Viking Destiny (1066) scenario on Emperor

[Welnic]

I think this scenario is definitely the best one so far. I've won at Emperor, what I normally play, as every one but the Danes, haven't gotten to them yet.

Does anybody know if you take everyone's capital do you win? I just think that would be a fun way to play as one of the invaders.

Tried this scenario last night, got to say i quite enjoyed it. Played as English (naturally), on King level. Won fairly easily, but looking forward to try again with one of the invading civs on Emperor....

Seems like if you are English now, after 1066, you should play as the Normans.

 

[Pook]

I played as Danes last night (King level), and I agree that they have a tougher path to victory. I invaded both Nottingham and East Anglia, and cut a swath west and north across central and south central England. By the time I found enough suitable cities for Shire Courts (more than 8 hexes from London, and with forests or hills nearby to boost production), I was on the Welsh border at Chester. Still a fairly easy win, I'll try it at Emperor next.
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The Shire Court counter is bugged. I got credit for 2 Shire Courts I didn't have (I had 1, counter said 3), then the counter corrected itself about 20 turns later. I don't know why either event happened.

 

[MadDjinn]

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The Shire Court counter is bugged. I got credit for 2 Shire Courts I didn't have (I had 1, counter said 3), then the counter corrected itself about 20 turns later. I don't know why either event happened.

the counter is only about the player/AI in control of London.

So in that case, the English likely had 3 courts when you only had 1.

it's your way of knowing when/if you're going to lose.

 

[Pook]

Does anybody know if you take everyone's capital do you win? I just think that would be a fun way to play as one of the invaders.

In terms of invading Norway and Normandy? I don't know- I will try that and see what happens.

 

[Pook]

the counter is only about the player/AI in control of London.

So in that case, the English likely had 3 courts when you only had 1.

it's your way of knowing when/if you're going to lose.

Thank you, MadDjinn.

 

[Pyr1t3]

Hi, requesting advice on playing as England in this scenario. How do you mount an adequate defence at Deity level? I tried allying with the City-States to get longbows, but they're not enough to cover all sides at once - while I was dealing with the invasion force approaching Chester, the other vikings took Ipswich at around Turn 2 and had London surrounded by Turn 5. Any general recommendations that might be useful?

 

[JDR]

Any general recommendations that might be useful?

You're going to lose some cities early, just make sure you're not losing your units with them. Fall back and don't lose London.

Watch MadDjinn's LP scenario review

1066 starts about 9 mins in.

 

[Pyr1t3]

I've actually watched that one already, and there was some pretty good advice in there. It's just that I'm not too good with figuring out which cities to keep and which to sacrifice, since a lot seems to depend on luck, and the numerical odds are weighed heavily against England even with CS allies. (I need tips on how to fight defensively with those sorts of odds, especially with 4 fronts.)

EDIT: Currently on Turn 17 after countless restarts. Sweyn's berserkers are at the doorsteps of Northampton and London, while Harald's are threatening Chester, Stafford and Nottingham all at once (fortunately, they seem to be divided). I need to defend all my cities for about 10 more turns. *sigh* This is getting painful.

 

[MadDjinn]

I've actually watched that one already, and there was some pretty good advice in there. It's just that I'm not too good with figuring out which cities to keep and which to sacrifice, since a lot seems to depend on luck, and the numerical odds are weighed heavily against England even with CS allies. (I need tips on how to fight defensively with those sorts of odds, especially with 4 fronts.)

EDIT: Currently on Turn 17 after countless restarts. Sweyn's berserkers are at the doorsteps of Northampton and London, while Harald's are threatening Chester, Stafford and Nottingham all at once (fortunately, they seem to be divided). I need to defend all my cities for about 10 more turns. *sigh* This is getting painful.

heh.. that's part of the 'fun' of playing England in this scenario. It's all about shifting units around to minimize damage while producing the required Shires right away.

Effectively, choose the best defensible shire locations, and keep everyone away from them. Don't worry about the rest. Ensure you get a GE in London right away to plant it to finish the book.

 

[Pyr1t3]

Thanks. My next question was actually going to be whether the original strategy of churning out the Shires ASAP still held, or if it was preferable to build up more defensive forces first. So I guess it's still the former...

For the remaining non-Shire cities, what build order would you recommend? I agree with building Huscarls in London, but I find that I end up building Catapults in frontline cities (e.g. Winchester) since they're the lowest-cost ranged units.

EDIT: Finished on Deity at turn 26 with England, courtesy of much reloading. Managed to pull off a holding action at Winchester, giving me the GE earlier, and Harald lost most of his attacking force trying to take Lincoln (but it was a close one). Now I just have to do the other difficulties with the remaining civs... *sigh*

 

[MadDjinn]

EDIT: Finished on Deity at turn 26 with England, courtesy of much reloading. Managed to pull off a holding action at Winchester, giving me the GE earlier, and Harald lost most of his attacking force trying to take Lincoln (but it was a close one). Now I just have to do the other difficulties with the remaining civs... *sigh*

nice. I just redid it and finished on turn 25. Might have gotten one-two turns shaved off if I micro'd the shire production cities better, but given that the GE pop'd after I started the book, it didn't matter as much (2 extra production/turn is still good in cities though).

The reduction in Great General spawn rates definitely caused a minor issue. I only spawned a single GG this time around, rather than 2-3. So Norway almost made it into my core before I could drop the citadel to stop them.

 

[topresch]

Man, this scenario was quite easy on Deity with Norway.. Just hammer on down from York, via Lincoln, Nottingham, Chester, Warwick, Northampton, those two in between and then London Actually spent 500 gold on allying with Northumberland. Well spent. That's it - 176 of 176 achievements! Finally

 

[lkzp]

Hello all.

First post.

Just played this on Prince as the English since I thought it would be difficult with 3 different invading forces, in fact I lost Dover and Norwich but retook them a few turns later, I had just landed a huge invasion force next to Bayeux but then I won due to Domesday completion.

Im going to replay on Deity or Immortal.

I knew exactly what was coming; in reality Harold didnt know about the planned Norman invasion. He marched with all his Huscarls to fight the Norwegian invasion which he crushed, then news of the norman invasion came so he marched 300 miles straight after the battle to fight the Normans.

The battle raged for 7-8 hours and when Harold was less than 30 mins from victory he was killed. His Huscarls kept their oaths and fought to the last man.

Anyway, fantastic scenario!

EDIT: wow just saw the date of the last post. Im a little late on this one.

 

[pholtz]

Resurrecting a long dead thread as this seems to be the most complete thread on the 1066 scenario. Others, like myself, may be belatedly trying to get all the achievements.

Finally finished all the achievements for the 1066 scenario.

My most difficult game was the Emperor level game I played as Anglo-Saxon England. I didn't know what to expect, and lost one of my Domesday cities, and had to retake it (it was Nottingham), then chop down lots of forests to rush the book's production.

I played my Immortal game as the Norwegians, probably the easiest civ to play, although the game takes a bit longer. My first attack on London failed as Denmark and William showed up at the same time. I retreated, let them fight a bit, then came back with a bigger force and took London in 2 turns. I carelessly lost my first Great Engineer, so it took a while to finish the London book. I spent the time pushing the Danish Vikings out of England.

My Deity game was again as the Anglo-Saxons, and I managed a pretty easy win, although there were times I thought I was lost. But if you just keep at it, not losing any of your bows, you will eventually fight back any attacks. A great help was MadDjinn's 1066 Deity play through (SBFMadDjinn on you tube, just do a you tube search for civ v 1066, you'll find it). Knowing what to expect was a big help, even though my play went a bit differently.

One thing, that has probably changed since MadDjinn's play through, is that you can use a Great Engineer to complete the London Domesday book in one turn. So be sure to have London have a workshop specialist throughout the game. If you have any other city with a specialist, be sure to take him off for one turn, so London will be the first. You should finish your 6 Books about the time your Great Engineer is done, then it's a quick win.

 

[scheva007]

You're going to lose some cities early, just make sure you're not losing your units with them. Fall back and don't lose London.

Watch MadDjinn's LP scenario review

1066 starts about 9 mins in.

First the normans do is atack exeter...so much for that strategy

Ok im but a prince-king player, but trying this on diety is insane. If pikeman do more damage to swordmen than vice-versa...

 

[Cromagnus]

Just tried this myself. Got swamped as the Anglo-Saxons on Diety my first try, but I didn't really know the deal. My second attempt was as Diety Denmark, waaay easier. It's definitely unbalanced in favor of the attackers. I finished slow because I messed up my city attack order. I ended up waiting on my last Shire for the last ten turns, and finished just around turn 60.

After beating it with all of them now, here are various notes on the attackers:

* It might be worth it to get the Ironworks going in your capital as Denmark. Most of your first few city captures have workshops and you can rush-buy the ones that don't. This is debatable though, as I found it far more effective to produce units closer to the action.

* As Norway, you're never going to get the Ironworks. You have tons of starting cities and not all of them have workshops. Normandy can get the ironworks, but eh. It might be a waste of time period.

* Rush-buying workshops in captured cities that can build Domesday shires is a good way to spend that starting money as Denmark. Or rush-buy 2 catapults to get more momentum at the start. Denmark won't ally any CS so they don't need the money for that. Any city that doesn't have good production should generate wealth and work the market specialist.

* Generate a great engineer ASAP. Use it to finish the Domesday Book unless your attack is going slowly, in which case plant the first one in London instead, and use the second one to finish the book if necessary. It shouldn't be. You can build it in 6 turns with a manufactory, and along the way you get a lot of troops that don't have to travel.


* As Denmark I went straight for London, capturing only the cities that were in my way. But I think that's sub-optimal. If I were to do it again, I would actually wait to take London until it's about to be captured. The sooner you capture the northern perimeter cities the better. Basically, the time to victory is limited by when you get your last city that can build a Domesday Shire. I should have been capturing cities in a circle around London with two attack fronts. That's why the extra catapults come in handy. Also, as a side benefit, it's much easier to hold off Normandy if you take the coastal cities. His units in the water are no match for crossbows. It's also easier to hold off Norway if you capture York imho.

* As Norway, let Normandy/Denmark start beating on London while you finish off the English northern cities, then swarm them off the continent after you yoink London from them right before they capture. No one will finish the book because you'll have too many of the northern cities for them to get 6 shires.

* If you're playing as England or Normandy, I would try make it a priority to get my first great engineer in that southern city with Stonehenge. Maybe even rush buy a workshop. The first engineer comes out about 8-10 turns sooner that way. Doesn't work if you're Norway or Denmark.

* As Norway, I think it's a waste of time to build units in your western cities. You should just produce 2 catapults to attack the far northwestern English city by sea, so change the 2 highest production city builds builds to be catapults and then stick 'em all wealth. Your prime production cities on the northeast islands can build units, but don't bother with armories or any of that IMHO. You won't be producing units for long before switching those over to wealth too. Just have your workers chop in those cities... you'll never work all those tiles.

* As Norway, with your starting gold ally the CS on the northwest coast (the east coast has horses, bleh), use that plus two built catapults as mentioned above to start a second army against England's NW coast. If I were to do it again, I would capture the eastern CS with horses and ally the third CS with all the money I was producing. Capturing that eastern CS gives you a really good production city right on the road, a lot closer to the action for producing units. It also gives you a worker to get York's iron going, and some extra iron from the CS itself. ;-)

Horsemen suck. They make good sacrificial lambs to protect your catapults though. Always have a weak or injured unit in range during siege and your catapults will never take damage.

I had more random thoughts, but I've forgotten them. All of the above is risky if you aren't going for a sub-turn 30 finish. It might be easier to win if you make your starting cities boss and then spam units after you have the Ironworks/etc.

 

[Cromagnus]

Ok, England might be the hardest to win with, but they can almost assuredly get the fastest win. I just managed a turn 19 victory on Emperor, and I'm fairly certain you can get a turn 19-22 victory on Immortal/Diety. I'll post screenshots and a more detailed approach after I try it on those difficulty levels.

Basically, it hinges on 3 things:

1) Not losing any of your best Domesday Shire cities except York. (Possibly 1-2 more)
2) Getting a turn 17 GE. (Used to rush the Domesday Book on turn 19)
3) Selling all unnecessary buildings to maximize gold output, which gets you the second set of Longbowmen CS reinforcements at a critical moment. (Sooner than the first round of taxes)

If you expect to lose 1-2 good Domesday Shire cities, it requires less optimal combat and is a little easier to manage:

1) You can sell all the buildings in cities you're going to lose. (Always sell as many of York's buildings as you can, and don't waste the pikeman defending it)

2) You can use the gold from the first round of taxes to upgrade spearmen and swordsmen, or alternatively, to buy tiles and/or a workshop in a 2nd-tier city.

Normally the 2nd-tier cities will need 23 turns to generate a Domesday Shire. A workshop will speed that up a bit, but you get the taxes so late that it doesn't help much. A cheaper and better solution might be to use your initial excess gold to buy hills/forest tiles in those cities to speed up production.

Don't bother to build huscarls. Build swordsmen and crossbowmen, and upgrade them with the tax money. Build wealth and/or work the market specialist in any city with bad production. Don't worry about any city's growth. Sell any granary you can that won't starve a city.

I don't think it's possible to beat the scenario in less than 19 turns. Maybe if you starved London to generate the book faster and used a worker to chop you could do it in 15-16. Otherwise the limiting factor is the Great Engineer from Stonehenge.

 

[Tinker]

I had never played this scenario before, but got a relatively easy Deity win as England on my first try. I mostly battled in the north, planted citadels everywhere to easily shoot down the massive amounts of units that come up. Staying in the cities and playing the others out against each other definitely works, and all I did was pretty much immediately start building the Domesdays in all the cities possible. I only had to take a northern city back to finish the last one, rest was easily defendable (particularly with the help of those city-states).

 

[Santa Maria]

I just won this scenario with the Normans on Deity. Actually I have beaten the scenario with every faction Deity level. It's not that hard, actually I can win every time with any faction. Just followed MadDjinn's advice and I was ok.

What helped me a lot:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=421600
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=504700

MadDjinn's Scenario Overview with the global strategy for each faction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFgaNm3sAhg&list=SP784D3490FEE8FE7C&index=3

MadDjinn's England playthrough:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCB56A039973AD383
When you follow the general idea that MD shows in the video you can always win with England. I have won 10 times already - just needed to figure it out. Actually you can get all your starting cities back if you want to in the 70 turns.

 

[WarIsPeace]

I just won this on deity as England. It was my first game ever on deity. I usually play immortal, but I've found this scenario easy with every leader on every level I've played it, so I thought this would be a good foray into deity.

It seems like most people use speed of completion to measure success, but I don't find that as satisfying as playing to see what I can accomplish in the time allotted.

To that end, I played to the finish (rushed the Domesday Book with a GE on turn 69) and had won back all of my cities except for Norwich (in the far east) which would have taken another couple of turns to recapture.

This is a good scenario to practice your military tactics. There's no science, no religion, no culture, it's just a brawl.

Here's my tips/suggestions. I haven't watched MadDjinn's video, so these might not be very original.

On the first turn, ally Gwynedd. You'll get two longbows, and the CS might draw off some of the units attacking Chester. Your next CS ally should be Powys for the other two longbows. The longbows are extremely helpful, don't lose them.

In the beginning, you're badly outnumbered. Within the first 11 turns, I lost York, Ipswich, Dover, Lincoln, Norwich, Chichester, Nottingham, and Thetford, in that order. Just fall back, inflict as much damage as possible while doing so, and try not to lose any units. I eventually also lost Winchester. I never lost Exeter nor Wareham, but the latter was down to 0 defense for a number of turns and didn't fall only because I'd eliminated the Norman melee units.

I allied Northumbria and used those units to find Scotland and Galloway which I also allied. The units they gave me allowed me to capture lots of enemy workers that I used to build a road from York to Scotland and then to Galloway. I had excess workers (no unit maintenance cost, right?) and so I built roads on every tile between Northumbria and York which helped me to whittle away at the Norwegians with my knights.

I harassed York (and pillaged its iron) until I had enough units to retake it. That happened about the same time I was closing on Lincoln from the south, so the forces in York couldn't reinforce the forces in Lincoln which made it much easier for me to retake.

Here's one thing I learned the hard way: if you let your alliance with a CS lapse, their units quit fighting and start walking home. If you re-ally with them, you get the units back immediately, but they lose all promotions. Ouch.