Introduction

What is This?
This is an instructional LP for Crusader Kings 2, Paradox's latest historical strategy game. My goal here is to introduce the game to those people who have been curious onlookers for CK2, but were turned off by the complexity. It may also likely prove to be helpful for those who've played EU3 or CK1 before, but want to see what's different about this title. I've done a similar LP before for Europa Universalis 3: Divine Wind. So, if you happen to be familiar with that LP, this will probably resemble the Castille playthrough to some degree.

What Kind of Game is This?
Crusader Kings 2 is ultimately a game about people. Yes, there are wars and conquest, expanding and collapsing kingdoms, and war between religious ideologies, but where most of the complexity lies is in managing your dynasty. You spend your time playing as a character. When your character dies, you play his successor as determined by your inheritance laws, and if your bloodline has run out, it's game over. You may be leaving behind a powerful kingdom that can stand the test of time, but you're done. Europa Universalis 3 has things like national ideas and decisions that describe the nature of the people and culture that makes up your nation, while Crusader Kings 2 has various personality traits and ambitions attributed to every single character in the game which describes who they are and how they'll get along with you. In Shogun 2: Total War, you might need to decide between specializing a certain province to produce cavalry or archers, while in Crusader Kings 2 you'll need to decide whether or not you want to imprison your second wife because she keeps plotting to murder the son from your first wife who stands to inherit before the children she produced with you.

How Will This Work?
This will be a screenshot LP wherein I'll describe what I'm doing and try to provide some understandable justification for why I'm making those decisions, and how those decisions could be handled differently. You may be able to play a game alongside this LP with the same character if you wish, but due to the unpredictable nature of the game, your path may diverge from mine after some time. I don't claim to be an expert on every system in the game, and this isn't going to be about maximizing gold, how to get the highest dynasty score, or how to conquer the world. What I will be able to do is explain how and why I deal with events and problems in the game the way that I do so that you'll understand how things work and be able to form your own strategies.

Who are You Playing?
One of the universally accepted "good starting places" is Ireland, and I'll be playing as an Irish Duke so that people can try their hand at playing along with me. Our primary goal will be to form the Kingdom of Ireland. Our secondary goals after the formation of Ireland will be to try our hand at a little expansion into Great Britain and to take part in a crusade. If we're lucky, we may get to put our family's dynasty on the throne of another kingdom as well. The first update or two will likely introduce the UI and describe what all of the different panels and buttons are for, after which we'll get into actually playing.

Additional Notes
Since this is meant to be helpful, I'll try to answer gameplay questions that people may have to the best of my ability. I invite other CK2 players to answer questions or give tips in here as well, and I may do a couple of updates to compile community tips or answered questions into a supplementary update so that they won't be lost once this eventually gets archived.

The Let's Play Archive

Crusader Kings 2

by Kersch

Introduction

Table of Contents

Supplemental Updates