I have no luck as William de Normandie

[Aloriel]

I've started up two games so far to try and do the Norman conquest of England. BOTH times William died in battle. BOTH times, it was one of those pathetic 2500+ troops vs 16. The first time, he died outright. The second time, he got knocked in the head (Incapable), then later died. Each time, it was within the first few months. I would take Kent, then start to go after Middlesex and other nearby counties. About this time, the Norwegians make their presence felt. Just after I squish them, some group of 4-50 English show up in the province William is in, and somehow hurt/kill him.

I think the first time it happened, it was literally 1 enemy soldier.

Le sigh....

 

[Goldor2005]

That is some terrible luck there...

 

[HKFlash]

Save game is your friend.

 

[Aloriel]

I had thought about using the autosave at monthly. I'll probably do that next time. It just sort of feels like cheating, and wears me a little thin if I have to keep doing it.

 

[wrongshui]

I just start at the second bookmark since it's not possible to have as strong a position by conquering England from Stamford Bridge.

 

[unmerged(75409)]

Make a save game right before you launch the invasion. If Willy dies, reload that one. That's not cheating.

You've had terrible luck, I had lots of battles with Willy and he never died. He once got ill during a siege (That one gave me a huge scare) but got better a month later.

Generally though, since he is by far your best leader, you should have him lead the sieges, and leave the Saxon-whacking to someone else. Willy's 21 martial rating makes him get a ton of those siege events, which speed up your conquest considerably. During sieges you also don't catch arrows, as a leader.

The funny thing about the whole Norman conquest (as it is in CK2) is that it's rigged to last years - unless one of the protagonists dies during the war.

Imagine someone coming to the forum unhappy about Harold Godwinson dieing prematurely during the first weeks of the war. What a bummer! You've defeated Harold's stack and you have William pinned down and then Harold dies on you. In CK2, history is the product of random luck more often than not.

 

[unmerged(75409)]

I just start at the second bookmark since it's not possible to have as strong a position by conquering England from Stamford Bridge.

The first five years after conquest are precarious but you can do some things to keep your worst enemies off your back...

- keep a treasury of 600 or more gold, so you can hire mercs if in a crisis (use the merc to win the initial battle, then lay them off immediately and do the siegework with your levies)
- betroth your youngest daughter to King Philippe, that prevents him from DOWing you until the marriage at least
- make alliances by marrying off your other daughters - your allies may not come to your aid but it deters the AI (a little)
- don't shy from extreme measures... in my game, William's wife died a couple of years into the game, and in an effort to gain a useful alliance I betrothed William to a 4-year old daughter of the duke of Aquitaine. Does that turn him into a pedophile? Perhaps. Does it gain me a useful ally? I hope so!

 

[Aloriel]

Actually, he is leading a siege at the time. The problem is those pop up troops when Harold tries to replenish his troops. Battle starts without warning with some tiny group of soldiers (4 to 50) against my 2500+. William dies anyway.

I really just need to reload from a monthly autosave next time it happens.

 

[SlyEcho]

William's conquest is very easy. Use the starting money to get lots of mercs. Use the large army to quickly assault almost all of England. This is important, keep your army size above 8,000 to assault sieges effectively without many losses at all. Assault even the holdings because they are not strongly fortified and give you loot that you need to keep paying your huge army.

Keep a few Saxon vassals around. When they revolt revoke their counties. These counties don't have any penalties. You may need to keep a few mercenary bands around for a few years so don't go wasting that money. Don't create any of the duchies just because you can. You'll need them later (as in Robert's reign) to put unhappy count vassals under a loyal duke.

 

[unmerged(75409)]

William's conquest is very easy. Use the starting money to get lots of mercs. Use the large army to quickly assault almost all of England. This is important, keep your army size above 8,000 to assault sieges effectively without many losses at all. Assault even the holdings because they are not strongly fortified and give you loot that you need to keep paying your huge army.

Keep a few Saxon vassals around. When they revolt revoke their counties. These counties don't have any penalties. You may need to keep a few mercenary bands around for a few years so don't go wasting that money. Don't create any of the duchies just because you can. You'll need them later (as in Robert's reign) to put unhappy count vassals under a loyal duke.

Actually I'd say dismiss all mercs as soon as humanly possible. You need the money more than you need their swords, after you have won the initial battles.

Oh and about creating duchies - William's heir Robert is a total idiot, when he inherits you will need as much money and prestige as you can get. Leave the duchies uncreated and hoard as much gold as possible, that way when miserable Robert comes to power you can pump his prestige by creating the duchies, and the gold that's left over can hire mercs to crush the inevitable insurrections.

 

[SlyEcho]

Yes, not creating the duchies is exactly, like you said, about Robert.

But I don't see what the harm is keeping a band of 1,500 mercs around for a year or two. Their upkeep for a year will cost almost as much as their hiring cost anyway.

 

[unmerged(144080)]

I had quite a bit of fun as KING William. Took me five years to finally take down Harold, and a huge chunk of middle England with me whilst kicking out Harald to finally be King. Rooted around, took my time installing every small holdings with good Norman folk before stupid Harold raised most of the country (including two of my recently installed Norman counts) against me. Smacked them all down and imprisoned them, then preemptively imprisoned the Duke of Lancaster who basically had the entire North (York and Northumberland). I had them all well in hand until they died off in prison, causing their offsprings to all go crazy on me. Then the French King (who was married to my daughter) declared war on me. I quickly beat down the English lords and waited for the French to ravage my Norman holdings. Without much money I couldn't put up a fight and surrendered my French lands. Now I'm Robert and everyone is going ape on me again. And I'm still 4 years away from the 20 year penalty thingy to be over.



Gotta say....great game lol

 

[Moogel]

being married to my daughter didnt stop french king from attacking me as william. That penalty is harsh, no money or troops from your lands for so long time . Only thing that kept me as king of england was ransom money from french nobles, they kindly financed my merc troops. The second war against french lasted over 20 years. it was horrible. Final blow was when three french dukes rebelled and i got room to take french land. the constant levies raised was tying my troops all the time.

 

[Beagá]

Always thought the first starting point is for those who want an alternative story as Norway winning or keeping an anglo-saxon England, don´t know why you bother so much. Second point is just a few months later, it´s not like you´re shortening your game terribly.

 

[unmerged(67185)]

The three times I have tried to play as William have also failed, heh first time deafeted in battle by the norwegans (I had divided my army) The second and the third time William died

 

[hitchens]

Make a save game right before you launch the invasion. If Willy dies, reload that one. That's not cheating.

This is what I do. I almost feel bad about it, but having a severe backfire of a millitary campaign after god knows how many hours of playing can make it easier to just start all over again from the beginning in stead of playing on, making a domination goal left to luck.

 

[Chopy]

It's not that hard really , just wait until Norwegians gain their utmost attention and most of their army's move north.

 

[Ben Music]

I'm 10 years in as William and have replaced the "Bastard" epitaph with the "Conqueror". The Norwegians initially took York and then drove for London taking it, while I mopped up the some of the southern counties. I had initially divided into two forces main armies, with a smaller 3rd running down stragglers, which I then recombined to take down the Norwegians, I even capture Harald! After taking more counties, I notice that I had 100% war score with Harold and took the English crown, reducing Harold to Duke of Bedford. Harold, and others, including my own son Richard rose up, but it was nothing serious at that point, I was even able to count on some Lancastrian levies!

I've been lucky that France hasn't interfered yet, they've been too busy fight Muslims in Spain.

 

[unmerged(75409)]

I had quite a bit of fun as KING William. Took me five years to finally take down Harold, and a huge chunk of middle England with me whilst kicking out Harald to finally be King. Rooted around, took my time installing every small holdings with good Norman folk before stupid Harold raised most of the country (including two of my recently installed Norman counts) against me. Smacked them all down and imprisoned them, then preemptively imprisoned the Duke of Lancaster who basically had the entire North (York and Northumberland). I had them all well in hand until they died off in prison, causing their offsprings to all go crazy on me. Then the French King (who was married to my daughter) declared war on me. I quickly beat down the English lords and waited for the French to ravage my Norman holdings. Without much money I couldn't put up a fight and surrendered my French lands. Now I'm Robert and everyone is going ape on me again. And I'm still 4 years away from the 20 year penalty thingy to be over.



Gotta say....great game lol

Sometimes it's better to release a guy from prison, than to let him die. There's a nice +10 relations reward when you release someone, plus of course ransom can be nice. The Saxons don't have any money though. Still I like to confiscate a county and then release them, on the reasoning that +10 relations plus a county plus chance to take another one next time is better than just a county and horrid relations with his heir.

 

[SlyEcho]

Releasing gives +10 opinion to everyone so it's good for you in the long run. If he revolts again then it's just another title you get to revoke for free.