Summary
- Educate heirs to prevent negative traits & ensure capable rulers.
- Forbid heirs from combat to avoid losing them in battles.
- Customize succession laws & grant powerful titles to secure realm's stability.
Succession is a complicated inevitability in Crusader Kings 3. While sometimes the transition of power can be seamless and peaceful, at other times it can spell doom for an entire playthrough. Managing this aspect of the game is crucial to ensuring that any ruling Kingdoms or Empires have any longevity, and they are often the most precarious moments of running a Kingdom.
The ways in which succession works in Crusader Kings 3 will vary from faction to faction. However, there are a few general strategies that players can utilize to ensure that, at the very least, their territories are prevented from collapsing completely. Generally, it is best to always have one eye on succession and how it will play out, since rulers can die unexpectedly and force the process to occur sooner than anticipated.
5 Educate Children
Set Your Kids Up for Future Success
One way to ensure that a Kingdom remains in reasonably capable hands after the passing of a ruler is to ensure that any heirs have received the best education possible during their upbringing. In addition to Congenital traits they may inherit from their parents, children can also develop Education Traits alongside their other traits and attributes as they age. For this to take place, players must assign the child a Guardian, and preferably one with high attribute points in the desired categories.
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Failure to do this may result in the child developing a series of negative traits, as well as ending up with low attribute points into their adulthood. This might make them an incompetent ruler when the time comes for them to take the throne.
4 Forbid Heirs From Combat
Avoid Unnecessary Casualties on the Battlefield
One of the most frustrating occurrences, particularly for newer players, is losing heirs and important courtiers in battle. There are already more than enough ways in which characters can die without sending them to the frontlines of the battlefield. Reserve this role only for highly skilled commanders and combatants.
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Under the Martial/Military tab on the right-hand side of the screen is a section titled "Knights." Here players can Forbid or Force certain members of their Kingdom to partake in battles. This can also be useful if the heir-in-line is not suited to the player's liking, so this function serves as a double-edged sword for both purposes.
3 Succession Laws
Decide Who Inherits What When You Die
Under the Realm tab on the right-hand side, there is an option to change the Kingdom's Succession Laws. These can range from allowing female rulers, to holding elections, to deciding upon heirs. There is a lot of variability and customization that can be done here, but in order to pass laws players will first need the approval of all council members. This can be difficult to manage under some circumstances.
There are three key laws that can be altered: Gender, Succession, and Title. Making alterations to each will cost prestige. The higher a ruler's Crown Authority, the easier it will be to make alterations to these laws. Some options may be entirely out of bounds if the Crown Authority is not high enough. Confederate Partitions are likely the easiest way to maintain the integrity of an established realm, but players should always be aware of their heir's titles as well as those of other family members. It is very likely in the event of a ruler's death that a civil war will break out between different claimants.
2 Granting Titles
Plan Ahead Before the Inevitable Succession
One way to better manage the transition of power from one character to the next is to grant them powerful titles. This will ensure then when inheriting the throne, they will have enough power to maintain the territories and not be at risk of the Kingdom "cannibalizing" itself as different factions fight over it. Ensuring than an heir is at least controlling one Duchy or a Petty Kingdom will make things easier for the future ruler when they do ascend to power.
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Similarly, some players may want to revoke titles or disinherit family members before the ascension of a new ruler, to ensure that the heir with the best traits is first in line. Another way around this is to grant an heir their own independent Kingdom. This is particularly useful for larger realms whose heir is not especially high in the desired skills, but their younger sibling is. This way, it is also possible to gain another powerful overseas or neighboring ally without having to arrange marriage or engage in complex diplomacy.
1 Claims
Soften Vassals' Ability to Overthrow
When considering succession and the transfer of power within a realm, it is also important to note who has claims on the inherited title. Other claimants may wish to declare war or usurp the title as soon as the incumbent leader departs. One way to manage this is to revoke the titles of any rivals or imprison/murder them before the succession occurs, or simply modifying vassal contracts to put these particular vassals in a weaker position (especially militarily) than the heir.
It is always wise to keep in mind that a liege's claims might not necessarily be the same as their heir's, particularly for Kingdoms engaged in war. With the death of a ruler, the war will end, and new terms will need to be negotiated with the new ruler.
Crusader Kings 3 is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- September 1, 2020
- ESRB
- T for Teens: Drug Reference, Language, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Paradox Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Paradox Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
Your legacy awaits. Choose your noble house and lead your dynasty to greatness in a Middle Ages epic that spans generations. War is but one of many tools to establish your reign, as real strategy requires expert diplomatic skill, mastery of your realm, and true cunning. Crusader Kings III continues the popular series made by Paradox Development Studio, featuring the widely acclaimed marriage of immersive grand strategy and deep, dramatic medieval roleplaying.
Take command of your house and expand your dynasty through a meticulously researched Middle Ages. Begin in 867 or 1066 and claim lands, titles, and vassals to secure a realm worthy of your royal blood. Your death is only a footnote as your lineage continues with new playable heirs, either planned… or not.
Discover a sprawling simulated world teeming with peasants and knights, courtiers, spies, knaves and jesters, and secret love affairs. An extensive cast of historical characters can be romanced, betrayed, executed, or subtly influenced.
Explore a vast medieval map stretching from the snowswept Nordic lands to the Horn of Africa, and the British Isles in the west to the exotic riches of Burma in the east. Claim, conquer, and rule thousands of unique counties, duchies, kingdoms, and empires.
- Engine
- Clausewitz Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Crusader Kings
- Platform(s)
- PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Grand Strategy
- How Long To Beat
- 70 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
- File Size Xbox Series
- 11 GB (November 2023)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
