Tips on playing Norsca

[Mortician175]

I've been googling around to find tips and tricks to play them; and I love the aesthetic and idea of playing vikings with all kinds of monster units; I just can't seem to break out. I secure my territory, make a stack and then head off to raid the coast as it seems the common consensus is not to unite Norsca asap as I had in the past due to too much territory to defend.

I can raid up all and down to my hearts content but I can never seem to get enough money or venture deep enough before the Bretonnians come in and just make a nuisance of themselves. I can beat their armies just fine but they smack me around so hard I have to retreat back to Norsca.

Everytime I try to establish an outpost I can't keep public order so I have to keep retreating back to make sure it stays in my hands.

Fighting isn't the issue, expanding, taking territory and holding ground is my problem. Any tips would be welcome.

[wrought82]

i'd defo unite asap, norsca is sluggish in the beginning even with confederation without it you wont be able to defend what little territory you'll be able to carve out. oh and raid/raidcamp all the time obviously

[Mactalon]

There are a few threads on Norsca and the consensus for their current state is that doing their campaign is doable buuuut it's a hell of a slog. While they worked fine in game 1, the way game 2 works made it a lot more difficult for them to consistently build up, go out raiding and defend their homeland.

Keeping hold of Norsca is a huuuge pain now, and while taking territory outside of it was never a huge priority that basically a waste of time considering the tidal wave of enemies that'll roll over it. For most races that sort of thing is fine but the Norscan garrisons are the worst in the game, bar none.

The recommendation I have, ironically enough playing Norsca, is to hunker down and keep eating all the armies that keep coming your way. Level up Wulfric and Throgg so that they're basically unkillable and make sure you do the hunts located close by for the gold injection and the items aren't bad either.

It's verrrry slow going but then once you become strong enough to nom even the stronger armies that come your way without taking many casualties, you'll be able to time opportunities to skip across the ocean and wreck the coastal stuff bordering you.

The other thing to do is ally with Clan Moulder and HOPE that they start moving into the stuff you destroy so that the AI doesn't repopulate them. Their AI seems to wibble around from campaign to campaign, I've done one where they were actually very active and helpful, aaaand another where they sat on their hands and hid in Hell Pit.

Norsca is in the same situation and Chaos and Beastmen, where their mechanics need to be brought up to the new levels of game 2 - and it's something CA has fully acknowledged and wants to do so it'll happen, it's just a little awkward atm.

As an alternative helping hand, my other recommendation is doing a Co-Op campaign, with one player as Norsca and the other as Warriors of Chaos. The Warriors player can be super useful in bringing that extra oomph to defending Norsca and hitting back, plus spreads Chaos and is all very thematically nice.

[RCMidas]

Don't bother trying to hold outposts. If they are lost, you can just take them back again later. Your primary goal is to keep razing settlements until you can gain the full favour of one of the gods. Anything else is just razor-icing on the murder-cake.

Absolutely focus on wiping out one area at a time. If you can hold the Norsca-Bretonnia sealine for instance, move your additional armies over to Kislev and start burning your way south to Sylvania. Your aim is to capture Hell Pit*, Kislev, and Drakenhof, and slaughter Karak Kadrin and Zhufbar - leave the local Greenskins if you wish to expand into the ruins, they can distract others and will really like you for a while. Note that factions like Ostland will try to move into what you left behind as well, so try to keep them pushed back also.

With the impetus you gain from this, you should be able to gain the full favour of a god, angering the other three into sending their Champions against you, and progress to the next phase of your conquest. It is advised that after you defeat the Third Challenger (a quest battle you decide when to fight) you choose to challenge Archaon for the title of Everchosen - pull ALL of your best armies back to Baersonling's Camp for this. Once you defeat the Warriors of Chaos, you get -75% upkeep factionwide.

Now you can afford to rush forward with just so very many armies and take out the Empire and Bretonnians no matter how much they have confederated. You'll definitely want to kill off the Wood Elves too, because DAMN they are nasty if allowed to grow. The Dwarves will be a real pain too, but you should have plenty of cash and armies to sweep over them and down to the very end of the Southlands.

Plus you can send a few others over to Ulthuan for funsies. After that, it's burning Lustria to the ground and setting fire to Naggaroth as you please.

*There's an argument often made that allying with Clan Moulder is a good idea. Well, it can be if you are willing to go to war with them first for a bit in order to claim Hell Pit out from under them. Let them settle the ruins of Kraka Drak, for instance, then just keep them bottled up there whilst your relationship gradually gets back to a more sedate level. You definitely want another major capital under your belt.