing three major battles, Abner now holds the island of Anglesey and an earldom there, plus Dublin and of course the title of King of Ireland. Abner is a schemer, seducer and manipulator, which will be important as I don't think things will go as easy for him as they did for his predecessor.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:18 pm

I guess I should follow up and say I played a little bit more (why can't I stop?) and my sole heir managed to expand the kingdom of Ireland to include all parts of the island and did it without any wars, just making friends and offering for them to be vassals. I have a few opportunities to expand... if I load it up again. A new religion has popped up and I can go after them for heresy. My first test raw saw my larger army cut down pretty quickly. I guess I need to look at the makeup of enemy army and make adjustments and maybe see if my daughters can get me some closer allies. I have a hard time telling where a potential husband's domain is.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:49 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:18 pm my sole heir managed to expand the kingdom of Ireland to include all parts of the island and did it without any wars, just making friends and offering for them to be vassals.

Wow, I've never had this happen. I guess I have to use that "make a friend" option more often!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:04 pm

When you right click on someone not part of your realm, at the bottom is the option to make them a vassal. You can look through the factors that go into their response to see if it's even feasible. There appears to be a distance factor, possibly to your "Capital" or whatever you primary holding is called, that limits how useful it might be, but if you can mitigate the negatives, they can be yours. After that you have to deal with the fact that they aren't de Jure vassals (I think). I was able to resolve those by creating titles for me or for them, depending on my mood, that encompass their holding. Not sure how that would work with more remote holdings.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:24 pm

Great info, thanks! I'll be looking for those.

Sometimes, great things happen to great people. I'm putting the moves on Uallach when Anlaith walks in the door. So what happens? As King Abner (Abner?), that well known seducer and fornicator, I just "take them both for a tumble".

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:27 pm

Silver Tongued indeed.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:02 pm

They did an amazing job writing the events in this. Many hours played over the last week, and I'm still seeing new variations of common events.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:10 pm

Damn, another one of my player characters died. Click the image below to see an enlarged version of the dynasty tree covering my four kings, labeled in order of appearance in the game. Let me know if there are issues with the Imgur full image, I'm seeming to be having some trouble with them.

So, died has High King Abner, replaced by High King Mael-Coluim mac Mael-Coluim. The old king ruled for only eight years. Thankfully the new king is only 34, but he starts off with a war in progress, only one holding and some unhappy vassals.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 1:42 pm

So my feelings are split on this game. On the one hand, it's easier to play than CKII because of the tutorial/suggestions/etc. and I like that. On the other hand, it's still such an open-ended sandbox, where I feel I have to create the story, I don't have a huge urge to boot it up and play. I'm going to play some more tonight, or sometime soon, but I might be bouncing off this. We'll see, and if true - then I'm glad I tried it through Game Pass rather than shelling out the fifty bucks to purchase.

In the meantime - I found this article today describing interesting starting characters.... if you're looking for new scenarios for the game, it might be worth a read.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:46 pm

Yeah, if not for GamePass I never would have touched this because it is so far out of my zone, but I am really glad I was able to mess around with it. I might still spend some more time with it, but setting my own goals is not my strong suit... I am High King of Ireland as my father was before me and my son shall be after me, what more can a man ask for?

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:47 pm

I test the reigns down in Africa: A Crusader Kings 3 diary

If I hadn’t got in on Crusader Kings 2 shortly after it came out, I would have taken one look at its list of DLC (currently going for £184.65 on Steam, and that’s with a discount) and noped right the hell out. Fortunately, the base game was already outstanding enough that I gladly supported it for our best games of the 2010s list. Most of the DLC was cosmetic after all, or was for realms I wouldn’t play as.

But anyway. ANYWAY. Crusader Kings III is out now, and while it couldn’t possibly incorporate eight years of add-ons, I wanted to see how it compares to vanilla CK2. Does a non-feudal ruler play any differently? Is it possible to thrive outside the default setting of kingly Europe? What’s it like to start out as an obscure chief at the distant edge of the enormous world map? Let’s find out.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:55 pm

I've had some hard times with my newest King. Two of my vassals started a Faction to put someone else on the Irish throne. I tried using a Bribe to forestall things, but the Faction declared war. I called my allies to join and soon all of us were tramping all over Ireland. One Faction member dropped out with no penalty (I didn't know they could do that). Eventually I beat the other faction vassal and threw him into prison, stripping him of his duchy title.

However, while this was going on, a vassal of the King of Scotland launched a war to recover Galloway and Carrick. I didn't bother to oppose it since I was deep in my faction war. What I failed to notice was the Scottish forces coming across the Irish Sea and laying siege to Dublin. By the time I got my army down there Dublin had fallen and the war was over. I lost both counties, money and prestige.

Now a logical king would have sat back, bidden his time and waiting till he had increased his war chest. Well, I was pissed and not logical. Since I had a mercenary band still in my employ I rented them for another three years and called for war against the King of Scotland. I called up my ally the King of the Danelaw to join me. And it turns out to be a propitious time to make war against the King of the Scots as he is also at war with the Holy Roman Emperor. I may end up broke, but I'll get Galloway back!

UPDATE: I did get Galloway back, just as I intended. The Scots simply had too many forces to fight.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 11:36 pm

They called children a blessed event, but having twin boys is awesome! They are now betrothed to the infant daughters of two other powers in Northern Europe. With my eldest son married to the daughter of the Danelaw King, I now have three very powerful allies.

ezmacncheese · Post by **ezmacncheese** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:59 am

Good game but I keep getting dogpiled a few generations in when my neighbors feel like they have some sort of advantage. Pretty annoying to fight the same wars over and over as soon as the truces end. I can build a treasury and hold them off for a while with mercs but that can only last so long Still, CK3 as it stands is a great base to work from and Paradox is really good with their post release support so gonna stick with this one.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 10:52 am

My Norse saga has come to an end, as we reached 1453 (I am liberal with the max speed setting).

The Yngling dynasty started in 1066 as rulers of a modest-sized Norway, eventually expanding the kingdom to encompass most of the Scandinavian Peninsula and seize the Danish throne as well. Unfortunately, we had allowed some other houses to accumulate too much power, and they rose up against us, leaving the Ynglings with scattered holdings across the peninsula.

Then we lost even that, with our domain reduced to a single county over in Finland (I don't recall how we obtained it in the first place). Somehow, we were allowed to retain our ducal title, even though all the de jure lands of our duchy were out of our control. From there on, our survival was dependent on marrying off kids to form protective alliances, as well as constantly kissing our liege's ass. This actually worked OK, as the King of Norway (now also Emperor of Scandinavia) transferred a couple of counties from less-obedient vassals to us.

Still, we were far too small to rebuild in any significant way, especially since imperial policy prevented vassals from going to war against each other. We ended the game with our capital in Finland and a couple of vassals in Norway (including one who held the Yngling's original home county). By that point, the Scandinavian Empire had collapsed, Sweden was swallowing up surrounding duchies like Tic Tacs, and I was about to swear fealty to the Swedish king in our next desperate bid at survival.

The Yngling dynasty was not triumphant, but we had our moments, and made it to the end.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:54 am

This Crusader Kings 3 player ate the Pope.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:18 pm

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 6:49 pm

I'm not sure I can play CK anymore. I loved 1 and 2 but I've started 3 a couple of times now and I just don't feel the pull. Objectively the game looks better but the UI feels busy and cluttered in a way that CK2 didn't. That might simply be familiarity so I'm not holding to much against the game but it doesn't help to suck me in. The game does need a bigger, more obvious Pause notification though. Right now when I get a bunch of notifications they pop up over the Pause so I'm left with a faint border change. I'm sure I'm supposed to look at the defaults and remember / set which types of notifications autopause and which do not but I'd rather just play.

It doesn't help that my two real attempts to play have involved a war that should be overwhelming in my favor still ending up in the old Paradox dance because I can't siege castles any faster then they can so I'm not gaining war score.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:32 pm

Madmarcus wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 6:49 pm The game does need a bigger, more obvious Pause notification though. Right now when I get a bunch of notifications they pop up over the Pause so I'm left with a faint border change. I'm sure I'm supposed to look at the defaults and remember / set which types of notifications autopause and which do not but I'd rather just play.

I am 110% with you on this. Eventually (after way too many hours) I figured out that I should just look at the game speed bar. If it's green, time is moving forward. If it's red, time is paused. If it's striped, the game is auto-paused due to an event/dialogue, but will start right up again afterward.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:52 am

I just passed fifty hours on the game and I think I'm starting to burn out. After a couple of unsuccessful wars I was just going to sit back, re-establish control in all my counties and generally get things tidy. Meantime however my most powerful vassal turned to the Lollardy faith and so did some of my other vassals. Since this was causing some friction I decided to change my faith to Lollardy and tell my remaining vassals to do likewise. So far all good.

My neighbors in Scotland and Cornwall and somewhere else didn't like what I had done and declared holy war on me. Well heck, I not only had the HRE and the Danelaw as my allies, I had created my own Holy Order with some serious combat ability. So I fought three holy wars. In the end we won in all three of these wars, although in one the other side just dropped out of the war ("war ended inconclusively" they tell me). Still, I got a lot of cash out of it.

But during this fighting I had lost two sons, one of which was married into the King of the Danelaw's family. So after the wars were over I lost him as an ally, but he still had a positive opinion of me, so I thought things would be fine. They wouldn't...

Apparently the King of the Danelaw didn't like me having a new religion and started a holy war against me. I called up what allies I had left, but it wasn't enough. I lost the Earldom of Dublin, my capital(!) and also the Holy Site of my new military Holy Order. And at the same time I also lost a level of Crown Authority, going back to level 2 after just going up to Level 3

. My prestige is now negative eight, although my piety is way up there. Too bad there wasn't a pope of the Lollardy to call Holy War to support me.

At least otherwise my realm is OK. My major vassals are happy and I have a reasonable amount of gold. And in a few years I can assess when it would be possible to get Dublin back.

As I said, I'm starting to burn out a bit. There's a lot of sports this week and so I might cut back on my playtime with CKIII. Maybe...

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:22 pm

Useful article from Rock, Paper, Shotgun... How to increase, raise, and replenish levies and armies in Crusader Kings 3

One of the most important things in Crusader Kings 3 is your army. Without soldiers, you’ll be a prime target for invasion by warmongering neighbouring Jarls, as well as being unable to expand your territory by force.

Here’s how to raise and replenish your levies and armies in Crusader Kings 3.

Paradroid · Post by **Paradroid** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 9:57 am

Well I finally bought this. I'm wisely skipping all tutorials and guides and everything and going in blind!

Currently trying to unite Wales under my leadership. I only need one more county, and happily its leader just converted to Lollardy so now, as a Catholic, I have a casus belli. We have similar militaries so I'll hire some mercenaries as well just to be safe.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 11:22 pm

I've had some various adventures, but I'm a bit burned out on writing about it. However, things are going pretty much to form when you are the King of Ireland. The Kingdoms of Ireland and Scotland have about the same power, but the Danelaw is more powerful and is at least equal to the two of us together, so that's what Dublin belongs to the Danelaw. At least I took away one reason for other kingdoms around me to declare war against me, I converted back to Catholicism. I did get the Queen of Scotland launching a war against me to seize the Outer Hebrides (which my ancestors seized from them a few decades ago) but I had an ally on the continent who came and helped me out.

So my big problem was that I no longer had an alliance with the Danelaw when my relative married to their relative died. Desperate times and all that, so I had my daughter-in-law murdered so I could betroth my widowed 38 year old son to the 6 year old daughter of the Queen of the Danelaw. Such are the courses of power politics!

Finally I suddenly discovered, via the very useful Current Situation box (the one labeled Issues on the top row), that Devon on the Cornwall peninsula had become independent and converted to Lollardy. This gave me cause to launch a holy war and so I now have a county, my holding, down there.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 11:53 pm

Wait, another county somewhere else goes rogue and I launch another holy war... I now own the county of Leon on the Brittany peninsula.