CK2 GoT Mod: Ironborn Tips I

So you've played the Ironborn in the GoT Mod, but you're frustrated at the steep requirements for the "Invasion" Casus Belli, specifically the requirement that your ruler is Ambitious/Ruthless/Greedy. These traits are hard to get, though you may be able to pick up Ruthless by letting slaves escape, catching them, and lashing them.

However, it does make sense from a book perspective. A massive Ironborn invasion should be a rare thing, not a commonplace occurrence. Only a certain kind of leader has the cunning and know-how to rip the Riverlands away from the Iron Throne (or the North if you have a thing for women who wear furs, I suppose).

However, here is some advice on how to make sure you can make it easier for yourself to get the Ironborn Invasion casus belli. And no, I'm not going to suggest Elective Succession. This way is more reliable, and will ensure you keep the Seastone Chair.

1) Have your Heir Marry a MILF
By MILF, I mean "attractive older woman," for those of you living under a rock that have not seen American Pie. In the game, women hit menopause at 45. Marry a woman as old as possible, and try not to have any trueborn kids with her (make your heir spend time raiding or in command, which will impart a fertility malus).


2) Raid and Reave like the Grey King Himself
You need a large amount of nubile saltwives for this to work. In most cases, your Iron King will produce a ridiculous amount of bastards from his concubines. So when your heir takes the throne, make sure you get those concubines.


3) Switch your Succession to Ultimogeniture
Primogeniture also works if you have no trueborn sons. But now you can see where I'm going with this: we're going to educate all our bastard kids (or as many as possible), and we'll legitimize only the one(s) with Ambitious/Ruthless/Greedy!

The main flaw with Ultimogeniture is that Ironborn leaders live quite violent lives. You may find yourself killed off in a duel, or murdered by your concubine (this happens very often for me) before you figure out which of your heirs is the correct one. If you are worried about that, you can minimize the chance of the former happening by chilling in your castle up until a siege is about to end, and then switch yourself to a commander so you can take saltwives. Apparently, serving the Drowned God gives you powers of teleportation.

Although personally, I'd rather be able to tap Melisandre's ass than teleport around the world. So I guess I'm with Red Rahloo.


In any case, you've prepared a legendary conqueror, content with not just a few Islands, but who plans to take Westeros itself and bring the Ironborn back to glory. What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder, better, faster, stronger!

From my last Ironborn game. If you want to have some fun with the Ironborn, you should play Robert's Rebellion and declare independence, then go kidnap Mad King Aerys II, which will automatically set your warscore to 100%. 

In the vast majority of cases, Robert Baratheon will win. I've only seen AI Rhaegar Targaryen win twice, and this was one of those times. Even then, I still won independence by kidnapping Aerys.

Remember, the Iron Throne is much, much stronger than you. You can see here how the Dragon utterly dwarfs the Kraken, and militarily Rhaegar outnumbers us about 10:1 (assuming equal vassal loyalty on both sides).  The equalizer is money. You need to raid as much as possible and build up your stacks of gold so you can buy mercs (and even the Golden Company) protect yourself when the Iron Throne tries to subjugate you. And it will.

Expect to spend a few thousand gold on mercenaries protecting yourself from the Iron Throne when it comes for you.

From my last game. After winning his independence, Iron King Balon proved to be no friend of the rebellion: he sacked Winterfell, took Catelyn Tully as a saltwife, and drowned the baby Robb!

Notice that Eddard Stark has crowned himself "King in the North": the AI will declare independence if it loses a megawar and the winner writes a bill of attainder stripping the loser's titles.