Crusader Kings III News

CK3 character creation: Barbershop and ruler designer guide

Looking to modify your CK3 character and design a ruler fit for the throne? History is full of tales of ambitious players catfishing their way to positions of immense power, and while your character's aesthetics in Crusader Kings 3 won't actually hamper their fight for power, it would be nice to have a little more control over how they look.

If you have played previous Crusader Kings games then the lack of any obvious character creator might come as a shock to you given that CK2 had a pretty versatile ruler designer added as DLC. Crusader Kings 3 doesn't have this as a launch feature, but there are some options for changing your ruler's aesthetic that you may not be aware of. It's also worth noting that Paradox has said that CK3 character creator is coming post-launch and will be free.

If you do want to make some small changes to your ruler's hair and clothing then there's the Barbershop option, which is tucked away beneath a couple of panels. And, if you're impatient and looking to make some drastic aesthetic tweaks then we have a couple of CK3 mods to check out.

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Crusader Kings 3 succession laws - how do they work?

How do succession laws work? Like many grand strategy games, Crusader Kings 3 is a complex mass of overlapping systems, but there's one thing at the heart of them all: the age-old axiom "you can't take it with you." It's a game that takes place over the course of hundreds of years, and so naturally you're going to watch your character get old and die (often, they'll even skip that first step).

What happens to all those titles you've been hoarding when your character goes to their eternal reward? That's handled by succession laws, and understanding them is a key to preserving your family's legacy, keeping your realm intact, and knowing how to shape your own goals.

The Venn diagram of religion, culture, sex, and politics in Crusader Kings 3 all intersect in what amounts to a first year law student's trusts and estates course, and this guide will give you the basics on how succession works in Crusader Kings 3 and how you can use it to your advantage.

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Crusader Kings 3: how to raid in CK3

Raiding is a Crusader Kings 3 mechanic that returns from CK2 and allows Pagan or Tribal ruler types to raid the lands of other rulers. This works a little differently to standard warfare in CK3, but you'll still need to jump through a few hoops before going Viking on your neighbours. Crusader Kings 3 raiding is a lot more difficult than in CK2 with longer waiting times for raids and more costs associated with raiding, too.

In addition to these costlier, more time-consuming raids, you will also find that standing armies are a lot stronger than in CK2, so your best bet as a small raiding nation is to only attack the smallest states you can find. You can check this by looking at enemy territories and hovering over their banner to see how many troops they have at the ready. You can also check how much loot you'll get in by hovering over an enemy banner, so picking the maximum loot from the smallest army is the way to go.

The first thing you need to do to raid in CK3 is raise a raid army. To do this you'll need to head over to your military tab and either select a rally point near an area you want to raid, or create one. Once you've done this, click the rally point, which should open up a new tab at the bottom right of your screen - the key here is to choose 'raise local raiders'. Only the Norse can perform sea raids, so for any other rulers you will need to make sure the journey can be made on foot. You can also raise all your available soldiers as raiders by clicking the 'Raise All as raiders' button at the top of the Military tab.

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CK3 console commands and cheats

What are the CK3 console commands and cheats? Crusader Kings 3 is a game of great complexity, strategy, and planning. You could spend hours establishing your realm, raising your armies, and increasing your income - or alternatively, when nobody's looking, you could give yourself a little boost to prestige, perform a sneaky stabbing on someone who's annoying you, or simply conjure up a whopping great army from nowhere.

If you don't feel like playing by the book and want to have a go at scribbling all over it instead, there are a wealth of console commands available to you that can set pretty much every modifier in the game to your chosen value. With these cheat codes you're free to nudge the stats in your favour, or use them as tools to customise your experience and play out whatever scenarios you have in mind for this grandest of strategy games.

In order to access them, you'll need to start CK3 in debug mode, after which you can launch the console window and enjoy your newfound power. We'll explain step-by-step how to get there, and then list all the Crusader Kings 3 console commands and cheat codes you'll need.

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Crusader Kings 3 beginner's guide

By now, you've probably heard about Crusader Kings 3, the latest massive grand strategy game from Paradox Interactive. It's a game about medieval royalty and war, about watching and even participating in the rise and fall of vast empires, and about poisoning your terrible uncle who won't give up his claims to a county you want. It's an intimidating game, and if you've never played a grand strategy game before, you might be thinking something like "should I play Crusader Kings 3?"

We think the answer is a resounding yes - just read our Crusaders King 3 review - and we're here to help. This guide is meant for complete newcomers to Crusader Kings and the grand strategy genre. If you've never learned to tell your primogentures from pikemen, you've come to the right place. Let's crack on.

Your first game of Crusader Kings 3 ought to be the new tutorial, which you'll be prompted to do the first time you fire up the game. If you need to pull it up again, you'll find it in the top right corner of the map when you click on 'New Game' in the main menu.

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