You can play entire games of Crusader Kings 3 while barely noticing certain elements. One of these elements is culture, which may seem insignificant but can have a huge impact on your strength and your relationships with other leaders. However, you cannot change your culture on the fly in CK3; it's a major decision that can have serious consequences!
Below is a brief overview of what culture does in Crusader Kings 3 and why you might want to change it.
What does culture do in Crusader Kings 3?
There are two aspects of Crusader Kings 3 affected by culture, and therefore two main reasons why you might want to change.
The most important aspect is innovation. Changing cultures will automatically grant you innovations from that culture. If you're way behind another ruler, transferring to a new culture can grant you new upgrades that would have otherwise taken years to develop.
The other aspect of culture is through diplomacy. If you find yourself in command of several counties that have a culture different from yours, you may find that your vassals distrust you and dislike you. The peasants could rebel more, for example.
Essentially, you will be seen as an outsider. You can always adopt the most important culture and reap the benefits. For our money, however, it's a better idea to bend your vassals to you. But we're not about to tell you how to run your empire!
How do I visualize my culture?
First, we should discuss the different ways of viewing the cultures of counties and individuals. There are a few easy ways to do this.
To look at the different cultures of the Crusader Kings 3 world, you'll need to adjust your map view. In the lower right corner of the screen, there are several icons that change the way the world is displayed: by kingdoms, duchy titles, empire titles, etc. You will need the icon that looks like a candle; if you hover over it, you'll see the word Cultures appear next to a brief description. Similarly, if you click on or hover over a county in question, that county's culture will appear in the tooltips that appear.
If you want to see an individual's culture, it's that simple. Click on the character you are interested in, then look towards the middle of the panel that appears. You will see their faith and culture right next to their stats.
How do I change my culture?
You'll occasionally have events that give you the chance to embrace a new culture, but like many events in Crusader Kings 3, you never know when you're going to see them. If you don't want to wait for the fickle finger of fate to show you the way, you'll want to earn some extra prestige.
When you're ready to switch cultures, you'll need to move your capital to a county that has the culture you want. Next, open the Decisions menu. It's on the right side of the screen and looks like a quill pen and an inkwell.
At the cost of a few hundred prestige, you'll see a move called Local Culture Change. Once you select this option, any vassal that controls counties of the new culture will also have the option to change. Each character can only do this once in their lifetime, so use it sparingly.
That's all you need to do to change your culture in Crusader Kings 3. If you need more help with Crusader Kings 3, check out our game page for more tips and guides on getting the most out of your kingdom!
