England, what culture should I choose?

[Panzerschiffe]

I started a game as William the Bastard and had just finished conquering England when it hit me, which culture should I choose as a future Emperor of the British Isles?
I'm no expert on culture specific buildings or how units perform in battle but each seems to have different advantages/disadvantages.

English: I get Archers! My archers are stronger and I have more of them which makes for a better skirmish phase. Is this good? I dunno.
Saxon: I get Housecarles which are pretty powerful and tanky. I usually stick them in the center and put some cavalry on the flanks. I wonder if this is a good use for them.
Norman: I get the Heavy Cavalry which just seems to wipe the floor with everything. I also gain the heavy cav retinue. Heavy Cav seems pretty OP or is it just me?

I guess my question could also be how can I use each unit efficiently depending on what culture I choose? How do I use them properly? I'm inclined to pick the Heavy Cav because from experience, they just seem really strong. But I've been looking at England from various cultural angles so I'm interested in hearing the various strategies for each culture.

 

[unmerged(445219)]

Archers! If you use them correctly (fight against smaller units) you can decimate a 7k army VS your 10k within the first stage. Very useful for your sphere of the world as you won't be fighting any large centralized foes, most of your battles will be versus groups of smaller foes.

If you really want Heavy Cav, switch to Frankish and just form the French Empire. You will have an easier time getting your culture, as half of France already is.

 

[MrWeRD]

How about Breton?

Btw: Breton can do Britannia too. They're under Celtic.

 

[Knives]

In order:
1. Danish (Is kool, has a claim, and returns Angland to the danelaw!)
2. Norwegian (vikingr/norse starts at war, can't go wrong bonus points if you return your religion back to norse)
3. Saxon (Pretty kool dudes, in a position to defend Angland and hold it and nothing wrong with them really)
4. Dutch (Glorious Revolution! Only problem is they don't have a claim but hey, be ambitious!)

Then German, Norman, breton or even basque I guess.

Also go for heavy infantry for koolness factor even if heavy cavalry are well, fricken awesome.

 

[Dracko81]

You won't be able to do Norman, if you want knights culture switch to Frankish before winning the invasion.

But Longbowmen have their advantages...

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/937006788454692043/8A7458E94531BDF762B9F82F1C70B27222FE51E4/

 

[Panzerschiffe]

You won't be able to do Norman, if you want knights culture switch to Frankish before winning the invasion.

But Longbowmen have their advantages...

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/937006788454692043/8A7458E94531BDF762B9F82F1C70B27222FE51E4/

Why can't I do Norman? I thought Only Saxons, English, and Normans could create Britannia but not Frankish.

All those archers...

 

[Knives]

The cultures that can form Brittania according to the wiki are, "Saxon, Norman, English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh culture"

 

[icon41gimp]

You can't prevent the English events from firing as a Norman lord.

 

[NezzeOne]

How about Breton?

Btw: Breton can do Britannia too. They're under Celtic.

"Truth and glory to our Fatherland, and death to eeeverryyy foooeeee."

Sorry, have to everytime someone mentions Britannia.

I second the Breton nomination. Barring that, English for the Longbowmen.

 

[grumphie]

i'd go with breton. yes, archer completly dominate the skirmish phase. but you can already get plenty of archers easly from levies. heavy cav on the other hand is quite scarce. a few knight retinues give you heavy bonus HC that, when properly led, will dominate and archers, heavy inf or counter cav they might face. just watch yourself when facing scotsmen with their darned pikes. so: go breton. slowly claim some lands in wales and irelansd, expand your pwoer, and invade scotland once youre ready. form there on its just a pure battle with england that you should easly win.

 

[Knives]

No love for restoring the danelaw =(

 

[cywang86]

You can't prevent the English events from firing as a Norman lord.

I do believe you can prevent it by destroying Kingdom of England title. But that'll require fabricating from Phillipe and grab the kingdom of France before you conquer England, and make sure you sieged every England province to prevent even less happy vassals.

 

[unmerged(445219)]

I do believe you can prevent it by destroying Kingdom of England title. But that'll require fabricating from Phillipe and grab the kingdom of France before you conquer England, and make sure you sieged every England province to prevent even less happy vassals.

Too much effort for little to no reward. Frankish culture has more land, more vassals which will be happy, the ability to form the Empire of France, and one of the holy orders start Frankish (easy to vassalize).

 

[Panzerschiffe]

Ah, so you can't prevent the English culture event from firing if you're Norman. So it is not possible to stay Norman as an English King. If I became Frankish, I could convert the Isles to my culture and the English culture event wouldn't affect me? As in, it wouldn't trigger at all?

Can Breton culture create Britannia?

 

[Dracko81]

Ah, so you can't prevent the English culture event from firing if you're Norman. So it is not possible to stay Norman as an English King. If I became Frankish, I could convert the Isles to my culture and the English culture event wouldn't affect me? As in, it wouldn't trigger at all?

Can Breton culture create Britannia?

Yes bretons can, they belong to the celtic group.

English could pop up, if you do not get rid of all norman lords. But if you are Frankish with Frankish Vassals you and your vassals will not be affected by the events.

 

[HabemusZlatan]

Ænglaland must stay Angelcynn.

 

[NezzeOne]

Ænglaland must stay Angelcynn.

Burn the Saxon heretic!

 

[HabemusZlatan]

Burn the Saxon heretic!

 

[Panzerschiffe]

Question concerning the cultural building. How does the bonus apply? Realm or county level? Can I stack it and abuse it like in the case of longbows?