I should first preface this guide with the fact that I will not be covering: Multiplayer issues/balancing, how to troubleshoot the mod, etc.

As the mod is still in active development, there are bound to be errors and there is much work to be done. The Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted the ability and speed of the developers to work on specific aspects of the mod. Please do not be upset or hostile about the fact that updates may be slow.

If you want to help out the mod, have an issue that is beyond the scope of this guide, or simply want to chat with other 1212 enjoyers please visit the Discord here[discord.gg]

You can find this information on Trello[trello.com] and on the Discord.

There is no recommended difficulty as all difficulties work with the mod. That said, however, many players find Hard or Very Hard to suit their needs best.

This is a subjective choice, of course. Still, some factions are more beginner-friendly than others.

Catholic factions (especially Western European like England or Italian factions) routinely top the list for easiest factions to get accustomed to and to play. I recommend these factions for beginners. The only exceptions to this rule are the Latin Empire (unfinished roster) and the Kingdom of Cilicia which has a harder start and mid-game than most Catholic factions.

Islamic and Orthodox factions are about tied for ease to play with the exception of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum which has a difficult early and mid-game but rewarding endgame.

Lastly, the most difficult factions to play in my opinion are Pagan and Steppe factions. The Mongol factions do steamroll very quickly, but you must be well-versed in maintaining that economic momentum if you wish to settle. Further, the Cuman faction is arguably one of the hardest in the mod, but one of the most rewarding if you can navigate it.

As you recruit units, you may realise that they require specific populations. This often manifests when a player attempts to recruit units requiring populations they do not have and are confused when they are grayed out. To see the population, hover your mouse over the leftmost little green marker in the bottom left of the settlement tab (shown in the attached image).

The available manpower is the pool you can recruit from. Should you run that dry, it will be filled from the other half of the population pool until you eventually have no population left in that class. Clicking on the logo will cycle through the individual classes.

Cites
Increases income in and around the settlement allowing for really nice economic chains
More militia & common unit recruitment
Produces more burghers than castles

Castles
Increases sanitation & public order
More professional & noble unit recruitment
Much less money production
Produces more peasants and nobles than burghers (for roleplay consideration if you want large middle class or something I don't know)

Donated fiefs
There is really no practical reason to construct this unless you are playing as the Electorate of Trier. Other than that it's best for just immersion, but even then I personally never construct them.

Papal favor is gained through the completion of Papal missions, building donated fiefs, crusading, and by releasing ransoms of defeated Catholic armies. Similarly, Papal favor is lost when you fail a mission, kill Catholic captives, or sack Catholic cities.

The Holy Roman Empire system is still in development and is being tweaked. Other Catholic factions within (and outside) the HRE control can be nominated as pretenders by the Pope and be crowned if they seize the throne. At the beginning of the campaign, this conflict is between the County of Brunswick as Holy Roman Emperor and the Kingdom of Sicily's pretender. The Holy Roman Empire faction starts out with their leader excommunicated. This has severe diplomatic impacts and should be rectified quickly through crusading, Papal missions, and the release of Catholic ransoms after battle. The voting system is a bit messy in its current iteration so it is recommended that you vassalise a few electors to gain their consistent favour. It is not recommended that you directly own the provinces (more than 6 HRE settlements) as you will gain an increasing debuff from expansionism.

Judaism: +10% civic development research rate

Cathar Christianity: +2 public order

Bogomilism: +2 priest capacity

Catholicism: -1 non-Catholic religious influence

Orthodox: -25% religious building maintenance

Eastern Christian: -25% religious building construction cost

Sunni: +2% replenishment rate

Shia: +1 Shia Islam religious influence

Ibadi: -25% religious unrest

Tengri: Integrity +2

Baltic Pagan: Army recruitment capacity +1

Catholic Heretics cannot be converted to. Crusader states and the Almohad Caliphate may also not convert.

As they play, many players will note that leaders and other statesmen will frequently appear with epithets. Some of these are common (in some cases MUCH more common) than others. I figured I would list some of the epithets and how they are acquired (excluding obvious ones like "the blind"). This is not universal, though, and I have experienced on several occasions statesmen recruited from outside the noble family who will have epithets but no related trait or past. I've left out nicknames you don't see but are coded/are planned and others I've personally just never seen in game.

Religious Conversion Epithets:
The... Bogomilist, Cathar, Catholic, Christian, Ibadi, Jew, Orthodox, Pagan, Shi'ite, Sunni are all acquired through religious conversion and will only ever apply to faction leaders.

Common Negative Nicknames & How They're Acquired:
Bewitched --> Has an innate deformity trait (misshapen)
Cruel --> Executed captives 5 times --> Merciless gained at 15 executions
Despised --> Has trait 'att_trait_general_status_all_unpopular'
Drunkard --> Has trait 'att_trait_all_personality_all_drink'
Impaler --> Has trait 'att_trait_ruler_personality_all_harsh'
Mad --> Has trait 'att_trait_general_personality_all_mad' or 'att_trait_ruler_personality_all_mad'
Ruthless --> Has trait 'att_trait_general_military_all_high_casualties'
Terrible --> Has trait 'att_trait_ruler_personality_all_unjust'
Unlucky --> Has trait 'att_trait_all_personality_all_unlucky'

Common Neutral Nicknames & How They're Acquired:
Old --> Aged 65+
Undying --> Aged 90+
Builder --> Has the Architect trait (extremely common for governors)

Common Positive Nicknames & How They're Acquired
Beloved --> Has trait 'att_trait_general_status_all_popular'
Brave --> Has trait 'att_trait_general_personality_all_bravery'
Conqueror --> Personally conquered 10 regions
Crusader --> literally just go crusading --> Crusader King for being the one to succeed
Destroyer --> Has trait 'att_trait_general_military_all_looter'

Uncommon Nicknames & How They're Acquired
Any that require fighting and conquering 25 regions (great, undefeated, victorious)
Any of the wound related nicknames (Survivor and Lame)
Exile --> lose your capital
Hero --> win 5 heroic victories
Bold --> win 5 ambush battles
Fair --> Reigned for 20 years without a revolt (while having more than 4 regions in their faction)
Shadow --> Has trait 'att_trait_ruler_government_all_spymaster'
Wicked --> Excommunicated on more than one occasion

This is a very common complaint, but one that is largely unavoidable due to the way Attila was designed as a game. Please keep in mind that what I am about to recommend is purely my personal opinion. Your options are: 1) toggle the Judgement Day script in the faction selection screen, 2) subscribe to AI-"enhancing" mods (see below), or 3) do both. From a strictly personal view, I think none of these options works explicitly while also providing fun gameplay, but what can you do. Judgement Day alters the faction traits of ALL leaders to make them aggressive but this does not fix stupidity obviously. This will lead to frequent warring, but will render your ability to maintain alliances and vassals meaningless (aka if you prefer to "roleplay"/immerse yourself in the period with all options on the table, this may not be the route for you). As for the mods, there are a few options that I will list below.

1) Bran's Campaign AI:
By far the most commonly recommended is Bran's AI, but for reasons I will explain below I do not prefer that route. I won't go overly in-depth since conversations regarding this mod happen semi-frequently on the MK1212 Discord linked above and it would be a waste of breath. That said, Bran's mod is the most widespread AI mod, but is one that also messes with the economy, breaks the Catholic faction interplay, and overall fails to correct issues sensibly. This is not to even mention the personal issues many have with Bran in various communications and whatnot. TLDR: it just doesn't feel very good for a mod at all as it fundamentally breaks aspects of what little strands of balance hold 1212 together.

2) Hecleas' Ultra Aggressive & Smart AI:
Honestly I've had no complaints with the several mods from Hecleas but they don't always feel like they're doing much. I have noticed more early-game aggression, but I personally think there is room for improvement. TLDR: Not bad at all, works just fine for whatever you might need and is a respectable alternative to Bran.

3) Said's aggressive ia and better ia`s army.pack:
This mod takes parts of Bran's mods that actually function decently and then applies that to the foundation laid down by Hecleas. It's a combination that works pretty well and is what I would personally recommend, although I need to do much more testing.