Crusader Kings Newbie

[TheSilverKnight]

Hey all, I just got Crusader Kings, and so far I'm loving it!
But I'm a total newbie at it, so I need some advice on what to do.
Any and all advice is welcome!!

Plus, I need some ideas for a good, easy country to start out as and what campaign to do so in.

Thanks! ~:)

[ShadesWolf]

As a suggestion, select Flanders on 1066.

It will give you an idea of how to manage things, if you start too big you will end up getting loads of rebellions if you are not careful, so the smaller the better.

[L'Impresario]

First of all, I'd get the latest patch. CTDs can still be annoying, so autosave every year is a must, at least for me.
If you want a kingdom thats quite large but still manageable, that's England. Being on an island is pretty handy in order to keep your rebelious kin close to you and delay foreign armies from landing (plus sea trips cost money).
Your treasury should be built up gradually, so no rush to tax those underlings. Later on I tend to keep the scutage at a minimum, thus allowing larger armies to be assembled and keeping loyalty high.
After the first few hours you'll get the hang of it and see that actually it's not a really complex game. Hell, my last campaign ended with the King of England owning 80% of the British Isles provinces, the vast majority of the Middle East up to Baghdad,all of Iberia and the Maghreb, south Italy, a collection of german lands, 90% of the Baltic lands, most provinces on northeast and east Black Sea, the steppe lands north and around Khwarezm, 5-6 scandinavian provinces and Iceland. And all this by 1280 or so...now I wouldn't call this a challenge ~:handball:
Still a very, very enjoyable game ~:)
(until the rebellions start to kick in :help: )

[TheSilverKnight]

SHAMELESS BUMP ~;)

Well I've successfully finished a game as the Duchy of Lancaster in 1066, and now I'm deciding to start 1066 as the great Roman Empire (Byzantines). Any tips for them? They look hard and scary ~:mecry: ~D

Also, how loyal are the vassals, and will that change if I get beaten about by the Turks and the West?

[nokhor]

here is the official CK forum, and there's also a wiki page for general info.

http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=81

[The Wizard]

Byzantium is a juggernaut in 1066. Try my current project -- turning it into a juggernaut in 1337. Or, choose the county of Holland in 1187 and try to become the master of the Baltic ~D

[el_slapper]

The main thing to look at is piety & badboy.

Badboy(known as BB) is a nasty thing, as it does not appear directly on any screen. You've got an inderect value when hovering your mouse pointer over your vassal's portrait : you'll get -0,4/100 loyalty per month per BB point.

You earn 1 badboy point per assassination attempt(succesful or not), per declaration of war, per county conquered outside crusade, and per title claimed(bought by prestige). Badboy is extremely nasty as it destroys your relations with others, & destroys your vassals loyalty. If one vassal gets disloyal, he breaks, you beat him, which grants you 1 BB point for conquering its county, then other's loyalty gets even lower, then other get disloyal, then......

BB goes down only when you die & your heir inherit(-33/100) and when your piety is positive. Count 1BB less per year around 1000 piety(exact formula unknown, it seems logarithmic). So piety is faaaaaaaaaar more important than prestige, as if you don't have prestige, you're still alive. If your piety is under zero, your fall is nearing.

Thus the interest of the beta patches(though they say 1.05 is not for long) as they provide with "targetted" crusades, which are extremely juicy in terms of piety & prestige(2000 piety & 1000 prestige for the target itself, & already much for provinces around).

[TheSilverKnight]

Yeah, I'm an experienced Eu2 player and BB really destroys my countries in EU2 if it gets too high. Thanks for all the tips on Byzantium.

Any other tips you can offer a CK noob? ~;) Perhaps tips on armies, upgrading provinces, different types of social reforms and upgrades? ~:)

[TheSilverKnight]

Byzantium is a juggernaut in 1066. Try my current project -- turning it into a juggernaut in 1337. Or, choose the county of Holland in 1187 and try to become the master of the Baltic ~D

You and your dreams, Tom ~;)

[el_slapper]

General tip : you may have foes, but your only real foe is the Mongol. All the rest you'll crush easily. Mongols are known to have made world conquests - at the expense of experimented players.

Which means that you have to be strong around 1220-1230, and keep strong muslim kingdoms in the east. Crusading in Spain is top notch, crusading in the middle-east, at least before the Mongol problem is solved, is long-term suicide. They will not stop the Horde, they will slow it down enough so that you counter-attack & grab the whole lot.

Which means you have to avoid having too much knights in your armies. The feodal contract is to avoid. It will help against everyone else, but as the Mongols are your only really dangerous foe, and they'll make sheeshkebab from your knights, forget it.

Which means you have to learn guerilla warfare. Mongols can't be beaten on 1 against 1, & if you add more troops, attrition will kill you. So you have to make medium-sized armies, besiege your enemy where he is not, and wait for him dividing its forces. That's long, tough, & you'll probably experience bitter losses even before the first waves of reinforcements. But here is the real challenge. The rest is childplay - use it to get ready for the end-level boss.

[The Wizard]

You and your dreams, Tom ~;)

The thing is -- I pulled it both off. Pwnd foo'!

In the beta patches Spain just gets overrun like crazy... it's basically impossible to win unless you gain control of three or more kingdoms (read: unifying the Iberian Christian kingdoms).