Can Scotland succeed?

[Gunn]

Extremely new to CK2 and have all of the "Expansion" content. I figured since my RL last name is from a Scottish clan (Gunn), I'd try them out!

I plan to play as a small count/chief(?) in Scotland, probably Caithness (north Scotland). My question is this. If I start that small, is there any chance I'll actually be able to become anything? I don't want to just jump in and start as a King and thought it would be more fun to sort of grow into that position or "work" towards it, but if it's not exactly feasible as a tiny little Scottish count, then maybe I"ll try someone else.

[Zednaught]

Within 150 years, you could comfortably go from a count to king of all Scotland, even emperor of the British Isles!

Starting from a small count and working my way up is my favorite way to play the game.

[Gunn]

Originally posted by Zednaught:

Within 150 years, you could comfortably go from a count to king of all Scotland, even emperor of the British Isles!

Starting from a small count and working my way up is my favorite way to play the game.

Excellent. Then maybe that's what I'll try for my first serious game after several trial runs of just learning how different things work!

[Twelvefield]

Let us know how it goes!

“Where shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, when the battle 's lost and won” There's a reason Shakepeare wrote about these nations at this time... “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.”

[Valentine Michael Smith]

I just want to warn you that if you play the 867 start date you're going to have a bad time with vikings

[kaiyl_kariashi]

You can succeed as anyone, but it's mostly a question of how soon do you want to rule the world and how good you are at the game.

Anyone in the British Isles is a very safe nation as it doesn't change much over time and is a pretty passive place, and the smaller you are, generally the easier the game is as there's less to manage and you can set your nation up properly from the start instead being thrust into a pile of mismatched duchies and counties and revolts every 4-7 months like trying to playing an emperor or very large nation king can be.

especially when you as a newbie don't know how to fix those things yet.

[quarre]

Sure you can start as a count with single county and grow into something. Its a bit defferent from yours, but my last game i started as a count in Sjaelland in 769, and in 200 years made my way into almost BYZ emperor (i have few kingdoms of BYZ, but real BYZ emperor title is still exists, as a small duchy and will be inherited by my son) with targeting to get Lombardy :)

There will be few things that will hold your expansion, tho. Like, you cant create same or higher title with your liege. Means until you get independence or overthrow your king, you're stuck on duke level. And if you're not independent, you cant reform into merchant republic.

Btw, a little advice: try to make your way into Wales, if you wanna rule Brittania. You cant have too much of demense without cons, and Wales is only of 4 BR kingdms that is small enough so you can rule it by your own. Next is Ireland, then Scottland, and last is England. The thing is vassals. Those are jerks. And the bigger you are, the more vassals yoou have. Having a peaceful base where you hold every county in your own hands and can be 100% sure in everything is good.

[SKull]

The first war is the most difficult one really. Going from one to two counties makes a world of difference already, and you can start bullying the other one county people. To make sure I get it, I always save up so I can afford the cheapest mercenaries before launching the first one. It's expensive but I also never lose it. From two counties it should be easy enough to become a duke, and then you can start working on becoming king.
But if you're asking if it's possible to play as a small vassal for the entire game, then the answer is sort of. The problem with this is that your overlords tend to be morons. I once had all of France conquered around my ears by the Muslims as the Duke of Burgundy when I tried to do this. One useless French king after another for about 150 years... And Scotland is if anything worse because it's smaller than England and ripe for the picking just as soon as there is internal strife. Safer to rule it yourself than to rely on the AI rulers.

[Gunn]

Awesome appreciate the replies guys. Gonna try a game shortly with all this info!

[Candesco]

Originally posted by Valentine Michael Smith:

I just want to warn you that if you play the 867 start date you're going to have a bad time with vikings

That just depends where you start. Viking raids do happen yes and there is a viking chief on the british isles, who got help from other vikings if you declare war on him. Scotland is pretty safe to use, as it's not at war with anyone. Northumbria, East Anglia and that harald the white fight each other. Also, after some time the king of
Jylland tries to get hold on England and often invades Mercia or Wessex.
I have picked Mide on the other side, that's Ireland, and no vikings there. Also played with Frisia, which is part of West-Francia, but there raids will happen frequently. Raids are a bit of a nuisance, but not troublesome.