Fun/Interesting Starts

[lilmik552]

I have played the game for awhile. I have almost all DLC besides India DLC.

I am looking for fun/interesting/challenging start (preferably 769)

Some fun and challenging places Ive already tried:

769 Siemen - Talk about a challenge...but its definitely fun after you get going pretty good.

769 Lithuania (Romuva) - Is always easy and fun to me...especially with the updated maps its not as easy to quickly roll over the competition. I usually blob Romuva and eat most of Lithuania and Germany.

769 Svitjod (Vikings) - Ive played MANY different viking starts. I love vikings and its probably my most favorite.

769 Austrias (played as bastard) - Once again a fun and challenging play...always enemies to the south to conquer.

769 Irish, Wales, Picts - Ive played several different characters on the UK island.

769 Brittany - Didnt play it long but was still pretty fun.

769 Horse Lord - Played some horse lords... didnt stay with it long but it was interesting enough.

769 Muslim character in Jerusalem - Ive tried this a couple times where I try to secretly convert to Judiasm and try convert the region...not only is it difficult but gets boring after awhile. Never actually open converted.

Anybody have some others that are fun to try? I

 

[mrstevehazzard]

Some of my favorites:

1. Start as Norse Germanic, catch some Jewish concubines, invade Jerusalem and convert to Norse Jews.
2. Start as Norse Germanic, invade Mauretania, convert to Shia, form the Norse Shia Caliphate.
3. There are feudal Manicheans in the Tarim Basin that get great trade route income.

If you get Rajas of India, playing as Nestorian Christians in Southern india is tons of fun too.

 

[fcc56]

Nothing extraordinary, but this what I've got.

Start as the Duke of Flanders in 769 and create the Empire of Frisia.

As a Norse merchant republic, create a realm that connects the Baltic region to Venice without any gaps. I think I did it as a Dane.

My current game is challenging but I'm not so sure it is actually fun: Duchess of Sardinia in 769. Throw off the Byzantine yoke and create the Kingdom of Corsica and Sardinia, holding both duchies and all seven counties. You need to get out of viceroyalty status.

Not a 769 start, but becoming emperor of the HRE as Matilda of Canossa (or an heir) is entertaining. 1066 start.

I found Shajar of Egypt interesting, although I didn't do well over the long haul. Late start (1250).

 

[Rags17]

I'm currently playing three campaigns two of which are random worlds but in the third start I was a lowly Khan in the Avar Khaganate in 769. Somehow I managed to get control of the entire realm, various unstable gavelkind shenanigans have seen my realm ebb and flow but at the moment I am looking pretty good and am aiming to take as much control of the realm as I can under my direct control before turning feudal.

And yet I know that in about 50 years the Magyars are going to show up to try and replace me . . .

 

[Ambion Iskariot]

769 as Bretons in Cornwall to found the Kingdom of Kimbre and make Wales bretonic is a surprisingly fun game I am doing atm - if you are willing to try another british run. Playing in the Tradition of king Arthur and go for Britanny with Knights instead of Heavy Infantry or Archers feels like a different game, at least in a 769 start.

 

[Castimirr]

I've gotten to really enjoy starting as Gotland in 769. Like all Norse runs it snowballs once you get going and you can take it basically any direction,, but I love the challenge of the opening.

 

[WJS]

I like the Meshchera. They start larger in 769 but are on the ropes in 867. A poor tribe surrounded by poor tribes, in 867 you've got a Khazar tributary and a large Slavic tribe bordering you, so you've got to balance things or you'll be overrun soon after the start.

 

[Serenity84]

769 is hardly the most interesting bookmark. You can do a lot in just two or three centuries. And especially Europe usually becomes a horrific mess being carved up between Muslims and Vikings


Sicily 1066 - tons of options. Holy war against the Muslims, defend against the Byzantines. Expand by marriage to the Balkans. Take part on the crusades

One of the historical crusader kings - advance the timeline a bit and start as one of the crusader kings in Jerusalem. The start is rough, but after that you're surprisingly powerful

876 - Wessex or one of the Vikings in the British Isles

1081 - the Byzantine Empire

769 - Zunism

769 or 876 - several options for Zoroastrianism. The biggest being the Bavandids and Karen

 

[Dakilla TM]

Luitfredo of Santiago in 769. You're the only playable Suebi character in the entire game. Break free from Asturias and form Galicia or Portugal, and eventually become Portuguese. You're also very old, so you will need kids ASAP.

Taghlibid Sultanate of Sindh in 769. Historically, you were just a Muslim governor for the Abbasids. But in game, you're a semi independent tributary state. The hard part is that all your vassals except one are heathens, and you're surrounded by them as well. Stay alive and convert the Sindhi people to Islam, and eventually form an Indian Caliphate.

 

[Wenceslaus II.]

Duke of Bohemia 1066, you can press your sister-in-law's claim on Hungary, get the Polish throne fairly easily through marriage and mess up the HRE from inside.

 

[Bernard95]

Ever look at the old Interesting Characters Guide on the CK2 Wiki? Lot of good starts in there to say the least. Got to agree with Serenity84 though that you ought to expand your horizons beyond 769.