In Crusader Kings 3 you play as the head of a dynasty. This is a hefty task that involves managing large swathes of land, balancing diplomacy with underhanded acts of intrigue, and making decisions regarding finance, culture, and religion. And then, of course, inheritance.

Death is inevitable in Crusader Kings 3 but the game doesn’t end there, it simply passes on to your heir. Inheritance, however, is no simple event. For many, it is a chance to seize power from their newly crowned liege, which can be very frustrating when you’re playing that liege.

Rulers get a pretty large malus to opinion when they inherit the throne, meaning that their vassals resent them simply for being their new liege. This might encourage them to start factions for independence or to overthrow you. Alternatively, you might have family members who feel more able to take you down than your predecessor. There are lots of ways that succession can go wrong. Luckily, there are some things you can do.

Your Diplomacy Options

Crusader Kings 3 How To Survive Succession

Sometimes the best way to stave off a rebellion is to be the nicest person you can be — make people like you, build alliances, and keep the land’s engine running smoothly.

The Send Gift ability is a great way to keep grumpy vassals happy. Vassals who like you more are less likely to want to join factions or plot your untimely demise, and a bit of money can go a long way to improving relations.
- The Thoughtful perk from the Diplomacy tree will double the effectiveness of this action, which is great for the diplomatically minded.
Forging alliances is one way that can solidify your reign. Making it harder to make war against you through a large web of alliances is a perfectly viable strategy and a great reason to have lots of children. Marry off your offspring to powerful rulers, but only if that marriage results in an alliance. While this may not directly deter factions from declaring a war on you, it will give you plenty of manpower to deal with such an uprising.
- Marrying children into your own vassals’ families is also an option. If a vassal has an alliance with you, they cannot start or join a faction against you.
Holding feasts is another way to build relationships with your vassals, whilst also reducing your stress levels. Hold them whenever you can and try to use the events that follow to make friends with your vassals.
Your council might be shaken up by your succession, so make sure you look over it and take note of who your “powerful vassals” are. They will take a huge opinion hit if they aren’t on your council, so you might want to prioritize spaces for them.
If you have a spouse with very high diplomacy skill, you might want to put them to work assisting your diplomacy. This will make your vassals like you more by default. If you are single, this desire might affect your spouse search.
Going on a pilgrimage is an easy way to get a nice +10 boost to opinion with your vassals of a matching religion.
Remember that the more your vassals like you, the more they will like your successor. They’ll still have a bit of a problem with them, but if they like and trust you, it won’t be so harsh. For a game with such a reputation for evil characters and dubious morality, it really rewards the nice ones.

The Thoughtful perk from the Diplomacy tree will double the effectiveness of this action, which is great for the diplomatically minded.

Marrying children into your own vassals’ families is also an option. If a vassal has an alliance with you, they cannot start or join a faction against you.

Your Intrigue Options

Crusader Kings 3 How To Survive Succession

While being friendly and diplomatic might feel rewarding, utilizing some of your more sneaky methods to keep your realm under control can make you feel even more powerful. Alternatively, rule with an iron fist and intimidate your underlings into obedience.

First things first, make sure your spymaster likes you — a lot. If your spymaster joins an assassination plot against you they will contribute a ton of power to it, so it’s in your interest to have a loyal spymaster. Make sure your candidate has little reason to want you dead, whether it be through a low opinion of you or the chance to inherit land upon your death.
Once you have a spymaster who likes you, you can use them to your advantage. If you have a particularly powerful vassal who dislikes you a lot but has a more agreeable heir, plotting their early death is just the logical course of action.
Alternatively, you can use your spymaster to disrupt schemes within your realm. Not only does this give you some defenses against hostile schemes, but it will lead to exposing such schemes in the long run. Schemers can be imprisoned, which severely reduces their power.
With the Truth is Relative perk from the Intrigue lifestyle, you can fabricate hooks on your vassals, which can go a long way to dissuade them from acting out.
With the Kidnapper perk from the same lifestyle, you can outright abduct any faction leaders that you might be worried about. This severely reduces their powers and isn’t as final as plotting their death.
Building up a lot of dread is quite the failsafe against rebellions. Intimidated and terrified vassals are very unlikely to rise up against you. Check out our guide on building up dread to become the horrific ruler of your dreams.
- Many players recommend going to war with nations that follow a religion hostile to your own. You will end up with many heretics in your prison who can be executed without incurring a tyranny penalty while still boosting your dread significantly. Notably, these prisoners will remain even after a succession, so you can prepare for the future.

Many players recommend going to war with nations that follow a religion hostile to your own. You will end up with many heretics in your prison who can be executed without incurring a tyranny penalty while still boosting your dread significantly. Notably, these prisoners will remain even after a succession, so you can prepare for the future.

Your Military Options

Even if you follow all of the above tips, luck can be a factor in Crusader Kings 3. Sometimes a rebellion will fire up before you can do anything about it — that’s where the military comes in. You’ll want to be able to fight them off, after all.

Money is probably the most important part of the militaristic strategy. Not only will you need to finance your standing army, but mercenaries remain one of the best defenses against insurgents. You can hire them quickly to bolster your power significantly.
- Combat in Crusader Kings 3 is very often a numbers game, especially in the earlier years, so if you can hire enough mercenaries to crush your opposition, you’ll barely need to worry about diplomacy or intrigue.
- Money is inherited upon succession, so always keep a hoard of gold ready for emergencies. A good 1,000 gold is a solid amount.
- If you want to build up even more money, see if you can give your heir a job — for example on the council. These positions come with wages that will boost their personal treasury a little — a treasure that you will come into upon your character’s death.
Keep building your military buildings. One deterrent for hostile factions is to have a large army that intimidates them. Build these buildings in the regions that you own personally and your loyal soldiers will stop your vassals from getting any funny ideas.
- On a related note, keep your personally-held land together as much as you can. When vassals rise up (or wars start) you can bring all of your soldiers together really quickly. If your land is spread out across the realm, there’s a greater chance of your smaller armies getting crushed before they can group up.
Keep an eye on your standing army, and make sure they’re fully stocked at all times. They are stronger than your normal levies and contribute significantly to your intimidating presence in the realm.

Combat in Crusader Kings 3 is very often a numbers game, especially in the earlier years, so if you can hire enough mercenaries to crush your opposition, you’ll barely need to worry about diplomacy or intrigue.
Money is inherited upon succession, so always keep a hoard of gold ready for emergencies. A good 1,000 gold is a solid amount.
If you want to build up even more money, see if you can give your heir a job — for example on the council. These positions come with wages that will boost their personal treasury a little — a treasure that you will come into upon your character’s death.

On a related note, keep your personally-held land together as much as you can. When vassals rise up (or wars start) you can bring all of your soldiers together really quickly. If your land is spread out across the realm, there’s a greater chance of your smaller armies getting crushed before they can group up.

Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/crusader-kings-3-how-to-survive-succession/

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