The April 2023 patch included a number of important changes for Vikings. This follow-up video covers those in depth: ruclips.net/video/CTExn2VK-VA/видео.html
Sorry, i know it's been 3 months, but it could also happen in for honour. Idk if they have a map specific but with how that game is i wouldnt be suprised
Playing CK2 as a Homosexual Shia Muslim Norwegian Emperor using my status as Master of Assassins to coordinate against the invading Aztec Empire who have already overrun the entirety of France and using my Hermetic knowledge to defeat one of the Mesoamerican invaders in a duel via a handgun (which I invented) before returning home to organize my 3rd daughter's betrothal to the heir of the Hindu King of Abyssinia (who is my secret paramour) but then the Black Death hits and my court retreats into the castle until my mother eats the last pudding and we're forced to cannibalize her to survive.
I've always felt like they should just fold berserkergang into the elite berserk upgrade and come up with a new unique tech to fill the gap. Perhaps something with a bit of a naval bent to push that identity.
I just realized the Vikings entirely missing Fire Ships is almost definitely a historical reference to the Rus Vikings getting repeatedly trounced by the Byzantines and THEIR fire ships XD
@@jollygrapefruit786 yes, at one point Vikings made up almost entirety of Rus rulling class and were an ancestors of most rulling dynasties in modern day Ukraine and Russia. Hell, there is even a hypothesis that first ruler of Poland was a Viking or of scandinavian descent
I remember all those years back SotL had a questionnaire which recommends a civ for you based on your answers, and I got Vikings. I appreciate the questionnaire to this date.
Haha, just googled it and it gave me then Huns, which is pretty to close to my favorite faction, the Tatars (Which aren't included in the quiz, I would guess)
Extend Berserkergang (as +20hp regen) to all infantry. That gives you a unique feel and better value for all of your infantry, makes barracks more viable as a hard transition in lategame and makes you not generic in trash wars. And Berserkers are still unique due to having double the regen and movement speed. And cool capes.
As Hera once said, it's almost impossible to mess up your early to mid game as the Vikings, just keep your town center working at any time and you'll end up with way more resources than you might expect
What a pleasant coincidence! I just talked about the Danes the other day. I would love to see more remakes of older videos if you're ever up for it Spirit!
I think with viking one thing that should be mentioned is their weakness in hybrid maps. While they are great on maps where massing galleys is fine option even in early game, in hybrid maps lack of fire galley is a huge problem. Additionally the early wheelbarrow is less of a bonus in hybrid maps, since you'll be doing a lot less farming. So quite counter intuitively, while they are great water and great landciv, they are actually quite medicore in most hybrid maps. Unless maybe all the water is connected... and even then I don't they are that great.
@HawkSea personally I really want to see the Byzantines return. A American Civ would also be appreciated. And the lack of Japanese and Korean is felt. Not to mention all the potential from the southeast Asian civs.
I'd suggest that Berserkergang makes all infantry regenerate HP, faster rate for Berserks, slow rate for other infantry. It costs 400f & 650g. Thus, they can go either champions or berserks, and their trash units at least are little bit better.
Been loving all your civ reviews, Spirit. However, I’d actually like to request a video about a specific Age Of Kings tech, if you haven’t already made one. Whenever you talk about the Monk tech tree, one of the techs I notice you always tend to put a big emphasis on a civ having is Block Printing. I’d really like it if you made a video about the true significance and/or importance of the Block Printing tech, what civs make the best usage of it, and what civs you feel would really benefit most from having it but currently don’t have access to it.
I'm going to miss your old videos with all the graphs and explanations, but I'm more glad you're finding the time to redo a lot of your old civ overviews. Thanks for all the effort you put into these, SOTL!
I love that you're updating these for new players like me! The Xbox release is a lot of fun but it can be hard to find up-to-date information with all the patches and dlcs. Thanks for your work!
Berserkergang, instead of regen, now grant units +1 atk per 10℅ hp missing, starting from 60℅ hp (that means the unit will have max +6 atk at 10℅ hp). Goes well with the name and doesnt sound too OP. The bonus will disappear if the unit is healed. 100-70% no bonus 60% 1 dmg 50% 2 dmg 40℅ 3 dmg. And so on You can also give atk/move speed instead of dmg, or both.
At 1:38 the displayed discount on the right is calculated based on the cost of a Fire Galley instead of that of the Demolition Raft. Just a small thing I wanted to point out. Love you and your videos, SOTL!
I'm sure a lot of less-experienced and/or less-skilled players have gotten cocky with Longboats, so I'll explain how you're suppose to use them. The chief advantage of Longboats in Castle Age is their creation speed and their ability to force engagements on their terms. They are NOT capable of beating an enemy fleet with equal resources if they don't micro, so don't just patrol 15 of them into 20 War Galleys. You'll get stomped on. The goal with Longboats is to quickly build a large fleet of them, outnumber and decisively defeat the enemy's fleet, and then destroy Docks to kick the opponent off the water. Many high ELO games on water maps are decided by late Castle Age, as there are very few viable comeback mechanics when it comes to naval battles. If your fleet has been destroyed, you're not gonna be able to build a new one since your opponent will kill any Villagers who try to build near the shore. Not even building a Castle is going to help, as your enemy will just pick off any ships that come out of Docks beneath said Castle. The Vikings can then just pin you down, get to Imperial Age, and then use Cannon Galleons to finish you off. That's where the Longboat shines. It allows the Vikings to avoid the need for a war of attrition by crushing the enemy's fleet and making it impossible for them to build a new one. Make sure you have an equal or greater number of ships than the enemy and you'll win as long as your opponent doesn't hit you with several Demo Ships.
Vikins stable and monastery were equivalent or similar to Dravdians. In many cases its looks similar tech tree. 1. Vikings have self-healing berserk, whereas Dravidians have self-healing elephants. 2. Both have similar stable trees only exception is the cavalier or battle elephant. Both imperial options were not so good. 3. Both were strong water civs. 4. Both have a great eco bonus in land and water maps in early to mid-game. 5. berserk and urmi swordsman were good raiding troops. These are my opinion
Honestly Vikings should get some change to umique tech, because berserkengang is very niche tech (like it is very hard to get a real positive value from it) and some more general tech would be nice, and It can also be used as a balance tool - you can reduce some of their bonus or remove some basic tech to replace it by unique tech with slightly different effect and cost. Like - absolutely Wild idea- remove a champion and give them a imperial unique tech which would give all their infantry some bonus: like 10hp regen per minute, +5-10 hp amybe some bonus attack (like +2) or something. It would make their infantry better but for higher cost and for more castle time and also it could reduce their power because missing champion is big, but it would in the end make their 2-handed swordsman into as good or even better than generic champions, but it would be more complicated to reach this point. Also it would be funny if Vikings would be infantry civ with no fully upgraded infantry unit 😀
Does healing of Berserks stack when they are garrisoned in a building and if yes is the stacked healing faster or slower than other units garrisoned with Herbal Medicine?
It would be so cool if they added the ability for longboats to transport infantry and archer units as part of their unique techs. It would add so much identity and flavor. Of course, they would still have to make transport ships for any cavalry, siege, monks and villagers they may want to transport.
Nope. There are two Historical Battles scenarios but no dedicated campaign. The first is the Erik the Red scenario, the second is the invasion of England scenario.
I must admit. The most appealing thing to the vikings to me is their campaign York. I took the Man of isle as a starting point and had a massive Army of Berserks and Longboats attacking Northumbria. So epic. The devs really nailed that campaign.
I think for vikings they're close to Chinese in the way that lower skill people will not be able to take advantage of the wheelbarrow and hand cart all that much. And if you don't take advantage of those it's just a civ with a very bad stable and ok range.
I kinda wish the devs buffed the Guard Tower and Keep techs, as I feel like players rarely if ever get those techs. Whenever players do go for towers it's usually bombard towers and only a few specific civs for even that.
Well Japanese tower hopping is a legit deadly strat, I think keep shouldn't be buffed since there are too many civs without access to them but yeah maybe guard towers can have some buff.
Fully upgraded longboat is just weaker version of the Dravidian (civilization with full technology tree dock) unique ship. Why vikings can't get fire galley that does not upgrade? Why koreans can't get demolition raft that does not upgrade. All civs should have all feudal age units and techs.
Vikings having Cannon Galleon makes no sense historically. I wish they would give them their own unique type of siege ship that is more historically accurate.
I'd keep berserkergang as it is, but would add in a new faction ability for them that gives them a set amount of gold for every temple they destroy. That would help fund that tech and otherwise fuels their war machine and that would be so fitting for their faction. The amount of gold it gives could always be adjusted until a good balance is found.
9:40 - How the one crossbow men on the left walks straight to the mounted archer and kills him with a single shot to the face - and dying instantly after that. Also: Is it me or does the green colour suit the berserks way more than blue? ^^
Don't know if you hear this often because I'm new to AOE2 (Xbox player) but these videos are AMAZING! I love the effort you put into the visuals in the background, how you display the stats simply and effectively, and you summary at the end really wraps things up nicely
Does the game play well on console? I would think that it would be unplayable without mouse and keyboard Or do you use mouse and keyboard with Your console?
Video idea similar to the Turk trash unit video: Are Teuton Scout Calvary even worth making? They are a lot more useful and powerful than you think: -Best Monk killers in a standard match game as the only Triple conversion resistant unit. Lose their triple resistance if they somehow get converted. -still retain their usefulness for scouting enemy positions -have all the Calvary upgrades in the blacksmith including bloodlines and husbandry -better attack stats than some Light Calvary - Save you resources for upgrading to Light Calvary and hussar - still a big nuisance to raiding enemy villagers - can be created in large numbers thanks to Teuton farm bonus
I'd like to see a list of who faction has the best unique unit spam. Like isn't spamming berserkers one of the best things in the game? It's all i do in MP. As long as i can farm until then. i just overrun people.
I think Medical Corps should either make all non-siege units heal or make it where castles have an AOE healing aura, similar to Field Hospitals in AOE3.
Nordic Chieftains DLC. Vikings Civ rework NB. (Includes Byzantine rework) The Vikings came from a cold, barren mountainous/fjord covered boggy area, Norway,Sweden,Scandinavia where agriculture was highly difficult to maintain, thus their focus was on fishing, but as their culture and cities grew, it became a necessity to raid other shores/peoples in order to survive and thrive. Thus they started to use their brilliant longboats to conquer the northern seas and raid countless European and Mediterranean kingdoms. So I was wandering, why the devs gave the Vikings (Which literally mean Raiders) such a strong economy by means of free handcart and wheelbarrow? Norse/Vikings Pagan, early aggression, raiding using Infantry, cheap trash,Strong Agnon Skirms, transported in longboats. Architecture: Norse architecture that resemble their beautiful Norse church wonder. Knut The Great Sven Forkbeard Ivar the Boneless Erik the Red Erik Blood Axe Ragnar Lothbruk Harald Hadrada Olaf Siggurdson Rollo Harald Bluetooth UU castle: Berserk (infantry) - Unique infantry unit that slowly heals itself. (Dane axe + round shield on back) Can repair Longboats UU Dock: Longboat (warship) - Unique ship that fires multiple arrows (from castle age) as well as transport foot units (Infantry/skirms/vils/monks/kings only) In feudal age Longboats can’t fire arrows. Longboats transporting skirmishers gain added pierce armour and attack. Feudal age longboats transporting skirmishers gains an attack. UT Imp: Chieftains Longforts - Beserkers can be trained in docks. UT Castle: Berserkergang (Berserks regenerate faster) Civ bonus1: Dane Geld:Skirmishers, Pikemen, Halberdiers cost -25% Civ bonus2: Infantry and skirms +20% hit points starting in Feudal Age Civ bonus3:Warships+fishing ships cost -15% Feudal Age, -15% Castle Age, -20% Imperial Age Civ bonus4: When infantry destroys an eco building 100 of the connected resource gets looted and added to your stockpile. Lumber camp = 100 Wood Mill = 100 food Dock = 100 Food Mining Camp = 100 gold + 200 Stone Market = 300 Gold Monastery = 500 gold TC = 500 gold Shared unit Barracks: SU2:Throwing Axe men - Shared with Goths + Franks Franks only get regular, no elite. If allied to Byzantines, both civs gain access to: the technology of Varangian Guard from the Feudal age. In Feudal age , Byzantine army (As well as Norse allies) gain access to a special unit in the Barracks called the Varangian Guard. - Expensive , slow moving with a limited build amount. Since the Byzantines are a Defensive civ, the Varangian Guards have a high attack boost when in the vicinity of a TC or Castle but outside a certain radius from these buildings the VG lose the strong attack bonus and are just as strong as a normal Man at Arms/Long Sword/Champion. (guards of the Emperor) To defend against early rushes , but since they are expensive,slow and limited, you will have to think strategically as to when and where to deploy/station them. (Automatically upgrades with each age) Team Bonus: Arson becomes available in the feudal age. (Civs whom did not have access to arson now do gain access to arson) Barracks: Champion Up to long sword - Round shield + small war axe 2handed sword to Champion - Round Shield + sword Halb - Round shield spear line Throwing axemen + Elite Throwing Axemen Stable: Light cav AR: Elite Skirm - Angon Skirms (does slightly more damage to villagers) archer SW: Siege ram Siege onager scorpion Dock: Fire galley Galley Heavy Demo Transport ship UU - Longboat (warship) - Unique ship that fires multiple arrows (from castle age) as well as transport foot units (Infantry/vils/monks/kings only) In feudal age Longboats can’t fire arrows. Longboats transporting skirmishers gain added pierce armour and attack. Feudal age longboats transporting skirmishers gains an attack. No shipwrite Pagan Temple: No Redemption No atonement No Theocracy No Illumination No Herrecy Blacksmith: No plate boarding armour University: No keep No BBT No Siege engineers No fortified wall Don’t gain access to Livestock penn unless allied to the Swedes. No crop Rotation Wonder: Borgund/Hedel/Hopperstad Stave Church Swedes/Kalmar Union Christian , late game focus, expensive units , using Hand cannoneers, Arbs, Knights + warhammer plated infantry to crush their enemies. Architecture: Current ‘’Viking set’’. Kalmar castle Visby/Gotland Castle Monnestary - Lund Cathedral UU castle: Plated war hammer infantry (Heater shield + one handed war hammer) Slightly stronger than a longsword (Regular) and Champion (Elite) but does bonus damage vs other Swedish units (To depict the numerous civil wars within the Kalmar union) Weak vs Cav + gunpowder, average vs archers, strong vs siege + buildings + infantry , very strong vs other Swedish units except for cavalry. UT Castel:Danish Reformation - Swordline + Knight line gain + 25HP UT Imp: Vryborg bang - All guard towers become upgraded to BBT and when a BBT gets destroyed , it explodes and inflicts area damage around it. (To allied and enemy forces) Sallet helmet - sword line + arbs gain +1 melee armour Civ bonus1: Pete houses - Houses built on grass or snow terrain cost - 50% wood. Civ bonus2:Torps - Houses built next to Berries and woodlines increases villager collection rates of these resources. Civ bonus3:Burkals - Hunt generates the same amount of gold as they do food (Selling of furs) Civ bonus 4:House of Vasa - if allied to Poland you gain access to Winged Hussaria Team Bonus: Elk/Reindeer can be bred in the livestock penn wich provides more food (and more gold for the Swedes) in cold /winter maps Barracks: Kiteshield ,nasal helm swordsmen up to Long sword Two handed swordmen - Plate armoured Heater shield swordmen + Salet Helm Spearmen - Kite Shield - Pikemen - Heater shield ,Halb - Plated halberdier no shield Stable: Cavalier wearing plate armour and Sallet helmet Light cav No husbandry AR: Arb Handcannonner Elite skirm SW: BBC Onager Ram Dock: Gallion Fire ship Demo ship University: No Keep No siege engineers No Treadmill crane Wonder: Uppsala Cathedral Historical battle: Battle of Brunkeberg 1471 AD. Campaign in the Levant with the Norwegian Crusades under Sigurd the Crusader 1115 AD Siege of Sidon
On Berserkers, I'll use some terminology that is used in Team Fortress 2, that being how the Berserker is a "Generalist" unique unit. It performs well in almost all situations and can go from attacking to defending on the fly when needed, and be equally effective on both fronts. This in comparison UUs like Teutonic Knights or Huskarls, who would be considered "Specialists" who undeniably perform better than Zerkers in certain situations, but become far less useful in most others.
I really love vikings... But being an infantry civ is feels like a debuff in the current game. Every other infantry civ are good at cav, or has a full archer tech tree. Meanwhile vikings have neither... Build berserkergang into elite zerk and give them an imp tech that increases the power of their archers.
It would be nice if they changed the Viking civs into actual Nord civs like for the Indians. It’s pretty weird to have a civ called Viking when the term Viking is more of a action word such as eating, sleeping and so on.
Action words are called 'verbs'. But 'Viking' doesn't have to be used as a verb. I agree though, having Vikings as a civ name isn't consistent the rest of the civs. It's a bit like calling Hindustanis Kshatriyas or having Longbowmen as a civ instead of Britons. The civ design of Vikings is also a bit fantastical. I think you could make game balance work even with a less fanciful conception of the civ.
Some insight for Berserkergang, Its have nothing to do with a gang. Gang means in Danish "to walk" so it just means "to go berserk" and the pronunciation is way off. Bersærkergang is commenly known when the vikings fought in some sort of trance , some people believe they used mushroom in their "mjød" (beer like drink) to get in that state, but it have never been proven.
Is this civilisation being updated now... because we still don't know/can't remember that Vi, comes after Ve alphabetically... and my Vietnamese are going to come last again & get a re-look at in another week or two? :)
Im sorry … I’ve started play aoe recently… and I just can’t make dracars (the special warship) with vikings… they doesn’t appear to me… what should I do? Please help me lol
Viking Monk are just captured English slaves so they dont really try very hard. I think the need a reskin to look more shaman with a dear skull crown and bear pelt instead of robes
The April 2023 patch included a number of important changes for Vikings. This follow-up video covers those in depth: ruclips.net/video/CTExn2VK-VA/видео.html
Imagine becoming a medieval superpower by putting a wheel on a box quicker than everyone else
and then you become even more of a superpower just giving it another wheel
Actually if u put it like that... Chariots are after all wheels in a box, same goes for cars
Chariots indeed made some civs op.
Amateurs study strategy, professionals study logistics.
Sounds simple, but im sure the relative time scale, if scaled, would prove to be significant in history.
@@avisheknandibarna2807 ל
8:55 Age of Empires 2 is the only game where you can have Vikings attack a Japanese village in the middle of an Arabian desert
Sorry, i know it's been 3 months, but it could also happen in for honour. Idk if they have a map specific but with how that game is i wouldnt be suprised
Age of Mythology would like to know your location
Playing CK2 as a Homosexual Shia Muslim Norwegian Emperor using my status as Master of Assassins to coordinate against the invading Aztec Empire who have already overrun the entirety of France and using my Hermetic knowledge to defeat one of the Mesoamerican invaders in a duel via a handgun (which I invented) before returning home to organize my 3rd daughter's betrothal to the heir of the Hindu King of Abyssinia (who is my secret paramour) but then the Black Death hits and my court retreats into the castle until my mother eats the last pudding and we're forced to cannibalize her to survive.
I've always felt like they should just fold berserkergang into the elite berserk upgrade and come up with a new unique tech to fill the gap. Perhaps something with a bit of a naval bent to push that identity.
Maybe viking longboat can be used as transport ship tech? Flavor wise would work, wouldn't be too strong in Imperial and allows for some cool attacks
Or make the tech affect all infantry as someone down below suggested, which sounds like a great idea that also sticks to their identity
@@SilverKnightPCs that’s pretty smart
@@SilverKnightPCs Didnt longboats work like that at some point? I have some memory of it, maybe in the beta...
@@PoorManatee6197 maybe
I just realized the Vikings entirely missing Fire Ships is almost definitely a historical reference to the Rus Vikings getting repeatedly trounced by the Byzantines and THEIR fire ships XD
Wait, the Rus were Viking descendants? As in, the aoe4 rus?
@@jollygrapefruit786yes, they were. Source: I'm Ukrainian and it's our history but of course you can find on Wikipedia or anywhere else
@@jollygrapefruit786 yes, at one point Vikings made up almost entirety of Rus rulling class and were an ancestors of most rulling dynasties in modern day Ukraine and Russia. Hell, there is even a hypothesis that first ruler of Poland was a Viking or of scandinavian descent
I remember all those years back SotL had a questionnaire which recommends a civ for you based on your answers, and I got Vikings. I appreciate the questionnaire to this date.
Haha, just googled it and it gave me then Huns, which is pretty to close to my favorite faction, the Tatars (Which aren't included in the quiz, I would guess)
@@Mautivicz I tried the questionnaire for fun, and got the civ (slavs) I have been playing the most often recently haha.
I did the test twice and got Teutons and Saracens.
Which ironically were my 2 favorite campaigns from Age of Kings
Extend Berserkergang (as +20hp regen) to all infantry. That gives you a unique feel and better value for all of your infantry, makes barracks more viable as a hard transition in lategame and makes you not generic in trash wars. And Berserkers are still unique due to having double the regen and movement speed. And cool capes.
That's a really cool idea.
I like it 100%. I ever suggested it on forum, but it seemed the society there didn't welcome
Here's our berserkers! They um... Well.. They're unique because uhhh
You really want kancer pikemen don't you?
Great idea. Please devs watch this video and read this comment
As Hera once said, it's almost impossible to mess up your early to mid game as the Vikings, just keep your town center working at any time and you'll end up with way more resources than you might expect
Glad to see you doing more updated civ overviews. Could you perhaps do more? Like maybe with the Japanese, Franks, or Italians?
He already did Japanese a few years ago. I'd like to see him redo the Mongols.
@@darkdill That was a few years ago, but it was the same deal with the Britons. So scratch that one, the others still are options to go with.
Teutons
What a pleasant coincidence! I just talked about the Danes the other day. I would love to see more remakes of older videos if you're ever up for it Spirit!
You're the only person I watch the ads for at the end cause I wanna see your company :D
Yes, like, I don't even play AOE2, I watch his videos purely because his voice is therapeutic.
I think the outro music is also therapeutic. Sometimes I even rewind just to listen to it.
I keep the video rolling but start reading comments, like right now 11
Spirit, please don't unlist your old Vikings video, it's a classic!
The skirmisher hitting the berserker and the "screensaver" comment is golden.
I think with viking one thing that should be mentioned is their weakness in hybrid maps. While they are great on maps where massing galleys is fine option even in early game, in hybrid maps lack of fire galley is a huge problem. Additionally the early wheelbarrow is less of a bonus in hybrid maps, since you'll be doing a lot less farming.
So quite counter intuitively, while they are great water and great landciv, they are actually quite medicore in most hybrid maps. Unless maybe all the water is connected... and even then I don't they are that great.
I really hope the Vikings or Norse or whatever will have a appearence in AoE4 or well a lot of the classic AoE2 civs are lacking there.
We need more.
@HawkSea personally I really want to see the Byzantines return.
A American Civ would also be appreciated.
And the lack of Japanese and Korean is felt.
Not to mention all the potential from the southeast Asian civs.
I just downloaded the game four days ago and I've only really been playing Vikings, so thank you for the immense amount of help!
I'm happy to see an updated overview about my favorite civ!
And their unique units are so cool
I'd suggest that Berserkergang makes all infantry regenerate HP, faster rate for Berserks, slow rate for other infantry. It costs 400f & 650g. Thus, they can go either champions or berserks, and their trash units at least are little bit better.
Been loving all your civ reviews, Spirit. However, I’d actually like to request a video about a specific Age Of Kings tech, if you haven’t already made one. Whenever you talk about the Monk tech tree, one of the techs I notice you always tend to put a big emphasis on a civ having is Block Printing. I’d really like it if you made a video about the true significance and/or importance of the Block Printing tech, what civs make the best usage of it, and what civs you feel would really benefit most from having it but currently don’t have access to it.
I can't wait until the next Squarespace sponsored video where we will learn about Spirit's new seafood restaurant, "Spirit of the Prawn."
I'm going to miss your old videos with all the graphs and explanations, but I'm more glad you're finding the time to redo a lot of your old civ overviews. Thanks for all the effort you put into these, SOTL!
I love that you're updating these for new players like me! The Xbox release is a lot of fun but it can be hard to find up-to-date information with all the patches and dlcs. Thanks for your work!
Definitely your funniest video SOTL! Had me in stitches, love it ❤️
Berserkergang, instead of regen, now grant units +1 atk per 10℅ hp missing, starting from 60℅ hp (that means the unit will have max +6 atk at 10℅ hp). Goes well with the name and doesnt sound too OP.
The bonus will disappear if the unit is healed.
100-70% no bonus
60% 1 dmg
50% 2 dmg
40℅ 3 dmg. And so on
You can also give atk/move speed instead of dmg, or both.
At 1:38 the displayed discount on the right is calculated based on the cost of a Fire Galley instead of that of the Demolition Raft. Just a small thing I wanted to point out. Love you and your videos, SOTL!
I really love your work Spirit, I am always waiting for your videos.
I'm sure a lot of less-experienced and/or less-skilled players have gotten cocky with Longboats, so I'll explain how you're suppose to use them. The chief advantage of Longboats in Castle Age is their creation speed and their ability to force engagements on their terms. They are NOT capable of beating an enemy fleet with equal resources if they don't micro, so don't just patrol 15 of them into 20 War Galleys. You'll get stomped on.
The goal with Longboats is to quickly build a large fleet of them, outnumber and decisively defeat the enemy's fleet, and then destroy Docks to kick the opponent off the water. Many high ELO games on water maps are decided by late Castle Age, as there are very few viable comeback mechanics when it comes to naval battles. If your fleet has been destroyed, you're not gonna be able to build a new one since your opponent will kill any Villagers who try to build near the shore. Not even building a Castle is going to help, as your enemy will just pick off any ships that come out of Docks beneath said Castle. The Vikings can then just pin you down, get to Imperial Age, and then use Cannon Galleons to finish you off.
That's where the Longboat shines. It allows the Vikings to avoid the need for a war of attrition by crushing the enemy's fleet and making it impossible for them to build a new one. Make sure you have an equal or greater number of ships than the enemy and you'll win as long as your opponent doesn't hit you with several Demo Ships.
Vikins stable and monastery were equivalent or similar to Dravdians. In many cases its looks similar tech tree.
1. Vikings have self-healing berserk, whereas Dravidians have self-healing elephants.
2. Both have similar stable trees only exception is the cavalier or battle elephant. Both imperial options were not so good.
3. Both were strong water civs.
4. Both have a great eco bonus in land and water maps in early to mid-game.
5. berserk and urmi swordsman were good raiding troops.
These are my opinion
glad to see the intro is back
Dope, thanks dude. Appreciate all your hard work.
Thank you for great content. Always appreciated
Updated old civ overviews. Yay!
the thing with the two unique techs: well ok, but as you compare them to viking infantry, they also need the first unique tech
Thanks SotL, now I have to play vikings for my next 20+ games !
chieftans in castle age gives you some deadly pikemen at that point in the game, hot damn, my beloved teutons are shaking on their horses right now
Honestly Vikings should get some change to umique tech, because berserkengang is very niche tech (like it is very hard to get a real positive value from it) and some more general tech would be nice, and It can also be used as a balance tool - you can reduce some of their bonus or remove some basic tech to replace it by unique tech with slightly different effect and cost. Like - absolutely Wild idea- remove a champion and give them a imperial unique tech which would give all their infantry some bonus: like 10hp regen per minute, +5-10 hp amybe some bonus attack (like +2) or something. It would make their infantry better but for higher cost and for more castle time and also it could reduce their power because missing champion is big, but it would in the end make their 2-handed swordsman into as good or even better than generic champions, but it would be more complicated to reach this point. Also it would be funny if Vikings would be infantry civ with no fully upgraded infantry unit 😀
nice to listen againg the INTRO SONG.
Does healing of Berserks stack when they are garrisoned in a building and if yes is the stacked healing faster or slower than other units garrisoned with Herbal Medicine?
It would be so cool if they added the ability for longboats to transport infantry and archer units as part of their unique techs. It would add so much identity and flavor. Of course, they would still have to make transport ships for any cavalry, siege, monks and villagers they may want to transport.
I want a Viking campaign, it's been long overdue.
Wait, there isn't one? Wtf?
Nope. There are two Historical Battles scenarios but no dedicated campaign. The first is the Erik the Red scenario, the second is the invasion of England scenario.
@@nicholase2868 We have a few historical scenarios but not a full Viking one. Maybe something based on the Normans or with the Rus.
I noticed you don't check whether a civ has sappers. Is that tech any good ?
I must admit. The most appealing thing to the vikings to me is their campaign York. I took the Man of isle as a starting point and had a massive Army of Berserks and Longboats attacking Northumbria. So epic. The devs really nailed that campaign.
Definitely, one of the greatest campaign levels in the game
@@squidmanfedsfeds5301 Agreed. Its only problem is how weaker PCs may struggle with it.
SOTL u never said how to counter SAMURAI
Plz I'm DESPERATE ;-;
Archers, hand cannoneers, heavy cav. Just don't use unique units.
Boris, Tanya, commandos, snipers
Am I the only one who's super happy and proud to see SoTL now having sponsors?
Spirit has been sponsored by squarespace for years now bruv
@@misteral9045 Seriously? It feels like just a few months. 😶
This isn't new bro
@@GigaBoost Yeah, but I'm still happy for him.
I think for vikings they're close to Chinese in the way that lower skill people will not be able to take advantage of the wheelbarrow and hand cart all that much.
And if you don't take advantage of those it's just a civ with a very bad stable and ok range.
I kinda wish the devs buffed the Guard Tower and Keep techs, as I feel like players rarely if ever get those techs. Whenever players do go for towers it's usually bombard towers and only a few specific civs for even that.
Well Japanese tower hopping is a legit deadly strat, I think keep shouldn't be buffed since there are too many civs without access to them but yeah maybe guard towers can have some buff.
12:16 I just imagine that berserk walking around doing his own everyday things while a guy throws javelins at him
Fully upgraded longboat is just weaker version of the Dravidian (civilization with full technology tree dock) unique ship.
Why vikings can't get fire galley that does not upgrade?
Why koreans can't get demolition raft that does not upgrade.
All civs should have all feudal age units and techs.
Vikings having Cannon Galleon makes no sense historically. I wish they would give them their own unique type of siege ship that is more historically accurate.
Threw us a curve ball with a similar-sounding word rather than a rhyme. I approve.
I'd keep berserkergang as it is, but would add in a new faction ability for them that gives them a set amount of gold for every temple they destroy. That would help fund that tech and otherwise fuels their war machine and that would be so fitting for their faction. The amount of gold it gives could always be adjusted until a good balance is found.
9:40 - How the one crossbow men on the left walks straight to the mounted archer and kills him with a single shot to the face - and dying instantly after that.
Also: Is it me or does the green colour suit the berserks way more than blue? ^^
love to see it
Don't know if you hear this often because I'm new to AOE2 (Xbox player) but these videos are AMAZING! I love the effort you put into the visuals in the background, how you display the stats simply and effectively, and you summary at the end really wraps things up nicely
Does the game play well on console?
I would think that it would be unplayable without mouse and keyboard
Or do you use mouse and keyboard with Your console?
Video idea similar to the Turk trash unit video: Are Teuton Scout Calvary even worth making? They are a lot more useful and powerful than you think:
-Best Monk killers in a standard match game as the only Triple conversion resistant unit. Lose their triple resistance if they somehow get converted.
-still retain their usefulness for scouting enemy positions
-have all the Calvary upgrades in the blacksmith including bloodlines and husbandry
-better attack stats than some Light Calvary
- Save you resources for upgrading to Light Calvary and hussar
- still a big nuisance to raiding enemy villagers
- can be created in large numbers thanks to Teuton farm bonus
I agree with everything exept that "saves you resources for light cavalry and hussar".
I can agree with hussars but light cavalry is dirt cheap
0:15 ah yes, my phone alarm clock tune. hands down the best AOE tune ever.
HOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNKKKKK!
Just let longships transport units. Embrace the chaos.
I'd like to see a list of who faction has the best unique unit spam. Like isn't spamming berserkers one of the best things in the game? It's all i do in MP. As long as i can farm until then. i just overrun people.
Compare Medical Corps tech to Berserk’s innate ability to regenerate and Berserkergang tech. Hope Devs buff Dravidians.
I think Medical Corps should either make all non-siege units heal or make it where castles have an AOE healing aura, similar to Field Hospitals in AOE3.
Those knights are defintely that old spinning villagers brother,by their dodging in the intro
The Berserk 1v2ing Eagle Warriors surprised me the most. That buff to give it 12 attack actually has an impact.
Watching Berserk part - this is so funny that some of the civs have a powerfull unique units and some of them are like regular.
They’ve become some bland. Miss when they had thumb ring
Funny that this is outdated now even tho it says updated for 2023
holy shit that wheelbarrow has eyes
12 year old me picked the Vikings because they had the cool dudes with an axe and a cape and epic taunts.
36 year old me still does for those reasons.
I miss the days when the berserk had 2/2 armour.
kinda wish they would put back thumb rings but only in imp
one of my fav civs in the game
12:19
BERSERKERGANG SON.
It hardens in response to phisical trauma. You cant hurt me Skirmisher!
Funny false friend, "berserkergang" does not mean "a gang of berserkers", but rather "the walk/march of berserkers"
One of my favorite civilizations, Invincible.
Still salty about the nerf to arbalests they received.
Nordic Chieftains DLC. Vikings Civ rework NB.
(Includes Byzantine rework)
The Vikings came from a cold, barren mountainous/fjord covered boggy area, Norway,Sweden,Scandinavia where agriculture was highly difficult to maintain, thus their focus was on fishing, but as their culture and cities grew, it became a necessity to raid other shores/peoples in order to survive and thrive. Thus they started to use their brilliant longboats to conquer the northern seas and raid countless European and Mediterranean kingdoms. So I was wandering, why the devs gave the Vikings (Which literally mean Raiders) such a strong economy by means of free handcart and wheelbarrow?
Norse/Vikings
Pagan, early aggression, raiding using Infantry, cheap trash,Strong Agnon Skirms, transported in longboats.
Architecture: Norse architecture that resemble their beautiful Norse church wonder.
Knut The Great
Sven Forkbeard
Ivar the Boneless
Erik the Red
Erik Blood Axe
Ragnar Lothbruk
Harald Hadrada
Olaf Siggurdson
Rollo
Harald Bluetooth
UU castle: Berserk (infantry) - Unique infantry unit that slowly heals itself. (Dane axe + round shield on back) Can repair Longboats
UU Dock: Longboat (warship) - Unique ship that fires multiple arrows (from castle age) as well as transport foot units (Infantry/skirms/vils/monks/kings only)
In feudal age Longboats can’t fire arrows.
Longboats transporting skirmishers gain added pierce armour and attack.
Feudal age longboats transporting skirmishers gains an attack.
UT Imp: Chieftains Longforts - Beserkers can be trained in docks.
UT Castle: Berserkergang (Berserks regenerate faster)
Civ bonus1: Dane Geld:Skirmishers, Pikemen, Halberdiers cost -25%
Civ bonus2: Infantry and skirms +20% hit points starting in Feudal Age
Civ bonus3:Warships+fishing ships cost -15% Feudal Age, -15% Castle Age, -20% Imperial Age
Civ bonus4: When infantry destroys an eco building 100 of the connected resource gets looted and added to your stockpile.
Lumber camp = 100 Wood
Mill = 100 food
Dock = 100 Food
Mining Camp = 100 gold + 200 Stone
Market = 300 Gold
Monastery = 500 gold
TC = 500 gold
Shared unit Barracks:
SU2:Throwing Axe men - Shared with Goths + Franks
Franks only get regular, no elite.
If allied to Byzantines, both civs gain access to: the technology of Varangian Guard from the Feudal age.
In Feudal age , Byzantine army (As well as Norse allies) gain access to a special unit in the Barracks called the Varangian Guard. - Expensive , slow moving with a limited build amount.
Since the Byzantines are a Defensive civ, the Varangian Guards have a high attack boost when in the vicinity of a TC or Castle but outside a certain radius from these buildings the VG lose the strong attack bonus and are just as strong as a normal Man at Arms/Long Sword/Champion.
(guards of the Emperor) To defend against early rushes , but since they are expensive,slow and limited, you will have to think strategically as to when and where to deploy/station them.
(Automatically upgrades with each age)
Team Bonus: Arson becomes available in the feudal age. (Civs whom did not have access to arson now do gain access to arson)
Barracks:
Champion
Up to long sword - Round shield + small war axe
2handed sword to Champion - Round Shield + sword
Halb - Round shield spear line
Throwing axemen + Elite Throwing Axemen
Stable:
Light cav
AR:
Elite Skirm - Angon Skirms (does slightly more damage to villagers)
archer
SW:
Siege ram
Siege onager
scorpion
Dock:
Fire galley
Galley
Heavy Demo
Transport ship
UU - Longboat (warship) - Unique ship that fires multiple arrows (from castle age) as well as transport foot units (Infantry/vils/monks/kings only)
In feudal age Longboats can’t fire arrows.
Longboats transporting skirmishers gain added pierce armour and attack.
Feudal age longboats transporting skirmishers gains an attack.
No shipwrite
Pagan Temple:
No Redemption
No atonement
No Theocracy
No Illumination
No Herrecy
Blacksmith:
No plate boarding armour
University:
No keep
No BBT
No Siege engineers
No fortified wall
Don’t gain access to Livestock penn unless allied to the Swedes.
No crop Rotation
Wonder: Borgund/Hedel/Hopperstad Stave Church
Swedes/Kalmar Union
Christian , late game focus, expensive units , using Hand cannoneers, Arbs, Knights + warhammer plated infantry to crush their enemies.
Architecture: Current ‘’Viking set’’.
Kalmar castle
Visby/Gotland Castle
Monnestary - Lund Cathedral
UU castle: Plated war hammer infantry (Heater shield + one handed war hammer)
Slightly stronger than a longsword (Regular) and Champion (Elite) but does bonus damage vs other Swedish units (To depict the numerous civil wars within the Kalmar union)
Weak vs Cav + gunpowder, average vs archers, strong vs siege + buildings + infantry , very strong vs other Swedish units except for cavalry.
UT Castel:Danish Reformation - Swordline + Knight line gain + 25HP
UT Imp: Vryborg bang - All guard towers become upgraded to BBT and when a BBT gets destroyed , it explodes and inflicts area damage around it. (To allied and enemy forces)
Sallet helmet - sword line + arbs gain +1 melee armour
Civ bonus1: Pete houses - Houses built on grass or snow terrain cost - 50% wood.
Civ bonus2:Torps - Houses built next to Berries and woodlines increases villager collection rates of these resources.
Civ bonus3:Burkals - Hunt generates the same amount of gold as they do food (Selling of furs)
Civ bonus 4:House of Vasa - if allied to Poland you gain access to Winged Hussaria
Team Bonus: Elk/Reindeer can be bred in the livestock penn wich provides more food (and more gold for the Swedes) in cold /winter maps
Barracks:
Kiteshield ,nasal helm swordsmen up to Long sword
Two handed swordmen - Plate armoured Heater shield swordmen + Salet Helm
Spearmen - Kite Shield - Pikemen - Heater shield ,Halb - Plated halberdier no shield
Stable:
Cavalier wearing plate armour and Sallet helmet
Light cav
No husbandry
AR:
Arb
Handcannonner
Elite skirm
SW:
BBC
Onager
Ram
Dock:
Gallion
Fire ship
Demo ship
University:
No Keep
No siege engineers
No Treadmill crane
Wonder: Uppsala Cathedral
Historical battle: Battle of Brunkeberg 1471 AD.
Campaign in the Levant with the Norwegian Crusades under Sigurd the Crusader 1115 AD Siege of Sidon
Love Vikings, I just wish they had their own architecture.
And monks.
Yes m8, i miss these vids, you should re-do every civ, seeing as how they've changed over the ytears, quality video
0:16 the noise you make after eating Taco Bell.
My only issue with the civ is that Chieftains really ought to be called Jarls.
I definitely want to get something from Spirit of the Log
Now we need an update of this civ overview 1111
Losing thumb ring was really sad
Skyrim belongs to the Nords!
I am really not a rts player, but I absolutely love your deep analysis of the different civs❤️
On Berserkers, I'll use some terminology that is used in Team Fortress 2, that being how the Berserker is a "Generalist" unique unit. It performs well in almost all situations and can go from attacking to defending on the fly when needed, and be equally effective on both fronts. This in comparison UUs like Teutonic Knights or Huskarls, who would be considered "Specialists" who undeniably perform better than Zerkers in certain situations, but become far less useful in most others.
I've come to appreciate the Vikings thanks to watching Fatslob play AoE2.
The longboats should garison units too like in real life, that would be a nice addition
Man, I forgot you existed. Stupid youtube notifications.
Babe, wake up. New SOTL overwiev just dropped.
It looks like Sisyphus found a new job 12:16
Hey SOTL, are you ever going to update your RUclips channel description? Doesn't look like it has changed since 2014 😅
I really love vikings... But being an infantry civ is feels like a debuff in the current game. Every other infantry civ are good at cav, or has a full archer tech tree. Meanwhile vikings have neither...
Build berserkergang into elite zerk and give them an imp tech that increases the power of their archers.
Last time i was this early I was this early.
Man, your Squarespace ads are becoming my favorite part of each video. Reminds me of when this was the case for The Cooptional Podcast. Good times.
They should add a northern europe expansion, that adds more civs than just vikings.
Like they could add Varangians.
This is great stuff
It would be nice if they changed the Viking civs into actual Nord civs like for the Indians. It’s pretty weird to have a civ called Viking when the term Viking is more of a action word such as eating, sleeping and so on.
Action words are called 'verbs'.
But 'Viking' doesn't have to be used as a verb.
I agree though, having Vikings as a civ name isn't consistent the rest of the civs. It's a bit like calling Hindustanis Kshatriyas or having Longbowmen as a civ instead of Britons.
The civ design of Vikings is also a bit fantastical. I think you could make game balance work even with a less fanciful conception of the civ.
the unique techs should have their costs halved imo
Some insight for Berserkergang, Its have nothing to do with a gang. Gang means in Danish "to walk" so it just means "to go berserk" and the pronunciation is way off. Bersærkergang is commenly known when the vikings fought in some sort of trance , some people believe they used mushroom in their "mjød" (beer like drink) to get in that state, but it have never been proven.
Is this civilisation being updated now... because we still don't know/can't remember that Vi, comes after Ve alphabetically... and my Vietnamese are going to come last again & get a re-look at in another week or two? :)
Im sorry … I’ve started play aoe recently… and I just can’t make dracars (the special warship) with vikings… they doesn’t appear to me… what should I do? Please help me lol
I long to play this again.
Viking Monk are just captured English slaves so they dont really try very hard. I think the need a reskin to look more shaman with a dear skull crown and bear pelt instead of robes