The Ultimate CK3 Guide To Succession

[@OneProudBavarian]

Leave a like if the video was able to help you!

[@SingularityHRT]

I have made this Guide on Succession taking a much deeper look at how each step is calculated and laid out. Do have a look. forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/succession-laws-explained.1419049/

[@velociking20industries42]

So, if I hold an empire title, and 50% of another empire, it will create that empire for one of my other kids? I was confused cause I held almost all of a kingdom title, and when I died, that title wasn't created, perhaps because I didn't have any personal domain land within it so that kid would have de jure land?

[@SingularityHRT]

@@velociking20industries42 It will be created if You have more than 50% of the De Jure counties under that Empire and if You have atleast two Eligible Children. You need not hold any domain there.

[@attrition0]

Meneth has indeed confirmed the title succession trick is a bug to be fixed (same rules should be treated as a single succession)

[@WildGhiron]

Even if gender law does get fixed there's a simple workaround I'm using on my current playthrough... it might also be a bug to be fixed, but I doubt it. By taking Scandinavian, Tanistry or Saxon elective laws for the secondary duchy that would be lost upon succession you can choose your realm and primary heir to receive everything. You can force other counts to vote as you do (hooks, diplomacy and dread) or you can simply have more votes than they do by increasing development on your own counties (being the only voter if you hold to every county on that duchy works best though). *What the game is currently doing is giving both duchy and every county held by the former duke to the elected person. I don't think that is a bug unlike the gender one because the election itself is much broader and not limited to your offspring.* This is particularly effective as my domain is always the same it is 100% developed for the current culture level for every regular, duchy or special building. In effect this is primogeniture... with partition law. But better, only opinion boosts and no penalties. *To sum up; under **_Partition_** you keep your empire, main king, main duchy and main county capital title (and every barony that you hold on that county) by regular sucession and hold unto the second duchy and its counties by establishing a simple election law, voting for your Realm heir and making sure he or she gets elected.* As a side note, this system also helped me to keep together my second empire title when I unawares conquered too much land in Italy under Confederate Partition. Had to establish elective succession, kept it together for two kings in a row (which required much diplomacy, many executions and a lot of blackmailing... electors for a duchy are no more than 7, for a kingdom it's a different matter...) and once Partition was available I just deleted the secondary empire and kept everything together under one single title.

[@Burgerklauer]

I didn’t know you’d need a bachelor in history to play this game successfully

[@Makrateli]

History? More like math

[@DuffmaneB]

Yeah, I felt like I should take notes and make flow charts.

[@vardansimonyan966]

i would say u need an MA on medieval history

[@AStrangeTree]

I mean it’s pretty simple. Like he said, the fundamental idea of confederate partition is the notion that all kids of the king deserve an equal inheritance, and the game will attempt to distribute titles to that end

[@WillayG]

To play any paradox game you need a triple major in history, mathematics and law. The developers just assume everyone has those.

[@TheNignag89]

3:14 Cause of death: "He Debug." God I love Paradox games lol

[@spaska12]

He probably used a cheat to kill him for the video thus the message. Funny as fuck though

[@josephdawson9461]

kill

[@EriIaz]

Insecticides are toxic enough lol

[@2Scribble]

He Pug He Hug But Most importantly He Debug!

[@Haedrian]

This really hurt as a powerful tribal. One minute I hold the Empire of Russia, a great deal of Scandinavia, and 12 holdings, all of a sudden my 14 children divvy everything up and I'm left with 1 holding, and Scandinavia goes independent. And with the really low levies tribal vassals offer, went down to a fourth of my army.

[@CanadianStig990]

This is the essence of this game. Is to make yourself as powerful as possible when the ruler dies. (Without using exploits of course). Managing Succession is a key aspect of this game. And it was how it was in real life back in time too.

[@DoubleBizzy]

14 children?!? But your renown, oh yeah!

[@jvy012896]

Thats the best part. Not every game has to be about world domination, and painting the map with your kingdom.

[@NZIGNANTI]

@@jvy012896 Painting the map with your dynasty is much more pleasing.

[@admontblanc]

@@CanadianStig990 which is why at some point kings realized that it's actually more advantageous, in dynastic terms, to have less children, and to make bastards as a side hustle as insurance policy. Funny how the "cheesy exploits" are actually historically accurate.

[@0michelleki020]

Ah yes the "i don't know what i'm doing" game

[@molybdaen11]

"Where did england gone? I just # around with the queen and her daughters for 20 jears."

[@bvansenu]

To be fair, CK3 is ever so much more user friendly than the last one. So much easier to manage everything.

[@0michelleki020]

@@bvansenu True, but the brutal defficulty of CK2 is one of the appealing things tbh.

[@comicsans1689]

@@bvansenu Yea, I found CK3 much easier to get into and I'm enjoying it more than CK2. It also helps that it's more feature rich at launch.

[@WarlordM]

@@bvansenu too easy

[@youneskasdi]

This game has pushed me to murder my own kids in an attempt to keep my empire alive after my death, 10/10 makes you feel like an actual medieval king

[@CanBonamaVEVO]

@Nickleby ottomans literally legalized killing ur brothers because of this how does it makes no sense?

[@CanBonamaVEVO]

@Nickleby suleiman the magnificent and some others did that too. Its kingdoms were talking about this is one of the costs being a royalty

[@ericbooth3393]

@Nickleby I can’t think of any specific example of a king murdering his children to ensure succession but, I’m sure it happened.

[@jaeger9654]

Ottoman sultan kill all their children

[@Thanan548]

@@CanBonamaVEVO hey don’t say that!! Only white Christians ever did something so bad!

[@Marconius6]

Me: "I'll just destroy all my secondary Kingdom titles, so all my sons stay Duke vassals..." Game: "Haha, free Kingdoms for everyone!"

[@ungegelter31]

Literally what I'm trying to figure out.. Started out as the Jarldom of Oppland, counquered the entirety of the Kingdom of Norway and founded it, worked my way up towards Sapmi, and when I died, my heir got Norway and the second in line got the Kingdom of Sapmi founded for him.. How can I die in peace without letting the realm be splintered? I just wanna make an empire

[@Marconius6]

@@ungegelter31 I don't think you CAN, that's kind of the point of partition succession. You basically just have to declare war on your sibling and take their crown by force.

[@ungegelter31]

@@Marconius6 well shit... I didn't do all that conquering just to lose it?? How am I supposed to ever get the Empire of Scandinavia up and running when my sibling is given equal forces to mine?

[@molybdaen11]

@@ungegelter31 You could disingerit them if you are heard of the dynasty. Otherwise send them into battle or use the "special inherritant rule" trick in this video for your 2 duchys.

[@ungegelter31]

@@molybdaen11 costs a fortune to disinherit them tho :o I guess I just need to be very careful about how many claimants I'm creating :P Although I'm not playing like the guys I see in videos. I run at 5 speed most of the time and pause a lot unless there's battles that need to be carefully controlled

[@jsparrow115]

Step 1: Own all counties in your 2 main duchys. Step 2: Attach a feudal elective law to both. (Because you own all the counties in both duchys you are the only eligible voter.) Step 3: Vote for your player heir Step 4: Profit!

[@basic_avarage_person]

Or listen to me Step 1: married someone and have 1 kid Step 2: divorce Step 3: married again to someone useful Step 4: have the kid in their family

[@extint3407]

@@basic_avarage_person but they are still eligible it just risks ending up in a different dynasty

[@Chadius_Thundercock]

Why does like 5000 of my troops just disappear when I die? Even when I stabilize the empire and I’m friends with everyone again, I’m still like 3000 troops from where I was

[@extint3407]

@@Chadius_Thundercock i think it's to do with vassal? When you get new titles , you also get the vassals with it. So when your parent or title holder dies. The titles are divided so maybe that's where you are losing them.

[@ZumbaThirst]

@@Chadius_Thundercock Your player character's statistic and perks have a lot to do with all kinds of different things you are able to do and what you have. This includes but is not limited to your levy size. If your previous character had, let's say 20 points in martial and your current only has 12, your levy size will be drastically smaller. This can be compounded if your previous character also had perks that increase levy size, as it is unlikely your much younger current character has those perks. Essentially, a character who is at the end of their lifespan will have more points and perks tied to their lifestyle focus, and therefore be more powerful than young characters.

[@StenKilla]

Im a old school ruler. All my annoying heirs disappeared

[@ReconQ8]

That’s intriguing

[@ankittakle5244]

@@ReconQ8 I see what you did there...

[@demonetized6837]

That's the approach I've had to take until watching this video. My offspring will breathe freely (if at all) now. No more need to imprison everyone and sacrifice them to Odin.

[@fengwang4742]

I let all younger sons be monks so they do not have to slaughter each other. Inner peace at last.

[@abca4883]

fun fact: Slovenian culture gets house seniority in tribal tech, while Occitan and basque get high partition.

[@denniswilkerson5536]

There is Slovenian culture in this game?

[@puruttyaaa]

not slovien(former czech)?

[@denniswilkerson5536]

Jakab Gábor Róbert Right, I was gonna say, I knew they had Carantanian (Slovenian) culture added later on in CK2 but it not sure if they will add if they bring back 769 date.

[@alexwillis2381]

Czech culture. ie the Duchy of Bohemia.

[@loungekiller]

There is Slovien culture. Confirmed as I am currently playing the game.

[@pepperonipierza9547]

There's also one last way, which is accessible if you have the sadistic trait: assassination. Since sadistic characters can create plots against even their own children, you can kill them off if you have the intrigue or connections, all the while keeping the kinslayer trait off your character if successful. However, even if you aren't discovered, you do gain stress, and of course, this could hurt your dynasty size, meaning less renown for the dynasty. If you're feeling risky, you could also make them knights and send them into battle, hoping they perhaps die outright, or are maimed which will likely lead to death.

[@Morteniusz23]

The best way to kill heirs in battle is just creating only army of unwanted heirs and send them for raiding to any foreign country with any army. Killed heir without nessesity of having sadistic trait.

[@TheDanielsSk]

The army way was my way to go. I've always created a new army, sent only 1 knight that I wished to die (and maybe also forced one of my vassels that I dont like to lead the army), and sent the two dudes to die, always worked, one time my knight even killed 20 dudes on his own before getting his arm cut off

[@whackedoutpoobrain]

I'm super curious about how they will fix that exploit. It's extra queso supreme cheesy.

[@brosmeister09]

@@whackedoutpoobrain I assume that it would be done like eu4 where a army just nopes out if the enemy is too large in comparison (all dough that should factor in troop quality to some extent)

[@scottbeale3241]

Forcing you heirs into a trial by fire as knights is a win win. Either they die and you're left with less division, or they eventually become giga chads able to bitch slap people around

[@TheWeirdsound]

Another little trick, is being proactive with your grandkids. Confederate Partition doesn't let you give your heir land, but if your heir has an heir, it is fair game to give em all the titles you want. If your own succession is secure, but you notice your heir has way too many children, you can set their eldest up with a solid domain of their own before you die... If a primary heir happens to already own land, Confederate Partition can't take it away from em.

[@sdarkpaladin]

Not to mention, if your primary heir were to somehow die, then his primary heir will become your next character. Or at least that's what I remembered. So you can skip generations to keep your land intact.

[@mortache]

Just have one son and assassinate all but one of his sons! Live long and skip generations to rule! Disinheriting grandkids also cost half renown

[@Naruku2121]

@@sdarkpaladin Yeah....uh just becareful how soon your heir dies or you may find yourself a 3 yearold king, with a Kingdom of unruly vassals...Like I did. It went how you would think 3 rebellions all in a short period of time. Fortunately I had an over powered alliance who basically laid waste to everyone and some random vikings attacked in the middle of one of those civil wars and captured my rebellious uncle for a second(Literally was like a second they released him). Now I have 25 Prisoners all from various wars and 90% of them are vassals. So uh...that's nice.

[@molybdaen11]

@@mortache I did that - killed 6 of my sons and grandsons before i had only the one i wanted left. One month later they assasinated him and i was left with a baby, unable to hold irland together. Took me 2 generations to get the title back from my relatives. So if you go for that - always keep one son in reserve!

[@mortache]

@@molybdaen11 Nah i have a bunch of disinherited geniuses. You can restore their inheritance at your leisure. One of my great-granddaughters just became robust-intelligent-beautiful and my robust-genius heir is sooo gonna bang her lol

[@mejiasan]

I had to watch this at 0.75 playback speed so that i could follow your ideas.. but that helped a lot.. nice vid!

[@kekeslider]

youtube please give us 0.8 and 0.85 speed

[@locococo8961]

Lol, I watch all vids on 2x speed, I guess I am just a maniac.

[@thegentlemansclubshow2277]

It is my very first play through of CK 3. I will explain why this game is special if you’re interested. I played the tutorial and became interested in the story of Petty King Brian. I carried onward to his passing and took over his sons Brian II. In my early 20s my fathers death sparked me to realize that my dynasty would be in grave danger if I did not marry soon. I must create an heir. My wife was one of the most qualified women in the known world at the time. I was lucky to betroth her. She had exceptionally high lifestyle skills and at least 10 solid traits. I’ve yet to see anything like her since. I knew I had found the one. Within the first year or two of our marriage my lovely became pregnant with our first child. Soon to be my 1st son and rightful heir. I relished the opportunity to have a Prince and set my ideas towards growing the lands I would one day hand down to him. Though as life often does, it threw me a curve. Late into my wife’s pregnancy, it was discovered that she was having an affair with that bastard of a Franconian duke robert! Suddenly I came to realize the child … may not be mine. I struggled deeply with what to do. The laws didn’t allow me to punish the duke, but only my wife. I couldn’t bear the thought of imprisoning her, for if my heir truly lives inside her, I wouldn’t have them brought into the world in a jail cell. I wanted to murder her, but again what of my child? I decided to wait. I needed time to think and clear my mind. I would allow her to go unpunished and soon she gave birth to a baby boy. Who unlike his mother and her lovers brunette, had a head of blonde hair like mine. Surely this was my son… but the irking feeling nagged at me still. What if I’m wrong? I decided to let the baby grow up and see it through. Surely as he aged into a boy I would see in his face if he was truly my heir. So I forced myself to find forgiveness in my wife, yet not forget. Several years past and my boy grew to look more and more like me. I loved my son dearly.. yet I still could not shake the feeling. It haunted me always… it was during these early years of the princes life that began looking into the faith to try and calm my mind, and to change my ways. Thus I recognized my duchy struggling to maintain piety. Checking the religion tab I found that the catholic irish traditions expected me to have several wives. It said “since marriage is a holy sanctity, several marriages must therefore be even more holy!” So I sought out others. Enter probably the most memorable character I have ever experienced in a video game to my life, the lovely and vivacious Sadb. While the other wives weren’t memorable there was special in Sadb. While not rivaling my first wife she certainly had skills to hold her own, and more importantly traits to create a kinder hearted and more chivalrous line in my family. While I fought in petty wars with my neighbors, I regretted the brutal ways of my fathers ruling and the traits I had inherited from it. I knew that to maintain peace in my lands and the lands to come, a gentler approach would be a welcome change. And Sadb was going to help me do that. More years past and though my childbearing had been so limited my son now 5-6 was growing strong… although much more like his mother than me. I worried he may be treacherous but fought to combat that by making myself his personal guardian. I had finally found peace with the idea of my main wife’s affair and moved on from it. I defended my petty kingdom through a couple of rebellions from ungrateful vassals and focused on raising my son. I was looking to the future. But just as I had all but forgotten about the queens affair… my spymaster approaches me… that bastard of a duke Robert, and my queen were caught red handed in my bed chambers. She had done it again.. and I was enraged. I would not make the same mistake twice. By ancient Gaelic law, I challenged her to hand to hand combat.. and I swiftly ended her life myself in front of the entire kingdom. In these moments I was filled with darkness. I would begin a failed scheme to murder Robert as well. The people saw me as evil, but I knew it to be just. I would no longer allow my dynasty to be riddled with wickedness. I would erase it piece by piece with my axe. The rage brought on by my queens unfaithfulness drove me near madness. My goal in life was now clear. I would reunite Ireland under 1 banner, my banner, and change the future of our kingdom or die trying. But as God would see my plight, he saw it fit to send me a blessing. For as my mission began, my new Queen Sadb would offer me a son as well. A 2nd heir. Sadb and I would fall in love and eventually become soulmates. My boys being only 6 years apart would grow up and become crucial members of my council. The wars would wage on into their early adulthoods. I played it safe, I moved slowly and meticulously. Playing on diplomacy and building my armies. I replaced abhorrent vassals with some more trustworthy. I finally began to regain control over my small territory and Sadb would offer me several daughters to build alliances. I did not know if I would ever be powerful enough to fulfill my goals but my sons would. While my 1st son born of a treacherous wife would become much like his mother, even plotting to kill his brother and being a deceitful villain, his half brother my 2nd son would be like Sadb. He carried much more chivalrous and martial traits, even to the point I was forced to make him my Martial and commander. He was the greatest warrior in my kingdom. And yet life again would test me… for just as our small kingdom began to flourish and the time for conquest drew near… Queen Sadb died at age 40 during childbirth leaving behind our final daughter, I would justly name Gift of Sadb. I would marry off all of my daughters for alliances or to gain powerful knights in my court. But not Gift of Sadb. She was my light, and I would not share her until the perfect partner stepped forth, if ever at all. This was the first time I can ever remember that a game actually made me sad. I was heartbroken in real life. I became enraged… the time was now. I immediately set out on a vicious conquest, leaving a brutal bloodbath in my wake. For 20 years I would wage war on every ruler in Ireland not under my banner, and force them to join me by either will or death. Until I conquered Ireland and created the kingdom it always should have been in my family’s name. And as the war wrapped up and I was crowned high King I thought my troubles were over. But wickedness had returned to my court in a way I had never expected. Within the last several years of the war, I lost several courtiers, a vassal or two, and even my own newborn son to the hands of a nasty serial killer. They would leave their bodies splayed out on the ground, bleeding them out with a large knife. I schemed for years to find the killer but all of my attempts would fail. I knew my 1st son was wicked as his mother was, I knew he was a broken soul… but this? Surely he couldn’t. But I remember… I remember 20 years earlier uncovering his attempt to kill his own brother. I knew what had to be done. I had held on to this anxiousness for almost 40 years. It was time to remove him from the line… his brother, not him would be king. So I disinherited him of all his rights. And told him he would fight as one of my knights until the end of his days, unless I uncover that he is in fact the killer who has been plaguing my court for years… the very next day he was found, murdered by the killer. The 2nd of my sons to be stabbed to death in less than a year. Only this time the killer was suspected, and brought forth to my attention. Finally I had a name… so I approached the killer directly and she smiled evil into my soul… at last I knew who could commit such vile acts against my own family… my sacred daughter, the Princess Gift of Sadb. This was one of the few times I can ever remember in life a game left me absolutely speechless. I teared up. And in that exact moment I knew.. exactly what Crusader Kings was all about, and why this game is special.

[@prodigyPT]

holy shit dude

[@Kodlaken]

@@prodigyPT this should be added into the dictionary as an example of a "text wall"

[@j.r.765]

How many characters is this? Probably the single longest YT comment I've seen. It should be framed in a museum.

[@lucask841]

Bro played so much crusader kings he decided to draft up a new Magna Carta

[@xtushar100x]

Feeling bad for your first kid.

[@greaterFool3765]

I wish I had knew about confederate partition a day ago. I conquered Norway, northern Germany, Aquataine, Italy, Afrika Egypt and some more with the King of Denmark. Then founded the High Kingdom (Empire) of Norway and enacted the Scandinavian succession law for this title. On my death my elected heir inherited this title, but another one of my family created the empire of Italia and put half of my empire into it. Turned out an easy subjugation war solved my problem, but I was really confused, why I lost half my empire.

[@D4rkstorn]

Just FYI: Anglo-Saxons get a special succession type early game if they manage to get a hold of a kingdom title, which is a lot more manageable: Anglo-Saxon elective. It works pretty much like the Holy Roman Empire after that fact, but with a strong preference for dynasty members. Just thought i'd mention to those who want to play Ango-Saxon England. Elective sounds scary but it's extremely easy to keep your primary heir as the top candidate unless everyone just plain hates you. Good bye to splinterin'.

[@marine3250l]

Same w Scandinavian elective

[@jimbo9305]

On top of that, when you create or usurp a new kingdom you can change it to elective even if it isn't the same culture. I created Italy as Swedish Scandinavia and I still put Scandinavian elective for the Italian kingdom. I did that for every kingdom I made and always had my primary heir as the candidate. Even though I only had one county, I would always be the emperor and the king of any kingdoms I wanted. So it didn't matter to only have one county as I would have numerous kingdoms.

[@ystudbeast3]

So under that elective type your domain won’t be split correct?

[@philm94]

@@ystudbeast3 It might, but it's easier to manage. If you give each title the Saxon Elective law, they don't count at all in the even-splits and have their own succession (like the male pref law 'exploit') - and your primary heir can and likely will win every election. You may still lose county holdings doing this, but everything kingdom-level+ will stay with one heir.

[@sasamitrovic8956]

I have played this for almost 20 hours total now . i still have no clue what i am doing but i am willing to learn as it fun as hell . Nice vid

[@AStrangeTree]

I’m glad you made this. I’ve seen too many people in the community acting like the only options they have with confederate partition is to go on a filicide rampage. Yea, confederate partition is tough, but that’s kinda the point. Inheritance was incredibly disastrous for transitions during this time.

[@shahriarratul]

Somehow in my fumbling around, I managed to carry out most of the tips mentioned in the video before watching it and thought I was doing it wrong haha.

[@andrewshandle]

I did as well, I feel much smarter than I should...well, until one of my heirs actually died before I did and my grandson became a bit of a power hungry jerk, but such is life. :)

[@BadDayLp]

@@andrewshandle Ah yes, dying heirs are fun :D

[@kurosakiichigo2661]

Or even cheesier. You have an elective succession law for your main title and assure you have enough power/hooks to make sure your chosen heir gets the number 1 spot. Then you change your heir to someone else shortly before you die (the lifestyle trait that tells you that you are close to death is useful here, or having changed your religion so that you can commit suicide at will after the age of 60 it also reduces short rule penalty I forgot the name.) Now that the guy you want to inherit your main title isn't your main heir you can just give him all your other titles and switch back to voting for him making him your main heir, which lets him inherit all your shit and your main title effectively. (He also votes for himself now usually since he should be a powerfull vassal now making this a little easier.)

[@ChrisSymble]

Yes and you can do the same thing with Crown Authority Level 4

[@williamrosa4005]

Thank you for pointing out the difference between what your character wants from what you as a player may desire. Plus, trying to cheese partition succession is an easy way to get bored with CK3 as you only ever get more powerful. Also, doesn't marrying your extra sons matrilineally remove them from the pot? Still cheesy from a RP-perspective, though.

[@OneProudBavarian]

We as players have a very hostile relation with our secondary heirs, but our characters would probably try to create a future that enables a good life for all of them!

[@richardmatthias6098]

@Evalation Most of the time your more irrelevant sons would generally be your knights, which locks them out of leaving. I believe that they do leave if they have absolutely nothing to do at your court.

[@kleinerprinz99]

Actually real life royal families had pretty hostile relationships to each other, look at how the Frankish Empire broke apart, the three sons made their father give up rule and then after he finally resigned they warred against each other, also Charlemagne's mother poisoned his brother and they send a Lombard Princess to hell.. First World War was a family feud. All of the European Rulers were all relatives.. there is a family picture from 1900.

[@hiimme12345]

@@OneProudBavarian This is why I like non-confederate partition in many cases; all the sons get land and a chance to succeed but the empire as a whole stays intact

[@DoubleBizzy]

@Evalation I had this happen. I had like 8 sons and only 3-4 stood to inherit titles, so I got the popup that one was going to leave Court. Of course, he was my best Champion and highest prowess, so no, you may not leave! Here, get married and I'll start another county conquest for your honeymoon! And take your older brother with you to "see the cliffs".

[@DancesWithPandas]

Before this video I sucked at CK3. Now! I’m still terrible but I know more. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[@sainta117]

This is absurdly useful for early starts. Huge thanks for demystifying how confederate partition works. I've just been gritting my teeth and starting over every generation.

[@jasonreed7522]

1 method is measured expansion, basically only ever have 1 top level domain able to be created at any given time, and wait until after you survive a succession to try and blitz to an empire. The various cultural elective laws help but having too many elections to manage at once gets tedious. On the other side you can strategically assassinated the heads if other nations to trigger an explosion making it much easier to conquer their lands. (Doesn't work if an empire only holds 1 empire level title, which is basically all AI empires, but its a great way to make West Francia spit out Germany, Brittany, Aquitaine, and Italia)

[@blacksebbeth]

This is the type of specialist guides we need. Wouldn't consider the game complete without tutorials like this or a complete wiki. Paradox could learn from you.

[@kgeo2686]

I ripped myself away from my game to come back and THANK YOU! Seriously though. It took some serious focus and notes but after watching this twice it all clicked. I do idee love partition as the thumbnail says! I hate cheese and love immersion and this video allows me to play the actual challenge of succession and have fun with it.

[@AlbonitumG]

Thank you, OPB, for actually teaching people to understand the game and having fun while playing, not fighting game mechanics.

[@earthenjadis8199]

Another way is if your spouse gives birth to a son you don't want to inherit titles, set their education focus to scholarship when they are a baby and give them a scholarly education. Then when they come of age, ask them to "Take the Vows" and join the church, knocking them out of the inheritance race and giving you a small boost in your faith.

[@zarcon5750]

The tip about PRE gifting titles to secondary heirs counting towards succession math/logic, was VERY helpful sir. :). Thanks.

[@matthiasfsa]

I solved this with Feudal Elective. I get to choose which of my sons is going to be the heir (I always apply it to all kingdom / empire titles). The rest of the inheritance drama I solve by either conquering new land or by forging claims on my vassals and then giving the newly acquired titles to my sons. Up to 3 sons is doable, more than that and you're gonna have to start "trimming" a little bit.

[@RexOlafusVidulusMagnus]

"Loving partitions" as a Pole, that part unnerves me 😂😅

[@puruttyaaa]

same as your hungarian former neighbour :D

[@Rex1987]

did you know that Polonium is named after Poland? it has no stable isotopes - just like Poland didn't exactly have stable borders in the last century ;)

[@dariuss3558]

*Poland-Lithuania left the chat*

[@PostRobcore]

This is just a fantastic video. I gave my heirs crappy little duchies and now I get to continue my reign as a powerful king (average renown -1000).

[@Yourebeautyfull]

Yes once you get the hang of it how inheritance rule works, the game becomes much less of a hassle :P But many people just give up on the dutchy inheritance system because it gives them a headache and turn to desperate measures instead :D

[@comradep8519]

i've just been ruling with an iron fist for a while having like -90 tyranny opinion with 100 dread when i start a new character hasn't failed yet

[@imaginarylaurel]

Good job I appreciate your clear communication about the meaning of the information

[@SamButler22]

The thing about gifting before you die in modern inheritance, is less about dividing equally, and more about taxing the recipient!

[@dr0g_Oakblood]

Also keep in mind that the more independent realms that you create upon confederate partition succession, the more renown your dynasty gets, as opposed to not generating any from dynasty members landed under you.

[@MatthewZzzz0]

oh man you just saved me soo much prestige with that male preference cheese

[@tmacdonald4006]

Commented on this previously, but commenting again on account of how useful this is.

[@samhudson333]

Thanks for this, very informative! As someone neglecting studying for the Bar Exam by playing this game, I especially liked your accurate little quip about modern law recognizing advancements on inheritance!

[@dandrews.89]

Please do more tutorials! You present the information really well!

[@johnlynn9388]

It’s a bit annoying that your realm gets carved up when your character dies. My current character has about 8 children so I’m going to lose loads of it when he dies. It will be easier once I make it to the medieval period so I can change the partition laws.

[@cm16533]

I was enjoying the game a lot until I realized this. This adds a big headache

[@johnlynn9388]

@@cm16533 I know my character died and I went from owning nearly all of Britain to owning one or two small provinces. Luckily my current character only has one heir so as long as they survive I won't lose any territory this time.

[@jasonreed7522]

Once you get normal partition atleast you can delete all top level titles that aren't your primary and not worry about shattering as badly. But until then you can strategically not be eligible to form titles, and theoretically you could dejure drift them into your main title but that takes litterally forever even with a really good chancellor speeding it up.

[@arcayn-pn8yt]

Du machst mit Abstand die besten Ck3-Videos. Faszinierend zudem, wie flüssig und souverän Du Englisch sprichst! Respekt.

[@woketoad2426]

Solid explanation, I'd personally recommend taking the celibacy perk in the learning tree (if you're not a reveller) to help control heirs.

[@alexmcneel8931]

My ruler is 'celibate' and still has like 20 kids

[@Aiyapmaster]

@@alexmcneel8931so you vife cheats or you had them before you clicked on it

[@db.1304]

Ty so much for video, just had my first successful transition! from tribal county chief into king with 5 duchies... domain wasn't upgraded much since most money went to buying titles and I did my best for the character to pass on as soon as my heir was 15yrs old (got him at 17, so it worked out great)... Thanks to your explanation I kept track of every change in succession tab, until I realized I just needed 1 extra county to balance everything, so I just conquered some remote county that had 100soldiers and my whole country remained my color and most importantly whole domain landed on heir!

[@JLFA555]

Love this game, can't wait for DLC

[@TheNignag89]

Careful what you wish for *cries in CK2*

[@sandspike190]

Finally! Thank you!

[@rodrikforrester6989]

Third choice: don't have more than one heir at any time. Sire a bunch of bastards, legitimze the most promising ones, keep going down the list if they die.

[@killinspecialist1965]

thats kind of what i do sire only bastards and legitimize the best, move down the list if he dies ofc most of the time i just mod in primogeniture but when i dont thats what i do

[@molybdaen11]

That would be the king route, but doesnt that mean you have to pick a infertile wife?

[@killinspecialist1965]

@@molybdaen11 just dont take a wife

[@rodrikforrester6989]

@@molybdaen11 That, or don't marry at all.

[@TheAsj97]

@@rodrikforrester6989 But then you lose out on the spouse skill bonuses

[@lauwerevan]

Nice video, i did not know about the cheese stuff. Something I found to also keep land together is to use elective on your top tier. En then just gift all land you want to keep + nominate your grandson. Because you can pretty much gift him everthing apart from your top title and capital county.

[@krpipe]

Very helpful. Took me about 15 starts before I I realized the basics here.

[@son_of_alandalus]

Ck3 made me understand the ottomans succession madness

[@haruspexaugur2439]

That's why we legalized fratricide. For the benefit of people and to avoid this bullshit.

[@BadDayLp]

@@haruspexaugur2439 Bruh, dont you think you can avoid this shit without making murdering your brother legal? Just... a thought... :D

[@waleedkhalid7486]

Honestly, the best idea might just be to make all the heirs you don’t really want become knights and yeet then at whatever enemy you want until they die. If they get captured you can seize down their capitol or something to force the war score towards your end until you get the outcome you want. It’s hella cheesy, but it’s better than fracturing your kingdom. Also, I feel like it’s best to try and have heirs focus more on stewardship than anything else so that your domain limit is as large as possible for more direct control of your land.

[@valipunctro]

Great insight into succession,this makes the game much more enjoyable as tribal.

[@Retded]

You can just force your kids that aren't primary heirs to be knights and then send them into battle. And by sending them to battle I mean only them, just create new army out of your children and send them against a doomstack. Perfect way to kill them without the game realizing.

[@jordanelbers]

Great info as always @oneproudbavarian !! I still haven’t found any videos or posts even that explain when and why you want to spend gold to create kingdoms and dutchies.

[@xilllllix]

great explanation, thank you! i like how complex this game is...

[@DollfieFace]

Great guide. Thank you. Also helps that my game very closely matched the example Jorvik case!

[@dice3000]

my head hurts

[@davidingbar846]

The house head 'claim title' interaction is my personal favorite way to do things.

[@haryoputro7185]

The Ultimate CK3 Guide To Succession = PLAY BYZANTINE EMPIRE WITH PRIMOGENITURE LAW EARLY, ALL HAIL ROMA!

[@Mr9TalesFox]

Pavelkind is worst inheritance. Paradox hold my beer.

[@tylorianfan8873]

I don't know if this has been said yet. But, If you give your secondary heirs their inheritance early with High Partition, the game currently switches that secondary heir's succession rules to Confederate Partition, making their inheritance equal your primary heir's. I don't know if this is intended by the Devs, but I figured I'd share that. Had a generation's succession situation messed up in my Castilian Campaign because of this.

[@jjaapp18]

Title: The Ultimate CK3 Guide To Succession Video content: Only talks about Confederate Partition

[@verkpunk]

Well confederation is the absolute worst. The rest can be managed pretty easily

[@Savaris96]

Caue you dont need to explain how primogeniture or even tanistry works, the game does that for you easily enough

[@jjaapp18]

@@verkpunk ​ @Savaris96 Yea, but you guys are missing the point. Your opinions do not matter in regards to the point I made.

[@benoitbergeron8858]

I inherited more than one county once. I was quite surprised!

[@OhhLocky]

It’s really frustrating and it really annoys me but at the same time i kinda like it. I think I’ve just given up to the point where if I have more than one son I either disinherit him the second he appears into the world and reinherit if anything bad happens to my heir. Ooooor I send him into battle against our foes isn hopes of maybe him not returning...

[@Dubsteppingt0n]

I do this to and question if the Devs wanted this to be the way around this. Feels like bad design because its not fun gameplay

[@verkpunk]

I'm trying to unite africa but I have to spend half my reign reconquering the 5 empires my siblings always get.

[@Yourebeautyfull]

Primogeniture will fix that for you once it becomes available... Until then, just make sure their inherited empires are weak enough for you to conquer them back and set up some strong alliances ;)

[@kingkai2800]

Add fedual laws so u can have an election

[@Ace-2000]

Needs to be available for some religions, or can be unlocked earlier. This is just crazy... A son would inherent everything in the classical era.

[@laatmemetrustkutgoogle8896]

??? 1.This isn't set in the classical era 2.even then the classical era consisted of poli 3. Alexander's empire was partitioned

[@Ace-2000]

@@laatmemetrustkutgoogle8896- Yes, No, Yes.

[@CaesarSonOfMars]

I still remember my first campaign where I started in Yemen and I didn't bother with the tutorial and I built a nice little kingdom for myself only to have my character get assassinated by my children and immediately after my heir is forced into a civil war with his brother and lost and is now a just a vassal ngl I cried a little, but oh boy did I enjoy it when I got my revenge

[@BalticDS]

Something similar happened to me when I was playing Lithuania, 2 factions decided to invade, a faction with my vassals decided to revolt, and some family fuckery was going on at the same time

[@kevzenevze9893]

I’ve restarted this game more than 10 times already because I keep getting into many wars at once. But I’m finally getting it.

[@SwashBuccaneer]

I'm going to start only having 1 kid and then get rid of my wife and stop making the babies. Maybe I'll have 1 extra kid as a backup. :P Had a close call on my latest Germania empire playthrough. I had taken Chasity vow because the decision tab recommended it and my emperor was pushing 70 and I was wondering why he hadn't had but 1 kid. Forgot to turn it off. Turned it off and found a new hot young fertile wife and pumped out an heir just in time for him to take over at age 6.

[@bigerich]

Some Faiths can have their children take vows (either as a monk or as a member of a Holy Order, if one exists). Catholics at least can do this. Seems like a historically accurate thing to do, as well, IMO! :)

[@RIPDixie1865]

My strategy is to find a single county that is worth building up and make it your capital. It will always go to your primary heir and will eventually make them more powerful than all of their vassals combined if you build the right infrastructure. If all you own is a single county within your kingdom, there is no chance of internal splintering.

[@attrage7545]

I roleplay in CK3. As the first (1066) king of Ireland I spent the dying days of my rule disinheriting 4 of my 6 sons and forcing the 5th to become a monk so my primary heir would inherit all my domains. This is my first playthrough so I guess time will tell if that was a good decision or not, but like I said, I roleplay so I don't mind either way. Left a like :)

[@kaidenhall2718]

Well was it

[@moridmarin7891]

Something that isnt mention in the game tooltips in addition to all the other stuff, is that partition will ignore De jure if you dont have enough duchies, or land to form duchies, and will hand out counties in your primary title before land outside of it. For example; Suppose your the duke of jorvik in the video, exact same situation, but instead you conquered two additional provinces in mercia, but not enough for another duchy to be formed. On your rulers death, instead of your hier getting the capital and perhaps east riding, you'll get the capital and one of the counties within the duchy of mercia, and your third son will take your two counties you own within your primary title and the other county in mercia.

[@MunchKING]

A tip I heard that works for me is: If you are a King, and you have only one King Title if you're in Confederate Partition, you can give your kids a duchy and they won't try to inherit anything outside that duchy when you die. If you are an Emperor they might want King-titles instead. I don't know. But the point is if you give them one lower title they won't claim anything on inheritance later, even if they SHOULD get a lot more turf.

[@C-J2000]

Thanks a bunch, vielen dank!

[@Makem12]

The exploits and bugs don't go away. They just become "Features"

[@OneProudBavarian]

I think the Gender Preference thing will likely change, but giving titles to a vassal that goes with you is likely going to stay in. It's just ... a very mean thing to do :(

[@PaperCrime]

Hat der Bruder einfach noch bisschen Erbrecht eingebaut, nice move my dude

[@paddywack8378]

You've been a godsend with these videos. A one on how to get claims would be cool

[@Marconius6]

One annoying thing I noticed, the UI doesn't tell you about regions you will lose upon succession due to new titles being created. It also doesn't tell you which of your sons will declare independence; presumably the ones with the same level title as you, but as stated, it doesn't tell you if new titles get created. Also, when a new title is created, it's not always clear which heir gets it, and what land will be inside it; in my game, a son who had a Duchy in Ireland got the Kingdom of England for some reason. I'm assuming the land going into the new title is the De Jure lands, plus whatever the owner of the title holds... maybe? He got another Irish duke as a vassal too, so hm.

[@prnghats]

I am more concerned over my ruler even having a child.

[@georgecastaneda1779]

Great video, very helpful. Also, I'd add that faiths that have monasticism (such as default Catholicism) permit nobles to take the vows and become monks, which also revokes their claims to titles. You can coerce heirs to become monks (helpful with a hook).

[@mikesnow285]

When your realm splits up you understand quick 😀 I remember being frustrated at first. Watching to see if there is any other tips I don't know.

[@user-james224]

I was waiting for this come out!

[@HP_lovecrafts_cat67]

Was playing as the ummayads and conquered nearly all of north africa until i died and everything was split up and i also had a civil war on my hands leaving me with only 500 troops to fight for me. This video will hopefully help me in trying to expand my caliphate without losing every single thing i worked on

[@flup350]

Okay, this is about the 5th time I am watching this. I just switched from conf. Partition to Partition. As far as I can see, the only difference is that there are no titles created on succession. I try to get used to thinds in Ireland, everything is kind of okay but this damn succession. I just lost my heir, so my grandson became the new primary heir instead of my 2nd born son. Hmm, but okay. Now I died and the crown of Ireland went do my grandson and the crown of wales to my 2nd born son (I understand that) alongside a random piece of land (I dont understand that), he has claims on every of my title, I don't have any claims on his. To me, this makes no sense at all, and it's unpredictable. And without claims, this is a dog's game hunting his tail. :) I rewatch your vid now in hopes to understand that better. Good stuff here, cheers.

[@voxxel]

Danke! Exakt was ich gesucht habe. Ein Hoch auf Bayern.

[@thetrustysidekick3013]

Ugh, it's Gavelkind all over again. Now I gotta remember what I forgot from CK2.

[@thenecrophymm6591]

Glad you're not locked into partition, from the very start, in any year, elective successions are easily obtainable, and not at all hard to manage. One heir of your choice for everything.

[@Jamstaro1]

...I just started as iceland with a martial character .. force my way into a gallant tree and get a shit ton of knights .. force my children to get a ton of alliances... Force my way into a kingdom title. By island hoping down and taking over ireland... The tricky part is deciding if you're going norwegian or trying to force norse to stay... If it's the latter you stop just above alba and island hop to the norse mainland.... It is more difficult but if you have a 3+ star military start you can afford the difficulty. And try to pick up a kingdom title. Force your lesser children to be vassals and this way they are vassals. Not gaining their own independence. Repeat until hopefully you can stay norse. (I am currently invading africa as a norwegian... Sooo it helps)

[@SpaceJelly45]

Pick which son you want to be your heir and under knights set him to forbid. All other sons set to force, which is basically an eventual death sentence when you are at war. Go fight. They will all eventually die with honor on the battlefield and your chosen heir will inherit everything. This works most of the time depending on how long your character lives, being involved in wars, children's ages, etc.

[@tomsonlarrson3318]

Just got the game, had my budding Portugal in the 870s start break into 4 cuz this was the first run and I got no clue what I’m doing. I sorta figured the reconquest idea out when I noticed every had the control reset to 0 regardless of how it’s taken but I did not understand how the things would be divided. Also gotta figure out how to take back my ‘core domains’ from my now brother vassal. in the good times when my original ruler was alive I max upgraded 5 counties for the tech and now 3/5 are out of my hands.

[@attrage7545]

Hope you're enjoying the game! On a first playthrough it can be a good thing to not know what you're doing. It leads to some really interesting twists and turns. On my first playthrough I made the mistake of trying to manipulate the succession stuff so my primary heir would inherit everything and it actually ended up becoming really boring. I'd recommend just going with the flow on a first run through the game 😊

[@tomsonlarrson3318]

@@attrage7545 that’s sorta the thing I realized, did the succession finagling and set up my heir to inherit 90 of the Hispaniola empire, managed to do it successfully and was then getting a little bored with the run and nothing going wrong. 20 years years later, I had several sons and did not go through the succession management yet since my character was fairly young and had the trait that tells me when he’s gunna die. A grand tournament participation later, my budding empire is in 3 and I’m now a child ruler. Nearly got the entire empire back l, only a few counties to reconquest due to my brothers’ kingdoms collapsing due to the fact that every single vassal was gotten with a holy war and then my preferred culture was put in place, and is thus not the correct culture for the locations (legalism, baby! 3 virtues and my factions never rebel)

[@attrage7545]

​@@tomsonlarrson3318 Awesome, sounds really interesting! I'm actually at 1200s from a 1066 start playing as a Duke in Scotland, it's been really cool to have a smaller domain split on succession, trying to manage aiding my king in his wars and also trying to keep my own holdings strong. Keep me posted how yours goes!

[@Alex-dp1bk]

The best way, as a catholic, to remove a son is to imprison them and then force them to take the vows. It removes them from the succession entirely and doesn't get the execution penalties, only the imprisonment penalties.

[@darkerarius]

Thanks OPB, this was really helpful! By the way, i'll be moving from Brandenburg to Bavaria soon, so prepare for invasion.

[@OneProudBavarian]

Welcome to your new home!

[@romuluslycanius1246]

An option I found helpful is to build multiple castles in your home county, should you have the holing slots for it. The kids won't take baronies, so while having 3 castles in a county might not be the best, it still ain't bad.

[@kenf6412]

3 castles is better then empty land.

[@andreslam5851]

What about the option of "order to take vows" for your kids? In other words, sending your kids to holy orders and monasteries.

[@kotwin]

Amazing explanation, thank you very much

[@tonycarboni2002]

Awesome video. I'm closer to understanding this complicated mechanic. I had to rewind about 50 times because you talk a little fast. Thanks for the explanation!

[@frozencomp0725]

Idk, when I did my Persia play through, I essentially would conquer a duchy, and give all the titles to any child that wasn’t my primary heir. And that worked until I got all the way to having more than 1 empire. This method also is a great way to ensure your dynasty grows to its fullest potential.

[@PillowWillow007]

Four hours late? A shamefur dispray! Oops, wrong game ...

[@PillowWillow007]

Post Scriptum: its so awesome to see just how far you've come in terms of your video-making skills.

[@vulcainI80]

beautiful video, nice work !

[@mackenziebeeney3764]

Trying to get into the game I was flustered by the idea of succession. I was used to EU4 which barely names leaders and doesn’t show pics. Having the idea of being shattered was scary. Dumb me, I was playing Bohemia with the eldest family single heir inheritance. I made my life more complicated than necessary. But now I have absolute crown authority so I can just designate my heirs. My current king is the youngest king in 100 years since I started playing. The first king ruled for fourth years then the next two only lasted 6 and 2 years before the next, the originals youngest brother, lasted fifteen years. Now I’m at like the original kinds grandson level and things are chilling out now. I passed over his elder brother for the younger because of their kids. Both had kids, four and five respectively. The older brother has only daughters. The younger had a few sons. So I went with what I thought was the safe bet, and am befriending the older brother as the new younger king so he doesn’t try anything funny. It helps that my domain is seven counties big and includes Prague which is sizable in itself. Need to develop what I have though I have several empty barons