Crusader Kings III can be an intimidating game, especially if you're new to CK3's drama-driven world of sweeping medieval strategy.  Our Crusader Kings 3 guide is currently just focused on how to get started, especially if you're playing Crusader Kings 3 console release and need to know how to play Crusader Kings 3.

Crusader Kings 3 Beginner's Guide

If you're in need of a Crusader Kings 3 beginner's guide, here are five crucial Crusader Kings 3 gameplay tips for when you finish the Crusader Kings 3 tutorial.

• Understanding the Laws of Succession
  • How does Confederate Partition work?
  • Best early resources to focus on
• Managing your heirs
  • Should you murder your children? Maybe.
  • Keep "an heir and a spare"
• Controlling your vassals
  • How to stop rebel factions
  • How to improve vassal opinions
• Marriages as leverage
  • The importance of marriage in CK3
  • How to end marriages
• Don't be afraid to fail
  • Be willing to learn from your mistakes

Ruling over a kingdom and bringing glory to your dynasty doesn't only require military skill, but guile and personal charm - you never know when your half-brother might be plotting to kill you while a faction of discontent vassals are preparing a rebellion. Even if you do everything right, your success isn’t guaranteed. That said, you can set yourself up to at least not immediately end up with your head on a pike...U

Understanding Succession

Especially if you're starting in the 867CE bookmark, understanding what happens when your current character dies should be the first thing on your to-do list. Crusader Kings 3 campaigns take place over centuries, so it will happen a lot - and until you unlock more advanced laws, which can take hundreds of years on its own, you'll probably be stuck with Confederate Partition or Partition succession, meaning your lands will be divided up among all of your eligible children. This can be frustrating when you take over, generally as the eldest kid, since you might lose a lot of hard-won provinces to your quarrelsome siblings each generation, but it's part of the basic design.

Your realm is meant to be fairly unstable at the start, expanding and fracturing over and over, and to become more stable as you advance through the legal innovations of the time period. Eventually, you'll be able to name one heir to inherit everything. Until then, focus on building up your capital, your Men-At-Arms retinues, and the overall Renown of your dynasty. Your siblings can't take those away from you! I mean, unless they kill you. Which can happen – but then you might end up playing as the murderer, so it's not game over yet! As long as your dynasty survives, so will your save file.

Managing (and Trimming) the Family Tree

In the meantime, there are things you can do to make succession less painful. Sending your… “less favored” children into battle over and over, or straight-up murdering them if you have the Sadistic trait, can make sure you don't have to cut the pie into so many pieces later.

There's also a perk in the Learning tree that allows you to take a vow of celibacy if you don't want to have any more kids.

Just be careful to keep at least a couple eligible offspring around – "an heir and a spare" as they said back in the day… probably. You never know when your eldest might unexpectedly drop dead from disease or poison, and being left without an heir means game over.

Controlling Your Vassals

This is really your main concern as a ruler, and you should treat it that way. If you see a powerful faction is forming against you, first figure out what they want. If it's just lower Crown Authority or taxes, and you're not ready for a civil war, it might be better to just give in to their demands. If they want independence, or to install your jerk cousin on the throne, then it will almost always be better to fight. But first, hover over their opinion number to see why they're upset with you.

Focus on the ones that have lots of troops first, since if you can get them to drop out of the faction, you might be able to reduce its strength enough that the other members can't declare war. Sending gifts, using the Sway scheme, and giving everyone what they deem their "rightful" lands are great ways to improve opinion.

Seduction also works if they're attracted to characters of your gender - whether you’re more strictly adherent to church doctrines, or would be described by later historians as "very good friends and roommates". If that doesn’t work, you could try increasing your Dread trait to the point that they’re all too afraid to challenge you.

All that being said, you usually shouldn't bother trying to win over rivals who already have below negative 50 opinion rating. You're probably never going to make them happy, and it's better to find a reason to arrest them, or arrange for them to have an "accident". Setting up Hooks on a character by sending your spymaster to dig up their dirty little secrets, or getting a marriage alliance, will also prevent them from joining factions. Speaking of which...

The Benefits of Marriage

Even as a lowly duke, with the right alliances, you can challenge an emperor. This is where having lots of kids can come in handy, especially if they're not actually eligible to inherit your throne – most of the world is annoyingly patriarchal in this time period, so daughters usually don't count toward dividing up your estates when you die unless you live in one of the more equal societies or lack any sons.

Your best bet is to find some strong rulers with kids of a similar age and the opposite gender from yours and start making some matches! If you need a little extra push, you can use the Sway scheme on your potential ally. You can also find a perk in the Gallant lifestyle that increases the odds of your marriage offers being accepted, even if the target is of a higher rank than you.

Keep in mind that these alliances can break if either of the betrothed or your current character dies, so don't put all of your hopes on befriending one family. You should try to have a variety of strong allies at any given time. Of course, nobody wants a brother-in-law who keeps asking for money, so if they're constantly dragging you into their own costly wars, it might be time to break off the engagement.

Finding the Fun in Failure

This might be the most important piece of advice I can give to any new Crusader Kings player! The Middle Ages were full of ups and downs, triumph and tragedy. Even the most impressive empires in history have tasted bitter sorrow and humiliating defeat in the wake of their storied victories.

Don't look at Crusader Kings 3 purely as a straightforward challenge to be beaten like achieving victory in Civilization. It’s more a medieval sandbox, and a roleplaying game that's all about generating awesome stories you'll remember and share for years to come.

Some of our favorite campaigns of all time have been the ones where everything that could go wrong, did. After all, would Game of Thrones even be interesting if Ned survived and the Starks conquered the Seven Kingdoms with no setbacks? It's those moments of darkness and struggle that make your turns of glory and revenge so worth it. And besides, every time a dynasty ends, the next one you start will be wiser for it!