Was it always this difficult?

[Omniburg]

I've played CK2 since about 2016 or so and I remember I used to carve out entire empires and the game was my sandbox. I'd found multiple bloodlines on a character and generally everyone was my plaything. I switched to CK3 when it came out but have recently been sorely missing a lot of the missing features from CK2 and got some nostalgia, and I also felt CK3 is way too easy, often I'm quickly emperor tier in one life.

I have been trying to play as the King of Wales in 769 on CK2 and it is seriously kicking my ass. On the one hand, I love the difficulty and the more real feel, but on the other hand I'm a little confused as to how I can improve. All my vassals are constantly scheming and causing me issues even if they like me. Umayyads and Abbasids have taken over half the world and even killing many of their rulers won't tear them apart. I can never win tanistry elections, and worst of all almost all my characters seriously suck.

I've had two good characters and one of them was my custom starting guy. I seem to botch their education every time and even after building up my demense and getting tons of troop for my small size the awful moral authority of the religion will cause huge heretic revolts I simply can't win, I can't even get any allies because there are no strong christian kings outside of Italy, and the stupid pope won't ever help me out without me giving him every thing I have just for a damned coronation. Any advice here? What have I forgotten in the last few years?

[galadon3]

Well welcome back from CK3 and its "difficulty"^^

On a more serious note the main problem might be having the bad luck of Charlemagne messing things up in both games, the 769 start is always kinda hit and miss for Christianity and if Charlie messes it up Moral authority might tank leading to a rather weak christianity.

Also for the coronation, unless you're an emperor you can ask a local bishop wich is much cheaper. For the pope, switch to free investiture, then most of the time he just asks you to switch back.

[Omniburg]

Originally posted by galadon3:

Well welcome back from CK3 and its "difficulty"^^

On a more serious note the main problem might be having the bad luck of Charlemagne messing things up in both games, the 769 start is always kinda hit and miss for Christianity and if Charlie messes it up Moral authority might tank leading to a rather weak christianity.

Also for the coronation, unless you're an emperor you can ask a local bishop wich is much cheaper. For the pope, switch to free investiture, then most of the time he just asks you to switch back.

Thanks. You're absolutely right about it being hit or miss. I tried again and this time the moral authority stayed high, no vikings were able to get into Britain (surpisingly), and mass conversions assured Scandanavia became part of the Christian world in the 800's. Umayyads and Abbasids still blobbed out, but eventually a crusade led to the crumbling of the Umayyads and factions finally split the Abbablob in two. I'm now Emperor of Prydain, and though my characters still routinely suck (never inherit any good genes and rarely get a T4 education), I have managed to get imperial administration and only 3 viceroys I need to manage so it's pretty smooth sailing.

[basement guy]

Never tried CK3 but I'd say it often depends on your settings before you start a game. The more DLCs the more options available, some will make your life miserable, and a single random event chain can quickly ruin a perfect game.
Now I always double check every option before my ironmode games, makes the achievements quest wayyyy easier.