Cairo and its duchy might be a good shout too. Got Giza, plenty of floodplains for the agrarian tradition, and a university. It's a great spot for an Islamic playthrough, since you are close to all of the holy sites
Baghdad also have great palace of ctesiphon available to build for zoroastrian and nestorians. Another insane building. But wait! The county also have university in sarsar. But wait! Every single holding in baghdad can be built tradeport. But wait! Baghdad have 6 total holdings in one county. But wait! All of them are floodplains! Meaning orchards and high development gain! But wait! Have it been mentioned that it's also a holy site? Buuuutttt waaaaiiiitttt!!!!!! It's practically the center of the world, making world conquest that much easier.
ive just completed iranian reassurance and revived Zoroastrianism My capital is shiraz right now but it has to be baghdad now that ive conquered it Should also name it Ctiesphon maybe
@@ata7654 Ctesiphon already exists in the game, in the same county as Baghdad. It's the barony/wilayah of an-Nahrawan. It has the Palace of Ctesiphon special building, the palace of the Sassanid shahs of Persia. I don't think it's bonuses are as good as the House of Wisdom tho,
Khwarezmia is also pretty fantastic. Duchy capital of Gurranj is one of the three counties in the entire game with seven holding slots. And with a homogenous terrain type throughout, diverging for a smaller-sized culture with Dryland Dwellers and Court Gardeners will yield _incredible_ results for playing tall. Just need to be mindful of those pesky tribals to the north.
Honorable mentions include Nitra which has lots of counties and borders Bohemia, Transylvania which has two mines and lots of plains, Mercia due to its size and dykes, Lombardy which is the biggest duchy in Italy although it only has a university and Salair a duchy in Siberia with 10 counties and two grand temples; first in county numbers and third in barony count but in all three start dates it has 0 development. It would make a fun, difficult and tall challenge for players who want to form the mythical realm of Tartaria
I can not remember the name of the Duchy, but to the northeast of Persia is a tidy cluster of farmland with a ton of Barony slots. These are mostly full even on an 867 start (where it's part of the starting domain of a King title). There are no special buildings or holy sites to take advantage of if I remember correctly, but if you just want to jump straight to a Royal Court and start spamming cheap Tournaments it's one of the weirder starts. The added pressure being it's a region that normally capitulates to the Great Khan, meaning you're more likely to actually engage with the late game boss.
Ferghana is my favorite. Huge duchy with a good bit of farmlands, impassible terrain around it to help defend it. No special buildings unfortunately but still very good. Also right on the edge of the persian struggle region, I usually like to revive zoroastrianism from there
Never played CK3, but I am a veteran of CK2. I suppose Sardinia is not as strong in CK3, or it would have been in this tier list. I mean, do you guys remember how good Sardinia is in CK2? 4 counties duchy, easy to get indipendent if under eastern roman rule, unlikely to be attacked by foreign powers, easy to take control of every county and very easy to transform the duchy into a Kingdom. Also, easy expansion in North Africa and Europe and you get a great opportunity to marry a lombard princess in the first starting date, to possibly have ALL the Lombard Kingdom for your first born son. And having 4 counties in the very early game is amazing, also without the fear of being constantly attacked by others or having rebellions (because you literally own all the territoryl, even an average player can get almost all Italy for himself in a few decades. For me, being a sardinian, playing CK2 has been something unique.
It's great in CK3, too: Sure, not that much to build there, but you have a very safe position and a GOLD MINE. Also you need it for a decision that gives you a kingdom and a CB, which gives you a CB to conquer any coastal county in the Mediterranean (plus some other goodies like devdlopment growth) for 100 years. No clue how it isn't on the list. Damn, I think I talked myself into my next playthrough😅
@@ilgufo1146 Yeah, because it is. It needs Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily and the Balearic Islands. Makes you a Kingdom that includes all of these, so you could do so in one character without losing any of your conquests on succession. Also the CB is tied to your family members holding said kingdom, so any of your main heirs will get the benefits. Check out the "Secure the Mediterranean" decision. But no clue if it's still that way, haven't done this in a while
Cairo and its duchy might be a good shout too. Got Giza, plenty of floodplains for the agrarian tradition, and a university. It's a great spot for an Islamic playthrough, since you are close to all of the holy sites
Baghdad also have great palace of ctesiphon available to build for zoroastrian and nestorians. Another insane building.
But wait! The county also have university in sarsar.
But wait! Every single holding in baghdad can be built tradeport.
But wait! Baghdad have 6 total holdings in one county.
But wait! All of them are floodplains! Meaning orchards and high development gain!
But wait! Have it been mentioned that it's also a holy site?
Buuuutttt waaaaiiiitttt!!!!!! It's practically the center of the world, making world conquest that much easier.
But wait they are surrounded by various unique buiding as well as basra,isfahan,alamut etc.
ive just completed iranian reassurance and revived Zoroastrianism
My capital is shiraz right now but it has to be baghdad now that ive conquered it
Should also name it Ctiesphon maybe
But wait custin religion with monoliths in each 7 temples!
@@ata7654 Ctesiphon already exists in the game, in the same county as Baghdad. It's the barony/wilayah of an-Nahrawan. It has the Palace of Ctesiphon special building, the palace of the Sassanid shahs of Persia. I don't think it's bonuses are as good as the House of Wisdom tho,
Khwarezmia is also pretty fantastic. Duchy capital of Gurranj is one of the three counties in the entire game with seven holding slots. And with a homogenous terrain type throughout, diverging for a smaller-sized culture with Dryland Dwellers and Court Gardeners will yield _incredible_ results for playing tall. Just need to be mindful of those pesky tribals to the north.
Honorable mentions include Nitra which has lots of counties and borders Bohemia, Transylvania which has two mines and lots of plains, Mercia due to its size and dykes, Lombardy which is the biggest duchy in Italy although it only has a university and Salair a duchy in Siberia with 10 counties and two grand temples; first in county numbers and third in barony count but in all three start dates it has 0 development. It would make a fun, difficult and tall challenge for players who want to form the mythical realm of Tartaria
The duchy of Pandya Nadu in south India is my absolute favorite. Having 7 holdings and farmland terrain in one of its counties is absolutely broken
I can not remember the name of the Duchy, but to the northeast of Persia is a tidy cluster of farmland with a ton of Barony slots. These are mostly full even on an 867 start (where it's part of the starting domain of a King title).
There are no special buildings or holy sites to take advantage of if I remember correctly, but if you just want to jump straight to a Royal Court and start spamming cheap Tournaments it's one of the weirder starts. The added pressure being it's a region that normally capitulates to the Great Khan, meaning you're more likely to actually engage with the late game boss.
Bohemia - big duchy + lots of holdings + mine.
Ferghana is my favorite. Huge duchy with a good bit of farmlands, impassible terrain around it to help defend it. No special buildings unfortunately but still very good. Also right on the edge of the persian struggle region, I usually like to revive zoroastrianism from there
Never played CK3, but I am a veteran of CK2. I suppose Sardinia is not as strong in CK3, or it would have been in this tier list.
I mean, do you guys remember how good Sardinia is in CK2? 4 counties duchy, easy to get indipendent if under eastern roman rule, unlikely to be attacked by foreign powers, easy to take control of every county and very easy to transform the duchy into a Kingdom. Also, easy expansion in North Africa and Europe and you get a great opportunity to marry a lombard princess in the first starting date, to possibly have ALL the Lombard Kingdom for your first born son. And having 4 counties in the very early game is amazing, also without the fear of being constantly attacked by others or having rebellions (because you literally own all the territoryl, even an average player can get almost all Italy for himself in a few decades.
For me, being a sardinian, playing CK2 has been something unique.
It's great in CK3, too: Sure, not that much to build there, but you have a very safe position and a GOLD MINE. Also you need it for a decision that gives you a kingdom and a CB, which gives you a CB to conquer any coastal county in the Mediterranean (plus some other goodies like devdlopment growth) for 100 years. No clue how it isn't on the list.
Damn, I think I talked myself into my next playthrough😅
@marcuswillbrandt5901
A CB to conquer every coastal county? That seems kinda op
@@ilgufo1146 Yeah, because it is. It needs Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily and the Balearic Islands. Makes you a Kingdom that includes all of these, so you could do so in one character without losing any of your conquests on succession. Also the CB is tied to your family members holding said kingdom, so any of your main heirs will get the benefits.
Check out the "Secure the Mediterranean" decision. But no clue if it's still that way, haven't done this in a while
@@marcuswillbrandt5901
I will! Thanks
@@marcuswillbrandt5901it hasn’t changed
Now you have 700 subscribers. Good video!
Thanks! Yeah, we are closing in on 1,000
Lahore should've been mentioned imo its a really big duchy and all the holdings already start off with high dev making it really good to play tall
You forgot the most powerful duchy in game: The Latium
No one likes innsbruck? Silver mine there brings tons of gold early game and surrounded by mountains
Galicia and Cerdenia
Damn i never thought Bohemia have these potential i always thinking they are just bunch of rural mountainous folk.:v
Sardinia???
Gotta love those mines!
Kyiv and Lahore deserve an honorable mention. Lahore might even be the biggest duchy in the game in terms of holdings overall.
Honourable mentions for me: Upper Bosnia, Krakow, Manding and Gurgiu
Why Bohemia Christian and Feudal? This is definitely not 867.
Everything was done in the 1066 start date. I may have forgotten to mention that
Bohemia may not be christian in 867 but it is feudal.....
West francia still the best cause it has 7 counties and in 3 of them you can build manors and aloso the plague comes never there...
I'd say Kyiv has Potential
It has but it takes to long and to much gold to build it up in early game.
@Geraduss Fr and that's the fun