The new expansion for Crusader Kings 3 (Steam) is keeping our author Schuhmann busy. It emphasizes the role-playing aspect of the strategy game and transforms the dynasty simulator into a travel adventure.
What makes the new expansion for Crusader Kings 3 special? The expansion “Tours & Tournament” costs just under €30 on Steam and turns the strategy epic Crusader Kings 3 into a “travel adventure” reminiscent of the old DSA games: Instead of sitting on the throne and pushing armies around to cover more of the map in your colors, you now travel with a retinue of courtiers, knights, and lovers and experience adventures.
Hunting, pilgrimage, and celebration are part of the daily life of a feudal lord – this has always been the case. However, with the expansion, these activities are now pronounced, incorporated with decisions and role-playing, and you have to travel everywhere.
On the way to various places, all sorts of strange things happen. If you play intensively, much repeats quickly. But it does bring variety to the ruler’s daily routine. You can’t just flirt with your cousins all the time.
This has changed in my gameplay: I’ve written several guides for MeinMMO on how to start in Crusader Kings 3. In 2021, it all started with a county in Ireland, later I was taken by an exiled Viking in Kiev.
Currently, I’m playing Crusader Kings 3 this way:
- I start with a tailored ruler in a province in the southwest of Norway, first conquering the west coast of Scandinavia, then taking the British Isles and Iceland before I target York and Uppland, the key province of Sweden.
- This is usually enough to reform the Norse faith, crown myself king of Norway, and from there conquer Britain and Scandinavia.
- Basically, this is a fairly fixed process that one can strictly follow to obtain quite challenging achievements such as “Canute the Greater” – currently only 1.6% of players on Steam have this.
Pilgrimages and hunting now define the Viking daily life
This is how the expansion has changed my routine: I now hunt like a madman, constantly go on pilgrimages, and try to win archery tournaments.
In the past, pilgrimages and hunts were relatively dull events, lacking much variety, but now there is the opportunity to find useful artifacts repeatedly and to gather prestige and piety endlessly.
Since you are now traveling, events trigger frequently along the way. I find one new event particularly noteworthy: It is the “Kasper Hauser” event:
You find on your travels a wild, approximately 8-year-old boy, who, although physically strong, is completely uncivilized. The boy was apparently raised by wolves. Depending on how pronounced his mental disability is, he may not even be able to speak.
In the game, this means: The character has a positive physical trait (is “strong”), but also has a negative cognitive trait (about like Hodor from Game of Thrones).
Due to the trait “Feral”, he can hardly speak, but he has a huge bonus to his combat power.
You have the option to take this boy under your wing as a ward and educate him. Ideally, you end up with a muscle-bound boy that you can use as a knight: A kind of private “Mountain That Rides” – a man for the rough stuff.
In one of my games, I found such a boy who was even “giant-like”: I then took the opportunity to adopt him after he was somewhat house-trained and took him into my family.
This comes with a huge malus for my family’s reputation – somehow the other nobles don’t seem to approve of my new wolf-boy son – but I now have a loyal and strong, albeit not very clever, adopted son.
In my game, I married him to a giantess, made him the Duke of Iceland, where he provided me with strong, albeit not very clever knights for generations.
New expansion is a must-buy for Crusader Kings 3 fans
This is my view on the expansion: Overall, the expansion “Tours and Tournament” is a must-buy for me for Crusader Kings 3, showing what potential still lies in the dynasty simulation after all these years. With the expansion, you can now feel the progress of time better, as the tribal settlements now have only 2 building options compared to 4 as before.
Moreover, there is so much to do that you can no longer focus solely on plundering, pillaging, and conquering as before. Such a good pilgrimage takes a good six months, which is then missing elsewhere. However, the events make the game much more intimate and personal. You learn to really hate the neighboring count who has thrown you down on the wrestling boards again before you stab him in the back at a feigned wedding.
However, the game is now even more unbalanced than before: There are many more “strong” characters in the game, and you frequently find people with 25 or more skill points in a skill. In the past, you had to breed such “über characters” painstakingly.
The events also repeat quickly. I have now found the “Kaspar Hauser” boy in 4 different games.
I expected more from the new “special knight” system. It seems a bit unwieldy. But that’s the good thing about Crusader Kings 3 and Paradox games: I have great faith in the Swedes that the aspects that currently seem clunky will be improved in one of the next patches.
Already, Crusader Kings 3 offers much more variety and is significantly rounder than at release in September 2020. This is also reflected in the 92% positive reviews on Steam:
In my game of the year, I have 14 children, 4 wives, and am the Emperor of Ireland
