Easiest starting characters for first games? They all seem hard.

[Altipueri]

1066, all the 3 "interesting" suggestions and moving round England, Scotland, Ireland over halfway hard. I need a 10 percenter not a 58 percenter.

Ideas, other than revert to CK1 which I have but hardly played?

Thanks

 

[snoopdogg]

Score probably isn't the best indication. Anyone in Ireland should be a good pick for a first timer. There will never be any holy wars and likely no invasions to worry about and you can become King pretty quickly.

 

[RustyTurban]

Don't pay attention to the difficulty percentage, its completely made up.

Irish Count ("80% hard") = Very easy, widely accepted to be the best way to get into the game.

Holy Roman Empire ("20% easy") = Extremely difficult, chaotic, micro-extensive.

 

[grommile]

The "difficulty" indicator should be taken with at least a teaspoon of salt; Billy the Bastard is a lot easier to play than that indicator would suggest (though stopping the Capets from taking Normandy back off you as soon as you install yourself as King of England is a bit tricky).

The Duke of Bohemia's a fairly easy start.

(ETA: Or, yeah, an Irish count.)

 

[Deaghaidh]

I'd say Norman dukes of Apulia for a 1066 start. Sronger than most of your neighbors, fairly compact, with a clear early goal (become a King) and lots of opportunities after that. You're starting monarch has good stats too, and a big family unlikely to run out of heirs.

I wouldn't recommend Ireland for a very first one though, as you are too small and poor to achieve much of anything. You'll probably get bored/frustrated and quit.

 

[RustyTurban]

I'd say Norman dukes of Apulia for a 1066 start. Sronger than most of your neighbors, fairly compact, with a clear early goal (become a King) and lots of opportunities after that. You're starting monarch has good stats too, and a big family unlikely to run out of heirs.

I wouldn't recommend Ireland for a very first one though, as you are too small and poor to achieve much of anything. You'll probably get bored/frustrated and quit.

He'll be learning the mechanics though. When a Fatimid invasion lands in 1070 on your newly formed Sicily it's not going to be very encouraging for a new player. imo

 

[Altipueri]

OK wow quick replies thanks. I read somewhere Ireland was a good start hence surprised by the starting figures.

Thanks again for quick replies.

 

[Six-Monts]

I'm still playing my first game ever (didn't play CK1 at all). I started in Connacht (Irish) and became king about 60 years later. I don't think its a record or something, but it's very satisfying for a first game. I haven't played any others, but i seems to confirm that Irish is easy.... or i'm just that good ......Ok, it's easy.....

 

[Yenzen]

Starting in the HRE is also a decent experience.

You can learn to be a vassal from relative safety going from an insignificant count to a duke to a king. You can then having an interesting time trying to fight for your independence or learn how to deal with a large scale civil war shortly after you're unwillingly made emperor.

 

[revjor]

Ireland is beyond easy. Start as Lenister and within 10-15 years of the start your dad will die giving you Dublin as inheiritance or start as the dad and when you die youbecome the son in the same situation. Then you'll have half of two duchies. Save enough and pretty soon you'll have two duchies and four counties.

Another really easy way to go is the Count of Orvieto.(Right next to Rome.) NO ONE will dare attack you since you are a Papal vassal.(The only one too). Move fast to build your county's economy then grab as much land as possible before the pope goes absolute authority.(Use inheiritance by marraige at that point.) Though the Pope may try to revoke your county..

 

[Deaghaidh]

I enjoy playing as Ireland, but once you become King you rapidly run out of things you can do, as you tend to have the weakest armies and poorest economy in the region. You can tag along on a crusade or two for some land, or get brave and try to tackle England I guess.

If you are going to start in Ireland, I'd recommend Munster over Connaught, slightly better starting provinces in terms of money and troops.

 

[grommile]

I enjoy playing as Ireland, but once you become King you rapidly run out of things you can do, as you tend to have the weakest armies and poorest economy in the region. You can tag along on a crusade or two for some land, or get brave and try to tackle England I guess.

Scotland makes a nice target after you've united Ireland.

 

[l3ol3o]

I agree with everyone that Ireland is good place to start. You don't have any real threats in this area and you have plenty of targets. If you want to start as a King Scotland is also fun.

After you play an Ireland game I'd say either Apulia or Denmark are other good areas to learn. Denmark you can kill Pagans and try to become Emperor of Scandinavia.

Apulia is harder these days but you can build a huge empire there because of it's awesome location. Focus on forming Sicily first then holding it from the Muslims. After that you can expand in almost any direction. I have great fun killing Muslims in Africa.

Stay out of Spain until you learn the game.

 

[Altipueri]

Ok thanks guys.

Doing Munster. Crashed my flying machine, should have tried it on Great Cockup Fell.

 

[Jephery]

Matilda of Tuscany is a great start. It has the same option of expanding into Sicily and Africa as Apulia, but also has the initial protection of the HRE.

 

[Isaios]

I've wondered about this fetish people have for Ireland Sure, it's EASY there, but there's also ... limited oportunity. Not an optimal place to learn the ropes I'd think. Bohemia is far better suited for this, or Scotland, but optimally? That's gotta be Denmark. There's nothing you CANNOT do with Denmark.

 

[Lamprey]

Another good starting point is Brittany. You can start taking Ireland apart pretty much as soon as you can manufacture a claim, then Wales, then Scotland, then England to form Britannia. And the great thing about Brittany is, your culture allows you to form the kingdoms of Wales & Brittany (I like lots of king vassals for some reason).

 

[bmullins0118]

Poland. Lots of targets, never ran out of things to do once as poland and I have taken over all of Russia, still had a lot to do with Poland.

 

[Isaios]

Poland. Lots of targets, never ran out of things to do once as poland and I have taken over all of Russia, still had a lot to do with Poland.

Poland is a fun GAME, sure, but it's hardly an ideal start.

 

[Sian]

yeah ... Denmark is probably one of the easiest choices in term of learning abilites ... they can do nearly everything good

The countries in Denmark is fairly strong, which means that you're able to strike above your weightclass, purely looking at country-count

You got a ton of Dynasty-members (Children) that can be merried left right and center (probably grabbing a few throne claiments as well while at it) for alliences

You are in a elective monarchy where at start there is only 2 voters, you and your eldest son ... and if voting is tied, the monarchs vote is deciding

You have a ton of arguebly easy targets to your east in the baltics and finland. Sweden is likely exploding in a civil war between Christianity and Norse, while Norway is to busy mucking about in England, and the Russian duchies are prone to infights or all ganging up on someone attacking them (most often from the steppes to the east or south)

You have a inheritable claim on England which you can build up to push (either by improving your lands, helpful allies or both)

You don't really have any obvious dangers making a play for your borderlands (Duchy of Saxony just south of the borders might make a play for Holstein but thats it, and it'll take a while for them)