These guides are written with a focus on IGT, but can be used for RTA as well. The strategies are the best I know currently and might change over time. If you find any mistakes or have suggestions let me know.

1066, Ruler Designer:

Version: 1.2.1+ (1.2.1 gives the most points when designing a character but it doesn't really matter)

1. Design a 120 year old, catholic and Irish character for the Kingdom of England. Give him a diplo education (Naive Appeaser), all catholic virtuous traits (+Generous) and the ones that improve same faith opinion (Holy Monarch, Pilgrim, Sayyid, Warrior of the Faith), but you don't need all. If you have remaining points put them into diplo (1.2.1) and if you used too much, decrease anything except diplo until you're at 400 or less (1.2.2). Don't start married.

2. Ask the pope for gold and marry someone (for example Duchess Matilda who should be available). When the Wedding Celebration event triggers, take the option that gives gold.

3. Select the Foreign Affairs Focus as your lifestyle and take every perk in the Diplomat and August trees (the other 2 don't matter)

4. Hover over any Irish ruler's "Offer Vassalage" until the big negative factor "Difference in your Military" Strength becomes positive. The amount of time this takes is random. Then check every Irish ruler if they accept vassalisation and if they do, ask them. If you want to be exact, repeat this every day. The amount of time this takes is random as well.

5. As soon as you have 7 Irish counties and 400 gold, create the Kingdom of Ireland.

#1066, No Ruler Designer: Version: pre 1.2.1

1. Start as Petty King Murchad (Duke of Munster). Before doing anything check if the provinces you want to conquer (Desmond, Connacht, Breifne, Ailech and Oriel) have a fort level too high for you to siege after a battle. The levels you'll have a problem sieging start at 3 or 4, depending on how many troops you start with. If you have 600+ troops you should be able to siege any fort so this step wouldn't be mandatory. If you think you can't siege a province, restart. Also check if you have a cb against Oriel/Ailech. If you don't, restart as well.

2. Convert to Catholicism. Check if your new Bishop has a Learning skill of at least 9. If he has start fabricating on Connacht. If he doesn't, restart. During the run, only take the fabricated claim if it is on the duchy, if not let him continue fabricating. Also change your spymaster to the one with the highest Intrigue and let him find secrets in England. Only switch to somewhere else when they have found a secret. Some secrets are in every game (I know of one in England, France and Leon, but there are more).

3. Take the Wealth Focus as your lifestyle. Then reset your Perks and redistribute them split between the Strategist and Gallant trees.

4. Marry someone with a high prestige gain and a high Stewardship (less important). As soon as you have a wife, set her task to "Manage Domain". When the Wedding Celebration event triggers, take the option that gives gold.

5. Declare war on Desmond and conquer it. Then conquer Oriel and Ailech in no particular order. During all your wars always check if you can ransom prisoners before enforcing your demands. Prioritize favors during this since Demanding Payment for favors gives at least 50 gold while ransoming for gold directly can give less.

6. If you have a duchy claim on Connacht by now, declare war on them with that claim. If you don't, continue as many claim cycles as you can accept for your goal time. After you've won this war declare on Breifne and conquer that county as well.

7. Blackmail anyone you know secrets about and Demand Payments from anyone who owes you a favor. If you don't have enough gold, a backup-strat is to imprison vassals and ransom them to get favors/gold. That shouldn't be the case though if you've followed the guide and weren't very unlucky.

8. As soon as you have 7 Irish counties and 500 gold, create the Kingdom of Ireland.

#867, Ruler Designer: Version: 1.2.1+ (1.2.1 gives the most points when designing a character but it doesn't really matter)

1. Design a 120 year old, catholic and Irish character for the Kingdom of Alba. Give him a diplo education (Naive Appeaser), all catholic virtuous traits (+Generous) and the ones that improve same faith opinion (Holy Monarch, Pilgrim, Sayyid, Warrior of the Faith), but you don't need all. If you have remaining points put them into diplo (1.2.1) and if you used too much, decrease anything except diplo until you're at 400 or less (1.2.2). Don't start married.

2. Ask the pope for gold and marry someone. When the Wedding Celebration event triggers, take the option that gives gold.

3. Select the Foreign Affairs Focus as your lifestyle and take every perk in the Diplomat and August trees (the other 2 don't matter)

4. Hover over any Irish ruler's "Offer Vassalage" until the big negative factor "Difference in your Military" Strength becomes positive. The amount of time this takes is random. Then check every Irish ruler if they accept vassalisation and if they do, ask them. If you want to be exact, repeat this every day. The amount of time this takes is random as well.

5. As soon as you have 7 Irish counties and 150 gold, create the Kingdom of Ireland.

#867, No Ruler Designer: Version: any is usable

1. Start as Ivar the Boneless (Duke of Isles). Use the Chivalry or Strategy Focus as your lifestyle. If you don't start with the "Bellum Justum" perk, reset your perks and take all perks in the Gallant tree and "Bellum Justum" (only Bellum Justum is strictly needed, the Gallant tree is optional).

2. Surrender all of your wars and disband your armies.

3. Declare war on the 6 Irish rulers who you think you can defeat the fastest (using the "Conquer County" cb). Avoid Meath since they get the strongest allies most of the time and prioritize the ones near Dublin.

4. Raise your armies in Dublin and split them into six armies of around the same size, each sieging one county. If you have a siege commander use him. If a battle is going to happen change the armies commander to yourself (or another strong commander) and send parts of other armies that aren't needed for sieges as support but try not to stop a siege.

5. Immediately enforce demands every time you can.

6. As soon as you have 7 Irish counties and 250 gold, create the Kingdom of Ireland.