I have not figured out much in my first campaign, and its a little slow going. But I am enjoying the learning aspect currently while taking it slow. But a few things I haven't been able to figure out.

1. How do I raise my own stats. Such as stewardship or intrigue? I set one of my goals to raising my stewardship. But I am not sure how to exactly do this.

2. Is there a way to change my heir? I started off with my heir being my nephew. Then I had a son and it auto switched him. I would like to know if I need to change the laws, or if I can just say I want this dude to be next in line.

3. Why can I not assassinate? Is it because my spymaster is not good enough? In the demo I was given the option but it was too low. Now that I am playing the full game (granted a different character) I am not even given the option. I also find it hard to sew dissent or plant false claims on my neighbor. One of the starting message/goals I had was to usurp my neighbor. But that requires 200 gold. And it will take me at this rate another 10 or so years to get. I have been trying to do anything but attack him directly with an army. But it is looking like I may just have to do this. I want that land. Also as a sub question to this question, is this also the only way to get more vassals? Taking over other land.

4. Is there a point to spending time with the tech research early in the game, or at all? I seem to have wasted two years of having someone do research. And I can see no benefit to having done so.

I am really loving the game. Its kind of taken over my gaming time the last two nights. And I foresee it doing so for a long time to come.

I think I figured out the first part of #3. I can not assassinate anyone because I have 250 what ever that symbol is. The little pop up has a red X and says I have at least 250 and some small, tiny little graphic. My prestige is only 249, so I don't think its that.

I can't even declare war on this bastard. It tells me I don't have a good enough reason. And that I am too nice of a guy to do start a war with him. Even though we don't like each other.

To assassinate someone costs only gold, the amount is dependent on what rank the person is. There is an alternative in starting a plot to have someone killed, this is far cheaper as it tends to involve only bribing people to support the plot, the action itself does not cost anything. Note that you only get his land if you are his heir ( brother and he has no kids or so) so its best to check. I could probably give you advice if I knew who you were trying to take over, the whole game is about getting the various CB to allow you to declare war on other people, the war itself is relatively straightforward.

Tech is really really slow, muslims start ahead due to their golden age at the time but its hard to force your tech to be way above the competition.

Dont be afraid to just 5x it till you get the gold required, this game gives you a lot of time to play around with.

Let me know if you have any other questions, ive sunk a while into this wormhole.