What is the ''perfect'' leader (King/Duke/Count)

[deknegt]

Question is quite simple. What do you think makes a Leader good and if you create or breed for a leader what do you want the most. Aside from specific traits, do you want high diplo, or high martial etc.?


What does everyone look for in the perfect king for your lands?

 

[1alexey]

treasury skills.

I really like to hold 7-8 counties fully packed with cities(preferably coastall). Makes you rich as hell even as a count.

 

[DCyDe]

Stewardship > everything else, sadly vanilla CK2 has this one stat that beats any other by a hundred times.

 

[Cymsdale]

Diplomacy > Stewardship > Martial/Intrigue > Learning

Edit: Martial education is best because of the health boost if you can get a high diplomacy along it through other means.

Edit edit: This is for very large realms. The weights shift if you are controlling a smaller state. Diplomacy becomes less important, and intrigue and stewardship become more important.

 

[Talq]

At (large) kingdom level I prefer diplomacy. For smaller kingdoms & below stewardship is good. The other three don't really bring enough to the table.

 

[deknegt]

Another question in terms of Ruler Designer.

Would you rather start out with the biggest education like Grey Eminence, Midas Touched? Or do you rather spend directly into their respective skills?

I would personally think that the worst education would cripple your children's education too if you educate them yourself, which I at least always do with my heir and 2nd.

 

[Beagá]

There are situations for Diplo, Intrigue and Stewardship. If on the short term it´s impossible to increase demesne, having low stewardship is not a problem at all. Also, being spymaster of anyone can lead to very interesting options. But for kings, Diplo is the best stat 80% time. Specially if the plan is increasing Crown authority ASAP. Good luck doing that with 15 stewardship and 0 diplo.

Intrigue´s power depends a lot on how often intrigue is used and if the player reloads after failing assassinations.

 

[Cymsdale]

Intrigue´s power depends a lot on how often intrigue is used and if the player reloads after failing assassinations.

If you're going to reload after a failed attempt, why not just use a console command to kill your target and save time? People are strange.

 

[unmerged(237533)]

Another question in terms of Ruler Designer.

Would you rather start out with the biggest education like Grey Eminence, Midas Touched? Or do you rather spend directly into their respective skills?

I would personally think that the worst education would cripple your children's education too if you educate them yourself, which I at least always do with my heir and 2nd.

With martial education it can improve through battle, and the chances of this happening are heightened by having a high base martial skill. So just give your ruler a 20+ base martial skill and misguided warrior, then stick him in a bunch of battles, and he should fairly quickly hit brilliant strategist.

 

[Beagá]

Not speaking for myself, but lots of people do reload if their heir is killed or the liege discovers their failed attempt at murdering him. And in that case yes, then just use console if the plan is 100% success rate, to not waste time

 

[Mods]

if your empire is really big go diplomacy, if not you want stewardship.
If you're a vassal intrigue might be useful too, for becoming spymaster and killing your liege of course

 

[BigHamster]

Depends on realm size.
When a count Intrigue > Stew > Dipl
When Duke Stew > Dipl > Intr
Kinag and above Dipl is best.
Learning is total trash, but martial is not so bad, it is even more important if you lack good generals.

 

[NewbieOne]

I like the constant tech increases from high learning, actually. On the other hand, if you have stellar stewardship you can earn more, invest more, improve your income base for the future. BUT diplo does prevent a lot rebellions and help a lot of marriages.

 

[Gunnarr]

well... to be honest most of my games i go for learning... just for role-playing reasons I guess...

second most i go for martial.. so i can have the king lead an army... also mostly for role-play reasons..

I have never tried going stewardship really only a ruler or two, never intrigue, diplomacy never either

this is all probably because a "perfect ruler" in my eyes would be a pious one, or if playing certain cultures, one that is a good general.

it is probably best not to follow what I do

 

[SweetHalcyHS]

I usually go Diplomacy>Stewardship>Martial>Learning>Intrigue.

Diplomacy, for obvious reasons. Unhappy vassals = tons of problems.

Stewardship is great, but the problem is, it's too unreliable and varies. Therefore, you end up keeping a demesne or two extra, but you're even too afraid to invest in them because you don't know whether your heir is going to be as awesome as you are. It's just stressful, and those demesne slots become vacant one way or another for long periods of time. Perhaps in a smaller realm, when you need to keep everything together, but in larger realms, macro is greater than micro.

Martial is good, especially with global boosts as a ruler, but not great. The gap in martial levels can easily made up by micro or simply more troops. Besides, high martial skills tends to get you into more better; therefore gets you killed more often - whether you're a vassal or independent. :s (Especially if you're a vassal)

Learning... Eh, it's a long term thing. Universities are a much more reliable investment if you want technology. It just doesn't offer enough as a stat to overcome the others.

I always want to keep low intrigue on my characters. The reason?

IMPRISONMENT, BITCHES.

 

[Blond_Knight]

I almost exclusively use martial now (especially with mods that make combat more dangerous and meaningful) and have little trouble keeping my vassals in check. Makes for a more interesting game too I think.

 

[Sir Tornado]

I prefer Diplomacy even when I am small because you can convince other vassals to support you more easily.

CKII is a game of interacting and maintaining good relations with the other nobles, so I think Diplo is more effect... Personally, even with mediocre stewardship skills, I have never felt short of money or troops when I need them. (with higher diplo skills, you also get better vassal levies to cover for smaller demesne than higher stewardship ruler)

 

[Sir Tornado]

I prefer Diplomacy even when I am small because you can convince other vassals to support you more easily.

CKII is a game of interacting and maintaining good relations with the other nobles, so I think Diplo is more effect... Personally, even with mediocre stewardship skills, I have never felt short of money or troops when I need them. (with higher diplo skills, you also get better vassal levies to cover for smaller demesne than higher stewardship ruler)

 

[Cymsdale]

What's a bit silly is that diplomacy is much more important than intrigue for plots. All the plot power in the world won't matter if you don't reach the "minimum number of plotters.", and how much the potential plotter likes you is the biggest controllable factor in getting them to join.

 

[Aeon221]

Intrigue on a ruler seems to have an impact on what plots are or are not available.