Iceland's a good one, too - it's impossibly hard to reach and it's nigh unkillable because it has a ridiculously low supply-level!
Easiest starting characters for first games? They all seem hard.
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Aztecs disagree.
The easy start for everyone is Matilda of Tuscany. She's as cool as Alexios, Hardrada or Guiscard historically speaking, and as long as you don't pick up the kind or content traits (which ruin plot chances regarding gaining titles), you can be queen of all Italy before she dies, using plots and chancellor to expand mercilessly within the HRE and with HRE's protection from outside interference. Eventually you can rebel from the HRE and take multiple kings with you inside the same faction, crippling the blob for good.
I once believed the difficulty indicators, so I picked Abyssinia as the first country I play in my first CKII game
I believe you all know how that ends
I believe you all know how that ends
Really, the fact that it says having vassals makes it easier is kinda funny. A duke with a county and two count vassals is considered easier than a duke with 3 counties.
This is not true, there still is Wales or the kingdom of Mann and the Isles that are easy to pick once you become a king. After that you can focus on Scotland and then on England. Anyway it's great for a first game, you have the time learn so much of every aspect in the game.
Ireland is a great choice to start. Your path is clear : create the Kingdom of Ireland. This can be rather quick too and it really feels good to create a kingdom. It gives you confidence for your next game...which could be Denmark since it has so many options and no clear path.
I've wondered about this fetish people have for Ireland
Not really. You can easily become King since you have a small Island by yourself with no big powers, that's a pretty big opportunity. Once you've done that you will be powerful enough to conquer places like Brittany and Wales or if you're feeling confident, maybe even Scotland.
One of the Jimena Kings is a good start IMO. Since they're all related you can inherit the other Kingdoms in Hispania through assassinations / plots and you can expand pretty quickly by Holy Warring the surrounding Muslims. I was able to form the Empire of Hispania quite easily starting as the King of Castille.
Earl Gofraid of Isle of Man
Easily one of the most fun, hilarious, and action-packed games I've played
Your son and successor is the Count of Carrick, and your grandson is the Earl of Galloway, so you have three counties guaranteed after about 15 years (Gofraid has always been inexplicably long-lived)
Then it's either take Argyll somehow, usurp the Duchy of the Isles and take Inse Gall; or form the Duchy of Galloway and swear fealty to Scotland, which will allow you to take the County of Clydesdale and maybe make roads into Lothian and Albany
With your Scottish flank secure you can get into the Irish game; Ulster is easy to take, after that it's fabricating claims and/or inviting claimants
All the while spend basically ALL your money on building upgrades (mostly saving up for Castle Donjon and the like)
Don't form Ireland until you have ALL of Ireland, and every county productive
Your Duke should be of Irish culture, no revolt risk in sight
Now form Ireland, and easily take over Scotland piece by piece
Your vassals all love you. My King that went from Count of Isle of Man, Galloway, and Carrick to King of Ireland and Scotland had 70+ opinion from all his vassals
His successor (you must educate them well) had vassal opinions of 40+ from all
Easy but exciting and interesting
Now I have all of Scotland except for the Duchy of Moray. In addition I have the County of Gwynedd (belonging to my brother), and the Duchies of Lancaster (all mine, turning Irish) and York (-Leicester, held in vassalage)
It's safe to say King Eadred of England (!!!Saxon, of Godwin!!!) is having trouble controlling his bowel movements
Prince Eric Dunkeld 'the Careless' of Scotland inherited the Kingdom of Scotland from his father; now he is the Count of Gowrie, vassal to an upstart commoner Irish Duke of Albany. I love it!
IMO. Denmark is probably the easiest independent kingdom in the game. Quite small, but still decently powerful. Ireland is a good place to start, but after the first 100-150 years you should have gotten the hang of what's essential, if you wanna play somewhere else
Also for those saying Scotland was a good start it is, but only if you're not playing as the king. Because in 1066 the King of Scotland has ONE county and nothing else. Your two dukes and a few counts all have claims on your king title, so with a pitiful income and half your kingdom trying to forcibly remove you from the throne the king of Scotland is a formidable challenge. If you want to play as a Scotsman however give the duke of moray a try
Yeah, Moray or Lothian. Though with the latter you have to convert. Though starting as Duke of Isles and swearing fealty is also good.
Not what I meant, sorry, bit unclear there. My point was that their START is limited by size and opportunity. Whereas Denmark (filthy silver thieves though they are) has got everything you'll gain as King of Ireland and more at start, so I think it's a better learning environment.
Yeah, difficulty means nothing. At the end of my games I always have a -150% difficulty modifier because of vassals, and yet each time my character is dying I struggle like hell to keep my empire together, as every single vassal (Who makes the game "easier", they say...) wants to break free and starts an independence war.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned French dukes. Its definitely easy to learn as a vassal of a large nation since you won't have to worry too much about external threats (thus its hard to lose) and can still wage war for claims/marry and inherit other dukes in the realm, eventually you can rebel and go independent or wage war/inherit the throne.. Aquitane is huge and thus fairly easy, Burgundy or Flanders are good choices as is Toulouse.
I'd say just about anyone in France or HRE that their liege doesn't have claim on their lands should be a good start (95% of the vassals), but dukes will be easier as will playing the same dynasty as your liege. Imo its easier to learn as a vassal then an independent realm and being king and having lots of factions to deal with is prob not the best place for new players to learn.
If you want to try starting off has muslims, I'd say play the dukes of Baghdad (Abbasid dynasty) as their get the +10 relation with all muslims, being Caliph means you rarely get attacked and from being descendants of Muhammad and can declare Jihads after a few years (which as a Sunni is almost a guaranteed win for loads of piety/prestige). Baghdad is also the best Duchy in 1066 as its got high tech levels and I believe 6 counties that have 4-6 holdings that are well developed and still have several more slots to expand into. Your basically as powerful as all of Ireland combined. You've got some nearby Shia rulers you can HW and win against easily for expansion and after a hundred + years of being a loyal vassal its easy to when independence during a big succession war or decadence war. The only bad thing is you have to learn about decadence.
I'd say just about anyone in France or HRE that their liege doesn't have claim on their lands should be a good start (95% of the vassals), but dukes will be easier as will playing the same dynasty as your liege. Imo its easier to learn as a vassal then an independent realm and being king and having lots of factions to deal with is prob not the best place for new players to learn.
If you want to try starting off has muslims, I'd say play the dukes of Baghdad (Abbasid dynasty) as their get the +10 relation with all muslims, being Caliph means you rarely get attacked and from being descendants of Muhammad and can declare Jihads after a few years (which as a Sunni is almost a guaranteed win for loads of piety/prestige). Baghdad is also the best Duchy in 1066 as its got high tech levels and I believe 6 counties that have 4-6 holdings that are well developed and still have several more slots to expand into. Your basically as powerful as all of Ireland combined. You've got some nearby Shia rulers you can HW and win against easily for expansion and after a hundred + years of being a loyal vassal its easy to when independence during a big succession war or decadence war. The only bad thing is you have to learn about decadence.
You're doing something wrong dude. I've had vassals revolt of course, but on succession my vassal opinions will go from high to low-medium; no revolt risk in sight.
Well that's a mixture of distance penalty+different culture (sometimes)+desire my king titles (I like king titles)+short reign+claim on title (I also like landing my family)+High or Absolute CA. Goes Kaboom with a dozen of vassals with 80+% revolt risk, and always a couple above 100%. If I only happen to be ugly and have a few female vassals, that's another 30% "I don't like you" added to it, and they usually want to revolt during my whole reign. Oh well, I'm powerful enough to get them down, but still.
If I might suggest something, try a standard game. Don't go for the biggest empire or kingdom, or for the smallest remotest count. Pick in the middle and don't go over the board with difficulty (geopolitical difficulty as you can assess it from the map, not the %%). If you want something different from Ireland for a start, I could suggest starting as an Italian duke--male and unmarried--and marrying Duchess Matilda of Canossa (who starts ruling and single in 1066), in which case marrying her would make sense in gameplay terms. Italy will place you in the centre of events, while you aren't in anybody's de iure empire (unless you start in the south, in which case the Byzantine Emperor considers you his rightful subject). It can get tricky when crusades and jihads begin flying back and forth but you could have a fun game and learn things.
Or, if you want to be safe from Mongols, jihads and the like, pick Sweden or Norway. Alternatively, England isn't bad, as you're somewhat safer, while the provinces are so small on the map that a lot of them fits into a place that's much smaller in size than many other kingdoms that contain fewer provinces (counties). Plus, England gets its own songs if you have the Songs of Albion DLC.
Marry Duchess Matilda, march to Barcelona... At least that was my start as Poland, hehe.
Or, if you want to be safe from Mongols, jihads and the like, pick Sweden or Norway. Alternatively, England isn't bad, as you're somewhat safer, while the provinces are so small on the map that a lot of them fits into a place that's much smaller in size than many other kingdoms that contain fewer provinces (counties). Plus, England gets its own songs if you have the Songs of Albion DLC.
Marry Duchess Matilda, march to Barcelona...
At least that was my start as Poland, hehe.
I think I'm gonna try this one. I own the SoI DLC for quite a while now but haven't really played a real game as a muslim yet.
Seriously? In a thread about a good starting position for a NOVICE, a place to learn how to play - you're recommending an Iberian Christian kingdom?
People like watching car-crashes too...
The Abbasid idea was good. That's probably the perfect location to learn Muslims.
