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The Viking Age Begins, Part 2: More like Skjoldumb (783-791)

I have a lot to get into in this part. But first, I'm going to take what I can of what's left of Norway, and then I'll start cracking into those issues. I get another glitch right when I load the game.



Good job The Faith. My first target will be an old friend who defeated me once before, Heidmark. I lose a few hundred men in this fight, but pull it off. I'll have to rebuild my levies a bit before moving on to my toughest target yet, Nordland.



While we're waiting, I realize I can upgrade my military organization. This is important, as military organization is the most critical tech for raiding, especially in the early game. The upgrade boosts my retinue cap to 101. The goal is to reach 430, so that I can build a light skirmish retinue.



This is not a very powerful unit, but it's definitely the go to for early game raiding. 550 men for 430 cap is a hell of a bargain. One of these is capable of sieging temples almost single handedly. I also pick up the "You've been at peace too long" penalty, which is a loss of 2.0 prestige per month. Not a big deal. I want to get up to my levy cap of 1,500 men before I go after Nordland, who has a little over 1,000.

Remember that I still have not used Grimr's pagan subjugation casus belli. After I take Nordland, that will likely be my next move. I get the 100 gold, 100 prestige mint coins event again, which nearly gives me enough for a wooden hillfort. Grimr is 52 years old, and I'm not necessarily worried he'll die, as he doesn't have any traits that hurt his health, like stressed or depressed. But I really want to use his subjugation casus belli before he goes, so I decide to err on the side of caution and change focus.



The hunting focus automatically gives you a +1 health bonus, and it usually brings about an event that gives you a dog, which gives you another +1 health bonus. The dog dies in ten years, and after that, you can never get one again, so it's best to use this focus if you are playing as an old ruler who you don't want to see die just yet. It also boosts my martial by +2, and ever little bit of levy counts.

In 786, my heir comes of age.



Kjartan Grimrsson. He kind of sucks, but with some traits and the +3 martial bonus from war focus, should I choose to switch to that, he'll be a solid all around ruler. His son will be much better now that I've expanded enough to have some good educators in my realm. I will not be marrying him until he inherits, in case I'm still in gavelkind when he dies. But depending on how Grimr's last few years play out, I should have the faith reformed and feudalism adopted well within Kjartan's lifespan.

At 1,400 men, I attack Nordland, and escape with few casualties. Now, with the balance of power set, it's time to pick a strategy for the future.

Here's the independent realm view.



However, the more important view at this point is the dynasties view.



This shows us that, while Sjaelland is broken into a couple pieces, including Skane and Telemark to the north, the Skjoldung family still controls all of Denmark and a chunk of Norway. Or at least they will, once they finish off that revolt. So if I choose to declare war on them, all of the Skjoldung family will fight against me. Another thing I need to take into account is holy sites.



And for that, I'll dig into the requirements of what you need to get done to reform the faith. There is one in the east in af Munso territory, and one in the south in Skjoldung territory. I control the one in Naumadal. These are the three that I absolutely need to have. There are two others. The one in the far south is in Saxony, and the 5th is due west of that one on that little island called Zeeland. Zeeland is controlled by France, and Saxony is a constant target of war from Slavic pagans in the east, and France in the south. So going after those introduces new problems that you're best off avoiding.



At the top left of this image, there's a little button with a checkmark on it. When you've fulfilled the requirements to reform the faith, you'll be able to click it. You CANNOT adopt feudalism or found a republic as an unreformed pagan, so in order to satisfy that requirement, I need to reform. The alternate is to adopt an organized religion, such as Islam or Catholicism, which skips over the unreformed pagan issue entirely. However, you can't raid as those religions, and where's the fun in that? The 3 prerequisites to reforming the faith are your character having 750 piety, the Moral Authority of your religion at 50% or greater, and 3 holy sites within your territory.

The holy sites aren't the counties, but the temple within the counties. So for instance, in the case of my holy site in Naumadal, the holy site itself is actually Naumadal's temple holding of Maere. This applies to all religions, but Germanic will get 5% moral authority boost for each of these holy temples who's direct holder (the temple vassal Godi) is Germanic. It will also get 5% moral authority from the faith of the top liege of these holy temples. So in the case of Naumadal, the temple Godi of Maere is Germanic, and his top liege, me, is Germanic, giving Germanic a combined 10% moral authority boost due to control of Maere. If one of us was Germanic and the other was a different religion, it would be a 5% partial controlled bonus, and if neither of us were Germanic, there would be no bonus. Whether the temple is controlled, partially controlled, or uncontrolled is indicated by the red, yellow, and green flags under each holy site, and whether it's within your domain is indicated by a star. So once I control 3 holy sites and have 3 Germanic Godi's in control of the temples, that's a guaranteed 30% moral authority, which is a big chunk of the way towards reaching the required 50%.

I'll dig into getting piety and raising moral authority as a Germanic Norse once I've conquered the two other holy sites, but right now, I need to go to war with Svipjod or Sjaelland. My family is the weakest of these three, so how can I pull that off? Well, the answer involves prestige.

As a feudal leader, prestige and piety are mostly just points that add up towards your final score. As a tribal of any religion, it's more of a currency. You can buy many things with prestige, so it's important to spend it wisely. The first thing you can buy, which is going to help me win my war, is 2,500 men at the expense of 500 prestige, via the "Raise Tribal Army" decision in the intrigue menu.



Now these armies each have a 1.52 monthly maintenance fee. At this point in the game, I'm making barely 1 per month, so as soon as I raise a tribal army, I'm operating at a loss. With 4 of these tribal armies, I'm going to be at about -5 per month, which is a fast track to serious debt. However, if you've saved up the money to afford these armies, there's not much that can stand against you. This is a sensitive issue for me in my current situation given that my goal is to reform as quickly as possible, and losing a bunch of gold is a big step in the wrong direction. If you don't care about reforming, there's a nice exploit you can make use of, which is outlined here.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3559664&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=112#post440826062

The gist is that you can only raise tribal armies when you are at war, and they only disappear when you are no longer at war. As long as you are at war, the tribal armies will not disappear, meaning as you rake in prestige from winning wars, while staying in war forever, you can potentially raise a dozen of these tribal armies and conquer the world. Just keep in mind the economics of it, as that post doesn't mention it, and that guy seems to magically have enough money to form titles despite his only income being his 1 gold a month as a tribal, and what he sieges from tribal holdings while operating at a -15 a month loss.

The other thing you can purchase with prestige is buildings.



These are huge for you. There are 4 chains that you can build, with cost in prestige.

Training Grounds: I(300), II(400), III(500), IV(600)
War Camp: I(300), II(400), III(500), IV(600)
Practice Range: I(300), II(400), III(500), IV(600)
Weaponsmith: I(300), II(400), III(500), IV(600)

While the benefits of building them as a tribal are negligible, they pay off in a big way once you adopt feudalism or form a republic. This is because at level 2 and level 4 of each of these upgrades, they convert to an actual building that appears as soon as you convert. You can see the full list of what building these convert to depending on whether you convert to feudalism and create a barony, or form a republic and create a city here

http://www.ckiiwiki.com/Tribes

My favorite method is to build a level IV Training Grounds, a level IV Practice Range, and a level II War Camp in my capital, which is a very attainable goal prior to reforming. This translates to a Keep II, a Militia Training Grounds II, and a Barracks I. So at a cost of 4300 prestige (which isn't much once you begin raiding), you get 670 gold worth of crucial upgrades to your barony's levy that kick in the day you adopt feudalism, when you're in your most vulnerable state. This makes the transition much easier, and is a mandatory step if you hope to keep a large tribal domain together while reforming.

So with all that in mind, lets go back to my current situation. All that shit I just said about tribal buildings does not apply to me, because Trondelag sucks, and I don't intend on holding it personally in the future. My goal is to adopt feudalism, allowing me to change my capital to a feudal county. Then immediately conquer a feudal county that doesn't suck, which will become my new capital. If I were in Uppland, Skane, Jylland, Sjaelland, or Liubice, I would act differently. But I see no reason to waste prestige on holdings I don't care about. If I have to give in to an independence revolt as soon as I adopt feudalism, it's no big deal. Besides, since I am the weakest of the 3 families, I really need these tribal armies when I move. I did not purchase a wooden hillfort despite having the money to do so, so I'm currently sitting on 1,490 prestige, and 171 gold. This should pay for my pagan subjugation. The question is who do I target? I would say Sjaelland, but unfortunately, something terrible happened.



Pagan subjugation only works on other pagans, so I cannot use it on Sjaelland. You can use that subjugation on any pagan that isn't too distant to interact with, which gives me a lot of other options. Saxony, Lesser Poland, and Lithuania are tempting targets, but they won't do enough to increase my levy. I'll burn up all my prestige, and then if Sigurdr of Svipjod dies, Ragnarr Lodbrok with his 26 martial will take over, and I'm ripe for the picking for his subjugation CB.

So my best chance is to invade Sigurdr for the subjugation of Sweden. He holds 100% of de jure Sweden. If I win the war, I would get it all, and instantly become the most dominant force in Scandinavia.



Sigurdr is broke as hell, but he still has 2,000 prestige and a levy of almost 4,000 men, not including his tribal vassals. He could hypothetically come after me with a doomstack of 15,000 soldiers. I could maybe pull together 8,000. So I decide to hold off until Sigurdr dies. When he does, his holdings will be split among his now 3 sons. While they will all ally together, none of them will have 500 prestige, which means they can't raise any tribal armies. The key is that Sigurdr dies before I do. He's 56, is stressed, depressed, and has pneumonia. Unfortunately, he also has a health boost from the strong trait. I'm 54, perfectly healthy, and will hopefully get a dog soon. I like my odds, but perhaps he would like some help?



While I wait for people to join my plot, a faction demands that I lower tribal organization. I still have to reform the faith, which will probably take a decade, and I could use the opinion bonus because I am now ~6 years~ from the Viking Age. I can just raise it back up again to absolute in 5 years.



Right when I get strong, Sigurdr gets over his pneumonia. Both of us are looking very healthy. My plot percentage topped out at 40%, and there's no one I can even bribe to join. Of course not, Sigurdr owns. This could come down to the wire. If I get my dog soon, I might change to intrigue focus once my hunting focus cooldown expires in 790 for an added boost. I'll leave my spymaster in Constantinople.

In 788 my daughter (always legitimize your bastard daughters in early game btw, preferably to matrilineally marry them off and help prevent game overs) turns 16. I could use some help in my inevitable war with Svipjod, so I decide to marry her off to a Saxon duke, High Chief Hesso of Holstein. His land borders Sjaelland to the south, so he's close enough to help out.



I got enough points to upgrade castle tech to 1.



This unlocks building the reinforced hillfort and the stone hillfort. As a republic, the same applies to a Market City and a Large Market City and town infrastructure.



Since Sjaelland converted to Christianity like retards, it opened up the pre-Viking Age conquest casus belli for Sigurdr. This allows you to conquer any county that isn't the same religion as you that you border. Sigurdr wipes out Sjaellands army, and the family of Skjoldung is weakened. Go go go



Eh, not that weak. And Medelpad, Sigurdr's vassal, declares war on me. Time to raise a tribal army.



I win the Subjugation of Norway war against Rogaland. Now that I've raised the tribal army, I plan on "chaining" wars together while I conquer the rest of Norway so that the army doesn't disband. This should help me conquer all of Norway except for Akershus, which Sigurdr took in that conquest. My new ally in Holstein asks me to join in on his war against Slesvig, which is controlled by Skjoldung, so I accept. This keeps Skjoldung weakened, as well as helping ensure that I stay at war. After I wipe Medelpad's army, I put down my levies, and declare the next war.



2 wars later, it is done. I have the ongoing war with Medalpad that is no threat to me and ensures my tribal army won't disband as long as I refuse peace. But now I have a decision to make.




Skjoldung is a figment of its old self. Their duchy on the left, Jylland, including Jylland and Slesvig, has a Catholic ruler. The counties on the right, Blekinge and Skane, are each held by single counts, and are Germanic. But Fyn and Sjaelland are under control of the same ruler, from the family af Skogla, who is Germanic. So there's two directions I can go. I can capture Fyn and Sjaelland with my once in a lifetime pagan subjugation of Denmark. That duchy is just fine as a capitol, and I can make it feudal and maintain the Kingdom of Denmark as my primary kingdom for the rest of the LP.

Or, I can continue to hold off and see if Sigurdr dies before me. If he does, I can scoop up the biggest piece of Sweden I can from his heirs. If not, it's no big deal. I can maintain Norway and get ready for the Viking Age, while scooping up holy sites by fabricating claims. But if I go this route, I will for sure be making Trondelag feudal, and then moving my capitol somewhere else later in the game. Good options are Middlesex in England, and surprisingly, thanks to what appears to be a collapsing Umayyad, Barcelona in Spain. I've never tried conquesting Spain before, and it's a bit of a turbulent region with the Umayyad always potentially capable of wrecking worlds. Would be very dangerous.

Stay in Scandinavia, or conquer new lands?

State of Scandinavia









And me.



Still to come

where are we gonna live tho
~The Viking Age~
Dicking with Ireland
Creating the Kingdom of Norway
Reforming the faith