what to do when Nords take over?

[Mr.Person]

I started my own faction by using nords to take the cities from the Khergits as they suck in defense. I have to constantly be running around defending my territory from the Khergits and Vaegirs but have managed to hold my own.

Then I zoomed out all the way for the first time in forever to notice that the Nords took a city from the Vaegiers and have basically destroyed and taken over Swadia.

How will me with only 4 khergit cities (and their castles) be able to contest the Nords that have 1/3 of the map?

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

...
How will me with only 4 khergit cities (and their castles) be able to contest the Nords that have 1/3 of the map?

Who else is left?

Eventually, the Nords will fight them and may devote a significant amount of resources there. That's when you "strike." Take a town. Don't worry about holding it, just keep popping from town to town, laying siege to them and taking them where you can, running away when you can't.

The idea being to force the Nords to defend their interior while the other factions respond to the Nord's hostility and wheedle away at them.

There are times, however, when you will look at the map and realize you may have made a mistake. :)

Luckily, to be honest, Warband's faction AI isn't always the best at strategic thought. As long as there are some other factions left, you should be able to push back against the Nords.

PS - If you don't mind a bit of "manipulating the game's mechanics in order to win" sorts of stuff, make sure to capture as many Nord Lords as you possibly can and put them in a very secure prison. The more Nord Lords you capture, the less Nord Armies will be in the field and the easier it will be for you to strike where you wish and the more difficult it will be for the Nords to defend their holdings. Keep the Lords as long as you can and you'll crippled the Nord's capacity to "make war."

[Esce]

As soon as other factions fall, lords will join the Nords and treason will spread. Factions can not stand stabil ruled by the AI in Warband.
Maybe they are weaker than at the beginning of the game. Not many lords follow the marshall, fiefs without owners, the king looses relation with every lord and so on.
Gather your men, pill up money for a long war and wait for them. The AI has a small chance at best against a prepared player.

Keep in mind that nord troops will get a huge moral malus, if you fight other nords.

[Mr.Person]

The sarranids haven't been touched yet, and the Rhodoks have lost one of their cities, swadia is basically gone, I have the Khergit territory and the Vaegirs have lost their city closest to the Nords.

My nords are mostly dead now and have been replaced with mostly random heavy cavalry upgraded from the random capured troops the local bandits that went out of control had captured.

Thats my other problem, nords have the best infantry in the game, taking anything from them in a siege is gonna be very hard lol

[Morkonan]

In the same vein as Esce:

As other factions lose fiefs, the more disreputable Lords will try to join the Nords. If accepted, which many will be, they're going to be causing all sorts of issues making the kingdom relatively unstable. Unfortunately, Lords can't rebel with their holdings by themselves. But, if the chance that good holdings that could go to more loyal Lords are instead given to less reputable ones, who are less likely to stick their necks out in a fight, goes up.

I agree that AI Factions are not generally very stable/good in the late game - They're easy to take advantage of. It's only when they have such an overwhelming strength and no other factions remain to distract them that they truly become problematic.

[Tuidjy]

You're in a good position, do not worry.

The Nords are about to be hit by internal strife, and the Vaegirs and Rhodocks will give them a hard time. Do not count Swadia out yet, either. They may remain as a thorn in the Nords side for a while. You are in a good position, because you are relatively far from the Nord's homelands.

Keep reinforcing your city garrisons, with both veterans and raw recruits (make sure the raw recruits are low on the list) Get ready to take a walled fief and use it as a pretext for rebellion. If one of your guildmasters offers a peace quest, DO NOT TAKE IT. Keep it in reserve for after your rebellion, to make peace with a neighbor (Khergits or Vaegirs)

[lPaladinl]

Doesn't help though that the Nords are probably the strongest faction in my opinion. I don't know if their unit strength counts in A.I. vs A.I. battles, but their elite troops in real battles are well rounded while being pretty much the toughest melee infantry there is. The fact that they can throw weapons for initiation gives them some quick burst damage that thins out their enemies before they take any losses, since they penetrate shields so well.

I mean they're technically weak to cavalry, but say that after you've watched a wall of them throw axes at a charging unit of cavalry and half of their enemy collapses before making contact. If they don't get the riders they'll get the horses.

I've always by far had the easiest campaigns when siding with the Nords, and I dread the days I have to go against them without the ability to hire my own Nordic units.

[Mr.Person]

Especially since to use the tactics recommended above that implies i have to use Khergit forces to take cities with nord troops garrisoned in them.... not gonna be fun

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by lPaladinl:

Doesn't help though that the Nords are probably the strongest faction in my opinion. I don't know if their unit strength counts in A.I. vs A.I. battles, but their elite troops in real battles are well rounded while being pretty much the toughest melee infantry there is. The fact that they can throw weapons for initiation gives them some quick burst damage that thins out their enemies before they take any losses, since they penetrate shields so well.

I mean they're technically weak to cavalry, but say that after you've watched a wall of them throw axes at a charging unit of cavalry and half of their enemy collapses before making contact. If they don't get the riders they'll get the horses.

I've always by far had the easiest campaigns when siding with the Nords, and I dread the days I have to go against them without the ability to hire my own Nordic units.

I start hunting Nord lord parties around day 30, at full 149% difficulty. Nords are the easiest faction to devastate with a combat beast player. Sure, if you charge them head on, they're deadly. So don't.

As for sieges... Unless the siege scene deliberately places the attackers in a handkerchief patch of killing ground, Nords are no harder than most, and easier than Rhodocks. Their throwing weapons are devastating if you are in range, but with proper tactics, they become a liability, as they lower their shields to throw.

In my last play-thorugh, I had three sieges against Nords, every time at about 1/3 disadvantage. I got nailed once, the other two times, we conquered in the first assault, with hundreds of dead Nords to our couple of casualties. It's on YouTune, the first battle is here, edited to highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpBqvy8pVkY&list=PLds0jddk6cXSMQr1L9fOSJDErJ-qMca2m&index=63&t=0s

The trick to Nords is to slaughter them in the field, and shoot them off the walls. Only when they get too close, you have to work at it.

[Mr.Person]

I only have a few lords atm, should I try to go up and take Vaegir lands before starting to poke at the nords? Possibly same for the Sarranids (even though they kinda like me) or try to sow discord asap?

Also the Khergits have just one castle left, but somehow have 8 lords living in it, and can still somehow manage to recruit armies of 100+ units with 1 village attached to a single castle

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

I only have a few lords atm, should I try to go up and take Vaegir lands before starting to poke at the nords? Possibly same for the Sarranids (even though they kinda like me) or try to sow discord asap?

What is the state of the other factions relative to the Nords? Are they all at war with the Nords? If so, attack the Nords where they're weakest no matter what it is.

Also the Khergits have just one castle left, but somehow have 8 lords living in it, and can still somehow manage to recruit armies of 100+ units with 1 village attached to a single castle

Lords can recruit a minimum number of units without having any fiefs at all and they can afford to keep them paid, too. (Fifty or so, minimum, IIRC.) The King will also get their bonus unit cap as well.

[Mr.Person]

I forgot to mention I am running Calradia at War (pretty much a vanilla expanded type mod, but I think it has diplomacy mod built into it) if that matters.

But everyone is at peace with the nords right now except what is left of Swadia, and the Sarranids have a trade agreement with them.