Where are you posted? In my current run, I started as the count of Gotland, and then invaded Frisia. A few generations later, and all of the British Isles are viking, as is Scandinavia, Germany and France.

Last I played, my dynasty had 10 Kingdoms under its belt, ruled by various cousins and uncles of the main branch.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I've been playing Norse for a while. Just switched back to the Ireland campaign. I'm pretty new to the game and still learning how to effectively retain control after succession.

I started on xbox, which strips out a lot of granularity and only picked up the full version on a kbd/mouse device about a month ago. Reading game tips made me aware of mechanics that xbox lacked. I haven't lasted more than several generations because I still learn from mistakes and start over. I'm getting there. Great game.

[–] Godric@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Love the game, been playing Ck2 and 3 for about a decade now.

A big part is making sure your lands are not split up too much each generation. Usually this means conquering or revoking from a vassal a new duchy per son, so the core remains intact on sucession. Like real life, Tyranny is just a number if you have the army to back it up.

Another big part is military strength. Betroth your newborns to people with big armies. Keep in mind the product of said unions will inherit claims to your land. Also, Knights and Men at Arms are wayyyy stronger than levies. If you're playing Norse, they cost prestige, not gold, so you can maintain as many as your monthly prestige income allows, and battle, feast, and raid to boost your prestige over time to afford more.

Raiding is a HUGE boon for the Norse. Best places are counties in Ireland early, and then Brittany, Spain, and Cornwall as you become more powerful. Just be sure you scout the place out and make sure the ruler doesn't have better troops than you, or you'll go home with nothing!

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 7 months ago

Thanks! I saved this comment to review later when I'm more awake.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 2 points 7 months ago

The new Legend mechanic is pretty hilarious with the Asatru horde. I'd conquered all of Catholicism by my second ruler because you can spam out the generic Defender of the Holy Site legend, spread it fast as fuck because of course they gave the Norse more bonuses, and basically buy a Kingdom Holy War CB every couple of years while also mass converting territory.

Then the second ruler died and I'm still on Confederate Partition so now there are five Norse Empires in control of Western Europe. I'd considered going full Blood Empire and trying to eradicate all dynasties but mine but I'm not sure that's even possible anymore.