Danish

[Caerfanan]

I dunno, Don. A 2.01 patch exists for the MTW:VI Gold Edition (MTW + VI in the same game) on the official site, which is already effective in the Total War: Eras box(the one I have installed), but not in a Gold Edition bought before.

I'll check how my king's influence goes every turn on my current campaign from now on to tell you if I see something weird.

I noticed that I had really low influence kings while having huge empires though, so my first guess would be that the problem hasn't been solved.

[Don Corleone]

I will have to check that when I get home. Would suck to try to restart at this point though. Maybe just a post-it for when I finish/tire with this campaign.

Well, Lady Luck was with me. That German prince just couldn't keep his hands off my daughter, and the Emperor felt obliged to do the right thing. It worked for him as well, because on the next turn, he got into it with the Italians (no idea who started it or if any territory has been lost) and the turn after that, the French unsuccessfully attempted to take Lorraine.

I'm using the breathing period to build up my trade fleet. I've got a port and a trading post in Sweden and Denmark. Holding off on a trading post in Friesland till I get to Biscay (only port that would actually buy wool at this point is Finland). Likewise, trying to get Pomerania's port & trading post up & running.

I'm poised at the Norwegian border with my 2nd prince (Eric). When his brother takes over, he's going to take Norway. Sucks not having those Norwegian vikings yet (it's 1111) but all in due time. I have to keep reminding myself I don't actually need them yet either.

Hmm, call me self-destructive, but all of a sudden both Brandenburg and Flanders have started calling to me. Must resist temptation.....

[Vladimir]

It sounds like you've put yourself into an interesting bind. Interesting as it must be fun and those coastal lands must be nice and a bind as in you ignored good Danish strategy. A safe, if less fun, start is to take over Scandinavia, limit your frontlines by only taking the land south of Denmark, becoming a naval power, and surgical strikes. It should be interesting to see how it turns out; make some submissions into the Pics and History thread.

[Adrian II]

Well, Lady Luck was with me.

You can say that again! Both Saxony and Friesland are GA homelands to the Germans in Early. They are only 1-pointers, but still. Pomerania is not a GA homeland yet (it only becomes that in Late), hence my advice to conquer this first -- that is, as long as it is in rebel hands.

Gerry must have his hands full if he leaves you alone and even grants you an alliance, i.e. he must have a Crusade going a well as one or more wars. A war over Lorraine with the French would be a given at this stage, but if the English have allied with the French (it does happen, contrary to popular belief ) the Kaiser may have a hard time and this would explain the leeway you get.

Hmm, this makes me want to start another Danish campaign and try your approach.

[seireikhaan]

Hey, recently started a campaing with the danish early/hard/conquest. At the start, I waited one turn to take sweden, using that turn to train a unit of archers in denmark. I invaded with just my King and the archers, and to my surprise, the swedes opted to fight. I defeated them handily, losing one RK in comparison their 120 dead or captured. Has anyone else had this happen? Usuallly they retreat to Norway.

[Don Corleone]

If you outnumer or have equal numbers than the rebels, they retreat. If you have less, they'll stay. If you had invaded with just 1 viking unit and the knights, AFAIR they stick around and fight. Damn Poles took Pomerania. When Olaf I died (finally, at age 71!!!) Olaf II took over. My influence dropped from 7 to 3.

So, I invaded Lithuania. I'm having a hard time keeping it from rebelling long enough to siege the fort, guess I'm going to have to storm it. Interestingly, even though I haven't take over the keep yet, Olaf II went up to 4 influence. Better hurry up and take Livonia, Scotland and/or Ireland (any 2 of the 3) in the next couple of turns. Olaf II's oldest son, prince Sweyn is 10. I've only got 6 years to get my influence up to 6 or higher (where I've found to be the comfort zone for decent heirs).

I hate kings living into their late 60's, early 70's. It can wreak havok on your line of heirs, as many times, I find the crown prince doesn't actually have sons until he ascends to the throne (which might be age 47, as in Olaf II's case). I hope I'm right about Sweyn, and he's not a brother, but I checked the prince list before and after the transition, and I don't remember seeing Sweyn in the list under Olaf I. Will let you know in about 6 years, when he either passes his uncles in line to the throne, or he stays behind all his brothers.

[seireikhaan]

Not true, at least for me. I have invaded the first turn w/ the king and one unit of vikes and they always seem to retreat to norway. As for your king's age problem, yeah, i've had worse than even that. I've had a king live to 82, with the heir taking over at the age of 64!

[Adrian II]

If you outnumer or have equal numbers than the rebels, they retreat. If you have less, they'll stay.

Not exactly. It is not a matter of numbers, but of combat strength. I looked into this when I wrote my Danish mini-guide because there had been a discussion about ways to take Sweden.

The answer is fairly simple: the Vikings in Sweden will fight as long as your combat strength does not exceed theirs.

In order to find out, you can consult the Unit Comparison Tool of Clan Berserk. Click on ‘units’ icon in the overhead menu bar, insert your units and look at their Combat Ratings. In this case you get the following picture:



Of course this is counting without the Valour bonus of your Royals. Insert any bonuses and you can do the math as to what you can or can not bring if you want the Swedish Vikings to fight.

[seireikhaan]

Adrian II, thanks that was an excellent response, very informative. I had wondered if the game seemed to take archers less seriously than the vikes, though in that scenario, I think the archers were actually more useful than vikes. Thanks for the link, too. From now on I think I will almost always go w/ the archers and RK's on second turn, it worked quite well for me.

[Deus ret.]

I hate kings living into their late 60's, early 70's. It can wreak havok on your line of heirs, as many times, I find the crown prince doesn't actually have sons until he ascends to the throne (which might be age 47, as in Olaf II's case).

I had a similar experience while playing as the Danes! Seems like their kings are prone to a long life....but in the very same campaign I found out that marrying your heirs off to foreign princesses seemed to smoothen the transitions somewhat, as well as provide slightly better offspring. I wouldn't swear on it but the turn my heir took over with 52, I had only two more of his brethren in the heir list but when I checked again a few of years later, he had two sons of 7 and 12, respectively -- without a message notifying me of their birth. the only possible answer was that he had already fathered some children while he was married to this ...Aragonese princess? suppose she was.... quite logical to do so anyway instead of waiting until old mans' age!

[Adrian II]

Adrian II, thanks that was an excellent response, very informative. I had wondered if the game seemed to take archers less seriously than the vikes, though in that scenario, I think the archers were actually more useful than vikes. Thanks for the link, too. From now on I think I will almost always go w/ the archers and RK's on second turn, it worked quite well for me.

No problem, greaterkhaan.

I see you followed Martok's advice from the Entrance Hall thread and came to the MTW section right away. Excellent. Oh yes, I remember you, we keep a close eye on all prospective Generals and Governors in the crowd.

The honour principle, which we inherited from the Shogun days, still reigns supreme here. You will find that there are many members who will bend over backwards to help others. You do the same. No matter how and on what topic, everybody has a talent or interesting snippet of info to share with us.

[seireikhaan]

Personally, my favored route w/ the Danes is to dominate the waters. After taking scandinavia, I get my ships going and I immediately go for scotland, if the English haven't got it yet, and Ireland. While I am taking these, I flood the Baltic provs w/ bishops to get them a little more loyal. After taking scotland and Ireland, I go for Prussia, Pomerania, or Lithuania, whichever is the first one that cuts off Poland. I continue north and east until I run into novgorod. If they, as they seem to do a lot of, have knocked themselves out early on, then I take all of the Baltics to try to prevent a reemergence and to get more trade. Once these are consolidated, I bide my time, perhaps taking Saxony if HRE falls into civil war. When the french and english go at it, which they will inevitably do, I ally w/ the French so I can grab the british isles. Once my navy reaches far enough, I take portugal, since it always seems to rebel on either Almos or Spanish. Then, after I have portugal under wraps, I take the Iberian Peninsula getting Navarre, Aragon, and somewhere in Africa as the borders there. From then on, pick off who gets weak in the west, avoiding more eastern expansion to let someone else wear down the Mongols. Then, steamroll to victory.

[Adrian II]

Personally, my favored route w/ the Danes is to dominate the waters.

Sure. You need the waters in order to bolster your income early on, and if you play in GA mode you are going to need to max that trade income to 6000 a year in High anyway.

However, unlike you I would not go for Saxony early on. Saxony is part of the German GA conditions. In my experience, if you take Saxony the HRE will pursue you to the ends of the earth if they can. That is, if they manage to beat off the French and/or Italians, etcetera. Of course you never know in advance if they will. If so, then it's slam, bam, bye bye Olaf...

[seireikhaan]

You may have misunderstood me. I will go for Saxony if and ONLY IF I can visibly tell that the HRE is in a bind/ a civil war, wich is fairly common for them. That's the second reason for a navy, so you can coincide your assault at a time when they are already busy warring w/ someone else. It takes the HRE a long time to get all of their troop mobilized because most of their provinces are landlocked. Also, you can help to induce a civil war to cripple their efforts with a scorched earth plan. If I decide to take saxony, I will hire any worthy mercenaries and burn a path of provinces, leaving only a small garrison of vikings in each prov. By continually hitting weak provs(there will be some), you can lower the emperor's influence to the point where there will be a civil war, sometimes two in a span of ten years. Once I accomplish this, I disband the mercs and withdraw my forces to Saxony to maintain the single border. By this point, either the emperor is begging for peace or too weak to launc an effective counterattack.

[Alouette]

It takes a lot longer to spool up as the Danes than a lot of countries, because you are so cash poor early. Even with a hard trading start (rush Sweden and Norway, use all three to spam boats), I ran short of cash early in the 12th Century.

As of 1168, though, I've grabbed Ireland, Scotland and Prussia, have Silver/Black v1 Vikings and Silver/Black FK's rolling out, and very strong trade income. The only problem is that I have a lot of people to be "careful" of, for fear of losing my trade routes. A war with Britain, for instance, cuts me off from everything. So it's Novgorod or bust, and the Novvies have more troops than anyone on the map except perhaps the eggies (who have all the initial Turkish possessions, the Turks have taken alot of the former Byz stuff, and the Byz are in Crimea only).

My top general is only a star above theirs, too.

[Alouette]

Further on:

I'm about to hit High now, and the bloody English forced a war on me and destroyed my economy (headed for 0 in the bank currently after topping out above 120K). But I own the British Isles now, and have added Saxony, Pomerania, Finland, Novgorod, and Muscovy on the Continent.

The Egyptians, Spanish, and Italians have all expanded a lot; Spain has everything it started with plus Portugal and all the Almo lands, Egypt has virtually everything from Egypt north around the eastern Med and Black sea through Kiev, though they keep getting Crusaded out of Byzantium, and Italy has taken the Hungarian and HRE lands in southern europe, plus a couple of sicilian islands.

I caused a civil war in Novgorod with my first wave; unfortunately the rebels won and that means another (conservatively estimating) 3000 Boyars in their army, and half that many Alans. Fortunately my vikings are so heavily armored they can go toe to to with any damn thing. (Silver/Bronze).

The Brits weren't so much dangerous as expensive, since they completely cut me off from the Med. I finally axed their fleet, though, so the Italians are next once I link up again.

[Alouette]

So far, I've basically survived Early on a diet of nothing but Vikings and FK's, plus random troops I've bribed here and there to get high-star commanders in their stacks.

Any ideas on where to go from here? My current plan is just to go for Gold/gold viking + Chiv Knights + Pav Arbs when they're available. Any reason NOT to?

[Martok]

Any ideas on where to go from here? My current plan is just to go for Gold/gold viking + Chiv Knights + Pav Arbs when they're available. Any reason NOT to?

No specific advice, except that I would definitely keep an eye on the Spanish. Since they now own most/all of Iberia, they'll probably expand northwards into French territory; you may share a border with them before you know it.

[Alouette]

OK, I'm officially annoyed.

1. Norton auto restart killed my position from last night, which wasn't a big deal I was only playing for half an hour.

Bigger deal:

2. The bloody Egyptians. There is nothing I hate more than the rule that in simultaneous attacks, the ally with the bigger initial army gets the province. They bloody fled the field against Novgorod, inflicting little if any damage, I stick around and bloody up the grand army and then they keep the province? They ran away -half an hour ago-...

There is a ready made cure for the Egyptians coming in the form of the Horde in 25 years or so, however. I can nab anything I want from them while they get hit by the Horde.

Is there any way to prevent that result above where they get the province? I couldn't declare war because there were no units to attack - they had fled.

[Heidrek]

I'm playing the Danes for the first time in the High age campaign and noticed that staring in the High age is a huge disadvantage for them comapred to Early. The reason is simple - Vikings. Only vanilla Vikings are available in High age onwards, no landsmen or huscarles! the best thing about the Danes is their viking troops crushing all resistance.

Going from 1 little province to conquering the known world is pretty awesome, and even in High and late, vanilla Vikings continue to be very useful troops that you can make anywhere to keep your war machine going, but it struck me that the Danes lose a lot of power by starting in High.

At least in the early camp. you c=get the chance to build Huscarles and Landsmen until the High age starts, so you can "stock up" on them. Being denied Huscarles means you lose your best melee troops, a unit that can dominate almost all other infantry regardless of age, especially with weapon and armour upgrades from Sweeden.

Are there any other factions that dramatically rise/fall in power as the ages change?

[Heidrek]

I've taken a somewhat different strategy to many others with the Danes.

1. Took Sweeden and Norway. Denmark produced a couple of garrison units then starts pumping up longboats.

2. Took Scotland for the Val +1 clansmen. Cheap and nasty troops that pack a big punch. While Scotland build a port so I can get my army back out of there I'm building a force of more vikings in Scandanavia.

3. Concious of money being a big issue, and the fact that I can field a bigger and better army than most if I can only afford it, I start lloking for good income generating provinces. Lithuania has 3 trade resources so it's next on the block. I Take it, hold it, build a couple of garrison units, loyalty generating improvemnts a port and trader.

4. My ships from Denmark are now spreading out around europe towards spain. I notice that Livonia and Novgorod both have 2 trade resouces each, so make good additions to my growing trade empire. i take and hold them after a few difficult battles then concentrate on consolidation for a bit.

5. Before long, I'm making very ggod profits from my expanding trade empire and start picking up provinces that rebell against their former owners. after a while, England attacks me and i drive them out of britain, then take Flanders, which has fallen to a rebellion, the french having been mauled and only surviving thanks to their Crusade conquered Constantinoble. I now have 3 provinces with 3 resources and a number of other 2 trade goods provinces, so the cash is rolling in. My navy has reached italy by now and continues to slowly expand. I'm at 100K florrins at this point, while both my armiesa nd province infrastructures continue to grow rapidly

6. The Spanish get excommunicated, and I send a couple of inquisitors to spain. They merrily burn generals turn by turn, and I think cause a few rebellions. In any case, most of spain is so in rebellion so I pick up a couple of their provinces and bribe a couple more. Nothing is more staisfying that having a single rebel army in a province you want and "buying" it for a couple of thousand florrins. You get the province, and a garrison army thrown in for good measure!

7. After buying/taking all of spain I start facing attacks from Egypt. after turning back a couple of Jihands I decide to take the fight to them and invade the desserts. My income is taking a severe hit now, I'm hovering around 50K but I've taken and sacked Morrocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

I intend to keep going for a while, perhaps until the egyptian are thorougly conquered. My navy allows me to get reinforcement from other provinces pretty easily and still have garrisons holding the conquered teritories so I have a retreat path if necessary.

As long as I stay out of a war with italy, who are about the only ones that can challenge me in the water, I should be able to choke and dominate the other factions and proceed to victory.

[wumpus]

You know, you can expand your empire moderately fast using emissaries. And money. Here's how: send you emissary/emissaries to the Slavic provinces: Lithuania, wherever. (They're rebel provinces, so you can't start a war with any world power, nor irritate the Pope.) Then use your money to bribe generals. Bribe provinces that have only one army. If there are two armies in a province, they'll fight each other and cause you problems. Once you get a province, build income-generating structures and bribe more Slavic provinces, maybe you'll get to the easternmost ones soon. And build more income for bribery. Don't take Norway yet. Its farms are poor. Anyway, since you're playing Denmark, nobody else is able to get there without any ships. Take it later in the game, to enable you to build Huscarls, but not for money-making. Taking Sweden early is okay, to generate more income. And you can get Huscarls there too. Woo Novogorod and Byzantium to be your allies--you don't want an early quarrel with them. But build strong garrison troops along the way, just in case. And make some of those fabulous Longboats. Maybe you can take Scotland too, but only if the English didn't get there first. Avoid early fights. You won't know it, very soon your empire is now 5 to 8 provinces! NOW you're ready to really start rocking.
I tried this strategy 3 or 4 times before, and it worked well for me.
Hawooh.

[seireikhaan]

Actually, Norway is rather good for income, you just need to set up a good trade route. Two trade goods and a merchants guild can haul in a pretty nice chunk of change. Plus, v1 vikings are extremely good, and all you need is the fort, so you can spam them just a bit and go conquering the Baltics, much cheaper than bribing. The only province I would bribe would be Livonia, just to have the extra garrison there to help keep down rebellion. Plus, it has some nice troops, including crossbowmen, IIRC.

[Master Young Phoenix]

I tried the Danish several times unsuccesfully because they are a bit different in approach... I made a few mistakes with constructing buidlings and units and Poland beat me to Brandenburg and Prussia... my economy dropped into the red and didn't recover.

the last time I went for the fleets immediately and only recruited a few soldiers to conquer Sweden and Norway... just as my treasury began getting below 1000 the ships hit the waves and I had clear routes to the baltic rebels and Scotland.
Soon my empire received massive money from trade, and Sweden was the hub of it all. Sweden is a major cash-cow for both farming and trade, excellent.
Then I warred with Poland and the English who were being slaughtered by my allies the French.

With other factions I like to roleplay a proud and agrassive ruler who is quickly insulted ("what? You're Daughter not good enough for my mighty son? I'll Kill you!!!"), as the Merchant-Prince of Denmark, my temper was far more stable as war greatly reduces trade... which I found when the French became my enemies. I destroyed the bastards who messed up my income...

I discontinued the campaign, I sufficiently changed history ;)

[mps247]

Sweden is the best province for making cash, and should definitely be the first province you invade.

I find that some players prefer to grab Norway and then proceed to take Scotland. I prefer to take Lithuania, as it is a far better money making machine than Scotland once you have got your trade empire up and running.

In early, Finland, Livonia, Prussia and Pomerania are all good provinces to take as they are rebel held, and produce commodities that can be traded. They are also closer to Denmark than Scotland, making your life easier. Normally, Novgorod take Finland before you can get there. If you don't want to go to war with them, then put some spies in their province. They normally keep a very small garrison there, and don't build watch towers or a border fort. The province should rebel, and then you can grab it without loosing any valour.

The only problem with this strategy is the many borders you will have to defend. However, you should be getting enough money from trade to support such costs.

[wumpus]

Something funny when I play Danish (but I've no complaints about it--it works fine for me): As you can see, aside from Sweden and Norway, the only other direction my "walking" armies can go is through Saxony to get to the rest of Europe. Of course, Saxony belongs to HRE (the Germans). So I've to go to war with the Germans if I want to expand (I mean, if I won't use my emisaries to bribe rebels to bypass the Germans). But the funny thing is, I'll be at war with the Germans for a few turns, then they sue for a ceasefire. Of course, I accept gladly! Why shouldn't I? The HRE has the strongest military force at this early stage of the campaign. But I find the giant HRE asking for peace with the pipsqueak (at this stage) Denmark. Do you think the Pope has something to do with urging a ceasefire? Hawooh.

[Martok]

It's certainly possible that the Papacy's influence has an effect. I would say, however, that probably the major factor is that the HRE doesn't want to be at war with more factions than it can help....especially since it knows it's usually going to end up at war with the French, their biggest and most dangerous rival.

[seireikhaan]

It's certainly possible that the Papacy's influence has an effect. I would say, however, that probably the major factor is that the HRE doesn't want to be at war with more factions than it can help....especially since it knows it's usually going to end up at war with the French, their biggest and most dangerous rival.

And Polish and Hungarians and Italians and English...

[bonnere]

hi,
i'm glad that there are people still playing this wonderfull game.
i'm playing it from long time and i cant stop.

i play for the moment the danish empire so i will post my point of view here, wainting for a debate...maybe.

so:
build first money generating buildings (+20,+40) not the trade ones. not yet.
build peasents because you need to control the new lands and they are the best troop for the buck.
build peasent in danemark and +20 farm
i attack sweden in first turn only with king. charging head to head statisticaly was the best option. find peasents with 4 ecumen and make it governor.
build control buildings, forts, towers, ...
when you got the first heir, attack norvay with 2 RK and one viking. (till now you build only peasents.
you mantain control with peasents, and put the best of them governors.
you should have 3-4 peasents in norway and sweden, your knights and viking + spearmen back in danemark.
by now Danemark should be on the way for longboats. accept allinaces from everybody except english and germans. they are the next targets.
as fast as the germans are involved in any war, attack saxony. wait a few turns and they will want peace. accept it.
set sail for ships to England ... build in norway as many vikings as you can.
best it is that england beats the french in europe, or at least keep his lands there. this way papality doesnt bother about you attacking england.
attack in one turn 3 english countrys, wessex, northumbria and mercia.
you should have enough heirs and vikings to do that. mantain control with the peasents. build control buidings, then financial ones.
wales and scotland are likely to revolt after your strike, that the best. any way attack them and keep them. you must act fast, because if english remain without lands in france, you get bugged by pope.
after you take ireland, and your ships arrive in Italy you can take a breath.
this is a fast developing and i didnt explain all because most things has been allready spoken here.
i use danemark for longboats and archery (in 1205 be sure you have master archery here). in norway swords class infantry. in sweden spear class infantry. in saxony cavalry class. why? because in danemark you allready have archery, and building ships cant make you have anything else building.
in norway swords, for the +1 valor of vikings. in sweden spears for the blacksmith bonus, that i find it usefull to this low attack weapon class.
in saxony cavalry because germans allready buid there horse farm.

in england i build shipwright and taverns that my original countrys are not bugged by this troop production. by the time your shipps get to antioch, you get a large income,only 2 defending armys, and the best troops available.

from here it is up to you. i play the "guardian of papality" role. who gets excomunicated, i destroy (french, sicilians, italians) these are the most posible
targets. i target almohads.. tear them down till egyptians. here i wait for mongols. when they initial energy is absorbed by local owners, i move in .

so, easly you can master: England, Nordic countrys, from Spain till Constantinopole, and Khazar. + some excomunicated catolic countrys.
that with only ... erm ... 6 defensive armies?

here some hints:
i use:
1)longboats, for their low cost and +1 valor in danemark. i try to make longboats in 3 different contrys to keep advancing every year, till i hit antioch. wessex is the second country, because it has allready a shipwright.
2)peasents, only in the begining, England and scadinavian countrys. and thats for the low cost. after this i use thrals or militia. they are much better fighters.
3)vikings, in the beggining and in the end. in the beggining because they are tough and cheap. till you get england. after that you get enough money for better versiona huscarls or landsman. after 1205 you lose this versions. so, you remain with chivalris swords. in the desert i use vikings, or galowglasses.
4)horseman, the light cavalry. it is ok. build it till mounted seargents. and then knights.

i dont use:
1)archers, useless, instead i try to get bulgarian brigands. the come offten, and are great. also, i use with danish armys smaller quantaty of archers. i use 2 in defending armys, none in offensive. after i get arbalesters i use 4. adding one more arquebusiers when time has come.
2)viking carls, the cheaper variant of feudal man at arms. vikings are better.
3)the second danish cavalry, cant remember the name. it sucks big time. avoid it.

i dont detaliate the late period because there are many posibilities and the weapons are known from other factions.
this is it.

[jsberry]

THE GNOMES OF DENMARK

Period: Late

Goal: Control the entire map by 1400.

This period is good for the Danes because there are more ports in existence, so you get the early trade routes going faster. France/Britain/Germany will smash each other, Spain will concentrate on Iberia and Africa, and the Mongols will fight everybody else, so nobody will come after little Denmark.

PHASE 1: Collect Underpants
Invade Sweden on turn 1.
Invade Norway after 1 Chiv Spearmen from Denmark and 1 Swedish woodsmen can arrive.
Invade Lithuania with forces from Livonia ASAP or the Mongols will get it.
Upgrade economics in each, and build longboats in Denmark.
Don't worry about land forces now - nobody will attack.

PHASE 2: Establish Global Trading Empire
Build longboats in Denmark and at least one other province.
Don't start any wars - the other navies will break your trade routes.
Build only moderate land forces - the upkeep cost is not worth the need right now.
I like Vikings in Norway, woodsmen in Sweden, spearmen in Livonia/Lithuania.
Usual battle plan is spear-wall with viking/woodsmen flankers and heirs as general/reserve
Meanwhile, take easy pickings like Scotland (and Novgorod after the Mongols weaken them).

PHASE 3: Profit
Stretch the longboat chain to at least the Adriatic, if not Egypt.
In Denmark, upgrade to cogs to defend the homeland.
Soon you get to the point where you make more money than you know what to do with.

PHASE 4: Establish Global Domination Through Opportunistic Attacks
By now, France/England/Germany will be beaten down like boxers after a 10-round fight. Pick and chose your target based on whoever has the weakest navy (your navy is built for trading not fighting). The Mongols will have withered enough so that the forces in Livonia/Novgorod can sweepsoutheasterly, using Lithuania as a fulcrum point. The global fleet provide the ability to strike anywhere. And after you take anywhere, you can build vikings there!

The main problem is to avoid boredom after it gets so easy.