Is Crusader Kings for the less than hardcore player?

[saskganesh]

my first CK game I loaded as Nurnberg. my old baron couldn't produce a heir, I died and a cousin from another dynasty took the county. game over.
my second: I loaded as Porto. within a single generation I was overrun by Muslims. game over.
my third: I took some advice. I loaded as Duke of Saxony, attacked the pagans in Mecklenberg, and gave the new land to my sons. and from there, once I had some success, most everything fell into place.

 

[vertinox]

2) Combat is rather straightforward, when two opposing armies meet, they fight, you have no control over it. If you have more than one army in a province (and they must not be on the move), there should be a box to combine armies in the bottom right of the army summary, or to split up combined armies.

Don't forget having a high Martial rating will also cause some upsets in battle of smaller versus larger forces.

Like those 20+ something Turks that eat up the Byzantines.

Also... By changing your laws you can change the makup of your units.

The best everyone says is Royal Prerogative because you get more heavy units, but you get more knights with feudal law.

Sometimes if my longbow or pike men tech is advanced I go with Popular law and give 50/50 power to peasants and burgers which give 50/50 archers/pikes which can be devastating to knights around the 1400s.

(Archers decimate on first hit and the the pikes are the counters to knights)

But early on I think RP or FC are the best military laws for units with low tech.