الوسم: Crusader Kings 3

  • Completing Court Grandeur in Crusader Kings 3: A Guide to Solving It

    Completing Court Grandeur in Crusader Kings 3: A Guide to Solving It

    With each new update and downloadable content for Crusader Kings 3, players face new systems and mechanics to grasp. Some of these systems are straightforward, enhancing existing features, while others may completely overhaul how things work or introduce entirely new gameplay elements. The addition of the Royal Court brought several notable changes.

    One of the key features is Court Grandeur. Managing the Royal Court itself can be a challenge, but each aspect of the court also has its own system to oversee. How does the world perceive your court, and what do your subjects think? There’s a lot to consider, so here’s a breakdown of what this system entails and tips for leveraging it effectively.

    What Is Court Grandeur?


    Every ruler of a sufficiently large domain has a Royal Court, but its significance is particularly evident for those with King titles and higher. The larger your realm, the more your subjects expect an impressive court. This is what Court Grandeur measures. The higher your Court Grandeur, the better the benefits your court provides, which in turn garners more support from your vassals.

    Your Royal Court consists of several amenities you can adjust, including:

    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Lodgings
    • Servants

    Each of these amenities provides unique advantages, like how better food can offer more stress relief during feasts. Additionally, they contribute to your overall Court Grandeur. While Court Grandeur can increase through special events, it tends to decline over time. Your goal is to establish a solid baseline that you can maintain.

    This is why enhancing your amenities is crucial. While it might cost a lot, the rewards can be significant. Your Royal Court can take various forms, whether diplomatic or military-focused. Higher levels of Court Grandeur activate more powerful effects from your chosen court style. For instance, a military-focused court with a level four Court Grandeur boosts your knights’ effectiveness by 10% and increases troop numbers from your strong vassals.

    To maximize your success, strive to keep your Court Grandeur as high as possible, with perks available up to level 10, the peak level.

    How To Manage Court Grandeur Expectations


    Different tooltips related to court grandeur in Crusader Kings 3.

    However, with an impressive court comes elevated expectations. Your vassals will expect greatness from you, and this leads to what are known as Grandeur Expectations. Based on your titles and the territories you control, your vassals will set a Grandeur Expectation for you.

    If you fall short of these expectations, there will be consequences, which can worsen the more you miss the mark. Meeting expectations won’t yield any additional benefits, but exceeding them will. For instance, if your vassals anticipate a Court Grandeur of level six and you achieve level eight, you’ll gain increased monthly prestige and a better opinion from courtiers, guests, and vassals. Being slightly below the expectation has manageable penalties, but it’s always smart to maintain a buffer above it to avoid the drawbacks that can add up over time.

    How To Increase Court Grandeur


    Bonuses related to court grandeur levels in Crusader Kings 3.

    Now that we know what Court Grandeur is, the next step is increasing it. There aren’t many ways to do this, but they are fairly consistent. The easiest and most impactful method is by upgrading your various amenities. Each amenity boosts your baseline Court Grandeur while active, ensuring you can’t drop below that level. This is especially beneficial during succession, as it helps prevent your vassals from showing displeasure towards the new ruler.

    Other methods to boost your grandeur are more limited. The most common method is holding court, which provides a substantial boost to Court Grandeur. However, keep in mind that this benefit diminishes over time, so it shouldn’t be your sole strategy for maintaining high levels. Establishing a strong baseline is always the best approach.

  • Completing Raids in Crusader Kings 3: A How-To Guide

    Completing Raids in Crusader Kings 3: A How-To Guide

    A significant part of Crusader Kings 3 revolves around growing your kingdom, whether through territorial expansion or enhancing the lands you already control. However, different realms operate under different rules, and the notion of honorable warfare isn’t universal. Many players choose to accumulate wealth through raiding instead.

    Raiding stands out as a distinct system that allows you to scour the world for treasure without needing to declare a formal war. This system has its intricacies, including who is eligible to raid and how frequently you can plunder a location. Let’s break down the elements of raiding to better understand how it functions and when it’s best to engage in this practice.

    What Is Raiding?

    Raiding is a straightforward process. If you’re able to raid, simply navigate to the military screen and raise your armies as Raiders. You can do this with your full army, local forces, or Men-at-Arms, just as you would in a regular war.

    Since you don’t need a formal war declaration for raiding, you can set out with your troops and raid any area you choose. This means your army will be regarded as hostile towards everyone, and any group can engage you in battle. It’s essential to keep this in mind to avoid running into a stronger enemy unexpectedly.

    The raiding process itself resembles a siege. You position your forces in the location you wish to raid and wait to take control. Once successful, you’ll gather Loot based on the development level of the location you raided. However, this Loot doesn’t convert to Gold immediately. Your Raiders must return to friendly territory to deposit their Loot, which will then become Gold.

    You can see the Loot available at a Holding by clicking on it. Focus on high-Loot Holdings first to make your Raids more efficient.

    Your army can only carry a limited amount of Loot, which you can check by selecting them. Attempting to raid while at full capacity won’t yield any additional Loot, so make sure to return home when you’re at your limit. If your army is defeated during a raid, the Loot will be lost to the victor, so it’s wise to play it safe.

    Once a Holding has been raided, it cannot be raided again for five years, so it’s wise to diversify your raiding targets.

    Who Can Perform Raids?

    Crusader Kings 3 Norse Leader

    A Norse leader in Crusader Kings 3

    Raiding can be especially profitable, particularly in the early stages of the game. For that reason, it’s limited to specific groups to prevent an endless cycle of looting. The following groups are able to raid:

    • Any ruler adhering to an unreformed Faith.
    • Tribal governments.
    • Any culture with the Practiced Pirates tradition.
    • The Frontier Administrative government type.

    Apart from these groups, most other factions, especially throughout Europe, are vulnerable to raids without protection. The Steppes also present a prime opportunity for raiders, especially as you push deeper into Central Europe.

    Tips For Raiding

    The loot from a holding in Crusader Kings 3.

    Although raiding is generally simple, there are still several strategies to maximize your Loot and enhance your character’s abilities while bolstering your realm’s development.

    First off, consider focusing on using Men-at-Arms instead of your entire army. While this may limit the total Loot you can carry, it can deceive the AI into perceiving you as weaker, allowing for quicker victories and more rapid raids.

    It’s also beneficial to have your actual Ruler lead the raid. Vikings appreciate glory, and having your Ruler command during a raid can help develop the Raider trait, which can be achieved after raiding 20 Holdings.

    Note that the Raider Trait is not guaranteed after 20 Raids, but it can be unlocked after any raid once you’ve crossed this threshold.

    The benefits of having your Ruler lead a raid extend beyond the Raider trait. You may also gain the option to sack a County after a raid, with this chance increasing as you develop the Raider trait. This can lead to additional Gold and prestige, or even acquiring slaves and increasing the development level of your capital if it’s below 15. However, this will mean that the County can’t be raided again for 20 years.

  • Conquering Disease: Tips to Combat Plagues in CK3

    Conquering Disease: Tips to Combat Plagues in CK3

    During the medieval era in Crusader Kings 3, there are countless concerns to juggle. You have succession issues, troublesome neighbors, and significant holy wars to manage. However, one of the most unpredictable and dangerous threats you face is plagues. No amount of planning can shield you from a sudden outbreak of typhus that could wipe out you and your entire court.

    Plagues represent an unseen menace—something that can’t be completely prevented and is often erratic in nature. They have the potential to undermine the stability of your realm, leading to a loss of tax revenue and disrupting the networks of support you’ve carefully cultivated with your vassals. Here’s an overview of how plagues function and some strategies to lessen their impact.

    Understanding Plagues

    The first critical point is that plagues largely emerge randomly. There isn’t a way to eradicate them entirely, nor can you predict their duration. The severity of a plague is set at its inception; an apocalyptic plague will always remain so, just as a minor plague will maintain its lesser status.

    What you can influence is how widely a plague spreads, which is your best strategy for survival. Each plague is tied to a specific disease, and contracting it can be catastrophic for any character. Fortunately, plagues are not transmitted by individuals but by locations. Thus, unless your character travels to an infected area, they won’t catch the disease from anyone in their own court.

    There are exceptions to this rule, but they typically arise due to specific events.

    Plagues spread from one barony to another, beginning from a random initiation point. However, a higher Development level increases the likelihood of plague outbreaks and the chances of becoming infected by default.

    What Influences Plague Spread?


    As with real-world diseases, once a plague emerges, your priority should be to contain it and prevent its spread throughout your realm. There are several strategies you can adopt, but let’s first explore how plagues propagate naturally.

    Once a plague establishes itself in a barony, it can infect individuals and expand beyond its initial area. This spread is partially influenced by your Disease Resistance. The actions of infected individuals do not dictate the spread—it’s determined by the plague itself.

    Boasting a high Disease Resistance provides two main advantages: fewer infections in the affected barony and a lower likelihood of that area becoming infected initially. Plagues typically spread to neighboring baronies and do not jump across multiple regions. Therefore, if a plague starts far from your capital, it’s less likely to reach you if your intermediate baronies have high Disease Resistance.

    Proximity to water also plays a significant role in plague spread. Baronies near bodies of water, especially rivers, face an increased risk of infection in adjacent regions. The best countermeasure is to develop structures like Hospices within those baronies.

    Even after a barony becomes infected, maintaining a high Disease Resistance can minimize the total number of infections there. While it’s impossible to wholly prevent plagues, especially as your Development increases, you can still make efforts to limit their effects.

    Dealing with Plagues


    A wide view of the map in Crusader Kings highlighting some plagues and the plague menu to the right.

    Now that you understand how plagues function, it’s time to consider what actions you can take as the player and ruler to control their spread. You can focus on two primary strategies:

    • Constructing Buildings That Enhance Disease Resistance

      Various structures, such as Hospices, can be constructed to provide Disease Resistance in the barony where they are located.

    • Assigning Tasks to Your Personal Physician

      In the Plagues menu, you can designate your Personal Physician to perform a range of tasks that require an additional monthly Gold expenditure. These actions can yield Disease Resistance throughout your realm, grant extra experience in lifestyle skills, or enhance your piety.

    Building facilities that improve Disease Resistance is a long-term goal, and it’s beneficial to have them in most baronies to mitigate infection rates. While it is the safest approach, it can also be costly. Since construction takes time, you can’t simply erect these buildings when a plague approaches.

    This makes it valuable to have your Personal Physician actively managing Plague Control. For an additional 0.30 Gold each month, you gain a substantial boost to your entire realm’s Disease Resistance.

    Your Physician’s ability to improve Disease Resistance will depend on their skill level. Invest in a competent Personal Physician, as they can save lives within your realm.

    Recovering After a Plague


    The plague menu open over the Celtic Isles in Crusader Kings 3 showing some plagues spreading.

    After a plague has affected your territory, it’s crucial to track where the outbreak occurred. Any region hit by a plague will have experienced a decrease in Development, often significantly. A debuff typically lingers for a couple of years, although an astute Personal Physician may mitigate some of the damage.

    It’s advisable to send your Marshal to the affected areas to increase control, helping recover lost tax revenue faster. Additionally, allowing your Steward to enhance the Development in those areas can help with recovery, even if the improvements are not direct.

    While plagues are a frequent and devastating issue, effective preparation is your best defense. Ensure that you do not neglect the construction of Hospices, as these can save numerous lives. If a plague reaches your capital, consider the option to Isolate the Capital. While this decision might upset your subjects in the short run, it’s a far better alternative than risking the lives of your entire court.