In 867, there's a duke with his capital in Barcelona; converting to Catalan and staying it (dont form Aragon) is amazing in this DLC- you have bonuses to cities that stacks amazingly with the bonuses to development you get from the unique Iberian dynasty perk, which lets you easily sprint ahead in development, especially during the more peaceful phases. Honestly, becoming Catalan and taking over Aquitane instead of invading southwards and helping maintain a period of relative peace is HUGELY beneficial, you will easily be the highest tech and wealthiest player in the world and take advantage of the struggle mechanic from a position where you needn't end the struggle ever.

Thank you so much for this, I couldn't figure out who to start as in this new dlc, and especially El cid I had no clue who he was or how to find him, and now I can't wait to get started!

A word of warning, Santiago is a Catholic Holy site-- fair warning, you can get crusaded out of existence if Crusades trigger due to a heathen holding that site. With that caveat, it's a great place to enter into Iberia. :D

Subscribed. Your user-friendly editing is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for the great videos! Playing as El Cid right now with the new DLC is just bringing CK3 to a whole new level! Would love to see what you would do in a future video. Thanks again for the great suggestions!

I just started ironman as King Sancho Jimena to go for achievement that need you to rule Valencia as heir of El Cid. And i love that start.

I've been enjoying urgel who has claims on Barcelona. Lots of infighting to North and reasonably safe.

ck3 every dlcs top starts in a nutshell: Haesteinn

the taifas didn't come onto the scene for about 100+ years after the 867 start. They need to nerf the new factions

Another fun virangian is jarl bagsec of jylland, he starts with half of denmark. If you want to go to southern Spain you need a county off brittany for diplo range. Conquered a norway duchy then saved up raid loot before going to cordoba after the umayyad split. Fun scary transition as i was surrounded by enemies on all sides with just one strong county. had to fight multiple two front wars with no siege equipment until i got two duchies. Used up most of my savings on mercs and most of my event troops were dead. Alot of luck with capturing leaders early in wars. Managed to carv out cordoba and seville before switching to mozarib or whatever. Now just trying to consolidate what i can while saving money for my heir to put down revolts. Been on my toes ever since I landed, so much harder than life in denmark.

Thank you for showing where they actually are on the map, I read about different starts people recommend as dukes or counts of places I’ve never heard of and I want to play them but I can never find them lmao

Popped this onto PE starts so might as well put it on here too since I follow both. Instead of Haestein i would suggest start as the tribal catholic norse lass in iceland.. take desmond and leon and your within reach of most of Iberia in minutes. Grab an Iberian duchy as building up a army to match Haesteins and maintaining it as tribal is easy I was in Iberia ready to go in no time *dont do vag adventure as you immediately turn feudal!! For my run i started in mallorca (cos of the Island roots) also it starts with catalan and the new religion which i switched to and before i became feudal I took the Valencia kingdom titles 10 counties. While your waiting for culture acceptance which is a mere 20% since she starts in the learning tree you can reload to get open minded off the bat (I like the catalan for high partition coupled with scandy election i can pick who i want) RAID RAID RAID hunt and party to build up prestige and cash for when you switch to feudal although raiding is so much i'm never in that much hurry to do. I think you should be able to capture fellow ibeirans and return them to affect the struggle while raiding, also before going feudal take all the land you wanted using tribal casus. If you want either of the viking legacies trees pop 1 level in before you turn feudal cos I think they disappear when you stop raiding i do like the extra diplomacy range and pillage is good if you grab practiced pirates at some point. I would also suggest (while tribal) giving your land to vassals and keep the worst county yourself that way your vassals manage the feudal holdings allowing you to build in them even as tribal all ready for when you take them back again.

Not that it is a great start for so far, but the Balearic Islands start as Mozarabic and because of where they are I am just kind of picking at the mainland while most people are leaving me alone also not sure how the game is calculating it but just being a little off the coast has given me way more diplomatic range, so I have more potential allies. Also, Mozarabic also help in the diplomacy because you can really ally with whoever you want. As I have said I am not like touting this as some secret op start but I have focused on diplomacy and while I have just been nibbling on the main land I am playing both sides of the fight with the backing of Italy and Byzantines (this one I needed more diplomatic range for). EDIT: This is for 867 I haven't done 1066 yet

Verry nice video

@ItalianSpartacus Al-Muqaddimah is publishing a lot of videos of the history how the arabic came to be prominent and lost the western influence, also recommended for the pronounciations

I normaly dont save videos, but this one i will. Later will many clips from famouse channels and will takeover in the top searches. I hope you reach millions subscripers🥰

your voiced cracked due to the excitement of it all

My favorite start is the duchess of Tuscany in 1066. Go to the court of Castle and marry El Cid. It will take some swaying but you can do it. Now that your children have the blood of El Cid you can get the Legacy of the Cameadores achievement by concerning the kingdom of Valencia. You can also Secure the Mediterranean for crazy bonuses.

Considering there is an achievement to conquer valencia as el cid's family member you need to play ironman. Get el cid aka rodrigo married into your family. Either him or his offspring. I presume so anyway. Haven't tried iberia in 1066 yet. I mean in fate of iberia yet.

That voice crack was epic

Started as Countess of Olmedo and its pretty hard though I did manage to form Duchy of Castille

baya is pretty fun

You forgot the man himself yusef bin tashfin ruler of fes who kicked alfonsos ass in sagragas and ucles

Start off in a Basque county and spread… you can convert to old basque religion and form the kingdom of Aragon.

4:42 You can't form a kingdom while being a vassal to a kingdom?

Al andalus isn't super hard if you manage the first war You just need to make sure you focus on the liberty war and kidnap/imprison as many of the worst vassals. The Asturias war drains a lot but i was lucky enough to capture the enemy heir. But even so you can win both wars in a grindy way, especially if you secure a mozarab ally to keep asturias busy for a little bit. Then it's a lot of diplomacy with the vassals and conquering the small ones. Leave Asturias last, and then finally assassinate your mozarab allies so you can conquer them too. If you're lucky they'll even eat up a few small guys along the way so they'll be plumped up for you. I actually managed to form Spain and end the entire struggle with Al andalus dominance with the beginning sultan of Al andalus. I just went straight whole of body and kept him alive until like 77 and formed the Empire before he died. No partition either, blobbing all of Western Europe is easy peasy after that

Video doesn’t really start until 20:04 😉

The guy that has Santiago in 867 is a rather easy start. His dad holds the county with the special lighthouse and he is rather old, you can either do an assassination plot against him or wait for him to die of old age, in this case it’s a good idea to ally him. Speaking of alliances, you start allied to Astorga, the county with Lugo. The best way to start is to immediately start fabricating a claim on Monterrei so you can create the duchy of Galicia without having to wait for father to die. After that is bit of luck, if your liege wins the war for Portucale, immediately declare war on Vimara for Portucale. Build up and declare an independence war against your liege so you can create the kingdom of Galicia, and maybe even aim for Portugal.

Can anyone please explain to me why el Cid is such a popular figure in Spain.. Yes he won a duel but what else? Anyone who can share their knowledge with me

I'd say that intrigue isnt all that good, and as a muslim you can marry another woman and put her as primary spouse for more important stats, martial or stewardship comes to mind.

Can you do el Cid ironman?

Start as King Sancho. Find El Cid. Give him all your counties. Play on. King Sancho dies. You usurp against King Alfonso (what the real El Cid never did) and become King yourself 👍🏼

No Wilfred the Hairy?!

The undertaker like ruler of the baja is very overated i played him and he wasnt the best especialy in this start badajoz is better

: D

So no way to play as El Cid with ironman & achievements enabled then, shame.