Awesome Berserker

[steven8r]

Originally posted by History Guy
I believe once the body of a berserkir was discovered with dozens of arrow heads in his torso, a testament to how wild they were in battle.

More likely, a testament to the opposing side's 'lack of skill' with the bow.

But I do understand your comment and I was not trying to debate it--just throw in some humor.

[steven8r]

Originally posted by pedrojedi
Sometimes I think about how the scandinavian UU should be a special dragonboat...

As I understand, the Dragonboats were feared, but was it the boats that were feared, or what they contained?

Perhaps the boats were only dreaded because they heralded what was to come--leaping over the sides and through the village.

[pedrojedi]

Perhaps the boats were only dreaded because they heralded what was to come--leaping over the sides and through the village.

That's a point of view, I don't disagree with it. But I was thinking about the "technological" side of the longboat: those guys got all the way through the ocean to Greenland and America. Of course, it was a "coasting ice" route, but still! No trirreme could possibly do that!!! I keep imagining greeks freezing cold, trembling while trying to find their way through the tormentous waves of the north when pondering about a galley cruising the north atlantic/artic sea.

And that boat could also travel through rivers, all the way through Russia to the Caspian Sea! Talk about malleability! Through the ocean, through the sea, through the land or through the river. Hey, it even got some part in burial stuff. That should give some ceremonial burial bonus, huh?

[Chemical Ollie]

The Vikings success was a combination of shipcraft and guts. The flat-bottom dragon ships could be sailed anywhere: river, ocean, arctic coast or even dragged over land for long distances between the Russian rivers. The guts came from the pagan religion, where they believed they would come to Valhall (similar to Paradise) if they died in battle (just like the Muslim fanatics).

According to the legend, the Berserks got themselves stoned on poison fungus to become totally wild and ruthless. How often this trick was actually used, if ever, I don't know.

With the help of the dragon ships, they cought people totally by surprise by sailing far up the rivers and attacking where people least expected it.

The Vikings alone would be a reason enough to buy PTW. If they would ever mind to release it here in Viking land. I'm still waiting.

[Thirgaral]

Considering that poison fungus, it´s (as you wrote) only a legend... But you never know.

I thought they had set the release to 13th feb, I´m really starting to get impatient here...

[pedrojedi]

Few things compensate being a brasilian; receiving PTW before is one of them. It's not "oh, that's SO good" but it can make life a little less miserable.

The fungus story can very well be truth. Many ancient cultures used different drugs for different reasons, usually religious or warcraft. Sometimes partying. There are evidences that ancient human beings made alcohol beverages about 200.000 years ago!

[pauli]

i find it interesting that the berserker has such a low defense, considering that the stories *i* recall about berserkers usually involved epic defensive combat - what was it, 40 berserkers holding off an entire army? memory is a bit hazy, but still. would YOU advance on the axe wielding maniacs?

oh well, that's playbalancing for you

[Thirgaral]

Well, attack IS the best defence...

[Yahweh Sabaoth]

From what I've read, the Berserks got wasted pretty easily once the "mainlanders" started fighting back.

To get back to strategy, obviously the "wonder use" of the Berserkir is as an amphib attack unit, but how do y'all use them in continental warfare?

Don't laugh if the answer seems obvious... I'd really like to know. Mostly, what balance? Do you just go all out cranking the Berserks out or do you throw in some Pikemen here and there?

[minke19104]

Continental Warfare is for the Knights..

Beserkir is just too slow for that. I guess you can make pikes to go along with them but it's inefficient.

I only played once as Vikings, but what I would do is amass them in boats and bring a pikeman along. Go for coastal city attack from the boat, then move the boat inside the city and unload the pikeman there. If I'm advanced enough (usually beelined for Invention before Chivalry), I would bring some Knights to attack the mainland afterwards.

The Beserkir are best used for Marine tactics, period . I would regenerate health and load them up again to take over another coastal cities. If enough coastal cities have been taken then maybe some Knights would go in.

[Theseus]

Originally posted by pauli
i find it interesting that the berserker has such a low defense, considering that the stories *i* recall about berserkers usually involved epic defensive combat - what was it, 40 berserkers holding off an entire army? memory is a bit hazy, but still. would YOU advance on the axe wielding maniacs?

You might be thinking of, actually, not Vikings but the Anglo-Saxons defending againsts Vikings... Birhtnoth and his comitatus (i.e., posse or bodyguards) fought a hugely epic defensive battle against Scandinavian marauders around the end of the first millenium.

I believe berserkers were mainly offensive psychos.

As opposed to defensive psychos (i.e., me in some crazy games ).

[Master Zen]

The Berserker is Amphibious???????

I had no idea about this... guess I know what my next civ to play is gonna be...

[pauli]

based on my understanding (which i admit may well be quite flawed), firaxis has labeled standard viking raiders 'berserkers.' raiders were by definition offense oriented, while the beserkers, as i understand it, were fabled warriors who were even more feared than the raiders. iirc, they were said to be impervious to fire and arrows.

hmm, i'll see if i can do some research on the subject today.

[Yahweh Sabaoth]

Actually, Firaxis got it right, though it didn't go into great detail... the "berserks" were most likely epileptics, who charged forth and weren't REALLY impervious to fire and steel, but just acted that way.

I'm an epileptic, and I can assure you that when you have a seizure, you can't be stopped. After the seizure, on the other hand, you can bleed, pass out, die, etc.

And this I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure that most of the raiders went "berserk" in battle. There were most likely more impressive warriors, maybe even a class of them, but I think the term "berserk" can be applied to the average viking raider.

But correct me if I'm wrong.

[minke19104]

Originally posted by Master Zen
The Berserker is Amphibious???????

I had no idea about this... guess I know what my next civ to play is gonna be...

That's where 2/3 of the fun lies. 6 attack is more than enough to capture any cities up until rifleman . Muskets fall easily to beserks, pikemen is a joke to them.

I just started another game (monarch, huge, archipelago) with beserks. I got a pretty decent landmass in my island. I've managed to get Collosus, Pyramids (captured), FP (rushed), Great Library(rushed), Sun Tzu (rushed), I just hit Invention, and I also have Great Lighthouse.

I think it's time to unleashed these mad beserkirs to the world. Especially when somehow I got no luxuries whatsoever in my land