In the expansion "Tours and Tournaments" for Crusader Kings 3, travel becomes an actual mechanic that players will need to wrap their heads around if they want to safely visit all the activities the expansion has to offer. Travel in the medieval era was never very safe, after all, and all sorts of things could happen to peasants, kings, and emperors.
Fortunately, there are ways to avoid these dangers. By planning a good route and hiring the right experts, players can turn a risky journey to Jerusalem into a safe vacation and sightseeing tour. It all depends on how players handle the travel mechanics in Crusader Kings 3.
Choosing a Destination
The first thing players need to do when traveling is to choose a destination, and the destination options depend on the kind of activity players choose. For instance, a pilgrimage can be to any holy site of the player ruler's faith, a hunt can take place in any county the ruler controls, and a Grand Tournament can only take place within a ruler's personal domain. Grand Tours can have up to 10 destinations, and the player ruler will visit them all in the order that players choose.
Once the destinations are set up, the game will automatically choose a route that will take the least amount of time possible. This can include ocean travel, and unlike with army disembarkation there's no extra time penalty that comes from moving from land to sea. After all, the ruler is traveling with a small entourage and not with a large army that needs to build or buy a fleet of transports.
Modifying the Route
While the starting route is fast, players may want to make a few detours to go around dangerous counties. These dangers include steep mountains, hostile deserts, deep forests, unpredictable oceans, and counties with low county control (which indicates bandits). If a county is dangerous and on the travel route, a shield will appear on the map and next to the Safety number in the Travel menu.
Color is another way to spot dangerous areas. Counties far from the travel route are gray, safe counties are white, war-torn counties are red, hilly counties are brown, forested counties are green, and so on.
To add a detour, players should select "Customize Route" in the travel menu on the bottom left. This will bring up the list of destinations on the right, and players can add a detour after a location name by clicking on the big plus sign. Instead of choosing the fastest route to the destination, the game will choose the fastest route from the player capital to the detour county, and then from there to next major stop.
Players can insert as many detours as they like, but keep in mind that these are waypoints on the route and not new destinations. A ruler can't really visit all five holy sites on a single pilgrimage even if they visit each county on a single trip.
Two other numbers to watch are Speed and Safety. Speed indicates how fast the player ruler will travel, and Safety indicates how well the travelers are able to avoid every kind of danger. Both the ruler and the Caravan Master contribute their Stewardship scores to increase Speed, and both contribute their Martial scores to Safety.
Players can add up to two travel options to boost Speed, Safety, or both.
Option | Benefit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
Hire Experienced Captains | -45 Danger in Sea and Coastal Sea regions | 20 |
Hire Mercenary Guards | +10 Speed and +20 Safety | 40 |
Hire Jungle Stalker | -42 Danger in Jungle counties | 8 |
Hire Mountaineer | -42 Danger in Mountains and Desert Mountains, and -31 Danger in Hills | 8 |
Hire Forder | -42 Danger in Wetlands and -22 Danger in Floodplains | 8 |
Hire Desert Warrior | -32 Danger in Deserts and Steppes, and -22 Danger in Drylands | 8 |
Hire Forest Guide | -37 Danger in Taiga and -31 Danger in Forests | 8 |
Hire Cultural Ambassador | Extra Cultural Acceptance for ruler's culture in visited counties | 20 |
Superior Mounts | +20 Speed | Ruler must hold barony with Courier Stations or Camel Markets |
Train Knights | +10 Safety | Ruler must hold barony with Military Schools |
Superior Armaments | +10 Safety, -20% artifact decay during trip | Ruler must hold barony with Crown Blacksmiths |
Make Haste | +20 Speed, -10 Safety | |
Circumspect | -10 Speed, -50% Hostile Scheme success | Ruler must be Fickle, Arbitrary, or Paranoid |
Other factors can also influence these numbers, such as the Martial Lifestyle perk "Organized March." In addition to the benefits it offered before, it now adds 25 percent more to a ruler's Speed.
Players should make sure they're confident in their route before starting off. It's possible to adjust the route while traveling by selecting the "View Travel" button in the lower left, but the only way to cancel a journey is if the player ruler is on their way to someone else's event. The only way to cancel an event a player starts is if a war breaks out.
Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.