How to properly play CK ?!

[yellowbiz]

Whenever I play CK I get into a dilemma real quick, about events and the general style of play.
I try to be "good" and choose the morally "good" choices when it comes to my Ruler.
If it's a courtier I take a look at their traits and choose the most plausible option for them.

The part that bothers me (somewhat) is how to expand in this game when you are surrounded by Christians, it's fairly straightforward when you have Muslim/Pagan rulers near you, but it's a borefest when you are surrounded by Christians, more so when they are part of a powerful Kingdom.

Is it gamey to grab title -> DoW -> annex/vassalize the counts around me?
I just can't force myself to grab titles, I usurp when I have the choice, but it's pretty rare.
Same issue with offering vassalization, they usually don't accept it if you're not from their region but if you offer it 100 times they are bound to accept it after a while.

Now I'm playing as Lombardia and I took parts of Sicily and now I'm just bored out of my mind, can't expand without claims, can't afford to take Africa or even Iberia..

 

[TempestDK]

Whenever I play CK I get into a dilemma real quick, about events and the general style of play.
I try to be "good" and choose the morally "good" choices when it comes to my Ruler.
If it's a courtier I take a look at their traits and choose the most plausible option for them.

The part that bothers me (somewhat) is how to expand in this game when you are surrounded by Christians, it's fairly straightforward when you have Muslim/Pagan rulers near you, but it's a borefest when you are surrounded by Christians, more so when they are part of a powerful Kingdom.

Is it gamey to grab title -> DoW -> annex/vassalize the counts around me?
I just can't force myself to grab titles, I usurp when I have the choice, but it's pretty rare.
Same issue with offering vassalization, they usually don't accept it if you're not from their region but if you offer it 100 times they are bound to accept it after a while.

Now I'm playing as Lombardia and I took parts of Sicily and now I'm just bored out of my mind, can't expand without claims, can't afford to take Africa or even Iberia..

Nothing gamey about buying claims and the try to enforce them ... and there is not really any "right" way to play the game. Play it the way that feels fun to you. Some like scheming for decades, trying to "peacefully" expand through carefully planned marriages (and assassinations). Others like to just steamroll their neighbours into submisson. I think CK supports both gaming styles, and any other in-between.

Of course you can "afford" a campaign in Africa. Most rulers at the time ruined themselves several times over through wars. You can do too, and then deal with the massive economic ruin afterwards

 

[yellowbiz]

Taking on a campaign to Iberia of Africa is feasible, but it will cost me a lot of money and time, and the provinces there are poor, aren't they? Would be more of a strain on my economy than the actual cost of my troops..
In my Apulia > Sicily game I was filthy rich, at least in my terms, had like 50k gold to spare, so I went after Africa.

But with Lombardia it seems like a worthless task, I'd like to focus on forming Italy, if not by title then by de facto territory, and when I started offering Vassalage to the counts around me, I thought that it's way too easy..

Maybe you could share with me how do you jusify grabbing titles so I could justify it to myself ?
I'd do it if it had belonged to my dynasty and ended up in foreign hands, but in this case I have nothing !

It is just something that has been bothering me lately.. kinda silly XD

 

[Zsrai]

An easy easy way to justify grabbing local titles would be an excommunication or a rivalry. Grabbing those titles are cheaper for a reason! You could also claim titles on the small independents around you in order to declare war and force vassalize them, instead of just always conquering. It's kind of gamey that way, but only in that there is no way to declare war on a Christian without having claims. From a mechanics standpoint, I find that justified; your hands are more or less tied by the lack of options.

 

[FromasterG]

You could always take your roleplay a bit further.

What I do when I am not feeling a conquering bloodlust is to give me rulers a goal.

In my current game, my last king had the "goal" of becoming the king of Poland, because the previous king of Bohemia (whose title I took earlier) and Poland had taken my king's mother's lands away when she was a powerful Polish duchess. Although he had no claims to most of the land that I took, I thought it apt for him to hold a grudge.

To that regard, I counted making claims against the Polish king as justified because my king needed a sizable chunk of Poland to have grounds to usurp the title. I didn't, however, let him claim any other titles in Germany because that wasn't his goal.

A long story short, give the king a dream. Maybe it is to reclaim lost family lands. Maybe it is to make a favorite son/cousin/friend be a powerful neighbor. Maybe it is to completely disarm a huge rival. The choices are up to you.

 

[TempestDK]

A goal I had (though it was near infidels) in a game as Barcelona, was to conquer Iberia, then set up the kingdoms neatly, and then split them amongst my sons .... was fun. As a bonus, i managed to give a jewish courtier a Kingdom in North Africa ... just because I thought it would be cool

 

[yellowbiz]

Sheshet?
I did the same with Barcelona (forming Aragon quickly), it was fun but ended too quickly, as a bonus France is under my dynasty now
Wanted a new challenge, but playing against Christians is not fun for me.

 

[Zsrai]

Sheshet?
I did the same with Barcelona (forming Aragon quickly), it was fun but ended too quickly, as a bonus France is under my dynasty now
Wanted a new challenge, but playing against Christians is not fun for me.

If playing against Christians isn't fun for you, then you have severely limited your game play options. You can focus on North Africa and the Middle East, trying to make Christian kingdoms all the way over through Persia I suppose.

 

[EvilSoeren]

amass prestige, snipe our neighbours vassals, give land only to people in your dynasty, never go over 2.0 bb.

 

[Galliun]

amass prestige, snipe our neighbours vassals, give land only to people in your dynasty, never go over 2.0 bb.

Yeesh. I can never go BELOW 2.0.

 

[Lord_Winter]

Choose a britany / Irish / the Isle county or Duchy ... Take your Time, invade western mauretania and start building your crown(s) thru mauretania, Africa, egypt ...