THIS CHANGES CK3'S FUTURE - Fate of Iberia Review

Wow, am I happy to be here today! Fate of Iberia is an absolutely beautiful expansions pack - or flavor pack - for Crusader Kings 3, in more ways than one. For one, it offers a ton of new features that completely changes up the game for factions in Iberia, be it Muslim or Christian - or anything in between - as you now have so much more to do. We have no diplomacy options and so many new interfaith and interculture mechanics, all embedded into the new Struggle feature, exclusive to Iberian factions, which makes this multicultural arena perhaps the most exciting place to be in the entirety of CK3.
In this video, I tell you my thoughts on this new CK3 DLC, why it's the best CK3 DLC so far, and why I'm now so much more excited for the future of CK3.
If you have any comments or questions, make sure to let me know down below :)
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[@andersfrieden567]

I see great potential in this mechanic. How fascinating would it be to finally get Eastern Europe a shine it deserves! Just imagine, simulating a struggle over Kyiv Rus, Poland, Hungary, Baltics. A true Game Of Thrones like experience of uneasy alliances and betrayals. If they continue developing in this direction, we,'re in for a unique immersive gameplay.

[@Jo-Heike]

I want Paradox to revisit Northern Lords, and add a struggle for Brittan/England mechanic more complex than just partisoning England into the Danelaw.

[@AndysTake]

Me too man, I’d love that so much

[@TaeSunWoo]

No one: Absolutely no one: Me: “hmmm. How can I bring back the Roman Empire this time?”

[@AndysTake]

Hahaha 100% of the time

[@TaeSunWoo]

@@AndysTake like I haven’t stopped my Fallen Eagle play through because I know all I’m gonna do is just reunite Iberia then then my empress will be like “well. The rest of the map isn’t the same color as me and Rome isn’t gonna reestablish itself”

[@AndysTake]

@@TaeSunWoo nice haha, haven’t played Fallen Eagle in a while, but it looks sick!

[@vulcanjoe8258]

Great review mate, I think this is a good step in the right direction. Wish they did something similar to do with the Viking flavour dlc. It’s nice to see CK3 DLC starting to come out (Also how awesome is the new declare war music).

[@AndysTake]

Thank you so much, Joe! I totally agree! I’m so happy the DLCs are coming out much faster than before. I guess 4 months is quite a while, but two new major additions in the span of actual 4 months? Not bad at all

[@SirBallsDeepOfHouseManthrust]

I know it makes the Northman DLC pretty underwhelming in comparison.

[@smoothbrain9779]

It’s so awkward that this feature is limited to Iberia. There should be a mechanic where struggles can organically form

[@dominicanundsen2665]

Could not agree more

[@AndysTake]

Indeed, I hope they’ll introduce the same mechanic for many other places!

[@Tanuvein]

I really hope they expand the struggle mechanic to other nations - by rights this is the definition of the court function, especially when you consider the specific historical significance of Las Cortes de Castille, which were a series of Royal Houses that ultimately usurpsed central authority from the dynasty in a way very similar to the Magna Carta, but with maintaining power in the greater royal family. They were the start of the Reconquista, with Alfonso and Sancho using Muslims to fight against their own family, who likewise allied with Umayyad counties. I thought that DLC was very disappointing and ahistorical, but the vikings and Iberia seem to be great. Regardless of the fact this mechanic should exist, I'm quite happy to see it come in now. I think the regions need more identity as much as the game needs deeper gameplay. I probably won't play this DLC much, since I'm already burnt out on Iberia - other than Britannia and Scandinavia, they felt the most fleshed out so I've already completed three campaigns there, but I hope they keep up this level of quality. I certainly won't be buying a DLC pass from them for CK3 again. I don't like the way they handle chess at all though, but the other new mechanics are good and if the DLC keeps up this quality I am more hopeful for the future of the game.

[@AndysTake]

I completely agree, every region needs this sort of unique flavour, having this in Iberia now really makes every other region feel empty…

[@JediMasterYoda66]

The struggle system is moddable, so expect tons of mods based around it.

[@AndysTake]

@@JediMasterYoda66 exciting!

[@baneofbanes]

The in game description for the Iberian Struggle makes it sound like they’re going to add in struggles in other regions.

[@AndysTake]

@@baneofbanes 100%, “struggle regions” etc. I thought exactly the same!

[@sillygoose4356]

glad you enjoyed it! hope they add this mechanic to other regions!

[@chellybub]

Nice! I am really interested to see how the multi faith mechanics play out, there's an achievement for forming Portugal and I feel like that is going to have a whole bunch of new methods for unlocking this. One of the biggest struggles had actually been dealing with popular uprisings due to having a leader of a different faith in a couple of the southern provinces, religious conversion takes a long time, and you are kind of on the clock after pushing holy wars. So I feel like there will be a more diplo centered solution to this puzzle from now on. Great video, fingers crossed we get more content like this. Republics would be awesome imo, but really any of your suggestions would be nice :)

[@AndysTake]

Thanks, Chelsea! :D yeah the more flavour and mechanics the better. I’d love an improved republic system, and I’m 99% sure we’re going to get it, just don’t know when. But hopefully the next flavour pack isn’t too far away, so we’ll see what’s up next!

[@AcMrPro]

Like a week ago before the dlc came out I went for that achievement. I ended up being more OP than ever before by forming Portugal, conquering the lands held by Muslims, pick up the scraps left by the jimenez having war and once I had all the territory of hispania and had every single kingdom in iberia myself I united the Spanish crowns and now the kingdom of Portugal was de jure the same as the empire of hispania, which made it super easy to manage and just get massive amounts of levies and gold. I was planning on conquering aquitaine and France and form a new empire from those three kingdoms, but maybe it would be nice to do that with the DLC!

[@AndysTake]

@@AcMrPro Oh yes, I’d highly recommend it! :D it’s so much more fun now, but you can totally create Portugal as the count of Santiago/Galicia or whatever! One of those highlighted characters in 867 Iberia start date!

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

You can speed up conversion by playing a fate with a high fervour, reforming into a better converting religion and of course skills. Other tools that address the outrage are guaranteeing the vassals faith in contracts and by having heads roll off unruly subjects.

[@1992zorro]

Like I said in another channel. This was exactly what Crusader Kings is all about. It adds storytelling, new mechanics and makes it more unique sadly it will do bad in sales figures. Why? Because new most mainstream gamers that play this game are kinda dumb and will get confused by these requirements for mechanics and prefer to sleep with each others wifes and making Herculean dwarfs on multiplayer

[@DarkStarStudiosUK]

You can just let streamers push main game sales to plebs that are in it for the memes. Paradox knows it's real fanbase and delivers stuff like this for us.

[@lydiacc]

I’ve actually had so much fun with this pack, I wasn’t expecting it. The new dialogue, dynamics, I’m just loving it.

[@AndysTake]

Me too, Lydia! :D thank you for watching and sharing your experiences!

[@davidunderwood9728]

I hope they retroactively go back and add a struggle to the Northern Lords expansion. That may be weird thing to say but they aren't going to do another Flavor pack in region. Its is perfect for the Danelaw in England. Hopefully in a few months modders will be able to release new Struggles in different areas.

[@theemperorofmankind7706]

Imagine playing as heisting, taking the majorkas as, forming a hybrid culture, creating a kingdom comprising of the west Mediterranean isles and taking part in the struggle as form of mercenary/rader, more interested in the statues quo and making money

[@Pigraider268]

"Heisting" dynasty is the curse of this game xd

[@Pigraider268]

Same, this expansion shows the true potential CK 3 have. Struggle system is great hope it will be enabled for more regions :) It definietely should be involved in forming Empires. I don't think current empire building system does justice to the process

[@InfinityHS]

This JUST came out for the PS5 and I am happy!!

[@ReaperCH90]

I hope this function will implemented for analusia, italy at a later starting date and maybe the crusader states plus arabia / egypt in a post 1st crusade starting date. Oh a d as you said the HRE could really use something similar like this, but of course fitted for its region and struggles.

[@Mario-fc2yz]

thanks god they have developed iberic peninsula medieval history. In most cases much more interesting than England or France overexploited history.

[@thepokemontrainer6094]

I love medieval spains history, Alphonso X El Sabio, El Cid El Campeador, and so much more, if you havent done research about this country than do it right now. You havent seen anything until you read about this amazing history!!! I love this history because many of the events seemed different compared to other countires, it had a fairer society meaning that their weren't constantly people being hanged or burned alive just sometimes. They did things not allot of countries did, also the entire thing feels like a fantasy story meaning that theirs allot of things that seem unbelievable and fictional but they are true, this sometimes happens in history but in Spains History it would constantly happen.

[@_TheCakeIsALie_]

i started as a small Baron near Barcelona and almost united the whole Half-island and 2 days later, this flavor pack with all its mechanics drops... fk me... so, in my new run, ofc again in spain now, play as an arabic chr oder a western? i feel like i can relate more to a european but i think it could be very interesting to try an muslim chr. Any suggestions?

[@AndysTake]

I think both would be a lot of fun! There’s more fun being a Christian because you can interact much more with the Muslims, and of course vice versa!

[@kalamir93]

I really like the DLC so far. First thing I did (being a man of the North myself) was walzing into al'Andalus with who else but Hæsteinn. The only thing I don't like is the system of "involved" and "interloping". My culture is there now (I even merged Norse with Andalusian), but my faith is reformed Ásatrú. So I just count as "interloping", because my religion is not one of the few original ones there. Most of the DLC-actions (inviting to feasts, border-raid-wars, etc.) I cannot take because of this. And that's.. meh. I hoped to get a way of politics of marriage between Ásatrú and Christians/Muslims without wasting a slot for syncretism (I really don't like this restriction). But I think think that's not a path I will be able to take.

[@AndysTake]

That sounds like an awesome campaign! So are you saying you cannot do the marriages because you’re not one of the specific faiths? Have you moved your capital to Iberia though?

[@kalamir93]

@@AndysTake Yep, that's Cordoba. I thought ruling an ibero-norse kingdom out of backwater-France would not be viable. For being "involved" the faith had to been there by the start of the struggle or emerged during it. I think the last part could mean a new muslim or christian sect. Reforming a pagan faith doesn't seem to fit the criteria.

[@AndysTake]

@@kalamir93 ah that’s sad. Remind me, is it possible to create fully new religions? If so, could you have created a Norse-like faith that merges with Christianity/Islam, and that would fit the criteria?

[@kalamir93]

​@@AndysTake Mhh, I don't think its possible. I think you have a threefold of "religious family", "religion" and "faith". For example: The religious family is "Abrahamitic", the religion is "Christianity" and the Faith would be "Orthodox". In case of the Norse, they just start with one unreformed faith. Now, if I reform, there are two faiths, so the list would be: Religious family is "Pagan", religion is "Norse" and the faiths are "Old-Ásatrú" (pre-reformation) and "Ásatrú". You can create new faiths, but no new religions or even religious families. So creating a new pagan faith would not help, I think, because the reform did exactly that. Now if I were to convert to Islam and made a custom faith with all the Norse goodies, I think it... would meet the criteria, maybe? Even though everyone will continue to hate me because Abrahamitics see everyone but their specific faith as evil. But honestly, imagining that would be.. weird. "So, Sheik Hæsteinn, you're a muslim." "Yep." "But you call Allah..." "...Odin." "And you call the Prophet..." "... Odin, too." "So you're really norse pagan." "BY ODIN, NO!"

[@AndysTake]

@@kalamir93 Hahahaha! Genius. Yeah the points your bring up are super valid, you should bring them up in the CK3 discord

[@bonnieamof7033]

Wow this DLC is amazing. Thanks for the Vid.

[@AndysTake]

My pleasure, thank you so much for watching! :D

[@jonathanskinner7647]

I really enjoy the struggle mechanic with Iberia. Just a shame in my main campaign I ended up heading north into France rather than south. As for the struggle mechanic itself I would love it to be put in the British isles for both start dates with the Viking invasion and the war of the three kings. Other ones that come to mind is the Holy Roman Empire vs the papacy, the fate of Asia Minor between Byzantium and the Muslims, the rise of the mongols, the Christianisation of Scandinavia and perhaps the spreading of Muslim faith into India.

[@apocalypt397]

I just hope that they return to Imperator at some point.

[@AndysTake]

Me too, dude. Jeez.

[@apocalypt397]

@@AndysTake Maybe we should start a support group Hello, my name is Anjin and I like Imperator.

[@pjak1minecraft]

@@apocalypt397 Me too

[@SBod43]

just love yours reviews straight to the point & well explained your likes & dislikes.

[@AndysTake]

Thank you so much, Stephen! :)

[@al_wombat]

Thx❤

[@brunnusjustus5833]

I have a weird suggestion for a future series. I was thinking that you could do a campaign in which you formed Portugal, consolidating its current borders, but after that you stopped and started a kind of tall play. You would be looking for a peaceful solution to the reconquest, not converting the conquered land culturally or religiously, creating a multicultural Portugal. You couldn't convert to another religion unless forced to and you would try to place members of your dynasty on the thrones of all other Iberian kingdoms, Catholic or otherwise, although I don't know if that's possible. To add difficulty, you could only make alliances with Iberian kingdoms. Anyway I just taught it was an interesting idea.

[@AndysTake]

Very interesting idea, Brunnus :D Thank you for sharing!

[@penzorphallos3199]

This is definitely a good template for a crusade mechanic better than ck2's. But im still salty over all the delays and slow content roll out 😢

[@AndysTake]

Definitely! And yes, more content!! :D

[@jossebrodeur6033]

I personally think future expansions, at least for a bit, should focus on the areas of India and Mongolia because honestly there isn't much drawing someone in over there. Europe has a lot going on already, so flavoring places that are less played is a move I think they should do. Give us an African, Indian, Mongolia, and Slavik expansion before a Western Europe one.

[@nsawatchlistbait289]

Oh

[@lolsing8836]

Playing as Guifre is a painnnnnnnn

[@KeimpeJ]

Great review, although i find it sometimes hard to follow because of your pronounciation and speed :) Just a tip.

[@AndysTake]

Thank you, I’ll keep in mind the speed! My pronunciation is harder to deal with though :)

[@KeimpeJ]

@@AndysTake Haha that's fine :) Good luck with your channel!

[@bennpadulo]

They need one for Mongolia!!!

[@jackochainsaw]

A great pack. Love the music, love the inter-faith play, love the new clothing, love the struggle mechanic.

[@DanielJackson98]

FoI looks so fucking cool but I can’t play it because CK3 crashes every time I try to load it up and it has ever since the DLC came out… Which means I’m going to need to get another computer or wait until paradox gets off their lazy ass and start releasing dlc’s for the consoles… What pisses me off the most about it is they know it’s an issue it’s been reported a bunch on the paradox forums on the Reddit page and on their social medias the DLC has but out for three fucking months and they haven’t fixed it yet Even though they’ve made 4 patches to the original 1.6 update and not one of them have fixed that problem

[@YouJGSousa]

Spain?? Spain??? What about Portugal????

[@ntartienii]

still sea trade is a big missing in the game

[@AndysTake]

And land trade. Any trade whatsoever is missing

[@darken2417]

Sorry but making Mozarabic its own religion is ridiculous. Its like making Conversos its own religion. Changing how religion works would be a far better solution to account for stuff like different rites within a religion. Regardless stuff like Mozarabic and Conversos should be treated as a syncretic culture not a syncretic religion.

[@salazarway]

Spoiler: Portugal was and still is

[@FKS]

"Spanish peninsula" ?... Get real.

[@yourealittlebitfat4344]

Game still too easy.

[@mikiloffbadfish8027]

I don't like it so far

[@jimmmymeadowno7787]

The only thing that saves this game is create a ruler.... and it's still not available on PS5. This game is w&nk without it.... DO NOT BUY IT.

[@Rellikein]

This game is good even without it but yes, I play PS5 too and have been spamming their comments on IG to add it, hopefully they will before the end of the year.

[@Suspect333]

The game is already hard enough to understand n now this? I'm not excited at all.

[@AndysTake]

Haha! Just takes a few hours to learn :)

[@donkarnage6986]

This is the worst DLC... That struggle system is so annoying and takes alot of time to do... Did any of your guys complete a game with fate of iberia? The game is to easy and very boring, nothing happens. the bigger you get, the longer time it takes! If you want to be a duke or small king then its fine!

[@donkarnage6986]

the muslim world fall apart nearly every game play, and the chess system is rock paper system... isnt this dlc like what total warhammer is doing? all thos weird mechanics?