[GS] Norway in GS

A buff will probably mean they add a Huscarl which will be a non upgradeable sword replacement with +3 combat and be 1.5x the normal sword cost and remove the Stave church.

I have no idea who validates a 'buff' but they do not have a good history with buffing.

 

I think of Norway as a pillaging coastal pillaging civ fist. It's not perfect and I'll admit it didn't live up to my initial expectations when Civ VI first launched (I thought about having perpetual war with Norway and just pillage things). But if pillaging is your game, Norway is still the best at it. Ottoman's are better late, but it's late.

 

A proper starting location? Sickles? Literacy?

The Maori's whole deal is that their abilities are stronger than normal because they're balanced by unique limitations. Of course other civs will look underpowered in comparison if you ignore those limitations and only look at the upside of what they can do.

But yes, if you ignore all the Maori's weaknesses, then the only things Norway can do that they can't is pillage earlier and build boats faster. Still, that's two things, not zero.

 

For me the best buff would be something in these lines. The Longship should have this ability, able to use floodplains as early canals, as the Vikings Longships did IRL. Usually the farther you go up river, the more hills and such you might find, and then the Longship would be blocked to keep going. Only 3 tiles I think it could be too few to do much. With floodplains you get more versatility and more historical and physical accurate raids on rivers. But maybe your idea is easier to code.

 

I don't know if an existing civ already does this, but it'd be cool if Norway's embarked melee units not only kept their full strength, but could also attack, coastal raid and didn't lose strength for amphibious attacks. Basically they'd have an army that could transition seamlessly between land and sea, which is something that I haven't seen yet, and imo would be fitting with the way the Vikings were depicted in their mastery of sea navigation and coastal raiding.

I also had a grievance with Viking Longboats that I posted in the singleton suggestions thread; imo they'd be better as naval raiders instead of naval melee.

 

I think I recall one balance discussion that pointed out that the Berserkers could be improved by removing their malus on defense, and it still wouldn't make them overpowered.

 

YES. I suggested this buff over on Reddit sometime in the last couple of months. Those Viking longships were notorious for going up river.

 

Honestly what would make them better is moving the Viking Longship to Shipbuilding in the Classical Era and make it a stand alone naval melee ship.
Having both Galleys and Viking Longships as coastal raiders would help them greatly and makes more sense historically unlocking at that time. The river idea is good too.

 

Bad balancing survives in this game because the two factors mostly affecting winning are not civ specific: bad war AI and chopping.

So Norway can be funny anyway!

 

Maori is sure to be much worse than Norway.

 

The Stave Church should indeed be buffed, not just because it's bad, but because it's the easiest way to buff Norway. Allow cities with a Stave church to purchase something for faith, like Civilian unit perhaps?

Additional prod from lumber mills or adjacency from woods would also incentivize Norway players to keep those woods around.

 

Hmm...

What about getting an inspiration when discovering a natural wonder or continent? Or is that too good?

 

Just continents is fine. That would mean eight free inspirations per game, which isn't too strong, but they have other boosts as well.

 

A Redcoat army does

the i game issue is rivers are on hex sides, no idea how sensibly this could be implemented.

 

I take the minor view on this one that has been so eloquently stated.

But with a different twist. Civ comes down to this for all Civs. Planning Managing Executing and Map situations.

Each Civ from Rome to the Norway face these fundamentals. I hear the major view on Norway.

But it does not bother me

 

I guess if it comes down to what really bothers me, it’s the starting positions coastal civs get, often rubbishy in comparison. Ou sort of get an anti snowball, poor civ (which is a challenge), poor starting place and more requirement on granaries, walls and now with GS the chop nerf for 100% naval... a bad design but it helped. The sea defence requirement is late so IDC so much.

 

Runestone should probably be replacement for the monument if it is to exist, which could give yields depending on other districts in the city. A shrine should be replaced with a sacred space, a frið-garðr, probably with a focus on faith/culture from high appeal tiles. My opinion anyhow.

 

It's been suggested that the coastal raid will be able to pillage up to three tiles inland (instead of one) if those tiles are touching a river that the longship is adjacent to.

 

They are removing chop overflow. This is a HUGE HUGE nerf to Norway, who had a forest and coastal start bias as well as +50% production to melee ships. This is literally the only thing that Norway has going for them currently.

 

eloquent, one can always learn from the simplest of solutions.