Norwegian Wood ideas

[blallo]

i managed to get independence from Denmark and i'm currently allied with Sweden, Scotland and Lithuania.
Denmark does not have meaningful alliances so i'm planning to take him out as soon as the truce ends, and a join the empire as soon as possible. Beyond that the plan is to conquer all Scandinavia and then all England while expanding in the new world, and focusing on the achievement requirements only after 1700.

But i have honestly no idea what ideas to take first.
I believe that i'll need quantity and offensive as military groups, trade as diplomatic and humanist and expansion as administrative, but i have really no idea what else could be handy. Since mil is the best producing category for the current ruler and his heir and the only tech i'm not falling behind i was thinking about taking defensive first, so it should look something like

1) defensive
2) expansion
3) humanist
4) quantity
5) trade
6) offensive
7) ?
8) ?

but this set up seems to be prevent me from taking land until i finished the third idea group since i'm doing 2 admin group one after the other, and that seems a big problem.

on top of that i have no idea what to take last, quality is always an option, but the other one can't be a mil group and none of them except maybe economic seems to be really useful.

can i get the opinion of those who completed this achievement?

 

[perhje]

First thing to do is setting national focus to diplomatic, then go exploration+exspansion. This will get you ahead in colonization to snipe the trade provinces in the old and new world. Remember to save money where you can and get a foothold asap. If you can get a stable alliance with Sweden you should use it to go hard on colonization, if not try to take atleast dalaskogen for the coppermine which will finance the colonization. As the third either quantity, defensive or quality. Since you got a good milruler, you could get a milgroup before expansion because it will save you some expences because of the ideas and the cost of colonies. Three next ideas should be admin(coring, mercs),influence(diprep for colonies and annexation, AE) and the other military of either quality. The two last are dependent on what you need. Maritime is a good one for Norway and the desicions. Economic is great with a lot of gold from colonies. Espionage and diplomatic helps controlling colonies. When you are in age of revolution you should get the no coring distance bonus and snipe provinces with naval supplies.

 

[cliffo]

Treat it as a normal World Conquest, so you’re starting with Admin/Influence/Diplo/Religious or Humanist then Quantity. Maybe a slight change in order depending on your ruler’s point distribution. You get a colonist in your ideas, as well as Colonial Range and Explorers, so no need for Explorarion and certainly none for Expansion.

Focus on Scandinavia, England and taking control of the English Channel, then use your colonist to set up easy wars whilst you pick at Europe when an easy war rears it’s head. Focus all of your efforts on making strong allies with Russia and France. Scotland might be useful to take England down but ditch him immediately after.

 

[Octavius Antony]

Skip expansion, don't need it. The free colonist from Norway's ideas, plus the 2 from Exploration is plenty. Your first goals are to secure independence, kill Sweden/Denmark, then grind down the English Isles starting with Scotland. You can use the native's money to power through your weak early economy as you conquer them. Try to get the 5 provinces for a colonial nation, then move to a new area.

 

[moyang]

Treat it as a normal World Conquest, so you’re starting with Admin/Influence/Diplo/Religious or Humanist then Quantity. Maybe a slight change in order depending on your ruler’s point distribution. You get a colonist in your ideas, as well as Colonial Range and Explorers, so no need for Exploration and certainly none for Expansion.

I second this. This is the whole point of Norway NI.
I didn't took exploration in my run, either.

 

[DemBones]

Check out youtube for the video DRRJake did on the early game decisions. Get independent, conquer Sweden and Denmark, then work on the British Isles, like Octavius said.

As for ideas, I'm actually working on this achievement right now. I have 1) Exploration; 2) Defensive; 3) Economic; 4) Diplomatic; 5) Offensive; 5) Humanist. I think exploration is key, but expansion is overkill. Economic is questionable, I think it was more to solve a problem at the time. Now I am swimming in cash. Trade ideas are not even necessary. You will have so many merchants from colonies and trade companies. I also made Holland into a vassal and fed it the dutch cores. You can just divert trade from them and get all cash in English Channel without having to deal with Dutch revolts.

 

[Vetgirig]

One option is to go protestant, win the league war, become emperor, enact the decisions to get a vassal swarm that can conquer the world. Meanwhile colonize to get cash rich and take over great britain islands.

 

[SKOTy]

I am thinking of doing Norwegian Wood myself and I am curious how long did it take for Sweden to become rebellious and ally you.

 

[Dominion]

Sweden turns rebellious in random spikes. I've had it as early as 1449 and as late as 1460, but it is never consistent and doesn't necessarily stay rebellious for more than a few months.

Better keep an eye on the diplo screen.

 

[MrLewis413]

Recently i got this achievement and I have to say, it is far from a WC...
I didnt take admin /influence and still had plenty of time left. The hardest part was breaking free, after that, i colonized alot (took exploration) and really only conquered my way to the naval supplies provinces... (they are spread around the world, but honestly they are not that many)
So taking exploration and military ideas are helpful and trade is also essential, since youre gonna bordergore around the world and need money. ;-)

 

[Bellyfish]

Recently i got this achievement and I have to say, it is far from a WC...
I didnt take admin /influence and still had plenty of time left. The hardest part was breaking free, after that, i colonized alot (took exploration) and really only conquered my way to the naval supplies provinces... (they are spread around the world, but honestly they are not that many)
So taking exploration and military ideas are helpful and trade is also essential, since youre gonna bordergore around the world and need money. ;-)

Agree with this, don't think of it as a WC. In the final age there is that bonus which allows you to core any province regardless of distance. This combined with imperialism means you have no need be constantly conquering.
I'd spend the first 200 years or so getting strong (taking Britain for the trade is a must) and then worry about sniping the random provinces. Exploration->Humanist/Religious->Mil idea or Administrative would be good idea combination

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Expansion in its present form is a joke idea group and you should never take it, aside maybe a custom nation new world run where you're trying to own NA/SA, even then it's questionable.

Trade as a late pickup is kind of weak too.

Really you just need standard WC fare (though since vassals count this is much easier than WC), though you could get away with stacking space marine troops and just making subjects of the land you need, might be less challenging. If administrative "doesn't seem useful" to an achievement like this I'm not sure you're ready to try it, but it will be a good experience all the same. But you should still probably pick administrative.

Standard world conquest idea groups are:

1. Admin
2. Influence
3. Diplomatic
4. Either religious or humanist

The order of the above depends on start position. If the reason these are the top picks for mass conquest isn't obvious, stop and think for yourself why they're far and away better than stuff like economic or expansion. Knowing the reason players that succeed make their decision is important to improving yourself.

You can also get away with sneaking a military group in earlier, though it will slow down finish date it makes life easier sometimes. Other viable/situational groups to fit in your last two slots:

5. Any military idea is justifiable except naval. Naval is not for single player. I often go defensive/quantity for the sake of sanity, but really any 1-2 is fine depending on playstyle.
6. Exploration is a situational pick, since it can get you an institution without developing and open up new fronts to attack + make money, however it does not offer as much on average as influence or diplomatic so picking it in lieu of one of them hurts. You can partially make up some of the loss by snapping up the Zanzibar node and making it a trade company. Trading in ivory's +2 diprep is a nice bonus.

 

[Dominion]

Expansion in its present form is a joke idea group and you should never take it, aside maybe a custom nation new world run where you're trying to own NA/SA, even then it's questionable.

Trade as a late pickup is kind of weak too.

Really you just need standard WC fare (though since vassals count this is much easier than WC), though you could get away with stacking space marine troops and just making subjects of the land you need, might be less challenging. If administrative "doesn't seem useful" to an achievement like this I'm not sure you're ready to try it, but it will be a good experience all the same. But you should still probably pick administrative.

Standard world conquest idea groups are:

1. Admin
2. Influence
3. Diplomatic
4. Either religious or humanist

The order of the above depends on start position. If the reason these are the top picks for mass conquest isn't obvious, stop and think for yourself why they're far and away better than stuff like economic or expansion. Knowing the reason players that succeed make their decision is important to improving yourself.

You can also get away with sneaking a military group in earlier, though it will slow down finish date it makes life easier sometimes. Other viable/situational groups to fit in your last two slots:

5. Any military idea is justifiable except naval. Naval is not for single player. I often go defensive/quantity for the sake of sanity, but really any 1-2 is fine depending on playstyle.
6. Exploration is a situational pick, since it can get you an institution without developing and open up new fronts to attack + make money, however it does not offer as much on average as influence or diplomatic so picking it in lieu of one of them hurts. You can partially make up some of the loss by snapping up the Zanzibar node and making it a trade company. Trading in ivory's +2 diprep is a nice bonus.

Expansion in the NA+SA achievement is worth it for multiple reasons. I would not advise against it when doing the run.

Norwegian wood is actually one of the prime examples for province sniping achievements. The non-WC path is perfectly viable.

Personally, I hate it. Can't get accustomed to the style, but blobbing is actually the inferior option when going for it.

I actually like recommending NW for people early on to learn province sniping as a style. Shortens a lot of achievements whileas I am kinda stuck with my WC blobbing and have a hard time switching out of it.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Expansion in the NA+SA achievement is worth it for multiple reasons. I would not advise against it when doing the run.

When I did it I was using a 50 point custom nation and took expansion, but that was the only time in the past ~2 years I took that group. If you're using a higher-point nation these days you can just pick "Siberian frontier" as a NI and derp the whole thing away regardless though.

Rather that province sniping the easiest method for this one is to abuse subjects. Find whoever has wood and vassal them. I guess you'd have to annex the colonizers, but if that's the ONLY thing you need to annex late-game it's relatively easy.

 

[Dominion]

You can't pick Siberian frontier. It used to cost 0 points, but only for half a patch. Iirc it's 200 points rn.

Puts you out of range for the achievement.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You can't pick Siberiam frontier. It used to cost 0 points, but only for half a patch. Iirc it's 200 points rn.

Puts you out of range for the achievement.

Nothing an OPM start with a couple of craven idiot kings can't resolve. I started western and got a NIs to level 2 in new world, just took a bunch of young 0/0/0 craven idiots leading the nation initially. Sucky, but you still have 2 MIL techs on everyone.

 

[Dominion]

Nothing an OPM start with a couple of craven idiot kings can't resolve. I started western and got a NIs to level 2 in new world, just took a bunch of young 0/0/0 craven idiots leading the nation initially. Sucky, but you still have 2 MIL techs on everyone.

No. 200 points is the maximum. You can't even pick NIs after taking SF, but you have to.

What does the worst ruler/queen/heir combo give you? -20?

That won't suffice. And even on the offchance it does it simply isn't worth it.

 

[blallo]

just before the first idea group sweden got broken by rebels, he had no army and allies, so i went for admin to take a bunch of land.

now i have all of scandinavia and denmark except for a couple of provinces that i plan to take, and i vassalized scotland to take over england later.
i'm currently allied to lithuania, egdland and austria. France got destroyed by austria england and spain. The only threat left i have to deal with is russia and i have decided to take him out as soon as possible since once that is done i can back stab england and then nobody will be able to counter me, or to take my money from trade.
so i went for quantity as a second group, since i have no problem at all with aggressive expansion.
i'm almost at tech 10 and i think i'll go for exploration, since that will greatly increase the colonization rate.

i'll use 1500 to take over russia and england, 1600 to take all the trade center outside of europe, and 1700 to take all the naval supply provinces.
i'll delay influence for now, i'm not too sure i'll ever need that, since i don't need to diplo annex a bunch of countries, since now i can snipe for provinces that i would not be able to core normally