Top 5 Most Underrated Duchies in CK3!

In this video I go over the top five most underrated duchies in Crusader Kings 3 (CK3)! A list video occurs.

[mateuscaldeira-brantaraujo]

Upper and Lower are not related to North or South on a map. Remember, maps have arbitrary position of north. In medieval times the upper part of a map was supposed to be the East.
Upper and Lower Lorraine have this name because of height, which is correct since that's the meaning of the words Up and Low.
Other examples of this use is Low Countries, for the area around Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg.
You can also see this example in other regions: Lower and Upper Austria, Lower and Upper Bavaria, Scottish Lowlands and Highlands. Pretty much every country or land has a division based on its medium height in comparison to another.


Source: I'm a historian and museologist.

[swtjsle]

Ferghana is crazy good because supposedly the best horses were bred there. Virtually every great power in history that was remotely close wanted to control it for access to the horses.

[birbolea]

Muntenia is also a pretty good duchy, it has 5 counties and 16 baronies, most of the counties are in plains, a couple are in forests and wetlands, also it's quite defendable in the southern part because of the danube river. It's a pretty great place for playing tall and making tons of cash, and you can expand into the north and south if the byzantines are weak or collapse.

[getavas]

For the Mother to us all playthrough I quickly made Manding (Mali) my capital duchy. Niani and Bure has gold mines, and several floodplains terrain baronies in the area, ideal for playing for high income and boosting development.

[gaming_warrior]

try emir al-medina, it's good for newbie. I'm newbie and i play emir al medina

[mortache]

The duchies in India can be are far better than what you showed, you'll understand if you just open up the terrain map. There's a reason why this region has been the most densely populated in the entire world

[Hulliemam]

Upper and lower isn’t north and south. Simply put

[bah]

We all know petty king murchad but the greatest start is Desmond

[molybdaen]

I see Northumbria in England does not even made it into the top 5.
Must be the vikings nearby.

[Grungeuncle]

I hate all the duchies with bishopric-barony capitals in Europe. We cant even play theocracies yet they're there... hİsToriCal AcCurAcy...
I have around 1500 hours ck3 in steam never played in mainland europe, like france and germany especially. once I wanted to larp as old saxon kingdom and just noticed amount of prince-bishoprics in those duchies in northern germany, that was the fastest alt + f4 in my life.
My fav duchy is yedisan, obviously after the hungarians migrate away. I usually conquer that with an east slavic char, adopt orthodoxy and culture mix with pechenegs to form "Cossacks".
Then I larp as Cossacks conquering & colonizing all the way up to mongolia.

[Master_Smurf]

yeah there is only one op duchy and that's Transylvanian with 2 gold mines in one title

[troylazzarino]

Lower Lorraine and upper Lorraine refers to the position on the Rhine river

[carl]

Mogadishu - A rather peaceful 16 barony coastal duchy. Ajuraan is one of the smallest and easiest to form empires in the game. Keep the Abyssinians friendly and you can basically do what you want all game.

Manding - Two gold mines, 23 baronies, and a high-dev floodplain running through the middle. Perfect place to channel your inner Mansa Musa.

Achineck - Off in the Canaries, with only 5 baronies which is kinda terrible, but you start with the best religion in the game (Achamanism) and are pretty much unconquerable if you play your cards right.

Galicia - Probably designed with larping in mind, but it's still an 18 barony coastal province with three special buildings, one of which gives flat gold. Like all of Iberia it's pretty mountainous, but that can be worked around.

Bohemia - 35 baronies! It's also a de jure kingdom, so you can basically become a king immediately. Prague is in mountains, but you can build a new castle in Melnik then move the county capital there to turn it into a farmland county. There's also the mine in Caslav.

Upper Bosnia - A sleeper pick for mountain enjoyers. Has the compact Krstjani religion, 15 baronies, a mine and a holy site.

Al-Said - The whole Nile is excellent. This is the biggest duchy in it with 19 baronies along a floodplain. Kushite is a uniquely good religion for tall play, as you can potentially get an extra 10 stewardship from it, just what out for the Abbasids next door.

Merv - After taking the overpowered Restore Bactria decision in neighbouring Balkh, Merv with it's highly compact 28 baronies snowballs like crazy. Also of note is the starting ruler of the Samanids begins with 19/5 on his domain limit.

Dzayul - Another sleeper pick. Only 11 baronies in the mountains is horrible, of course, but this place is special in having its holy sites all packed closely together. Deal with the mountain development penalty and you can do some fun hermit kingdom stuff with it. Just watch out for Pala.

Pagan - 23 baronies and three farmland counties, a unique temple, and you're off in the corner. Again watch out for Pala.

Silahara & Chera - For the elephant enjoyers out there. 11/14 baronies respectively, but most are coastal jungle. Silahara is quite defensive despite being a line thanks to the unpassable terrain. Surprisingly one of the best spots to play Jewish (Malabarism) in the game. Tamil and Kannada cultures can build wind furnaces from the beginning of the game, which give the same gold as farms&fields, but also buff your military.

Pandya - Similar buffs to Silahara & Chera, but swap out the jungle for farmland. Madurai is the best county in the game. Only 14 baronies, though. No special buildings, but the Brihadeeswarar temple and Sri Lankan gold mines are a small jump away.

Paramara - 14 baronies, two farmland counties, two special buildings and a holy site. Neighbouring mine, too. Malwa is often overshadowed by the other strong spots in India, but stands on its own merits. Only downside is it straddles the Rajasthan/Deccan boarder, so forming an empire is difficult.

Magadha - 14 baronies. You get the Mahabodhi temple, Nalanda university and an 18 dev county from the beginning of the game. Pala is one of the strongest starts in the game for a reason.

[Andaraxi]

I like the Galicia duchy in northwestern Iberia:

it has a
- Site of Santiago special building (which both Christians and Muslims can use!)
- The Roman walls special building
- The lighthouse special building.

Not to mention that the number of baronies you can hold there is a lot.

[tetrafletcher]

Bohemia is by far my favourite duchy for playing tall, it has lots of farmland, a mine and it's surrounded by mountains

[IskenderH]

Upper Lorraine is named as such due to being closer to the start of the river, thus upper although its position on a map is further south. Not like map position matters in terms of the start of a river being further inland than towards the English Channel.

[sandythethird]

Technically it's 3 duchies but Makuria might be the best start im the entire game, wether your playing as coptic ok kusite its amazingly strong and well positioned.

[kimchi]

Bohemia is the god of duchies. One of the few capitals that touches all surrounding counties and with culture modifiers it gets insane.

[donkarnage]

Why not use google search instead of asking Why... dont be that lazy..

And it is some really weak duchy you choose.. Those ducky arent underrated, they are just not the best.

In every singel area you choose, there is a better ducky

[josephpenderson]

Either I’m missing a huge aspect of this game, or you guys are all very confused about what LARPing is…