norselands single reign strategy - spoilers

[teleshoes]

SPOILERS! this whole thread will be spoilers.
========
im going to post my single-reign play-through summary, and the general strategies i use on norselands these days after 3 successful play-throughs.

im interested to know if other people find other strategies easier, or if any of these are surprising or weird

[teleshoes]

this is the order of the islands i went to on my most recent 1-reign playthru.

|======|=====|==============================|=======|======|======|======|
| LAND | DAY | ITEMS UNLOCKED               | SMALL | DOCK | CAVE | BOAT |
|======|=====|==============================|=======|======|======|======|
|  1   | 003 |                              |       |      |      | half |
|  2   | 014 | stag + baker-hermit + STONE  | yes   | yes  |      | full |
|  1   | 022 | ARCHER                       |       | yes  |      | full |
|  3   | 034 | sleipnir + thor + WORKER     | yes   | yes  |      | full |
|  4   | 045 | FARMER + hel + mount-hermit  | yes   | yes  |      | full |
|  5   | 074 | gullinbursti + IRON + KNIGHT | yes   | yes  | yes  | full |
|  6   | 097 |                              | yes   | yes  | yes  | full |
|  1   | 099 | gjallarhorn + horn-hermit    |       |      |      | none |
|  6   | 101 |                              |       |      |      | full |
|  1   | 105 |                              |       |      |      | none |
|  6   | 108 |                              |       |      |      | full |
|  1   | 117 |                              |       |      | yes  | full |
|  4   | 126 |                              |       |      | yes  | full |
|  3   | 137 |                              |       |      | yes  | full |
|  2   | 143 |                              |       |      | yes  | n/a  |
|======|=====|==============================|=======|======|======|======|

DAY is the day i sailed away (leisurely playthru, not a speedrun, obvs).
143 is the day i bombed the last cave, on island 2.

boat 'full' means 3 knights, 16 archers, 3 workers.
boat 'half' means 0 knights, 4 archers, 3 workers.
boat 'none' means 0 knights, 0 archers, 0 workers.

SMALL means destroyed small portals (all of them).
DOCK means destroyed the dock portal AND built a lighthouse.
CAVE means bombed the cave portal.

i unlocked, but did not purchase, loki's staff, because it isnt useful.
i destroyed the caves in this order: 5, 6, 1, 4, 3, 2
its easier to destroy the harder ones sooner, but island 1 has the horn-item and horn-hermit.
i used 3 boat-fulls on island one so that i could switch mounts for a day to get gjallarhorn.

i also double-backed to island 1 after island 2 for the archer-statue.

[teleshoes]

here is a handful of general strategies ive been using:

1) keep very close walls

-build only the walls next to camp
-occasionally build out one more at most, on the cave side.
-use each shop and destroy it by upgrading the wall 2x/3x
  -get 4-8 farmers as soon as scythe appears (before having farms)
  -get 16-24 archer-shields as soon as shield appears (ignore wokers)
  -never get berserkers
  -never trade items (use thor islands 3+4, hel 4+5+6, and heimdall 1+2+3+4)
  -if you never get shields, build one more wall out, as close as possible
-use temporary-farms (3 coins) near the wall, until dock or cave is destroyed
  -if farm is close, farmers will farm most of the day and not be caught
-clear as many trees as you can near the walls for hunting

2) return to island 1 for the archer-statue right after island 2

-never dont do this
-destroy the dock portal while youre there

3) explore early

-run away from camp to the end as soon as you arrive on each island
-note dock/cave side, vagrant camps, and any powerups you cant afford yet
-gather deer with stag, hire vagrants, open gem/coin chests, get powerups
-do the other side day2, or immediately if you have sleipnir or enough coins
-return to side1 as necessary

4) sleipnir is ridiculously OP

-more legs more better
-the fire can destroy entire waves (with thor or hel, including breeders+crabs)
-the pushback can let you delay waves, and even run past breeders+crabs
  -you can charge directly into a huge swarm of greed
  -you may lose a coin or two, but not many
  -if you time it right, breeders cant even punch you as you run past them
  -if your wallet is empty, you will have plenty of time to pick up your crown
  -BEWARE: if you charge too late, your crown may fall FORWARDS
-use sleipnir forever after you unlock him
  -use stag at first to hunt deer and explore quickly
  -use mount-hermit to briefly switch to gullinbursti during winter for coins
  -use gulltoppr horse JUST to get gjallarhorn
    -ive been doing this on my 3rd trip to island1
    -maybe it would be better to skip brewer-hermit and do it on 2nd trip?

5) avoid clearing camps, hire early and often

-clear woods from the other side to avoid breaking camps near main camp
-baker/brewer hermit is great now, vagrants get hired after eating/drinking
-keep filling up the beer, and hire them as they come running to save coins
-lots of archers and 3-6 workers are all you need to defend your camp
-dont hire berserkers/etc, hire at most 8 farmers
-hire 3 workers when launching ship and when sending bomb

6) destroying small/dock portals with sleipnir+hel

-use hel instead of sending knights
  -you can get to the portal much faster than knights
  -allows control over timing, and you can abort sometimes
  -no risk of losing knights
  -with sleipnir, you dont have to worry about being caught out far away
-use teleporter, if possible, to figure out which side is retaliating
  -use the portal to look to the far side
  -wait around ~10s after destroying small portal
  -if its not the far side, wait for it to time out
  -then pay 2 coins while it flips back (to skip the wait)
-if you dont have a teleporter, run to the nearest next portal and wait 10s
-if you destroyed the dock portal, you know which side is retaliating
-once youre near the retaliation wave, use sleipnir to fight it and slow it

7) build lighthouse and destroy all small portals, before you leave each island

-if you have iron tech, destroy the cave before dock
-if you only have stone, destroy the dock portal first
-this makes the endgame, after destroying island 6, MUCH easier
  -you can sail multiple ships for troops + coins, leaving empty after one day
  -you only have to worry about one side, so you can use sleipnir each night
  -no retaliation waves after island 6
  -this does make islands 5+6 a bit harder, but you have better defence there
-also upgrade the camp as much as possible before leaving

8) use gjallarhorn and horn-hermit to bomb caves from far away

-instead of building out walls, you can get the bomb to the cave faster:
  -make the greed arrive sooner so you can leave with the bomb sooner
  -shorten the distance the bomb travels
-instructions:
  -run almost all the way to the cave (immediately after a greed wave)
  -place a purple portal near the cave
  -return to camp, do any maintenance you need to
  -build an horn-hermit wall, fully-upgraded, cave-side
  -at a day start, just after dawn, blow horn-wall to summon everyone
  -also immediately place orange portal near the horn wall
  -build bomb, get a full wallet for cave fight, wait behind wall
  -greed will arrive during daylight
  -you can use sleipnir, but dont go past the orange wall until wave is over
  -destroy all greed as early in the day as possible, maybe before nightfall
  -if it worked, head toward the cave with the bomb
  -make a purple portal a little bit in front of the bomb squad
  -run ahead a screen or two and make the orange portal
  -wait past the orange portal until you see the bomb
  -repeat until at the cave
  -you can cover at least twice the distance if you get the timing right
  -if you get the timing wrong, just wait for the squad to walk to you

[teleshoes]

ive also been wondering if you could use a combination of gjallarhorn and a teleporter to trick the greed into crossing over from the cave side to the dock side, and then teleporting past them and bringing the bomb, leaving the dock-side troops to fight the entire wave.

OR setting the near-cave purple portal, the near-camp orange portal, and then walking the bomb halfway past the orange portal, then ducking back behind the orange portal. i havent gotten the timing right on this, tho. some greed keep slipping past the purple portal before i get behind the orange portal. im not even sure if the greed will ignore the bomb.

very curious if anyone has done either.