Current Events > Crusader kings 2 is currently free on steam.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I know a lot of people like that stuff. Personally I like everything to be as happy as possible. >.>
---

Is there any good guide for idiots who want to play this game? Cause I'm an idiot who wants to play this game. I've always loved hearing stories about people playing this game because they're both hilarious and dark in a morbidly funny way and it seems up my alley, but it's kinda overwhelming to someone who's completely new. I tried the little tutorial it has, but I got lost eventually.
---

You can let the plot be if you want him to die or dont care. The only thing you have to worry about is if the leader of the plot is gonna be your new heir and they get revealed when the murder actually happens because a kinslayer gets a bunch of negative opinion modifiers and that would definitely destabilize your realm once they got into power.

The main benefit of landing your heir is to build prestige and income so you have some to play with once your current character dies. But yeah in Muslim nations the heir is chosen by which son has the most power. The biggest issue with landing your heirs is when they die before you do and now that land you gave away is in the hands of a dynasty member who isnt going to be close to the line of succession unless they dont have any children (and therefore you get the land back when they die) or your dynasty is small. That situation sets up a perfect environment for a bunch of your heirs to be murdered.

BTW, beginner protip: if you intend to have more than one son, you need to get away from gavelkind succession.
---

Southernfatman posted...

Is there any good guide for idiots who want to play this game? Cause I'm an idiot who wants to play this game. I've always loved hearing stories about people playing this game because they're both hilarious and dark in a morbidly funny way and it seems up my alley, but it's kinda overwhelming to someone who's completely new. I tried the little tutorial it has, but I got lost eventually.

This is the CK2 bible
https://ck2.paradoxwikis.com/Crusader_Kings_II_Wiki

And this is the most popular video tutorialits a few years old so some of the mechanics have changed and if you have any of the newer DLC it wont cover those mechanics either. But for all the bread and butter mechanics it does great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAvJJuv1hvM" data-time="

And here is the playlist
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH-huzMEgGWBBUYoAjpLxFkbgFw19CeA_

If anyone has any questions I will help best I can. Someone did a thread a few years ago and I posted a bunch of tips Im not sure if I saved them or not
---

josifrees posted...

Thank you. I'm playing straight vanilla right now so that vid should help me.
---

I might as well link to the official forums
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?forums/crusader-kings-ii.551/

And the thread that has the funny screenshots
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-obligatory-ck2-strange-screenshot-thread.585791/

And this thread that wonders how history would play out differently if it played by CK2 rules
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/if-real-history-operated-by-ck2-rules.841857/

^This one right here is a great way of learning some of the stupid mechanics that go against reality that will definitely piss you off because your plans are ruined
---

I'm gonna post what happened to my first character just to give some of you guys an idea of the kind of stuff that can happen. Keep in mind, CK2 is what you make of it, and I've made it into an RP king simulator, so I make choices that aren't always beneficial in the long run, but what I think my character would do. Or just things I like to do in general, even if it's pointless, such as spawning a bunch of women at the start so my councilors can get married.

(Also be aware I initially wrote this for my irl friend Arria, so all my silliness about my daughter Arria is meant to be directed at her/make her laugh)

~~~

The Tale of House Savolainen
Praise to Ukko, God of Suomenusko!

Overall goal of the game: Spread Suomenusko to be a powerful world religion
Ironman mode is on, but some rules have been changed for my amusement. Women have equal rights in just about everything so expect lots of female rulers and councilors. I also turned on the Aztecs since I feel like Im far enough from them that they shouldnt cause problems for me. If anything, they might distract the Christians at a time when I want them to fuck off. Conclave is off because I hate dealing with powerful councils and I hate the way Conclave does child education. I don't have Jade Dragon yet. All other DLC is on, I believe.

CHIEF SAMPO OF SAVO (at death: HIGH CHIEF SAMPO OF KOLA)
b. Jan 1, 739
r. presumably since he was born March 25, 798

Sampo starts as Chief of Savo, a single province in the swampy heart of Finland.

Very likely he wasnt actually born on Jan 1, but every character spawned at the start to CK2 has their birthday listed as Jan 1.

Immediately as the game started, Sampo had a 5-year old son, Uoti who had no traits. This is perfect as it allows me to raise him the way I want.

Sampo himself didnt have great stats/traits, being Envious, Craven, and Shy. His martial skill was dreadful, so I didnt want to go to war until I amassed enough prestige to call upon a tribal army. His Learning was great and he was a Scholarly Theologian, but thats not really the sort of education you want a ruler to have.

On the plus side, he IS lustful, so maybe hell have lots of babies with the one eligible woman in the entire world: the beautiful 17-year old priestess Killu of Hiiumaa, blessed with Patience, Honesty, Kindness, and Charity. (Sampo starts the game as a 30-year-old, so I feel like this age discrepancy isnt as ugly as it could be, given the time period).

I wanted to alleviate my lack of martial in any way I could as otherwise I was going to be the single province of Savo for the rest of my reign. I gave myself War Focus and decided to make Tapio and Mielikki my patron deities as soon as I got my piety up. The War focus came in handy quickly. I got an event where I became friends with my chancellor/commander Seppo (the game made him a commander. He had an awful Martial score as well. But he had 18 Diplomacy so he was a great Chancellor). As he was a good friend, I decided Id get him married. Women were cheap, so I invited a bunch of debutantes to my court and got my friend Seppo married to the lovely Tuovi of House Shakhari Bazar (I have no idea). As my friend was a commoner, he had to marry matrilineally. Then suddenly he had the family name Illka. I dont even know where that came from, but good for him?

The War Focus also gave me the event where I play with wooden figures and play strategy/war games. Theres flavor text about how my wife Killu scoffs at it, but I like to think shes just happy Im trying to improve my Martial in SOME way. I mean, her Martial stat is higher than mine (she has a 4, I have 2 >_>)
---

After spawning a bunch of women, it just so happened that, uh all those women were better councilors than what I currently had. >_> My friend/Chancellor Seppo was the only one to keep his job! (To be fair, my Marshal had a great Learning skill, so I fired him from Marshal and then made him my Diviner). I then married off several of those women to my ex-councilors so theyd have babies later. My new Steward is Tuovi the wife of my Chancellor friend Seppo. I kept my Spymaster and Marshal to be my own concubines. Because those are two jobs you REALLY want to be in bed with. My concubines were the lovely Lemmikki of Sedam, my Spymaster; and the erudite Kukka (unfortunate name) of Namchi, with 12 Martial, 13 Stewardship and 11 Intrigue, my Marshal.

My War Focus gave me an event that let me either insult or befriend a person. It was someone I recently fired, so I figured I should insult him. >_> I had a chance to get Wroth that way, but it didnt happen.

Novgorod, a huge country to the east, attacked my neighbor. Novgorod had 2000 troops. Me and my neighbor both have 200. Welp. Ya ever look out your window and think thats gonna be me in 5 years? Yeah, Im already scared. Hopefully by then Ill have enough prestige for a tribal army!

Summon the Council spawned, but like hell I want this fucker to become immortal. I dont even want to pester my council honestly, so I said no, forgetting that it makes me Content and not reading the tooltips. Whoops. Oh well, now Im Content! Aaaand, immediately afterward my amazing concubine Kukka tells me that Im a loser for being Content. ;_; I tried

Novgorod conquered Kakisalmi and three of its lowborn guys evacuated to my land including a Hunter. Nice! I spawned more women for them to marry.

My son, at the age of 6, has a higher Martial stat than I do.

In October I got an event that my wife Killu was pregnant! But my character doesnt believe its his. Since hes not paranoid and he wasnt at war/travel events, Im scared that this really will be a bastard child! A few days later he got the event to pay someone to find out. I paid the maid to spy on my wife and sure enough, shes fucking her liege, High Chief Vaino of Livonia. *sigh* this is the problem with marrying priestesses from other countries. I should have spawned women at the beginning and taken one of them as my wife.

As I already had an heir and two concubines, I really didnt give a damn if Killus baby was worth a shit or not, so I revealed the identity of the father and divorced the unfaithful harlot. I then took my amazing concubine Kukka as my wife.

My son Uoti became Temperate and Deceitful. I had to decide on Deceitful or Honesty, but as Sampo was dealing with the aftermath of an unfaithful wife, I figured his mental state would be to encourage his son to improve Intrigue.

And Novgorod came to murder me. RIP

My prestige isnt even a positive number, so no, I cant summon the tribal army.

Well, I decided to keep playing. Novgorods plan was just to rule my character, not dispose of him. I decided to play vassal for a generation or two and work my way up from the inside.

So now Im Chief Sampo, vassal of High Chief Rodislav Slovensky of Novgorod. The dude has an eyepatch, so thats badass. Hes also the Slavic faith, which is cool, but Im Suomenusko so thatll undoubtedly cause problems. He has amazing stats; I cant even be mad at him. But no heir and no wife? Haha, what a loser. *plots to murder*

I got another event to either insult or befriend someone, but the insult option was to my friend Seppos wife/my Steward Tuovi who also happened to be pregnant! I didnt want to insult her, so I befriended the other option, who was some other woman I spawned to marry the exiles of Novgorods last conquest.

By now, a lot of my courtiers started having babies. Im getting a nice little court going on! Tuovi and Seppo had a healthy baby boy named Pekko.
---

I got the Martial event where I essentially play D&D against peasant teenagers. I won! Haha, take that you peasants!

My wife Kukka became pregnant and this time Sampo had no doubt it was his child. (Meanwhile my ex is raising her bastard son all alone on her cold, lonely Hiiumaa island. Also Vaino, the asshole who cucked me, is having marital problems of his own. He suspects his wife is cheating on him, too! Serves you right, fucker)

And Kukka gave birth to a Quick son! Holy shit, I hadnt even started the eugenics program yet! I named him after my friend Seppo who now had 20 Diplomacy (!). I almost feel bad for my son Seppo not being my heir. :(

So when I became a vassal of Novgorod, I was allowed to join their political bullshit. they have an Elective government and I could elect well, there was only one candidate. His name was uhh something starting with a Z. It was some god awful Russian name that Im not going to try. Anyway, turns out Mr. Z tried to convince me to join the Slavic/Suomenusko equivalent of Lucifers Own! Its called The Cold Ones and they worship Chernobog, the evil god in the Slavic faith. Not sure if hes even present in real-world Suomenusko, but for the sake of game mechanics, they probably decided to let Slavic, Suomenusko, Romuva, and maybe even Germanic Norse all have some of the similar dark gods. I figured this would only lead to more fun and trouble and my character has a lot of 'bad' traits, so I did it. If nothing else, once the current High Chief dies, it means this guy is gonna be my boss. Might be easier for me to conquer Novgorod from within if my boss likes me.

During the initiation into The Cold Ones, I took an option to become Greedy because why the hell not frankly. My Diplomacy is already 2, so whats another hit gonna matter? Might as well squeeze a few extra coins out of my peasants.

The woman who fucked me in the initiation was the lovely Pilvi who then became my courtier, so I made her a concubine.

When I joined the Cold Ones, I learned that Mr. Z my future boss is a cannibal! Yikes! He also has a cat familiar. Aww

Coincidentally, the Vedun (leader) of the Cold Ones is the High Chief of Pomerania, who also has a cat familiar. In other words, hes a devil-worshipping Pomeranian with a pet cat.

I got an event to build a monument to either the gods or my ancestors. Well! This isnt a tough choice for him! For what its worth, building it to your ancestors grants you prestige which is precisely what I need, so it was a double-win. Also, my lord learned that I was trying to kill him lol. Luckily I was able to tell him to fuck off.

Uoti has become Just and Diligent! What a great kid!

My concubine/Sister in Winter Pilvi asked to become my Spymaster. Awesome! Go to it! I had to fire my other concubine, but she hasnt given me any kids so who cares. Then Pilvi asked to go cause some mayhem with her! We went to a local tavern and spiked the wine with Fools Honey. I got 100 dark power and became friends with Pilvi! A day later she got pregnant! Haha!

I got another war game event, but this one against my own courtiers, and Im playing against Pilvi! She made a strong frontal assault toward my center flank ;) Damn right ya did, girl. I used all means to reinforce and strengthen the center if you catch my drift. The fella on my team is my Diviner, the guy who I had to fire from Marshal in order to make Diviner. Since Im not playing with Conclave on (fuck that DLC) I have no way of doing the ol switcheroo without pissing him off, so hes still a little salty about being fired. Although he was salty, he gave me good advice about keeping the center flank strong and we won!

Pilvi gave birth to our daughter, who I named Arria. >_> Surely nothing will go wrong with this girl who was born out of two worshippers of Chernobog!
---

I was concerned about my son and heir Uoti who was 12 and not betrothed so I checked out the eligible bachelorettes. I saw that the High Chief of Finland (which I wanted to conquer before Novgorod fucked me) had a daughter who was also the heir to some chunk of land. She wasnt the heir to all Finland of course, as she had an older brother. But it was a start. It also gave me a non-aggression treaty with her father, the high chief. She was only 3 years old so my son would have to be celibate for a while, but hes a good lad. Surely he wouldnt do anything that I, his devil-worshipping dad, wouldnt do!

Hoh! And speaking of my son, he almost became Shy and since my character is also Shy I didnt have the option to talk him out of it. All I could do was encourage it or pray for him. I chose to pray, even though the god I prayed to isnt one my character worships lol. With only a 20% chance it would help him, I wasnt expecting results but it did! Uoti overcame his shyness thanks to some Sumenusko god.

I trained with Seppo again, got more Martial, then got an event to choose a war trait (picked Flanker) and then I became Brawny! Hell yeah! I went from 0 Martial to 9 in the course of just 7 years!

God damn it, Uoti got the Shy event again and this time praying didnt help. THANKS A LOT SUOMENUSKO GODS. This is why I worship Chernobog!

Kukka got pregnant again, and the result was a boy. I named his Morgan because why not?

Now that Im a better warrior and I have 500 prestige, I started thinking about going to war. Hmm this piece of land up here looks nice. I hate the idea of gaining land why Im a subject of Novgorod, but thats a problem to deal with later and Ill need to be stronger when I inevitably rebuild. I was friends with the High Chief of Finland to the west, and I obviously couldnt beat up my lord in the east, so I set my target northward to Ostrobothnia.

The day I declared war, Pilvi decided we should have an orgy, so I agreed. I ended up with Satyric Blessing, which improves my Fertility and Sex Appeal. I also noticed that Pilvi had Cancer. Oh no! Poor girl. She ended up dying a few months later. Didnt even get to watch the end of the war

I only meant to take Ostrobothnia, but I ended up with Kemi as well, which is a huge province. On the map, having those two makes it look like I have a lot of land, but in reality theyre just two provinces. sadly, all three of my provinces are in different de jure duchys, so my cunning plan may be for naught when they all go to different heirs lol. Uoti is in line for Savo, Seppo in line for Ostrobothnia, and Arria in line for Kemi.

I beat up more peasants in D&D and got TWO points in Martial!

My son grew up to be a Scholarly Theologian because I forgot to switch him to another caretaker before his 16th birthday. Whoops. And then immediately after that, my Diviner died! I wondered if it was my son killing him to take his spot! Apparently, he committed suicide. I really hope it wasnt because he was still salty all those years about me firing him from his job as Marshal

My character got a Martial bonus for having Tapio and Mielikki as his patron deities (we dont talk about Chernobog in polite company), and then he challenged more peasants to D&D, but he lost this time! He still gained some valuable insights. Oh, and he got over his Shyness! Fucking finally!

Bleh, I got Magical Corruption from Chernobog (maybe I should have talked about him in polite company).
---

My second son, the Quick one, became Brave. Really wish I could be him. I dont have enough dark power to sacrifice my other kids though. I abducted a ruler and killed him in the name of Chernobog, but it cost 300 dark power to kidnap him and I only got 100 back. :/ I also became Possessed and fucked my wife who gave birth to a son I named Lucius, because hes surely not going to be a devil child.

And my wife got pregnant again damn shes horny. Named our daughter Erika

I married off some more kids, including marrying Morgan to a genius girl from Belo Ozero. I wanted to marry Arria off matrilineally of course, especially since she was set to inherit land, but not many people are available to marry women. Mostly bastards. Oh, but would you look at that! Theres a bastard her age willing to marry her! And its my ex-wifes SECOND child with the man who cucked me! I mean, Im not going to hold it against the children. Ill happily accept this second bastard child into my family if hes willing to take the family name when he marries my daughter.

Word of my faithfulness to Tapio and Mielikki have led to warriors from far and wide joining my army. I have 500 troops now. :/ (My Novgorod lord has 3000)

I received news that my Brother in Winter, Mr. Z who was heir to Novgorod, died of severe stress at age 33. RIP. I was looking forward to serving you, my lord. Now I have to vote for some kids to be the heir

The traders came to my castle and gave me a West African eunuch. I love this event. The eunuchs are always loyal. I only wish they werent yknow eunuchs. I wish they could have kids.

Arria punched a girl who wouldnt share her toys.

I once again reached 500 prestige and had to consider if I wanted to go to war again. The rest of Kemi/Kola is incredibly tempting the owner has 900 troops at his command, but hes getting close to 500 prestige, so if I dont win the war quickly, hell raise more than me and win. Hes only gaining 1 prestige a month though, so I think itll be worth it.

Actually, it turns out I have no Casus Belli against him, no matter what I do. :/ So nevermind! Ill attack this little boy to my south in Ingria even though this land will probably go to one of my other kids upon my death!

Also, I rose up high enough in the ranks of the Cold Ones to summon a Familiar! Well, once I get enough dark power

Beat more peasants in D&D, lost my Craven trait finally! All while marching to Ingria, which I had to go around a huge lake to do because otherwise Id have gotten a river crossing penalty

I beat MORE peasant teenagers in D&D and I cant even complain because every time it happens I get another 2+ Martial permanently. I now have fucking 18 Martial!

I taught my pregnant (again) wife Kukki how to be a Flanker, if ya know what I mean. I named our son Valerian.

Wife got Pneumonia. Beat more teenagers in D&D. Standing at 20 Martial now. Just another day in the life of the chief.

My liege lord, Radislav Slovensky, the one eyed jerk, died of Cancer at age 45. Upon his death, his country was split into Novgorod, ruled by his 9 year old son Trifon; and Vladimir, a new nation ruled by his 8 year old daughter Verkhoslava who happens to be imprisoned by a 15 year old chieftess, MelShay of Vladimir. Erm, yes, this girl captured her own liege, I guess. Or Verk became her liege while in prison. All this means to me is its time to do get to work becoming High Chief of something, since my liege is now an imprisoned little girl with 150 men to her name.

Before I started to go to war, I knew I would forget to give my son Seppo to someone smarter by the time he turned 16, so I did that now. I gave him to Seppo, my friend who I named him after lol.

During the war, I captured a chief whose ransom was more money than Id made all game.
---

My eldest sons betrothed finally came of age. Im proud of my boy Uoti, he didnt fuck around. He waited nice and patiently until he was 25 and his wife was 16.

I used my prestige to get the 2500-man army, just in case this war went south, but it went absolutely perfectly. I got my land back and all was well. Until I die and it gets split between all my kids lol.

I had an event where one of my courtiers wanted to duel his rival. He had three rivals: two females, one with 0 Martial and one still a child. The other was a man his age with an average Martial skill. I dont know who he wanted to duel, but I didnt want to risk either girl getting killed, so I told him to stand the fuck down.

Arria is sick! And depressed! Im not sure this poor girl will live much longer

I finally got rid of my Content trait. And then I found my daughter Erika torturing a rat behind the stable. :/ I decided to allow it, since Ill need Cruel people to be my commanders in the future.

Around now, a lot of the kids who were born during the initial round of spawn a bunch of women and give them to men in my court were coming of age, so I started marrying them off to one another.

Kola took over some land in Vladimir. The High Chieftess is still imprisoned by her own vassal btw. Somehow the game decided that because Kola took over land in Finland and I have the goal to become King of Finland, I am now allowed to attack and subjugate all of Kola including lands up in not-Finland. Whatever, Im doing it! Once again, because Ill forget if I dont do so now, Im giving Arria to a Martial guy so she can get a better education when she turns 16. Actually, turns out the best Martial in my country is the woman I married Uoti (my son) to! The one whos set to inherit land to my west. Alright, cool! Arria became a Brilliant Strategist with 17 Martial (!) with Siege Leader (!!) Needless to say, she became my instant commander.

Oh yeah, I also got a Familiar. I chose the Raven for the Stewardship bonus.

The war is going so well. With Arria the Siege Leader, I can take provinces in literally days, and I outnumber my enemies.

The Marshal of Kola is a fellow Cold One, and I got an event where I am having nightmares about him. I can invite him over for fun but Im kinda scared this is gonna backfire horrifically, so I back down. I havent seen this event and Im scared of ruining everything while Im doing well. Well, a week or so later I became Frail. Yikes. Dont know if that was related to that event or just happened. Eh.

I had my first grandchild, a girl I named Erika. Shes average in every way, but one day shell be a queen.

I beat Kola without even raising the 2500-man army! Woo hoo! Which means I can spend my prestige on improvements or preparing for the next war At this point, Im content to rest on my laurels and since I finally became a high chief, I dont need to worry about land passing out of my realm upon inheritance. So Im going to let ol Sampo relax at the age of 54 and spend the rest of his life enjoying the simple pleasures of worshipping Chernobog, feeding his pet raven, and watching his seven children grown up.

The people I conquered in Kola are now my vassals and they hate me. One is a homosexual man.

Christ, I forgot I had a prisoner in my cell from the last war, and I got an event where I HAD to torture him because Im a sick fuck. I had to pick between starving him or letting rats in his cell. I went with rats, since that seems less fucked up. I mean, the text didnt say we performed rat torture or that they were plague rats so I assume hes okay. (I then ransomed the poor fuck).
---

A fellow member of the Cold Ones decided it would be fun to summon a Greater Demon. I participated. I got some dark power and the Blessing of Belial which gave me Diplomacy. Wooow, now I have 4 diplomacy. :/

Arria had a daughter and when I looked at her portrait I noticed she (Arria, not her newborn daughter) had joined the Cold Ones lol.

I ranked up again in the Cold Ones to the rank of Koldun. The day after, I got an event that Tapio and Mielikki were pleased with me and blessed my arrows for good aim. I guess they didnt get the memo about me?

Erika got the event about asking if peasants were her slaves haha. As much as I wanted to say yes to her, I hate the traits associated with that, so I punished her instead.

Shortly thereafter, I died. RIP
---

To reiterate, his children:

Uoti, who had no mother because he spawned at the start of the game. Uoti married Metta, Chieftess of Uusimaa. I had married her in hopes that her and Uotis shared child would be heir to my land and her land. But alas, the scumlords in my realm voted for Seppo to become the high chief instead. Uoti was an alright guy, decent traits. Shy, unfortunately, but he was Content with that. One daughter, Erika.

Seppo was the second born, named after my friend and chancellor Seppo. Though he was second-born, the vassals elected him to be high chief, so hes the next character I play as. He was born Quick, so Im not disappointed in that at all. Hes also Gregarious, Honest, Brave, and Proud. Hes married to Salme of Srinagar, a woman born from a courtier and a woman I spawned at the beginning of the game. She was also Honest and Gregarious and that was the sole reason I married them together. I like the idea of marrying people with the same traits. Unfortunately, she has Food Poisoning right now, so shell probably die soon. Her stats arent great. Seppo and Salme have two sons: Michael and Sami (yes, I named their second son after his ethnicity. Sue me)

Arria, daughter through the devil-worshipping concubine Pilvi. Married to Alar, my ex-wifes second bastard son. Arria has amazing Martial and shes a Siege Leader. Shes also a devil-worshipper. She has Depression and Cancer though, so shell probably die unless she starts sacrificing her children to Chernobog. Her children are named Arria and Kira

Morgan was trained to be a soldier, but it didnt work out well. He only has a Martial score of 11. Hes a vengeful fuck and wants to kill his rival, so Ive had a notice at the top of my screen for ages about rightful imprisonment but like Im okay with you killing him, if you want. Its a nobody to me. I married him off to a bastard Genius woman with amazing traits. Damn shes nice. But she just came of age, so no kids yet.

Lucius was in training to be a warrior. Hes only 15, but hes being trained by a good Martial guy. He has good traits: Diligent, Brave, Temperate. Hes betrothed to a Strong, Brave woman who happens to be a twin. Her twin isnt Strong, so we know they arent identical lol

Erika was in training to be a Spymaster. She is Cruel, Cynical, Proud, and Ambitious. Shell probably poison your tea. Shes betrothed to an Attractive Hungarian Tengri boy with the Anglo-Saxon/French child portrait. I dont even.

Valerian was in training to be a Martial guy. He is Brave and Kind, and married to a Quick Khazar girl who is also a twin. Her twin died at two months old. :(
---

@IfGodCouldDie

+1
---

TroutPaste posted...

@IfGodCouldDie

+1

Thank you sir.
---

Good story telling

Because all the answers provided here will be purged eventually, if you guys post stuff on the CK2 board I will be paying attention to that board too
---

josifrees posted...

Good story telling

Because all the answers provided here will be purged eventually, if you guys post stuff on the CK2 board I will be paying attention to that board too

Just for reference to anyone looking for help, the Steam board, the Reddit boards (both CK2 and Paradox) and the official forums are incredibly active. The Steam bored is probably the slowest and the official forums are probably the fastest, but all three have a bevy of experts willing to help no matter the question. Just be aware that opinions very in this game a lot, and there isn't much of a 'meta' build towards victory.

...yes, adultery is definitely one of those things I'd wish to mod out.

Edit: So far all I'm finding are ones for MORE of it. >___>
---

Strange question, but can I play as an immortal queen?
---

HitTheGroundWal posted...

Strange question, but can I play as an immortal queen?

Sure, it's possible. Immortality is super hard to get normally though, so you may have to cheat or mod to get it.
---

I wonder if there's a mod that'd make it easier, but not hand it to me then.

Edit: Oh wow, the UI is really small in some places, it's kinda hurting my eyes.
---

The odds of actually getting it are really low you should just use the console.
---

Alright, I found someone to have my tutorial dude marry, soon as I can figure out how.
---

I'm trying to play Zunist
---

Goats posted...

There's a mod that adds monsters and other fantasy beings in. I think I'm going to try it out after work.

Make sure it's compatible with the current version, or roll back the game version to whichever version is compatible
---

Been muddling through the tutorial. I'm stressed now because my chaplain found a new religion and I don't like any of the options the game is giving me.
---

HitTheGroundWal posted...

Been muddling through the tutorial. I'm stressed now because my chaplain found a new religion and I don't like any of the options the game is giving me.

My priest became Hindu so I executed him.
---

JustMonika posted...

HitTheGroundWal posted...

Been muddling through the tutorial. I'm stressed now because my chaplain found a new religion and I don't like any of the options the game is giving me.

My priest became Hindu so I executed him.

As you should.
---

DarthAragorn posted...

As you should.

Zun is the one true god.

I like that the Zunist holy sites are close by but it's gonna put me too close to Abbasids :(
---

I don't care what he wants to practice. >.>

Edit: Now I seem to be being defeated at numerous sieges that I didn't know were happening.
---

HitTheGroundWal posted...

I don't care what he wants to practice. >.>

Religion matters a huge deal in this game.
---

...Can I mod it out?

Currently my biggest issue is my demense is too big and I have no idea how to fix that.

edit: aaaah now my lands are being occupies by some guy
---

HitTheGroundWal posted...

...Can I mod it out?

Currently my biggest issue is my demense is too big and I have no idea how to fix that.

edit: aaaah now my lands are being occupies by some guy

Who're you playing as?
---

The tutorial guy, in the tutorial.

Salamanca is totally occupied and they're working on Zamora. ._.
---

HitTheGroundWal posted...

I don't care what he wants to practice. >.>

Edit: Now I seem to be being defeated at numerous sieges that I didn't know were happening.

The game might be informing you of sieges that your vassals are doing in their own wars, which may not matter to you, depending on what they're trying to do.

HitTheGroundWal posted...

...Can I mod it out?

Currently my biggest issue is my demense is too big and I have no idea how to fix that.

What is your rank, what provinces do you have, and what is your demense limit? Edit: I don't know who the tutorial guy is. >_>

You'll want to grant land to vassals, but make sure you don't give away anything at an equal value to your rank. So for instance if you are a duke, don't hand out other duke-level titles or else that person will become your equal and independent. If you're a count, you should be looking to create a duchy, but you need specific counties to do that. If your demesne limit is just plain too low, look to improve your Stewardship (either take a stewardship focus, get a wife with high stewardship, or get a better steward). Your State Stewardship and rank determine your demesne limit.

In general, I try to keep the provinces in one duchy for myself and keep that duchy throughout the game.
---

HitTheGroundWal posted...

...Can I mod it out?

Just demand reconversion. If his opinion of you is too low, send him a gift.
---

Uhhhhhhhh

Talk to me like I'm 8. I have no idea how to play this game.

His name is Alfonso and he's the King of Leon. My limit is 6 and I'm at 7. It was going up since relatives died.

I'm being invaded by Emir Isma'il of the Dhunnunid Emirate.
---

You can give one of your landed titles to someone in your court to lower your demesne.

Also I assume you're in a holy war, you should be able to call nearby catholics to help you.
---

I'm not sure how, but suddenly peace was made. Most recently, the starting guy turned 40 and croaked like it said he would. So now I have a 12 year old ruling.
---

We should keep this topic active to help each other play

Mods, please make this topic permanent with your secret powers
---

Lol sorry, I'll keep it simpler until you get the hang of it. >.<

There are basically four levels you can be:

1. count
2. duke
3. king
4. emperor

There are also technically baronies and bishops below count level, but you will never play those ranks. Also, these titles can be different names based on culture, but in general you can tell what a character is based on the wreath around their portrait.

You are a king. So you can hand out counties and duchies no problem, but don't give up any kingdom-level titles.

If you look at the buttons above the map in the lower right corner, you can switch map modes. There a map mode for counties, de jure duchies, de jure kingdoms, and de jure empires. Click on the de jure duchies. There are also buttons on your keyboard that do this but offhand I don't recall which one is duchy. I'm guessing u or i. You probably want to keep both of the duchies which are de jure part of the Kingdom of Leon, which are Duchy-Leon and Duchy-Asturias. Normally I'd say only keep 1 duchy, but these two are small so you can get away with having both.

Duchy Leon has three provinces: County-Leon, Zamora, and Salamanca. Duchy Asturias has two: Astorga and Asturias de Oviedo (also, if you're playing with cultural names on, these names might be different depending on who owns them).

If you click on your character's picture and look at where it says titles, you'll see a line of flags/coat of arms. Above each one is a crown. Since you're a king, you definitely have one title which should have a king crown with the red fluffy thing in it. If you have any ducal-level titles, they'll have a crown which has a few jewels in it. The county-level crowns are plain gold. If you have any barony-level titles, which are really tiny crowns and look like they have some silver in them, you want to get rid of those immediately. I'll tell you how to do that if that's the problem, but I doubt it is, so I'll skip it.

So to sum up so far, you WANT to own these county-level titles: County-Leon, Zamora, Salamanca, Astorga, and Asturias de Oviedo. You want these duchy level titles: Asturias and Leon.

If some other vassal has one of those provinces, it's not the end of the world. Just keep an eye on them. Sooner or later they or one of their descendants will rebel or do something for you to imprison them. You can ask for it back, but you might be tyranny doing so. You can also plot to revoke it and if enough vassals like you, you can do it legally.

If you have a county other than the ones I listed, give it to someone. You can give it to just about anyone in your court you feel comfortable with. If anyone has the Content trait, they're less likely to cause problems for you. Remember that you can find characters with the button at the very bottom right of the screen, below the minimap. Click "search Court" to narrow it down to characters only in your court. You can then find Content characters by typing it in the search box. You may also have to set other parameters such as 'in prison' because you don't want to grant land to some asshole who's in prison for revolting against you.

Okay, so once you've gotten yourself down to the five provinces I mentioned, you might also have a duchy problem. If you have duchies other than Leon and Asturias, look at which provinces it belongs to. For example, if you have the Duchy of Castille, look at your vassals in Valladolid, Burgos, and Asturias de Santillana. Pick whichever one looks best to you and promote him to Duke. When you do so, click on the button that says something like "grant all lower titles." This will make it so that, for instance, say you gave Castille to the count of Valladolid, he becomes the Duke of Castille and you give him control over the counts of Burgos and Asturias de Santillana.
---

I did have Castille, but things got spread between his three children, and I can only control what the eldest has.

Bright side, fixed my demense problem. :D

Still have everything you mentioned, plus Viscaya.

Edit: Hmm, I should probably keep an eye out for a spouse for a betrothal.
---

Ah, guessing you had some sort of Gavelkind succession law.

It may take a few generations, but if you're anything like me, you'll want to get that fixed eventually too.

I like priogeniture, but sometimes you gotta go with elective for a few generations. Click on the "Laws" button at the top of your screen (has a picture of a gavel). It should already be on the Inheritance tab, but if not, click it there. You should see Gender Laws on the left and Succession Laws on the right. I personally like to play with Gender Equality on since I like to play as women, so my games all have Absolute Congnatic on from the start. You don't need to worry about Gender Laws. Look instead at Succession Laws.

I'm not sure all of what Leon has, but you should see Primogeniture and Elective *something* but NOT Elective Gavelkind. Anything with gavelkind in the name is bad imo. If you hover over the ? mark it will tell you what you need to do to change to that succession law. If you can change it, the gavel-and-checkmark will be colored in and you can change the law. You can probably change to Elective when your kid grows up and has ruled for a certain length of time and you are at peace.

To get Primogeniture, you'll need High Crown Authority which can be a pain in the butt to get since you need your vassals to like you and vote for it. Click on the Realm tab next to the Inheritance tab. You can only move up one crown authority level with each character. So for instance, if your current king, the little kid, is sitting at Low Crown authority, he can bump it up to Middle. Then you'll have to wait for your next character before you can even try bumping it to High. Also bear in mind your vassals are gonna be salty whenever you bump it up and they're gonna constantly pester you to lower it. I recommend putting your spymaster on Scheme so they find vassals who are factionalizing and if they say they've found a way to stop them, go for it. If you have a specific vassal causing problems, tell your Spymaster to Build Spy Network and put him in that vassal's province. When your vassals are a bunch of assholes, you might be have to move your spymaster around a lot. All this means you want a spymaster you trust very well (has a high opinion of you).
---

I looked around at the succession laws, but it wouldn't let me change any of them.

Looks like I have an Agnatic-Cognatic Gavelkind.

I wanted Absolute Cognatic but am baffled by the requirements.

The bottom one makes it seem like unless the game rule for gender equality is set, nothing else matters, but I didn't get to choose any, probably because tutorial.
---

Regarding marriage:

This can lead to some fucking Xanatos-gambit level shenanigans that leave you feeling incredibly proud of yourself when you inherit half of Europe out of nowhere. Or it can lead to horrifying eugenics breeding programs as you try to breed Strong Genius Attractive characters. Or you can just marry that nice girl down the road with pleasant stats.

Generally, I go for eugenics. Click on the ring button on your character's profile. The list that pops up is everyone you can marry. If you are a female character or you are finding a spouse for a daughter who you want to carry your name, then click the matrilineal marriage button. Since I assume you're a male character, don't click that. You can organize the bachelorettes by any means shows. For instance, if you want to find the one with the highest Steward skill, click on the Stewardship button (the treasure chest and gold).

Eugenics. Certain traits are shown in a heart-shaped symbol. Those are congenital and may be passed down to your children. (Note that children can randomly be born with these traits even if the parents don't have them. Nothing is certain in CK2). You can search for women with those traits by typing them in the search box. You'll want to find Genius, Quick, Strong, or Attractive women. If you marry one of them, there's a better chance that your children will have those traits (it's still PRETTY low, all things considered, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen). If nothing else, having a Genius or Quick wife is useful because her stats get added to the state stats.

If a woman has a claim or if her father is the ruler of some land and you think you have a chance at fighting for it (or hell, if she herself inherits it when he dies), then you might consider marrying her for her claims. If you press her claim and land her, even if you don't control her now, it means her children will also have those claims. If those children are through you/your son, that's a character you might play as one day. Then one day you can press those claims for yourself. (To see if a woman has any claims, you have to actually click on her picture and see the spot under her portrait where Claims are listed)
---