Need some advice

[Martok]

Norway in XL is actually fairly easy. Just attack the Swedes in the first couple years, then swing down into Skania and Denmark and eliminate the Danes. After that, your 2 best options are to either build a fleet and invade Britain, or attack the HRE (make sure the Germans are already at war with at least 1-2 other factions, however).

Moving east to conquer the Baltic provinces is a trickier prospect, as you'll be in fierce competition with the Poles, Lithiuanians, & Novgorod. As another alternative, you can simply start pumping out Longships and start trading. Of course, that isn't as much fun.

No matter what you do, though, you should make sure you have at least a few ships in the water. Control of the Baltic and/or North Seas is vital to whatever strategy you decide to go with.

[macsen rufus]

It's a bit cheesy, but reliable: 1st turn - start some Vikings in training, throw everything else into Sweden. The Swedes will retreat without a battle and die off instantly. Your economy is immediately improved, you have iron, and you're one step closer to the Danes, and still only a single land border to defend.... Those v1 Vikings really help the Norwegian cause

I played the Norwegians on conquest mode, expert, and found it to be bit of a cake-walk, really. All those uber-viking units really kick some behind in early, and having Sweden soon allows you you tech up nicely before they become obsolete in 1205. I went west first, took over Britain and set up quite a trading empire. Got to about 50% of the map and went on to another campaign as it was too easy to steamroller everyone. But if what you want is a rampaging killing spree to work off the "dissertation blues" then the Norwegians are just the job

[Galagros]

What's been said above is all true. I have also found that pushing into the HRE early is not a good idea.