Best nation in CK2+
- Thread starter TheGreatLeader
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For beginners, in both CK2+ and vanilla, I've always been a fan of Irish count or Poland in either 1066 start.
I think it's Dublin, your father(?) has another county, so you have an ally, a good province, and at some point you'll inherit a second province. Going from count to King of Ireland will teach you about warfare on a small scale, de jure duchies / kingdoms, alliances and inheritance, and then you'll be in a good position to expand elsewhere - Wales, Britanny, North Iberia?
Poland I like because you start young and unmarried, with almost no few immediate threats, several potential allies and several options for expansion, but the game gets progressively harder as you go on, culminating with the Mongol horde on your doorstep. There's pagans all around, but you need to beat the HRE, Denmark and the Rurikoviches (Novgorod, Kieve, etc. are all of one dynasty, the Rurikoviches) to them, and not let the pagans themselves unite (I once fought a Wendish Lithuania, which also held a massive chunk of the Baltic coast. No fun.)
I think it's Dublin, your father(?) has another county, so you have an ally, a good province, and at some point you'll inherit a second province. Going from count to King of Ireland will teach you about warfare on a small scale, de jure duchies / kingdoms, alliances and inheritance, and then you'll be in a good position to expand elsewhere - Wales, Britanny, North Iberia?
Poland I like because you start young and unmarried, with almost no few immediate threats, several potential allies and several options for expansion, but the game gets progressively harder as you go on, culminating with the Mongol horde on your doorstep. There's pagans all around, but you need to beat the HRE, Denmark and the Rurikoviches (Novgorod, Kieve, etc. are all of one dynasty, the Rurikoviches) to them, and not let the pagans themselves unite (I once fought a Wendish Lithuania, which also held a massive chunk of the Baltic coast. No fun.)
In that case, the standard recommendation is is a Count/Duke within Ireland for the base game. So I'm assuming it extends to this mod...but if you have done this then I would recommend either a Duke/Count in Brittany or a Count/Duke within France for easy (peaceful) experience.
Something a little more challenging would be probably be a Scandanavian King e.g. Denmark ( or Count etc etc) a little weak but can expand relatively easy at the expense of pagans (just keep high relations with vassals for elective laws).
Castille is also more doable in CK2+ than the base game now, for later when you want more of a challenge in terms of mercenary and military conquest games.
Enjoy.
Something a little more challenging would be probably be a Scandanavian King e.g. Denmark ( or Count etc etc) a little weak but can expand relatively easy at the expense of pagans (just keep high relations with vassals for elective laws).
Castille is also more doable in CK2+ than the base game now, for later when you want more of a challenge in terms of mercenary and military conquest games.
Enjoy.
Duke of Brittany is a good, stable, secure start for a beginner to explore the ck2+ world from. Ireland is good if you're comfortable with needing to expand. King of Aragon is the best place I've found for learning how to deal with Muslim neighbors. Granada is a fun place to learn how to play AS a Muslim.
Aye, if you wanna be in Iberia, than Barcelona (the real Aragon, let's be honest!) is the best start. You're large enough to have a decent army of your own, and far enough east that you can count on aid from France and even sometimes the HRE or Sicily. Basically, it's the opposite of Galicia. An actual King of Aragon start sucks, because you're a one county nobody who would struggle even if Navarra wanted a piece of you.
Ireland is a good place if you don't know jack about CKII and you're just starting out. You're small, so little to manage, with no real outside threats of terrifying levels in the early game and you've got an obvious first goal (unite Ireland) and very small, easy wars with your fellow Irish to accomplish it. If you want the vassal experience (you're missing out if you only play independent rulers from start to finish), Hungary and Poland can offer some easy fun there with only minimal risk of outside invasion. Heck, Norway and Sweden aren't bad for that either... just avoid Iceland: as much as I love Iceland, it isn't the easiest (or funnest) place to play in the world. Woohoo, you either start as the Duke or conquered a single county to become Duke! If there was more to do beyond blobbing, it could be worth it... but hey, it's Iceland, being the backwater of the Scandinavian world is sort of its lot.
But yes, starting as a Muslim, do it in Iberia. Iberian Christians are weaker, and just a single well-timed war should be enough to guarantee your dominance as the best Muslim state as well.
Kingdom of Aragon aren't half bad, just as with Navarra it got a ton of marriage able siblings which you can barter around for alliances, which again can be used to hammer through Muslims
For Aragon i usually start with that and then declare De Jure wars on Zaragosa ... less protential enemies, much quicker time to get it working, and you still gain the demense due to the owner also owning Murcia ... keep allies with you at all times, bribe them if needed, and just bulldoze through Muslims
For Aragon i usually start with that and then declare De Jure wars on Zaragosa ... less protential enemies, much quicker time to get it working, and you still gain the demense due to the owner also owning Murcia ... keep allies with you at all times, bribe them if needed, and just bulldoze through Muslims
barcelona is super hard in vannilla there the only spanish to be un allied with all other spanish..... aragon is actually easy big demise and you can use allies to do the fighting+ weak opm enimies nearby
Denmark is a good place to start. You are a King with lots of Dynasty members and a nice succession law. You have a small realm, so not many vassals to manage. You have many possibilities of expansion (you can expand into the Pagan lands, or you can try to form Scandinavian empire, or you can try to get your family placed in power in Poland/Hungary or England which are close by)
You also have a claim on England if I'm not mistaken. You can just wait until the Saxons/Norwegians/Normans kill each other and then just go conquer England.
There's an "achievement" for conquering England with Svend II. Achievements don't register, but still, bragging rights to yourself at the very least.
Ireland is a great place to start for a total beginner, but anywhere in britain as a whole (except england unless you start at the william the conquerer date) is quite good for people who understand most of the mechanics but are still getting used to the subtleties. The Irish have the obvious advantage of being fractured and even more withdrawn from europe than the rest of the isles, so are great for newbies, the Scots are a great starting point to learn about the workings of a kingdom as a vassal as they are small and thus every vassal can exert some power, the Islanders and the Welsh are perhaps slightly harder, but you can always learn about diplomacy by playing people off against each other (and swearing fealty to whoever can best protect your interests should you need to). The English have the problem of norse and normans at the start, but are the regional power.
Some other areas are good for beginners aswell, but britain is basically a europe lite and thus a great starting point.
Some other areas are good for beginners aswell, but britain is basically a europe lite and thus a great starting point.
Start as King of Aragon, marvel at the huge family stretching across neighboring kingdoms. Conquer Zaragosa, marvel at the huge tech lead (as this IS a ck2+ context). Move the capital, marvel at the sudden improvement of your lot.
Now start marrying, conquering, and unifying like a boss. Abuse your allies to pull off epic holy wars. Don't be surprised if your heir turns Andalusian, though.
Just stay away from the titular Duke of Zaragosa title.
