how i beat ck3's hardest start

[HeyCara]

for context: this is the start where you get invaded by the great heathen army as Northumbria in 867! (and this was before roads to power too!)

i consider it the hardest start in ck3 since it's basically a 100% chance you insta lose within a year or two to at least one of the two wars declared on you at game start

i wanted to beat both invading armies, and not just white peace one of them and surrender to the other.

the best way i found to do it was by making betrothals (preordering marriages) to get alliances, inviting that new ally into the war, breaking the betrothal, and then instantly forming a new betrothal, getting a new ally into the war, etc etc over and over again.

it is a pretty gamey exploit but this start was really hard even with using that exploit! plus i heard they patched it out of newer versions, or added more of a penalty for it? maybe someone can let me know if you happen to know 👀

[soldatox]

"I got 214 gold for that" the tone of your voice says it all: it wasn't enough

[arni]

In roads of power just left and then came back with the elephants

[timesnewlogan]

I once helped him win as an Irishman, by assassinating Ivar. His son and Halfdan immediately went to war, cutting their forces down to nothing. The king of Alba took this opportunity to make a move, as did I.

With one knife thrust, I inadvertently saved Britannia.

[jason]

No wonder why Alfred is the only king ever titled “the Great”😮😮

[zacharyhunt]

I managed to white peace both wars one time, but I've never actually ever won the wars.

[ewlol]

this was such a difficult start but it makes for a really fun game when you get through it!

[MatthewBooth-xooq]

That’s the method with every hard start date, the betrothal simulator

[phillipmcguirk]

The AI managed to win this war in one of my saves but lost a war for a county later.

[chrissnowman]

I tried this last night and the war is actually slanted for you to be able to white peace out of it. I was able to white peace at 20% green with both, and I only had to take one city in Jorvik before the natural increase helped get me over the line

[dhalitskov]

King Ælla getting to live just fells wrong.

[ChayGrice]

CK3 really doesn't give you enough for winning a defensive war. It used to be my favourite PDX game... until I played the rest of them, now it's the worst.

[Groffili]

By exploiting game mechanics, you can do amazing things.
But sometimes the game does it for you.

Running a Roads to Power game (pre-nerf - don't know how much that would matter), my welsh adventurer left the British Isles for mainland Europe.
When I looked back five years later... Aelle had won against the Lodbroks, Haestein had done his usual conquest of Lancaster... only to be beaten and swallowed up by Gwynedd. Ivar the Boneless had switched culture to Gaelic and was rampaging across Ireland.
Alfred gathered all duchies peacefully into the anglo-saxon Kingdom of England... even the Vikings that were successful in their second invasion of East Anglia.
Now, almost a hundred years later, most of the original anglo-saxon petty kingdoms are still ruled by their original dynasty.

"Weirdest" England I've seen for a long time in CK3.

[mr_vinland]

If you want to see a hard start, try playing Avars in 867 and set Magyar invasion to immediate in the game rules. O_O;

[whodis]

Regardless I am still your biggest fan xD

[carlosfuentes]

Marriages are broken lol. I always marry/divorce loop for 600 prestige each time when I’m going for the elevate kingdom of mann decision. You can become a living legend after 20-25 marriages/divorces.

[archenepnf]

If you have wanderers, you can just lose start a legitimist company and come back later and stronger.

[-Faris-]

214 gold pales in comparison of having to keep your land. No price too costly for freedom. GG they fought well, but you were smarter.

[drakinine]

not to be a party pooper but you can just marry a son off to the mother of the kaiser for a crazy strong alliance 👻

[mistra]

Is more easy to save nortubria as wessex