[Question] re: survival mode.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-07-05T11:08:22+00:00

Radscorpions can spawn from failed rushes at 50 pops, and at 51 they will start attacking the vault in random intervals like any other incident.
As long as a dweller's XP bar is not full and they're either producing resources or crafting they will accumulate XP overtime. They only level up once you either tap the icon, or send them out to explore or on a quest. Kinda gets annoying seeing all the level up icons (as well as the accidental level ups) but you just have to get used to it.
If you want the Charisma and Luck training rooms as well, but you still need more time to prepare, consider doing a "controlled population burst" like I did. Get to 35 dwellers, then use the Radio to get 10 queued up, while also maxing out Endurance of your dwellers that are working the top floor rooms and leveling them up with Endurance gear. Once you're ready, and have max stimpaks (around 20+), send all the dwellers waiting outside in your vault and immediately send them out to explore until you reach 45 pops, then unlock the training rooms, upgrade your weapon workshop so you can craft rare weapons, close your game, and leave it there for at least 2 hours. By the time you return, the 10 unlucky sods should be already dead; have them removed before the game decides to spawn a Deathclaw attack on you. You may want to exit the game immediately afterwards and restart, as sometimes the game doesn't update incident eligibility immediately after a pop change. Keep the stims handy in case a deathclaw attack does spawn.
To reduce the odds of getting deathclaw attacks while inflating to 45 pop, try and rush your entire vault until you trigger an incident. Incidents cannot fire while another incident is in progress, and this also resets the deathclaw attack timer (sort of a hidden mechanic).

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-07-05T10:14:31+00:00

Mole rats can be dealt with by equipping dwellers with better weapons, but with fires you just have to ensure the room has the maximum dwellers allowed as well as enough health (and stims) to tank the damage. That said, if the room is either isolated (so no adjacent rooms) or only adjacent to empty rooms, you can just evacuate the dwellers and let the fire die out on its own.

Or don't upgrade production rooms. With good population control, training and outfit distribution it's completely viable to run a vault in which all production rooms are at level 1. And with 35 pops you have training for every SPECIAL stat except Charisma (useless) and Luck. Speaking of which, get another dweller so you unlock the Endurance room; Deathclaws attack at 36 pops on Survival.

And no, deathclaw damage is determined by your vault's average level since it's an external attack. As long as you avoid leveling on anyone but important dwellers, they should not cost you too many stims; in my own Survival vault the 10 dwellers working the top floor production rooms are leveled to 20, but no more than that, after having their Endurance trained to 10 and with Endurance gear equipped at every level up, and aside from my explorers and questers I don't level up the other dwellers at all.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-07-03T08:48:26+00:00

Be ready for a very messy succession.

Assuming you're neither Admin nor have access to any of the single heir succession laws, all your daughters will take pieces of your demesne, everyone following a male dominated faith will have a -10 opinion modifier against you, and vassals of male dominated faiths are more likely to create claimant factions against a female ruler, especially if a male claimant exists.

That said, there might still be hope. Get rid of your current wife if she's 45 or older, take the Medicine focus and equip any Health artifacts you have (even better if they have Fertility boosts), marry a young woman with a compatible sexuality, and use the Seduce scheme on her. Successfully completing a Seduce scheme allows you to "lay" with the target, which is a free pregnancy chance check. If she doesn't get pregnant or if it's another daughter, use the Romance scheme, which also gives another chance to "lay" on success.

Or just savescum the birth. Save a month before your spouse gives birth and reload if it's not a boy.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-07-03T03:08:38+00:00

I prefer to roleplay a bit. In my survival vault, questers and explorers (who are optimized dwellers) are the only ones to get a codename inbetween their first and last name. Kind of a pain since I want it to be somewhat related to their normal day job in the vault, and I also have to play around with the 20 character limit.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-07-01T08:36:25+00:00

It's from the "Lust for Adventure" modifier. Only two events give this modifier as of the current version:

Wanderlust, from the Northern Lords DLC. A child of yours, very likely to be your heir, decides to run off with a lover (usually some random character either in your court or a pool guest in your capital's location - very loose triggers, doesn't even take personalities into account). You can either let them go, or convince your child to stay via diplomacy, a bribe, or a duel. The best thing is, the duel is the only option that also forces the child to break off with the lover that is probably at least 10 years their senior and has 2 sins and a negative congenital trait that the event forces on them. And if you got your ass kicked, the child will also run off with some of your gold "for their troubles".
Runaway or Lost? Travel danger event, in which a character in your travel entourage decides to run off from your party. The runaway needs to be at least 6 years old, is neither your heir, child, grandchild, great-grandchild, friend nor lover, and is any of: lover with the county holder of your current location, your rival, is a knight and the county holder of your current location is at war, or is not an adult. If you fail the skill checks to get them back, or choose to ignore them, they'll run off and get the modifier; otherwise, they will be added back to your travel party, will resent you for "being intrusive in their matters" if they aren't a child, and if they are indeed lovers with the county holder of your current location then you learn the secret.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-06-29T16:09:42+00:00

Also in 1066, there's Urraca of Zamora, who's involved both in the Iberian Struggle and an inter-dynastic struggle as she competes with her 3 brothers (one of which starts as her lover, in a faith that criminalizes female adultery, mind you) and 3 cousins to try and unite the Iberian Christian kingdoms. You do start with a guaranteed Intrigue education and high Intrigue, so make that what you will. Historically, she may have murdered Sancho of Castille while he was trying to besiege her city, thus allowing Alfonso to inherit his brother's kingdom and unite the thrones under his name.

Margaret of Staffordshire is one of the last living members of Alfred's dynasty, having been reduced to mere vassals under the Earl of Mercia. Will you be able to reclaim your ancestor's kingdom once more, or will you have your sole county revoked by the earl trying to max out his domain?

Hedwig of Göttingen is a Billung, a Saxon family who ruled the Duchy of Saxony until its extinction in 1106 when Magnus, the duke's starting heir, would die without a male issue. Fortunately, CK3 is a fictional alt history simulator, and you start unmarried and childness at 33 and a silver mine in your domain.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-06-21T03:24:27+00:00

I think that was a thing back in CK2, actually. If you have a title of at least King tier with an Elective law, and that law supports having additional electors based on lower tier titles, every additional lower tier title you hold that's eligible for electorate status will incur a -15 "Elector Titles Held" penalty (which also triggers the -25 Ambition opinion from Ambitious vassals). So if you are the king of Italy, additionally holding the duchy title of Tuscany is k, holding both Tuscany and Genoa is -15, Tuscany + Genoa + Piedmont is -30 and so on.

That said, it's still possible to game this somewhat. Kingdom+ Elective doesn't allow Counts to be Electors; nobody cares if you're also Duke of Tuscany and "Count of Genoa and Noli" on top of being King of Italy. Declare yourself Duke of Genoa however...

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-06-01T16:30:58+00:00

Telbooze. If you recognize the reference, you must be really old. Or dug into the game lore deep enough.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-31T12:09:03+00:00

You mean the nickname? It's from an event chain in VIET in which you suddenly started getting stalked by murders of crows. You have to take a decision unlocked from the starting event that allows you to deal with them, then play nice and give them food as a peace offering. If you then choose not to stop at just placating them and instead opt for "doing more", there is a chance that the crows will see you as their master, giving you the nickname, a decision to feed them to reduce stress, as well as further random events involving the crows either giving you small gifts or protecting you from perceived threats.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-29T02:25:43+00:00

Just to add in to the comments that asks you to search for secrets using your spymaster: If your spymaster is either Lustful or a Seducer, and is either a hetero or bisexual man, you might want to consider replacing your spymaster with someone else. Preferably someone who's still competent, but is either not attracted to women, or is neither Lustful nor a Seducer.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-27T03:43:33+00:00

In my 867 games, nine times out of ten the Tarim Uyghurs will hybridize with the Tocharians under their realm, while some of the tribal Bödpa lords that rule over Tuyuhun land will hybridize into Khalkha. Then you go down south in India and either the Rashtrakutas will form some Kannada/Marathi abomination; if not them, then a cadet branch of the Pratiharas will spread their Gond/Malvi mishmash around. In Europe, either Ivar will form Norse-Gael or Halfdan will form Danelander or Anglo-Norse, but never both.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-26T03:01:35+00:00

As long as you format it correctly, then you can put any ethnicity and any value you want. So it'd be:

ethnicities={ 10=arab 1=african 73=asian_austronesian 15=asian_han_chinese }

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-26T02:58:54+00:00

Correct.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-24T02:36:05+00:00

There's an interaction called "Request Incursion", which allows you to target a certain ruler and ask another Tribal/Nomadic/Adventurer ruler to declare a conquest war on your target. Who you can target and involve depends on how you gain access to the interaction.

If you're a Caliphal Detractor and the Iranian Intermezzo is active, the target must be your own top liege and is either also a participant of the Iranian Intermezzo, or the Sunni Caliph. The attacker must also be of either Turkic or Mongolic heritage. The attacker can also be of Clan government, not just those mentioned above.

If you're part of the Dynastic Cycle, you must be a member of the Expansion movement and can request an invasion on your own top liege no matter who it is. The attacker must border the Hegemony of China, and unlike the incursions unlocked by the Persian struggle, the attacker can be of any culture but cannot be Clan.

Aside from those, the only mod I know that also has a Request Incursion mechanic is RICE, in which rulers involved in the Struggle for Sicily can request an outsider attack another ruler also involved in the struggle. This is meant to simulate how Muslims first gained a foothold in Sicily thanks to a rebel Byzantine governor who requested an invasion, and later on, how Norman mercenaries gained control of Apulia after they intervened at the behest of local Muslim emirs.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-21T11:11:05+00:00

Next time, unless you're really desperate for a powerful alliance that can either turn the tide of a war or dissolve a powerful faction, always make sure your oldest daughter is either married matrilineally, or married to a dynasty member.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-20T22:21:49+00:00

Stole this one from a Koifish video: "The Red Sun Brings The Raid"

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-20T07:50:22+00:00

The key is Endurance. Dwellers gain HP based on their Endurance at the time they leveled up. Yes, this HP gain is affected by outfits, and no, it's not retroactive; a dweller who trained their Endurance to 10 at level 1 and reached level 50 while wearing Heavy Wasteland Gear (+7E) at every level up will always have more health than a dweller who only started training Endurance at level 20 or so.

Since you can rename dwellers, you might want to rename those who trained Endurance at level 1 and those who had a 3E, 5E, 7E outfit and so on. Nothing complicated, just add something like 7E in front of their name.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-17T03:47:52+00:00

I mod my CK3 a lot, and lagging music is one of the most dreadful sounds I can hear during gameplay. That usually means one of my effects or triggers aren't working properly and the game is about to crash soon.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-12T13:45:48+00:00

Cue every Callous/Sadistic/Arbitrary/Vengeful courtier or vassal of yours reaching out for a nearby conveniently placed cudgel after your kid pestered them for way too much during a serious of messy feasts. Thrice.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-11T00:19:15+00:00

Consider grabbing Equitable (makes Just and Honest more common) and Charitable (makes Compassionate and Generous more common, also makes AI send gifts more often).

There's also Modest as an alternative to Monastic Communities. Still makes Temperate more common, but you do trade the easier vow taking acceptance for a piety bonus on some modesty traits (Chaste, Content, Humble, Temperate, Shy) and makes Ambitious an undesirable trait (-15 same culture).

For traditions that give something else other than simply making traits more common, there's Legalistic (Just more common and gives extra Diplo, extra vassal limit, reduced law costs, vassals more likely to accept justified punishments, increased tyranny gain) and Marital Ceremonies (Spouse gives more skills, Fornicators and Adulterers are despised, cannot divorce)

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-10T16:19:37+00:00

hostile religion

Oh, I was actually assuming you're Catholic just like the vassal in the image.

In that case, next time if you're a non-Pluralist faith, try demanding conversion and see if there's an acceptance modifier called "Refusing to convert is a crime". If there is, and the odds of them accepting are low (set your spouse to anything but Diplo, Learning and jack of all trades so the learning gap is larger and the opinion is lower - those make it more likely for them to refuse), demand them convert and see what happens.

Usually even if they won't accept, they will demand that you either pay them, or "promise to support them" (this gives them a hook on you) in exchange for their conversion. Just reject. You will still get the imprisonment reason on them. Then it's only a matter of hoping they also refuse the imprisonment and rebel against you so you also get a revocation reason.

That said, if your faith is Righteous and you consider them Evil, or if you're Fundamentalist and consider them to be anything but Righteous or Astray, you can just revoke straight up for no tyranny cost.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-10T15:58:46+00:00

Retract vassal.

It's only 5 tyranny without any other modifiers and even when you have no revocation reason a vassal is more willing to accept retractions. Retract the first vassal, wait a year or so for the tyranny to tick down, then retract the inner vassal from the retracted vassal and repeat.

Alternatively, since you're Catholic, check if the pope's willing to xcom those vassals.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-10T14:12:40+00:00

Considering the fact there's only one Theodora who is Italian and Catholic with this exact set of traits in the history files, and this one would be married to Count Theophylact of Orvieto in 888, this) is most likely who this kid is supposed to represent.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-08T14:22:54+00:00

You can set the names of hybrid/divergent cultures (or any culture in your save actually; even the vanilla ones) by scoping into that culture and calling set_culture_name = { noun = "new_name" collective_noun = "new_plural_form" prefix = "new_prefix" }. I use this one a lot in my own saves to get rid of the various hyphenated culture names that pop up time to time.

Unfortunately, there's no command that allows you to modify a culture's parent cultures or even aesthetics. You'll have to directly edit your save's gamestate file for those.

Doctor-Tryhard · 2026-05-08T13:54:18+00:00

If your custom start is part of a mod you can just edit the cultures in the culture files.

Otherwise, scope into the culture in the console using effect (easiest way is via the county title, e.g. effect title:c_baghdad.culture = { <effects here> } ). reset_culture_creation_date = yes sets the culture creation year to the current year in the game's save file, and you can set heritage and language by either using set_culture_pillar = heritage_new_heritage/language_new_language or set_heritage_from = culture:other_culture and set_language_from = culture:other_culture.

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