I hope this clears the air about levies, army quality, educating kids, and all the other little things that might otherwise slip by! And it's all 1.1.2 tested.

I had NO idea even after hundreds of hours in the game that 'war for kingdom' allowed you to take territory outside the war target! Really glad I watched this.

“Don’t raise your entire force for quick outcomes” I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that

I had a knight who has provess 40 at the age of 61 he killed 170 men in one battle, so knights are important in this game

de jurey is out on this video.

Education focus should absolutely be a notice just like in CK2. Btw, I read the wiki on child education, and having a guardian with either genius, intelligent or quick is way way better than a 4 star education.

Small tip: when the enemy army is split over multiple provinces, attack the stack with the weakest commander. The commander in charge seems to be "locked in" when the battle starts, and the reinforcements won't change that. Same applies in reverse: if you're being attacked, switch your commanders around so that the best one is in the stack that gets hit first.

Beware of going on a hunt when you know there is a murder plot against you or one of your courtiers, as going hunting can trigger the assassination early. I nearly lost my character and my heir because the plotter trying to kill my heir attacked us while we were alone. It was a good thing I had decent prowess.

Diplomacy: forced vassalization is trash due to the realm size limit, but Befriend+Flatterer+Friendly Counsel is OP, essential to keep a large empire together.

I've never noticed the "Your Feast" window until you pointed it out at 16:30!

So, in conclusion, ladies and gentlemen of de Jure. If the crown does not fit, you must aquit!

5:20 don’t forget to recruit them in the prison as well, wars and rebellions help to find knights for free.

My biggest mistake was not knowing if you befriend the pope he will give you tons of gold and troop i didnt see that until 5 generations in

I see so many streamers/letsplayers mess up with #3 (or at least, the part about forbidding a character from being a knight) and it's sooo frustrating to watch them complain (and some even act like it's the game's fault) when their heirs and talented councilors keep dying off. Stop putting them on the front lines of the army, dummy!

Remember If possible to time your attacs on ruler changes. Mostly this means fewer Enemy allies, a weaker ruler, more likely civil Wars to weaken opposition and possibly a smaller army opposing you to begin with.

I can attest to not relying on levies. I spent over 200 yrs game time doing that and, after dominating for this long, it's caught up to me.

Ctrl+Right click can force a raising army to move immediately with what they currently have.

Suicide could be bad for your health?? How long were you planning to withhold this information?

Friendly Counsel is one of the most powerful perks - every friend you have grants you a few random skill points. You can rack up dozens of friends in a lifetime and could wind up with all your skills at 20+ with little effort.

Just got the game, started a campaign and basically made every error you'd mentioned. Game on for take 2, Great guide!

Dude this is easily the best guide ive ever listened to. Very well structured, clear voice, explanations and use of examples insanely well put together. This is work

8:10 I've had the exact opposite experience. I often only raise local armies for wars and they always come with the superior units.

befriend scheme is one of the perk i get first, as they can use as a tool to invite knights from the pool to your court. It's also one of the thing that you can constantly do in your intrigue panel rather than just swaying as befriend is much powerful. When you have enough friends and done unlocking all the important perks, you can go for the friendly counsel and it boosts up your skills base on the number of friends you have made.

I think diplomacy tree is op skill tree. Befriend schemes does prevent vassals from creating faction. It also can be used as a recruiting knights and skillful individuals. Also improves opinion of troublesome vassals because it gives 60 positive opinion. Below the befriend perk, there's stress reduce perk based on the number of your friends and also perk that gives skill points based also on the number of your friends. I get zero stress in every contradicting decision i make. Befriending appropriate people can become agents in hostile schemes and also helps in marriages. It also can get you an alliances. Befriend is way better than abduction. I choose diplomacy skills over intrigue. August skill tree is op as well. Getting high in prestige and also bonus on higher the fame.

This episode was really helpful for me. I hadn't twigged yet that levies were just cannon-fodder and I should focus on my men-at-arms. Thanks for the info!

I will never get used to seeing an under 1000 army beat a 3000 one. Never seems to be successful for me if I try something like that, though that just means I'm not utilising my armies properly then. Great vid Party!

So id like to amend one thing here. Dont rely on levies/ invest in levy oriented buildings in your own lands. If you want to pacify potentially troublesome vassals, invest in as many of those levy buildings and gold generating buildings as possible so you can profit off of their dues to you without having any potential buffs towards their men-at-arms regiments.

To Raise only a fraction of your army, just set the Game on slow speed. Call Hole Army (Knights and Man at Arms are instant called) and Levis will drop in Day by Day. So let the Army rise some day to the needed Number and then Right Control Click send out that army. This will stop the Rest of the Levi to show up and you dont have to disband them getting the penalty of recalling them later when needed.

Some of the best speaking on a tutorial video. Nice and slow, thorough and concise. Thanks.

I just want to add something to your "Dont Ignore Diplomacy" At the late game (when you have a ton of vassals and money) that one pippet of point for thoughtful is a game changer. Vassals hate you? 10 of them right of the bat are trying to "liberate" themslelves from you? (when yours heir takes your place) Get that one point and just give them gifts, they can go from -50 to 100+ with like 100 gold.

You can get rid of poor(or problematic) Vassal by forcing him to be knight aswell... Its random, but if they have poor provess, soon or later someone get rid of them for you. You can separate them from army and let them attack stack of enemy troops themself(Leeeeroy...) to speed it up. Its not automatic kill or wound, most of times they get defeated and run so it takes couple of tries. But poor vassals are cancer of your kingdom, specially if they get influential and demands seat in council. Get rid of them and try breed your vassals to be capable in at least something. That should be number 9, choose your Vassals wisely and dont let them grow too strong. Sometimes it takes some creativity to take land from them, but more land they control, harder it is to keep them happy and loyal.

I GOT IT! Steve Buscemi, that's who you sound like. I have been watching your content for a month and it's been bugging me. Carry on with the great content! :)

Not even past the first bullet point and already excited to play again with this information. Thanks!

After watching several hours of other ck3 guieds, this was by far the most helpful, thanks!

Bought this game today... these videos are so awesome! Thank you! I've already learned so much.

Thanks that bit about the Casus Belli for the Kingdom title was new to me, but makes sense similar to how Stellaris works under some casus belli.

Dang I never knew people shit on the diplomacy tree. I've always found it extremely beneficial and good

i always thought diplo was the strongest tree given that nobody rebels, everybody give me full taxes and i have over 40 on all stats with friendly cousel.

This video gave me so much info on things I was wondering about. Good video!

Thanks for this. the individual education focus of heirs and such... That is new info for me and will help me early in creating my next heir. I just started playing and these small tidbits of info are coming in handy.

You can actually raise your men-at-arms only, by raising all armies on pause (which immediately raises all men-at-arms and knights), selecting the immediately-raised army, and seperating it onto another province by pressing CTRL.

All still very applicable to 1.3. I think by now though, we've all learned that the Befriend perk may be the most brokenly powerful perk in this game.

Been playing for a month and watched tons of tutorials but this one is super helpful!!

Thanks for the tips!

Great video I had no idea of some of these tips. Thank you!

after 150 hours of playing CK3, this video helped me to learn new things! thank you

That was perfect! Very helpful.

Words of Wisdom: Never... Take... The Carpet...

Thanks for the tips, Steve Buscemi!

I just downloaded CK3 yesterday. Looking forward to playing it. Thank you for the video.

Gotta hand it to you, the way you narrate these guides is surprisingly gripping, considering the Format. Propably the best way for my taste from all the guides i have seen, and i have seen plenty on many games

Dude, this tips are just amazing. Thank you !

Your men-at-arms are actually raised if you click on the raise local army. That's why I like it because then you can raise an army somewhere with like 10 levies and then have a purely men-at-arms force without having to micro.

You're video is amazing thank you deeply and please make more!

With a large family and a lot of friends Friendly Counsel and Sound Foundations under the Family Hierarch tree are incredibly powerful. You can easily get most or all traits above 20

Amazing guide. Ty 🙌

I use hunts and feasts mostly to reduce stress but I do enjoy some of the opportunities they offer also.

This was very helpful. Thank you.

Invite Champions cost too much. Capture enemy knights and demand their conversion and recruit. Its a free knight!

Thank you, this was very helpful

8:30 much easier: on pause raise all. select capital rally point troops hold ctrl + rmouse. Dismiss other armies. You've got your guards+knights.

Nice video with some good tips. Don't agree on the levies tho, just had a game starting as count and had WC pre anno 1200 with almost exclusively levies and some light cavs, army quality doesn't really matter that much when you always outnumber the enemy 10-50:1. You can basically be in wars from start to finish because they are so dirt cheap and stupidly overpower levies reinforcement rate

You speak very well! We gotta get you paid sponsorships to announcing/explaining movies/games

If you have lots of rival vassals and you invite them for a feast you get the option of locking them in the room and burning them, it's my fav thing to do after I unite Spain as Sancho

The court physician thing is 100% true. Played as William the Bastard trying to take over England, got wounded in battle twice, physician negated me acquiring the trait both times. Thanks, Doc. They also saved one of my best knights so that was cool too.

Brilliant. Thank you.

The best lifestyle is stewardship. Starting with Wealth Focus (+10% gold) then, on the Avaricious tree, Golden Obligations. This alone, 1 trait, and you already have the conditions to pay for your mercenaries on blackmail gold alone. After this, take Heregeld (Vassal Tax +10%), War Profiteer (at war income +10%), Detailed Ledgers (Republican Tax +10% and Opinion +20) and finally, on the Architect tree, Tax Man (Collect Taxes Effectiveness +25%). These 5 traits should be taken regardless of your characters education bonus, i would say. After those 5, if you have Stewardship education bonus, the Administrator tree is the best follow-up. On a whole, you get an incredible amount of Vassal opinion, even more Vassal tax, less Tyranny and even less chances of your Vassals joining something against you. I honestly don't see how any of the other trees can compete with this.

1. Build and max out every blacksmith (duchy building) and barracks asap. 2. Watch a unit of your 200 atk/def Heavy infantry annihilate an entire army of 20k strong.

Great tips. Thanks!

Missed that lifestyle button, nice1 ty

I have been kinda forced into Diplomacy by a couple of heirs now and theyre high stats, and I have to say it is pretty powerful to be well liked. It is easy to control vassals and avoid problems getting in the way of your goals. The Matriach tree with befriend and perks to kids(heirs) is a strong choice, especially if you combine with learning(scholar) or want to completely avoid stress while abducting and murdering the entire world!

Thx for all the vid's going to take the plunge now and probably fail horrible XD

Excellent advice

I love when an enemy soldier or a knight with 3 prowess kills my 25+ prowess, lvl 3 blademaster heir

Thanks!! Nice tips

Great stuff!

11:53 I'll give an update to mention how the game mechanic where "Only you" can be the guardian of another's child was changed. Now, yes, *anyone* in your court can be chosen as the guardian of another person's child.

One of my most powerful rulers focused on diplomacy, the entire realm loved him, his neighbours loved him. He died of a botched surgery and his intrigue focused heir lost the throne a month into his reign. The son gained the throne back a few years later after becoming a "loved" member of the realm and *cough cough* killing his brother and nephew.

I click on CK3 videos just so I can hear which words the uploader mispronounces. Not disappointed, 3 minutes in and I've heard more talk about Da Jury than a mafia boss on trial.

About the diplomacy skill tree... I formed Brittania in a single lifetime playng as a viking count in Jorvik with it. So... Pretty damn cool skill tree if you ask me.

Err diplomacy could also lower your stress with confidants it is stackable and at 20 friend you will gain no stress, it is continue to exist even when your friend dies, it last until end of your character life, maybe unintentional or bugs but it is as it is.

One aspect of the game that is daunting is the amount of choices and the long term effects. I'd wouldn't want to just go and conquer the world, it'll probably fail or depends on luck or cheese. I'll want a plan that balances short term needs (minimally) with long term goals: having a powerful dynasty and getting the fun upgrades take take centuries. getting high skill descendants with nice traits having a fun culture and advance it prepare to reform my own custom religion and convert allies if possible also witchcraft (many feasts help chance to encounter?) preferably small but highly developed lands As the religion reform is a lifetime task, should I even focus on that for the first character or prepare an heir to do so? Lifestyle can be adjusted for getting high skilled kids, but you could also just marry well and have many kids. This can be done with various different ways. Maybe make a video on examples of long term strategy? You can mention various lifestyle combinations. A dynasty with a phase for conquest, for development, for the reform, expanding the dynasty and getting good traits, culture focus etc. Both how to set up the next heir and how to make the best of you have if not possible.

From my experience, the penalty of attacking across the seas only applies if those armies are being attacked directly. If you attack one army that doesn't have the penalty, the other 2 enemy armies with the penalty can just reinforce, negating the debuff on themselves

Holy shit, thanks for this video!

Holy shit this is so useful, especially the bit about kingdom wars!

Loved the vid. Commenting for the algorithm m'lord.

I like to make sure as i grow to raise all immediately during a big war and combining what i need. It can disuade any raiders that were making it towards you as army ai pathing takes into consideration enemy armies on the field

Great video!

6:52 This can be mitigated by investing in your holdings and focusing your character on stewardship though. I don't think I ever ran in a deficit, even when at war. But I do like to take things slow and steady tbh.

Hands down this is the most complicated game I have ever played. The only game I have ever needed a tutorial for. That being said, I'm pretty sure it's awesome. I'll just have to stop screwing it up to find out.

Started a game in ~800 in west Africa (Bassa). Became Duke, king and emperor of Guinea, then was razed to king, then duke... By the year of 1350 I'm emperor all over again and after a dynasty of several rulers, I had NO idea you could focus child education. Thanks for that.

I also had no idea how to conquer more than just the selected dutchy. I started to believe the game just didn’t have it as an option lol good tip

thank you for this infomational video#

Later game and early game diplomacy is the best tree. Stewartship comes in hand in fuedal tradition

13:40 is it worth considering switching to diplomacy for a breif moment to grab befriend, groomed to rule and either one or both of sway bonus or send gift bonus, then switching to scholarship focus to grab the other guardianship perk to raise uberheirs

Or if you're a large faction next to small ones, you can just ask to vaselize them instead of conquering them. So much easier.

Super video!!

I found out about cultural conversion the hard way, I had a Lotharingian game split apart almost immediately after conquering east Francia cause I was French and everyone in my Kingsom was some flavour of German.

Big question: If I built for example an "Military Camps" in a Duchy i not mine, but of my vassals, does it has effect on my men-at-arms?

Is your enemie too strong for you? There is still a way to win: 1) A larger army loose they supplys quickly. If you stay near (but not too near) they will chase you and lose men over time. 2) Send your men around through neutral cauntries or the sea to siege the enemie Capital. Even if you have to retreat after that, you may capture a important character or sell some for money. Also you can slow down the increase in warscore for your enemie. 3) Sometimes it is advantage to give a weaker commander the lead. For exmple if he has the siege skill and you have send 400 levies to take a castle 4) Even if you get smashed - do not give up! You can always train the next generation to destroy your enemie from the inside.