I could ransom him for 10 gold, but with his 20 Prowess skill, he's way more valuable to me as a Champion.Īfter you've captured and ransomed enough prisoners to raise 125 gold, you can create a duchy and make yourself a Jarl. Here's an example of a good prisoner to recruit. It's generally good to recruit these people to your court so that they can fight on your side. You will often capture people that are significantly better than the councilors and champions in your own court. Keep an eye on the enemies that you take prisoner. Keep moving your Rally Point north with each conquest, so that your troop spawn close to your target. Keep declaring wars on your Norwegian enemies, working your way north one at a time. In this early phase of the game, most wars are won with a single battle and successfully sieging down the enemy tribal building, so you don't need to hold on to important prisoners for their warscore. You should ransom the prisoner BEFORE you enforce your demands and end the war. If you look at the image below, you can see that you don't need the prisoner war score to win this war. One note about ransoming prisoners: Generally, if you capture a valuable prisoner in a siege or battle, it's best to ransom them before you end the war, as your important prisoners will be released when the war ends and you won't have the opportunity to ransom them. Eventually you will capture prisoners that you will be able to ransom.

If you can't afford the 50 gold at first, don't worry. This Prestige bump will allow you to recruit another Varangian Veteran unit, which will smooth the path considerably. This allows you to spend 50 gold and obtain 500 Prestige. Luckily, after winning the first one, you will be given the opportunity to Raise a Runestone. If you're starting out as a custom character and could only afford to recruit a single Varangian Veteran unit, the first couple of battles will be very close.

You have automatic Causis Belli on your neighbors, so start using these to declare war, starting at Rogaland, and working your way north, county by county. Regardless of your long term goals for the game, your first task should be to start expanding into Norway. In short, Norway is the perfect spot for rapid expansion. Early in the game, they are unlikely to have formed alliances. With a custom character, you can only afford one unit, so the early game is much more precarious.Īfter you hire your Men at Arms, wait for them to fully populate, then you're ready to begin your path of plunder and domination.Īt the game start in 867, Norway is made up mostly of individual counties owned by lone chieftans. That prestige bonus allows you to hire three units of Varangian Veterans right from the start. This is why Haraldr's 1000 starting Prestige is such a huge advantage. Varangian Veterans are the key to military dominance and getting as many of them as you can as quickly as possible will allow you to conquer your neighbors. The next thing you do is recruit Varangian Veteran Men at arms. Getting married and having children too early is actually a detriment, so you are better off if you wait. There will be plenty of time later to worry about marriage and producing heirs. The game sends you a nagging message that you are unmarried.

You're going to be focused on fighting, so this is most useful at this time of the game. Generally, I find Ullr to be the most useful, as it buffs Martial skill and gives some winter movement perks. My personal favorite choices are Thor and Ullr. This start is considerably more difficult than the Haraldr Tanglehair start because you only begin with 450 Prestige.Īfter you've entered the game, go to the 'Decisions' tab and choose the decision, 'Determine Personal Deity.' This allows you to dedicate yourself to one of the Norse gods, getting a nice trait bonus. I generally pick Genius and Skilled Tactician as my traits, then raise my Martial skill to 18 and my Prowess to 16. If I'm creating a custom character, I generally begin in Belamork, right next door to Haraldr and Vestfold. Haraldr begins the game with 1000 Prestige, which is a huge early game advantage as this allows you to hire more Men at Arms. He has high Martial skill, has the 'Quick' trait, and is also Brave and Ambitious.

If using a historical character, my favorite is Chieftan Haraldr 'Tanglehair' of Vestfold. Playing as a Viking makes it perfectly viable to begin from a single county and then take over the world.

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