Homestead strategy guide

On this page, users may describe strategies on how to upgrade the homestead to realize a certain goal. Any strategy guide should describe in detail which upgrades you take, in which order you should upgrade the homestead so that you profit as much possible from upgrading and how you can gain the necessary resources.

## General tips

* You can halt your expeditionary forces anytime while travelling from place to place by clicking on the location you travel, pressing the space bar on your keyboard or by selecting another location. You can quickly assign a new upgrade this way.
* Camping takes 16 hours. If there are a few hours left before an upgrade is finished, you can travel back and forth between the designated camping site and any location nearby to spend the remaining hours.
* Recruit at least one hirdmen who can scout three shifts always (unless injured) so that you gain free wood and other items, such as hides, weapons and armour.
* With the Left Alt key, all objects are highlighted which are interactable. This will make it easier to loot all containers in areas and find other objects with which the player can interact.
* You can travel with a hird of eleven in Denmark for quite some time, but you can't take no more than 10 in total to Britannia. See Preparations: A Motley Hird for more details.

## First strategy: Danelaw

The goal of this strategy guide is to get 100 power points for your homestead as soon as possible, so that the players fullfills the requirements of the quest Great Heathen Army and may end the game with Northumbria and Pictavia conquered by the Northmen.

### First act

When you start the game, you already have enough resources to either upgrade the farms, add banners or rebuild the fighting ring. You should start with building the fighting, but don't use thralls to speed up the building process. While you are in the prologue of the game, its unlikely that you gain resources for the next upgrade.

After you have finished The Northmen's Raid, talked with everyone in Skjern and looted all containers, you should head to Ribe to talk with the jarl for the quest A Motley Hird, but you can go to Skjern Forest first and do all quests there if you like. While you are in Ribe, you should at least finish the quests Best Served Cold by acquiring 200 wood and The Halfdansons and the Mardolsons in favour of the Halfdansons to gain 40 wood. Now you should have enough wood for upgrading your homestead for a while.

For now, you should focus on fully upgrading the blacksmith first. If you lack salvage, upgrade the moor instead. Use thralls if you have them. After doing all steps necessary for the Motley Hird quest in Ribe, you should go the Marshes to do the Monsters in the Marsh in order to advance the motley hird. Plunder the valuables found on the table in the home of "giants", this will give you enough salvage to fully upgrade the blacksmith. Also do the The Hunters in the Marsh quest in marshes, you gain four thralls.

After Monsters the March, head back to Ribe and again talk with the jarl to claim the reward. Now that the marshes are safe again, you can find recruits for your hird at the huscarls longhouse by talking to Skallagrim.

You can now finish all sidequests and storyline quests in any order you desire. If you have spare time left after finishing all quests in Denmark, you should spend the remaining time at campsites. Expect from scouting, you also benefit from making medicine at campsite, which you can save when needed or sell for other resources. If you upgraded the blacksmith and the moor, check Hulda's home and Kveldulfr's smithy for herbs and lootable containers before ending the first act.

After fully upgrading the blacksmith, you should now focus on upgrading the moor by selecting the herbal glade upgrade path and use thralls if available. If you have four days or more left, do any upgrade which takes three days. Two days or less before the final day of the first act, you should start upgrading your longhouse with Stronghold rank 1, because that upgrade requires the most time and is probably available. In the month between the first and second act, upgrades will be continue to progress, so the stronghold will be finished before you sail to the British Isles.

Quests:

* Finish Cleaning House either by exiling or killing the Erlingr family to avoid a power penalty.
* Unwanted Guests should be finished to gain power points in the second act.
* Offer 50 ration to either Odinn, Thorr or the other god which gives you one point in the power score.

#### Summary first act

 If you have more than four days left, upgrade any building which requires three days. If you have at least 7 or 8 days, left, upgrade the thing, choosing the folksmoot upgrade tree.

#### Power points

 Quests
 Ribe temple offering
 Total

#### Blacksmith: armourer over craftsman

For the blacksmith, choosing the armourer or craftsman upgrades gives you the same amount of power points, but it is recommended to choose the armourer over the craftsman. During the game, you will get more salvage and weapons (can be recycled for salvage) in comparison to hides, armor and helmets (recyclable for hides). Due to this, you will have to spend more money to buy hides for armor. Also the reward for fully upgrading the armourer is better. Instead of two lootable weapons racks, you get five lootable armor stands which contain more items and have higher durability in general. If you fully upgrade the blacksmith in the first act, you can loot them twice in the game.

#### Moor: herbal glade over sacrificial bog

It is the same way of thinking as with the armourer and craftsman. Sacrificial bog gives you food rations which can also be obtained by pickling meat. You are getting meat from hunting during camping and this activity will provied you with enough food rations. Herbs are harder to aquire - from looting, buying and collecting them - and medicaments are really important for healing injuried companions. Herbal glade provides you with stable income of herbs from which you are making medicaments during camping. That is why you should pick herbal glade over sacrificial bog.

#### Thing: folksmoot over market

Since you are after power points, you have to choose for the folksmoot, because you only gain prosperity points by choosing the other. Also you will get up to 100 valuables every week, with the market, you have access to three with charitable prices (trading and buyiing items at 100% item value). Though you could make a higher profit or save more valuables with the market compared to the cashflow from the folksmoot, you don't have enough time to spare to return home multiple times to realise the benefits of the market at your home.

### Second act

Before you leave Skjern to sail the seas, you can probably help Nefja to say farewell to her mother and twin sister. While you help her, you can check the whole village for lootable containers and the moor for herbs.
At this point of the game, upgrading your homestead is rather straightforward. As you long as have resources and keep an eye on the upgrade progression of the homestead, you will have enough time to upgrade all remaining buildings without thralls before the Althing.
The quests, however, determine whether you can get 100 points in power.

#### Power quests

After completing Parsley Sage Rosemary Thyme, the location Orkneyjar will be unlocked on the world map. Sail to the island and finish the quest Lord of Seals by keeping Steinn the Clever alive, since he is the only one who can organize the forces for invasion of Britannia. With 120 rations, you will gain 10 power in total. When your homestead reaches a certain score (around 50), a courier will arrive at your camp with a message from Skallagrim. He will be awaiting your arrival on Orkney. When you arrive at your island, the quest Ravaging of the Wretched Heathens is initiated. Complete the quest to gain 10 power points.

When you visit Perth while beign the Jarl of Orkneyjar, you can gain three power by doing Just Deserts by sending them to the Island instead of your homestead. Your unofficial status as jarl, makes it also possible to recruit the Legion from Ghosts of the Empire, which yields 5 power points.

Total power points (before The Althing):

 Buildings second act
 Quests second act
 Total

## Second strategy: trade route

The goal of this strategy guide is to get 100 prosperity points for your homestead, so that you can end the second campaign with an alliance and a trade agreement with either Northumbria or Pictavia. Since the maximum amount of prosperity points you can possible get is much higher than power, it is far more easier to get at least 100 prosperity.

### First act

When you start the game, you already have enough resources to either upgrade the farms, add banners or rebuild the fighting ring. You should start with rebuilding the fighter ring, but don't use thralls to speed up the building process. While you are in the prologue of the game, its unlikely that you gain resources for the next upgrade.

After you have finished The Northmen's Raid, talked with everyone in Skjern and looted all containers, you should head to Ribe to talk with the jarl for the quest A Motley Hird, but you can go to Skjern Forest first and do all quests there if you like. While you are in Ribe, you should at least finish the quests Best Served Cold by acquiring 200 wood and The Halfdansons and the Mardolsons in favour of the Halfdansons to gain 40 wood. Now you should have enough wood for upgrading your homestead for a while.

For now, you should focus on fully upgrading the blacksmith first, even though this does not improve prosperity. The reward you gain from fully upgrading the blacksmith first is more valuable than the other upgrades. If you lack salvage, upgrade the moor instead. Use thralls if you have them. After doing all steps necessary for the Motley Hird quest in Ribe, you should go the Marshes to do the Monsters in the Marsh in order to advance the motley hird. Plunder the valuables found on the table in the home of "giants", this will give you enough salvage to fully upgrade the blacksmith. Also do the The Hunters in the Marsh quest in marshes, you gain four thralls.

After Monsters the Marsh, head back to Ribe and again talk with the jarl to claim the reward. Now that the marshes are safe again, you can find recruits for your hird at the huscarls longhouse by talking to Skallagrim. You can now finish all sidequests and storyline quests in any order you desire. If you have spare time left after finishing all quests in Denmark, you should spend the remaining time at campsites.

Expect from scouting, you also benefit from making medicine at campsite, which you can save when needed or sell for other resources. If you upgraded the blacksmith and the moor, check Hulda's home and Kveldulfr's smithy for herbs and lootable containers before ending the first act.

After fully upgrading the blacksmith, you should now focus on upgrading the moor by selecting the herbal glade upgrade path and use thralls if available. If you have four days or more left, do any upgrade which takes three days. Two days or less before the final day of the first act, you should start upgrading your longhouse with Longhall rank 1, because that upgrade requires the most time and is probably available. In the month between the first and second act, upgrades will be continue to progress, so the longhall will be finished before you sail to the British Isles.

Quests

* Finish Kill the Rats by either chasing the rat pack away or killing them.
* Finish Hel Hath No Fury... by recruiting one of the two merchants for three prosperity.
* Offer 50 ration to the god which gives you the amulet with the most desirable effect.

#### Summary first act

 Fully upgrade the blacksmith, choosing armourer (use thralls)
 If you have more than four days left, upgrade any building which requires three days. If you have at least 7 or 8 days, left, upgrade the thing, choosing the folksmoot upgrade tree.

#### Power points

 Quests
 Ribe temple offering
 Total

#### Blacksmith: armourer over craftsman

For the blacksmith, choosing the armourer or craftsman upgrades gives you the same amount of power points, but it is recommended to choose the armourer over the craftsman. During the game, you will get more salvage and weapons (can be recycled for salvage) in comparison to hides, armor and helmets (recyclable for hides). Due to this, you will have to spend more money to buy hides for armor. Also the reward for fully upgrading the armourer is better. Instead of two lootable weapons racks, you get five lootable armor stands which contain more items and have higher durability in general. If you fully upgrade the blacksmith in the first act, you can loot them twice in the game.

#### Moor: herbal glade over sacrificial bog

It is the same way of thinking as with the armourer and craftsman. Sacrificial bog gives you food rations which can also be obtained by pickling meat. You are getting meat from hunting during camping and this activity will provide you with enought food rations. There is no way to get herbs (exept from looting and buying them) and medicaments are really important for healing injuried companions. Herbal glade provides you with stable income of herbs from which you are making medicaments during camping. That is why you should pick herbal glade over sacrificial bog.

#### Thing: folksmoot over market

Since you are after prosperity, it is seems logical to choose the market over the folksmoot, because you only gain power points by choosing the other. You can still gain enough prosperity even without the market, so you should consider the benefits of the two when making a choose. While the market gives you three traders with charitable prices (trading and buying at 100% item value), you get 100 valuables weekly with the folksmoot.
Though you could make a higher profit or save more valuables with the market compared to the cashflow from the folksmoot, you don't have a lot of time to spare to return home multiple times, so the folksmoot could be a better decision despite not improving the prosperity of the homestead.

### Second act

Before you leave Skjern to sail the seas, you can probably help Nefja Holmunardottir to say farewell to her mother and twin sister. While you help her, you can check the whole village for lootable containers and the moor for herbs.
At this point of the game, upgrading your homestead is rather straightforward. As you long as have resources and keep an eye on the upgrade progression of the homestead, you will have enough time to upgrade all remaining buildings without thralls before The Althing.
The quests, however, determine whether you can get 100 points in prosperity.

#### Prosperity quests

After completing Parsley Sage Rosemary Thyme, the locations Eoforwic (York) and Perth will be added first to the map. In both towns there is a quest which allows you to moor your longship there which gives 6 prosperity in total. By offering your services to both kings, you gain 20 prosperity in total if you finish the Northumbria and the Picts storyline quests until you start Fort of the Thicket. When you choose a faction, you will gain 10 prosperity when the chosen faction wins the war.

* When you visit Perth, you can gain three prosperity by doing Just Deserts by sending them to your homestead.
* After finishing Debt Collectors and being the Jarl of Orkneyjar, you can send the carpenters from that quest to the island to gain prosperity.
* You can also gain +2 prosperity by giving 10,000 valuables to Astridr when you visit her when you are in Skjern. This can be repeated.
* You can gain five prosperity by taking the Roman Aquila from Ghosts of the Empire to Skjern.
* You gain three prosperity by finishing the quest No Escape and then accepting the deal Hedinvi Hedinsdottir offers.

Total prosperity points (before the Althing):

 Buildings second act
 Quests second act
 Total

## Third Strategy: 100 prosperity and power

Even though there isn't anything more to gain compared to the first two strategies, it might be possible to gain 100 power and prosperity in a single game by doing all the upgrades for the homestead and completing all of the quests which give prosperity and power. Since power points are lot harder to get, you follow the danelaw strategy when it comes to the homestead. Since this a lot harder to achieve compared to other two strategies and thus risk to fail to get 100 points for both, it's recommended finish the game at least once before attempting this.

#### Note alternative path

It' possible to gain 100 power and prosperity without having to spend around 100,000 valuables or more on donations to improve the prosperity, but this will limit the amount of options you can take in the storyline. This can be achieved by selecting the mead hall upgrades instead of the stronghold, but it limits the amount of outcomes the player has to choose in the second act, in order to succeed. In case the player wants to complete The Isle of Apples as well, the player character needs at least 4 Sense, because Morcant can't be recruited and the diplomacy skill has to be developed.

### First act

When you start the game, you already have enough resources to either upgrade the farms, add banners or rebuild the fighting ring. You should start with upgrading the farms, as it takes four days to upgrade, but don't use thralls to speed up the building process. While you are in the prologue of the game, it's impossible to gain resources for the next upgrade.

After you have finished The Northmen's Raid, talked with everyone in Skjern and looted all containers, you should head to Ribe to talk with the jarl for the quest A Motley Hird, but you can go to Skjern Forest first and do all quests there if you like.

While you are in Ribe, you should at least finish the quests Best Served Cold by acquiring 200 wood and The Halfdansons and the Mardolsons in favour of the Halfdansons to gain 40 wood. Now you should have enough wood for upgrading your homestead for a while. While you are in Ribe, you should finish the quest Kill the Rats in favour of the merchant and start Hel Hath No Fury....

For now, you should focus on fully upgrading the blacksmith first. If you lack salvage, upgrade the moor instead. Use thralls if you have them. After doing all steps necessary for the Motley Hird quest in Ribe, you should go the Marsh to do the Monsters in the Marsh in order to advance the motley hird. Talk to the male merchant at least while you are in the marsh and plunder the valuables found on the table in the home of "giants", this will give you enough salvage to fully upgrade the blacksmith. Also do the The Hunters in the Marsh quest in marshes, you gain four thralls.

After Monsters in the March, head back to Ribe and again talk with the jarl to claim the reward. Now that the marshes are safe again, you can find recruits for your hird at the huscarls longhouse by talking to Skallagrim.

You can now finish all sidequests and storyline quests in any order you desire. If you have spare time left after finishing all quests in Denmark, you should spend the remaining time at campsites. Expect from scouting, you also benefit from making medicine at campsite, which you can save when needed or sell for other resources. If you upgraded the blacksmith and the moor, check Hulda's home and Kveldulfr's smithy for herbs and lootable containers before ending the first act.

After fully upgrading the blacksmith, you should now focus on upgrading the moor by selecting the herbal glade upgrade path and use thralls if available. If you have four days or more left, do any upgrade which takes three days. Two days or less before the final day of the first act, you should start upgrading your longhouse with Stronghold rank 1, because that upgrade requires the most time and is probably available. In the month between the first and second act, upgrades will be continue to progress, so the stronghold will be finished before you sail to the British Isles.

Quests:

* Finish Cleaning House either by exiling or killing the Erlingr family to avoid a power penalty.
* Finish Kill the Rats by either killing the homeless kids or by driving them from the property to avoid a prosperity penalty.
* Completed Hel Hath No Fury... by recruiting one of the two merchants for prosperity.
* Unwanted Guests should be finished to gain power points in the second act.
* Offer 50 ration to any god in the temple in Ribe to gain power or prosperity.

#### Summary first act (stronghold route)

 Fully upgrade the blacksmith, choosing armourer (use thralls)
 If you have more than four days left, upgrade any building which requires three days. If you have at least 7 or 8 days, left, upgrade the thing, choosing the folksmoot upgrade tree.

#### Power points

 Quests
 Ribe temple offering
 Total

### Second act

Before you leave Skjern to sail the seas, you can probably help Nefja Holmunardottir to say farewell to her mother and twin sister. While you help her, you can check the whole village for lootable containers and the moor for herbs.
At this point of the game, upgrading your homestead is rather straightforward. As long as you have resources and keep an eye on the upgrade progression of the homestead, you will have enough time to upgrade all remaining buildings without thralls before The Althing.
The quests, however, determine whether you can get 100 points in both of them.

#### Power quests (stronghold route)

After completing Parsley Sage Rosemary Thyme, the location Orkneyjar will be unlocked on the world map. Sail to the island and finish the quest Lord of Seals by keeping Steinn the Clever alive, since he is the only one who can organize the forces for invasion of Britannia. With 120 rations, you will gain 10 power in total. When your homestead reaches a certain score (around 50), a courier will arrive at your camp with a message from Skallagrim. He will be awaiting your arrival on Orkney. When you arrive at your island, the quest Ravaging of the Wretched Heathens is initiated. Complete the quest to gain 10 power points.

When you visit Skjern, talk to Grimulfr Eikinskjaldason for the post-quest reward of Unwanted Guests of two power points.

#### Power quests (mead hall route)

Parsley Sage Rosemary Thyme has to be completed by aiding the marooned Mercians in order to gain power later on the in game. The location Orkneyjar will be unlocked on the world map. Sail to the island and finish the quest Lord of Seals by keeping Steinn the Clever alive, since he is the only one who can organize the forces for invasion of Britannia. With 120 rations, you will gain 10 power in total.

When your homestead reaches a certain score (around 50), a courier will arrive at your camp with a message from Skallagrim. He will be awaiting your arrival on Orkney. When you arrive at your island, the quest Ravaging of the Wretched Heathens is initiated. Complete the quest to gain 10 power points.

The power otherwise gained from the stronghold, has now to be gained from Ghosts of the Empire, by recruiting the Legion with either Valerius or Iovita as the leader for 5 power. Another 10 power can be gained by making a deal with Mercia in The Mercian Connection quest, with aiding the Mercians from Parsley Sage Rosemary Thyme as the most difficult condition to be fulfilled. The last bit of power can be gained by recruiting the villagers of Dun Phris during Fort of the Thicket. This earlier betrayal doesn't change the route taken after the Fort much, but the rewards from siding with one faction or another, are unobtainable.

When you visit Skjern, talk to Grimulfr Eikinskjaldason for the post-quest reward of Unwanted Guests of two power points.

#### Prosperity quests

After completing Parsley Sage Rosemary Thyme, the locations Eoforwic (York) and Perth will be added first to the map. In both towns there is a quest which allows you to moor your longship there which gives 6 prosperity in total. By offering your services to both kings, you gain 20 prosperity in total if you finish the Northumbria and the Picts storyline quests until you start Fort of the Thicket. When you choose a faction, you will gain 10 prosperity when the chosen faction wins the war (stronghold route only).

* When you visit Perth, you can gain three prosperity by doing Just Deserts by sending them to your homestead.
* After finishing Debt Collectors and being the Jarl of Orkneyjar, you can send the carpenters from that quest to the island to gain three prosperity.
* The quest No Escape can be started when Hedinvi Hedinsdottir appears on Orkneyjar. The three prosperity is gained when the deal is accepted after finishing the quest No Escape.

In case you lack some points after doing all the quests and completing all upgrades for the homestead, you can gain the remaining point by giving 10,000 valuables to Astridr when you visit her when you are in Skjern. This can be repeated multiple times, but this can become very expensive indeed. You should visit her at least before winnning the war for either Northumbria, Pictivia or even the Northmen.

### Summary second act (stronghold)

#### Total points (before the Althing):

 Buildings second act
 Quests second act
 Total

### Summary second act (mead hall route)

#### Total points (before the Althing):

 Buildings second act
 Quests second act
 Total