This will open a list of potential spouses sorted by general desirability. Before searching for a spouse, first pick the Get Married ambition for a quick +10 piety gain. This is best dealt with before unpausing the game, because most of the other nobles will also be unmarried and good brides will be snatched up very quickly. If you are the only living member of your dynasty, this is even more critical. One of the alerts is most likely Ruler Unmarried, though some characters start already married.

Direct vassals ( F) if you are a vassal inside a larger realm, as you will mostly compete with other vassals.īefore unpausing the game, there are a few things that usually need to be done, indicated by some of the circular alerts appearing at the top of the screen.

Realms ( W) if you are independent, as you will mostly compete with other independent rulers.

Disabling shattered retreat and Defensive Pacts will make wars easier, and setting assassination to Direct Action allows for more easily dealing with inconvenient characters.įirst, consider switching from the default map mode, Terrain ( Q), to a more useful mode:

Good choices are Duke Vratislav of Bohemia and Duchess Matilda of Tuscany in the Holy Roman Empire, Doux Michael of Adrianopolis in the Byzantine Empire, and Duke Guilhem of Toulouse in France.Īfter selecting a character, the Game rules screen will appear.

See Playing as a vassal for more details. However, you are still vulnerable to claims from other vassals within the realm.

Playing as a vassal of the head of a large realm allows you to have a liege protect you from outside threats.

For beginners, the safest starts as independent kings are King Boleslaw 'the Bold' of Poland and King Svend of Danmark.

You have to be prepared for malcontent vassals and the eventuality of a fairly large war with a neighboring realm. Though you probably will not be wiped out immediately, internal strife caused by power-seeking vassals can quickly leave a large realm vulnerable.

The head of a big kingdom or empire starts off with a lot of responsibility.Starting as King Murchad of Mumu in Ireland in 1066 is generally considered the easiest way to learn the basics of conquest, as all of Ireland's other realms are smaller and the nearby kingdoms will leave it alone for a long time.Consider the following when choosing your first character:

There are many options for playable characters and it can be overwhelming trying to get started. When starting a new game, click Custom Game Setup to choose any date and character. In CKII, you play as a ruler rather than a country.

Freecol early game guide