Wimpy Vikings and Rough Justice

I just got Viking Invasion. It looks to me like the vikings aren't much of a threat. Is that other peoples' experience? I was looking forward to a bit more challenge from "the fury of the Norsemen." After all, the Danes ruled the north of England back in the day.

Also, I had a very pleasing example of rough justice. I am playing the Irish and took over all of Ireland, and the areas that today we would call Scotland, Wales, and the north part of England. Meanwhile, the Mercians took over south and central England. That had me worried, because I have developed a healthy respect for huscarls, and the Mercians were surely making enough money to raise them! Also, I would have to beat the Mercians to win, and they were my allies. I don't like attacking friends.

Well, the Mercians decided to bribe one of my stacks in Wales, and I was quite concerned. Beating the traitors would cost me troops and leave my Welsh forces unable to prevent a Mercian invasion. Also, forces in England over-extended, and I thought they might push me out of England and Scotland all together. But their king lost influcence for betraying an ally, which tipped the Mercians into civil war, I acquired huscarls of my own by bribing rebels, and I am now pounding the Mercians into extinction!

Have you been attacked by a decent force of Vikings yet? That'll teach you to respect them, they have the best infantry roster in the game by far.
The problem with Vikings is that their initial attacks are devastating but as they can't keep their new provincies they start going bankrupt and pose no thread anymore.

I've found the Vikings can stagnate quite badly if they get off to a poor start. As with all factions in MTW, the AI can't play them as well as a human player can, and with a particularly virile king they often end up crippled by debt due to the horrendous upkeep costs of the princes' units, a stack of broken units, and low loyalty meaning they have to stay home to avoid rebellions. I have played entire VI campaigns without ever having to fight the Vikings ONCE, let alone be threatened by them. Of all factions they also seem to be the most honourable about alliances, too, so usually once you've pimped off one of your princesses to them you will be safe for the rest of the game.

If you really want a scrap with them, put your money into abbeys not ships.

As PP says, they can't hold territory early on, and they shouldn't even try - the early-game strategy is RAID, RAID, RAID, then RAID some more, if the Vikings are to succeed. They have to have a LOT of cash already before they can hope to settle territory properly. The AI doesn't always seem to understand this, unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by Peasant Phill

Have you been attacked by a decent force of Vikings yet? That'll teach you to respect them, they have the best infantry roster in the game by far.

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well, since you ask, I played the Northumbrians this weekend and was overconfident about the Viking threat. Before long they were all over my kingdom, my army was too big to pay for with my remaining provinces, but too small to displace the Vikings without a lot of trouble. So I just gave up and started over. The second time around, I allied with the Vikings as soon as I could, put as many troops as I could spare on the East coast to make raiders want to choose other targets, and got a decent navy as quickly as I could. The Vikings were no problem. I guess how much of a Viking threat you get is up to you, until they run out of cash.

Yeah, the vikings can be very dangerous in the earlly game if you don't take them seriously. :viking: A word of advice: I'm not sure if its a bug or something, but if the vikings invade you with just their king or a prince(which they sometimes do) you should autocalc the battle. For some reason the game will usually give you the win even if your army is just a unit of spearman. Plus you'll be able to ransom the king back to them.:beam:

Vikings are fun. There is nothing more satisfying than spanking an invading army made up of Huscarls and Landsmenn in early, but it can also go horribly wrong.

Since I like to play Wales, I have to be a bit careful when I see their first ships, but I have found that the very early ships will not quite be sufficient to reach all the way from Hordaland to my home provinces. When I got my judgement wrong on that one, I ended up with an invasion of one of their princes plus one unit of Landsmenn and another, mauled, unit of Huscarls. Thank goodness Wales is so hilly, since that gave my two archer units enough time to shoot the Huscarls to bits, with even the odd salvo for the Landsmenn, before my one unit of Celts mopped up. VERY enjoyable! ~D

Thanks, everyone. I'm now better equipt to respect and deal with the Vikings and have fun doing it.

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Originally Posted by macsen rufus

I've found the Vikings can stagnate quite badly if they get off to a poor start.

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QFT. That happens often. The best way to counter it is change their starting money so they have a better chance. Although this means if you play as them you get more money. But to counter that copy the startpos file... etc. I wont go there it gets dull, :laugh4:. But your right they often don't do anything if they don't start-up well.

The other thing is that they have a tendency to attack the rebel provinces more often than actual faction provinces.

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Originally Posted by Brave_Sir_Robin

I'm not sure if its a bug or something, but if the vikings invade you with just their king or a prince(which they sometimes do) you should autocalc the battle. For some reason the game will usually give you the win even if your army is just a unit of spearman. Plus you'll be able to ransom the king back to them.

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Really? Wow, I've never noticed that before.