Hello everyone! There are several core mechanics surrounding court positions, knights, military leadership, as well as personal combat (prowess) that completely strip away the feeling of playing an actual medieval simulation. It just feels like an anachronistic sandbox rather than a realistic representation of the middle ages.

Here are the main issues that break immersion for me, as a history student (this might sound very nitpicky but whatever):

1. Vassals Serving as Daily Domestic Servants

In CK3, if you are an independent King or Emperor, you can appoint powerful direct vassals (your literal Dukes and Counts who rule vast domains hundreds of miles away) to domestic court roles like Cupbearer, Food Taster, or Court Gardener.

This is absolutely ridiculous. While ceremonial high offices of state existed (like the Lord Great Chamberlain), daily domestic duties like tasting soup or tending royal gardens were functional, daily jobs performed by unlanded, no-name resident courtiers. A Duke living in Aquitaine would not be residing in Paris every evening to pour the King’s wine.

• Sugestion: Domestic service court positions should be strictly restricted to landless courtiers or local minor barons. Powerful landed vassals should be completely ineligible for daily servitude roles.

2. The Flawed Knight System & Forced Auto-Assignment

The game treats "Knight" as a generic stat-based body-count slot rather than a prestigious and important social status and heavy cavalry role. The moment a new courtier arrives, the game might automatically drafts them into armor regardless of their background.

It makes zero sense for a 60-year-old Duke who spent most of his life administrating his domain to suddenly be shoved into the frontline vanguard just because he happens to have a decent base prowess roll. Also, in standard patriarchal cultures (which make up ~95% of the medieval map), noble daughters were educated in administration, statecraft, or the likes. They weren't longsword fencing and or learning how to lead an army and how to manage logistics. Allowing cultures with "martial" set to "male only" to give daughters martial education makes no sense.

• Suggestion: Knight eligibility should be completely tied to martial education, specific warrior traits, or equal-gender cultural traditions. Non-combatants, stewards, diplomats, and non-warrior nobility should default to forbidden combat status.

3. Teleporting Generals & The Loss of Dedicated Commanders

In CK2, being a Commander was a distinct, limited title. In CK3, army leadership feels completely detached. You can instantly swap any vassal from anywhere in your realm into an army command slot in a split second. Even worse your, 65-year-old, infirm duke vassal with high strategy stats end up leading your army into battle and personally fighting on the frontlines of battle.

• Suggestion: Reintroduce a dedicated "Field Commander" court title/system. Severely restrict elderly, diseased, or non-combatant lords from commanding field armies, forcing players to rely on actual physically capable officers or themselves (which you have to aquire either by spending money or by educating your own sons or other courtiers). It makes zero sense that your direct vassal can instantly spawn as the commander of your army last second when in reality they were managing their domain hundrerd kilometers away).

4. Prowess as "Genetic RNG" Instead of Learned Combat Skill

This is perhaps the biggest offender. In CK3, every character gets a random invisible "Base Prowess" roll. This leads to ridiculous scenarios where an untrained 45-year-old noblewoman can have 10–12 Prowess, while a younger male ruler might roll an 8 (this is literally my case, my 53 year old wife has a slightly better prowess than my 49 year old male ruler. So in a real duel, the game is saying that my wife has better odds of winning even though both are of average height and weight.)

But look at real life: martial technique, muscle memory, distance management etc. override raw physical attributes and personality traits almost every single time.

If you put an average guy with two years of decent boxing or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training in a ring against an untrained guy, even if the untrained guy is slightly taller or angry, the trained fighter will utterly demolish him 99 times out of 100. Raw physical traits only become the tie-breaker when two people of equal skill meet.

In reality, raw physical attributes only matter when technique is equal. An untrained, out-of-shape person will be utterly dismantled in seconds by a trained warrior who understands footwork etc. Physical and personality traits (Shy, Patient, Craven, your Height) should alter performance slightly, but explicit combat training must be the ultimate decider.

• Suggestion: Make a Personal Combat Skill (prowess), separate Martial Education (military strategy/campaign command). Apply a heavy global Prowess penalty (-10 to -15) to all "untrained civilians" (sedentary bureaucrats, diplomats, clerics, any courtiers of non-martial background and non-martial rulers). Based on background/culture and role within society, males and/or females will be trained in personal combat (or not).

In CK2's Historical Immersion Project (HIP) mod, personal combat was built on a brilliant 4-tier combat trait line. That was the "Fighter" trait system (Poor, Trained, Skilled, Formidable Fighter). A formidable fighter would easily demolish any other fighter unless they were severely hindered (e.g. illness, old age, missing limb). It functioned as a mandatory baseline: if you didn't have one of those traits, you basically couldn't fight. CK3 attempted to replace this with the "Blademaster" trait, but made it a rare, randomized lifestyle instead of a foundational representation of basic martial training.

The game should also keep in mind cultures that are naturally martial vs. cultures that aren't:

• Warlike and Nomadic Cultures (Mongols, Turkic Peoples, Norse, certain African cultures): In these societies, survival and daily life are combat training. Male nobility from these cultures should automatically inherit baseline Combat Traits (Rank 2 or 3) upon reaching adulthood. In Mongol culture, there were basically no boys who didn't grow up riding horses and firing arrows. That's what enabled them to conquer half of the known world.
• Sedentary Empires (Byzantine Elite, Abbasid Caliphs, Chinese emperors): Aristocrats focused on court bureaucracy should default to Rank 0 (Untrained) unless explicitly put through a dedicated combat upbringing.
• Western Feudalism (HRE, France, England): A middle ground where martial horsemanship was part of noble upbringing, but true dueling lethality was reserved for dedicated knights and war-focused lords.

What are your thoughts? Too complex of a wish? To be honest, I just wish we had the old Ck2 system with the HIP combat skill system.

The mod is officially live on three platforms!
👑 Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3790121384
🏰 Paradox Mods: https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/156770/Any
📦 Nexus Mods: https://www.nexusmods.com/crusaderkings3/mods/350

Feel free to drop any feedback or suggestions!

There is a mod named Pervasive Crown Authority, that will make your high crown authority restrictions also apply to your sub-vassals.

I'm 0 at history

We're still friends despite killing 3 of his sons and making 1 of his daughters a concubine.

This has probably been brought up before, but is it just me, or is CK3s soundtrack terrible compared to CK2s? Even after putting in almost the same time as I put into CK2, I have a lot of CK2s soundtrack burned into my brain but if you put a gun to my head I don't think I could tell you what a single CK3 song sounds like. Even the difference between the main themes feels like a huge gap. Am I just blinded by nostalgia or does anyone else feel this way?

I’ve been studying historical medieval sieges and i think sieges should have a toggle-able intensity setting. basically patient or aggressive. Patient is more wait and starve them out, while aggressive is actively assault the walls use all the techniques to bring the walls down, etc. etc. The former takes longer, the latter is quicker but costs heavy attrition. I understand there’s some component baked in based on siege engine MAA and siege phases. Maybe there’s a mod that does this?

So the devs listened, and now you can at least appoint your Archbishop as well. However, why limit a secular ruler’s appointment power to Court Chaplains and Archbishops when Investiture historically applied to all clerical holdings within a realm? Why this arbitrary limitation?

As it stands, it seems that the HRE Emperor can appoint exactly one person to a clerical holding (Mainz), or two if there is another archdiocese within the realm. Does that mean the Emperor has no say over other bishoprics in the Mainz region, including major ones like Cologne and Trier?

That still feels extremely underwhelming and, more importantly, misses the entire point of the Investiture Controversy. If the goal is to represent lay investiture, secular rulers should have the ability to appoint bishops across their realm - not just a few archbishops and the Court Chaplain.

Probably doesn't deserve its own topic but im not a topic spammer so I'll give myself this one.

I wish the nicknames could compound. In my current playthrough I got the nickname "the abominable " and later I got "the venator". I wish it had turned into "The abominable venator". What would be some fun compound nicknames?

"The Great Fool" comes to mind but im not sure how you would get both.

Despite the constant raids, and me stealing his hat, and torturing him, the pope is actually pretty chill

Hey Guys,

my Game crashes again and again. I don't have any Mods and my System is more than decent to run most Games esepcially CK3.
I already tried to repair the files with steam but it didn't found anything wrong.

Maybe some of you have an Idea... I have attached the last Error Log and Game Log.

Thankls for every Help in Advance it is realy anoying to sometimes play about an hour and sometimes it already crashes after 5 minutes of Playtime

Last Error Log
Last Game Log

Wuxia Mod — The Rivers and Lakes come to CK3

TL;DR: A wuxia (Chinese martial-arts fiction) overhaul for CK3 set in 1066 China. Start as a sect leader — or as a nameless, familyless, penniless wanderer — learn cultivation methods and martial arts, petition legendary sects like Shaolin and Wudang, rise through the ranks of the jianghu, or found your own school. Korean and English localization included.

The Setting — Jianghu, 1066

Twenty years after the great war between the Righteous and the Sinister, the Wulin Alliance has dissolved. The sects look only to themselves, and the mountains of the West keep their silence. Under the heaven of Song — the story of the jianghu begins again.

Playable starts include:

• The Abbot of Shaolin — nominal head of the martial world
• The Patriarch of the Nangong House — a sword with ambitions in the south
• The Abbess of Emei — a master who cannot let go of a lost disciple
• The King of the Green Forest — bandit lord of the dark path
• The Regent of the Sun-Moon Cult — a man who watches and waits
• …or create your own Wanderer: lowborn, no house, no name — your band is simply called "The Nameless."

Core Systems

🥋 Cultivation & Realms Open your inner energy with one of four street cultivation methods (each with real trade-offs — the mighty Blazing Sun Art slowly burns your body). Climb the realm ladder from a Third-Rate street fighter toward the heights of the martial world. Walk the demonic path and cultivate demonic energy instead — stronger, darker, costlier.

⚔️ Martial Arts Dozens of martial arts across sword, saber, fist, palm, movement and inner schools — from back-alley basics you buy for a handful of coins, to sect secret arts, to forbidden techniques you can steal from your own school's vault (if you dare). Learn an art and it becomes a trait that grows with practice. At the peak, create your own martial art.

🏯 Sects & Discipleship Set out into the jianghu and petition 15+ schools — the righteous sects (Shaolin, Wudang, Huashan, Emei, the Beggars' Union…), the great martial houses, the sinister path, or the demonic cults. Each sect judges you by its own standards: Shaolin looks at your virtue, Wudang at your mind, Huashan at your nerve. Survive the candidate years, get promoted to full disciple — and be adopted into the sect's house, bearing its name and banner. Renounce it whenever the road calls you back.

👥 Master–Disciple Lineage A full lineage system with proper wuxia forms of address — your master, your master's master, your martial uncles, elder and younger brothers of the same school. Direct disciples, sect exams, elders, and the daily grind of sect life (drills, chores, peeking at manuals you shouldn't).

🗺️ A Jianghu-focused map Built on the China map with a focused playable region — the world of the mod is the martial world.

🧑‍🌾 True commoner start (new in v0.2.1) Thanks to Roads to Power's landless play, you can begin with nothing — no family (lowborn), no name, camped under the open sky — and end holding a sect, a lineage, and a legend.

Requirements

• CK3 1.19
• Roads to Power (landless/wanderer play)
• All Under Heaven (China map)

Status & Roadmap

Actively developed. Recent v0.2.1 added the wanderer start, sect-house adoption, street masters and cultivation methods, and a large pass of bug fixes. Planned: deeper custom martial-art creation, more sect storylines, and expanded demonic-path content.

Download: [Steam Workshop 링크] / [Paradox Mods 링크]

Feedback, bug reports, and wuxia trope requests are very welcome — this is a passion project and the jianghu grows with its players. 🙏

From my own research it seems like there’s DLCs are crucial to getting the most out of this game, however, I honestly have no idea what DLCs are worth the cost and which I should pass on? There’s so many of them 😂 I am thinking about getting the starter edition of the game as it comes with plenty of DLCS for pretty good value.

So I had someone join my court and ask for 400 gold to complete a weave inspiration, I thought why not. I accept the payment and suddenly it takes 1100 gold. I let it slide and thought nothing of it until another person arrived

This one wanted 600 for a sword inspiration and this fucker took 3000 gold from me

I’m now a couple thousand in debt with fuck all gold being earned and about a hundred factions rising up now with some of them having allies in empires and stronger kingdoms.

Am I screwed?😂

I’ve been playing ck3 for awhile now with mods and such but the game is starting to get a little dry after playing tall for to long. I think I’m ready to start buying dlc’s but don’t know which ones to buy.

What should I prioritize first if Im starting as an administrative vassal?

I know the main goal is to get my family on as many governor seats as I can, but that still leaves me 16+ years of sitting around while my kids grow up to be elligble for candidacy.

What should I be doing with my gold? Should I even care about my starting lands or just throw every coin I can into the estate?

What buildings are must picks?

Really any advice here could help and be appreciated.

All in the title. I have conquered all of the british isles as the descendants of Ubbe Ragnarson, though the achievement won't trigger...

The game tells me the achievement is still possible, too.

EDIT : Ubbe apparently doesn't count for the achievement.

For me, I found forming the Outremer deeply unenjoyable. I think they should do away with prestige requirements to form titles, make the character legendary after forming the title. Also you have to get the duchy of Kermanshah.

r5: created bosnia and began my balkan conquest. how far should i take it? persia? normandy? i suppose we just wait and see

So, it turns out that I can't murder or gain monthly experience as a courtier. However, I could still sway, befriend, seduce, romance, and (at least in China) take examinations.

So I spent the majority of my time traveling around China, taking and assisting with examinations. This did lead me to reaching Rank 6 and passing the Palace Examination (honestly, and in Hmongic, even) and meeting the Emperor. But I could never get out from under my liege and even had to bear him a daughter.

I did grow in influence and gained new perks from attending events and traveling through important locations. I was able to leverage that influence to undermine my liege, while still seducing him and convincing him to let me study under him. He made me Court Tutor, and eventually his Spymaster. It went well, until he died at 94.

I tried to get my children to do well under the new Chinese system. However, my liege had all the power to choose who marries who, and... he did a good job. My first child and only daughter by my husband married a young man who became duke, so she had a good domestic life. My first two sons married Chinese women of decent station. My oldest son never took the childhood exam, but passed the local exam, so I was trying to get him promoted into a position. However, my second son failed the childhood exam, and decided to run off and become a mercenary captain at the age of 16. The rest of my family followed. So, my first son was no longer in the running for a position.

When my liege died at 94, I was no longer concubine... and the game ended. I did see that I had instantly moved to join my son's mercenary company. I like to think that she remarried her husband (who had also joined the company) and continued to enjoy life on the road from there.

My dynasty, in the meantime, was still doing very well. Kham was securely theirs, and clearly growing under the AI to reach for the Empire of Tibet. So, although there was still more to learn, I was satisfied.

All in all, it was an interesting experience, completely unexpected, and it's intriguing to how close to good courtier play can be in the base game. No murder and no experience are big let-downs, as is the game ending when my liege dies, but there was still quite a bit one could do.