Note: The information contained within the guide is accurate as of March 15th, for version 1.0.8796 of Northgard.

Since then, new incremental updates might have changed a few things and I have not fully investigated everything there is to know about the game. I remain confident however, that the current body of work remains useful to new players and that it is indeed, the largest body of work on the fine mechanics of the game for anyone curious about them.

For now, I'm leaving the guide as it is. After spending 1,400 hours playing Northgard, I've burned out a little and must leave it at this.



For those of you who are already familiar with the guide and just want quick access to the hard facts and the most important observations, this file might be of interest:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lPkxwLPiE3GSoXajYKTbieDUCB53TeGX

Version 1.031, updated on the 15th of March

Heil og sæl Thane!

Health and Happiness indeed! After many a week at sea, we are finally approaching Northgard: The mysterious island that was just recently discovered through the mists of time and the vicious Iron Hails of the North. Rumors speak of a rich land, abound in magic, adventure, danger and opportunity!



Well it might be! Expert seafarers and hardy warriors, our people have a rich history of reaching out for new shores. The foreigners of the South refer to us as "Norsemen" and "Vikings" with equal parts fear and respect!


Our mission upon Northgard is to not only survive, but to create a thriving settlement of our Clan’s men and women, and eventually grow strong enough to prove ourselves the island’s worthy claimants and you its rightful ruler! We're not likely to be the only Clan given permission to settle here by the High Council however, and even if we are, these wild and untamed shores are surely dangerous enough to the unprepared. Nothing like some healthy competition and peril to keep our people hale and hearty, ay?

There are several ways in which we can prove our mastery, but we’ve not made landfall yet and before we start daydreaming of glory, let's prepare for what we’ll be confronted with upon our arrival.

Through it all, please allow me to be your adviser.

Before we reach Northgard, we must first concern ourselves with... the Omens.

Here your diviners show you how much favor we curry with the Gods. This affects whether we'll have an easy, normal or hard time of settling Northgard. Maybe you can do something to change your standing with the gods?





Do nothing and await your arrival in quiet contemplation.

• Nothing out of the ordinary. A similar experience as to that on the Homelands.

Climb the ship's bow, yell your name and dare them to give you a challenge worthy of your skill!

• Northgard's spirits and animals go berserk. Attacks from the wilds are bigger and more frequent.
  
• Your people will eat 10% more food.
  
• Building maintenance is increased.
  
• Your people will have higher expectations and become unhappy more quickly.
  
  
• Firewood Consumption, general productivity and disaster severity remains the same!

Join your settlers in group worship and sacrifice some personal heirlooms.

• (Untested, expect the opposite of hard.)

Our ship's settings allow you to plot a course towards the kind of island Northgard will be: It's size, the number of your rival clans and the victory conditions set by the High Council.

Single Player:


Multiplayer:

• Small makes for an island of roughly 26 areas in size. Allows a Maximum of 2 Clans to settle.
  
• Medium makes for an island of roughly 42 areas in size. Allows a Maximum of 4 Clans to settle.
  
• Large makes for an island of roughly 58 areas in size. Allows a Maximum of 6 Clans to settle.

This setting decides on the topography of the island.


From left to right: Meadow, Wildlands, Taiga, Foothills, Steppes, Autumn, Tundra

Merely an aesthetic thing, map type has no bearings on gameplay. Even what would otherwise be the most hostile biome to plantlife - The Tundra - has just as many trees and fertile plots for farmlands available to us, as the Meadows.



Here you can read the Council's decision on how many other Clans besides yours are allowed to settle the island, how they relate and if they know each other.

"Game Mode" allows for:

• Duel Play - Always on a small island with another rival Clan
  
• Free For All - An amount of Clans who are always each other's Rival. The maximum amount of settling Clans is capped by island size.
  
• Team 2vs2 / 3vs3 / 2vs2vs2 - Land on Northgard with one or two allies, facing rival teams who have formed similar alliances.

With us, we carry decrees from the High Council on what is expected of the Clan wishing to be declared the rightful claimant of Northgard:



The Victory conditions are:

• "Domination": Specialize our settlement into a powerful Warrior Culture to end all others
  
• "Map Special": Specialize our settlement into a noble Warrior Culture to fight for our heritage
  
• "Trade": Specialize our settlement into a prosperous Merchant Culture
  
• "Wisdom": Specialize our settlement into a wise Scholar Culture
  
• "Fame": Specialize our settlement into a utopian Adventurer Culture

Upon Northgard, we have a chance of encountering 5 different, area sized wonders. I call these "Places of Legends" and only one of these can be present at a time.
Their appearance is closely tied to a particular victory condition.

With only "Map Special" selected, there's a 33% chance of one of these sites appearing:

• Yggdrasil
  
• Gates of Helheim
  
• Magma Flow

These three Places of Legends will instantly award victory to the Clan conquering and mastering these sites. It gives Warrior Clans an alternative to Domination and waging war upon others.

Otherwise:

• With only "Fame" selected, there's a 100% chance of the "Wyvern" appearing.
  
• With only "Wisdom" selected, there's a 100% chance of the "Relic of the Gods" appearing.

These two merely support the Fame and Wisdom victory conditions with a great influx of extra resources upon their conquest.


If all the Victory Conditions have been selected, there's an equal 20% probability of any one of these sites showing up on the island.


All of these 5 Places of Legends - their functions and their purpose - will be described later on during my guide-ance, under the discussion of their associated Specialization and Victory.

1: Town Hall
2: Your Kinsmen
3: Borders
-----
4: Mini-Map
5: Calendar
-----
6: Selection Info
7: Territory Info
8: Clan Info
-----
9: Build Button
10: Feast and Tool buttons
-----
11: Notifications
12: Messages
13: Diplomacy
---
14: Victory Menu
15: Lore Menu
---
16: Resources



The Town Hall is our most vital structure. It is the place from where you rule the settlement and it is the social heart of our Clan on Northgard. Here our children graduate into adulthood and new arrivals from the homelands are received. It is the only place from which to draw new kinsmen.

Lose it, and our clan loses its rightful claim on Northgard!

Use the "Backspace" rune to quicktravel to it.


Our most able bodied men and women are already gathering supplies for the Clan. Left tap selects them and right tap orders them about.


You start within a single area. It's shape - like that of all areas - is delineated by a border.


-----
Numerous magical rune tablets surround your view of the island. I will go through all of them, if you require it.
-----


A magical scrying pool that will give you Odin's view of the island. Normally, it shows you the special traits that areas possess, and your borders.



There are also runes grafted at the top of the scrying pool that will change how the pool works. From left to right:

• The gear rune has the same function as the "esc" rune (and opens up the main menu).
  
• The double obelisk rune is truly a gift from the gods has the same function as the "P" rune. It freezes time itself!
  
• The sword rune will change the scrying pool to reveal only important military information, such as the location of borders, military units and defensive structures, to keep track of these easier.
  
• The "i" rune will impose some of the information normally shown in the (7) territory information tablet upon your view of the world.

This is a tablet showing you the year, month, and oncoming events. Not only does it show you the coming of the meagre winter months, but it shows you when predicted disasters are set to happen.



---



This tablet shows you information on whatever you select.

• When selecting an area, its most important trait is shown on the tablet. For our starter territory, this is of course the Town Hall. Many more areas are out there, each with its own unique feature.
  
• When selecting a specific building, information like occupancy, upkeep and efficiency are shown.
  
• When selecting a living being, its statistics and information are shown.

When interacting with something, this tablet shows you what else is present within that area. Most important is how many of your clansmen are present there, categorized by job.
You are also shown how many buildings this territory will support, or if you're making good use of the available job openings and the special traits of that area.

Select a job category by left-tapping within in this tablet, and you will WITHIN THAT AREA, interact with and SELECT ALL kinsmen of that job category. This is useful for quickly shifting population groups around.




These runes give you a complete overview of your entire clan. Selecting any of these runes representing a job category will cause you to interact with all kinsmen of that type ACROSS THE ISLAND, with a left tap to CYCLE BETWEEN all the individuals, or right tap to SELECT ALL of them.

Advanced tip:
Your people are rather good at handling your orders! Cycle through the Clan info tablet and the kinsmen of that category, nearest to your view, will be switched to first.
If you select a larger group of your kinsmen and give them an order, they will only react as appropriate. Let's say you've selected all your villagers across the island with the Clan Info tablet:

• Building on Fire? Only one villager is necessary to fix it and only the villager closest to the fire will react.
  
• Want to assign new workers to an empty building? Only the appropriate amount of villagers closest to the building will react. If there are any idle kinsmen within your selection (like miners who ran out of deposits), only they will react.

---

This rune will decree the construction of the buildings available to you.

Feasts can be thrown and tools upgraded with these runes.

More on these later.

-----

Here your people will give you a quick idea of what is wrong with your settlement. Whenever someone is idling, wounded, a building is on fire or any other type of problem, the appropriate icon will remain there until it is dealt with. You can inspect these icons for more information and interact with them for quick travel towards the site of the problem.

Whenever something immediate and important happens, from insufficient resources, to an attack, to an impending disaster, you will be notified of these events in this area of your view.

A quick overview of how other Factions on the Island relate to us.



From left to right, this tablet shows you:

• Their sigil, which identifies them by color and type of Clan.
  
• The name of their Thane.
  
• Numbers showing you how much Fame they have.
  
• The face symbols show you how good relations are with them.
  
• Should a percentage pop up to the right of this information, then it's trying to warn you that another Clan has made more than 80% progress towards a victory condition of their own.

The primary importance of good relations is to access lucrative trade deals, so this information is discussed in greater detail at the "Art of Trade" section of the Wealth Victory.


-----



Here you can check not only your own progress towards on of the decreed victory conditions, but the progress of everyone else on the Island too.



The "V" key shortcuts towards this menu!


Although part of the resource bar and showing you the production of the resource, interaction with this button in the top-right corner of your view also brings up your knowledge tablet. Here you can you can unlock wisdom derived bonuses for your Clan in exchange for Lore.




The "L" key shortcuts towards this menu!

-----

All along the top part of your view, runes show you the amount of resources available to your clan.



This resource bar might be the most important piece of information available to you, but the numbers there are presented in a slightly cryptical way upon further inspection. I shall take great care to dedicate separate sessions counselling you on these later during my guide-ance.

If you wish to gain a little experience before we reach Northgard, I would advice you these headings:



Also, pick Clan

The above are ship settings to a small cluster of islands situated between the Homeland and Northgard, where you can get a hang of leading a settlement at a more leisurely pace.

It's impossible for me to know which of these islands we'll stumble upon first, so its layout may differ from what I assume.

When ready, give the order!




Excellent! As you can see, we've used the longboat that got us to Northgard, to construct the Town Hall. Our people are already gathering supplies around it and it's the only building you start with. Excepting trade, we are now on our own to tame this wild land.



It appears another adviser has joined you, handing you tips in the upper centre of the screen. It is all fine advice, but maybe I could elaborate on some of the finer points.


Our first concern, is constructing our first building. An auspicious moment indeed! Bring up the build menu (by pressing B). Before we put anything down however, let's stop and ask ourselves "Which one?" and ultimately: "Why any of this?"

Well, your goal on Northgard, is to become the dominant Clan. To do this, we need to grow.

The only buildings that are available to you right now, are the House, Scout Camp and Woodcutter's Lodge.

• The House increases the amount of people you can have
  
• The Scout Camp explores unknown territory for you
  
• The Woodcutter's Lodge increases wood production

More buildings are available to you after building the Woodcutter's Lodge.


"If we want to become this biggest Clan, we need to build houses!"

True, and an experienced Jarl would, but during this introduction, let's ask ourselves the question: "Can we support more people?"

Take a quick look at your resource bar.

• We are gaining +11 . Excellent! We have enough to feed new people! It's the kinsmen gathering food around your Town Hall that do this.
  
• However, is operating at a -1 loss!

Wood is a problem then! Not only do we need more wood to construct more buildings, but our people consume wood to warm their homes. They'll freeze if we don't address this!


"The answer then, is to build the Woodcutter's lodge!"

Yes... true... but there's one more little factor involved in building a thriving settlement: Proper planning.
Normally I could advice building the Woodcutter's Lodge in our starting area straight away and it's a risk postponing, but what if there's one better?

Look to the South-East of this particular settlement. Lots of trees, and are those forest mushrooms? I wonder what's on the opposite side of that border. If only we could... explore it.


"The Scout Camp!"

Right you are again Thane! And this time, go ahead and construct the Scout Camp!



Notice that when our villagers automatically volunteered to the task of building it, our production decreased. It's because the villager was no longer busy gathering food!



In fact, the next step of assigning one of your food producing villagers to become a non-food producing scout, makes this drop in food production permanent! The same goes for when we assign our woodcutter. We keep sacrificing our ability to produce food for some other resource!

When it comes to running a settlement, the matter of available manpower is a constant trade-off, but we frequently don't have a choice. We need scouts, woodcutters and - in future - many more non-food producing kinsmen to support our settlement.
Despite this, don't allow your food production to drop into the negatives!


When your people have finished building the scout camp, command one of them to interact with it. Interaction with a building tells your people to take up the job associated with it. You now have a scout! Order this scout to interact with the area you wish to explore.




Ah-hah! It might have been a risk not constructing that Woodcutter's Lodge earlier, but this area has a forest, as seen in the Selection Info tablet when you select it.



The presence of a lot of trees and (occasionally) mushrooms past the border is always a good hint. Our Woodcutters will be more productive here! For now and quite a while to come, we will only need one woodcutter's lodge and it had better be as effective as can be.

Sometimes there really won't be a forest anywhere near our starting position. Or, there is, but there are wolves there! If that happens, you have no choice but to construct the Lodge somewhere else temporarily. If that's indeed the situation you find yourself in: Don't fret and follow the rest of this guide as normal.

In future, it's up to you whether or not to take the risk on waiting and scouting for a forest before building the Woodcutter's lodge.




Of course, right now we won't be able to exploit this area. It isn't ours yet! The price to be paid for settling it, is shown in the Territory Info tablet: 20

Good thing then, that we've committed to always having surplus food production! Give the order to claim and build a Woodcutter's Lodge there! Then assign one of your villagers to construct and then operate the building.
If you haven't been able to find a claimable forest, just claim any other extra piece of free land and build the Lodge there instead.

Should you move about people and one of your villagers finds themselves outside an area with the town hall (or a house/silo), or your woodcutter outside an area with the Lodge; send them back there. People need their buildings! If someone can't do their job, the icon will appear above their heads or to the right of the screen in the Notification area. Prevent idle hands!

As for the scout? Keep them! They're still useful exploring other areas and they help us in planning our next move. They'll explore automatically, but be sure to focus them on the areas around our Town Hall first.

By now another kinsmen will have joined your Clan and you will have reached the population cap (see the symbol).




Thanks to the Woodcutter, at the price of some of our food production, we've now reached self-sufficiency! Both wood and food production is at a surplus and there's now an allowance for more of our Kinsmen to arrive.

Good job Thane! Now is an excellent time to place a new house to raise that population cap! Do so next to your Woodcutter's Lodge, send a villager to construct it and keep them there. There's safety in numbers and the now lonesome woodcutter will appreciate the company should there be danger.


The woodcutter and his wife now working the forested part of your domain


Just like with food: Always ensure a surplus of wood production.

In fact, stockpile both! For you might soon find out why...

For now, let's just take it easy until our population reaches 10 people.

Something will have happened while you were waiting for your population to grow: Something bit you!


Saving her now is probably a more romantic gesture than pulling her out of the beast's belly later


Some damn wolf made a beeline out of the treeline to nibble your kinsmen in the behind. If it hit the area with our woodcutter, it turned out to be a good idea to have an additional kinsmen there. The mutt has been dealt with, but now one of your villagers has an unproductive limp!

You can tell by the icon to the right of your screen, in the Notification area, that one of your villagers is wounded. Their productivity has suffered by 20%!


First things first; let's stop the bleeding. The last building vital to the basic survival of the Clan, is the Healer's hut. It should have unlocked with the woodcutter's lodge and if you haven't gone on a further building spree, you should easily be able to afford it. It's in the upper right corner of your building list. For the purposes of this introduction, place it next to the Town Hall.



Expect more attacks. In fact, expect attacks constantly on Northgard, but it is thanks to your healer that people will continue to live healthy, productive lives despite them.

Don't worry about positioning your healer. They can heal a wounded kinsmen at range, from anywhere INSIDE your territory, but they do need to be within the same area as their hut to do their jobs.

(When your healer is done healing, he or she will be idle . Don't worry, they're supposed to be. If it bothers you, assign them to another job or back to being a villager by having them interact with the Town Hall.)


We wouldn't be leading much of a settlement if we left these attacks unanswered however. It's not the job of your villagers to fight off wildlife with their bare hands and biting the wolf back. Time for some proper defense! Among your buildings in the list, is the Training Camp. It's in the Military Category of your buildings. Build it next to your Town Hall.

Then, order two of your kinsmen to become your first warriors! A pair of them is a fine amount that can handle up to three wolves without falling back.
(If you were quick about following instructions and assigning those warriors sees you food production hit negative; don't worry. More villagers will show up to make up for it soon.)

Warriors cost money to recruit, but luckily you brought some private savings with you. It's something you can afford... for now. See your tick down as your kinsmen take up the battle axe.



Next, counterattack! Clearing the wildlife from neighbouring areas will prevent your settlement from being attacked the same way again.

Have at thee mangy anklebiters!


Return your warriors to your own territory and your healer will fix up whatever minor bruises your warriors sustained.

Revenge is sweet, but your necessary actions fulfil one other important goal: Clearing new areas of wildlife. You won't be able to settle them when wolves are present. (If you did find a forest earlier but were prevented from claiming it by wolves... you know what to do! Just be sure to destroy the old Woodcutter's lodge by hitting the after selecting it. Buildings are costly to maintain! )



Now, you might already have noticed something while slaying the wolves: It is getting colder. If it hasn't already started snowing, the ground will soon be covered in a soft, white carpet.



Your and production will plummet! In fact, you are now operating at a loss of food!

Don't worry, this is perfectly normal, and its exactly what our stockpile is good for. Larger settlements will see even bigger decreases and it's just no good trying to compensate for winter.
Fortunately, winters last just three months and settlements like the one pictured above, are going to be fine thanks to their healthy larder. By the time winter clears, it will have sustained your people throughout.

Don't ever forget about winter and building a stockpile!

If you followed my exact guidance up till this moment, I'm confident you'll survive the winter.

In fact - the moment the ground turns white - go right ahead and assign one more villager to be a woodcutter and construct a second house next to your Town Hall while we wait out this awful weather...

The snow is starting to melt and I finally have the island all to myself...



Wait... you people are still alive?! You survived the winter? I mean... of course you survived the winter! I advised you after all! Hahahaha! Haha... *Sigh*


With the Winter passing, food and wood production are finally back to normal. People are still being born to our clan and we will reach a population of 15 people soon.

We are looking good... except for maybe two resources we've forgotten about:


Happiness is decreasing for every new kinsmen born. At 14 kinsmen, we'll be down to 0 and we might actually have a riot on our hands at 15 people! Our treasury isn't what it used to be either. Our amount of coin is barely increasing and we're going to be in trouble if we ever want to hire more warriors.

It's time to concern ourselves with these two resources and assign three more of of our villagers to produce wealth and happiness for us!

... only we can't. Or at least, we'll be hard pressed to.


We now have a healer, two woodcutters, two warriors and a scout; all of whom are not busy gathering food. The strain on our villagers to come up with enough foodstuffs is starting to show. If we divert even more villagers away from gathering food - let alone three of them - we might not have the summer surplus to build next winter's stockpile!

One option is to simply build another house, draw in more villagers, use these to feed the settlement and hope to overcome the happiness limitation in time. This solution is slow however and will sentence your people to barely scraping by for a while longer.

A better idea would be to produce food more efficiently instead, and fortunately, there are ways!


By now, your scout will have explored a great deal of the island.



Look for the or even symbols on the mini-map.

There should be one in an area near to us.
In the case of our example settlement, there is!



In the case of , this symbol will look like a patch of soil to you. In the case of it will look like there's deer living in that area. In the case of it will look like there's fish in the water.

These special areas are very good at producing food for us efficiently. Use your warriors to sully forth, clear one such area of pesky wolves, and claim it!

After you do, the appropriate food building will unlock:


Build it, then send two of your villagers to man it!



If you stumbled upon , look at all that extra food produced!
There'll be less food produced with and even less with , but the latter two are more efficient in the winter! In effect, we'll have to build LESS of a winter stockpile to survive it.

Either way, the increase in food productivity will now allow us to divert more ordinary villagers to work on our wealth and happiness quickly.

After the construction of our food building, you might have already noticed something: Our production is now negative. All that building we've done, has greatly increased the amount we spend on maintaining our buildings!



Good thing that we've finally come far enough to live up to our reputation! While a variety of options exist to make coin, I can think of no better way to celebrate the amazing growth, than with the recruitment of the heroes from our many sagas: The Vikingr, who launch from their Longships.



These men and women of the bay will need a beach, and our Town hall always starts near one. The only problem that you might face, is that you don't seem able to build anymore it in that area.



If, like in the example village, you've constructed a House, Training Camp, Healing Hut and a Scouting Camp in the area - no more than this will fit. 5 Buildings is the maximum our starting area will provide. Fortunately, our scout will have explored more than enough of the island, so perhaps its time to destroy his or her little hovel to make room. The scout is then idle and they could be anywhere, but he or she is easily enough recalled and reassigned by selecting them through the Clan Info Tablet.

Once that is done, the Longship Dock can finally be build along the shoreline and assigned two of your kinsmen. You will notice that the Dock is a bit more complicated than your other buildings and it will need to be interacted with to function.



It will give you the choice between two new resources. Always pick in the beginning, but otherwise these two resources lie beyond the scope of this simple introduction and will instead, be discussed later during my guide-ance. All you need to know right now is that the Longship Dock will produce the krowns we so desperatly need - regardless of your choice. Give the command to "Start Raid".


Wait for your treasury to recuperate. Your next building needs it.

When the amount of krowns you have reaches 50, start constructing the Brewery anywhere. Assign one villager to it and see your Clan's happiness improve. In fact, have some mead on me dear Thane. The settlement will surely toast to your health after all your hard work!



Then... build another house somewhere!

If after my guidance in the past three sessions, your settlement has turned to resemble something like this:



Well, then I'd like to congratulate you Thane! You have mastered the basic art of ruling your people!

You have a surplus production on everything. Your people are warm, well fed, wealthy, healthy, happy and from now on, you now know how to keep them that way! You have the warriors to defend your hard work and to impose your will upon the world. You've created more than 7 different job categories and created a sprawling settlement.

Why, I even believe us arriving at Northgard might not be such a disaster after all!




The next step would be to make your settlement more efficient so that you can produce more resources for less effort, thus freeing up more manpower to work towards victory.

Erecting a Food Silo next to the Food Building we constructed earlier would be a simple way to produce more food from it.



Another thing to do is seek out some and spend it to upgrade your buildings. There are slightly more steps involved in this, but if you've come this far, it's a process that should be intuitively obvious to you. Just like with the food buildings, claim an area with the symbol and the Quarry building will unlock. Build and man the quarry to gather stone. With enough stone and after upgrading your Town Hall first, hit the "upgrade" button below each building you wish to make more efficient. Each individual building upgraded will produce more of its associated resource, and you can assign one more villager to help out.




It's a similar story for the resource, also collected by your miners. With these, you can start upgrading your kinsmen's tools. These apply to EVERYONE working that job category - now and in the future. Useful if you have several of the same jobs!




If you use the and to upgrade the building and tools of your food producers first - like those of the farm/hunter's/fishery building we constructed earlier - you're already working towards a wonderful synergy by having the Silo further boost the tool and upgrade bonuses in an exponential fashion. You'll slowly end up with the spare food to assign even more of our kinsmen to some other job.

Maybe more merchants, sailors, or your first few loremasters. Do this and you're taking steps towards one of the victory conditions.



Speaking of Loremasters, there's a wealth of bonuses that we haven't explored. You might have already noticed the button in the upper right of your view, flashing.



Lore bonuses can give your settlement all sorts of tiny tweaks that would've allowed you to postpone needing certain buildings and allowed you to produce things more efficiently - effectively freeing up labor for something else...

• With the "Trading" Lore bonus you needn't have build the Longship Dock just yet.
  
• "Sharp Axes" could have given you even more wood.
  
• "Blacksmith" could've given you an edge over those wolves.

Which one of these bonuses is best however, I'll leave up to your illustrious rulership dear Thane. It all depends on the situation you find yourself in, the type of Clan under your rule. You'll find a couple of tips under the "Essence of Lore" heading of my guide-ance.




For the more experienced Thane seeking to test his mettle against other Clans in serious conflict, a few things would've gone differently.



They would've used 2 scouts in the beginning, then quickly assigned one or both to something else once the initial surrounding areas had been scouted. Only when you're eager to grapple with an enemy, do they keep scouting.

The same goes for your 2 warriors. Experienced Thanes would've used them to clear the surrounding areas of dangers and put a halt to wolves and other neutral mobs attacking their settlement. A sense of relative safety achieved, they would've then immediately turned them into something else - preferably sailors or even merchants. This way they can earn you back their own training and create the treasure hoard necessary to hire even more muscle in future!



Secondly and very much related to that; an experienced Thane would have gone for new sources and deposits of and almost immediately. Realizing the importance of efficiency, they would have upgraded as soon as possible and gain an economical edge against opponents.



A veteran Thane would've put down a house as their first structure and from that moment on, tried to never reach the population cap!

While they do everything to prevent it, the growth of their population in the early stages, might still be greater than the resources they have to support it. Happiness is often a problem in the beginning.

To deal with early overpopulation, they might stop bothering to heal their wounded since it's too much work for no resources obtained. Instead, they will sacrifice wounded kinsmen as throw-away scouts and warriors to explore and clear areas. Since their population is small at this stage, new recruits will come quickly enough and at least this way, everyone contributes to the best of their ability.

When they do have the resources to take care of their people and their settlement grows large, theirs becomes is an uninterrupted stream of new recruits, quickly put to work towards their desired victory condition.



Breweries are expensive to build, maintain and staff, so the experienced tend to try and avoid these structures. They'll simply claim some more territory that is useful to their future plans anyways for happiness, or beeline straight towards certain Lore research to inspire Happiness passively, without needing to assign kinsmen to its production.

Resources are used in a variety of ways. Wood to construct buildings, food to claim new territory. However, these sums spent are always clearly defined and therefore, uninteresting to discuss. Local advice is all you need on behalf of those considerations.

No, where my interests lie and what I will counsel you in, is how these resources interact with each other: Their steady, unseen trickle unto some other part of our society that blossoms for it.

On our road to conquering Northgard, I can identify four separate, interlocking elements that any thriving settlement possesses. These I will discuss with you, how they interact and associate to each their own resources.

It looks something like this:



I will explain what each resource does shortly, but you can already see how our clansmen (designated by the symbol) are the driving force within this interconnected web. They can can be invested towards any other element of our society, to either support the existence of even more of our kinsmen, or to make our dominance possible through the specialization of few.

It has been like this since times immemorial. A person alone, can do no more than look after his or her own survival. Thriving communities are found only there where enough people gather and cooperate, to become good enough at producing a surplus of the basic necessities of life, so that others don't need to. Our Warriors, Scholars, Merchants and Brewers can do their job and don't need to concern themselves with finding food the entire day, because others do it for them.

Raiding is a fine life and I can already tell you're imagining a vikingr and raider paradise, but never forget that even back home, most of us are farmers.

Your job in all of this is to produce the maximum amount of resources, through the minimum amount of people, to support a greatest possible amount of specialists.

Let me now explain what each of these resources does within its element:

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Food
Wood
Health (not tracked on the resource bar)

The ability just to survive. It is a constant element.

Your people will need to stay warm and fed. To do that, you will always need to have spare food and wood. If you run out, they'll get sick after a month. If they get sick, they will lose health. A healer might be able to cure and save them, but chances are that if mass famine or exposure happens, your Clan will be too sick to resist anything bad happening. Truly an awful fate to befall anyone looking to access Valhalla through the rites of glorious combat!

The ability to heal wounded clansmen is vital either way. Northgard is harsh and should a clansmen get wounded, their productivity suffers by 20%, which might make it harder for them to gather food and wood in the first place. Your people will not heal by themselves.

Fail to Sustain your people and your Clan will fade away and die all by itself.


Happiness
Coin (called Krowns)
Housing

Most important of all:
People

Once Sustenance is no longer a problem, you need to expand. This should be constant.

To stay competitive, you will need a large settlement and many of our kinsmen to unite towards our common goal. It takes quite a lot to convince the men and women of our clan to multiply however.
First, they need houses to live in. As your clan grows, their expectations grow and they want to be entertained. All these things require structures that need space to be built, and coin to be maintained.
If you don't earn enough coin, your buildings will burn and collapse. If your people lose the roof above their head, they won't procreate. Fail to keep your people happy and their prolificity AND productivity will suffer. The clan stops growing.

Your Clan may not die, but fail at Expanding your settlement and other clans will always be bigger, smarter, stronger, wealthier and more prestigious than we are. They might decide to wipe us out, or be declared the rightful claimants to Northgard before we are!


Stone
Iron
Lore

Once the Sustenance and Expansion elements of our settlement are sorted, you may consider investing your settlement's spare energy into Improvement. Improvement is temporary since there's limits to how much we can perfect, but ongoing for as long as you expand.

Improvement makes the Survival, Expansion and Specialization elements of our settlement more efficient and gives us an edge over rival clans. Invest in Improvement by harvesting Stone, Iron, or Lore. Stone makes buildings more efficient. Iron makes your clansmen better at their job. Lore gives bonuses that award the same end result: More resources, to support more clansmen.

Fail to improve and you'll have a tougher time competing with other clans. Every other element of had better be executed perfectly and Expansion plentiful!


Lore
Fame
Warband
Coin

The eventual fruit born by the successful implementation of all other elements involved in a thriving settlement: Specialists that will win us Northgard.

I would advice you to focus on just one of these areas at the expense of others. Just one of them is enough to conquer Northgard. Spreading our efforts may end us in the situation where other, more specialized clans will pass us by.

• Your warband can sully forth to gather glory and fame, go on epic sagas to conquer legendary sites, or to plunder and pillage rival clans. Either to obliterate them, or to seriously dent their efforts.
  
• Loremasters study the mystic stones scattered around the island to produce lore. They will eventually decipher the mysteries of life, the pathways along the seven worlds and access to Asgard itself!
  
• An army of merchants and sailors can amass a treasure hoard of such fabulous splendor that it would make Fafnir envious. The might of your economy makes all other clans indebted to you.
  
• At any rate, all of them contribute to making our Clan famous enough that the High Council has no choice but to recognize our superiority.

That is not to say that Specialists are only there to make victory possible. At least a few warriors will be necessary to clear out new territories, a few merchants to produce coin to maintain our buildings and a few loremasters to improve our society. The presence of specialists in greater, more meaningful numbers however, is evidence of your ability to create a thriving settlement and the ultimate proof that we are the rightful heirs to Northgard!

From the very first moment upon reaching Northgard, your clanspeople will already be hard at work. Without any other job assigned, a clansmen is a villager who will scrounge for food in the wilderness. You will quickly see them carry bundles of fruit back to Town Hall.



You do not need to worry about interrupting someone at a specific moment during their job. The food a villager produces for example, does not get added to your resources the moment he or she reaches the town hall with their bundle. Nothing is wasted should you select them and tell them to do something else just before they reach it. Neither does it matter when someone takes frequent breaks to walk around the structure they're building.

Just focusing on the job is enough for any of your kinsmen to contribute a steady up-tick. It doesn't matter whether a woodcutter is heading towards a tree, cutting it down, or carrying the lumber to their shack; a steady amount of wood is added to your resources for every second they put their minds to it. This also means that a building's proximity to a resource within the area doesn't matter either. The moment your woodcutter himself commits to walking towards a tree in his area - no matter how distant - he produces just as much wood than if he were actually felling it.



To understand how our resources function, how they function in winter, and how our people interact with them, we must first understand something about our people:

Their tallying and basic calculus is atrocious.

You can trust the total amounts shown by the resource bar in the upper part of your view. If it shows that you have 36 food and 199 wood, this is true. Exactly the appropriate amount will be deducted whenever you pay for a price shown. Should the claim on a new area cost you 20 food, 20 food is deducted from the 36 you have to leave you with 16. This makes sense.

Interact with the resource bar however, and it will show you more specifics about what adds or deducts from the total amount. This is where everything goes wrong.


Right at the start of the game, food is produced by jobless villagers, and then consumed by all your kinsmen combined. The information you're given in the very beginning, is that every villager produces +4 food. Four villagers produce +16 food, consumption is -6. In total the tablet claims +11 food is produced.



Perfectly clear right?

Well, no!

What does +11 food mean? Watch the resource bar carefully and you'll discover that FAR more than +11 food per month is added to your total.
Furthermore, how does that even make sense? Why does 16 food produced and 6 subtracted, equal a +11 gain? Shouldn't 16 - 6 be 10?
Other numbers don't add up either. A single hunter might produce +5 food according to the information, but add another hunter and this number jumps up to a total of just +9.

Your villagers will run out of the town hall in sheer terror of basic maths and I strongly urge you to mistrust the production numbers given by the resource bar as anything more than a rough indication. Not the total amount, but any mention of an addition or a subtraction. It appears our true production and consumption is a mystery!

Fortunately I've been an adviser to many a Thane and Jarl in my day and I've overseen a great many towns and villages. Through these, I've begun to discern a pattern in their shoddy record keeping:

+1 or -1 , actually means 6 per month.

However, it's still not that simple. Your clansmen round up or down wildly according to this factor if there's even a fraction of 6 to account for.

Should your people produce 9 food, your information will tell you that +2 food is produced. That's the closest a factor of 6 rounds up to.
If your people consume 11 food, your information will tell you that -2 food is consumed. That's also the closest a factor of 6 rounds up to.
The REAL net sum is still a loss of 3, which leads the information to tell you that the net result is -1.
The bizarre reality in Northgard is that 2 - 2 = -1 according to your people.

Clearly, far more is going on than the simple +X number we're given and the gap between can be as wide as 12! Luckily for you I made a study of it. I've carefully tallied what went out and what went into the total amount during a month and came up with several, very accurate observations about production and consumption that stood up to repeat testing.

The result is the creation of my Almanac, which you can peruse at your leisure, later on during my guide-ance.

It's good to be the thane and time flies while you're ruling. What is a month to your people, feels like a minute to you. What is a year to your people, feels like 12 minutes to you.

Every month consists of 20 increments on your calender. Within each increment, resources get added or deducted 3 times, when appropriate. If you're producing +10 food, some 3 gets added per increment to make roughly 60 by the end of the month.




One of the most interesting aspects of Northgard, is that its seasons are so clearly defined that you can set your calender to it. We have in fact!



Every 1st of december sharp, winter starts. Every 1st of march, down to the minute, winter passes. All the other months are practically the same and I will simply call these "summer". There are other weather factors that you might see during your stay in Northgard, but the difference between Winter and Summer is the only one that matters.

During winter, the ground turns white and the air grows hollow and cold. Most important of all:

• The amount of consumed by your kinsmen is 5x as high.
  
• Many of your food producers are negatively affected, producing between 56% and 70% less depending on the producer.
  
• Your Forces are 10% less effective in your own territory and 30% less effective outside of it.

I made a good study of what weather does to our people. My Almanac can supply you with excellent charts as to what will remain of our productivity and consumption.




We have several bonuses that can counter the penalties of Winter:


Freya's Blessing negates some of the penalties to Food Production.


Bjarki also gets several bonuses to ease the food penalties of winter. Some of them are even inate starter bonuses!


Hearthstone cuts our Wood consumption down by 60% during a winter, or a blizzard event.




Sheep are also capable of reducing the consumption of your kinsmen by 20% when they are in the same area as them. A single sheep is enough and more than one will confer no additional reduction.



Despite what the tooltip claims, wood consumption is reduced during the summer season too! However, since wood consumption is far higher during the winter, the sheep's effect is much more noticable during the cold season.

You also have the option to slaughter them...

The benefits and drawbacks of this decision are further explored in the Sustenance section of the Almanac.




Remember how we've only just recently discovered Northgard through the Iron Hail?
My theory is that we've only managed to pass through said Hail because the winter weather has been remarkably mild recently. The winter it took for us to build the Town Hall was actually quite pleasant!
Signs are already pointing towards the weather turning back for worse however, and expect the winters to slowly worsen again until they're back to the levels of harshness we're accustomed to back home. I predict this time will arrive starting with the winter of 805 AD.

The key to surviving a Winter or Blizzard, is not to find a way to remain productive during one, but to amass enough of a summer stockpile of food and wood to carry you through it. It is a basic skill and somewhat alarmingly, it's one that you'll need to learn how to "feel" out.



And of course, if you plan to spend your food and wood like mad on new territories or buildings instead of stockpiling, let me know right now so I can take my chances swimming back to the homeland! *Nervous laughter* No, seriously, the resulting famine will be on you...




If you're still developing your "feel" for stockpiles, a safe way to practice, are these two:


There are 9 summer months and 3 winter months. You'll have to produce a bit more than 1/3 during every summer month, of what you'll lose during every winter month.
If you lose -10 during every Winter month, you'll have to make +4 in every Summer month.


Another one is this:

There's a maximum capacity to the amount of food you can store. No other resource has such a cap. If you reach it, the numbers associated to food are colored red.



Build your stockpiles to this maximum capacity, whatever it is, just before the winter. Let's say, November.
Then, let the winter shrink your stockpile.
Just before the next winter, see how your stockpile is doing.

If it hasn't reach maximum capacity by November, then apparently you're operating at a loss and you need to produce more food.
If it has reached capacity BEFORE November, then apparently you're producing more than enough food. You can either grow your settlement or turn more of your food producing kinsmen into something else.

This trick also applies to wood production (with an imaginary cap) and after you've found a way to raise this cap for food, an imaginary cap of 1500 would be an excellent amount to target since it will give your people a +2 bonus whenever it is reached.

This is a a safe way of doing things, since you're "feeling out" production around the maximum you can produce, rather than at the minimum. If your best guess is wrong, you have the rest of your abundant stockpile to go through to make new tweaks.


Of course, experienced and more reckless Thanes have mastered the art of their "feels" well enough to never want to reach this cap. In fact, they might be doing the opposite and seeing how much they can squeeze out of a minimum. They might even use the one-month grace periods on starvation and exposure to coast through one. They're too busy producing and spending their food on a swift victory either way.
It's all an art that needs to be mastered, though I'd recommend Clan Goat, Bear or Stag if it's a weakness of yours.




The winter strain on your stockpile will grow with population size. The amount of food needed to survive a winter will reach well into the hundreds once you begin to approach some 30 kinsmen. You will therefore want to increase the size of your maximum stockpile and the buffer it provides.

The maximum capacity on food can effectively be raised by the Silo.



Regardless of whether you upgraded it or not, it raises your Clan's capacity to store food by 500 per silo.

Tip: The "F" key allows you to turn a building before placing it!



The Almanac section of my Guide-ance will address what all buildings do individually, under the tab of the resource they're associated with. For now, let's discuss the basics of jobs and their buildings.

The only ones capable of constructing new buildings and repairing old ones, is the villager. I guess they do fine at gathering food too, but we wouldn't be living up to our reputation if we were nothing but berry pickers! To assign your clansmen and women to enter into more specialized jobs, construct and then send them into the building associated with the jobs you want them to have.

Anyone more specialized than a villager requires not only their associated building to be in their area for them to assume their job, but for that building to have a job opening for them to fill and carry out the work.

The number of job openings is usually 2 for a normal building and 3 for an upgraded one. To make sure, you can select any building and check how many job openings there are and how many people occupy them:



To upgrade a building, you will have needed to upgrade your townhall first! When this is done, the upgrade button is in the lower left of the tablet.

When you regret its existence, the order to destroy is in the upper right, signified by the flame symbol.

Upgrading a building requires stone; a resource that we will address under the improvement element of a successful settlement.




You could in theory, produce a hundred woodcutters from a single woodcutter's lodge:

The lodge itself has two or three job openings. Simply tell two villagers to take the job, then move them to a different territory (or simply move them. It keeps them from focussing on the job). Since they no longer work there, they won't use the job openings any more and you can now send in two more villagers to become woodcutters.
However, since there will only ever be two job openings at the woodcutter's lodge, and these openings are required for your woodcutters to be productive, all you'll ever have is 2 productive woodcutters and 98 idle ones when you have a single lodge.
(That is, unless you want to use them as a makeshift militia, but more on this later)




Warriors don't need job openings, but warband capacity, as discussed later during "Basics of Combat".

Scouts are associated with their building, but can stray away from it.

While jobs are great, we've seen how they are limited by the amount of job openings their associated building has for them. In turn, there are also limits to the amount of buildings you can create!

With the exception of the basic house and its villager, every territory can hold every type of building, only once. It's not possible to create two woodcutter's lodges on a single territory. The maximum amount of productive woodcutters you'll ever have is 2 (3 with an upgrade) if all you have is a single area.

That's not to say you'll be able to construct all the buildings available to you, once in every single area! This too is limited by the area itself.



Territories themselves have a limited amount of buildings they can support. Like I've said, ours is a contentious bunch of people and we do like our elbow space. The High Council has therefore declared some very stiff zoning laws and you'll need to choose how to exploit each particular area. Besides, have you ever even tried to fill out Viking building permit form 7c4-f? Carving out the stone tablets in triplicate is a nightmare!

You can judge how many building lots are available on any specific territory, by selecting it and looking at the territory info tablet.



You can increase the amount of available building spaces - just once - by one, through ordering its development. (The "develop area" button) The option only appears when you approach its regular limit.



While many territories have special traits and bonusses associated with them, you might be dissapointed to find some territories empty from the very start:



Don't be! Their particular speciality is more space for us to build! While most areas with traits start out with only 2-3 building slots depending on their size, empty areas always have a standard of 4!


Instead, save your dissapointment for the swamp:



It decreases the amount of building slots in an area, regardless of its size, down to just 2!

Some territories have a special "trait". Most of them are beneficial, some of them are hostile and some are temporary when exploited.

The most vital among these traits, are those in ! The job of Farmer, Hunter and Fishermen require their building to be productive, but the building itself can only be constructed in or upon areas with a specific trait. And they STILL only get to be constructed once per territory! This turns food into a major bottle neck and makes Food Trait tiles highly desirable.

Our miners also need specific area traits, but only temporarily.
Our sailors don't need specific traits, but they do need an area with a flat shoreline.
Loremasters would be greatly helped by area traits, but don't need them.

These "traits" are shown on the minimap as icons during standard view, and are further specified when you select the territory in question.



I will go into each specific area trait when discussing the resources and jobs associated with them.

To shortly summarize these icons:

Fertile Soil
Deer
Fish

Forest

Runic Stones
Stone
Iron

Treasure
Lair

Site of Interest (Geiser or Thor's Wrath)
Place of Legends

The Jotunn
Nisse, or "Kobolds"

As you are able to see, Northgard has been divided into a tight patchwork of different areas by both the High Council and the cartographers who first discovered the island. The territory you've claimed in Northgard, is clearly delineated around its borders by the colour you've chosen for our expedition. Within that territory, you can hold many different areas.

What is important to realize, is your kinsmen's ties to the land. As your people, they will obey your orders, but as colonists who set out to claim new land, they are awfully fond of the area you've assigned them.

Excepting the free-range scout, your people will NEVER cross or act across borders without your explicit command. Send them into an area and they'll stay there.


Pictured above: The east-side, west-side tragedy of two lovers who will never mingle, cruelly seperated by the striped line of an area border.

Where Civilian kinsmen position themselves within an area, doesn't matter. They will roam within to do their job. Only warriors tend to stand guard in the spot you ordered them to be.

The area system is useful for assigning villagers to specific territories, but militarily, it does turn Northgard into zones of control.



If kinsmen are assigned to areas, this means that the importance of movement is primarily between those areas.

First we must observe how there are natural border barriers in Northgard. These are sheer rock cliffs and wider bodies of water. Small streams are fine, but lakes are not. They make crossing a border impossible and you cannot colonize the area on the other side, even if that area is adjacent to your territory.



As such, they form Northgard's natural chokepoints and limits to expansion - water to a lesser extend, and stone to a greater as it winds its way through the landscape in a rock cliff formation.



After the consideration of borders and barriers, your kinsmen can be divided into three categories of movement.

• Civilians
  
• Warriors
  
• Scouts

The first two are already presented as separate entities by the clan info tablet. Each category reacts differently when ordered between friendly, neutral, hostile, explored and unexplored territory.

• Your Civilians are limited by the borders of your territory.
  Civilians won't ever cross the borders of your territory. This would mean travelling into neutral or even hostile areas. Cognizant of their limits, civilians prefer to stay within the relative safety of your holdings. If you want them to travel to an area beyond your borders, you will have to claim that area as your own first. If they encounter anything hostile, they'll ignore it for a while, then slowly trickle into the brawl.
  
  
• Your Warriors are limited only by the depth of an enemy's territory and the fog of war.
  Warriors go where they please and can cross neutral and hostile borders when ordered to. They still adhere to military common sense: They will not rush blindly into unexplored territory, nor will they storm into consecutive enemy areas past their initial border incursion. This would open them up to ambush or encirclement. They want their surroundings known and the enemy clan dealt with one area at a time. If they encounter anything hostile to them within an area, all of them eagerly engage on sight.
  
  
  (Jarls familiar with warfare will recognize the above depiction isn't strictly true. They might however, agree that it is the most instructive to new Thanes.)
  
  
• Scouts are limited only by the furthest reaches of the unknown. They avoid entanglement.
  Scouts can sneak past those hostile to them, and through both enemy and neutral territory without causing hostilities. They can go almost anywhere and can explore unknown areas for you, but only if that area is adjacent to already explored territory. Explorations is slower the farther they're away from your Town Hall. They can get wounded through the act of exploration itself and this risk increases with distance from your Town Hall. The progress a scout makes exploring a territory, is saved for another time or for another scout when you recall them. It's what their huts are for: Coordinating their charts. Several scouts can explore a single area faster when they team up.

In battle, you'll be fighting over Northgard piece by piece, rather than inch by inch. The rules of honour and drengskapr among our people are very clear on this. We might be a contentious bunch, but all the more reason to avoid total war!

Conflict only happens when someone commits to crossing a border and they are considered hostile by those on the other side. Then, all hell breaks loose and battle is fought entirely within that area until the invader either retreats from, is destroyed inside, or remains unopposed within that area. When an invader remains unopposed and the area is owned by someone hostile to the invader, that area is slowly disowned into neutrality for every second the invader has an unopposed presence there. Ownership is quickly re-established when the invader is removed.

Any and all buildings within an area disowned into neutrality, suffer damages until destroyed, or someone claims the area - and the buildings with it - and sees fit to repair them. Should this area be host to a town hall, the clan owning it will be dismissed from Northgard. Their remaining populace will turn neutral and wander the territory they were in at the time of defeat, to seek Valhalla. If a Clan's holdings are cut in two by the loss of an area, resource production in the territories detached from the Town Hall will still be smuggled into that clan's pool of resources, but these territories are now vulnerable and cut off from a supply of new villagers.

Until a border crossing commences, nothing happens. Clans who hate each other's guts could station armed guards at the border to face off in what could be the most intense staring contest at toenail's length since Loki painted eyes on his lids and challenged Thor to one, but as long as both sides remain on THEIR side of the grass, not a punch is thrown.




Even projectile weapons must be cast from within the area where an active battle takes place, to have any hope of contributing to that battle. No sniping from your side of the border like a níðingr! Declare your presence, declare your intent and face your foe like a drengr!

When you order your units to cross a border, it takes a moment for them to get accustomed to the situation in their new surrounding and to get their logistics in order. For just a split second, they won't be able to make an attack. This prevents you from slipping into a hostile area real quick to lob an axe, do damage and slip back again.

Along with the harsh Northern weather, Northgard is richly populated with hostile, wild and ignoble creatures. And I'm not even talking about our rival Clans!

These neutral dangers are naturally occurring in the shape of huge, man eating animals that stalk the wilderness, or the evil Spirits that cling to the many ruins scattered across the island. Clearly some great calamity has befallen this place in the past!

As we conquer Northgard, we will have to lay these dangers to rest, so we might give room to our people.



First and most impressive of these dangers is the Bear.



A swipe from its massive paws is as dangerous as the swing of our warriors' axes and it has the toughness of 4 of our finest men and women!

Fortunately, bears are solitary creatures and the least of your concerns. They like being left alone and will not cause trouble unless you pass into their territory, where you'll only ever find the one.



Northgard's Giant Wolf population is a worse problem. Up to 6 can stalk a single area.



These pack creatures have no problem invading into your territory when hunger strikes.

A wolf cannot stand up to a Warrior or a group of civilian kinsmen, but can devour a lone civilian should they manage to single one out. Our more rugged hunters are slightly better suited to dealing with these woodland critters.

Fortunately they're merely a nuisance to a well established Clan, but a nuisance nonetheless. They'll cause alarm, wound people, force you to move your kinsmen in groups, hamper productivity and might even kill should they attack weakened kinsmen.

If you have the time, it's best to deal with them early.



Sometimes, wolves have made their den out of a cave. When this happens, just clearing the area of wolves is not enough. More will spawn from their den. You will have to claim the cave, clear out the den and maybe domesticate the pups.

You will be awarded 30 when you do, alongside 5 !



Evil spirits possessing the remains of the dead are an even worse problem. These Draugr cling selfishly to the mortal realm to make life difficult for its heirs. Up to 6 can haunt a single area.



They'll wander the area they died in, but sometimes lose their bearings to spill into your territory absent-mindedly, drawn to the recollection of a previous life.

They are armed with both melee and ranged weapons and are a genuine problem. Their ancient swords may be rusty, their shields rotten and their throwing spears blunted, but their unnatural strength and endurance means they're stronger than an ordinary, battle-axe wielding warrior. Cautious parity is only reached with the "Weaponsmithing" lore. If they venture into an undefended part of your territory with nothing but civilian kinsmen, I'd recommend evacuation unless numbers are stacked heavily in your favor.

None of the Draugr on Northgard seem evil enough to pass on their curse, have an immunity to iron, or grow in size like some of their more legendary kin can.



Sometimes Draugr haunt a specific barrow, or "tomb". When this happens, just clearing the area of Draugr isn't enough. The spirits will simply haunt another corpse from the tomb. You will have to claim the area and give the spirits there a proper burial.
Let their second death give them the peace they could not find in life!

You will be awarded 50 when you do, alongside 5 !



Incursions by Neutral entities are only a problem when your territory has encroached on theirs by too much. Wolves and Draugr will not invade empty neutral territory unless they have a lair.



Once your borders touch an area where there's Wolves and Draugr, they'll be vexed enough by the bustle of civilization to try their luck invading it. Bears don't ever cross the border. They'll stick to their own territory.



To keep your territory safe, you'll need to clear all neutral areas adjacent to your borders of Wolves and Draugr. If they have a Cave or a Tomb there, you have no other choice but to expand your borders to include it.

These "lairs" are also - very rarely - capable of spilling their population over into an adjacent area when the lair's population becomes too numerous, even if that area is neutral. A single neutral area for a buffer between you and a lair, isn't good enough eventually!

If the members of a neutral invasion are unopposed, they will disown the territory into neutrality. If they manage, the invaders in the now neutral area will then start acting like their own population without a lair, possibly spawning new members to invade the next.




Neutral attacks come at a steady pace. The frequency of attack will increase the more neutral populations you border.

The direction of their attacks appears to be a matter of random misfortune, but they do appear to prefer vulnerable unguarded areas and winters seem to agitate them.


During a neutral invasion, the neutral population on the other side of the border - depending on its size - will spawn 1-3 more of its members. These new members will then invade. The original population will stay the same size.
If your territory borders an area with 1 lone wolf, then that lone wolf will spawn another lone wolf who will invade. The original lone wolf remains. If there's 6 wolves, they might spawn another 3 who will invade. The original 6 will also remain.

The bigger the neutral population, the larger their invasion size and the more menacing their presence on the opposite side of your border. When attacking and decreasing a neutral population without a lair, the size of their attacks decrease and the population will not respawn - unless they have a lair.


When they have a Tomb or a Den, then these woodland structures are capable of growing an area's neutral population back by occasionally adding new members, even if the entire population was eradicated. This event is sporadic and completely random.

When a lair increases the neutral population in its area above 6, then 3 members of the lair's population will migrate over into an empty adjacent area - neutral or otherwise. When this happens, the amount of neutral population migrated IS detracted from the lair's area population, but the Lair will then slowly remunerate the losses. Another migration event can occur if the population hits the maximum again.

Meanwhile, the population inside the lair's area is also capable of launching attacks independently of the lair's spill-over events, spawning members while their original population stays the same.

Woe betide the poor Thane who is the victim of both an attack by the adjacent neutral population, and a spill-over event from the lair they inhabit. Two bands of up to three neutral invaders may then cross the border simultaneously!

Northgard would have been a volatile island even without the conflict we now bring to its shores. After the first wint of our landing, expect one crisis to follow another.



Fortunately, our seers are able to predict them coming. The flashing red "!" symbol upon your calender will give you an indication of when and what will come to pass. Interaction with the "!" symbol will recall information about the event.




Blizzards are where ordinary winters become extraordinary. The skies above Northgard become thick with sleet and snow, almost reminiscent of the Iron Hail. Temperatures plummet further. Everyone's job becomes truly hard. Freezing gales wrap around to penetrate a building's every gap and haunt those huddled inside with bone chilling caress.



You are warned of this event 6 months ahead of time. Blizzards always start at the first of January, then stop shortly before the end of February to last almost two months (38 increments in total). During which, you can expect wood consumption to be 9 times higher than in summer! Bbbrrrrrrrr! It might be cheaper to just burn the house down!



Not only is the food productivity just as diminished as during an ordinary winter, a blizzard halves it further. In fact, with the sheer exception of the Brewers and Skalds, everyone's productivity is halved.




Guess who forgot to build their own stockpile?



Once famine strikes the rat population of Northgard, the rodents become mad with hunger. You are warned of this event 6 months ahead of time. After that, not even our burliest warriors can prevent them from washing over the settlement, devouring anything in their path. Anything edible not firmly clenched between the fists and jaws of your kinsmen vanishes.

60% of your unprotected is lost.

Once again, the solution to our food based problems lies in the silo.

• Every normal silo you build, can protect 300 .
  
• Every upgraded silo you have, can protect 500 .

Since both normal and upgraded silos raise the food storage maximum by 500, only the upgraded silo can protect all that it can store. Your Town Hall starts with the ability to store 500 food and this food is always unprotected. This means there will always be SOME food that's left unprotected.

Of course when there is little to no food to steal in the first place, this barely registers as a problem.

The ravished rodents also spread disease . I will expound further upon these effects in the "Sickness" segment of the Almanac.




When Fenrir tests his yoke, the world trembles!



When the ground shifts, torches and candles tip over onto hay matted floors. Beams break, thatched roofs collapse in a shower of straw, while fireplaces crack open to free the flame.

You are warned of this event 5 months ahead of time. Only the Carved Stone structure and your sturdy Town Hall are immune to it.

• Expect at least 1 of your buildings to burn during an earthquake.
  
• Once you have 7 buildings, at least 2 will burn.
  
• Once you have 12 buildings, at least 3 will burn.

After 12 buildings, no more than 3 buildings will ever be affected, but by then your settlement is large enough that these fires could be spread around by quite some distance.

Only villagers can repair a building and will need wood supplies to do so. This makes it important for a large settlement to scatter villagers across it, so they can deal with these fires quickly!

Buildings only burn down slowly over several months, and with the exception of the defense tower, their cost in wood doesn't increase with more damage inflicted. Burning and damaged buildings do become inactive however and will take longer to repair afterwards. If the fire involves a Farm or Brewery that can no longer can produce food or happiness, the damages to your economy can still be substantial if you take too long.

Note that the Trading Post's "Trade" function and our Longship Docks and Harbors are NOT upset by the fire, until they burn down completely.

Fortunately, the useful "burning building" icon will show you their location.




The repair costs in wood are as following:

Cost Per Year




Vexed by the continued presence of the living upon Northgard, portals will open up. These inky swirls are as black as the grave and vomit up a similar harvest: Draugr are set to emerge from them.



The amount of portals give some indication as to the size of their attack and the volume ramps up with time. In the first two years, a single portal might spawn a single Draugr. Up to 5 portals and some 5 emerging Draugr are the worst I've ever seen when the year reaches 805 AD.



A particularly nasty asset of these portals, is their ability to appear on short notice. You are warned of this event just 2 months ahead of time. Since these invasions can be rather large, they have the potential of messing up your military plans as you're forced to re-allocate forces and deal with the sudden Draugar presence.

These portals always appear at the inland edges of your borders, just inside your territory. Once they become numerous enough, they can spawn in two different areas at the same time.

Note: Jarl Rufigularis has been kind enough to notify me that the value of treasure sites has been increased. Work in progress!


Scattered through Northgard are the ancient ruins of the long departed, and the shipwrecks of those more recently doomed by wind and sea upon rocky cliffs. More than just picturesque remnants, these sites can be explored for a quick and easy haul of resources.

You need to first claim the area to safeguard these sites for excavation. Then, only your scouts have enough patience and appreciation for loot to properly clean the place out. It will take them slightly less then 2 months, some 50 days. Only a single scout can be assigned per treasure site.

The amount of resources reclaimed varies, but are always as following:




Blown through the Iron Hail and stranded upon Northgard unprepared, these sailors never returned home...



100 - 200
&
50 - 100




Ruins appear in two different variation upon Northgard. A tomb and the entrance to a catacomb. Which you explore, matters not. Both yield the same resources in the same amounts.



100 - 200
&
50 - 100

The next few sessions will give you an idea of the different Clans setting out for Northgard and their strengths.

I off course, don't need to remind from what venerable Clan we hail!

You do know, right?

Strength and Glory

Learning Curve: Hard



Fenrir - The wolf who devoured the world.



The Offensive counterpart of Clan Bjarki, the kinsmen of Fenrir are indisputably best suited towards a Warrior Specialization and putting their Warband towards conquering a Legendary Site, or even the wholesale eradication of all Rival Clans. A Fame victory through their martial exploits is within their reach as well.

None can support a warband as efficiently as Wolf can, once they take the field.

Even the leader of their warband is a specialist called the Berserker, who has much more attack power compared to an ordinary Warchief!





Taken as a Society, theirs is an aggressive warrior culture, with kinsmen that don't turn their noses up to the realities of living on a battlefield. Its kinsmen are made happy by seeing muscular young men and women swinging their weapons about, or are at the very least, less eager to complain loudly.

Wolf's warrior are excellent survivalists and skilled at fending for themselves out in the wild, through hunting, foraging and pillaging. They naturally have 30% less need for your settlement's stock of food and this can be further reduced to almost nothing with Lore.

Note that the 70% Food Reduction REPLACES the 30% starter bonus. These two factors are NOT additive.

All of this means that you're allowed a bigger warband than other Clans can muster for both raids and a large-scale military campaign, since their recruitment relieves your settlement of the burden of Food consumption and Happiness production.
Just don't go overboard and realize there's a fine difference between maintaining a small permanent warband and a larger, temporary army, as discussed over at the "Warrior Specialization - The Art of War" session of my guide-ance, which might be important read for any Thane who considers becoming Alpha of Fenrir's pack.





Combat is profitable for Wolf and they can exact the price of war from an enemy clansmen's or Draugr's hide by being willing to search the corpses for . Their iron stomachs have a tolerance for stringy meat and they can hunt wolves and bears for . While I wouldn't recommend relying on it as a reliable source of nourishment, this food is useful for putting into new territories to claim, short term survival or the army's stockpile of rations.

When Fenrir's warband lives out its purpose by trouncing other Clans and conquering their areas by disowning them, the experience is downright spiritual and curative to them.


All of this gives you full leave to explore quickly and run rampant through the plentiful amount of neutral territory in the earlier stages, assaulting Draugr Tombs, raiding Wolf Dens and slaying Bears for the food and coin needed to expand both the warband and the borders, towards a Rival Clan or sources of fame before your enemy can reach.

You might not even have to crush your enemy's bones within your mighty iron bite if you gather enough fame, or discover and claim one of Northgard's holy sites!



When your enemies leave you no choice (they rarely do, whether imagined or in reality), Wolf excels at offense.

Wolf Warriors are skilled at bringing both buildings and borders down, seeking out their enemy and throwing their weight about. Being in neutral or hostile territory away from your clan's elderly and children, gives them an excuse to run wild.


Because they fight harder beyond your borders, always play them offensively. Never allow your borders and an enemy's to touch and always establish a buffer zone in which to eliminate or wound invaders before they reach you. You need to take the fight outside... of your territory.




Fenrir lacks the bonuses to be played defensively, and neither should it! Wolf's strength hinges entirely on their Thane's ability to act offensively. Chained to their own territory, Fenrir is the inferior choice when trying to attain any other victory condition. This is made perfectly evident by their fame bonus to attack power, which is only applicable OUTSIDE their territory.

Time is an enemy. In the case of Stag and Raven, their preferred victory conditions not only allow them to ignore you should you not press the attack, but the resources acquired by them actively feed into the strength of their armies through Happiness and Wealth. The same goes for Bear and Fame, but you can count on Bjarki to have a bigger fighting appetite as it tries earning that fame through conflict with you.
Together with their ordinary military bonuses, these three Clans' fighting strength eventually becomes superior to yours in YOUR territory, while being only slightly weaker outside of it. An ugly, protracted stalemate just won't do as they'll slowly work themselves into their own victory condition despite the pressure you apply.

From the very start, you should be driven to seek out battles and win them as soon as possible, which is only made difficult by the island itself when the distances crossed are large.

This desperate urge towards quick offense makes Fenrir a difficult Clan to manage for inexperienced Thanes, especially on larger islands.

Providence, Prosperity

Learning Curve: Easy



Eikthyrnir - The stag who stands upon Valhalla.



Both Clan Stag and Clan Goat focus on running an effective settlement. Of the two, Eikthyrnir is the bigger and "wider" settler. No other Clan makes better use of every extra food trait area claimed. The settlements of Eikthyrnir can turn into a truly productive sprawl when Stag stands proud!

Above all else, Stag is best suited towards a Fame Victory!



Taken as a Clan, theirs is a society of hardworking adventurers, poets and braggards. For good reason too!

Boasting is a core tenant of their society. They've turned bragging into such a fine art, that it's often hard to tell truth from bluster among Stag Clansmen. Subsequently, when things are going well for them, Stag youths eagerly spend their time working themselves up to be equal to these fantastic fables. This urge and dedication drive them to become capable warriors that can stand up to other Clans. Should they manage to do anything remarkable, their ability to magnify their exploits and fame comes natural to them.

To an outsider, all of this sounds like a fantastic work of fiction. Those amused by it will happily pay to be entertained.



Note that the "Glory of the Clan" Lore bonus does NOT work retroactively. It only applies to every new addition of Fame afterwards. If you're about to slay a Wyvern, challenge the Jotnar or defeat an enemy Clan, better make sure you've already got Glory of the Clan researched!




It takes a while for a fawnling Stag settlement to hit its stride by unlocking the bonuses that properly define the Clan. Their kinsmen back home have nonetheless embraced the expedition with the full spirit of Eikthyrnir optimism and have sent their children extra supplies!


These will help greatly, since otherwise Stag is completely unremarkable in the beginning with no great strengths. These will come later and are a good reason to invest in a little earlier than you would otherwise have done!




Thanks to their dedication to work, combined with the Clan's ingenious advances in the handling of nourishment, Eikthyrnir kinsmen quickly end up with the food, energy and time to spare on whatever else they set their minds too. This could be anything from something epic like Wyvern hunting, to something as mundane as claiming the next patch of land.


Thanks to Eikthyrnir's Silos, the Clan gains a surprising amount of free food and happiness, without having to dedicate any kinsmen to its production. Silos themselves are still restricted to only those areas with Fertile Soil, Deer or Fish, but this is all the more reason for Eikthyrnir to seek these thraits out. Expansion and the size of Eikthyrnir's territory are therefore very important.







Measure your strength carefully with Stag. You start of criminally weak compared to the other Clans (especially those with martial prowess), and only grow slowly into being perhaps the strongest and most well-rounded of them with time. The extra resources you get as your starter and fame bonus, must be put towards this growth.

Coincide your urge to expand with this metamorphosis. New food trait tiles and the potential to build your famous silos there, are still only as useful to you as they are to any other Clan without having researched "Eradication" and "Advanced Silos". Holding them in reserve, flaunts your expansionism to a neighbouring Wolf or Bear Clan. Without those same silos to support a large army, or the "Young and Proud" lore bonus and happiness to make them worth a damn, you'll only enter into conflicts that will cost you deerly. We all know what happened to the fawn who strayed too far!

Establishing your dominance comes after investing the Lore to unlock your bonuses at the mid-stage. Focus on an efficient settlement first, dedicate a bit more time to Lore than you otherwise might have had, grow your antlers and only then start making yourself known as the king of the forest.

When that happens, your large, well motivated and well fed armies can be seen roaming Northgard, seeking fame and more land to claim, regardless of current ownership.

Nourishment and Efficiency

Learning Curve: Very Easy



Heidrun - Wellspring of Valhalla's holy Mead.



Both Clan Goat and Clan Stag focus on running an effective settlement. Of the two, Heidrun is the most effective and "denser" settler. No other Clan can make better use of every area already held. The settlements of Heidrun are industrious powerhouses that can steamroll out of control once Goat reaches charging speeds.

Heidrun is capable of turning even a frozen wasteland such as Northgard, into a bountiful land of Mead and Honey. They even have enough of the stuff to share and others run the dangerous risk of becoming dependant on Heidrun for their sustenance. Clan Goat is best suited towards a Trade Victory.




Food - perhaps the most important resource on Northgard - is at the heart of their society and they're really good at handling it. A Heidrun settlement is basically a gathering of cooks, farmers and herdsmen.

Heidrun herdsmen have figured out how to introduce dairy qualities into the hardy sheep living on Northgard and can build a special Sheep Fold to keep the ewes and their lambs close. This building requires no kinsmen to operate and any sheep Heidrun manages to claim, basically gives the settlement a lot of free food, right from the very start.

Their best chefs have figured out ways to turn every scrap of food that would normally be wasted, into a delicious dish! It's not just the deer's testicles, blood and organ meat stuffed into the animal's own entrails when you call it a sausage and advertise it as Morr, or "Haggis"!

Even its traders have a similar knack for making Heidrun food seem like the most delicious thing on Earth and they command far higher prices for it on the market.




This food theme extends towards their ability to throw the best feasts on Northgard! The abundance of delicious food really brings your Clan together and they'll feel more productive and their warband more robust for as long as festivities last.

Besides, with all their food production bonuses, Clan Heidrun can afford the food cost associated with a feast and can afford to throw more of them then any other Clan!


Be sure to feast "tactically" whenever your Clan is drawn into a combat situation!



Heidrun's herd mentality means Goat kinsmen are a tight-knit lot with more solidarity towards each other than found in any other Clan. This allows Heidrun some amazing advances in the efficiency of their settlement.

Once you're properly established, Heidrun relatives back home will send Clan Heidrun some of the latest designs in civilian tools.

When the time comes to develop an area to hold more buildings, Goat kinsmen won't complain about the influx of neighbours.
In fact, they'll join forces with them against a common enemy and barricade the place in resistance against any invader.

Perhaps most important of all: With the right lore, Heidrun kinsmen don't mind crowding their farms, hunter's lodges and fishermen huts with one more person if it means more delicious food! Should you be able to find the stone to upgrade their buildings, their food production buildings hold room for 4 people instead of just 3! This is an amazing 25% increase in food production, that can then be put towards ANYTHING that Clan Goat does.



Thanks to their superior handling of food, these bonuses will eventually wash your rival Clans off Northgard on an inexhaustible tidal wave of Heidrun's kin, spilling forth from a well developed settlement.






Heidrun kinsmen are unfortunate homebodies, whose obsession with food sees them sacrifice the "Colonization" and "Shipbuilding" lore bonuses. This costs them the ability to colonize new areas as fast as the other Clans might, or draw as much wealth from the dreary journeys away from home aboard a ship.

They can only created their famous 4-man food production buildings if they have access to the to upgrade them. Invariable the biggest sources of these precious resources - entire fields of these pillars - are located further into the island where conflict rages hottest. Lacking the efficiency to expand quickly and the martial prowess to assert themselves, Heidrun might turn out to have real difficulty obtaining as much of it as they might want. This lack can hamstring their full stride in a major way unless they outsmart the other clans to the middle, spend lore into "Mining Efficiency" and "Carpentry" first, and/or invest heavily in the production to buy the stone.

Militant Merchants

Learning Curve : Moderate - Hard



Huginn and Muninn - The well travelled whisperers in Odin's Ear.



There isn't another Clan quite like Huginn and Muninn.

Raven has close designs on the two classical sources of power: Wealth and Information. They've also got access to several tricks that allow them to lever their power over Northgard in unorthodox ways.

While their sailors and merchants aren't better at earning krowns than others, the Clan excels at profitable trade deals. They also know how to spend their coin wisely and a large treasury confers to them several additional bonuses. Because Huginn and Muninn are strongest when rich, they're best suited towards stuffing their nest with shinies for a Wealth Victory.

For a practical build order and victory strategy, see this excellent guide:
http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1156441362



The settlements of Huginn and Muginn are a cartel of merchants, mercenaries and spies. It's entirely shady stuff and Raven is all the better for it.

At the very heart of their enterprise on Northgard is their unique Harbor building. Linking back to the outside world, this shadowy structure is the perfect base from which to wheel and deal.




Compared to the Longship Docks of other Clans, Harbors are exactly as productive, but an edge does lie in the skill of its seafarers. Ships from these Harbors can venture well into Russia, Spain, Italy, the Byzantines and North Africa for a magnificent array of furs, spices, silks, art and ivory.

To the sum of +2 Happiness for a normal harbor and +3 when upgraded, Clan Raven is blessed by its harbors indeed!






For a pittance of 10 , sailors launching from your harbors can be made to swerve around the island when setting off or returning from their journey. Doing this, they'll chart random coastal areas for you. Since starting positions are always along the coast, your sailors are likely to get a bearing on your enemies long before they do on you.

You will still need scouts to explore further inland, but Raven's spies can disseminate information faster than any other and are skilled at stealth and survival. They cannot be hurt while skulking and they can feed themselves out in the wild, requiring none of your settlement's food to be maintained.

Word from of these newly discovered lands then trickles back to make your settlement happy. Your eager merchants will launch into wild speculation and investment plans before even owning them.




While their vikingr and merchants are just as productive as those of the other Clans, it is the Raven's well-connected traders who have a knack for gaining you prodigious sums of money. When establishing a trade route, their contacts ensure you far higher returns on any item traded.

Similar contacts also ensure you access to the finest quality weapons, while they cost you nothing to obtain. Think of them as loans from a shadowy well-wisher and your treasury as collateral.

What's more, Raven can simply buy new areas with coin instead of food.


Since Food is substantially more valuable than Krowns, it is recommended to start your Krown production ahead of your first Food building and buy lands with coin instead. Early wealth will fund your sailor's surveys too!




While Raven's fondness for trade basically means that Huginn and Muninn prefer peace, they've got some nasty tricks up their sleeve when the situation does come to blows.

Once Huginn and Muginn have nestled comfortably, word of their exploits will interest their old mercenary liaisons well enough for them to extend their contracts to Northgard. These hirelings can launch amphibious sneak-attacks.

Even earlier, three new "recruits" will mysteriously show up on your island. I'd delve into their background, but the bribes you paid and the contracts you signed to obtain them, had very clear "no questions asked" stipulations.




Raven Mercenaries have their own section in the "Essence of Combat" section of my guide-ance, under "Combatants - Specialists".




Most of Raven's strengths are far more situational than those of any other Clan.

They excel at trade, but trade can only happen when there's peace with Other Clans, or an enduring Jotunn and Kobold presence on the island. Otherwise Raven is no better at gathering wealth than the other Clans.
Their Mercenaries are brilliant at keeping a foe off-balance with attacks from the rear, but only if there's flat shorelines that are worth defending against attackers. You'll also be paying for your mercenaries with the same krowns needed for a wealth victory.
You need to be ready to house the three "recruits" and Raven armies are only powerful when you're rich, which is a further incentive not to spend any.

Raven's only reliable strengths are expansion and information. It is up to a clever Thane to then use these advantages to manipulate future events, head off the enemy and create situations that allows them to play to Huginn and Muginn's more situational skills.

For example: Use your information networks to plan ahead and maybe let your rival take neighbouring coastal farmlands while you focus on those you discovered more inland. After they develop and start to depend on said coastal farmlands with you as their neighbour, the threat of your warband being aided by mercenaries flanking their precious beach property, would mean they'd be fools to be anything other than exemplary trade partners that fill your coffers... unless you get sick of them instead!

Throwing the Cold Shoulder

Learning Curve : Moderate



Bjarki - The warring little bear.



The Clan of the Bear is almost the exact opposite of Clan Wolf. The defensive, less numerous contrast that prefers to measure its strength. No Clan can raise an army as easily as Bjarki

Bjarki is best suited towards Warrior Specialization, with a strong penchant for Fame in the later stages.

They also get not one, but two heroes!



The armored bear can be recruited almost immidiatly at just 75 and Clan Bear starts very strong. "Kaija" is about as vicious as you'd expect from a bear and the extra padding gives it even more durability. It's also just as territorial. It will plow through neutral territory to give you easy access to expansion, but it won't cross enemy borders.

Remember to take care of big ol' Kaija. It takes a long time to nurture her back to health.




Taken as a Society, theirs is a territorial warrior culture of hardy winter-worshippers. No Clan is better affected by snowfall than Clan Bear. Bjarki kinsmen will rush out of their homes to celebrate with snowball fights and sculpted snow-bears at the drop of a flake.

Their hardy crop is more frost-resistant and their hunters lose less speed chasing game.

Fishermen aren't afflicted by a winter penalty in the first place, but Bjarki makes up for it by being excellent fishermen. With "Harpoons" and an extra person manning the fishing holes, they can produce an astonishing 700 extra yearly compared to their farms! Kaija needs her fish diet after all.


Their starter bonus, together with Winter Festival and Freya's blessing, will quickly make Winter your favorite season of the year.





Clan Bjarki can take territory at a steady pace and they've all the abilities needed to keep it. They excel at holding choke-points and recuperating from a fight. This is especially true during winter!


The "Shield Mastery" bonus gives Bjarki Shield Bearers not only a bonus to their resistance, but lowers their base cost to be as cheap as that of the warrior's 20

Hibernations will work WHILE you fight. A Bjarki shield bearer standing on his own winter snow, is one of the toughest fighters in all of Northgard. This makes an attack on Clan Bear during winter a VERY bad idea.

They're no push-overs outside of their territory during winter either with the added resistance.



Proof of their warrior culture can be found in how they organize their settlement. Instead of complaining, Bjarki kinsmen take out their frustration sparring. I recommend scattering training camps evenly throughout their settlement to give them a place to do so.

The military presence of either of their heroes is inspirational to Bjalki kinsmen and productivity in the area rises by 15% (but won't double with both). If you manage to make a choke-point out of or near your farmlands, then all the better to station the Shield Maiden or Warbear there.

To top it all off, Ursa - your Shield Maiden - is a promising fighter and already quite the prodigy at her young age. Unlike the dusty, bearded relics of the other Clans, people back home and even the High Council want to hear more of her exploits once her reputation is established.
Bjarki intends to live up to her reputation and gains attack power for every point of fame.




While the winter bonuses are nice, Stag and Goat have far more growth potential and Wolf's ability to field warbands on a diet is also superior. Expand early and quickly into choice areas using the warbear to make up for it. Reaching out for an early vanguard choke-point to minimize the amount of territory exposed is vital until you're better established.

Once this is achieved, you actually WANT to be touching borders with Wolf or any other enemy in a big fuzzy bear hug!

For one, a winter assault hands you an additional resistance bonus wherever you go. If you use this advantage to go on winter raids, you are capable of hitting like... a bear... with a horde of efficient shield bearers who are hard to take down and simply shrug off defensive projectiles. If borders touch, your healing snows are only a quick tactical retreat away and you might recover fast enough to double your offensive power and maul the same area twice - like a lasting blizzard. If you do suffer casualties, Winter Festival will help you replace your losses faster during winter.

All of this means you can handsomely afford to throw a few love-taps during winter. If not to take an area, then a few quick kills for your Shield Maiden to earn you her Fame Victory!


Despite Bear's defensive mindset, try to dictate battle. It's better to launch a winter attack and do enough damage to your enemy that he will need the summer to recuperate, then to sit tight and defend against their inevitable and far more efficient summer raids.

Taking areas during winter and daring your enemy to evict you is the general way to go.

Wilderness Wisdom

Learning Curve : Moderate - Hard



The golden boar drawn from Brokkr's flame.




Slidrugtanni does away with many of the trappings of "civilization". The unconventional Boar settlement that results from this, is nothing if not interesting.

Boar works to live alongside the land, rather than tame to exploit it. Its kinsmen have an entirely different way of looking at the world and the knowledge that this brings, makes them uniquely suited for a Wisdom Victory.




Because Clan boar embraces the different, the primitive and the ancient, their settlement attracts a colorful cast of wildmen, druids and seers that are in constant communion with Northgard's spirit world. The latter skill is no doubt acquired by a heady knowledge of herbs, saps and mushrooms.


With half the population rejecting the comforts of modern, 9th century living and the other half... otherwise engaged somewhere... it's rather easy to keep Slidrugtanni's ilk happy.

Many don't expect their own houses as long as they're allowed the space and freedom to find a patch of soft moss beneath a grand oak tree. If they do encounter a building, they don't mind it if you skimped on putting walls in, let alone such fancy things as stone shingles when thatch is enough to keep the roof from leaking... mostly.

Forced to rely on simple means to get by, also quickly teaches you how to be innately clever and handy.






And why would you want to keep mother nature out with walls and roofs, when she is so generous? Northgard is a mystical place and because Boar spends so much time living outside, it notices things that would've completely passed other Clans by.

They're keenly aware of their only true neighbours: The spirits and animals surrounding them. Like a good neighbour does, Slidrugtanni does far less to upset them with its presence.

And where other Clans see, they do not truly look: Gifts left by the spirits, valuable minerals, rare herbs, exotic insects, delicacy animals, forgotten artifacts. Truffles when you stick your snout into the mud deep enough! With a fondness for rare wildnerness treasures, Boar has also developed a real knack for old-fashioned bartering. Who needs the crafted goods of other clans, or an economy based on soulless krowns, when your market is right below your feet?

The Jotnarr and the Nisse get it and are Boar's only valid Trade Partners!

Boar kinsmen are especially pleased when they have a forest, swamp or streams inside their territory to explore. These darker, forgotten places are teeming with life and often hide the greatest delights.






More than just sentiment or nostalgia, there might actually be something to this deep attachment to nature. It almost appears as if the land itself has entered into a partnership with Slidrugtanni.

Boar's society is ably led by their specialized Mender Druids. When these are not busy keeping their sounder in good health, they're communicating with nature. And where Northgard is steeped in magic, the knowledge of the gods is whispered through the rustling of wind-blown leafs when you listen carefully.

Menders can be active anywhere and where other Clans rely on their sailors and their shores, or Loremasters and their expensive stones, Slidrugtanni can put down a cheap Mender's Hut anywhere for a little .

These Mender Druids themselves also seem to have curious powers over their enviroment. Wherever they're employed, the wheat ripens quicker, game is more plentiful, the quality of lumber increases. Even the brewer's hops are tastier, the seas more calm for the longship to traverse, and beams of playful light often draw the Loremaster's eye exactly where it needs to be for inspiration.








Boar can't make its krowns through trade with other Clans, but it provides several clever alternatives, both to keeping your settlement prosperous, and efficient without the need for stone.

Instead of upgrading your buildings, Boar has two important bonuses to keep up with the Clans that do. "Handiwork" is a brilliant piece of Lore that instantly boosts the efficiency of all non-upgraded buildings across your settlement. The clever placement of a pair Menders with "Herbalism" on top of that, allow Slidrugtanni to apply area-wide boosts in crucial spots such as food tiles, that allow the Clan to keep up with others that do upgrade. Never upgrading would deprive the Clan of 3rd job opening and Boar will never be AS efficient, even if it gets close.

Not having any upgraded buildings, or as much of a need for houses, greatly suppresses maintenance and upgrade costs, meaning there was never as much strain on Slidrugtanni's treasury to begin with. "Simple Living" saves up on wood. Should krowns turn out to be necessary after all, Boar has enough wood to trade away should it find a Kobold Village.

Meanwhile, the spare stone can be turned into Carved Runes. The combination of your Mender's "Herbalism" synergizing with your Loremasters, will see Slidrugtanni achieve Lore Victories rather quickly!

Wisdom and Research are some of the driving force behind what makes each Clan unique. All of them have different research options. Combined with the Fame bonuses they'll receive along the way and the Starter Bonuses they're imbued with at the start, these are the things that set them apart.

We've already discussed how the Clans differ in more colorful terms, but for a more technical outline of these differences, it might be worth studying these here.

For more information on how to produce and consume lore and fame itself, please see the "Lore" and "Fame" sections of my Almanac.



When interacting with your Research tablet (shortcut "L"), you are presented with the following:



From top to bottom, Research is divided into three separate "branches" of Lore.

From left to right, each branch is then separated into four "tiers". To unlock the bonuses on the right-most tier of each branch, you will need to have invested at least once in every preceding tier.
For example: "Colonization" is only available for purchase once "Sharp Axes" has been obtained. Obtaining "Colonization" is then enough to make the third tier "Recruitment" and "Medicine" bonuses available for purchase. Either one of these has to be purchased to unlock the fourth tier after that.


The white pips right of the lore bonus, signify whether they've been obtained.



Most bonuses are common to all Clans, but each Clan has five unique skills that replace some of them. Clan Boar gets seven!



In the above example, "Shipbuilding" is the common bonus. Clan Stag and Clan Goat, do not have access to it, but replace it for their own unique bonus instead. For Clan Stag, this is "The Value of Great Deeds".
Clan Wolf, Bear, Raven and Boar do not have a unique replacement and get the common "Shipbuilding" bonus as usual.




There are several accepted strategies, or combinations thereof, for dealing with Lore progression.

• Pick "Trading" and "Shipbuilding" first.
  
  
  
  While the amount of earned isn't much, a little bit goes a long way, especially if you save it up during the slow first year of the game. Having a decent reserve treasury is also crucial for quickly raising a defense force (or an early game assault force!) and ironically, these first two Economic Lore bonuses can do more to defend your early settlement than the Military ones ever could. If you manage to discover a trade partner early, Trading unlocks quick access to the best way of making even more krowns.
  Along with the extra , Shipbuilding as your next picks also allows your Sailors to earn slightly more , so you might make up for it later if this was just a detour from the Lore bonuses you really wanted.
  
  
  
• Pick "Mining Efficiency" and "Carpentry" first.
  
  
  
  and are crucial in making your settlement run effectively. Going for Mining Efficiency first allows you to collect more of it, and Carpentry second then allows you to spend it more frugally. It takes some time reaching them and you'll have a slower and weaker start, but a far stronger potential late-game.
  
  
  
• Jord is easily the best Blessing
  
  
  
  Regardless of whether you picked "Trading" or the "Mining Efficiency" + "Carpentry" combo first, Jord should most definitly be your first pick as blessing, because it reinforces either strategy.
  It gives you a good amount of to upgrade your buildings. The valuable can be invested into either tools for food producers in line with the "Carpentry" combo, or into the choice between either a warchief, or a weapon upgrade for your favorite warband unit, should you expect early military conflict.
  
  
  
• In general, play to your Clan's strengths and go for the Happiness Lore
  
  
  
  You wouldn't be playing to your Clan's own strengths if you didn't make use of its unique Lore bonuses. Pick these early and every Common Bonus you can get on the way over is merely a happy coincidence.
  
  Furthermore, the branch that has most of these, usually includes the Clan's Lore bonuses for passive Happiness production. This is vital for rapid growth and avoiding the necessity of expensive to maintain/staff Breweries or Skald's halls.

These bonuses make it easier to gather and conserve the two most important resources - and - together with better healing.

These bonuses mostly boost your warband's , and sometimes raise their . In general, military lore benefits your settlement's martial prowess: Your ability to defend yourself, quest for or score a Military Victory.

These bonuses cast a wide blessing that works on a Clan's ability to Expand , Improve and Specialize towards the more peaceful means of victory in the form of and supremacy.

Food amounts are: 140 for bears and 20 for wolves.
+1 is added for every pair of kinsmen joining the Warband.




Wolf Sacrifices nearly all its Defensive Lore and effects, for abilities that allow it to move offensively stronger, faster and with more profit. This makes wolf very weak at defense and wonderful at offense.
The loss of "Feeling Safe", is somewhat than made up for by Wolf's ability to generate for every additional pair of kinsmen joining the Warband with its starting bonus.
"Monster Slayer" is traded away for "Conqueror", which means the Clans is slightly better at taking Town Halls instead of Wyvern Nests and Places of Legend.













Stag has a relative shortage of long term starter and fame bonuses. The supplies given instead, need to be invested wisely. Only at a later stage does Stag become better at everything than everyone else.
A bonus to , ties in with what remains of Stag's after trading the powerful "Shipbuilding" bonus for the dissapointing "Value of Great Deeds" bonus, to make Skalds the centerpoint of the settlement.
You need to assign more skalds to make up for the lack of "Coinage", but as a benefit to that, the given by Skalds makes the Warband more effective.
The Clan sacrifices "Recruitment" for slightly more and , but Eikthyrnir's focus on Clan Happiness might just make up for it, since it too increases recruitment speeds naturally.

Goat ends up with a little more thanks to gaining Cooking Mastery , but does sacrifice the ability to invest it cheaply into new areas by trading away "Colonization".
"Barricades" is traded against "Militia", the former being better when Goat is in an already well-developed, built-up area.
Perhaps not so wisely, "Shipbuilding" is traded away for "Amenities" and Goat is bad at getting a little extra and on the side.













Raven trades away "Colonization" for better scouts, but it more than makes up for it with a Starter Bonus that allows Raven to claim areas with instead.
"Gear Upgrade" is better than "Military Strategy" in the long run, although not immediatly.
Raven doesn't get better prices when purchasing goods, but it does get better prices when giving them away. Maybe it's Raven that gives other Clans their "Negotiation" bargains?





Huginn and Muginn are obviously highly fond of the Economic Lore branch and they usually beeline towards both "Greater Trade" - where the real krowns are.

If you start with a lot of beaches, "Shipbuilding" is preferable over "Coinage" as a start, but why not both later on? "Exotic" goods is then excellent for the Happiness bonus.

Without a lot of beaches, "Coinage" is the preferable initial choice and the Sustenance branch might be useful for "Journeyman". Sustenance will also generate the extra Wood and Food to trade.

Further consolidate in Sustenance if you're expecting to be left in peace to amass an even greater fortune with a larger, more efficient settlement. Go Military if you've begun to imagine your neighbours eyeing your hoard.

Bear trades for . Fur Coats are also ditched, but the Lore bonus was irrelevant anway thanks to its Start Bonus that completely mitigates the penalties of winter for a bonus.
"Protector of the Land" remains to synergize with "Feeling Safe", for a double bonus on upgraded Camps.
It trades away "Medicine" for "Hibernation". This makes Bjarki poor at keeping its warband alive in summer, but far better at it in Winter.





When choosing Lore, Bjarki finds its home in the Military Lore branch and the Economic one to pay for it. "Protector of the Land" is an obvious great choice to delay needing Breweries. "Shield Mastery" is another good one, alongside either more Economic Lore in the beginning to pay for your armies, or Sustenance lore for "Hibernation" later on so you can double dip into an enemy's territory after some quick healing. It'd depend on how close you keep your neighbours and how you feel about them.











Slidrugtanni handicaps its economy with by exchanging "Trading" with "Bartering" - which does not allow for trade with other Clans and only ramps up in extra income given, slowly.

Both "Mining Efficiency" and "Carpentry" are done away with. For a Thane knowing how to clear out the areas surrounding their settlements, "Lay of the Land" is a dissapointing stand-in, but fortunatly "Handiwork" is far more substantial. "Simple Living" ensures that Boar's settlements are build from less wood needed and the starter bonuses and lower maintenance cost make up for the lack of "Coinage". The excellent "Herbalism" is gained in exchange for "Medicine", and together with "Legacy" and an Altar of Kings, Boar hardly needs to upgrade its settlement. With the amount of Mender Huts Slidrugtanni puts down for extra lore, you'll have enough healers to make up for the lack of medicine anyway.

"Osmosis" is Boar's late stage means of acquiring passive Happiness.






Slidrugtanni's choice of development is rather easy. All of it's unique bonuses are must-haves and with the amount of Lore you'll be making, it's feasible you'll acquire all of them during the expedition, when left well enough alone.

I would advice going for the Economic Lore Tree first. Bartering helps earn you the krowns needed to defend yourself, Simple living helps quick-start your colony and Handiwork is more immediately useful than anything you'd be able to gain from Sustenance at this stage. In the beginning, you you might not even have the people to spare on Herbalism Menders yet. At the end of the track, go for Osmosis when you need the Happiness and there are plenty of Forests, Fishes and Swamps in your territory. If not, go Erudition and start producing the lore needed to strike out for the next branch.

Go Sustenance next, if you're not facing a hostile neighbours. If you are, a few points in Military might be useful.

Once in Sustenance, Herbalism is your main goal, Legacy is the icing on the cake.

Fighting is an integral part of life on Northgard. Even if you're not eager for a military victory here, it still wouldn't hurt to discuss some of the basics, if only to defend yourself.



Are you into bloodsports dear Thane?


Kill him! Again!

I am, but merely out of scientific curiosity of course! I've observed countless spectacle duels held by the warlike Clan Wolf and have come up with a number of theories that might interest you!

A warrior is weaker than a Draugr at the very start of our expedition, but with the "Weaponsmithing" Lore bonus, becomes equal to them. Each will then win 50% of the time against the other. The difference depends on the attacks used, but of course, you as Thane will lead entire warbands and don't care about individual attacks. Fortunatly, there are statistics to simplify everything:

• Their Attack Power is displayed by the symbol. This tells you how much Damage a person can do, for every second they're involved in a fight.
  
• Their armor, or their Resistance to damage, is displayed by the symbol. It tells you how much damage is ignored by the person, whenever it is inflicted upon them.
  
• Their Health is displayed by the symbol. It tells you how much damage a person can sustain, before they succumb to their wounds.

A person's health is displayed by a bar over their heads, whenever they are in a combat situation, or they have sustained wounds.
The health bar is divided up into segments, or "pips". Every pip in their healthbar signifies exactly 10 Health.

All your ordinary kinsmen have 50 health, and therefore 5 health pips each in their bar.
The Shield Maiden has 75 health and 7,5 pips. A Jotonn has 100 health and 10 pips. A tower has 125 health and 12,5 pips total.


This wounded warrior, is missing 2 out of her 5 pips, meaning she has some 30 health of 50 remaining.




So, how does impact that health?

Well, in the MANY duels and brawls I've witness, I've come to the following conclusion:

Without any to mitigate, 1 does exactly 1 damage per second to .
Should someone with 10 wail on someone with 50 , the target would be dead in 5 seconds, because 5 seconds worth of 10 is 50 damage, which would eclipse the 50




What then proceeds to do, is negate a certain precentage of that damage.

I've described the relationship between Damage and in the magical looking rune below:




3 can shrug 50% of all damage. Nearing 15 , only 10% gets through.




All these numbers can give you an idea of how your units might fare against certain opponents. In the example of Draugr:

The draugr with 10 , fighting a Warrior with 5 and 50 , has 3,33 damage remaining after mitigation. It would need (50 / 3,33 = ) 15 seconds to deplete the Warrior's healthpool and kill them.

A warrior with 10 , fighting a Draugr with 5 and 62 , has 3,33 damage remaining after mitigation. He or she would need (62 / 3,33 = ) 18,6 seconds to slay the Draugr.

Research "Weaponsmithing" and the warrior's rises to 12. Now the warrior has 4 damage remaining after mitigation and would need (62 / 4 = ) 15,5 seconds to slay the Draugr.
A much closer fight already that can be won by the Warrior if the ill-trained neutral Draugr doesn't use its strongest swings consistently!



The math works to predict your success against larger opponents too:


He told me he'll wear you like a coat! Are you just going to take that?! And you call yourself a warrior!

The Warrior uses 10 upon the bear's 12 and 80 . 1,33 damage per second remains and the Warrior needs 60 seconds to kill the bear.
The Bear uses 10 upon the Warrior's 5 and 50 . 3,33 damage per second remains and the Bear needs 15 seconds to kill the Warrior.
Since the Warrior only lasted 15 seconds of the 60, the bear suffers just 20 health. You'll need at least 4 Warriors to take on the bear without falling back, or 3 with a need to switch one of them out.



Crack his skull! Both of them! Grab the Bear by the Pigtails!

There are four elements to an effective Warband:

• Its Size
  
• Its Lethality
  
• It's Training
  
• And finally, a stockpile for larger, temporary armies

Your military units are associated with their Camps, which can all be be found in the military category of the building tablet. From left to right in the picture above: Shield Bearer, Warrior and Axe Thrower. You will need to build the Warrior's "Training Camp" first!

Unlike other jobs which are restricted to their building, your military units are free to roam the island. This is because Training Camps offer warband capacity in the form of gear and supplies instead of job openings. Every ordinary camp you have, raises the capacity of your warband to host additional units, by 2.

This Warband Capacity is signified by the symbol.

is global. Which of the three units takes up this warband capacity, doesn't matter. If you construct all three buildings like in the picture above, you'll have 6 to field any combination of military units. These can be 2 of each unit, but 6 of the same is just as valid.

Upgrade any of these buildings and they offer 3 instead.




There are two main sources of Attack Power.

First is the Military Camps, because perhaps even more important than upgrading them to increase the size of your warband, is that it increases the rigor of the associated unit's training and increases their by 10%!
I've yet to discover a limit to this, which makes upgrading camps an inexhaustible source of Attack Power, for as long as you're able to afford to stiff expense in for doing so.

This abundancy is good, since the second source of is in each Clan's unique approach to Lore and not all of them are created equally when it comes to warfare. All Clans have at least access to the "Weaponsmith" Lore Bonus and a tool upgrade, but after that, each Clan diverges wildly into their own seperate philosophy. You can begin to make out which ones are better suited towards a specialized Warrior Society by the result.


To condense everything, I've created the following Runestone:

• The following make up Military Strategy's Bonus, when taking an ordinary Warrior as an example:
  • The unit itself (+5%)
    
  • The two other rank-and-file units (+10%)
    
  • The Clan's Hero (+5%) for a total of 20%
    
  • Bjarki's warbear is also counted and can give Clan Bear another +5% bonus.
    
  • Blainn also counts for a possible total of +30% for Bjarki and +25% for all other Clans
• The maximum 25% benefit of Raven's "Gear Upgrade" is reached at 1250
  
• The maximum 25% benefit of Stag's "Young and Proud" is reached at 8,33
  
• There is no limit to Bjarki's "Bear Awakens" bonus, but expect 1200 and a 12% bonus to be the most feasible number you'll get
  
• Initial statistics are rounded up (Shield Bearer’s 6,7 is shown as 7)
  
• The game will award units a +x amount of damage in their infoscreen, when the decimal can be rounded up towards a new number (Warrior gains 10+1 when they gain a 5% bonus, Shield Bearer gains 7+2 when they gain a 26,86% bonus)
  
• These bonuses to Attack Power are NOT cumulative, unlike resource production. Add up all bonuses and apply the total sum to their base damage.
  20% + 30% = 50% (Which is a x1.5 multiplier)
  10 + 50% (or x1.5) = 15
  
• Too hard to tell if decimals matter

When you have no Warriors, Shield Bearers and Axe Throwers in your army yet, the initial costs are:

• Warriors cost 20 to train
  
• Shield Bearers cost 30 to train
  
• Axe Throwers cost 30 to train

Bjarki's "Shield Mastery" lore bonus lowers the innitial cost of shield bearers down to 20.




For every Warrior, Shield Bearer and Axe Thrower you hire into your army, the cost for all these units increases by +5 .

If I have 4 Shield Bearers, then the cost of my first Warrior is (4 x 5 + 20 = ) 40 krowns
If I have 4 Warriors, then the cost of my first Shield Bearer is (4 x 5 + 30 = ) 50 krowns
With the Bjarki "Shield Mastery" bonus, the above example would be 40 krowns
If I have only heroes in my army, then the cost of my first axe thrower is (0 x 5 + 30 =) 30 krowns, since heroes don't count

The cost of heroes is always set at 150 and 5
The cost for Kaija the Warbear, is set at a cheap 75




While most settlements can afford 2-5 permanent guards to fight stray wolves, the succesful, larger 10+ armies used by experienced military Jarls are temporary in their nature.

Since it's a more advanced concept and linked to the Clan vs Clan warfare, I will discuss this trick over at: "Military Specialization - Art of War" under the "Large temporary armies" label.




Resistance can be considered to be the fifth ingridient towards a succesful warband, but there are very few ways to increase it. The gains are also too small for me to accuratly capture into a tablet.

All Clans can give the Shield Bearer a Tool Upgrade, which increases their by 20%
For most Clans, this is where their abilility to enchance Resistance stops.




Bjarki is special in it's ability to gain more resistance beyond that.



Shield Mastery grants their shield bearers an additional +15%
Combined with the Tool Upgrade, this allows the Shield Bearer to ignore some 5% extra damage.

On top of that is their starter bonus, which allows EVERYONE in the warband to gain 10% extra during the winter. It's not much, but could mean the difference between life and death for some of your units.

Claiming an area holding the unique "Thor's Wrath" trait, can also increase your warband's fighting efficacy. They're usually patrolled by a single Valkyrie, so you might be in for a tough fight if you plan to do so early.

Doing this, all your fighting units gain +5%


Thor's Wrath Tiles are activated entities:


To the left, an unactivated Thor's Wrath. To the right, one that is activated.

Activating a Thor's Wrath will earn you +50

While the 5% is only awarded for as long as you can hold the area, the 50 is awarded permanently to the Clan activating the tile, even after losing it.

The following 3 units are the backbone of any army and available to all 5 Clans.

While they all have just as much output and rating, with a unique distribution between the two each.





Unlocked and drawn from the only military camp building you'll be able to construct at the start of our arrival - the Training Camp - comes the warrior. They're the ones to protect you and clear out the surrounding areas in the first years.

They're the backbone of your army and an excellent middle ground between their two colleagues, with a decent balance of 10 and 5 .




Improving the Warrior's weapons, grants them a +15% bonus to their and the ability to automatically "Charge" an enemy. There's no need for you to give the order. The gleeful warrior will run in autimatically when their victim is within about 10 times their own body length worth of distance. Warriors don't tire of charging and will do so whenever there's distance to close.
This is great for catching up with enemy units and sustain a little damage while they flee or manoeuvre, or to smash into ranged attackers like Hunters or Axe Throwers quickly.


Special Mention:
Apparently, Warriors also get drunk a lot.

You know how it is! You go to a mead hall gathering, some yokel gets a little too drunk, thinks they're funny and proceeds to put something stupid on his head.

You've guessed it! The horned helmet!
Take that off you stupid idiots! It's unpractical! All an opponent has to do is grab you by the horns and twist! What will the foreigners think?






Shield bearers are far more durable, with 8 precious that simply ignores damage. It takes longer for them to kill something with just 6,7 , but they're also more likely to return home.

Aided even more in their durability; a Shield Bearer's wooden board reduce the damages done to them by defense towers, axe throwers and hunters, by a standard 20%.

This makes the Shield Bearer your best rank-and-file choice for leading a charge into an enemy (like a "tank") and drawing fire away from the less resistant members of your warband.




For one, upgrading a Shield Bearer's weapons increases their resistance a little. The improvement isn't vast and adds less than 5% more damage mitigation.
The upgrade also doubles their ability to mitigate missile fire to 40% however, and is far more substantial.


Special Mention:

The Shield Bearer's ability to mitigate missile fire is seperate from their .
Should 10 worth of missile damage be incoming towards an unupgraded Shield Bearer, 20% missile mitigation knocks it down to 8 first. Then their 7 decreases it down to 1,8 .
It will take a defense tower almost half a minute to kill a Shield Bearer, where they would've killed a Warrior in half that.






Axe Throwers focus on delivering 12 , but their 3 is paperthin and they cannot stand up to anyone.

Neither are they supposed to! Axe Throwers are ranged skirmishers who do their damage from a distance - which is some 2-3 times their own bodylength away. Should anyone get close, they're supposed to run away.




When upgrading the Axe Thrower's tools, their damage output is increased even more, as is the sleekness of their axes. It increases their attack range to about 4-5 times their own bodylength ( same as that of the Hunter)! This increases their survivability on the battleground by giving them more time to run away.




So now that we've been introduced, which of these classes is best?



Blow for Blow, the Warrior is just as good as the Shield Bearer.



Their tool bonuses mitigate each other and if given an equal amount of upgrades to their damage, they merely kill each other a little bit faster.


However, the Warrior is cheaper by 10 per person. If you have plenty of recruits, but not the treasury and want a large army quickly and on a budget, then the Warrior is the better choice to recruit and upgrade.
They're also more immidiatly available since theirs is the first camp you need to construct anyway. Together with their price, the Warrior is the unit most frequently used in early aggression.

On the other hand, it's the Shield Bearer who is far more durable AND can mitigate damage ranged attacks. Stuck in the heat of battle, they're easier to manage, pull back and keep alive than Warriors. If you have krowns to spare and value the lives of your kinsmen, then the Shield Bearer is the more responsible choice to recruit and upgrade.
This also means that they are the majority unit in the armies used by the more developed, prosperous Clans.






Mind that Bjarki's Shield Mastery instantly makes the Shield Bearer superior to the Warrior. By lowering both its price and making them slightly more resistant, it's the Shield Bearer who fills out Bjarki's ranks from beginning to end.




Shield Bearers eventually become the mainstay of developed Northgard armies.

However, that's not to say that the Warrior and the Axe Thrower are made completely obsolete. Instead, these units become tactical tools in the hands of the right Thane.

Even though a horde of Shield Bearers is tough, they are SLOW to kill anything. Speed is of the essence during the offense, so sending a few Axe Throwers along to take towers down faster than the enemy can react, is an excellent idea.

Invading an enemy's territory might also see some nasty geurilla warfare, where the Shield Bearer has trouble keeping up. If an enemy Thane resorts to slipping in and out of his territory, or moves around a lot, then Warriors with a Tool upgrade can still catch up where the Shield Bearer cannot.




On top of that: Clan Wolf, Goat, Bear and Boar profit visibly from the tactical consideration of bringing a variety of unit classes along. It'd be a shame to lose this bonus if a casualty suffered was the only one of it its class.

Each Clan has access to one (or even two!) unique "Hero" unit, of whom only one can exist on the Island at any given time.

They always have higher stats than the rank-and-file, typicially possessing 70 or 75 and a mix of enhanced and that's proportionally appropriate to their Clan's war philosophy.

These are always recruited from the Warrior's "Training Camp", so it's a good reason to keep at least one of these around.

Heroes ignore the cap when hired and do not consume any. They come with their own legendary gear and weapons, probably passed down from generations, and they wouldn't be caught dead without it, or touching any of the standard crap wielded by your Rank-and-File. They are still counted as kinsmen and will consume food and wood at the same rate.






The Warchief is the most ubiquitous of the heroes and is available to all Clans who are not directly geared towards a Military specialization.



They are average heroes and possess a healthy balance between and . They do well leading your warband into battle from the front with their larger healthpool.






In battle, one thing can almost always be relied on: Your enemy seeks to preserve themselves from harm as much as you do. Turn your blade towards them and you protect yourself with the understanding that your enemy will try to avoid it.

But what if this rule were ever broken? What if an enemy would gladly suffer a fleshwound in exchange for tearing at your vitals?



This rough and tumble Hero sacrifices a little bit of and for substantially more .
That's not to say that the Berserker evens out to be the Warchief's equal. There's no better Clan fighter available on Northgard and the Berserker can make quick work of any other singular mortal.

It's a shame to lose their damage potential early, so for Wolf it's actually best to send in the Shield Bearers first to take the heat, then the Berserker and the rest of the warband.

On top of their considerable fighting skills, Berserkers gain the "Dominion" ability at 500 , which allows them to claim an area for free, without the cost.
The food price of the next territory claimed will still rise however, and the ability itself is on a stiff cooldown of 9 months.










Bjarki gains two heroes. Like the bigger sister of the Shield Bearer, they favor over and excel at leading from the front and taking punishment on behalf of the rest of the Warband.

The Shield Maiden is stronger than the Warchief and can at least give the Berserker a run for his money.

The Bear is a defensive hero only and won't cross into hostile territory. Mind that they are both much stronger during the winter.

The bear does not profit from the "Legendary Heroes" Lore bonus to its !

These shadowy individuals are hired by Clan Raven to fight on their behalf at the later stages of our attempts to settle Northgard, when Huginn and Muginn reach 500 . They can launch amphibious assaults on ANY explored coastal area with a flat shoreline that is hostile or neutral to their contractor. Since Raven's Sailors can easily scout the coastline, there is no lack of targets.
If the area is owned by an enemy, they will disown the area and then hold it for Raven indefinitly. If you've angered Huginn and Muninn, expect a visit.

Each Harbor that Raven has, is capable of launching such a raid for 200 , every 2 months. These raids last for as long as long as Huginn and Muginn have the krowns to spend and the the frequency can ramp up with the amount of Raven Harbors available.

They can gang up on neutral areas in a simultaneous raid from multiple harbors, but can only launch one raid at a time against any one area of a rival Clan.

They can't launch raids against Raven's own territories, but should Raven claim an area where Mercenaries are already present from a previous raid, they will continue to guard it. This is handy when conflict rages along a stretch of beach property.

Even should you manage to steal flat coastline areas from Raven, a beach is basically just an area where Huginn and Muninn can outflank you later, or reinforce an upcoming counter-offensive.



Since Mercenaries focus on raiding non-friendly areas, they'll gleefully do a one-time pillage of the site and share some of the plunder with their contractor. They're experts at it too and will do so immediatly upon landing, regardless of whether they'll actually win the resulting fight or not.

Depending on the site attacked, this is their plunder:

• When the area has or traits, 5 of it is plundered.
  
• When the area has a trait, 80 of it is plundered.
  
• When the area has a trait, 100 of it is plundered. (Currently bugged. Nothing is awarded.)
  
• When the area has none of these traits, 50 is plundered.

You can pillage an area indefinitely, gaining plunder every time you launch a raid, for as long as Raven doesn't claim the area for itself.
Plundering Lore takes precedence over Food. If a Rune Stone shares the are with deer for example, Lore is plundered instead of food.
Plunder works on both neutral and enemy areas, regardless of whether the area has been developed or not. Raiding a "Fertile Soil" area trait always awards (bugged amount) food, regardless of the existence of an enemy farm there.
When your Mercenaries raid an area with Stone or Iron, those resources will NOT be extracted from the deposits. When the deposits are gone, the area defaults back to 50 food.

Mind that you'll still be paying 200 for the resources won.

• Raiding for alone isn't worth it. Buying some through your market place is always cheaper.
  
• When is concerned, it's better to rely on your Loremasters or your Sailors. Since these two are restricted to coastal area and rune stones however, it can still be worth it when you're desperate.
  
• Raiding for and is definitly worth it! Raiding for Stone costs just as much as buying it through the Market place and for Iron, it's actually 50 krowns cheaper! On top of that, you'll be leaving behind guards to defend these rare deposits from being used by your rivals.

Every raid consists of 4 Mercenaries.

With the Krowns you've payed them, Mercenaries will fund their own expedition and existence on the island. Once they embark, fight and maybe even survive, you do not need to feed, warm, gear, house, or keep them happy.
With the exception of "Fur Coats" which negates their winter penalty to attack, they also do not profit your settlement's lore bonuses. Their combat statistics are always the same.

Because Mercenaries hold dear to their ability to strike quickly and suddenly, their armor and weapons are light. With just 4 and no ability to increase their above 10, they're ill-suited towards direct confrontation with a Clan's warband or their defensive works. They can just about topple an ordinary tower. When there's a guard detail or if the tower has been upgraded, expect them to suffer.

They cannot be directly controlled after landing. They will attack the first thing closest to them and if this is the area's strongest structure or enemy; it can't be helped. You can sort of decide the angle of their attack upon the area however and so doing, hopefully influence what they'll attack first.

They're no less of a nuicanse when they land on the beaches of your vulnerable rear or flanks. If their contractor gets the angle of their landing point upon the area right, they might stumble upon vulnerable civilian kinsmen, the soft flanks of an enemy army as it engages, or land to draw fire while while Huginn and Muginn invade from another angle. They're also good at holding, disowning and guarding an area after opposition has been quelled, freeing up Raven's Warband to travel somewhere else quickly.

The threat of them alone will force enemy Thanes to divest energy in defending beaches with expensive towers, even if no mercenary raid ever comes.



Mind that Huginn and Muginn like hoarding their shinies and spending them on expensive mercenaries is rather counter-productive. Competing against a competent Raven Thane without allies and who most likely desires a wealth victory - and is therefore eager to hang on to their krowns and keep you as a useful and friendly trading partner - you're not likely to see Mercenaries unless you antagonize said Thane, or they've drawn up a plan where they can profit more from your elimination than it costs them. Be an expensive obstacle.

Mercenaries are often more of a deterrent, a distraction, or makeshift reinforcements, than they are an effective combat strategy in their own right, since it's more efficient to spend krowns on a warband instead.



When you face two rival Clans and one of them is Raven, things change and Raven is an incredibly dangerous ally to have or face.

The Raven could choose to focus on the victory condition of their ally instead, and won't care about gathering Krowns. If their mutual goal is domination, they'll be sure to spend them in support. A two pronged attack from the sea by Raven's mercs and over land by the warband of its ally, can be devastating. They might not be as strong as two regular warbands combined, but being attacked from two separate fronts is tactically worrisome. Be sure to coordinate carefully with your own team member to ease the pressure on them or yourself.

Raven is always the substantially weaker party in this - spending the majority of their krowns and efforts on relatively weak and expensive mercenary raids - so a visit to their nest might be in order.

Work in progress


A family of hunters succeeds in evening out the odds during an attack on their humble homestead

Sure to be found on Northgard are the living relics of an ancient past: The Jotnar.



The scouts who discovered the island saw them waddling around the place from a mile away. The Jotun are as tall as fully grown trees, but their impressive size belies their helplessness. With their more chaotic, primordial nature kept in check by the sorting of worlds and gods, these ancient devourers are long past their prime and now find themselves stuck in a more modern, orderly world. It's suitable we find them stranded on an untamed, ancient island.

They've long since given up the fight against order and the Jotnar are passive. Unless their territory is trespassed on, they stick to themselves and try to stay out of human affairs.

We're fortunate they are so docile! At least three of them guard their small encampement and when angered, the Jotnar are the second-most deadliest beings on Northgard. Their weapons might be primitive, but that doesn't matter if the driving force behind their blow is an angry 100 ton giant.


Their isolationism doesn't mean they're useless however!




A particularly warlike Clan could try to prove its mettle by trouncing them. The gods themselves have a long history of cheating, outsmarting, beating or stealing from the lolloping lummox. We would merely be upholding the traditions of our ancestors and rivaling their exploits.

Slay the Jotnar and claim their camp, to be awarded 150 !

Keep in mind that you need a large, well organized and well equipped warband to tackle them over several incursions. Block each of them with an individual shield bearer while the rest of the warband focuses on a single target. Their guards won't respawn should you be able to slay one of them, which is realistically the only feasible result of each attack.

After that, you will need to claim their territory, by having your own territory adjacent to them and annexing their camp, so make sure you can reasonably reach it before you start hostilities. Only beating the guards is futile. If you don't claim the camp, you won't gain the and they will remain a factor that can be traded and allied with by others.

Ransacking their camp would prevent that...





Despite their isolationism, the devourers still can't resist a good meal when it is offered to them.

Using the Trading Post, you can establish a Trade Route with the Jotnar and usually at a good price!



Clan goat is even better at this trade than others.

Their "Food Trade" bonus allows them far higher profits with the Jotnar and even without, Clan Goat is highly efficient at producing food and can likely afford to start trade with the Jotnar earlier than any other Clan.

Not only for the gold mind you... but for an alliance.




For every month a Trade Post trades food with the Jotnar, your relationship with them improves by 1.333%. In 75 months, with a single Trade Post, you will reach 100% and establish alliance.
Mind that you can also upgrade your tradepost increase this efficiency to 1.61% and (just) 62,25 months with a single Trade Post, or you could create several Trade Posts, each adding its own 1.333% or 1.61% progress per month when upgraded. Four trading posts can cut the waiting time down to just a year and a half.

You can check progress by selecting the Jotnar encampment itself.



Should relationships reach 100% with any Clan, the Jotnar will permanently ally with that Clan. The opportunity for any other Clan to ally with them, then passes. Since an alliance involves adopting the Giants and feeding them as part of the Clan, they will also be taken out of the Trade Network.




As a gift to their ally, one of the Jotun will place himself under your command. This individual is Blainn.


Spot the odd man out. Hint: It's not the ginger.

Blain is the most powerful entity that any Clan can control, with 20 , 18 and 100 .
Furthermore, he can profit from any upgrade you make to your global attack power, such as "Weaponsmith" and "Young and Proud".
When Allied to Clan Bjarki, Blainn will hibernate with the best of them and grow more in Winter.

With Blainn marching alongside an existing warband, even Clan Goat can now appear to be threatening!

Rumors of a Giant calling your settlement its home also spread quickly to the tune of 150 !

To top it off, you also obtain have safe passage through and into the Jotnar's own camp and no matter how distant it is, the area is now considered part of your territory. You are able to expand from it and claim adjacent areas. Should they have nestled in a pass, chokepoint or some other vital area, this access and the heavily guarded safe area they provide can be strategically crucial. Their camp even allows you to construct additional structures upon their property.




There are also certain drawbacks to the alliance.

There's no way of telling if another Clan is ahead of us! The gluttenous behemoths will keep that information to themselves while being fed. At 98% progress, there's still a risk of the Jotnar suddenly allying with someone else.

You will also be adopting the entire Jotnar camp and its population as part of your own! While the existing Jotnar guards around their camp will not be under your command, you will still need to feed them and keep them happy. Try as we might to convince them that they really won't fit, they expect to be given housing too. Otherwise the Jotun are like any other kinsmen and they eat and drink just as much - thank the gods!

In other words, a Jotnar alliance - depending on the surviving Jotun at the time of the alliance - means more mouths to feed and bodies to house than just Blainn. I hope you didn't mind trading away your food temporarily, because the drain is about to become permanent and possibly even higher!

Since you'll be kind enough to adopt and feed them as a permanent addition to your Clan, they also stop being a Trading partner for both yourself and anyone else on the island. Your trade routes towards them will collapse and you are deprived a source of .
Causing a diplomatic incident by invading their territory just BEFORE you ally with them, will set your progress towards an alliance back by some 50% however. It might be worth it if the krowns are more valuable to you than Blainn and you're not concerned by another Clan possibly allying with them.

Ask yourself if obtaining your big, fluffy, lumbering trophy is worth the expense in maintenance and the loss of a trade route. For the same effort, you could have fielded a warband of your own kinsmen with the same amount of attack power, but quicker, more reliably and more efficiently.

The Nisser on the island (or Tonntu as the Bjarki, or Kobolds as the Foreigners would call them) are further evidence that Northgard was once populated before our arrival.
Where the Draugr are the shadows of those who died restlessly, the Nisser are the spirits of ancient farmers, tied to their ancestral homesteads. They're small creatures with either one or two glowing eyes, a large white beard and immense strength, wearing farmer's garbs and a cap.


Chop your firewood, or break your kneecaps. Your choice.
Source: Johan Egerkrans and his artbook "Nordiska Väsen"

Back in the Homeland, the Nisse looks over a farmstead as a temperamental household spirit. It punishes bad farming practices and disrespect with theft, vandalism, arson, assault and other mischief. When the farm is lead well and the farmer upholds tradition, the Nisse will help out with the chores, keep the livestock healthy and ward off misfortune.

The Nisser on Northgard however, have seen the farms they once cared for vanish - and perhaps under the influence of the same forces that affliced the Valkyrie and Draugr on the Island - turned feral a long time ago. They've not completely shed their nature however and they can still be seen maintaining their own little version of a collective farmstead - run well and brimming with food.



They still recognize us well enough that interaction is possible, for as long as the Clans don't disrespect them. Bring along a bowl of porridge as a gift and we might even get along! Remember! The pat of butter goes ON TOP!

• The Nisse start with their own village and have a small number of adjacent areas claimed as their own territory. These often include interesting area traits like food or lore.
  
• Nisse territory cannot be disowned like you would that of a rival Clan. It can only be taken away from them by clearing the area of their physical opposition, having your own territory adjacent and spending food to claim it, just like ordinary neutral territory.
  
• Should one of their previously held territory get stolen and claimed by a hostile Clan, the Nisse are capable of reclaiming it if the area falls back into neutrality for any reason. Otherwise they are incapable of claiming more areas than they originally held at the start of our expedition.
  
• Each area contains 7 Nisse. Should something happen to decrease these numbers, the Nisse will repopulate quickly, for as long as they retain control over their village. Like this, each areas acts like a lair, that spawns Nisse for as long as the village and the area itself isn't stolen by a Clan.
  
• The Nisse will continue to survive as a faction you can trade with, for as long as they still have a single area, which isn't necessarily their village.
  
• Should their last area be claimed and the Nisse be destroyed, these diminutive spirits are capable of returning should their oppressors be removed from their ancestral village and the area is restored to them in neutrality. The trauma they suffered will make them forever suspicious of humans however, and they'll never again form a faction we can interact or trade with. They merely form a tactical obstacle from that moment on.
  
• Despite being excellent trading partners, the Nisse will never ally with us.

There are two ways of dealing with the Nisse:



The Nisse are excellent trading partners, despite being only interested in and . After all; trade makes good neighbors out of farmsteads.

While trade with other non-ally Clans starts at +3, trade with the Nisse for both resources starts at +4. They also have a higher maximum at +6 instead of +5 as trade warms the relationship into higher profits.

Unlike the Jotnar - who will accept multiple shipments food in infinite quantities - the Nisser will only allow one shipment of each resource. This means you can establish a maximum of two trade routes with them, one for and one for



While it's somewhat sad to get rid of these ancestral spirits, their territory usually holds valuable area traits and they're a bother if they get in the way of your expansion. If you notice an enemy Clan gearing for a Wealth Victory without an ally - or a Boar doing the same - then getting rid of the Nisser entirely is an almost guaranteed way of frustrating those efforts.
To top it off, you are awarded 50 if you manage to get rid of the entire infestation. This fame is awarded to the Thane managing to claim the Nisser's last area; not just the village.

While they hit harder than their size implies and their larger packs can overwhelm ill-prepared trespassers, it's not hard for even a smaller, hero-led warband to quickly clear an area of them. Nisse remain relatively fragile at just 37 health.

Instead, Nisse strength comes from the regenerative abilities of their population and the stubborn way they cling to their native land. If you truly wish to exterminate them effectively; prioritize the sacking of their village.



While the Nisser don't like you passing into their territory - even if you're only trying to help - an upset trade partner is better than a dead one. If you've been trading with them peaceably for months on end, your relationship and the prices you worked up to can survive a little diplomatic incident too.


One thing's for sure: Little knitted caps are gonna fly!

If you can, work together with the Nisser. Shadow your enemy's warband. Allow them to attack the Nisser, then quickly sweep in, but only after the Nisser target the real invaders. Select your warband's targets carefully and make sure they don't fight the Nisser themselves. With numbers in your favor, you and the Nisser will be able to push them back, or at least inflict heavy casualties.
If this particular Clan was that aggressive to begin with, you might even have blunted them before they turned their attention towards you next!

As long as your enemy doesn't manage to take Nisser areas, the Nisser will repopulate quickly and no real harm was done.

This also means that if the enemy manages to take the Nisser village, they're as good as doomed. Best take their last area yourself for the quick 50

In the next few segments, I'll give you the rundown of every job in the game, corresponding to the resource they produce.
I will show you how much an invidual worker produces, what building gives them their job, all production bonuses available and if there's anything else that makes them special.


The layout of my production almanac will be as following:

• Resource Category
  
  
• Job name
• Description
  
  
• Associated building
• (the building you need to send them towards to assign them the job)
  
  
• Resource table:
• per kinsmen working on that job:
  
• Circumstance

  Base yield monthly

  Maximum yield monthly

  Maximum yield yearly

  Amount of people this feeds on hard difficulty

  Summer

  X

  X

  winter

  X

  With all normal bonuses applied

  Yield for a year with a normal winter

  On hard

  Blizzard

  X

  With all normal bonuses applied

  Yield for a year with a blizzard winter

  On hard
• Normal Bonuses
  • Bonuses available to all Clans. Included in the calculation for maximum production.
  
  Other Bonuses
  • Bonuses that only apply for specific Clans and you'll need to calculate yourself.
  
  
  
• The yield is always presented as the yield from a single worker, per month
  
• Two seperate mentions of yearly yield, are with and without a blizzard
  
  
• Special mention:
• Whatever else information you might like to have about this job category.

======================

The following is not important to know since I've done all the calculus for you in the Almanac, but a wise Thane always follows up when he's suspicious:

======================




An important observation must be made on production bonuses.

Once you reach the improvement stage, you can use iron to shape tools for your entire clan and stone to upgrade specific buildings. When it comes to food, silos can boost production in their area.

These bonuses are calculated seperatly and are cumulative: each bonus feeds off the addition of the other.

Let's say there's 100 food production in a territory. There's a silo giving a 10% bonus, tools to give a 15% bonus, a lore upgrade for a 15% bonus and an upgraded building to give a 20% bonus to that production.
- The correct math is: (((100 x 1.1) x 1.15) x 1.15) x 1.20 = 174,57
- The math IS NOT: 100 x 1.60 = 160



As I've revealed earlier, I've observed a month lasts for 20 increments on the calender. A blizzard lasts for 38 increments. If an entire winter consists of 3 months and therefore 60 increments, then the ordinary winter of a Blizzard winter must be 22 increments long.

I used these observations to account for the yearly yield during blizzard winters.


Example for food and most other resources:

If a summer produces 25 food, an ordinary winter month produces 20 food, and a blizzard month produces 10 food, then:

Throughout an ordinary year, 285 food is produced.
( 9 x 25 for the nine summer months, 3 x 20 for the ordinary winter years )

Throughout a blizzard year, 266 food is produced.
( 9 x 25 for the summer months, 20 : 20 x 22 for the ordinary winter increments, 10 : 20 x 38 for the blizzard increments)



Example for wood:

For wood, this gets especially tricky, since both consumption and production suffer from blizzards.

If an ordinary winter AND summer month produces 20 wood, and a blizzard month produces 10 wood, then:

In an ordinary year, 240 wood is produced.
( 12 x 20 for all twelve months )

In a blizzard year, 221 wood produced.
( 9 x 20 for the summer months, 20 : 20 x 22 for the ordinary winter increments, 10 : 20 x 38 for the blizzard increments )


On top of that is your kinsmen. Let's say there's 30 and each have wood consumption of 1.

A villager consumes 1 wood during a summer month. There are nine. 9 x 1 = 9
A villager consumes 5 x as much during a winter month. 5 wood per winter month.
15 wood total for an ordinary winter.
When there's a blizzard, there's (5 : 20 x 22 = 5,5) consumption during the 22 winter increments of a blizzard year.
A villager consumes 9 x as much during a blizzard month. 9 wood per winter month.
9 : 20 x 38 = 17,1 for all 38 blizzard increments during a blizzard year.

During a normal winter year, the villager consumes ( 9 + 15 =) 24 wood.
During a blizzard winter year, the villager consumes (17,1 + 5,5 + 9 =) 31,6 wood.

With the aforementioned production, you can warm 10 villagers during an ordinary year.
With the aforementioned production, you can warm 7 villagers during a blizzard year.

When you have knowledge of the Hearthstone, these numbers become 6 and 4,2 respectively.

Food production is badly capped by the need for specific territory traits. Many of its buildings can only be build within a territory if the trait is present. This is a shame, because the sustenance element of our settlement is perhaps the most important force behind growth. This makes claiming and upgrading areas with food traits a priority above all others.

The villager can make due with any old plot of land, but the other food related jobs respectively, require for their buildings to function:


The "Fertile soil" trait, signified by the symbol and looking like... a barren patch of sand with some half withered oats sticking out...




The "Deer" trait, signified by the symbol and by the presence of the majestic ungulates themselves, aside the occasional boneyard.




The "Fish" trait, signified by the symbol and a soothing pond where flashing scales flit below the shimmering surface.

Ponds of fish have the curious ability to show up alongside other traits without taking up additional space.

(At normal difficulty)
Food consumption for a single kinsmen, per month = 0.09 x number of kinsmen + 8

(At hard difficulty)
Food consumption for a single kinsmen, per month = 0.09 x number of kinsmen + 9

Multiply result by total amount of kinsmen for monthly consumption of entire settlement.



The Warbands of Clan Wolf gain a 30% reduction to their food consumption as a starter bonus, and then the "Field Rations" lore bonus that gives them a 70% reduction.

The two bonuses are NOT additive. "Field Rations" replaces the 30% starter bonus.

At 50 clansmen (on hard), an ordinary Wolf kinsmen eats 13,5 food. A Wolf Warrior would then eat (0,7 x 13,5 =) 9,45 food thanks to the starter bonus. With the field rations upgrade, he or she would then eat (0,3 x 13,5 =) 4,05 food.



With the "Ranger" lore upgrade, Raven Scouts do not consume food, but as kinsmen, they do still raise the amount of food consumed per person.
At 30 kinsmen (on normal), 10,8 is consumed per person, 325 food is consumed in total, per month.
At 35 kinsmen (on normal), 11,2 is consumed per person, 392 food is consumed in rotal, per month.

At 35 kinsmen (on normal), with 5 Raven scouts, food consumption is 11,2 per person. 30 kinsmen still consume food. The 5 raven scouts do not. 30 x 11,2 = 336 food consumption.



Areas cost food to claim. The unseen families of your Clan will need to pack for the journey from Town Hall over there and start their new lives.

These expenses are:






Available to Wolf, Stag and Bear is the "Colonization" lore, which reduces the prices by 30%, or a x0.7 multiplier.




Raven can purchase new areas with coin instead! The cost is always x0.4 the price of food. Should your 7th additional territory have cost 250 in , it will cost 100 instead for Raven.

Since your merchants/sailors always produce more krowns than food consumed, AND the price is more than halved, paying for new areas with is always the better option for Raven.




First off, we need to know how much food consumption there is, for any of our production values to mean anything.

I've carefully studied the food consumption of several other towns and villages and I've jotted the results down on these mysterious looking stone carvings:



Assuming that a single civilian consumes close to 8 food per month, the trend reveals that monthly food consumption rises for every extra kinsmen in our clan. This trend rises steeply in the beginning, before slowing down nearing a population of 100 (logarithmic). I don't believe we'll ever NEED that many kinsmen and the formula I discerned should be suitable for any settlement below 50 kinsmen.

To summarize my finding: for every new civilian clansman or woman we welcome into our clan, expect all our civilian kinsmen to consume roughly 0,09 more food per month, on top the standard 8 (on normal) or 9 (on hard).
Clearly there is some food waste with more people!

Worth mentioning first: A structure called the food silo can be erected and upgraded to give specialized food producers within their area, a bonus to their food production. This includes farmers, hunters, fishermen and healers with "Medicine". This does NOT work for villagers.




Special mention:
The moment you've build a silo, food producers will prefer it as their drop-off point, even if their workplace is right next to them. Again, travel times don't matter. As long as they're walking to drop off the food, they contribute steadily to your resources.
This gives you an interesting option to manipulate the movement of food producers. While you can't control where your civilian kinsmen choose to work within an area, the silo does dictate where they drop off their labor. If the area has hostile neighbours, place the silo as far away from dangerous borders as possible. This way your vulnerable civilian kinsmen are least likely to be the first thing attacked by invaders.




The ordinary villager is your most basic food gatherer.



They trek around their assigned territory, gathering edible fruit, roots, eggs, bark and whatever else bounty they can pry from mother nature's greedy clutches.

They do not require a job opening, and neither are they offered any by the Town Hall or House. They do still need a place to offload their pickings, but a town hall, or any house, silo, or food production building in their area will do.



The Town Hall and House are the buildings associated with villagers, and interaction turns a kinsmen (back) into a villager.

Villagers have access to very few bonuses to their food production.

Per Villager:

Bonuses:

• Villagers do NOT receive a Silo Bonus
• Villagers do not get building or tool upgrades that help their food production

Other Bonuses

• Freya's Blessing : Raises monthly winter yield to 19 per month
• "Eradication" Lore Bonus : x1.1 when silo present in area
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15 when Shield Maiden and/or Kaija present in area
• "Herbalism" Lore Bonus : x1.05 for each employed Mender present in area
• Freya's Greater Blessing : Work in Progress

Special mention:
Their inability to benefit from the standard bonus to their food production, meagre summer yields and stiff winter penalties, make them the least desirable of all food producers.

Despite this, they have 2 crucial abilities that make them stand out.

1) Where all other food producers are reliant on an area trait and the job openings of their buildings, villagers can be assigned in infinite amounts to any single territory. You're bound to end up with at least a few after you've made use of all other available food resources.

2) Villagers are the only ones who can construct buildings, or repair them. This means it's not only inevitable you end up with a handful of them, it's desirable, especially if you spread them around your holdings. They do well alongside the farmers, fishermen and hunters.
In fact, villagers are the only food producers whose tool upgrade doesn't help raise their food production. Instead it helps them repair and construct your buildings even faster.




Your most effective food producer is the farmer.

These men and women till the half-frozen ground to raise crops as enduring as they are.



Their associated building is the Farm, with 2 job openings in a normal Farm and 3 when upgraded.

Per Farmer:

Bonuses

• Silo bonus : x1.1 for a normal silo, x1.2 for an upgraded silo
  
• Upgraded building : x1.2
  
• Upgraded tools : x1.15

Other Bonuses

• Freya's Blessing : Raises monthly winter yield to 19
• (When upgraded) "Dedication" Fame Bonus : x1.1
• "Eradication" Lore Bonus : x1.1 when silo present in area
• "Industrious" Lore bonus : +1 additional job opening (When upgraded)
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15 when Shield Maiden and/or Kaija present in area
• "Handiwork" Lore Bonus : x1.15 (When NOT upgraded)
• "Herbalism" Lore Bonus : x1.05 for each employed Mender present in area
• Freya's Greater Blessing : Work in Progress

Special mention:
While farmers suffer badly from winter and blizzard events, it is more than compensated for by the absolute glut of food they produce during summer. Overal, they even-out to be the best producers of food on Northgard if you have the silo capacity to store their summer surplus.

Something odd is going on with our Farm and both Freya's Blessing and Bjarki's bonuses. Only about half of their strength applies!

A reliable food gatherer with additional benefits.

These men and women come equipped with a deadly hunting bow and the skills to use these at range. They stalk the mighty Northgard wilderness in search of their majestic prey.



Their associated building is the Hunter's Lodge, with 2 job openings in a normal Lodge and 3 when upgraded.

Per Hunter:

Bonuses

• Silo bonus : x1.1 for a normal silo, x1.2 for an upgraded silo
  
• Upgraded building : x1.2
  
• Upgraded tools : x1.15
  
• Freya's Blessing : Decrease difference between seasonal yield by 30% during winter

Other Bonuses

• "Dedication" Fame Bonus : x1.1 (When upgraded)
• "Eradication" Lore Bonus with Silo : x1.1
  
• "Industrious" Lore bonus : +1 job opening (When upgraded)
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15 when Shield Maiden and/or Kaija present in the area
• "Handiwork" Lore Bonus : x1.15 (When NOT upgraded)
• "Herbalism" Lore Bonus : x1.05 for each employed Mender present in the area

Special Mention:
While they do little more damage than other civilians, their bows do allow them to inflict this damage from a good distance. This makes them prime candidates for hastily assembled militia that have a higher chance of survival by not being in the thick of it. A team can hold its own against marauding wolves or draugr in your frontier wilderness.

You need not worry running out of deer. The lands of Northgard are truly teeming with game.




Spear armed fishermen who probably think that ice-fishing is rustic.

Fishermen aren't bothered at all by the winter. A hole in the ice and a steady supply of alcohol means a team of them have a right old lark all year round. This would explain why their base production is little better than that of a villager during summer. Blizzards still manage to make it tricky for them to keep their holes in the ice open.



Their associated building is the Fisherman's Hut, with 2 job openings in a normal Hut and 3 when upgraded.

Per Fisher:

Bonuses

• Silo bonus: x1.1 for a normal silo, x1.2 for an upgraded silo
  
• Upgraded building: x1.2
  
• Upgraded tools: x1.15

Other Bonuses

• "Dedication" Fame Bonus: x1.1 (When upgraded)
• "Eradication" Lore Bonus with Silo: x1.1
  
• "Industrious" Lore bonus: +1 job opening (When upgraded)
• "Harpoons" Lore bonus : x1.2
• "Harpoons" Lore bonus: +1 Job opening
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15 when Shield Maiden and/or Kaija present in the area
• "Handiwork" Lore Bonus: x1.15 (When NOT upgraded)
• "Herbalism" Lore Bonus: x1.05 for each employed Mender present in the area

Special Mention:
With the upgrades, fishermen produce a stable, highly reliable supply of food. Overall, their output doesn't change much during a blizzard year, and not at all between summer and winter.




Perhaps worth mentioning shortly alongside the other food production buildings, is the Altar of Kings, later covered in full by the the "Fame Specialization" session of my guide-ance.



Requiring no kinsmen to staff, the Altar of Kings produces a flat 12 per month, unaffected by the weather or further bonuses.




Slidrugtanni's "Legacy" will double this output to 24 per month.

Clan Stag has absolutely mastered the use of their silos. With an unseen army of specially bred Skogkatts patrolling near it, they bear down on the local vermin to not only increase the area's food productivity by a further 10%, but they can be taught to share their harvest of rabbits, gophers, pheasants and other edible critters.

Besides, seeing the feline fluffballs bound about the fields, makes your kinsmen feel happy.


Gain a 10% Food production bonus and you gain +1 Happiness per Silo.


Increase Food production by +2 for each Food Silo. (+5 if upgraded)


per Stag Silo with the "Advanced Silo" Lore bonus:
No bonuses apply to a Stag Silo's own food production, but neither is it affected by winters or blizzards.






The differences between goats and sheep aren't big enough for Clan Heidrun not to fully exploit their ruminant brethren.

Other Clans can put these fluffy animals in the fields to reduce wood consumption by a bit. Clan goat can do this too, but by putting the sheep in a Fold, can actually draw sustenance from them as well!

Their own little Fold allows Heidrun to keep track of the ewe's lambs and breed dairy qualities into the robust stock found on Northgard.



per Sheep:
Bonuses

• Silo bonus: x1.1 for a normal silo, x1.2 for an upgraded silo
  
• Upgraded building: x1.5
• (When upgraded) "Industrious" Lore upgrade: +1 job opening

Special Mention:
Sheep do not profit from a tool upgrade (no cast iron dentures!). While you wouldn't think sheep were all that industrious, the bonus does apply to an upgraded Fold, which can now hold four sheep. Maybe their shepherd finally manages to stay awake after the daily count.

The sheep get a x1.5 bonus to food production, instead of the standard x1.2 for an upgraded building.

Sheep within a Fold, continue to reduce the firewood consumption of everyone in their area.






Bjarki gains a 30% reduction to the winter food loss from the very start.



The "Winter Festival" Lore Bonus adds another 30%.

Combined with Freya's Blessing, Bjalki is eligible to a 90% reduction to winter food loss!

Only one job concerns itself with all matters arborial:



While they do have a territory trait associated with them, woodcutters do not rely on it. In fact, any territory, no matter how sparsely wooded, is good enough for a woodcutter to do their job at maximum efficiency, although without an extra bonus granted to them by their territory trait.

The "Forest" trait, signified by the symbol. The trait manifests itself as a grand court of fine ashen pines surrounding their ancient grandfather.

Building a lodge in this area, increases woodcutter efficiency by 10%

(At any difficulty)
Wood Consumption for a single kinsmen, per month = number of kinsmen x 0,01 + 0,7

Multiply result by total amount of kinsmen for monthly consumption of entire settlement.

A further x5 consumption during winter
A further x9 consumption during blizzards




With the "Hearthstone" Lore Bonus, you can reduce the total sum you've calculated after winter/blizzard, by x 0.6




With the Geiser within your territory, you can reduce the total sum you've calculated after winter/blizzard by x 0.92




Bjarki's Start Bonus against winter penalties allows you to reduce the total sum you've calculated after winter/blizzard, by x0.75

When both Hearthstone and Bjarki's Starter Bonus are combined, the results are additive into a single value that reduces the wood consumption by x0.35




When a person is within an area with at least a single sheep (more doesn't work and the effect isn't negated by placement in a sheepfold), you can reduce the total sum you've calculated for that person, by x 0.8. This deduction is seperate from Hearthstone and Bjarki's bonuses.

Note, that regardless of what the tooltip says, sheep work their magic during ordinary summers too!




50 kinsmen.

50 x 0,01 + 0,07 = 1,2 wood consumption per person.
50 kinsmen x 1,2 = 60 total wood consumption for a summer month.
5 x 60 = 300 total wood consumption for a winter month.
9 x 60 = 540 total wood consumption for a blizzard month.

300 x 0,6 = 180 total wood consumption for a winter month with Hearthstone.
300 x 0,35 = 105 total wood consumption for a winter month with Hearthstone + Bjarki's Starter bonus.

25 people of the 50 kinsmen have a sheep in their area. 1,2 (per person) x 25 (target audience) x 5 (winter) x 0,8 (sheep) x 0,35 (Hearthstone + Bjarki) = 42 wood consumed by the people with a sheep.
25 people of the 50 kinsmen, do not have a sheep in their area. 1,2 (per person) x 25 (target audience) x 5 (winter) x 0,35 (Hearthstone + Bjarki) = 52,5 wood consumed by people without a sheep.

Total wood consumption in the above example is 94,5 , down from 300




Again I endeavoured to find out exactly how much wood consumption there is, by compiling all my past observations on a variety of villages and towns.

Another mysterious looking tablet shows you my findings:

(At any difficulty)


Assuming that a single kinsmen consumes close to 0,7 wood, the general trend tells us that wood consumption rises for every kinsmen our Clan counts.

To summarize my findings: for every new clansman or woman we welcome into our clan, expect all our kinsmen to consume roughly 0,01 more wood per month, on top the standard 0,7.

I shall settle on a monthly consumption of 0,9 summer wood consumption per clansmen (a settlement size of some 20) to compare against wood production.




First of all, I've never been able to notice that the wrath of the gods can be incurred via wood. If you challenged the gods into giving you the hardest time possible; firewood isn't one of their methods. Must be the spirits within the living material, though I'd stay away from mistletoe.




What I have been able to notice, is that the first few winter on Northgard were indeed far too mild!



More firewood is consumed by the same amount of people, as time goes by in the first 5 years after our arrival. The trend stops at the winter of 805 AD. Better make optimum use of the nice weather Thane!

After that, only the amount of people can increase firewood consumption:



Disregarding the first four milder ones, expect all ordinary winters following the first in 805 AD, to consume 5 times as much firewood than the summer months. Expect the blizzard months accompanying a proper winter, to consume 9 times as much firewood!




Remember how I said that a Blizzard lasts for 38 increments of our calender? Together with knowledge of how much is consumed in a single blizzard month, I can now calculate how much is consumed during the entire year when a blizzard strikes.

For a Clan of 50 kinsmen:

10.8 wood consumption per person, per blizzard month.
6 wood consumption per person, per winter month.

(10.8 : 20) x 38 = 20,52 wood consumption per person during the entire blizzard.
(6 : 20) x 22 = 6,6 wood consumption per person during the remaing winter months of a blizzard year.
9 x 1,2 for the summer months.

37,92 wood consumption per blizzard year, per person in a 50 kinsmen Clan.

They are lumberjacks. I guess they're okay. They sleep all night and they work all day.



Their associated building is the woodcutter's lodge. It normally offers 2 job openings and 3 when upgraded.

Although there's a stiff drain on your wood during the winter, this is only caused by consumption. Your Woodcutters remain 100% productive during a normal winter. Only a blizzard manages to cut their production in half.

per Woodchuck:

Bonuses

• Forest Area Trait: x1.1
  
• Upgraded building: x1.2
  
• Upgraded tools: x1.15
  
• "Sharp Axes" Lore bonus: x1.15

Other Bonuses

• "Dedication" Fame Bonus: x1.1 (When upgraded)
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15
• "Handiwork" Lore Bonus: x1.15 (When NOT upgraded)
• "Herbalism" Lore Bonus: x1.05 for each employed Mender in the area

Special Mention:

You do not need to worry about running out of trees. Woodcutters practice responsible logging and any tree they fell is regrown. In fact, you do not need to worry about trees at all. It doesn't matter whether the lodge has been placed in an area with one tree, or a hundred, job efficiency remains the same.




Perhaps worth mentioning shortly alongside the woodcutter's lodge, is the Altar of Kings, later covered in full by the the "Fame Specialization" session of my guide-ance.



Requiring no kinsmen to staff, the Altar of Kings produces a flat 12 per month, unaffected by the weather or further bonuses.



Slidrugtanni's "Legacy" will double this output to 24 per month.

With nothing to work with but mud, moss, herbs and maggoty goop, these men and women of Medicine still manage to work miracles. Maybe there's some magical property to be found in the moist fungi they lay upon the open wound? They never seem to fester afterwards.



Their associated building is the Healer's Hut, with 2 job openings in a normal Hut and 3 when upgraded.

Per Healer:
Bonuses

• Upgraded building: x2
  
• Upgraded tools: x1.15

Other Bonuses

• "Medicine" Lore bonus: x1.5
• "Dedication" Fame bonus: x1.1 (when upgraded)
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus: x1.15 when Kaija and/or Shield Maiden present in area
• "Handiwork" Lore bonus: x1.15 (when NOT upgraded)
• "Herbalism" Lore bonus : x1.05 per Mender employed in the area

Special mention:

• Healing is actually done from and by the building itself! The presence of healers taking up job slots is simply what gives the hut its healing output.
  
• The Hut can heal people ANYWHERE INSIDE your OWN TERRITORY. It can heal people outside its own area and its range is practically limitless, only restrained by the borders of your settlement. If your warband is on the offense outside your territory, you will need to recall them to heal them.
  
• The Hut can only heal one person at a time. It will do so automatically and will randomly prioritize your warband when left to its own devices as a matter of triage
  
• You can also force it to heal a specific target by selecting the building and making a selection in the info tablet.
  
  
  
  
• The Healer's Hut cannot heal someone when they're in a warzone, or if the Hut's own area is under attack. It's hard to patch up wounds as they're being made.
  
• When one of your healers is wounded, their production suffers by 20% just like in any other profession. These physicians CAN heal themselves. They might be healers, but they're still one of us. My one-armed Eikthyrnir grandfather could set his own broken arm. The three remaining limbs he'd use to down a tankard of mead, pin down a shield maiden and slay a dragon at the same time.

Available to , and is the "Medicine" lore bonus.

Not only does it increase healing by 50%, but the healer's expertise increases to a point where they can distinguish poisonous herbs, roots and mushrooms from edible in even the most difficult cases and they become gatherers on par with the villager when they have no one to heal.

This does NOT turn the Healer's Hut into a drop off point for your other food gatherers! Only your healers can return food there.

Per Healer (when not healing):

• Silo bonus: x1.1 for a normal silo, x1.2 for an upgraded silo
  
• Tool Upgrade : x1.15

Other Bonuses

• "Eradication" Lore bonus : x1.1 when Silo present.
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus: x1.15 when Kaija and/or Shield Maiden present in area.

Special Mention:
While their base food output is equal to villagers once "Medicine" has been learned, they ARE counted as specialist food producers. This means they benefit from food silos and tool upgrade bonuses, which effectively makes them a superior choice to villagers if you can afford them.






Befitting Slidrugtanni's more primitive lifestyle, these little pigs make their houses from sticks. Looking like a forest hovel, all that's missing is a nice mudwallow out front.



Clan Boar replaces the Healer and their Hut for that of the Mender. It has two job openings normally and three when upgraded. Otherwise a mender's healing output is otherwise identical to that of the Healer, as are their options to increase it through a tool and building upgrade.


The major difference is that Menders don't have access to the "Medicine" Lore Upgrade. Instead, these porcine prophets weave a different kind of magic!



For each Mender taking up a job opening in the hut, production throughout the hut's entire area is increased by x1.05! This includes their own healing output!

When not busy healing, a Mender also communes with the spirits, producing a decent amount of . These effects are further described in the "Lore production" session of my guide-ance.






Instead of "Medicine", Bjarki gets "Hibernation".



Because nothing sutures a wound quite like icicles!

It only works during the winter - regardless of a Blizzard - but the amount recovered is 0,75 Health per second, or 45 per month. This is nearly an ordinary soldier's entire health pool.
This effect also applies to EVERY KINSMEN in Bjarki's home territory, as if each of them had their own private healer in the soft white snows. On top of that, this healing continues even DURING a fight.

Bjarki's own healers can add their own healing atop this effect.

Sickness, signified by the symbol, is something that will pop up in your settlement from time to time.

When it happens, your kinsmen will start to lose health. This ISN'T something that can be cured or prevented by your healers. All they can do is restore the health lost.

Fortunately, sickness goes away by itself after a while. Whether or not it will take your kinsmen with it when it expires, depends on what caused the disease and the circumstances. We shall discuss these here:




Sickness will happen to even the best led and healthiest of Settlements, thanks to Northgard's Rat population.



When these critters run out of food and their population collapses, they'll wash over our settlement. The flea ridden rodents also take their diseases along, which soon spread among our kinsmen.

For every 8 kinsmen (rounded down), one of our kin falls ill.



Sickness is a rather severe status effect. For every sick kinsmen you have, your global happiness suffers -1 . The sick kinsmen themselves are not counted as unhappy, but unhappiness might spread to healthy kinsmen when global happiness plunges below 0.

Meanwhile, the sick kinsmen themselves ARE counted as wounded, because sickness decreases their health. The status of being wounded DOES reduce their productivity.




The moment a perfectly healthy kinsmen falls ill, they'll instantly lose slightly more than 20% of their health. This instant penalty is not applied to kinsmen who are already wounded.

Then, they'll slowly lose a further 72% of their health - about 0,5 health per second or 30 health per month - until only 8% of their health remains and a total of 92% damage has been done.

This means that an ordinary kinsmen stays sick for about 1,25 months.
Heroes like the Warchief, Berserker, Shield Maiden and Kaija the Warbear, stay sick for longer, since it takes the disease longer to whittle them down to 8% health.


After 92% damage has been done, the disease passes naturally.


This means that perfectly health kinsmen will always survive a disease, even though just barely. You just need to patch them up afterwards.

When an already WOUNDED kinsmen gets sick, you need to focus your healers on him or her to make sure the disease won't end up taking their life. If a kinsmen was wounded and had just 50% health at the onset of falling ill, you need to heal them for 22% extra to stay ahead of the 72% incremental decrease.




Starvation or Exposure to the elements also cause your kinsmen to fall ill, and this is FAR worse than anything the rats would cause.



The mechanics behind starvation sickness are identical to that of the rats: Once a kinsmen has been starving or freezing for a while without you fixing it, they will incur sickness. They instantly lose slightly more than 20% of their health (but only when healthy). Then the disease progresses until it has taken 92% of their health away with increments of some 0,5 health per second.

Then a lethal twist is added: After 92% damage was done, the disease checks whether or not you've fixed your starvation or freezing. If you have not, the incremental 0,5 damage per second remains and they stay sick until you do.

It will continue to check after 92% damage has been done. If at any time AFTER 92% damage has been done, you fix your starvation/freezing, the disease stops instantly. It will never stop BEFORE 92% damage has been done however.

Rat-caused disease will also check whether or not your settlement is starving, before it allows itself to pass after doing 92% damage.

How many of your kinsmen fall sick to Starvation/Exposure based disease and how quickly, depends on how severe the Starvation/Exposure was.
If you're only missing a few meals (let's say -1), only about three of your kinsmen will warn you that they are starving. If you do not fix this, these three kinsmen fall ill after a full month.
If your settlement has stopped producing food altogether, the grand majority of your kinsmen will warn you that they are starving. If you do not fix this, this majority of kinsmen fall ill after just half a month!

Note that Starvation turns into Sickness and then passes on to the next batch of kinsmen. If a number of kinsmen are starving, then these kinsmen will turn sick after a while and are no longer starving. Instead, the starvation effect will then pass on to a similar number of kinsmen who were fine before, but who are now also starving until they too fall ill. This way, starvation will slowly pass around your settlement until everyone is dead.




Rule responsibly! Never allow Starvation to happen in the first place!

The only good way to prevent starvation/exposure, is to run a surplus production on the resource you're missing.

Another way of doing it is perhaps buying wood and food, but your kinsmen aren't easily fooled by just an apple sliver or wood splinter. They need at least a few days (or a couple of increments on the calender) to feel fed or warm again before the famine is truly over.

And if you had the money to buy the food or wood during starvation, then why not do so BEFORE it ever began?

As mentioned earlier, sheep can help with the Sustenance of our settlement in two ways.






The first option is to reduce wood consumption with them. Sheep can reduce wood consumption for every individual kinsmen they share an area with, by 20%. See the calculations made at "Wood - Consumption" for an example. The bonus does not stack with additional sheep.

As the amount of consumption saved increases with the amount of kinsmen affected, the very best use of sheep is therefore in crowded areas. Most areas with food traits should already be permanently populated and if you build them up to maximize population density and production efficiency, they're prime spots for your sheep to graze in.


With a fully upgraded farm, healer's hut, brewery, runestone and an additional villager for emergency repairs, the sheep in the above setting reduces the wood consumption for 11 people!



The second option is to slaughter your sheep. You will receive a one time addition of 80 to your stockpiles. Simple as that.




Realistically, the amount of wood conserved is still relatively minor and unimportant.

Yes, the amount of wood saved by a sheep is constant and when considered across many years among a large amount of your kinsmen, the bonus becomes substantial and sheep are a worthy long term-investment that deserves to be kept alive.

Realistically and when in direct competition with other clans for victory however, settlement sizes of some 20-30 people is all you need to achieve victory in 3-5 years time. When this is considered, the short term benefits of slaughter outweigh those of a long-term benefit you might never need.

When locked in desperate competition: Slaughter.

When looking forward to create a larger, lasting kingdom: Keep alive.




Of course, all of this changes when Clan Goat is considered.



When parked in a sheep fold, a sheep can produce 18 food per month permanently (or more) AND decrease the firewood consumption of any kinsmen in the area of the Fold. While the long-term benefit to firewood consumption only becomes apparent after many years, the short-term advantage of slaughter is completely eclipsed after just 5 months in Heidrun's Fold.



Do consider how you're going to divide your sheep. If you have three sheep and three densely populated areas, it's better to separate your flock among these three areas in each their own Fold with Silo.
If you can only afford to upgrade one of these Folds, you can earn more food by putting your entire flock within the single upgraded Fold, or conserve more wood by keeping them separated.

Feasts can be thrown by interacting with the "Organize a Feast" button below your Clan Info Tablet.



With it, and through the sacrifice of a certain amount of food, you can order a great party to be held for your people. The resulting merriment will last a full month.




The morale boost of a feast boosts the production of the following resource jobs by 20% :

, , , , , ,

You'll also be able to siphon a small amount of resources back into your stockpile as people bring their own food, firewood and krowns to the heart of festivities: your Town Hall.

12
12
12

Your Clan's will also increase by +2 .

To top it off, you'll be showing everyone you can afford to throw a party and anecdotes of your epic bashes will be fondly regaled to award you 20 .


Special Mention:

• For Clan Goat, the production bonus is 30%, or a x1.3 multiplier to production instead.
  
• The production bonuses are awarded as a temporary x1.2 (or x1.3 for Ram) multiplier to production. Just like other bonuses, it works in combination with them, additive upon prior bonuses. If a silo has raised an area's food production from 20 to 24, a feast adds the multiplier to 24 to make 28,8.
  
• The flat +12 and production are unaffected by weather or additional bonuses.
  
• For Stone and Iron, these are the rates of extraction and not the amount.
  
• Brewers and their happiness production are unaffected. Skalds and their Happiness, Krown and Fame production are also not affected. Only sailors get the x1.2 fame bonus.

A Feast is a special occasion and to have any effect, each of them will have to outdo the last.

For every feast thrown, every subsequent feast will cost more:





The flat 12 , , added during the month is rather pitiful. It's the 20 or 30% bonus to overal production which we're really after.

To make the best use of a feast, the trick is to have these production bonuses apply to the highest amount of production your settlement can muster. Applying a 20% bonus to a production of just 10, is merely an additonal 2. Applied to a production of 100, the bonus fares much better at an increase of 20.
It's therefore obvious you should never throw a feast during the winter or a blizzard, when our total production is always diminished.



Otherwise a feast if basically just another process to turn food into more of every other resource, which is what we've been doing all along anyway: For every new kinsmen recruited, we order them from being a food producing villager, to procuring more of some other resource.

So doing, we can can add a pricetag to every other resource, based on food.

There are many factors involved and for ease of use, I'll try to incorporate such calculus in my spreadsheets at a later date.

When it comes to coin, Northgard's territories possess no unique traits needed to support the existence of associated buildings, or improve the production of their workers.

However, a trick does exist to enhance coin production for merchants, and sailors do need at least a flat beach. I will explain:




The merchant's trait is what I call the "Trade Center", and it's one you can create yourself.

Merchants are a job class associated not with one, but by two buildings!
These are the Market Place and Trading Post:



These are two different buildings and they can exist side by side in the same territory. This is rather special, which means something interesting happens.

Look closely at how the game describes the process of upgrading a building:



"All merchants in the area gain a 20% production bonus."

Because merchants can have two associated buildings in the same territory, the upgraded production bonus of the Market Place or Trading Post can apply to the merchants in the other building! An upgraded Market Place boosts the production of the merchants in the Trading Post and vise versa.

Other job buildings have the exact same "area production bonus" in their description, but since merchants are the only one with two buildings in the same area, only they can make it truly work.

I will call this trait, where the Market Place and Trade Post exist both within the same area, a "Commerce Center".




While your vikingr require a specific territory for their building, it is by no means unique enough to warrant calling it a "trait".

Your men and women of the bay require a beach:
For there where the island meets the sea, the landing to be flat.

At last! Here's information that we can trust! Men and women after my own heart, the frugal nature of our masters at coin have driven them towards accurate recordkeeping.



Select a building and its upkeep cost, per year, is accuratly displayed just below the name. I've checked their math and it all works out!

Buildings are the only inevitable draw on your treasury, just like your kinsmen are on the Clan's stocks of food and wood.

per Month




Coin has several other uses and can be spent in a variety of ways.

I've made a study of the recruitment prices of Warrior in the "Warrior Specialization" section of my guide-ance. Otherwise, if you need to pay for something, simply check the price. It corresponds accuratly to the deduction of your Krown resource total.

When I first met them, I needed to understand something about the merchant:
When they're at work, they produce krowns without costing you anything!

Apparently, all your kinsmen possess a certain amount of personal wealth, but rather than putting it into your treasury, they hoard it below their mattress. It are your merchants who finally persuade them to part with their coin and they give you a share of the profits. They do this by attributing value to the goods your kinsmen are otherwise consuming for free, and by turning these into products that are even more desirable to them.

• Without a merchant, your kinsmen will simply grab the stale apples and wet twigs straight from your Clan's silos without paying anything.
  
• A single merchant will set up a stall in front of it and persuade your kinsmen to pay a krown for the freshest apple and some quality firewood.
  
• A dozen merchants will persuade your kinsmen to pay hundreds of krowns for a splendid assortment of yams, venison, fish, furniture, weapons and clothing from their stores.

About time someone persuaded your kinsmen to pay you for your hard work and the bounty of lutefisk you've bestowed upon them! Hhhhhmmm.... Lutefisk.

Merchants are your tax collectors turned artisan craftsmen, wisely sussing out coin through the carrot instead of the stick. Good thing too! Have you ever seen a Tax Collector and a Vikingr interact?



Merchants have two associated buildings:

The Market Place to the left, and the Trading Post to the right:



Each offers job openings to 2 merchant as a normal building, and 3 as an upgraded one.

As far as your merchants and their own coin production is concerned, it doesn't matter where you station them. Job openings from both are equally productive. If you're ever forced into a choice between these two buildings and a trade route isn't your primary concern, go with the Market Place. They are cheaper to maintain. Better yet, go with the Longship Docks for the extra resources they gain.

Per Merchant:
Bonuses

• Upgraded Building: x1.2 OR Upgraded Commerce Center : x1.44
  
• Upgraded tools : x1.15

Other Bonuses

• "Coinage" Lore Bonus : x1.2
  
• "Dedication" : Upgraded Building x1.1 OR Upgraded Commerce Center: x1.21
  
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15
  
• "Handiwork" Lore bonus : x1.15 (when NOT upgraded)
  
• "Herbalism" Lore bonus : x1.05 for every Mender employed in the area

Special mention:

While the merchants themselves do exactly what you'd expect of them, the buildings they work in have a variety of interesting abilities worth discussing over at session of my guide-ance.




Your own Town Hall, being the social heart and gathering place of your Clan, sees its own fair share of minor bargaining. Probably sees its fair share of minor begging too if you run out of coin.



It gives your clan a base income of 12 per month, regardless of weather.

On top of that is the "Trading" Lore bonus, available to all Clans but Clan Boar.



With an an additional 12 , it boosts your Town Hall's income to a total of 24 per month, unaffected by the weather.




Slidrugtanni gains "Bartering" instead of Trading.

Instead of granting your Town Hall an additional flat 12 per month, it adds 6 per month for every 8 kinsmen that you have. No factions are counted and 7 kinsmen gain you no additional income.

Starting at 16 kinsmen, Bartering is just as good as Trading. At 24 Clansmen, it becomes better, but by that time it might be too late to be useful.




Perhaps worth mentioning shortly alongside the other krown producing buildings, is the Altar of Kings, later covered in full by the the "Fame Specialization" session of my guide-ance.



Requiring no kinsmen to staff, the Altar of Kings produces a flat 12 per month, unaffected by the weather or further bonuses.



Slidrugtanni's "Legacy" will double this output to 24 per month.

We Do Not Sow.



I mean, I guess technically we do if you find us some Fertile Soil to work with. Then we'll happily sow, but how about some raiding until you do? Our men and women of the bay definitely don't sow. Fishing perhaps, sewing when the sail is tattered, but definitely not sowing.

Far too busy pillaging.




Their associated building is the Longship Dock. It offers jobs to two Vikingr normally, and 3 when upgraded.


The building itself is a bit special. The boat, when filled with your sailors, needs to be launched from dock to start production. When it is launched, it will sail away from Northgard. It will return a month later, but will sail off again as long as your order to launch stands.
When the longship is away from harbor, your kinsmen manning it are unavailable. When you want your kinsmen to disembark, you must tell them to stop raiding and they'll await your order when they get back.

When launching the ship, you also have the option to tell your sailors what to look for during their travels. They'll plunder for coin either way, but they can collect either Fame or Lore for you on the side, but not both.



They'll probably end up visiting the soon-to-be ruins of the same English-French monasteries anyway, but give them a break! Those are easy pickings and we're just a few decades away from genuine invasions!


Per Vikingr
Bonuses

• Upgraded building: x1.2
  
• Upgraded tools: x1.15

Other Bonuses

• "Shipbuilding" Lore Bonus: x1.3
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15
• "Handiwork" Lore Bonus : x1.15 (When NOT upgraded)
• "Herbalism" Lore bonus : x1.05 for every employed mender present in area

Per Vikingr OR : Bonuses
-
Other Bonuses

• "Shipbuilding" Lore Bonus: x1.3
• "Glory of the Clan" Lore Bonus : x1.2 applied to fame production
• "Kindred Spirit" Fame bonus : x1.15
• "Herbalism" Lore bonus : x1.05 for every employed mender present in area

Special Mentions:

Should the Longship Dock be destroyed when your Vikingr are away from home, they'll be lost!

Just like with every other job, it doesn't matter where your sailors are. As long as the order to launch stands, they'll contribute a steady uptick to your resources, regardless wether they're at sea, or stopping by your port for fresh supplies.

You can change between raiding for Lore or Fame, even while your Vikingr are away. You're apparently sending them their new orders via messenger... raven.

Oddly enough, Bjarki's "Kindred Spirit" and Slidrugtanni's "Herbalism" DOES apply bonuses to the vikingr Fame and Lore production, but Eikthyrnir's "Dedication" and Slidrugtanni's "Handiwork" does not.






Befitting their mindet, Clan Raven does away with the quaint flipped-over boat design of the other Clans and establishes a proper harbor instead. The nice square building means more storage room to keep "the goods" away from prying eyes.

Otherwise, they're identical to the longship docks of other Clans when it comes to their productivity, with their output of krowns, fame, lore and its bonuses basically the same.

That's not to say these harbors are ordinary, but since this structure is such an integral part to Clan Raven, please refer to my session about them in the "Clan Comparison" part of my guide-ance for more information.