MeinMMO author Schuhmann has spent over 1,400 hours on Crusader Kings 3 on Steam, but in the eyes of others, the game apparently only revolves around incest. That’s far too little for him.
What is the problem? Every time I talk about my majestic adventures in Crusader Kings 3 in the editorial team, people grin dirtyly. Even supposedly nice and understanding individuals yell that I should write about my incest simulator again.
Recently, when I talked about the lovely Zofia, whom I marry immediately in every game of Crusader Kings 3 because she is so clever and has good genetic traits, I was asked what my relationship to her is! Outrageous, I know.
When I shared a screenshot showing my king and his family naked because my character had spontaneously decided to forbid everyone at court from wearing clothes, the first question was whether that child woman in the picture was my daughter. An outrageousness.
Incest in Crusader Kings 3 is only possible under certain conditions
Is incest even possible in Crusader Kings 3? No, not really. At least not right away. Because the normal religions actually prohibit marriage between close relatives. You have to make quite an effort to make incest the foundation of a state.
This involves conquering holy sites, studying theology, piloting to the most remote corners of the world, becoming a holy man, founding your own religion, and only then does everyone in your dynasty suddenly start marrying each other (via GameStar).
The community has reduced the game’s reputation to incest
Why is Crusader Kings 3 so reduced to incest? It’s the fault of the community itself and also that of the developers Paradox. Because the Swedish developers have elevated the marrying of close relatives, which actually doesn’t play a major role in the game, to an insider joke by adjusting the descriptions of characters.
Normally, the character’s relationship to the player is described, such as “courtiers”, “son”, “rival”, “wife”. But if multiple role descriptions apply to one person, it’s stated as such. So the people on reddit made a huge joke out of posting pictures of their “wife-daughter-sister-cousin”.
Here, a player proudly presents his “daughter-wife and niece” (in one person), right next to the “son, nephew, and brother-in-law.” (via reddit)”
Here we see the “sister-wife, who is also the player’s cousin and sister-in-law.”
Are there disadvantages to incest? Yes, in fact, when incest goes so far that the child’s parents have very few different ancestors, the chance of inbreeding and a negative genetic outcome increases significantly.
Children are born with significant maluses. With slight expressions, the child may be a hemophiliac, lisp, or have a hunchback. “Inbred children,” where the negative trait is fully expressed, rarely reach adulthood and are almost infertile.
“Your family tree is a circle” is an achievement on Steam
Does Paradox advocate for incest? By now, “incest” has indeed become an acknowledged and solid part of the game from a side aspect.
One of the hardest achievements on Steam is “Perfect Circle,” which you receive for the “ultimate incest”: A character must have so few different people in their family tree that it approaches a circle.
The fact that only 1.1 % of players have this achievement shows that the game should not be reduced to incest as many do.
Admittedly, from a “gameplay aspect,” an incest program that extends across the entire dynasty offers some advantages. Because those who play Crusader Kings 3 with ambition and optimal results will begin to “breed” their dynasty and will try to find advantageous spouses to produce genetically better offspring.
Because those who marry a strong woman as a strong man will definitely get a super strong child, and if that child then marries a super strong woman, their descendants will inherit the 3rd degree of the genetic trait “strong” and be considered a Hercules or an Amazon: And these are potentially the strongest knights or champions in the game, offering real advantages in battle for land.
Because the own offspring will rapidly have the best genetic traits of all the characters available for marriage in the game after 50, 60, 70 years, usually live in geographical proximity, and have the appropriate culture and religion, the AI then decides that the own dynasty should best marry amongst themselves.
This playstyle has been supported in many ways in Crusader Kings 3:
- There is a legacy line that strengthens genetic traits in the dynasty
- If someone has bred the Overman with only positive and no negative traits once, they gain a powerful dynasty-wide bonus and the epithet “The Bloodfather”
- The crown of creation is the rare genetic perk “Pure Blood” – it is inheritable and prevents all negative traits of incest, which is apparently a nod to the Targaryen from Game of Thrones, who took Jamie and Cersei Lannister (cover image) as their role model
Nevertheless, I still find it unfair to reduce Crusader Kings 3 to incest. At its core, it’s simply a game that no one understands and that people watch for hours as maps change color: Remember this: Swedish strategy geniuses are proud that hardly anyone understands their games and that no one ever finishes them
