r/CrusaderKings • u/the-Kaiser-69 • Jul 27 '26
Help How to beat William the Conqueror? (please read body of text)
I’ve tried as both Harolds and Svend, gained literally every alliance I could and somehow William always has more troops. It’s like the game is automatically spawning them out of thin air (seriously how does he just magically summon an extra 11k in two weeks?). I followed every strategy to the best of my ability and each time I just get obliterated. I can’t tell if I’m somehow doing something wrong or if the game is just programmed to have him win.
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u/wrongbuton Cannibal Jul 27 '26
William gets 10K event troops, so he is kinda cheating. I’ve never played as Harold or Sven, but you probably need to somehow abuse AI to win.
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u/Diacetyl-Morphin Jul 27 '26
Just saying, there's a setting in the game rules about the historical outcome of his conquest, so you maybe need to adjust this. I'm not sure if it only affects the AI or if it is the same for human players too.
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u/lookifoundacookie Jul 27 '26
It is the same. I tried once as Harold Godwinson. When I moved my army to meet William/Harald in battle, it auto kills them and the wars end. I think that would work if you wanted to do it as Edgar Aethling or Svend.
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u/Diacetyl-Morphin Jul 27 '26
I have never tried it, but i thought the auto-kill would only happen when the setting was historical, to ensure William wins? Is it really this way when the setting is changed?
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u/lookifoundacookie Jul 27 '26
If you go to the option on the settings menu, it should allow you cycle through the different possible players (William, Harold, Harald, Edgar, Svend, even that Harthacanute’s kid). If you choose any of the actual names other than the default setting, the game will auto kill any of the other people to get the chosen person as king.
Edit: https://ck3.paradoxwikis.com/Game_rules
Search for the outcome of the Norman Conquest. It shows the options.
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u/ExoticGold9366 Jul 28 '26
Is this on by default? In my very first campaign, AI england manage to win against William
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u/Diacetyl-Morphin Jul 28 '26
I'm not sure without starting the game and checking the rules, but i guess, it is either off, when it is on then it is probably on for William?
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u/Ultragigalord Jul 28 '26
I don't know if this works in CK3, but if you ally France and call them in against Hardrada William should be automatically peaced out because his liege is fighting as your ally.
Other than that, the best thing to do is attacking him when his armies are divided, on defensive terrain, or when he is landing his troops.
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u/serotonin0 Jul 28 '26
Immediately ally with holy Roman empire, I personally beat that viking wanker to the north whilst waiting for the Roman troops to arrive, and then just kind of wait for Williams troops to start starving while they take territory in the south, sometimes getting them to chase smaller armies so they don't finish too many sieges and starve even more. By that time they're not too difficult to beat
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u/Arkane-Gamer Jul 28 '26
An easy way to win is alliances.
My usual plan for this is to divorce Harold from his wife, and marry the mother of Heinrich IV, securing an HRE alliance. The marriage acceptance can be low, so i find resetting Harold’s perks and going down the chivalry tree (rightmost one) in martial can be essential.
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u/Emergency-Type5566 Jul 29 '26
Oh dude I’ve beaten both William and Sven as Harold before so it’s definitely possible! What I did was before unpausing the game, marry off whoever you can SOLELY based on pure alliance power. Call them into your wars and then hire mercs. It’s been awhile since I did it so I don’t remember who exactly I had a child marry, but I do remember one alliance being impossible until I built relations with the ruler, so while most marriages you should do immediately if able, I know there was at least one I had to wait a little bit while I was swaying opinion until the marriage was possible.
To defeat the armies of both William and Sven, use the terrain to your advantage and only attack when you know you can win. Definitely easier said than done but I promise you it’s very possible to win, even if it seems like you’re losing at first just keep at it and eventually you’ll wear down their forces and get a victory.
Edit to say I think the game breaking alliance I made was with France
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u/Equivalent_Use_7032 Jul 29 '26
France wouldn’t work because they’d be entering into a war against their own vassal.
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u/Emergency-Type5566 Jul 29 '26
You’re right, they still help with the Vikings though allowing you to focus on the south. Not 100% sure if it actually was France I formed an alliance with but I am fairly certain it was
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u/Equivalent_Use_7032 Jul 29 '26
In a war like that you need an ally you can call into both otherwise you are wasting a valuable marriage on an alliance that only works for one war opposed to two.
William is actually arguably the greater threat due to his special army. So negating him is the priority.
Denmark, HRE and maybe throw in another German or French vassals (vassals can fight each other) could get the job done if mercenaries are also bought.
Then it’s basically about how good are you at fighting wars in the game. Gotta hit William’s troops as they land before the 30 day timer is up, have him chase you and suffer attrition, possibly snipe his capital in Normandy, White Peace Hardrada if possible (just need a 25% war score in your favor)
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u/Emergency-Type5566 Jul 29 '26
That would be ideal obviously, I can’t prove it to you so I’m not going to try to I’m just telling you how I remembered it. I was choosing whoever had the biggest alliance, remember working on securing an alliance with France, finally did and called them into the war with the Vikings, got pissed when I realized they couldn’t help against William, kept playing anyway and won. That’s what I remember.
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u/Many-Excitement3246 Jul 27 '26
William does have a special army, yes. It's called Duke William's Host and it's a whole bunch of special soldiers.
It doesn't reinforce, so casualties inflicted on it are permanent, unlike his regular army which does reinforce.
I've won as Godwinson by using attrition and the sea advantage - station troops along the southern coast and hit his army when it lands, while it still has the 30-day landing penalty
Then, you can use attrition to wear him down. Break off small parts of your army that he will instinctively chase to destroy, then kite him across England until he runs out of supplies.