Is it just me or are the invasions in 867 absurd?

[Blindsorcerer]

Kind of feel like the Norse invaders of Britain are a bit overtuned these days. A duke in Brittany amasses over 9000 men, really? Aren't all the invaders supposed to be in the "Great Heathen Army" which is already pretty heavily overtuned(25000 men, really guys?)

Idk, just feels like needless number inflation to help the Norse AI run roughshod over the British Isles.

At a minimum there should a large limitation(or the option put on cooldown for a few decades) to prepare an invasion at all as a Norse ruler on this start, as I said in the beginning all the fighting men theoretically should be with the Lothroks. Where the heck is the guy in Brittany finding almost 10000 men when there are already so many Danes on the island?

Idk. I was excited to try as Alfred but it just seems like an impossibly masochistic exercise with how pushed the Danish invaders are.

 

[Ezumiyr]

Norse Invaders have been overtuned since they became a thing. I think it's part of the "Sweden stronk" bias in Paradox games. They looked at history, saw that Norse people were often involved in conquests and raids, and deduced that they had to be a nation of supersoldiers that could take the whole continent in a few generations (that's often how 789 games go).
In reality Norse people were far from being the only ones raiding - andalusian incursions in southern France are probably the most famous counter-example, but far from the only one, and the only specificity of the norse conquests is how far they were from "home". There's really no reason why they get such huge boosts that allow them to be successful invaders everytime.

The Danish invaders in Britain are even worse, because they get both the boosts from being Norse, but also event troops, and of course troops from holdings and allies.

It's not ahistorical to feel cornered when playing as Alfred of Mercia, but yeah you're so underpowered that you have to rely on gamey tactics (such as allying foreign power and pray they will come to help). Meanwhile, playing any kind of Norse is incredibly easy, when it should probably more challenging. They didn't gain so much territories because it was their fate to do so, they did it because they had great warriors, great diplomats, and talented traders, and because they were willing to adapt. Currently they are like a horde of Uruk-Hai ravaging the christian world and replacing everything with their own people and their own religion, when they were historically very prone to "cultural shifts" as we have in the game, and always engaged in diplomatic relationships with the local powers in order to survive or to thrive (otherwise they systematically disappeared very fast).

Back to Alfred, I believe it would be nice if diplomacy was more important when it comes to facing the Danes. Contrarily to what certain works of fiction say, there was a lot of communication involved, and no the Danes weren't filthy savages. Just like there are game mechanics that ensure the viking conquest, there should be mechanics to ensure the decline of the Danish settlements in Europe.

Otherwise, the number of people in armies in CK2 isn't realistic. Numbers are tweaked to achieve balance (especially the ones involving light infantry, so they can stay competitive vs Horsemen or heavy infantry). If they were more realistic, the Danes would probably not stand a chance, in Britanny or elsewhere, because the game mechanics mostly consider sheer numbers when it comes to battle (and it's obviously not the only thing that mattered).

 

[Furleppe]

For me Britain in 867 is pretty balanced atm. I often see vikings being pushed back from the islands or forced to convert, only sometimes I see them conquer Britain. Prepared invasions are designed so that they can punch above their weight. After initial invasion keeping the realm together is hard for them tho.

 

[Kaunaz]

Otherwise, the number of people in armies in CK2 isn't realistic. Numbers are tweaked to achieve balance (especially the ones involving light infantry, so they can stay competitive vs Horsemen or heavy infantry). If they were more realistic, the Danes would probably not stand a chance, in Britanny or elsewhere, because the game mechanics mostly consider sheer numbers when it comes to battle (and it's obviously not the only thing that mattered).

There's actually a lot more factors that effect the outcome of battles than numbers, but considering how few players make use of every way to influence a battle they can, the AI definitely won't be at all, either. This is the sort of situation where smarter AI would help more than anything, IMO. Unfortunately, AI is one of the most complicated parts of any game, and it's much simpler to create brute force mechanics that influence situations like this (the Norse event stacks are themselves kind of an example of that).

Improved diplomatic features with more emphasis on realm management, peacetime, and dynasty interaction would be a step in the right direction too, though. Here's hoping for more of that if we get another major DLC.

 

[The Shacks]

Alfred the Great aint all that hard, just let the Norse grind their event stack on Northumbria and Mercia and East Anglia.