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Hi,
I noticed another thread requesting for strategy concerning a C3DG on a Scandanavian invasion of Madrid, and decided to play the Scandanavians for the 1st time, and have come away very very impressed!
Some quick notes about how I play. I'm not a particularly brilliant player, and I normally play on Monarch (which is just difficult enough to make things challenging and yet still *fun* for me).
Comments on the Scandanavians.
The commerce bonus from Seafaring is particularly useful in the early game (provided that some of your cities are coastal) as they have a significant impact on the speed of the scientific research (and tax income). Further, assuming that you're able to then research at a decent rate, the seafaring trait helps you to find the other civs and swap techs all round. Little needs to be said about the Militaristic trait as it's relatively straightforward. My only concern is that with the Seafaring trait, your 1st city will tend to be by the coast, and as such, less useful in controlling corruption (as this typically means that your cities will expand in one direction from the capital).
BUT, far and away the most interesting part about the scandanavians are their amphibious UU! A 6/2/1 resource-free amphibious attacker available at a time when the typical defender (assuming tech parity) is a Pikeman. Add to this the fact that this amphibious attacker is practically immune to attack prior to their assault because at this era, there are no true 'attack' ships. My only gripe is that at this time, you don't really have particularly efficient transport ships either.
Further, since the Berserker is almost as efficient as the calvary in attack (less the retreat ability, but I consider their sea-based mobility almost on par with the calvary in an initial assault), they can function as useful assault troops all the way until the extensive deployment of the Rifleman, which can only be realistically taken down by Berserkers (or even Calvary) with the aid of some bombardment or in a serious massed assault.
Anyway, back to the game I played, I stopped playing shortly after I obtained replaceable parts. At this time, I was on Facism, researching at 80-90% of my budget, and enjoying tech parity and occassionally a small tech advantage over my opponents, having a 20% score advantage over my nearest opponent, and the 2nd and 3rd ranking civs were at war with each other and both asking for my support vs. the other. At this stage, I thought it was rather pointless to continue, as global domination was inevitable.. heh.
Finally, on to the reason for this posting. Apart from wanting to point out the strength of the Scandanavians (which has recieved very little coverage here), I was hoping to solicit some response from other players who have tried playing the Scandanavians, and have any comments on my views or have any other interesting points concerning this rather neglected civilisation. In addition, I would like to know if anyone has a view on Berserker armies. I've tried using them, but somehow don't find them particularly efficient as they take up too much space on boats and also with the Berserker base movement of 1, have a limited blitz ability.
PS. As a cool perk of playing the Scandanavians, you get to rename your cities to titles such as 'New Asgard', 'Odin's Garden', etc etc and still stay in 'character' for the civ!
I noticed another thread requesting for strategy concerning a C3DG on a Scandanavian invasion of Madrid, and decided to play the Scandanavians for the 1st time, and have come away very very impressed!
Some quick notes about how I play. I'm not a particularly brilliant player, and I normally play on Monarch (which is just difficult enough to make things challenging and yet still *fun* for me).
Comments on the Scandanavians.
The commerce bonus from Seafaring is particularly useful in the early game (provided that some of your cities are coastal) as they have a significant impact on the speed of the scientific research (and tax income). Further, assuming that you're able to then research at a decent rate, the seafaring trait helps you to find the other civs and swap techs all round. Little needs to be said about the Militaristic trait as it's relatively straightforward. My only concern is that with the Seafaring trait, your 1st city will tend to be by the coast, and as such, less useful in controlling corruption (as this typically means that your cities will expand in one direction from the capital).
BUT, far and away the most interesting part about the scandanavians are their amphibious UU! A 6/2/1 resource-free amphibious attacker available at a time when the typical defender (assuming tech parity) is a Pikeman. Add to this the fact that this amphibious attacker is practically immune to attack prior to their assault because at this era, there are no true 'attack' ships. My only gripe is that at this time, you don't really have particularly efficient transport ships either.
Further, since the Berserker is almost as efficient as the calvary in attack (less the retreat ability, but I consider their sea-based mobility almost on par with the calvary in an initial assault), they can function as useful assault troops all the way until the extensive deployment of the Rifleman, which can only be realistically taken down by Berserkers (or even Calvary) with the aid of some bombardment or in a serious massed assault.
Anyway, back to the game I played, I stopped playing shortly after I obtained replaceable parts. At this time, I was on Facism, researching at 80-90% of my budget, and enjoying tech parity and occassionally a small tech advantage over my opponents, having a 20% score advantage over my nearest opponent, and the 2nd and 3rd ranking civs were at war with each other and both asking for my support vs. the other. At this stage, I thought it was rather pointless to continue, as global domination was inevitable.. heh.
Finally, on to the reason for this posting. Apart from wanting to point out the strength of the Scandanavians (which has recieved very little coverage here), I was hoping to solicit some response from other players who have tried playing the Scandanavians, and have any comments on my views or have any other interesting points concerning this rather neglected civilisation. In addition, I would like to know if anyone has a view on Berserker armies. I've tried using them, but somehow don't find them particularly efficient as they take up too much space on boats and also with the Berserker base movement of 1, have a limited blitz ability.
PS. As a cool perk of playing the Scandanavians, you get to rename your cities to titles such as 'New Asgard', 'Odin's Garden', etc etc and still stay in 'character' for the civ!
, but I digress. Anyway, razing coastal towns serves to give you de facto control of the seas in addition to crippling your enemy and freeing up space for your expansion. It also effectively makes them 6/2/5 units (in galleys), and, though that range is obviously limited to coastline, it's still pretty powerful. Having a couple of spare ships trailing to pick up workers and ferry them home or catch left behind Berserks up to the rest of the fleet isn't a bad idea.
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