Recommended starting kingdom and date?

[ggg111]

Hi,

I'm wondering which kingdom (and starting date) is best for a beginner.
So far I've tried Leinster (one of the kingdoms in Ireland) at the early date, just to learn the game, but I keep getting destroyed by other kingdoms, especially the larger ones like England and Scotland.

Any recommendations for a kingdom and date to start with for a fun game?
I'm mostly interested in building my economy but in other game aspects too.

[Med8r]

My first game was as England and it went swimmingly. I believe it was in the earliest start date. I had a blast! My first playthrough was on Easy difficulty, so that may have had something to do with it, of course!

As England, you're more powerful than all your adjacent neighbors, but you're also not far removed from other major players (like France) who will challenge you later in the game. It's a great balance.  So it's not too difficult to spend the first part of the game consolidating your power in the British Isles, then the later parts looking outward and conquering in whatever direction strikes your fancy. In my playthrough, I ended up owning most of Spain, thanks to a crusade that plopped Valencia into my lap.

As far as economy goes, it's always a bit randomized since you can't count on certain provinces having certain goods, but my game ended in the Advantages victory, so it's doable.

One tip I learned in a subsequent game as Novgorod: don't claim inheritances too much! They will bow to your demands most of the time, if you're strong, but after a few times, everyone will hate you for it and no one will trust you (go figure, lol). Then all it takes is for one of the disgruntled parties to declare war, and they will ALL join in. There were several times in that game that literally all of Eastern Europe was at war with me! I managed to survive, but definitely learned not to claim the inheritance unless it was paramount.

Hope that helps! Good luck!