Norwegian (Civ6)

The Norwegian people represent a civilization in Civilization VI. They are led by Konge Harald Hardrada, under whom their default colors are dark blue and red; and by Varangian Harald Hardrada, under whom their default colors are reversed.
The Norwegians' civilization ability is Knarr, which allows them to traverse Ocean tiles once they research Shipbuilding, removes the additional cost of embarking and disembarking, and allows their naval melee units to heal in neutral territory. Their unique unit is the Berserker (which replaces the Man-At-Arms), and their unique building is the Stave Church (which replaces the Temple).
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: Tier 3 towards Coast, tier 5 towards Woods
Upon launch, Norway was widely considered to be the worst civilization in vanilla Civilization VI due to the bonuses being too trivial and unimpactful. However, following a series of direct and indirect buffs to all four aspects of the civilization, in Gathering Storm, Norway becomes an absolute menace on any water map. Being one of the great naval powerhouses in the game, no coast is safe within the presence of the Vikings.
=== Thunderbolt of the North (Konge Harald) ===
What makes Norway so terrifying on water maps is this leader ability, allowing naval melee units to be built at a cheaper cost and granting them the ability to perform coastal raids (which is an exclusive ability of naval raiders for other civilizations). In vanilla and Rise and Fall, due to the fact that the efficiency of pillaging does not scale through the game, this ability might be useful to give you a head start in terms of , , , and at the beginning, but it falls out of favor pretty quickly afterward. In Gathering Storm, not only do pillaging rewards scale into the late game, but also Konge Harald is the only one that can gain and from pillaging (other leaders can only gain and , which is much less valuable). This alone allows Norway to be a constant annoyance to any civilization settled on the coast, since their progress in infrastructure is nothing but delicious prey for the Vikings.
Most importantly, there is virtually no explicit counterplay to coastal harassment from Norway, since Konge Harald even has his own version of the Galley, the Viking Longship. It is stronger, faster, cheaper to build (thanks to this ability), and can heal in neutral water. There is no way any other civilizations can churn out a navy strong and fast enough to protect their shore, especially after the nerfs to ranged units and City Centers against naval units (except for Phoenicia; don't try to pick on them, because their Cothon and Bireme can fend you off with ease). You should invest in at least two Viking Longships, so that you will unlock the Eureka for Shipbuilding (the technology that allows you to cross deep oceans). The more water-dominated the map is, the more Viking Longships you should build, since it is much harder for any civilization to avoid the coast completely (these units are dirt cheap anyway, especially if you want to run Maritime Industries on top). Even later in the game when these units are obsolete, you can upgrade them into Caravels if you want, but you do not have to even if you have the to. The main purpose of these Longships remain the same, they are not to fight, but to harass. Naval melee units, overall, are really bad for full-on Domination purposes. Of course, they will be much easier to kill as technology progresses, but if your enemies want to dedicate resources to build naval units to chase down and kill these Longships, let them. A dead Longship is not only easily replaceable, but by the time they can be driven back, they have been harassing enemy coastlines for at least 2-3 eras anyway and you have made a net gain in terms of invested effort.
=== Varangian Guard (Varangian Harald) ===
What he lacks in navy, Harald Hardrada (Varangian) makes up for in a large levied army. The power of the 75% discount on levying units cannot be overstated, allowing you to amass an incredibly large force before the game even leaves the Medieval Era. After levying units, this new army will also help you grow a stronger army, thanks to the gained from defeating units allowing to unlock upgrades for said units - although upgrading specifically levied units is risky, you may lose control of them at any time if your Suzerain status is challenged. 
This military growth, alongside having bonuses that apply to land units and not just the worse naval units, makes Harald's persona the better candidate for Domination Victory on land-based maps.
With the August 2023 Update, this ability is further buffed by providing an extra per turn from the Stave Church (helpful for increasing generation and hence the ability to control city-states) and all units receiving a discount of 2 per turn in maintenance costs. Notably, this latter bonus plus the Conscription policy card makes both Berserkers and the generic Men-At-Arms (which Norway cannot build, but will be a staple of many levied armies) totally maintenance-free! Norway under Varangian Harald can turn a small amount of into a huge army.
===Knarr===
On water-dominated maps, having the ability to cross oceans earlier than anybody else is absolutely game changing. It means you meet isolated city-states earlier for that precious free , scout out bountiful lands and send your Settlers there with little to no resistance thrown your way. It can also be a fantastic way to spread your religion into otherwise unassailable territories, removing the inevitable suffering of eternal Apostle wars from a religious game on a map with many separate landmasses. The only civilization that can cross oceans earlier than you is the Māori, so if they are not in the game, you are free to do whatever you please for the first few eras up until other empires unlock Cartography (You can actually have a sense of whether or not the Māori are in the game by sailing around and meeting City-states, if none or very few of them grant you a free on a map where landmasses are isolated, the Māori are most likely present). Another equally crucial bonus from Knarr is the ability your naval melee units (most importantly, your Viking Longship) to heal in neutral water. This can lead to a cyclical situation, where you can pillage all of your enemies' districts and improvements, then retreat your ships into deep water, heal up, and go back in once the districts and improvements get repaired. Your opponents will have to make a decision of leaving their infrastructure pillaged or fixing them for temporary yields just to get them pillaged once more. Again, there is no explicit counterplay to this, even from the Māori. They can cross oceans earlier than you but they are no match against your Longships. The removal of embarking and disembarking cost benefits both civilians (your Settlers and Builders) as well as your military units (especially your Berserkers, which already have extra in enemies' territories).
Knarr's healing ability stacks with Auxiliary Ships, allowing a naval melee unit with this to heal +20 HP per turn in neutral waters.
===Viking Longship===
The Viking Longship is easily the best harassment units in the game. Its battle statistics are superior in every way to the Galley it replaces, as it is cheaper (thanks to Harald Hardrada's leader ability), faster, stronger, and can heal in neutral water (thanks to Norway's civilization ability), but those are by no means its only good qualities. Thanks to the coastal raiding ability so early in the game, any civilization with coastal cities is in grave danger - if Harald decides to attack, no tile next to the Coast is safe, and neither is any civilian located on such tiles.
As if all of its inherent qualities over the normal Galley are not enough, the Viking Longship also ignores all zone of control. This feature, whether intended or not, is not mentioned anywhere in the game but is coded as such in the game files and still fully functional to date. This means that it is borderline impossible to catch and kill a Viking Longship with standard Galleys, unless it is completely surrounded, but with the improved stats and cheap cost, any counterplay against the Viking Longship in the early eras is very costly.
The best strategy for using Viking Longships is to survey and locate any civilizations with coastal cities as quickly as possible, then declare a Surprise War on them and invade with Longships. Before the enemy knows what hit them, the Norwegians will have pillaged everything...and, without actually taking any territory, amassed some nice plunder to boost their early development! This strategy is very strong in Gathering Storm since pillaging now scales into the late game, and under Harald Hardrada, Norway can actually gain and from raids, which will further bolster their already impressive early game. There is practically no counterplay to this, since this unit is stronger, faster, and cheaper than the regular Galley, and most importantly, since Norway can cross Ocean tiles earlier than most civilizations, it can retreat into deep water and heal in neutral water. This "camping" tactic will make every civilization in the game think twice about coastal settling when Norway is present.
===Berserker ===
In vanilla Civilization VI, the Berserker started out as one of the worst units and belonged to the weakest civilization. The buffs that it has since received have turned it into an absolute menace of Medieval warfare.
The Berserker's prowess peaked with the changes made to it in the April 2021 Update. It now replaces the Man-At-Arms, so it can be inexpensively upgraded from the Swordsman if Norway already has some. Its base Combat Strength is now 48, and it receives an additional +10 bonus on offense. The strongest Medieval unit in the game is the Mandekalu Cavalry (with 55 Combat Strength), and the strongest standard unit of this era is the Knight (with 50 Combat Strength). A Combat Strength of 58 in the Medieval Era is enough to one-shot Crossbowmen and Trebuchets, and can deal significant damage to Knights. Additionally, the Berserker's defense penalty now applies only against melee attacks, which means Crossbowmen are no longer the bane of Berserkers - only units that can make melee attacks have an advantage when attacking them, and the Knight is the only Medieval melee attacker whose Combat Strength is high enough to compete with a Berserker. Berserkers, however, have the same as Knights when starting their turn in enemy territory, so they have nothing to fear as long as they can either avoid or overwhelm the Knights.
For these reasons, the Berserker is designed for one thing only: going on the offensive. Norway's civilization ability allows it to quickly traverse the seas and reach enemy settlements on other continents. With 4 and a Combat Strength of 58 when launching attacks there, it can do great damage to most units and unfortified cities of the Medieval Era while laying waste to every and tile improvement in its path.
===Stave Church===
The Stave Church has two main bonuses over the standard Temple: first, it raises Holy Site's adjacency bonus from Woods from 0.5 to 1.5 per Woods tile; second: it provides 1 to every Coastal resource. Out of these two bonuses, the second one is much more important, since overall, is always the most valuable yield in the game, so make sure you build Holy Sites in every single coastal city you have in your empire. If you are playing as religious Norwegians, the bonus presents an interesting trade-off. Holy Sites mainly gain adjacency bonuses from Mountains and Woods (they gain major bonuses from Natural Wonders as well, but tiles next to Natural Wonders often have really high yields or high Appeal, so you want to avoid building a district on adjacent tiles and save them for later National Parks, Neighborhoods or Seaside Resorts). Mountains give standard adjacency bonus and Woods give minor bonus. By the virtue of the Stave Church you would want to prioritize Woods over Mountains, meaning you have to push back your early generation if you truly want extra out of this building. Considering a Religious Victory has a more narrow time window than other Victory conditions, this might not be the most ideal. However, it gives you a bit more flexibility than other empires, since now you can save your Mountains for your Campuses and Woods for your Holy Sites. It has great synergy with the God of the Sea Pantheon and Auckland, so aim for these two targets and all of your coastal cities will turn into bustling industrial hubs.
The ability to consistently get an extremely high faith adjacency bonus means that the Work Ethic follower belief should be a high priority. This adjacency bonus can be further bolstered if you have some Holy Sites in the arctic regions and the Dance of the Aurora pantheon. A Holy Site surrounded by Tundra Woods, combined with Dance of the Aurora, the Stave Church, Work Ethics, the Hildegard of Bingen, and the Scripture policy card can help one of your Holy Site generate an absurd amount of , and very early into the game.
=== Victory Types===
====Harald Hardrada (Konge)====
As the undisputed king on the water, as long as the map is favorable, you can go for any Victory that you like. Domination is quite obvious, with your two unique units. Scientific Victory is within reach too, with the extra from pillaging, extra from the sheer amount of cities you own since you can cross oceans earlier, combined with the Stave Church's and God of the Sea pantheon's for sea resources. If Auckland is in the game, this will be even easier. Religious Victory is at least as favorable, if not more so, than Scientific Victory. You have a unique Temple that grants extra , your Missionaries and Apostles can cross deep water early and fast, and other religious civilizations cannot spread their beliefs before you on a water map where all landmasses in isolation, and if other civilizations keep resisting, use your army of ships and Berserkers to spread the good word instead. Last but not least, unorthodox but feasible, is the Diplomatic Victory in Gathering Storm. All you have to do is to slot in the Diplomatic League policy card and sail around, exploring. Each time you meet a City-state where you are the first player they meet, you will get 2 free s for free. Simply complete the quest they give and you will be the Suzerain. This will establish a diplomatic foothold with city-states, so that when other civilizations start to compete with you in this area, they cannot topple all of your Suzerainties. This victory condition should, again, be eliminated from the running quickly if Māori is in the game, but other, more orthodox victory types are still there for you to take. The only victory type that Norway does not really have anything going for them is Cultural. It is feasible with extra cities from early colonization, but still, not the best way to make use of your bonuses.
====Harald Hardrada (Varangian)====
With many of the naval bonuses gone, Varangian Harald instead relies on amassing huge levied armies to conquer the world on land instead. Domination is definitely his strongest victory type, but it will be from an emphasis on a large land army; the early ocean-crossing will still be useful, but mostly to reach new landmasses (and new city-states) during the height of Berserker power. You still get the ability to get other yields in warfare, but they are through kills rather than pillages, so you may as well go all-in on Domination early and then see if you need a backup path from what should be a wide empire later on.
Because the path to that huge army runs through claiming control of city-states, you can consider Diplomatic Victory as that backup. Norway's coastal start bias and extra from coastal resources in a Stave Church city mean you should have a leg up in building the Statue of Liberty if going down this path. Kilwa Kisiwani benefits similarly, and is an extremely powerful wonder for Varangian Harald to pivot to any win condition with the extra yields it can provide with enough Suzerainties.
=== Counter Strategy===
====Harald Hardrada (Konge)====
Counter strategies against Norway are rather defensive more than offensive, especially in the early game when they are the undisputed king of the sea. Coastal raids can be prevented by either moving entirely off the coast (similar to how you "deal" with the English Ship of the Line in Civilization V, considering how dominant that unit is during its reign) or guarding coastal districts and improvements with military units. Also, consider simply leaving the coast unimproved by districts and improvements, as they will most likely be pillaged anyway, and having to spend a lot of on military units to guard these spots feels like a waste. Remember, although naval melee units are rather worthless in full-on conquest since they cannot focus fire to take down a city easily, the Viking Longship still has 35 Combat Strength, which is equal to a Swordsman. That means if you settle your cities on tiles exposed to multiple water tiles, you basically just invite Norway to not only pillage you but to take your cities as well.
Norway's ability falls off in a number of conditions. Any civilization with a strong naval game will have an easy time defending against them when their bonus arrives, and may even choose to retaliate against Norway and weaken their hold on the seas. Examples of civilizations that have such a bonus are Phoenicia, Byzantium, and England.
====Harald Hardrada (Varangian)====
This ability hinges on the power of a cheap army full of levied units. Denying them suzerainty of nearby city-states will blunt the Norwegian charge dramatically, so a strong yield will be helpful for generation. Other civs and leaders with warfare bonuses can use them to good effect; Ambiorix can rival Harald for unit quantity and gain Combat Strength from adjacent units on both sides of the battle, Vietnam has great defensive power that peaks at the same time as Harald's offensive power, and Matthias Corvinus can beat Harald at his own game thanks to his extra generation.
==Civilopedia entry ==
==Cities==
== Citizens==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Asger 	Asta 	Arne 	Astrid
Bjarke 	Bergljot	Donalt 	Brita
Brynjar 	Eira 	Einar 	Dagmar
Dustin 	Freja 	Garth 	Greta
Eindride	Gunborg 	Halvor 	Gunnhild
Fritjof 	Helka 	Lars 	Inga
Hakon 	Inkeri 	Nels 	Liv
Knute 	Magnhild	Oddvar 	Ragna
Stian 	Signe 	Sigurd 	Solveig
Trygve 	Thyra 	Ulf 	Valjeta
==Trivia==
*The Norwegian civilization's symbol is the valknut, which is associated with death, the transition from life to death, Odin, and Germanic paganism.
*The Norwegian civilization ability is named after the Norse merchant ships used by the Vikings.
*The Norwegian palace model depicts the Storting building, the seat of the modern-day Parliament of Norway, in Oslo.
==Soundtrack==
==Gallery==
File:Civ6 berserker2.jpg|The Berserker, Norway's unique unit
File:Civ 6 Viking Longships.jpg|The Viking Longship, Harald Hardrada's unique unit
File:CivilizationVI Norway Stave Church.jpg|The Stave Church, Norway's unique building
File:Norwegian capital.JPG|Norwegian capital in Medieval Era
File:Norwegian capital in Classical Era after Gathering Storm update.png|Norwegian capital in Classical Era after Gathering Storm update
==Videos==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Norway
==Related achievements==
==See also==
*Norwegian (Civ6)/Vikings, Traders, and Raiders!
*Norwegian in other games
ru:Норвегия (Civ6)
Category:Norwegian