Building an economy with norway

[disorientalist]

hi everyone, im wondering if I could get some tips with the norway faction with SS 6.2 is my first campaign with this mod (im not using grim reality neither RC/RR cause my computer gets to slow)
im not finding it really difficult to win (medium /medium)
but i cant seem to get my economy up and going. I already own all of scandinavia with the exception of Arrhus the dane capital, with whom i'm currently at war (a 6 turn truce by papal obligation )

i have a small fleet jsut 4 longboats divided in 2 fleets west and east, there are a lot of castles but its extremely expensive to make them settlements. I try to keep a small army, just enough to take it on the offensive with the danes, I've tried merchants but they are all crooked. Luckily i have 2 cardinals.

any help? im struggling not get red numbers every turn!

[cedric37]

The only way to improve your economy is to capture rich cities and Ahrus seems to me the best target for this. I suggest you capture it asap then move to england (London is also very rich and you prefer to fight england than france or HRE at start). I does not speak of the baltic, because it will put you at war with too many factions and except for Novgorod you won't gain as much as by securing England for example... Once you will have conquered Ahrus and England then you will get a great economy and can consider other conquests...

Also generally speaking, first things to develop to improve your economy in a city are:
1 - put a good administrator in the city (not necessarily an admin guy, sometimes a military oriented guy with the right titles / traits can do better + put a hero with a high chivalry score, which will improve greatly your population growth -> more population -> more money AND this allows you to increase the tax rate and still keep the population growing).
2 - build roads and paved roads IF the city is not alone on an island....
3 - build all 'sea-relative' buildings as you can IF the city has access to the sea.
4 - build markets and similar buildings IF the city is not alone on an island...
4 - build farms.

Also avoid the most as possible to recruit mercenaries and dismiss them asap (when you don't need them anymore). Be carefull on which units you let in a garrison, they should all be without any upkeep (except if you want a full stack or half-stack in a strategic point). Also let the minimal garrison (i mean with no upkeep) in the cities that obviously won't be the target of your AI opponents, this will save you a lot of money and allows you to concentrate on some nevralgic points and on your main war (i recomend you to fight one war at once).

But remember that armies cost a lot of money so the best use for them is to go at war nearly permanently; this is my strategy at start: never let my armies inactive, always conquer...
Once you get a big and rich empire you can just put stacks of inactive armies in strategic locations to ensure the peace on your borders, that's fine; but at start armies must fight something or you loose money for nothing.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Well... let's see...

1. what setting are you playing... my experience with them is on M/M
2. Basically I upgraded the Armour on the viking raiders and two stacks of them took out the danish Capital, then Hamburg Castle.
3. I ended up adopting the Danes and their three city country shielding them from HRE, plus the Pope breathing fire and threatening this and that if I smoked the Danes.

That brings my campaign to bout turn 40 where I left it and tried something else. What I want to share with you is that your upgraded raiders should be all the force you need til you get rid of the Danes and build your economic infrastructure a bit... it's gonna take bout 15-20 turns once you oust the Danes...

Das all I got....

[PerXX]

Arrhus

Ahrus

It's Århus! (And it was never a Capital of Denmark... )

Secondly, you should try posting a screenshot of your finances - that might help us.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Oh ya...sink those fleets...at $150 a pop, the maintenance that adds up....

[disorientalist]

hey thanks! i'll be trying those tips, I already finished up the danes, and build the hanseatic league headquarters, now i finish each turn with at least 3000 florins, i started doing all this before reading, so instead of going to the west I went east (to avoid trouble with the pope) and because lithuania had several coastal cities with very little garrison, my main focus was to monopolize all trade in the baltic, also they're pagan.
Now i'll try to make my peace and consolidate my holdings. maybe england will be next, hehe, viking might all over again!

anyways, thanks for the advice , didnt knew all about the chivalric generals and such. Ill put them to use.

[JorisofHolland]

Low taxes also help alot because
1) Your general gets chivalry, increasing population growth so you can set tax higher when you need money immediatly.
2) More people -> More tax income + settlements earlier upgradable, so better buildings.

[Callawyn]

Keep at least 2 of your ships, though I'd keep all 4. Most of the cities around the baltic sit on or adjacent to the water, you should be moving your armies by sea as much as possible (though, to be safe, usually is wise to end each turn with your army ashore).

Sweden starts rebel, as do nearly all the territories on the southern and eastern sides of the Baltic. There are also neutral provinces bordering the north sea. Ally with Denmark asap and expand as rapidly as possible into all of the neutral territories you can get your hands on. Note that Riga, which starts rebel, is a Crusade target: if you can call a Crusade on Riga you can greatly increase the movement range of your armies, and not pay for them, for the duration of the Crusade (there's NOTHING as efficient in kickstarting your economy early in the game as having all your field armies become free for a few turns during a Crusade). When you run out of neutrals to pick off, prepare to backstab the Danes. Use your boats and at least two armies. Try to faction eliminate them on the same turn you declare war (or declare war, take 2 provinces and get a ceasefire on the same turn). This eliminates any chance of the Pope getting involved and also eliminates the need to deal with any field armies (which get cut in half and turn rebel after the faction is eliminated).

At this point, all of Scandinavia and much of the southern and eastern baltic is yours. Keep 1 or 2 of your best castles and convert the rest to cities (you'll soon get more good castles as you expand). I usually keep Hamburg and Magdburg as castles and convert the rest of Scandinavia to cities (though, the Norwegian starting castle should stay a castle until you have a better developed one closer to your front lines).

Further expansion can greatly be aided by Crusading. The HRE should be your 2nd crusade target (Nuremburg) then Lithuana (Vilnius) and then the HRE again (Vienna). Check the Pope every turn, to see if you can start a crusade. These first 4 crusades: Riga, Nuremburg, Vilnius, Vienna should take you through your first 50 turns or so and should result in a major expansion into northern and eastern Europe. Take full advantage of the movement bonuses and free units and high quality mercenaries that crusading provides. You should easily be able to snag 4-5 regions with each crusade, in addition to the crusade target.

With all of Scandinavia cities, rather than castles, and all of them being port cities (yes, including the city in the middle of Sweden, which has a port), your economy should really take off. Focus on population growth and build/upgrade ports/wharfs at every opportunity. Nothing boosts income like a wharf upgrade. Have at least one city push for siege equipment (trebuchet), this should be a top priority. Don't neglect your agents: each town should be adding to your agent limit for priests, merchants, spies, diplomats and assassins.

With the Baltic a private lake, you don't need big fleets for naval superiority. You should however always keep as many 'fleets' of 1 ship each (preferably damaged to 1 boat, to reduce upkeep costs) as necessary, having it end turn in port as much as possible. Think of your navy more as ferries, there's really never a time when its worth paying for a major fleet capable of achieving naval superiority. Naval combat is unnecessary and risky, and very expensive. Keeping a bunch of tiny fleets for ferry duty is cheap, efficient and highly effective. Any time you happen to take damage in a naval battle, try to combine fleets in a way that leaves a fleet with just 1, or as few as possible, ships in it. Never repair it. 1 ship can ferry a full stack.