CK2 Guide: How to Crusade in Crusader Kings

[@AlzaboHD]

What CK2 videos would y'all like to see in the future? More EU4 dropping this Sunday / Monday so stay tuned!

[@johnny-smith]

Make a guide on bloodline accumulation.

[@georgeflorescu1254]

Well, speaking for me here, dunno about the others. I, personally didn't have a hard time to get into CK2, since I'm a EU4 player, still it took me quite a while to understand -I'm still a newb st the game - that the game is not about blobbing. And I think that is a mistake that some of us do at the start. Anyway, I can imagine that for someone who never played a paradox game, I think it is even harder. Maybe a guide(series) that start explaining the game from it's bits? It does not have to be all complex and stretched out, you know. Even if it would be 5-minutes long, I am sure that many of us can learn something. Edit: Nicely done with the sponsorship! I had the feeling it was an ISP video!

[@paolocorbelli6466]

How to world conquest as Ryukyu. I know they aren’t even in the base game, but that’s where the Tianxia mod comes in!

[@SiirCartierr]

More guides :)

[@farry882]

What about pagan reformation doctrines?

[@ADCD-dj8gz]

I legit thought that this was an ISP video by accident. Great video!

[@CommissarMitch]

Same! Also yes Good video

[@saoirsedeltufo7436]

Honestly same, I was so confused as to why ISP was doing a CK2 video

[@ywiedie6971]

Same

[@Pyxlean]

Me too 😂

[@laynaTheLobster]

r/beatmetoit

[@paulusrafaelis4337]

Expected to hear ISP after the intro

[@JasonWolfGames]

Me too.

[@walterwilhelm5077]

9:12-9:24 CK2 Player: "Knowing this, I send wave after wave of my own men to their deaths until I was declared the most contributing member of the Crusade. Kif, show them the titles I won."

[@realhawaii5o]

Always remember this: If your sister and your wife aren't the same person, you're doing something wrong.

[@saoirsedeltufo7436]

Now, back to CK2...

[@warmike]

Calm down you targaryen...

[@gracelynrose3253]

@@warmike *Hapsburg

[@SRosenberg203]

@@gracelynrose3253 So there's apparently this dude in France who is like the Great-great-great grand Nephew of Napoleon, and among "royalist' circles he is considered the true heir to the French Monarchy. He's in his early 30s, and earlier this year he apparently married a woman with Hapbsburg descent. The reunification of Europe has begun...

[@zephyrvs7140]

@@gracelynrose3253 Habsburg, the castle was called Habsburg, and so was the name.

[@operationmeh]

Please help! I tried to follow your instructions but I accidentally annihilated the Byzantine Empire instead!

[@JoshSweetvale]

You need to not be the 4th Crusade. Milan and try again.

[@theskycavedin]

You must be Venetian

[@smittywerbenjaegermanjense7376]

No, don't besiege Constantinople!

[@maitelatre2742]

Don't worry man, happens to the best of us

[@DaDunge]

If you don't want byzantium to fall I would reccomend getting an alliance with them in the years following the second crusade. That way you can leave the crusade once ot redirects and join the war on the byzantine side.

[@RC15O5]

After Holy Fury came out, I had a campaign where the first crusade was launched by a 10/12 year old Norwegian boy named Arne Gilsking. He went traveling around the courts of Europe telling his tale on how the angel Gabriel told him how only a pure child could free Jerusalem from heathen hands. My Character, mighty Trystan II of Breizh (Britanny, by now controlling Normandy and the Aquitaine Bay of Biscay coast) was the only monarch to heed the child and give him generous support. Everyone else told him off as a loon and questioned my own sanity. For years Gilsking marched his horde of radicals and children-turned-teens-turned-young adults until finally at the age of 17 the First Crusader stepped foot on Syria and the war began. With my great Brythonic fleet mine own army sailed to the Orient to carve Outremer with this man of a boy and in close chances we slowly began to defeat the Saracen and stood before the walls if Jerusalem. We gave a last prayer , "O Mighty God, bless these arms O thine dutiful servants, and if your will permits, grant us total victory over your foes! Amen!" As we were storming the walls, the Lord did even better and performed a miracle, where angels shot down from the sky and their golden ethereal presence melted the eyes and rusted away the swords of the Saracen infidel, giving us total victory and Jerusalem was taken with little losses and no population decimation. In the dawn after Battle, the crusader child Arne Gilsking was crowned Arne I, King of Jerusalem and Protector of the Holy Land Outremer. These events inspired the Pope to call future crusades by invoking the name of both Pantokrator Christ Jesus and Saint Arne Gilsking "The Sword of the Lord". Trystan II Byrnmetel would marry his daughter to Arne Gilsking and the son merged the two families, the holy blood of both Trystan II and Arne Sword of the Lord coursing through the blood of the Byrnmetel dynasty of Britanny the Protector of the Faith, and to this day the colony of Outremer is bitterly fought over with the Saracen hordes, holding back the tides everytime with much sacrifice and bloodshed.

[@deaglefox4365]

Ok

[@SRosenberg203]

"Unless you want to do the Barbarossa method of passing through Anatolia and drowning in a river." I just cracked up so hard at that line. Great video dude.

[@ticklezcat5191]

If you're having trouble getting crusade score, just place forts, the score counts holdings held, not type of holdings.

[@thewerepyreking]

Thanks, this helps

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

Oh wow like 1500 hours in ck2 and i didnt know this thx dewd

[@l.pietrobon3925]

Ohhhh so that's why I got so many titles in that crusade where I only sieged like 4 counties. Built shit ton of forts.

[@daveholland6293]

An Ironside intro that's not ISP? But that's illegal

[@AlzaboHD]

I just got sponsored by ironside : - )

[@Elenrai]

@@AlzaboHD Will you screw around with their intro in future? :D

[@AlzaboHD]

I most probably will!

[@Elenrai]

@@AlzaboHD Yay! Cant wait to see what you come up with! Thanks for taking time to answer my question! d-(^-^)z edit;fixed a grammar mistake!

[@chocolaterain5097]

I just started as a republic in Gotland. Easiest way to crusade. I roll up on Western Umyadd by boat and pillage. It's amazing. Also republics are badass in general.

[@artofthepossible7329]

I had one campaign where I had open marriages on, so I allied with the Seljuk Turks, I was also the one who directed Christendom to Anatolia, the original chosen target was Egypt. So the 1st Crusade was crushed by the guy who created the crusade who wanted to give Anatolia to the ERE. Wonderful Strategy on my end.

[@chinchin9144]

3:11 What kind of council is that!! A steward with 1 stat in stewardship. Could you not find someone with a higher stat?

[@CoverofWinter]

It can be an indirect way to kill powerful vassals that want to be on the council because they get more bad events which often enough kill them as a result.

[@chinchin9144]

@@CoverofWinter I didn't know that. I will consider doing that in my next fight with one of my vassals, which should be the next time I play

[@AlzaboHD]

The 1 skill steward spawned in my court as soon as Jerusalem was formed. He was promptly thrown out of the gates, don't worry

[@drakan4769]

@@chinchin9144 don't rely on just the bad events, give them a job somewhere with an epidemic, "hey you, yeah the guy who wants to dethrone me, you know that county in the middle of nowhere suffering from consumption AND smallpox? yeah I want you to go collect taxes there..."

[@chinchin9144]

@@drakan4769 that works. But I often join Satan's own and give them a disease or just plot to kill them. In the worst cases I revoke their land and imprison them. " But won't that just start uprisings" you may ask. Yes it will, but you can just place your troops on their provinces before revoking to stop them from raising armies

[@farry882]

Been loving this game since im burned out of eu4, looking forward for more ck2 content!

[@tacticaltendie5553]

That time I accidentally became the Christian king of Egypt. Good times

[@realyoriginalchanel3218]

I crusade for Egypt over Jerusalem any day

[@curtishamilton5342]

Video: (Ironside logo at the beginning) Me: (ISP flashbacks intensify)

[@ItsPS3Gamer]

I NUTTED Everytime he said outremer

[@wanderer2688]

When I went for the crusade I didn't realize the supply limit near Jerusalem was around 9k, so my deathstack was defeated by attrition :(

[@guardianofthehill]

One way i found that can trigger a crusade early on is this: Start in 867 (or 769) as a christian, hope that the byzantines conquer Jerusalem while both Shi'ia and Sunni Caliphates exist, and let the hilarious mayhem unfold. Bonus points if the Shi'ia Caliphate spawns in Spain, Abbasid territory, or India.

[@kashk42]

A good tip is to keep marrying your female cousins of your house (yeah, I know, #justCK2things...), and make them your beneficiaries. You can even do it matrilinirally if their bloodlines are cooler than yours. That way your primary heir will get the crusader kingdom (assuming it's your first wife), along with whatever is left of the gold. Added benefit is that they might very well conquer a kingdom or two for you in the meantime. I made my characters wife benificiary for Anatolia. She conquered the kingdoms of Armenia, Syria and Al-Jazira for me in the meantime, and then it went to my heir just before my own character died.

[@arisaka233]

watching this 15 min video literally cleared me so many doubts and mistakes that i do in the game, some of them not even related with crusading

[@rajanmanhas7744]

Step one:fight battle Step two: get stack wiped Step three: somehow win

[@RC15O5]

Thought I was on ISP for a second. Without the obligatory "Gravy Babies", I knew you were an impostor!

[@johnroscoe2406]

*Sends alliance offer to your home country* "POLITICAL CONCERNS"

[@quackduckquack]

I tried doing this with the same county as this video and everytime the Umayyad comes with 10k troops and mops the floor with my backside before I manage to create Aquitaine and the King of Francia though having enough troops never tries to defend the titles. Then I tried doing it with the count of Aquila in Italy and it was chaotic as hell as every 2 minutes there is someone attacking, rebelling or raiding. Even the rebels from foreign kingdoms and duchies outside Italy come to raid my counties into dust and then there is the Byzantine Empire trying to destroy me while Italy doing nothing to defend just like Francia. However this time I managed to avoid Byzantine by declaring independance war several times then finally went independent and then sweared fealty to the pope man. Pope finally called Crusade for Jerusalem and rest of it became smoother. While doing all these shenanigans I managed to "Import" 5-6 bloodlines into my dynasty and chose a suitable vessel for Jerusalem with 5 bloodlines including a previous crusader bloodline from the new crusader queen of Aquitaine.

[@johnnyjoaster820]

my familiy line was so pure that it went from 56 living memeber to just one in two years they all merged together to form one happy inbred genius

[@inferno_slayer]

Last game I started as Leon in 1066, started to go from Iberia to Egypt after they were already halfway done, got in one battle in southern France and the pope decided I would be the primary beneficiary

[@szymondworski8665]

Just a quick tip: try and use as little of your own ships as possible, they are VERY expensive and I've bankrupted myself multiple times by forgetting I have boats in the field. If you have to use your own boats, make sure you disband them as quickly as possible.

[@matthewsmith4483]

Its should be noted that Crusades will not be called earlier then 900 ad just like the viking age wont start til 800 ad.

[@LittleMushroomGuy]

You should start sending out gifts and artefacts arouns 90% if you are sure that you are going to gain the title for your benefactor Also if you completely occupy a duchy that isnt a dejure part the main goal of the crusade you have the option to form a crusader state which ofcourse can be vassalised or inherited

[@guilhermewessler9704]

Like an invasion, you only need to occupy the capital holding of each county tho

[@sergeant_chris6209]

If you're extra hardcore you can start as count Eustache de Boulonge in 1066 and form the kingdom of Jerusalem to gain the "Protector of the Holy Sepulchre" achievement

[@siretriste4045]

Love this CK2 guide! I hope to see more of these on your channel. Good job mate

[@DaneVogel]

Great video! Absolutely wonderfully explained for an absolute noob like me. It's funny to me because when I was getting into EU4, you started going on an EU4 series, then when I wanted to get into CK2, you come out of nowhere with this! Thanks for this strategy and I hope that you get more views and subscribers

[@warden-commandercousland]

MAH BOI GOT SPONSORED! SO PROUD

[@AlzaboHD]

Thank you ! It really means a lot to here that from my subscribers

[@angelgrozd]

11:30 i see the great bulgarian invasion of egypt

[@maximCS2002]

10:39 the holy prepuce is the real cherry on the top

[@noahjohnson935]

I played as the Crusader King of Egypt. I honestly enjoyed it the most out of all my games so far

[@andrewmtula]

Awesome video! Would be great to see more CK2 content!

[@thepennbard8598]

Good video but just a few comments. 1. I dont think you need to be a king, most dukes and a few strong countss can win a crusade (AI likes to attach to your stacks so you can bring an army of 2000 and then have 10000 AI attach. 2. Egypt is the best first crusade target. In the Iron Century and 1066 start Jerusalem is held by the sultanate of Egypt. Taking Egypt strips them of their core, gives you a very powerful kingdom, and positions you to take the rest of jerusalem in 4 short holy wars.

[@SerLou427]

This creator sounds like the fella Agent Smith corrupts in Matrix Reloaded

[@angela_merkeI]

You could have said something about the crusader state mechanic where you become something like the county of Edessa and so on. It seems very confusing to some players and is an interesting addition.

[@Orcigere]

Now that I’ve watched this I want to achieve to conquer the holy land with that one tiny french count even if I am far from figuring out how...

[@rateeightx]

3:44 You Think I Don't Do That Already? Granted, Sometimes I Don't, But Usually I Do And Wind Up Having A Relative Of Some Degree Ruling Basically Everywhere Around Me.

[@nituldeshptha99]

but during crusades, you want your troops to fight the death stacks, they help give you the most war contribution which leads to your beneficiary getting the titles

[@scottc7722]

Last night, I screwed up the achievement where you need to win the Crusade as Eustache of Bolougne. I went from count to duke and built a war chest just in time for the Crusade, but I took so long getting to the Holy Land, the Crusade ended right as I go the Crusader achievement. That save is trashed so I’ll take your “arriving to the party early” advice when I restart.

[@lilzp9106]

Imo best ruler to play as if ur trying to get crusader king achievement is Robert the fox of apulia, u get to experience a nice few decades of calm medieval ruling then you can easily reach Jerusalem from Sicily. It’s a fun start and if u play smart you have a decent chance of making it to Jerusalem .

[@andyhx2]

6:32 I see that tribe of Boi has moved back to Italy in your play... (Bohemia is named after the celtic tribe of Boi that used to occupy the land of today's Czechia)

[@merlball8520]

I do successful 769 starts all the time. I usually start as 1 province counts or petty kings. My strategy (aside from local expansion/survival) is, I become a king as early on as I can, then I find the best diplomatic character I can invite to my court, making them my chancellor. With said chancellor I spend the game sending him to sew dissent with emirs and sultans who have a 0-20 positive opinion of the caliph. One successful dissent reduces the opinion of the caliph by 20, putting the opinion in the negative range. Once done, I move on to the next emir or sultan in the 0-20 range. Usually the Abassid Empire is broken up by the time the first Crusades start in the 10th century. Even if it still exists as an empire at that point it has been so tied up with rebellions that it hasn't really expanded and doesn't build much. And, once in a while I'll even park my spymaster in their capital for a few years (sew rumors and obviously helps with assassinations). I occasionally assassinate a caliph with low intrigue scores. About ⅕ of the time I am successful enough at weakening the Abassids early enough in the game that I'm able to spend time doing the same to the Umayyads and end up breaking both the Abassids and the Umayyads. Those are lucky games though because usually I have to stay focused on the Abassids while the Umayyads take over Hispania. Also, the Umayyads have an easier time keeping their emir opinion scores high enough that my dissent strategy won't work on them. When that's the case, the only time I can avoid the take-over of Hispania by the Umayyads is if I am in a position to help out Asturias in defense or the very rare games when the Karlings are stable and decide to help Asturias defend itself. I've never seen a successful Catholic rebellion in Umayyad territory. In contrast, a few times the Abassids had so many rebellions at once that religious rebellions by Zoroastrians and Miaphysites and Muslim heretics actually won their wars and gained independent territories. The Shia events rarely hurt the Sunni Caliphs much, if at all. Once in a while they end up with empires of their own, usually at the expense of the Eastern Roman Empire. What's really fun is a few times recently my meddling with the Abassids ended up helping the Miaphysites to convert the caliph or his heir and the Abassids would end up broken between Miaphysites and Sunnis or end up converting to Miaphysites altogether after a few decades.

[@Memanruler]

I think you've managed to pronounce every culture every wrong way except French

[@AlzaboHD]

Mispronouncing names is my specialty, welcome to the channel!

[@seamuspink9098]

Instructions unclear: Byzantium collapsed

[@Angelo-ki7wr]

if you crusade for Egypt then the Fatimids later on are done for

[@mathieugariepy2948]

Great video!

[@TheGrizzlyBeard1]

Papal and piety are hard to pronounce I guess

[@AlzaboHD]

On this channel everything is unpronounceable and the host is (probably) a text to speech synth

[@jacmido5674]

What about explaining the aggressive expansion in EU4?

[@ibrahimelamrani5927]

Wich dlc do you need to ask for a crusade

[@afatcatfromsweden]

I tought this was ISP! Only perfect youtubers have a chance of being sponsored by ironside.

[@OrkosUA]

Those Crusades are now making you OP. If you are king you can easily win all the time and grab gold.

[@DaDunge]

I would not reccomend hiring oultremer knights until you have enough retinue cap to field at least a thousand of them. Before that it is far better to field light skirmishers and as a mid step a mix of shock and defence retinues.

[@Uggggu]

his voice smooth like silk

[@griz35tv22]

S/O to the Barefoot Boyz

[@lynn-chan6937]

I had to double check who I'm watching because I thought this was an ISP video

[@Ableseamansainz]

A finally , I’ve been sending my men on aimless boat trips around the Mediterranean

[@Gungus-v1g]

holy shit this game is so much bigger than I realised

[@WonderfulWino]

I really really really wanted to play ckii but the small unreadable font and teeny tiny icons made it impossible.

[@michaeltbarrett4437]

If you’re playing in Flanders you should depart no less than 150 days before the Crusade to guarantee you get there first

[@Crosshill]

good tips. prioritize the spread of your seed with matrilineal marriages when possible, be the overachiever, manage the cultures of your court and occupations, dont invite all the rats from the sewers by holy warring, when you're not worshipping satan and impregnating an entire kingdom this game has a lot to teach you

[@paolocorbelli6466]

The only thing missing from this video is how to get the “Defender of the Holy sepulcher” Achievement. In order to get it you have to start with Eustache se Boulogne in the 1066 bookmark. This makes getting the whole crusade thing going more difficult, for 2 reasons: - you have less than 40 years to consolidate your power in Europe - the Muslims are far more powerful and organized than in the 936 bookmark. You’ll have to defend both from the Shia fatimids and the Sunni Seljuks, which means double the jihads and double the pain. Really if you want a crusader challenge try to form the empire of outremer while getting this achievement.

[@crayz4641]

I got that achievement after I became King of France, but I couldn't go further for Outremer :( Im thinking of trying again starting with curbing Egypt in the First Crusade, since it seems to supply most of the men of the Islamic Jihads

[@rateeightx]

Personally I Find The Best Way To Keep Your Old Land And Gain The Crusaded Land As Well Is To Just Name Your Celibate Old Aunt As The Beneficiary. Other Celibate And/Or Old Characters With No Children Work As Well, As Long As You'd Be The One To Take The Throne.

[@edvindenbeste2587]

I once managed to get my beneficiary on the throne of Jerusalem as sweden. I didn't even know it was possible and i didn't know i could play as Jerusalem so i opted to still play as the ruler of sweden.

[@Ressieboi19]

This was an AWESOME video! Can you do more like this, please?

[@AlzaboHD]

I have a feeling you will like the next video!

[@aa898246]

more ck2 videos pls

[@RIlianP]

I did matriarchal play trough inspired by your previous video, but I just set all religions on shattered world to matriarchal and to add further hilarity I had animal kingdoms Easter egg set . So I started playing dragon and now I am a hedgehog.

[@thefakebarrybonz4492]

When the holy Land takes you

[@arizonabusinessleague918]

G E K O L O N I S E E R D

[@ArtanisOwns]

did a bug fly into your mouth at 1:27?

[@rateeightx]

I'm Not Sure, But I Believe, From Personal Experience, That Enemy Casualties Mean More For Crusades Then Occupation, So I'd Recommend Just Hunting Down Large Enemy Armies Instead Of Actually Sieging. If It Turns Out I'm Wrong, Just Completely Ignore This.

[@gregorflopinski9016]

Waiter: so what will you take? Crusaders: WE WILL TAKE JERUSALEM

[@theothanosreal]

I got PTSD from that intro

[@labrynianrebel]

Instruction unclear, ended up besieging Constantinople to the ground

[@claricea.5393]

Am I the only one who arrives at crusades earlier than the declaration of war date just so I could keep being top contributor?

[@xxDrain]

I'm really trying to like this game, but so far it's a struggle. How did something so hard to pick up ever break through that barrier and become popular?

[@MrSimeonk]

You seem like a supreme top ranking CK2 player. I would like to hear your opinions of CK3 & perhaps question why it looks mors like DLC than a newer & better game...

[@1992zorro]

@AlzaboHd Great video. How did you manage to create the kingdom of Aquitaine as simple count in the south of France if in the start date 936 the Ummayads in the Spain will blob within France? Please explain I've tried several times.

[@n00b18]

When i try to change the crusade target from Egypt to Jerusalem, the "change" button is greyed out, when hovering over the text it says "no valid targets to change to", what gives?

[@pmsilent]

Is it possible to get to the holy land by foot? I am playing as Poland and I want to invade Pomerania so I can get a coast for ships but what if the attack fails, what do I then so I can crusade?

[@moonshinei]

I thought I clicked on an iSorrow video for a sec

[@rateeightx]

Wait, Doesn't Contributing To The War Chest Increase The Number Of Artefacts Distributed Among The Victors, Thus Meaning You Could Get More?

[@scorpionfiresome3834]

I discovered a way to survive and thrive as the only non daimyo nation of Ainu, i'm not sure if you think it would make for a good video though.

[@afonsonapoles]

Just wanted to know why Ive suffered 2 jihads and no crusade happened. Till 1090 I still have to wait. Thanks!

[@anon9469]

My best guess would be that someone expanded into the core territory of Islam, but the Jihads called in counter to that didn't push into the core territory of Christianity.

[@Ballin4Vengeance]

I thought you just need to scream “DEUS VULT” and swing your Zweihander at saracens before this video...

[@codemancz798]

You know, you really remind me of Sseth.

[@KomandarmKnuckles]

For a moment I thought I was watching Sseth

[@KorisnikBr1]

I went on a crusade with them but after some time guy we attacked transfered to our religion and it just ended. I didn't get anything WTF?

[@jayson7536]

What do I do if England somehow gained Jerusalem through inheritance before 1090 and the Pope is calling for a crusade

[@jeffandeeaon1522]

How do I for men outoromerer i conquered the entire near east

[@imperialfront6366]

got all of egypt as france, then changed my main title to kingdom of egypt

[@fifa4lifeunknow795]

Sees thumbnail F Deus Vault

[@jakeharland8345]

Instructions unclear: started in southern France, got conquered by moors.

[@A-Rather-Dubious-Character]

As much as I appreciate the guide, I was confused as fuck when I didn't hear ISorrowProductions. Just uhh... Heavily caught off guard.

[@mateusz4782]

nice tutorial :)