In this Crusader Kings 3 Beginners Guide, we will give you a head start to this grand strategy game and will tell you all you need to know in order to excel at forging a kingdom.
Crusader Kings 3 Beginners Guide
Like every other strategy game, you have to invest time in CK3 to get a better know-how of the game mechanics.
This game can be really overwhelming if you haven’t played any grand strategy game before.
Let’s get started with this Crusader Kings III Beginners guide.
Go through the Tutorial
Crusader Kings III has a tutorial that you can play to get the feel of the game if you are new to the franchise.
In this tutorial, you will be following House Briain’s Petty King Murchad mac Donnchad at the start of his journey to unify Ireland.
This tutorial will help you get basic know-how of all the different systems in the game.
Once you complete the tutorial, you can then start the game properly.
Use Blue Text for tips
In Crusader Kings 3, there is blue text which shows explanations about a game mechanic.
The blue text will be highly helpful for you at the start of the game to get an understanding of different concepts.
Character Selection
First of all, you have to select a character from either 867 or 1066 time period. You will be starting your game as the ruler of your Kingdom with great responsibilities on your shoulder.
You have to deal with disloyal vassals and cunning vassals scheming against you behind your back.
You have to deal with the potential rebellions and prepare yourself for all kinds of situations.
Lifestyle Selection
Select a lifestyle approach from the given 5 choices being Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, and Learning with each choice having 3 sub-categories.
The lifestyle you choose will affect your governance and personal development.
Marriages and Alliances
Just like previous games in the series, marriages and alliances are very crucial if you want to survive in CK3.
You need allies in battles and the only way to make allies is through marriages and alliances.
Most of the rulers start off without a wife. You need to find a spouse as soon as possible because your ruler can die at any time.
Find a spouse from a powerful neighbor and produce at least one heir to your throne. That way, you will have powerful allies that will help you in your battles.
The heir will get all the titles after the ruler’s death if he is from the same dynasty otherwise you will lose the game.
Check out your realm’s Law of Succession and Elective laws for this issue.
Reputation and Titles
Reputation plays a very vital role in requiring the loyalty of others. You are judged by your reputation.
If you have a bad reputation, vassals won’t consider you trustworthy. So, keep an eye on your reputation from the start of the game.
You can increase your reputation through piety. Successors always inherit some of their predecessor’s bad reputation.
Titles can be created if you have 2/3 of the provinces under your control. You can gain control over lands though military forces or by making alliances.
Taking lands from the vassals of your king by using military forces is not recommended.
Follow Advice and Issues Popups
While playing the game, several popups will come in which you will need to make decisions regarding important matters in your Kingdom.
The popups will contain 2 different types of matters.
One is advice in which you have to make decisions regarding your Kingdom. Advice appears as a diamond icon.
The other one is an issue that appears as a circle. In issues, you will have to make decisions as well, but they won’t be of much importance
Councils Panel
Your council panel consists of:
- Chancellor: Manages Domestic Affairs
- Steward: Collects Taxes
- Marshal: Can Organize Levies or Increase Control of new locations
- Spymaster: Finds Secrets that you can use as leverage and also Supports Schemes
- Spouse: Gives a boost to any chosen stat while managing your realm
If the archbishop or realm priest do not have a favorable opinion of you then you can either bribe them or right-click them to select “Sway”.
Scheming and Making Decisions
You are able to plan your murders by checking the Intrigue Panel for schemes, secrets, and hooks. Any secrets found by the spymaster will appear in the same panel and are able to invoke favors from people.
However unless your plan will directly result in your cause’s progress, we do not recommend going for this option. More often than not it will end in failure.
You can also visit the Decisions panel to see the different things you can do to extend your rule over different regions.
This includes conquering and dismantling empires. You won’t really have to make these decisions early on but there’s no harm in checking the panels to see what you’ll be capable of later.
Additionally you can use the Decision panel to do more relaxed things such as petting a cat or dog, meditation, pilgrimage, etc. You can also get a Court Physician in case you’re not feeling too well.
Your Army
You can check the size of your levies in the military panel and can recruit men-at-arms. These will make up the bulk of your troops and are dedicated soldiers. You can also get Knights Templar and Mercenaries.
The army you form will help you out when you declare war on another ruler.
Engaging in regular wars cost prestige and uses up supplies that your troops need to function efficiently. This is why we recommend resupplying as soon as you can.
You can find more about troop quality management and resupplying in our Crusader Kings 3 armies guide.
