The Norse are a civilization geared towards offense and mobility.
Strengths[]
Other than farms, all Norse buildings are built by infantry units (including Hersirs). This is a large asset when besieging an enemy town. Instead of bringing in fragile villagers to build a forward base, the soldiers can do it themselves. This allows Norse armies to replenish themselves near the front lines, giving them a big attacking advantage. Additionally, the ability to build with soldiers allows the Norse to continue to gather resources without interruption.
The Norse do not drop off their resources in buildings. Instead they use Ox Carts which are mobile. This saves resources in the long run as villagers no longer need to walk to and from the drop-off point, or build a new one each time they move to new resource. Norse soldiers, on average, have the highest attack of the soldiers of all the civilizations. Hersirs, the Norse heroes, are fairly cheap and easily massed allowing them to fight off Myth Units early in the game. In addition they generate favor automatically.
The Norse also have excellent naval units. The Drakkar has an additional damage multiplier against ships that other civilizations lack. The Longboat has better damage than the ships of other civilizations and can garrison troops, eliminating the need to spend valuable population space on defenseless transports. Lastly, the Norse have access to the mighty Kraken, the only naval unit with an auto-kill attack.
Weaknesses[]
Early on, the Norse are slow to generate favor. They earn favor through combat and hunting. This makes attacking the enemy critical in order to build Myth Units and research myth technologies. When in combat, favor is spawned very quickly but in the Archaic Age and early Classical Age, the Norse are unlikely to have much favor. However combat must be done intelligently. Constantly attacking the enemy without regard for strategy will waste resources as the gain in favor will be offset by the losses in manpower. As such, raiding is the most effective way to generate favor early on.
The Norse also have the weakest defense in the game, with weaker buildings and only one upgrade each for their walls and towers. Their soldiers, while having a high attack, are the least armored and have some of the lowest HP of all the human soldiers in the game, so they are quite vulnerable to attack. The Norse are also poorly suited to attacking well-defended enemy territory, since they have poor siege and no ranged archer counter, making them especially susceptible to archer attacks behind a barrier.
Unlike the other civilizations, the Norse do not have a designated scouting unit. They only have the Ulfsark in the Archaic Age, though these do a reasonable job as they are quite fast and have a decent line of sight. After reaching the Classical Age, Odin gains two ravens that further help with scouting (in the Extended Edition, they appear after the player's first Temple is built).
