Bluebooks big book of blue

[Bluebook]

Good fortunes continue to evade the Blåe-family. Little brother dies of illness, age 12

I have decided to seek fortunes to the east. Im betrothed to some Lithuanian lowborn (with great stats) and Im sending gifts that way to impress people. Then I think I will take a fleet up the river into Russia to try to raid for money.

How does that work, do I have to declare war before I go or can I just plunder my way as I go?

[Bluebook]

I dont get it. I am playing as Norse and get huge penalties for not being in a war every other year, yet I cannot declare war without casus belli? Nor can I just go plundering?

[garbon]

You can just go plundering. You just need to hit the raid icon. I think blue in troop screen (when you've selected the relevant unit) when not raiding then when pressed will turn red.

[Maximus]

1) You can choose who the commander is (though under certain laws I think the highest ranked noble leads, or maybe it is military tech...I forget)

Generally I think it's the highest rated character in each wing that commands. There may be some exceptions. Also if there are multiple armies on a side in a battle it seems really poor at picking who leads.

Generally levies are raised with their lord in command if said lord is capable. Mercenaries are raised in three units under the command of the captain and two of his courtiers, not sure how these are chosen. If the character leading a unit dies or becomes otherwise incapable of command, the unit does not get a replacement leader.

Under any level of crown authority other than the lowest (I think) you can appoint commanders to a wing. There must be at least one of your units in that wing though, i.e. they can't all be mercenaries. That character then becomes the leader of one of your units in that wing.

At lowest crown authority you can still affect who leads by rearranging the units between the different wings.

2) You use ships to move soldiers around.  There are no sea battles or blockades or anything, but you can move at breakneck speed compared to land based troops and land in a matter of days.  Generally I would sucker in an enemy army with a small army and then land the big army once the battle starts.  You can crush much large opponents that way.  Another trick is to use your personal levy or retinue to attack small enemy armies before they can assemble while your army is assembling.  Navies are the ultimate weapon.

They've made this more difficult in one of the more recent patches. Armies disembarking now start at reduced morale(half I think?) and entering and leaving port now takes much longer.

[Valmy]

They've made this more difficult in one of the more recent patches. Armies disembarking now start at reduced morale(half I think?) and entering and leaving port now takes much longer.

Ack!  My super weapon has been nerfed

Damn you Paradox.

[garbon]

It is still good enough if you vastly outnumber them.

[ulmont]

It is still good enough if you vastly outnumber them.

And obviously mandatory for the Canaries and similar.

[Bluebook]

So, after trying a Viking expedition to Kiev, and not being able to plunder anything, despite being raiders (same pagan faith?) we went to the English channel to find plunder. We ran into a 1000+ men army, and Alfr was captured. I paid his ransom, and upon returning to Gotland, he became ill.

At that point I decided to give up on the Blåe-family and start over. 

[Valmy]

Wimp!