CK2 Guide: How to Crusade in Crusader Kings

In this guide I explain how to form the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Empire of the Outremer in CK2 / Crusader Kings II.

Special thanks to the following Patreon users who support me:

David Johnson, Sheamus Byrne, Harry L, Imperialfish, Jack, Charles Nadeau, Shamir Khodza, Dylan Steele, Marco Spiess, Michael Blachowicz, Kim Harder Fog, Nicholas Walker, Peter Hayward, Andre Bach

The music used in this video is "Kingdom of Jerusalem", "March to Holy Land", Legacy of Rome" and "The Byzantine Empire" from the CK2 soundtrack.

All music is owned and copyrighted under their respective owners.

tags:
#ck2, #crusaderkings2, #ck2guide

[AlzaboHD]

What CK2 videos would y'all like to see in the future? More EU4 dropping this Sunday / Monday so stay tuned!

[ADCD-djgz]

I legit thought that this was an ISP video by accident. Great video!

[walterwilhelm]

9:12-9:24

CK2 Player: "Knowing this, I send wave after wave of my own men to their deaths until I was declared the most contributing member of the Crusade. Kif, show them the titles I won."

[realhawaiio]

Always remember this:
If your sister and your wife aren't the same person, you're doing something wrong.

[operationmeh]

Please help! I tried to follow your instructions but I accidentally annihilated the Byzantine Empire instead!

[RCO]

After Holy Fury came out, I had a campaign where the first crusade was launched by a 10/12 year old Norwegian boy named Arne Gilsking. He went traveling around the courts of Europe telling his tale on how the angel Gabriel told him how only a pure child could free Jerusalem from heathen hands. My Character, mighty Trystan II of Breizh (Britanny, by now controlling Normandy and the Aquitaine Bay of Biscay coast) was the only monarch to heed the child and give him generous support. Everyone else told him off as a loon and questioned my own sanity. For years Gilsking marched his horde of radicals and adults until finally at the age of 17 the First Crusader stepped foot on Syria and the war began. With my great Brythonic fleet mine own army sailed to the Orient to carve Outremer with this man of a boy and in close chances we slowly began to defeat the Saracen and stood before the walls if Jerusalem. We gave a last prayer, "O Mighty God, bless these arms O thine dutiful servants, and if your will permits, grant us total victory over your foes! Amen!"
As we were storming the walls, the Lord did even better and performed a miracle, where angels shot down from the sky and their golden ethereal presence melted the eyes and rusted away the swords of the Saracen infidel, giving us total victory and Jerusalem was taken with little losses and no population decimation. In the dawn after Battle, the crusader child Arne Gilsking was crowned Arne I, King of Jerusalem and Protector of the Holy Land Outremer. These events inspired the Pope to call future crusades by invoking the name of both Pantokrator Christ Jesus and Saint Arne Gilsking "The Sword of the Lord".

Trystan II Byrnmetel would marry his daughter to Arne Gilsking and the son merged the two families, the holy blood of both Trystan II and Arne Sword of the Lord coursing through the blood of the Byrnmetel dynasty of Britanny the Protector of the Faith, and to this day the colony of Outremer is bitterly fought over with the Saracen hordes, holding back the tides everytime with much sacrifice and bloodshed.

[ticklezcat]

If you're having trouble getting crusade score, just place forts, the score counts holdings held, not type of holdings.

[SRosenberg]

"Unless you want to do the Barbarossa method of passing through Anatolia and drowning in a river."

I just cracked up so hard at that line. Great video dude.

[daveholland]

An Ironside intro that's not ISP?

But that's illegal

[chocolaterain]

I just started as a republic in Gotland. Easiest way to crusade. I roll up on Western Umyadd by boat and pillage. It's amazing. Also republics are badass in general.

[farry]

Been loving this game since im burned out of eu4, looking forward for more ck2 content!

[tacticaltendie]

That time I accidentally became the Christian king of Egypt. Good times

[artofthepossible]

I had one campaign where I had open marriages on, so I allied with the Seljuk Turks, I was also the one who directed Christendom to Anatolia, the original chosen target was Egypt. So the 1st Crusade was crushed by the guy who created the crusade who wanted to give Anatolia to the ERE.
Wonderful Strategy on my end.

[kashk]

A good tip is to keep marrying your female cousins of your house (yeah, I know, #justCK2things...), and make them your beneficiaries. You can even do it matrilinirally if their bloodlines are cooler than yours. That way your primary heir will get the crusader kingdom (assuming it's your first wife), along with whatever is left of the gold. Added benefit is that they might very well conquer a kingdom or two for you in the meantime. I made my characters wife benificiary for Anatolia. She conquered the kingdoms of Armenia, Syria and Al-Jazira for me in the meantime, and then it went to my heir just before my own character died.

[guardianofthehill]

One way i found that can trigger a crusade early on is this: Start in 867 (or 769) as a christian, hope that the byzantines conquer Jerusalem while both Shi'ia and Sunni Caliphates exist, and let the hilarious mayhem unfold. Bonus points if the Shi'ia Caliphate spawns in Spain, Abbasid territory, or India.

[rajanmanhas]

Step one:fight battle
Step two: get stack wiped
Step three: somehow win

[chinchin]

3:11
What kind of council is that!! A steward with 1 stat in stewardship. Could you not find someone with a higher stat?

[arisaka]

watching this 15 min video literally cleared me so many doubts and mistakes that i do in the game, some of them not even related with crusading

[curtishamilton]

Video: (Ironside logo at the beginning)
Me: (ISP flashbacks intensify)

[szymondworski]

Just a quick tip: try and use as little of your own ships as possible, they are VERY expensive and I've bankrupted myself multiple times by forgetting I have boats in the field. If you have to use your own boats, make sure you disband them as quickly as possible.