New Player. Here's what's confusing me. Help appreciated...

[Sclurp]

Hello all,

I'm enjoying CK3 so far! It's my first CK game and I'm getting a sense of how all the systems are working but now and again I will get notifications about issues that are taking place that the tooltips don't really explain how to approach fixing. One of them, that I've struggled to understand, is the lineage something or other -- where there's an issue with my vassals being powerful and I need to be more powerful so as to not affect my taxes...Sorry for not having the right terms to hand - I experienced that some hours ago and I've been bombarded with so many terms I can't remember them all top of my head.

Second game I tried, my son took over and a faction was formed against him. There was suddenly a dynasty issue where the son didn't become the head of the dynasty, someone else did and I'm not sure why. Then there was an issue with the son's father who I wanted to keep around as he had great skills and he would be useful on my council...but doing that created some kind of conflict a tooltip kept alerting me to because the dad was now affiliated with his paternal house (he had been married to my queen and became a part of her house until she died of consumption).

Any sympathetic CK3 fans that can help me get my head around this? So game #3 will run more smoothly? :)

Thank you.

[The Former]

If you're new to the game, I suggest starting with a count or duke, first of all. Starting with a kingdom throws a lot of internal chaos at you that can be a bit much for a new player to handle one after another.

Now, as far as dynasty... I believe the dynasty head is the dynasty member with the highest title and the most land in that title? I'm forgetting the exact rules, but it's something along those lines.

With regards to powerful vassals, you can't really avoid that once you start getting big. The best thing to do with those vassals is give them spots on your council and appease them with marriages, Sway plots, and so forth. Keep them on your good side as best you can!

If I were to guess, what happened with your character's father was that once the mother died, he returned to his previous realm. He may have inherited a title from his dead older brother or the like, it's hard to say.

Without seeing all the right terms and such it's hard to give exact advice, but in general, my best advice would definitely be to start as small as you can. Perhaps somewhere in Ireland, or if you prefer, as a vassal to one of the kings in England or Scotland. That way you can take it slow and steady.

[Mr.Hmm]

Did you start the tutorial? it should help you understand the mechanisms of the game.

[Sclurp]

Hello hello,

I did do the tutorial and kept playing once that had finished. So the first issue with the vassals took place in Ireland. I was a bit stubborn about their places on my council because their stats were so bad, haha. I had also murdered one of their sons because he was a psycho and I was thinking ahead and not wanting him to inherit the nearest castle to mine, then someone found out that secret and was gonna potentially expose it...so it got pretty messy. I will bear your advice in mind. It just really frustrates me when you have vassals that can't really offer much and yet demand a place at the table...Like, why not let me educate one of your kids and I'll let them join my council when they're grown? Settle for that, old man!

I hadn't thought about the dad inheriting anything. I did notice he was going to leave Italy (where my second game took place)...sorry, my character wasn't a queen - I see a crown and get ahead of myself. It was Matilda and that was quite a stressful game as I was trying to play without warfare and instead focus on diplomacy but all my alerts were about who I could go to war with. When she passed away, everything fell apart. Issues with different cultures...The dynasty issue which I still don't think I understand yet - will have to keep playing. But maybe I shouldn't have worried about the dynasty so much (I sent an army over and took the dude prisoner) and instead just focused on the heir (the son) growing up, as he was ten years old.

One thing I totally ignored in that playthrough was fame - I think that's maybe something important that could have helped me out. I was having such slow progress in Italy despite what looked great on paper (gold income/ having kids with great stats etc)

[Messsucher]

Well, if you look around your house what you see? You want to see happy people. Your vassals are you family in CK2, your dynasty is just fluff. Your dynasty matter nothing. Don't be unjust and look down people because of their lineage or abilities. Everyone is a human being!

Your "bad stats" vassal want to sit in your prestigious court because of obvious reasons, and he have the rights to demand place in it because he is a big part of your country. It is his natural right, which you can't deny. He is managing a big part of your country. Appreciate what he is doing! See and understand the people behind the numbers and their roles in your empire. Don't demand your subjects to do more, when it is you at the top who must make the greatest achievements in order to EARN your right to stay on top. For when the time come your worthiness to be on top will be viciously challenged.

[Sclurp]

Originally posted by Messsucher:

Well, if you look around your house what you see? You want to see happy people. Your vassals are you family in CK2, your dynasty is just fluff. Your dynasty matter nothing. Don't be unjust and look down people because of their lineage or abilities. Everyone is a human being!

Your "bad stats" vassal want to sit in your prestigious court because of obvious reasons, and he have the rights to demand place in it because he is a big part of your country. It is his natural right, which you can't deny. He is managing a big part of your country. Appreciate what he is doing! See and understand the people behind the numbers and their roles in your empire. Don't demand your subjects to do more, when it is you at the top who must make the greatest achievements in order to EARN your right to stay on top. For when the time come your worthiness to be on top will be viciously challenged.

Ok but when that vassal would ruin the economy or cripple my ability to effectively spy on others etc... I'm gonna be unhappy.

[Messsucher]

Originally posted by TheDeadYoshi:

Originally posted by Messsucher:

Well, if you look around your house what you see? You want to see happy people. Your vassals are you family in CK2, your dynasty is just fluff. Your dynasty matter nothing. Don't be unjust and look down people because of their lineage or abilities. Everyone is a human being!

Your "bad stats" vassal want to sit in your prestigious court because of obvious reasons, and he have the rights to demand place in it because he is a big part of your country. It is his natural right, which you can't deny. He is managing a big part of your country. Appreciate what he is doing! See and understand the people behind the numbers and their roles in your empire. Don't demand your subjects to do more, when it is you at the top who must make the greatest achievements in order to EARN your right to stay on top. For when the time come your worthiness to be on top will be viciously challenged.

Ok but when that vassal would ruin the economy or cripple my ability to effectively spy on others etc... I'm gonna be unhappy.

Think again, would you really build an economy which requires certain person to keep it rolling. Is that flexible, or is there in real horribly weak link.

[dcbobo]

Originally posted by TheDeadYoshi:

Originally posted by Messsucher:

Well, if you look around your house what you see? You want to see happy people. Your vassals are you family in CK2, your dynasty is just fluff. Your dynasty matter nothing. Don't be unjust and look down people because of their lineage or abilities. Everyone is a human being!

Your "bad stats" vassal want to sit in your prestigious court because of obvious reasons, and he have the rights to demand place in it because he is a big part of your country. It is his natural right, which you can't deny. He is managing a big part of your country. Appreciate what he is doing! See and understand the people behind the numbers and their roles in your empire. Don't demand your subjects to do more, when it is you at the top who must make the greatest achievements in order to EARN your right to stay on top. For when the time come your worthiness to be on top will be viciously challenged.

Ok but when that vassal would ruin the economy or cripple my ability to effectively spy on others etc... I'm gonna be unhappy.

Just a heads up, you'll be unhappy more than once in this game, but hopefully in a good way? :) The more you learn, you'll find ways to work around or minimize your unhappiness :)

[Messsucher]

Yeah. This is grand strategy, and it is not in vain grand strategy. You must see the big picture. Then you can become an emperor.

[Sclurp]

I hear you...I will try to plan like a generation ahead. Invest in my heirs and schemes against my rival's heirs I guess :)

[Seizure Storm]

For vassals try not to focus on having one really big vassal but spread it out to a bunch of small vassals. I find it's easier to keep a lot of people somewhat happy to reduce chance of u getting backstabbed by someone 100% crucial.

[Sclurp]

One thing that confuses me, is what you're supposed to do when you're gonna lose a title/county when the heir to the vassal dies (there's an alert about it). You have to increase your level but I couldn't progress any further because my culture didn't allow it...so I was stumped.