CK3 Genetics Guide: Create Superhumans

Create superhuman characters in CK3 by BreadGod. Guide to master genetics in CK3 and how to create a superhuman dynasty anywhere.
Part 1: Steps to create a CK3 genetics program
0:00 Intro
0:47 Step 1 Get 3 leveled traits (intellect, beauty, physique)
1:22 Step 2 Strengthen bloodline decision
1:49 Step 3 Use renown to unlock blood legacy perks
2:23 Step 4 Get harder to get traits (fecund, pure-blooded)
2:49 Step 5 Get bonus "inheritable" traits (optional)
2:55 Step 6 Force succession
3:04 Step 7 Change religion
Part 2: Mechanics of Genetics
3:21 Active/Inactive trait & Inheritance chance
4:40 Natural prevalence of traits
5:00 Traits with special chances
5:17 Marriage info for genetics
6:11 Inbreeding info
7:25 A special note about negative traits
8:00 Part 3: Example with Ireland & Tips
8:10 Be patient
8:19 Breed constantly
8:48 How to find better spouses & 5 tips to invite persons of interest
11:16 Fertility Info
11:39 Seduce/Romance your spouse
11:51 Land family to boost fertility
13:07 Marry daughters matrilineally
14:28 Romance after seducing for more pregnancies
14:40 Use Grand Wedding (DLC) for fertility
14:47 Check 'current situation' to keep family married
15:13 How to force succession to play better rulers
19:40 Create custom religion
20:05 Conclusion
Part 4: Custom builds
22:08 Standard build
24:38 Overkill build
25:53 Part 5: Special 'inheritable' Traits
Game ver 1.11.3 DLC's: Royal Court, Tours & Tournaments, Northern Lords, Fate of Iberia
Illustrations and Information credit to paradox's official ck3 wiki: ck3.paradoxwikis.com/ unless otherwise listed

[@breadgodgaming]

Updates & Community Suggestions: 1) Kadeferr8788 has a good tip about consecrated/divine blood: if we can't consecrate our own blood, we can always find an NPC dynasty that has consecrated their blood and breed in the trait! 2) New legitimacy system penalizes marrying lowborn spouses with big legitimacy loss. This makes it less appealing to marry lowborn, but only while you are actively the ruler. Marrying your unlanded children to lowborns does not affect your or their legitimacy. So, the update emphasizes the diligence and attention needed to watch your children and grandchildren's marriages. For my own marriage, I still marry lowborn when I start out since legitimacy doesn't matter when I am small, and when I'm a big empire I can wait until I am unapproachably powerful to do as I please and marry all the lowborns I want.

[@bombidil3]

I know Giant is technically considered a negative trait, but I want people to know without being told when they're the presence of my lineage of demi-gods. Intellect can be hard to see, beauty and stature less so, but nothing stands out like being 8 ft tall.

[@breadgodgaming]

Love your comment! 100% after I've completed the positive traits, I breed in giant :) It's like the moment mortal Hercules claimed his right to godhood.

[@admthrawnuru]

Also a good bonus to prowess, if I recall

[@arandombard1197]

Giant is the best type of intelligent - you're always more intelligent than the other guy if they're dead!

[@lightworker2956]

Based

[@thomasjohnson3319]

@@arandombard1197 aaand that’s why guns were invented.

[@papafrancesco2937]

Babe wake up, new ck3 eugenics guide just dropped

[@giankjojo]

you know the game is good when you gotta open up the inbreeding spreadsheet to make sure you do not fuck up and finally get your own kwisatz haderach

[@breadgodgaming]

I just saw dune part one and two and my goodness were they good! Thank you for the great laugh :)

[@kainwittrig2180]

Imagine role playing like a Bene Gesserit type realm

[@dracosummoner]

I'd never noticed you can do this to Strengthen Bloodline from the very start of the game. SUPER useful. Thank you!

[@breadgodgaming]

My pleasure! Doing that can literally shorten the time to perfect heirs from 200 years to 100 years!

[@dracosummoner]

​@@breadgodgaming It's so useful. I usually start at age ~36 with three adult children so I can get a quick witch coven, but that has a point of failure in that the children might not accept witch indoctrination. With your way, coupled with still taking the Witch trait during custom-character creation, I managed to get a foolproof Strengthen Bloodline from the get-go, plus it's a lot easier to indoctrinate the children into witchcraft when I get the "Age of Knowing" pop-up instead of having to do a scheme with a random chance of failure.

[@breadgodgaming]

@@dracosummoner I'm glad it made your life easier :) I always educate my primary heir, then try to make sure I educate the other children starting from oldest. At 15 you get that event you mentioned and you can finish their education, or remove yourself and start educating the next child and repeat until all the other children get a shot at conversion. The conversion chance is also higher if you have high learning relative to their learning.

[@paulschumacher4308]

"My pilgrimage to Narnia" made me laugh because it was so unexpected.

[@defiancegames786]

Absolutely a stunning guide. Wow!

[@breadgodgaming]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kind comment

[@Junker-sq6pu]

Videos like this really benefit from chapters.

[@breadgodgaming]

Thanks for the feedback! This made me look deeper and realize why, despite having timestamps in the description, they were not showing up no the timeline! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[@marthvader14]

​@@breadgodgamingThank you for adding them!

[@idontlikeyourface]

Comprehensive as always! Keep it coming for the game we love!

[@altansirin5830]

-Crusader Kings- *Eugenics Simulator*

[@tsaiclone]

Learned more than in my Genetics 101 class!

[@breadgodgaming]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@bonog7763]

Very nice guide, keep up the good work!

[@breadgodgaming]

Thanks!

[@Agachack]

Hello, thank you forthe guide! New player here, with 40 hours of playing tall, I still have a lot to learn and I'll watch more of your previous videos.

[@breadgodgaming]

Thank you for the kind comment!

[@baronvonbunghole5999]

This guide helped me create a dynasty of Herculean gods, good stuff

[@breadgodgaming]

Awesome!! I’m glad to hear it!

[@bernardosousa627]

Nice video, keep covering ck3! Many thanks!

[@breadgodgaming]

Thank you for the kind comment!

[@Evoblade4]

Thank you "BreedGod"!

[@breadgodgaming]

Haha that's a really good one! Thank you for the kind and funny comment :)

[@paulschumacher4308]

These videos are VERY helpful! I've been playing CK3 for a few years, now, and I have learned a lot by watching these videos.

[@breadgodgaming]

Thank you for the kind words! I still learn new things everyday despite clocking over 2000 hours!

[@JoakimHaloReach]

Great content man!

[@breadgodgaming]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@kadaferr8788]

Good guide, you can breed in consecrated blood from npc dynasty after getting saoshyant though.

[@breadgodgaming]

Great tip! I added it to the pinned section so others will know :) And thank you for your kind words.

[@brawlfan9999]

One thing of note, you can choose to end a succesful seduction scheme without becoming lovers, but you still lay with the target. This almost always ends in pregnancy, so you can repeatedly seduce a particularly good spouse or concubine to rapidly make children until you get one with the desired traits. I did that in my last run to breed Pure blooded into the bloodline, 7 children in 7 years, got a couple of perfect daughters Do note that women in-game actually lose fertility with each child though

[@breadgodgaming]

This is a great tip to help with the min-maxing! I never thought of doing that! Now I might be able to definitely create the perfect genetic heir in fewer generations.

[@brawlfan9999]

@@breadgodgaming Yeah, it works pretty well for the first 7 children (at least in my experience), after that the lowered fertility per birth plus age starts to take its toll and you need multiple attempts. The same logic can be applied for renown farming with Romances, end them with just a kiss and they don't become your soulmate, meaning you can keep romancing the same woman

[@breadgodgaming]

I’ve been using the “lay” option instead of lovers to great effect. Even in the rare chance it critically fails I still got a lot more pregnancy chances in. I think I easily ended with 20+ kids while being busy conquering the world

[@brawlfan9999]

@@breadgodgaming excellent, glad to see my tip helped

[@noragrey7016]

I love the Albino Trait (forgot it´s exact name), because it gives me Targaryen vibes :D

[@phobos5475]

its exact name is Albino is it not?

[@breadgodgaming]

You remembered right, it is albino :)

[@chrisboukassa]

Very helpfull, thank you.

[@breadgodgaming]

Glad it was helpful!

[@foleymcfoley9720]

well done

[@Jo-Heike]

One way to learn about the congenital traits is playing around in the ruler creator.

[@salami_boi3169]

imma be making the kwisatz haderach

[@breadgodgaming]

Lisan al Gaib!

[@mihos11]

Thoughts on using sadistic to keep the succesion so that you can get rid of kids with bad traits? I find that that helps a decent amount in places where you can't choose the succesion type. PS. Good video, I knew most of this but there were some things that I didn't know such as not getting any courtiers when traveling and knowing the stats for inhering traits is nice

[@breadgodgaming]

It can be nice if you have it, but unless you can reliably pass on the personality trait then other methods are more consistent. Wards and warden DLC does let you influence your ward so you can almost permanently keep sadistic if you want. The other downside is that sadistic is a sin in faiths like Catholicism, which I tend to play a lot of. I just uploaded a video on inheritance if you want to check out some methods :) Ironically, I forgot to include sadistic in it, but good folks like you reminded me. Thank you for your kind words!

[@AustinoM]

I love how the point of this video was to show how to master the genetics mechanic and my guy just lowkey formed an empire along the way. I struggle to hold onto my duchy!

[@breadgodgaming]

I’m surprised you noticed haha. I can’t help but always become an empire

[@user-sy6bx9lc3l]

In AGOT the fooking Targaryen max their cognitive trait legacy. After that no one(also me) can stage a successful coup against them(Genius, beautiful, Herculean, …) fuck!!!

[@breadgodgaming]

Haha it’s tough to win against genetic gigachads

[@paulschumacher4308]

Apparently, the Egyptians knew something we didn't.

[@gijskramer1702]

I got pure blooded ONCE had a family of 1000 members all inbreeding. It got lost after none of his 10 kids got the trait

[@breadgodgaming]

Yea it’s such a small chance to be inherited :( A tip from another commentator said you can keep seducing the same target (like your wife) and just pick the “lay with her” option instead of becoming lovers, that way you can attempt a pregnancy every year until you die. That’s how you can get more kids than normal and hopefully get at least 1 or 2 kids and best case 1 boy 1 girl. I used to only seduce brand new targets but didn’t realize I could repeatedly seduce the same person.

[@gijskramer1702]

@@breadgodgaming i use the seducing trick a lot. I once console commanded a spouce with pure blooded but out of like 8 kids only 2 got it, both being girls. Lost the trait in 3 generations

[@gijskramer1702]

​@@breadgodgaming new game and the first gen of inbred kids got 2 pure blooded kids FROM THE SAME PARENTS. 1 boy 1 girl. Sometimes the rng gives

[@breadgodgaming]

Wow that is some really good RNG! When I was recording the first run of my Viking World Conquest video, my first ruler had a daughter who was pure-blooded, genius, herculean, and fecund so I was so excited to maybe have perfect heirs in one succession from a grandchild. After playing for 3 hours I exited thinking my cloud save succeed but it didn't :( RIP super daughter.

[@PerfectAlibi1]

The Herculean/Amazonian trait is a trap, it makes your character over stay his/her welcome. When you want to start playing as your heir. Just get get hale so you can strengthen the bloodline... ^^

[@breadgodgaming]

That is true, using hale and beautiful will save lots of points and prevent a long life, but I personally love long lived rulers since that gives me enough time and leeway to complete a lot of goals. Thank you for the tip!

[@PerfectAlibi1]

@@breadgodgaming Maybe if you have absolute crown authority, with Primo- or Ultimogeniture, so you can just choose your heir. ^^

[@victorin99]

Make a video about inheritance 🙏🙏🙏

[@breadgodgaming]

Check out my channel :)

[@JustAnotherAccount8]

Personally went into the files and made Giant a positive trait. Doesn't do anything different, I just always found it odd that it was red and thus a bad trait. (I also made Dwarf and albino good traits aswell)

[@PasOdMater]

All of my CK3 games turn into eugenics experiments eventually. So much so that I end up throwing in Giant, Albino, and Dwarf in there just because I can. I have entire lines of courtiers that I breed into perfect spouses for my kids. I tend to finish a game once the number of courtiers affects the speed of the game too much.

[@breadgodgaming]

Same here! After I learned how to master genetics, I rarely marry for any reason other than genetics. I also try to do the same and make a second line that are giant knights :)

[@SFTaYZa]

I loved ck2 but never tried 3, slowly getting the urge.

[@breadgodgaming]

I didn't play much CK2 and I was terrible at it, but so far I'm thoroughly enjoying CK3 and I think the UI/graphics/etc was a game changer to get me more into CK and understand it better. There's always more content coming out and I'm sure in a few years the amount and depth of stuff will be similar to 2. If there is only 1 DLC I'd definitely get it would be Northern Lords.

[@sr.blanco9358]

Hello, I would like you to explain how to do jihad with Muslims, in different games I have become a head of faith and I can't get the option of jihad. I have read that to do jihad you need to be a head of faith and that one of your sacred places is occupied by a different faith and that the fervor is above 75. Could you explain in a video how you can do jihad? Thanks in advance, regards.

[@breadgodgaming]

Hello sr.blanco9358! I have some generic information here on crusades/jihads: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJzLdK1_btmNeqMsi=laSBBbb2N4o1Y_Jd&t=3281 Who are you playing as / what territory do you control? For your specific situation, has christianity unlocked crusades already? If christianity has unlocked crusades then Islam only needs one holy site in hostile/evil hands for it to unlock Jihads. There is also a 10 year time delay between any faith unlocking great holy wars, so if crusades were unlocked 880 then jihads can be unlocked 890. If crusades were not unlocked, then two holy sites need to be in hostile/evil hands. Your Muslim faith needs to have 'Struggle & Submission' tenet. 75 fervor is correct for declaring jihads, but your faith also needs to have 35 counties following it. Most commonly, all the holy sites of Ash'ari / other Islamic faiths are already held by Islamic rulers. So you will have to purposefully lose a holy site or two to an evil/hostile enemy, especially if you're the arabian empire. Most commonly, if Islam loses Jerusalem to Christian crusaders, then they will normally unlock Jihads in short time. If needed, I can also look at your game file. If you need more info still, let me know and I'll try to create a specific video.

[@changedpace9169]

Jihad is haram

[@coylaxy7868]

Thanks, gonna use it irl! 😉

[@breadgodgaming]

Haha this is the best way to guarantee beautiful geniuses :) /s

[@unitor699industries]

nice

[@breadgodgaming]

Thank you!

[@andrewfridae5099]

@breadgodgaming you yourself appear to be... in - bread?

[@breadgodgaming]

LOL love it! Thank you for making me laugh

[@Lasso1986]

But with elected succession will your other heirs not still get some of your land?

[@breadgodgaming]

Election inheritance is full and complete as long as you own 2+ duchy titles; with one it does not override regular confederate partition. With 2 duchy titles, you pass on all the de jure counties within each title. When I’m playing with elective succession, I’m holding all the de jure counties of each duchy only. If you did have any extra non de jure counties, then yea those are up for grabs. With the exception of one extra county as you can’t split one title. You can see an explanation of elective law in my inheritance video here at 7:21 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXq6oaxnfa13jcksi=vZ6PdaZvdOq9yDYQ Lmk if you still need clarification!

[@basiliimakedonas1109]

Superhumans? We want to make the most weak, frail and feeble subhumans it is possible

[@breadgodgaming]

I love your avatar!

[@wiktorramarak601]

How did you make daughters the heir?

[@breadgodgaming]

As a feudal kingdom, I always add elective succession to my holdings and sometimes to my kingdom title. Because of elective succession & I hold a majority of titles, I can vote for whichever heir I wanted to. If you can't add elective / win your election, you can always get rid of your extra sons / daughters through war, disinheritance, imprisonment, etc until the one you want inheriting is left standing. I have a bunch of techniques in my inheritance guide on my channel or I can elaborate more here if needed :)

[@ericmyrs]

Aren't lifestyles locked to landed characters? Getting seduction won't happen unless you land your Daughters then.

[@breadgodgaming]

You are 100% correct. I apologize for the misinformation. I tend to have equal inheritance and give extra lands to everyone including daughters since that helps the AI make and keep more matrilineal marriages then me having to do it manually each generation. Thanks for pointing it out! I'll take it out to prevent misinformation.

[@ericmyrs]

@@breadgodgaming oh that makes sense.

[@robogamer6996]

Why divine blood turn into consegrated blood ?

[@breadgodgaming]

Depends on if you were head of faith (divine blood) or you were not head of faith (consecrated blood) when you took the 'Consecrate bloodline' decision

[@jdvizcainoarmand]

Now with the legends of the dead, how do you marry without losing all legitimacy?

[@breadgodgaming]

If you're starting out as count or duke, the first wife can be lowborn since your legitimacy won't matter with few/no vassals. If you start as king or emperor, marry for the best noblewoman. Once you get strong enough then having low legitimacy doesn't matter. The other thing is you can freely marry your children with lowborns and I don't land my primary heir so there's no risk of inheriting low legitimacy. Overall, legitimacy may slow down the genetics program a little bit but it still is viable and 100% worth the investment. I do have an entire video purely on legitimacy to help point out how to gain/lose/inherit legitimacy. Overall though, my analysis is that it has not really changed the way I play, I still focus on building really tall and then overwhelming power lets me do as I please.

[@meili4790]

Does bisexual actually give a fertility penalty?

[@breadgodgaming]

I don't know where it is in the code, but if you search in the in-game encyclopedia for 'sexual orientation' it says "sexual orientation has no impact on who they can marry, but may reduce the fertility of a wedded couple if either spouse fails to match the other's preference". So I can't 100% confirm it is an absolute reduction or if they mean indirectly because you can't seduce/romance them. I just generalized it as a reduction and it's better to have the ability to repeatedly seduce your breeding partner anyways.

[@meili4790]

@@breadgodgaming I would imagine that "not matching" means they wouldn't have the attraction to their partner naturally. I'm curious about the code now.

[@breadgodgaming]

I didn't see a fertility / pregnancy file so I'm not sure if we can see the raw code for fertility or maybe I'm using the wrong keywords for the search. Either way though, as long as we can have as many kids as possible we can get the best genetics program :)

[@aru2577]

im trying my best to remind myself that the words used are for a game

[@breadgodgaming]

Haha, that's me every time I come across CK3 reddit post

[@allennewborn936]

There's a curveball that happened to me a gameplay or two ago. I had a few good inheritable traits and I fornicated with a lowborn. I typically choose breeding this way and adopt the child with an adoption mod because 75% of my spouses end up dying within a few years of starting the game, so, I was sick of that happening... no more marriage for me. Well, the lowborn literally had no tie to my family or any other. Our son was born pure blooded, which allowed the inbreeding to begin and perpetual great inheritable traits to be in the bloodline. How my son became pure blooded is completely unknown to me. I looked in the xml edits of the adoption mod and it literally is just a script added to be able to pass them your surname. It was bonkers and amazing and would love for it to happen again. Edit: It couldn't have been inherited in my bloodline because my character was a created character and no, I've never added pure blooded as a trait. I like a bit of a challenge.

[@breadgodgaming]

Wow that’s interesting. I’d have to find the inheritance code for genetics, maybe there is a rare chance to randomly inherit pure blooded even without inbreeding just like all the other traits. Thanks for sharing that is new knowledge for me!

[@allennewborn936]

@@breadgodgaming Welcome, but I've looed it up too and as stated, there's a 0 chance of that happening without inbreeding.

[@breadgodgaming]

@@allennewborn936 ah which file are the genetics codes in? I would love to learn the math, I always wonder how the wiki numbers look like in the code

[@allennewborn936]

@@breadgodgaming I haven't gone that far as digging into finding the multipliers in the game files, rather using the Paradox Wikis I've saved for viewing over the past couple of years. I do however look in my mod files and edits to see how they effect game mechanics and how they could alter genetics, which I'm happy to say, I have none.

[@breadgodgaming]

@@allennewborn936 when I’m home I’ll see if I can dig up some stuff. That’s really cool to know I thought those random characters in the world spawned with different rules since like you said the wiki says it’s only by inbreeding. I don’t know if it’ll help figure out new ways to spawn more pure bloods but I’ll see :)

[@teambellavsteamalice]

Witches with a breeding program manipulating religion and politics... you could make a fun Dune / Bene Geserit inspired story!

[@breadgodgaming]

Thanks for the comment! Their outfits look unique and funny. I will add that to the list :)

[@andrejjelcic3675]

10:20 LMAO

[@Poppa_Capinyoaz]

I'm binging your whole CK3 content because this game makes little to no sense to me once a game begins. I get analysis paralysis and stop playing.

[@breadgodgaming]

Thank you for your support! This game is so big, and I always feel self conscious when I release long videos but hopefully it slowly helps make things clearer! Don't worry there's a reason it's called 'grand strategy' and it's supposed to almost feel like you're going to class to learn how to play this game

[@DonPedroTheDude]

It's not that difficult is it? Maybe it's fun once, but overall this is a negative to the game.

[@breadgodgaming]

Is it because it makes the game too easy? Are you coming from CK2? I don't have many hours on CK2 but I enjoy CK3 thoroughly.

[@qwertt1383]

son AND brother in law? 😂

[@breadgodgaming]

haha it gets crazier than that usually...classic CK3 shenanigans

[@nmanything]

"Brosatru" "Norwego-Telugu-Andaluso-Greco-B...",idk if thats the correct way to play,or one of the most mind numbingly horrifically strange playstyles possible,also not choosing an icon for your religion is kinda not cool

[@breadgodgaming]

Haha everyone has their own way of enjoying things, so there's no correct way for anything as long as it makes you happy imo. I didn't know I could pick my faith's icon until after I recorded that playthrough already, but if I had known, I would've chosen something else. However, I will make a note that my future choices for naming and aesthetics may affect the viewing experience, sorry.

[@ChristianAuditore14]

Marry your daugther to geniuses and give them cities, cousin marriage later, get a genius wifebas soon as you can and et the blood legacies.

[@itzmrromeo6067]

Ewww cursed roman empire its blue ewwwwww wtf Lol also fyi u dont have to kill ur rulers to abdicate u can try take a tittle of ur vassals that has low chance of giving up that said title and once rhey start the tyranny war just surrender and u will abdicate for ur heir to take over this way u dont lose family members also this another way to make sure only ur heir gets all ur tittles 😌

[@breadgodgaming]

Haha is the best color purple for the Roman Empire? Thank you for your support :) You are right you can quickly depose yourself that way, so you can definitely do this if you want to skip heirs that way. The only downside is that your parent will still be the house head so you'll still have to murder/imprison them to inherit the house head. Without being the house head, you will not be eligible to be the dynasty head.

[@travisprice57]

does that 0 year old baby have 12 prowess 😂😂😂😂 kid can kill grown men