Advice on playing Sigurdr Snake-in-the eye

[Skodkim]

Hi I need some advice on playing Sigurdr Snake-in-the eye from Sjælland (Denmark).

By 888 I've:

• Taken some provinces along what is today called The Baltic Sea
• Taken Jutland et al and formed the Kingdom of Denmark
• Fabricated a claim on the Jarldom of Svitjod and conquered it.
• Increased Tribal Organization law to Medium
• And raided for money and prestige!
• Made sure I have one (and only one) solid heir
• ...

Now I really don't know what to do. I'd like to go for the Kingdom of Scandinavia (maybe called something different but basically what is today known as Denmark, Sweden and Norway) and go for the reformation of the Norse fith, which I've never tried before.

I read some guide saying you should fabricate Claims on Uppland, then Naumadal, so is that the way (just wait for it...)? It also said something about two free Subjucation Casus Belli's: One you can use on just about anyone once in a lifetime, and then one you get by Ambition.Any idea what is meant here? I hoped that I'd get a ambition to become King of Scandinavia when I had "Denmark+Sweden" and a valid CB, but no.

Any advice is appreciated

PS: Not that skilled in the arts of Ck+/CK2+ yet

\Skodkim

 

[FlyingOnion]

Scandinavia is an empire, not a kingdom, so you won't be getting an ambition for all of Scandinavia.

If your already king of Denmark, I don't think your eligible for another 'become king' ambition, so your going to have to work with the standard 'conquest' casus beli. If you haven't already used the subjugation casus belli, then you would be best of using it on the largest Swedish or Norwegian realm. Each ruler can do the subjugation once per lifetime, unless you have the ambition for a kingdom, then you can keep using it on realms that own land within that de jure kingdom.

As for reforming the faith, fabricating claims is probably your best best, though you might want to prioritise conquering towards them anyways in case your chancellor is a bit slow.

 

[Tatterhood]

Subjugation is changed in CK2+. In vanilla you get a once-per-lifetime subjugation CB that you can use on anyone of your faith, but in CK2+ you can only use it within your de-jure kingdom (Denmark in your case). In both vanilla and Plus the Become King ambition lets gives you unlimited uses, within the de-jure kingdom. SInce you're already king of Denmark there isn't much more use for subjugation for you.

If you're king of Sweden you can press a de-jure claim on Uppland. However, in Plus you need Medium Crown Authority for that, and you can only get that by becoming feudal. You can become feudal after reforming the faith or meeting a certain technology threshold.

Grabbing the holy sites in Sweden and Norway is probably your best bet but as an alternate strategy it's worth remembering tha there's one in Scotland too. In 888 I suppose it's still held by pagans and you may just want to leave it be, but if Christians take it you could do a prepared invasion of Scotland. That's how I got my third holy site when I did my Norse empire playthrough.

 

[vukica]

Subjugation is changed in CK2+. In vanilla you get a once-per-lifetime subjugation CB that you can use on anyone of your faith, but in CK2+ you can only use it within your de-jure kingdom (Denmark in your case). In both vanilla and Plus the Become King ambition lets gives you unlimited uses, within the de-jure kingdom. SInce you're already king of Denmark there isn't much more use for subjugation for you.

If you're king of Sweden you can press a de-jure claim on Uppland. However, in Plus you need Medium Crown Authority for that, and you can only get that by becoming feudal. You can become feudal after reforming the faith or meeting a certain technology threshold.

Grabbing the holy sites in Sweden and Norway is probably your best bet but as an alternate strategy it's worth remembering tha there's one in Scotland too. In 888 I suppose it's still held by pagans and you may just want to leave it be, but if Christians take it you could do a prepared invasion of Scotland. That's how I got my third holy site when I did my Norse empire playthrough.

It's a good strategy to get four holy sites. Three in scandinavia, and one in Scotland. You need the MA.
Once you control 3 holy sites, you also get access to holy war, even if unreformed, so that should make it easier to raise MA even further.

Also, stay out of meckenburg. HRE loves to holy war for it.

 

[Skodkim]

Thanks for all the advice guys (and sorry for the late reply).

A couple of questions: "You need the MA". What is the MA?

As said: After becoming King of Denmark I fabricated a claim on Svitjod, declared war on the Jarldom of Svitjod (CB Claim Svitjod) and conquered it. Now I have two Holy Sites. I can either go for the Holy sites in Sudreyar or Naumadal, both of which are held by the Norse.I think I'll go for the latter but I have no CB against Jarl Olafr of he Jarldom og Østlandet. Why? I thought I used the claim I fabricated to take Svitjod and not the subjugation CB - or is it just that I need to do something to activate it?

Sorry for all the questions

\Skodkim

 

[BunnyBavarian]

Thanks for all the advice guys (and sorry for the late reply).

A couple of questions: "You need the MA". What is the MA?


\Skodkim

MA is Moral Authority. Basically to reform even with the piety cost (750 if I remember right) and controlling three, you still need an extra about 20% MA to even get to the 50%+ needed MA to reform.

 

[Tatterhood]

As said: After becoming King of Denmark I fabricated a claim on Svitjod, declared war on the Jarldom of Svitjod (CB Claim Svitjod) and conquered it. Now I have two Holy Sites. I can either go for the Holy sites in Sudreyar or Naumadal, both of which are held by the Norse.I think I'll go for the latter but I have no CB against Jarl Olafr of he Jarldom og Østlandet. Why? I thought I used the claim I fabricated to take Svitjod and not the subjugation CB - or is it just that I need to do something to activate it?

Like I mentioned before, in Plus the subjugation CB is only usable within your de-jure kingdom. I think you should be able to use it if you move your capital to somewhere in Norway, but I guess you don't directly hold any of those Norwegian provinces you've got. Probably you'll need to fabricate another claim.

 

[Sokullu_Mehmet]

Just a quick question here, is it possible to make money from raiding in ck2 plus? Last time I played, raiding revenue didn't cover costs of soldier maintenance. Was there any changes?

 

[vukica]

Just a quick question here, is it possible to make money from raiding in ck2 plus? Last time I played, raiding revenue didn't cover costs of soldier maintenance. Was there any changes?

Changes are in progress. In the meantime use vassal troops only.

 

[Skodkim]

Changes are in progress. In the meantime use vassal troops only.

That's good news!

I found it very hard to survive as a pagan even though I built markets and raided do I ended up buffing both raiding and income from markets and starting a new game.

Right now I'm more or less in the same situation as before and waiting for a claim on the Jarldom of Østlandet.

\Skodkim

 

[Aliksander]

Just a quick question here, is it possible to make money from raiding in ck2 plus? Last time I played, raiding revenue didn't cover costs of soldier maintenance. Was there any changes?

I have successfully raided many times in the mod ( like to start in Adger in southern Norway). You just have to be patient for a while. Use your first few years to subjugate and build up a good baseline demense (3-4 tribes) so you can field at least 1500-2000 troops. Wait until the viking age event occurs and you have enough ships to transport your troops. If you've spent very little gold by this time you should have saved up at least 70-100 gold which should keep you in the green until the raid starts profitting. If not, try to get a good spymaster and kidnap a vulnerable count/duke (underage are easiest) that has some gold saved up and ransom him. Look at England and find some 1-3 province count/dukes in the south and quickly raid them in succession. Stick to the coast and always tell your men to take prisoners. If your gold starts to go low, split your fleet and send half your ships back with some loot (they can drop it off and then come back). Ransom prisoners as soon as you take them. As long as you get a few good value prisoners (25 gold or better) you WILL make money on the raid. Save the money for the next raid and rinse an repeat, always going after realms that are relatively small. You could also target larger realms but make sure they are already at war so their troops are depleted/distracted. Again remember that the main money is in ransoming prisoners, although if you raid wealthy realms efficiently the prisoners aren't STRICTLY necessary, but if you capture 2-3 counts/dukes in a raid you could easily make 200 gold in one shot. I once made ~500 gold in one 2-year long raiding campaign because I got lucky and captured a few dukes (petty kings) and several counts from Southern England along with assorted Bishops/Mayors/noble family members.