What's the strategy as William the Conqueror?

[toegut]

So I recently got this game and started William the Conqueror playthrough. There are some guides around but they're outdated. I can beat Harold and the Norwegians, the problem comes with sieging the land.

Basically, if I enforce the demands when I reach 100 warscore, I still have a bunch of Saxon counts and dukes under me which is a pain to deal with. I have to fabricate claims on each of the small little counties one by one to be able to revoke and install Normans without tyranny. That takes ages. I think I played until 1076 and even after a few Saxon revolts when you defeat a rebelling duke, imprison and revoke all his titles for free, I still have a bunch of them under me. At that point William got cancer and died without ever instituting the Norman yoke.

Another option is to siege all the top holdings during the starting war since that gives them to you on peace deal. But that also takes ages. Even with a siege leader each siege takes months. Then you also have the small English stacks which run around and unsiege stuff you sieged. I tried to cheese it with assaults, hired the largest merc company with William's initial hoard of money and threw them into assaulting holdings, after about four-five counties in the south of England the merc company was down to 1,000 men and I didn't even get to Cornwall yet. So then I had to keep sieging with my main stack. So now it's 1073 and I still have a bunch of provinces to siege. I mean this is ridiculous. Historically, William won the war and was crowned king in 5 months, I understand that it was highly contingent on Harold getting killed at Hastings but still, fighting for 10 years is ridiculous. Is there a way to finish the war in 2-3 years and have the historical outcome of Normans getting the land?

 

[mattrhearn]

I'd try a middle ground. Siege the top holdings of the southernmost duchies of England, leaving Mercia and anything north of it to keep their Anglo-Saxon lords. It becomes a lot easier to legally imprison and revoke what's left, especially with a larger Norman vassal base to back you up.

 

[Andrew0Red]

If playing William the Conquerer, just try to maintain peace and order in England, and build it up a bit ... because he's not 'the Conquerer' until he's already conquered it

I'll let myself out

 

[jhhowell]

The strategy suggested by mattrhearn is the best approach to mimic something resembling the historical outcome. William had many Saxon vassals initially, and spent quite a few years putting down rebellions and consolidating power. You should not expect to do anything else significant external to the realm in William's lifetime. If he can leave a reasonably stable realm to his heir, that's doing pretty well.

 

[Gwyn ap Nud]

Yeah, you're not gonna be able to replace the entire political structure of the country in one go. And as jhhowell notes, that's not what happened. Check the post-victory 1066 start to see how much of the country was still ruled by Saxon lords. That should be your benchmark.

 

[Streletz]

Urgh, I tried only one game as William, during the whole time I play CK2.

Past having a ton of angry Saxons vassals, France somehow become an elective monarchy. And french dukes decided to elect me king of France without any action from me. Angry Saxons+angry French+Angry Occitans was not so much fun.

 

[Darth_Sp0ck]

just grab the counties you want to have, and break up Mercia/East Anglia. Or if you are willing to use the cheat menu in a minor way, just be a tyrant, set up a good heir, and kill yourself. (If I can also string in my own question, I've heard its possible to grab norway as well, is that true?)

 

[toegut]

thanks for the replies, I managed to siege all top level holdings by 1072, got two siege leaders and did sieges in parallel. So now I can redistribute everything to my Norman subjects. I know it's not exactly historical but the problem is that historically William left a few Saxons around but they kept rebelling so he in game terms "revoked" their land anyway. Within 20 years, by the time the Domesday book was composed, everything belonged to the Normans. But in the game if you leave the Saxons around, you can't revoke all their land in 20 years because you have to fabricate claims on each one in turn. So it's cleaner to get rid of them at the start.

 

[Darth_Sp0ck]

Didnt the Saxons think he was a tyrant? It would fit pretty well to just revoke.

 

[Warden Gordon]

i managed to form britinnia in his lifetime. i just de jure drifted Ireland and wales into it. trick is marry in to godwin and hwicce houses to get the non agression pacts needed to survive