Best viking for Normandy

[Harris]

Since Rollo isn't really a playable ruler in 867, what's the best alternative.

Or, to better formulate the question, a tribal viking or a feudal viking?

In the past I had quite a success with Bjorn - he has quite a bit of land in Sweden and he's tribal, meaning he can get a large army all off prestige, raid for a bit, get some gold, buy some mercenaries and then grab Neustria no problem. The downside to him is the need to get all the tribal techs and switching faith before being able to go feudal. But on the brighter side it still happens faster than any other viking or Russia or Poland w/e, purely because of better development and free techs you get out of creating a culture.

Feudal vikings can be good in that you don't need to meet all the requirements to go feudal, you can even stick with Asatru if you want. And Ragnar sons start with free hosts so theoretically it might make the job easier. However, when I tried playing as Jorvik I found that having to get army for gold which you really have none is quite crippling early on. So your potential of actually conquering anything is quite limited by that factor.

So, what do you think? Who's the best Norman viking?

[Mr.Android]

Halfdan Whiteshirt

Get Northumbria in the war at the beginning. Then press his claim against Bjorn.

Maybe hire some mercenaries to defend your land in case Bjorn tries to siege your capital.

You can immediately found kingdom of Sweden. Then you can focus England, afterwards anything you like.

Set England for Scandinavian Elective, so you will get Sweden by Confederate partition and England through elections.

Why this way? Tribals will hardly vote for you.


Or just focus on England. In this case Bjorn will be a reliable ally.

[The Broo]

I started as Jorvik and I really enjoy ist. I'm emperor of Hispania and England.

[Mr.Android]

Originally posted by The Broo✠:

I started as Jorvik and I really enjoy ist. I'm emperor of Hispania and England.

Do you also have the problem, that the levies in the top right section have a big red line because your special armies have decreased? It always shows the total maximum including the special armies from the beginning which don't replenish. For me this was confusing at the beginning.

[Abacus]

Haesteinn the old viking, in Brittany.

He has 2 special levies (1500 soldiers each), permanent no upkeep. Once they die, the're dead, once Haesteinn die's they will disband if they haven't all died.

He is a retired Viking (Norse, Astreu), has a historic son (not randomly generated) that almost always turns out great.

he is relatively known and an old fried of Snake-Eye leader of Uppland. Although Jutland is the better ally.


Your biggest issue is of course Fancia. However you start strong enough, that the Britinay Dukedom can be taken immediately.

You can then move to either Iberia, England, or Ireland. You can be a king in a few years once you get the feel for him, and Francia can't just bulldoze you at that point.

[Commodus]

I started as uppland, its not that hard to consolidate the empire of scandinavia and gives you a solid base of operations for the invasion of england, taking the kingdom of brittany is pretty easy as well and gives you a solid base to take france.

[Harris]

Originally posted by NeonMystic:

Haesteinn the old viking, in Brittany.

He has 2 special levies (1500 soldiers each), permanent no upkeep.

Your biggest issue is of course Fancia. However you start strong enough, that the Britinay Dukedom can be taken immediately.

This sounds like what I'm gonna try. He is feudal, too, but I hope I'll manage with his levies and what not. He doesn't need to insta-fight a major war like Jorvik too, as far as I understand.

Thanks!

[Brittanian]

I find with the norse that basically any you play are very strong, since the ai can't/won't rush to develop their men at arms right away, and basically never upgrade their holdings. you can pick any random piece of land. I personally like starting as Vestiland in Iceland, and then develop to win. Start by raiding cornwall or somwhere similarly weak, use that prestige to build men at arms and the gold to form iceland, and from here the world is your oyster. Knights are so strong that as soon as you get a strong martial you have them train/find commanders and you will have a deathstack of knights that defeat 1-1.5k enemy troops every battle (the lowest combat was 22 and highest was me with 49). I now roam Francia with 2000 heavy infantry and 11 knights, beating 6k armies and only losing 200 or so men and killing thousands. You can than convert if you like and enjoy that slow slow grind to feudal, which is the only real downside of the random norse leaders.

[Yaldabaoth]

Originally posted by Harris:

However, when I tried playing as Jorvik I found that having to get army for gold which you really have none is quite crippling early on.

I'm not sure you can call yourself a viking if you have a hard time getting gold as one.

[Dave Mongoose]

Originally posted by Mr.Android:

Originally posted by The Broo✠:

I started as Jorvik and I really enjoy ist. I'm emperor of Hispania and England.

Do you also have the problem, that the levies in the top right section have a big red line because your special armies have decreased? It always shows the total maximum including the special armies from the beginning which don't replenish. For me this was confusing at the beginning.

Yeah, it's a bit annoying. I ended up intentionally getting those armies killed because they each only had one soldier left (you can separate them out in the military tab)

[CrUsHeR]

Hmm okay so i tried Haesteinn 3 times in a row.

1. The Duke of Britanny always marries his son to the daughter of the King of France (or West Francia), so they are allied.

2. Spending money on MAA and mercs still makes you win this war easily, but you cannot afford to create the Duchy of Britanny

3. The special troops cannot be raised as raiders, making this start pathetically weak compared to even the single count starts in Iceland or elsewhere

4. Afterwards attacking France directly is also not that nice, because he likely has several other high ranking allies

5. Making alliances yourself... well. Not in the current patch.