If you're wondering how to beat extreme mode:

[Shooty Manz]

Most missions its tough to do both the bonus objectives and play on extreme. Some of them its possible, but most of the time you are either going to get widdled down, run out of time, or run low on resources, military power.

You can beat most missions with a variety of tactics. Just because you saw 1 guy beat the last mission with a speed run cheese tactic with Clan Wolf, doesn't mean you have to. I also want to say that not once did I abuse the AI with any "cheese-like" tactics. Even on Fimbulvinter. You do not need to kite the AI around a bunch. Just set your shield bearers and axe throwers to different control groups and focus fire. Use your heroes wisely and its easily do-able.

I just beat the final mission Bifrost on extreme finally yesterday with Clan Stag. After beating it with them and failing several tries with the other clans, I can see now where I went wrong with those clans. Clan Stag is great as they grow steadily in power throughout the length of the game, have good balance for their economy and population growth and get a nice head start on resources. This lets you grab territory quick and expand and get things up and running to deal with w/e threats Extreme mode throws at you.

In the Bifrost mission, playing Clan Stag lets you rush to defend the Bifrost bridge as it will die fairly quickly I think by year 3 or 4. So your first priority is to rush over there to kill the Fire Giants at the portal which closes it for good. From there on, its just an easy regular mission and you can take your time. But after doing it, I see now that I could have done this easily with Clan Wolf, or any of the other clans for that matter. The fire giants only become a problem if you leave the portals open for too long so using the free military units you get to the fullest is key. Which means any clan can do this. Just put in a few of your own axe throwers into the mix and have your hero tank a few hits and you're golden.

The trick with Extreme mode is having enough military power to deal with the overwhelming odds with the wildlife and enemy units, but also properly managing your economy. Choosing the correct lore path as well is huge. Not only for the clan you're playing, but also for the type of map. You can also just take a bunch of your wood cutters once you have a stack of wood and don't need to build for a while, and have them turn into a military unit to join you for your excursion. Having the extra boost in fightiness is worth while in extreme. You can always go back to building and economy after.

If you were like me and struggling with extreme mode for certain missions (cough, Fimbluvinter, cough cough), just spend some time figuring out how to get a fast military/economy going with the specific clan that you need to use (especially if the mission forces you to play a certain one) and you'll see where certain clans shine.

Extreme mode feels impossible on some missions because it forces you to utilize each clan to its specific strength. Stag/Boar for early expansion and rushing up the Lore tree and economy, Wolf for constant creeping and harassing and hard offensives, Bear/Goat for defensive tactics and hold outs, Raven for fat stacks of $$$ to blow on w/e you want, etc.

Knowing which lores to choose for what missions and for what clans is something I cannot stress enough. Using the same clan again on certain missions but changing the order in which I took certain lores really changes the outcome. Also trying to spare a villager to hop on a runestone every now and then or having early docks to raid for lore helps give you that extra boost you will need to get into the mid/late game. Again, depends on the mission.

Anyway, just my two cents worth because I found most of the online guides and videos totally useless and out of date.

Also, don't forget the value of using the forge and getting a tiny bit of metal going to help boost your economy. Keeping a high happiness meter can also help in certain missions as you get villagers back quick and new pops to continue your economy/expansion.

May Odin bless yer battles. :^)

[Spaceminnow]

The only way to beat extreme is lore or trade and HOLD ON FOR DEAR LIFE.
I don't believe anyone can beat extreme with domination.

[Shooty Manz]

I was mostly referring to Story Mode, but am going to be trying it on Conquest next. But I imagine if you were doing it in regular skirmish matches, you could do domination, just have to focus on military and pick the right path and relics depending on the situation. Having a couple shield bearers tank with your hero while you chuck axes from the back and pick the right targets. Should be fine.

Lots of harassment as well to hinder your opponent so they don't grow and take advantage of the harder monster spawns as you can go in for cheesey kills while they're trying to fight some of the wild life.

[Soho]

Excellent piece, thank you for sharing. I would like to hear how Conquest Extreme goes

I like that it really seems impossible, and the game throws just exactly what will be most challenging for you at a given time, I think a lot of players get frustrated with it and give up. Takes a lot of patience. Just because you get a Defeat screen though, if you think about what you did and what you can do better the next time is a little easier

On Bifrost (last chapter story mode) if you close ALL the gates as soon as you can, the giants stop coming period. Your point tho to close the one closest to Bifrost is important, I lost so many times because of that. Before I could get it closed I had to station a small deterrent force there while I was clearing other places. Oh, and you don't have to actually colonize the tile that the gate is on... just killing all the giants present there will close it (this is different than some of the Conquest "close the gate" missions where you do actually have to control/colonize the tile, and it doesn't actually close- you will keep getting draugr and valkyrie spawns out of it which is extra fun)

Something I have been trying recently on Conquest Extreme, because you have to have something you are going for- I go for a fully upgraded farm. Do everything I can to get a fully upgraded farm tile going... upgraded farmer tools, upgraded farm full of dudes (4 if you are goat), upgraded silo with Eradicate, then preferably get a second one. By the time you have that going, everything else falls into place. When there are two or three of them going like that, you very quickly have food in the thousands, even with a standing army running around. Can do it with just the woodcutter's lodge I make at start on the home tile, and a ship on the home tile, and a stone and an iron whichever are nearby. That's it

Some people don't like the farm because you get a dip in production in winter (a pretty big one) and if you are say bear, it is maybe better to go with a couple fish. But the summertime food production out of that farm is the best, preferably in a really easily defended place (not on your front line). What goes really good with it then is trading posts to give all that food to the giants

[Shooty Manz]

Originally posted by Fortytudo:

Long story short: You just need to practice alot, thats all.

Ye. Problem was a lot of guides and info were out of date or not very helpful. The game doesn't have good tooltips to explain what is going on (ie, how much farms give you vs hunting vs fishing).

Also knowing things like upgraded healers tools from forge combine well with Food Silos on a tile your using for food really helps late game. Game doesn't tell you a lot of things. I think Shiro could still do a lot of work to polish this game up and bring it more in line with other strategy games or 4x games. More key binds would be nice too. :^)