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Crusader Kings 3: Establishing a Dominant Empire

Building an empire is relatively simple in Crusader Kings 3, but ensuring its stability demands significant dedication.
Crusader Kings 3: Establishing a Dominant Empire

Highlights

  • Forming an empire grants numerous advantages, such as increased Prestige gain and expanded limits on domains, knights, and regiments.
  • Maintaining an empire presents challenges, including internal conflicts, but also facilitates vassalizing smaller nations and resurrecting ancient empires.
  • Creating an empire involves meeting specific requirements and costs, while maintaining it demands vigilance over military strength, finances, and vassal titles.

Establishing an empire in Crusader Kings 3 is an effective approach to consolidating authority across vast territories and uniting multiple kingdoms under one banner. The process begins with the accumulation of several Kingdom titles (or their equivalents) in a designated region before the empire can be formed. Upon forming an empire, players enjoy substantial benefits, including a significant increase in Prestige gain per title, expanded Domain Limit, and higher numbers of Knights and Regiments. Moreover, they gain a +60 Vassal Limit and +32 Scheme Resistance, reducing the likelihood of assassinations and misfortunes.

However, the formation of an empire introduces its own set of difficulties and represents the ultimate end-game objective in Crusader Kings 3. While internal disputes and infighting may escalate, it becomes easier to vassalize smaller nations and expand through the influence of the occupied kingdoms. Some empires are more challenging to establish than others, and players even have the opportunity to revive ancient and archaic empires from history.

Establishing a Title

Similar to creating other titles, forming an empire involves clicking on a title's emblem to check if it is a De Jure territory of a larger, unformed faction. For instance, clicking on the Kingdom of England reveals it as a De Jure part of the Empire of Britannia. Selecting the Empire of Britannia emblem displays the requirements for forming this empire, along with all the territories it encompasses.

Typically, empires consist of 50 or more De Jure territories and require around 20 gold to form. Notably, as an empire, numerous claimants and factions may emerge, aiming to overthrow or dissolve the title. This may also complicate succession matters, emphasizing the importance of ensuring an heir is in place before creating an empire title.

Sustaining an Empire

Governing an empire resembles managing a Kingdom but on a much larger scale. Instead of overseeing Earldoms and Duchies, players must govern multiple entire nations simultaneously, leading to significantly more potent rebellions with larger opposing forces. It is crucial to ensure the empire's military strength surpasses that of the opposition or to maintain favorable relations with neighboring rulers to prevent fragmentation.

Financially, ruling over a larger domain yields increased revenue from a broader range of settlements. However, this can lead to complacency with expenditure, necessitating careful financial management to avoid deficits. While ruling over the De Jure territory of another empire is possible, granting vassals a title equivalent to Emperor, even in a considerably smaller territory, will prompt them to break away and become independent.

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