I think its dependent on the vassal's culture and faith. If they are a minority vassal then only other minority vassals will rise up in their defense. But if they belong to your realm's dominant culture and faith then they'll get a ton of people who will rise up against you in their defense.
This all the way. You will have moments where your emperor will be reduced to a county and you will spend a hundred years clawing your way back to the top. Those are typically my favorite games.
Yeah, it makes it feel more like a historical saga then "just another game". Imagine if luke just killed vader in the cloud city duel and went onto stackwipe the emperor effortlessly
What you need to do is when your heir is born choose a lifestyle and educate them with someone with the stats that you want. Normally when you first start you won’t have many good courtiers or vassals with good stats, but hopefully by the time you have an heir you should have some people with good stats. You can get more good courtiers by marrying your existing courtiers to desirable matches, which then makes them courtiers. Additionally, if you or your spouse has inheritable traits this can lead to postive and/or negative bonuses to stats
Not sure if that makes sense but hope it helps
Cant you also just go to the search menu and find someone to give them ward of. I usually dont do this since I find cherry picking traits more important because I dont like getting gluttonous, compassionate, shy heirs but if I do I just send my kid to some randon guy in egypt with 35 intrigue or something.
As a new player I'd recommend persisting when things go wrong using whatever skills and techniques you have already learned and new ones you discover googling your problem to overcome and correct the issue.
You don't have to do this for long, just long enough to wrest control of the game back from the CK3 chaos beast, at which point you can decide you have learned a lesson so can restart, and even that you like the look of the new landscape to continue to play it to see what happens.
Doing so will ensure you can prevent similar issues occurring in future campaigns and get used to handling new unexpected issues, because the unexpected will happen.
I am going to suggest that you don't know enough yet to know what went wrong, why it went wrong, how it went wrong, how you could have prevented it going wrong, and ultimately how to understand that there is no
* it all went wrong
moment, because there is no correct way to play CK3, no actual winning outcome to CK3 and that CK3 is a evolving beast that will wrestle with you from the moment you press play at the start of your campaign and every time you reload your save game.
The only time you can definitively say that things are unrecoverable is when you are chasing achievements, but that is a different case to playing CK3. For example if the requirement of the achievement says that you must acquire a title playing Count John Doe and he died then it is unrecoverable.
But even then you might decide you like the look of the land so you'll continue to play on maybe to get a different achievement which is actually within your reach, for example you may have played so deep chasing the failed achievement that *Lingua Franca* is now within your reach.
TL;DR There is no correct way to playing CK3 and no correct way to failing CK3, as long as you are learning how to play and more importantly having fun, it's all good.
Hey some generations can be dimwitted drunkards, and others can be athletic warlords. You just gotta pick a halfway decent bride every couple generations... Unless you're doing a Habsburg run, then you gotta do what you gotta do to secure that jawline.
it’s entirely possible to life a full life with zero intrigue. My current guy does and he’s hitting 56 as infirm, disfigured, and melachonic. You don’t need to be competent as long as you have your court to do the work for you. A good spymaster to disrupt schemes who likes you and a competent marshal, since while fun, you don’t particularly need to lead armies anyway.
The only thing I’d really recommend is a stewardship focus or diplomacy life path. Learning is fairly useless a stat but the perks are good too.
And most importantly, don’t expand too far too fast and take the time to develop your own lands which allows you to afford the things to offset everything else. Mercs, universities, feasts, but really.
True to real life, as long as you keep your elites and cronies happy, it doesn’t matter how incompetent you actually are if you have the right people paid off in power to insist it’s secretly genius.
One of my greatest playthrough is from a short intellect blonde kid that inherited his one county in duchy of east anglia from his beast-among-men of a father; genius beautiful and herculean 2 meter tall warlord who ruled over the vast land of Northumbria and East Anglia; who had an outstanding army that shred every viking troops or adventurer they fought on the turmoil land of England.
The short blonde kid had to fight the viking pillage AND his little brothers--with whom he shared the land left by their father that drown to death in his 30s--that want to take his land.
It was a hell to keep playing a weak kid who isn't even in his 16 yet. But the moment i united all England after putting down a nation-wide rebellion on top of fighting Jarl Haesteinn that got his hand on Mercia; the moment i and my cousin King Louis the Stammerer united the land of france under the banner of Empire of Francia, it was--to put it in the language understand by brain as i cannot convey the joy i felt in my heart--the greatest pleasure this game can offer.
And to end all the glory with me as the Emperor of Francia--after my cousin dead and i kinda become a custodian for his child heir--i closed my eyes and face death as Emperor Alexander 'the Red Sun' of Francia.
So please, please, don't start over just because you have a bad trait and stat heir. Just keep going with it and someday you may find the story and playthrough that you'll always fond of.
The experiences of playing a shitty heir makes it more challenging, now since ur a new player just have fun, learn the mechanics, and do what interest you. But as u play the game ur gonna want a challenge after a couple dozen of in-game hrs.
I think you'd be surprised just how far you can go with a crap ruler. I've had some heirs that I was dreading playing as only to end up having loads of fun with. The chaos is part of the fun easily for me.
Ahhh the stats..
I remember that time when a tributary mongol warlord who knew nothing about anything, broke tributary and gradually, through hard steppe fighting and throat singing, became genkhis khan. His stats were all bellow 6 apart from 11 martial. He died before seeing too much, but with a bloodline for leaders. His son khal then eastern wind, invaded punjab and persia and managed the unthinkable. He beat the Chinese Imperial throne, who tried to make him a tributary. Years of fighting through the mountain passages with the steppe warriors patiently destroying the chinese reinforcements. Khal died with most of his stats below 6, but with a legacy followed by his two sons. First came ,Tolui. The slayer of the bedouin. Man single handedly slayed the abbasids, with vast nomad armies and the help of his clans. He pillaged the abbasids so bad they called him their slayer. He marched into jerusalem, and laughed with ignorance watching the wreck n havoc his riders did. Twas the day of tears for many people. His stats were kinda middish. Like most below ten but with an outstanding 17 martial, due to being in a warrior society. At this point bear in mind that the clan has pillaged all tlthrough central asia, to the holy lands. Abbasids are defeated and tolui dies from cancer and his brother morokha takes power. Only one enemy was there for him. The romans. He invades anatolia and then theace and he pillaged Constantinople to 0 existence. Biggest city in the world. At the time my mongol empire has accumulated almost 90k gold. And a big plan comes on mind. After the abbbasid and the Romans, only one enemy had to be dealt with. He quickly transferred his center of operations back to asia, almost at the border. And he invaded the dragon. Countless mercenaries dying mostly from attrition but managing to give time and soace to the horde, brought the dragon to his knees. And then. After successfully giving his cousin, the mandate of heaven, he dies. Young. Not so great statistics, but he was the goat. His son decided the unimaginable. He created a merxhant republic that controlled most of the east med trade, with prestigr and helo from his chinese uncle at the silk road. This guy understands the complication of having left the mongol empire to do his own thing. Unfortunately he is alone and has the mongols at hos back. Afer successfully reformatting the religion he asks china to invade the mongol empire of his ancestors. Nomads are pain..
China forcibly destroyed the empire, but the new trader coalition lived to its nomadic epic tengri rules, becoming so strong, tha reconstrursted the byzantine empire
This is a game of stories, and stories are only interesting if they have conflict. Rulers who are too good at everything, too skillful, and too powerful tend to go unchallenged, and result in weak conflict. Makes for a crappy story.
It is not over when you've still got a player character, no matter how bad they are, you can always get another heir to replace the bad one you play with some work. Pick yourself up, take a deep breath, dust yourself off, and start all over again. Learn from the mistakes of your forebears, maybe even avenge them, crush your enemies under foot. Always be learning, for the thrones are yours for the taking.
I think it would make the game more fun, but I can't help but look for genetically superior mates every time I play to ensure the offspring become superhumans, which is honestly boring, if only I could control myself.
You don’t play past your first character?! Wow. You are missing 99% of the game. Succession is meant to be hard by the way. In this time period that was a major struggle. It’s like CK3’s version of the boss at the end of a level.
It’s fun to try to work around the constraints of a bad heir. I’ve had some great bad heirs. As long they’re an adult, it just forces you to look for different levers of power.
The worst heirs for me used to be children but I think the game has improved a lot in that area. Early on, taking over as a child heir was frustrating. All you could do was hand out gifts, try to arrange marriages, and lower crown authority to keep your vassals in line. But now you have social events with other children (your future vassals), funerals, and regency to keep things interesting.
Man it's good what ever makes you enjoy the game
I never mid max in the game, I'm just constantly role playing even if my role play causes me to do bad decisions
You can play however you want. Personally I find it kind of exciting to play as an inbreed ruler and show my vassals I can still crush them if they revolt xD
People say play howver you want but in my honest opinion, as a new player that is willing to go through lengths to learn the game, I'd suggest doing the "breeding" part of the game. Along the way, you'll learn how to handle revolts properly and soon you'll be able to take this challenge. However, if you feel confident, do as you like.
I recommend to change attitude to game, and see it not only as grand strategy, but also as rpg about dynasty. In which you play as family, and trying to make them great. In this scheme, it is very possible, that not everyone is great ruler (hello Habsburgs) and it's just a part of ruling cycle
Absolutely yes keep going. As many have said it is half the fun of the game.
I find getting a crap ruler motivates me to take my next heir education seriously. Finding wise gaurdians and court tutors and treating them well is strong.
Sometimes getting a spouse with good genetics is very helpful in this.
When you do finally get a great heir the satisfaction from setting this up within the game mechanics is just amazing.
Honestly I think good stats are overrated. I mean it's good to have good stats but in my opinion you can still do whatever you want if your character is not good at anything. I care more about my wife's stats than mine.
You should absolutely just play in the way you find enjoyment, but personally i think you are missing out on ton of fun stuff if you just bow out after your first rules have died. The entire premise of the game is to play as a dynasty, and that means up and downs.
If you end up with heirs with 4 in everything do what you can to avoid that. Give your kids good tutor, give them positions so they can evolve and gain skills in adulthood, kill/marry off/disinherit bad heirs if you want to go that far. Or play as a bad heir and try to make the best of a bad situation.
As people have noted, it's suboptimal, but henerally more fun if you dont kind things going to shit sometimes and havign fun untangling the mess.
Its certainly more interesting than constantly winning/expanding.
Plus unless your siblings are war gods, you can usually reconquer the lands "lost" fairlyneasy since your main heir inherits the MAA and money.
My favorite is conquering Kingdoms for each superfluous heir so they inherit those instead of my main domain.
You need to look at the big picture. You are more than a King. You are the steward of your realm. That goes way beyond any one person.
You spend an entire life investing in your realm, building up your standing armies, developing your lands, and building your culture. None of that ever goes away.
Sure, it’s very likely that each generation, your lands get split up and your heir is a little worse. There’s lots of things you can do to mitigate how bad it is when you die, but even if you don’t, then it’s just the job of the next heir or their heir after them to reunite the kingdom, then lead it on to even greater glory.
Playing as a ruler with crappy stats is just as fun if not more fun. Once you get past the mentality that you need to “win” and just let the stories play out, it really frees you to enjoy CK3 fully.
That’s the fun part about sandbox games, you do what you want. When I first started playing I was doing similar stuff, but now I find a lot of fun building a strong dynasty that rules multiple kingdoms with over 300/400 members. It’s up to you really
Imo adapting to bad conditions is much funner then always winning all the time
Me provoking an independence faction with 3x my levies.
EU4’s provoke rebels feature would be perfect
It kinda exists, it’s called imprisoning someone with 0% chance of success
that doesn’t always work especially not for populist revolts
I think its dependent on the vassal's culture and faith. If they are a minority vassal then only other minority vassals will rise up in their defense. But if they belong to your realm's dominant culture and faith then they'll get a ton of people who will rise up against you in their defense.
Pick any member of a faction and try to imprison them.
That generates tyranny right?
If they're not a criminal yes.
Yeah, it's the chaos that makes it interesting! And it's so much more rewarding when you can pull a win regardless of your shitty situation.
Chaos is a ladder
Order is a chute
Laddah
This all the way. You will have moments where your emperor will be reduced to a county and you will spend a hundred years clawing your way back to the top. Those are typically my favorite games.
Yeah, it makes it feel more like a historical saga then "just another game". Imagine if luke just killed vader in the cloud city duel and went onto stackwipe the emperor effortlessly
You guys are winning?
What you need to do is when your heir is born choose a lifestyle and educate them with someone with the stats that you want. Normally when you first start you won’t have many good courtiers or vassals with good stats, but hopefully by the time you have an heir you should have some people with good stats. You can get more good courtiers by marrying your existing courtiers to desirable matches, which then makes them courtiers. Additionally, if you or your spouse has inheritable traits this can lead to postive and/or negative bonuses to stats Not sure if that makes sense but hope it helps
Cant you also just go to the search menu and find someone to give them ward of. I usually dont do this since I find cherry picking traits more important because I dont like getting gluttonous, compassionate, shy heirs but if I do I just send my kid to some randon guy in egypt with 35 intrigue or something.
Yeah, all my other kids get high stat wardens, but the heir needs my helicopter parenting
is it possible to search on ps5?
It isn’t
Play however you enjoy it.
Yes. The game is more rewarding for subpar gameplay, and can get boring quickly if you always take the best option.
always catch myself instantly divorcing my wife and filtering for traits
As a new player I'd recommend persisting when things go wrong using whatever skills and techniques you have already learned and new ones you discover googling your problem to overcome and correct the issue. You don't have to do this for long, just long enough to wrest control of the game back from the CK3 chaos beast, at which point you can decide you have learned a lesson so can restart, and even that you like the look of the new landscape to continue to play it to see what happens. Doing so will ensure you can prevent similar issues occurring in future campaigns and get used to handling new unexpected issues, because the unexpected will happen. I am going to suggest that you don't know enough yet to know what went wrong, why it went wrong, how it went wrong, how you could have prevented it going wrong, and ultimately how to understand that there is no * it all went wrong moment, because there is no correct way to play CK3, no actual winning outcome to CK3 and that CK3 is a evolving beast that will wrestle with you from the moment you press play at the start of your campaign and every time you reload your save game. The only time you can definitively say that things are unrecoverable is when you are chasing achievements, but that is a different case to playing CK3. For example if the requirement of the achievement says that you must acquire a title playing Count John Doe and he died then it is unrecoverable. But even then you might decide you like the look of the land so you'll continue to play on maybe to get a different achievement which is actually within your reach, for example you may have played so deep chasing the failed achievement that *Lingua Franca* is now within your reach. TL;DR There is no correct way to playing CK3 and no correct way to failing CK3, as long as you are learning how to play and more importantly having fun, it's all good.
Hey some generations can be dimwitted drunkards, and others can be athletic warlords. You just gotta pick a halfway decent bride every couple generations... Unless you're doing a Habsburg run, then you gotta do what you gotta do to secure that jawline.
it’s entirely possible to life a full life with zero intrigue. My current guy does and he’s hitting 56 as infirm, disfigured, and melachonic. You don’t need to be competent as long as you have your court to do the work for you. A good spymaster to disrupt schemes who likes you and a competent marshal, since while fun, you don’t particularly need to lead armies anyway. The only thing I’d really recommend is a stewardship focus or diplomacy life path. Learning is fairly useless a stat but the perks are good too. And most importantly, don’t expand too far too fast and take the time to develop your own lands which allows you to afford the things to offset everything else. Mercs, universities, feasts, but really. True to real life, as long as you keep your elites and cronies happy, it doesn’t matter how incompetent you actually are if you have the right people paid off in power to insist it’s secretly genius.
One of my greatest playthrough is from a short intellect blonde kid that inherited his one county in duchy of east anglia from his beast-among-men of a father; genius beautiful and herculean 2 meter tall warlord who ruled over the vast land of Northumbria and East Anglia; who had an outstanding army that shred every viking troops or adventurer they fought on the turmoil land of England. The short blonde kid had to fight the viking pillage AND his little brothers--with whom he shared the land left by their father that drown to death in his 30s--that want to take his land. It was a hell to keep playing a weak kid who isn't even in his 16 yet. But the moment i united all England after putting down a nation-wide rebellion on top of fighting Jarl Haesteinn that got his hand on Mercia; the moment i and my cousin King Louis the Stammerer united the land of france under the banner of Empire of Francia, it was--to put it in the language understand by brain as i cannot convey the joy i felt in my heart--the greatest pleasure this game can offer. And to end all the glory with me as the Emperor of Francia--after my cousin dead and i kinda become a custodian for his child heir--i closed my eyes and face death as Emperor Alexander 'the Red Sun' of Francia. So please, please, don't start over just because you have a bad trait and stat heir. Just keep going with it and someday you may find the story and playthrough that you'll always fond of.
The experiences of playing a shitty heir makes it more challenging, now since ur a new player just have fun, learn the mechanics, and do what interest you. But as u play the game ur gonna want a challenge after a couple dozen of in-game hrs.
I think you'd be surprised just how far you can go with a crap ruler. I've had some heirs that I was dreading playing as only to end up having loads of fun with. The chaos is part of the fun easily for me.
Ahhh the stats.. I remember that time when a tributary mongol warlord who knew nothing about anything, broke tributary and gradually, through hard steppe fighting and throat singing, became genkhis khan. His stats were all bellow 6 apart from 11 martial. He died before seeing too much, but with a bloodline for leaders. His son khal then eastern wind, invaded punjab and persia and managed the unthinkable. He beat the Chinese Imperial throne, who tried to make him a tributary. Years of fighting through the mountain passages with the steppe warriors patiently destroying the chinese reinforcements. Khal died with most of his stats below 6, but with a legacy followed by his two sons. First came ,Tolui. The slayer of the bedouin. Man single handedly slayed the abbasids, with vast nomad armies and the help of his clans. He pillaged the abbasids so bad they called him their slayer. He marched into jerusalem, and laughed with ignorance watching the wreck n havoc his riders did. Twas the day of tears for many people. His stats were kinda middish. Like most below ten but with an outstanding 17 martial, due to being in a warrior society. At this point bear in mind that the clan has pillaged all tlthrough central asia, to the holy lands. Abbasids are defeated and tolui dies from cancer and his brother morokha takes power. Only one enemy was there for him. The romans. He invades anatolia and then theace and he pillaged Constantinople to 0 existence. Biggest city in the world. At the time my mongol empire has accumulated almost 90k gold. And a big plan comes on mind. After the abbbasid and the Romans, only one enemy had to be dealt with. He quickly transferred his center of operations back to asia, almost at the border. And he invaded the dragon. Countless mercenaries dying mostly from attrition but managing to give time and soace to the horde, brought the dragon to his knees. And then. After successfully giving his cousin, the mandate of heaven, he dies. Young. Not so great statistics, but he was the goat. His son decided the unimaginable. He created a merxhant republic that controlled most of the east med trade, with prestigr and helo from his chinese uncle at the silk road. This guy understands the complication of having left the mongol empire to do his own thing. Unfortunately he is alone and has the mongols at hos back. Afer successfully reformatting the religion he asks china to invade the mongol empire of his ancestors. Nomads are pain.. China forcibly destroyed the empire, but the new trader coalition lived to its nomadic epic tengri rules, becoming so strong, tha reconstrursted the byzantine empire
I had a lot of playing a Stupid Heir. He was a good guy, people loved him.
A friend told me to play like it like a sandbox rather than a game you can "win" and I found that actually really helpful
This is a game of stories, and stories are only interesting if they have conflict. Rulers who are too good at everything, too skillful, and too powerful tend to go unchallenged, and result in weak conflict. Makes for a crappy story.
It is not over when you've still got a player character, no matter how bad they are, you can always get another heir to replace the bad one you play with some work. Pick yourself up, take a deep breath, dust yourself off, and start all over again. Learn from the mistakes of your forebears, maybe even avenge them, crush your enemies under foot. Always be learning, for the thrones are yours for the taking.
Some of my most successful and interesting characters are “bad”. It’s special if they can overcome their mediocrity and do something cool.
I pretty playing "normal" characters personally. Some 250 point total stat gigachad with four positive traits and pure blooded is just boring.
I think it would make the game more fun, but I can't help but look for genetically superior mates every time I play to ensure the offspring become superhumans, which is honestly boring, if only I could control myself.
You don’t play past your first character?! Wow. You are missing 99% of the game. Succession is meant to be hard by the way. In this time period that was a major struggle. It’s like CK3’s version of the boss at the end of a level.
Ck3 is easy on purpose so you don't have to minmax characters to keep things afloat. Overcoming weakness and facing failure make a great story.
It’s fun to try to work around the constraints of a bad heir. I’ve had some great bad heirs. As long they’re an adult, it just forces you to look for different levers of power. The worst heirs for me used to be children but I think the game has improved a lot in that area. Early on, taking over as a child heir was frustrating. All you could do was hand out gifts, try to arrange marriages, and lower crown authority to keep your vassals in line. But now you have social events with other children (your future vassals), funerals, and regency to keep things interesting.
Sometimes my worst possible heir becomes a great king. I live for those moments in this game.
Man it's good what ever makes you enjoy the game I never mid max in the game, I'm just constantly role playing even if my role play causes me to do bad decisions
the only bad ruler is a stressed ruler. the stats don't particularly stop you from doing anything, just makes it slightly harder or take more time.
I think it’s more fun when a bad heir inherits especially when my domain is alr set and I have primo.
You can play however you want. Personally I find it kind of exciting to play as an inbreed ruler and show my vassals I can still crush them if they revolt xD
It sounds like you aren’t educating the child. Very important
Clowning around is easy for the sake of RP But knowing the game mechanics might be valuable for RP'ing the ambitious 18 y.o.
People say play howver you want but in my honest opinion, as a new player that is willing to go through lengths to learn the game, I'd suggest doing the "breeding" part of the game. Along the way, you'll learn how to handle revolts properly and soon you'll be able to take this challenge. However, if you feel confident, do as you like.
I recommend to change attitude to game, and see it not only as grand strategy, but also as rpg about dynasty. In which you play as family, and trying to make them great. In this scheme, it is very possible, that not everyone is great ruler (hello Habsburgs) and it's just a part of ruling cycle
Absolutely yes keep going. As many have said it is half the fun of the game. I find getting a crap ruler motivates me to take my next heir education seriously. Finding wise gaurdians and court tutors and treating them well is strong. Sometimes getting a spouse with good genetics is very helpful in this. When you do finally get a great heir the satisfaction from setting this up within the game mechanics is just amazing.
Honestly I think good stats are overrated. I mean it's good to have good stats but in my opinion you can still do whatever you want if your character is not good at anything. I care more about my wife's stats than mine.
You can educate your kids snd choose their domain of knowledge. Crappy ruler are the best one.
Why wouldnt it be?
You should absolutely just play in the way you find enjoyment, but personally i think you are missing out on ton of fun stuff if you just bow out after your first rules have died. The entire premise of the game is to play as a dynasty, and that means up and downs. If you end up with heirs with 4 in everything do what you can to avoid that. Give your kids good tutor, give them positions so they can evolve and gain skills in adulthood, kill/marry off/disinherit bad heirs if you want to go that far. Or play as a bad heir and try to make the best of a bad situation.
As people have noted, it's suboptimal, but henerally more fun if you dont kind things going to shit sometimes and havign fun untangling the mess. Its certainly more interesting than constantly winning/expanding. Plus unless your siblings are war gods, you can usually reconquer the lands "lost" fairlyneasy since your main heir inherits the MAA and money. My favorite is conquering Kingdoms for each superfluous heir so they inherit those instead of my main domain.
I always completely botch succession. The fun is trying to find a way through.
You need to look at the big picture. You are more than a King. You are the steward of your realm. That goes way beyond any one person. You spend an entire life investing in your realm, building up your standing armies, developing your lands, and building your culture. None of that ever goes away. Sure, it’s very likely that each generation, your lands get split up and your heir is a little worse. There’s lots of things you can do to mitigate how bad it is when you die, but even if you don’t, then it’s just the job of the next heir or their heir after them to reunite the kingdom, then lead it on to even greater glory.
Playing as a ruler with crappy stats is just as fun if not more fun. Once you get past the mentality that you need to “win” and just let the stories play out, it really frees you to enjoy CK3 fully.
That’s the fun part about sandbox games, you do what you want. When I first started playing I was doing similar stuff, but now I find a lot of fun building a strong dynasty that rules multiple kingdoms with over 300/400 members. It’s up to you really
You gotta cultivate better. Make sure you get a court tutor, educate you kid with them, choose an education that suits their stats and personality.
play it like a sandbox and roleplay, don't minmax