Viking Destiny – Purple People Eaters Steam Achievement Guide

1066: Year of Viking Destiny – Playing Norway (Deity)

Purple People Eaters - Harald Hardrada, King of NorwayIt is said the viking army made landing with 300 longships. Their army was defeated though, King Harald Hardrada fallen in battle. Broken, the vikings returned on only 24 longships. Their failed invasion of England marking the end of the Viking Age, with Harald Hardrada having been the last great Viking!!! *goose bumps*

His story is incredibly exciting, having been exiled, serving as mercenary in the Kievan Rus and Constantinople. Eventually he reclaimed his throne and hadn’t he died in the Battle of Stamford Bridge history might have taken completely different turns…

Playing Harald of Norway yourself in the “1066: Year of Viking Destiny” Scenario, with no risk of dying in the process, you will successfully invade England and won’t even stop there!!!

Purple People Eaters – Strategy

Although you might not need reinforcements at the start, I’ll start with the build order for home regardless:

Build order

I tried with every faction so far, but even on Deity difficulty you will conquer cities faster than you can build/buy Markets or Workshops, so don’t waste time building Ironworks or National Treasury. Instead: Start producing Berserker straight away!

Trondheim Bergen Tunsberg All Scottish cities
1. Berserker
(configure Trondheim to maximize production while maintaining growth)
1. Worker
(Bergen needs a worker to improve the land, then optimize for production and growth)
1. Forge
(you’ll want to work both Iron as quickly as possible, but you need to grow Tunsberg first, to do so)
1. Lighthouse
(I chose the same build order for all these cities. In Iona I bought a workshop.)
Military units continuously… Military units continuously… Military units continuously… 2. Worker
(to improve all land around those cities)
3. Harbour
(in cities that don’t have one)
Military, mostly Crossbowmen (to defend against Barbarians) and Horsemen (because they’re fast enough to make it to the battlefield).

When the above states build Military units, of course it means: Berserker first! As long as you have Iron, and assuming you’ll conquer cities following my guidance, you’ll always have plenty Iron!!! 🙂

German and French names of this Steam Achievement:
DE: Lila Menschenfresser
FR: Au pays des fjords

Even to Europeans the term “Purple People Eaters” sounds familiar, although nobody over here knows where it originates. The Purple People Eaters were the defensive line of the Minnesota Vikings, an NFL club that revolutionized the meaning of defense in American Football. Their motto apparently was “Meet at the Quarterback”.

Defense is the best offense. A thing that generally holds true in most Civilization 5 scenarios, but playing Norway, you’ll be more offensive than with any other faction in the Year of Viking Destiny.


Combat Tactics

Similar to playing William the Conqueror and his Norman Knights, the Viking strategy is simple and straightforward: Berserks, Berserks and Berserks! Even unpromoted Berserks will be able to capture a city without losses. Also: They’re strong enough to endure some ranged attacks from cities and defending units. Furthermore they have 3 Movement points, so you can even cross a forest or hill or stay out of city range and attack with several Berserks at once.

The thing is though: Berserks cost Iron, of which you have limited supply. If you follow my strategy and capture the Northern City States though, you won’t have a problem producing only Berserks in your 3 Norwegian cities until the end of the game.

Chronology of Conquests

During your conquest you won’t have much time to improve any infrastructure. However there are 3 important roads to be built. I’ve highlighted these below. Also check out the Viking Destiny scenario map and see for yourself why those roads are fundamentally important.

  • Turn 2 – York captured
    Lincoln captured
    Denmark captures Ipswich
    Four Berserks are enough to capture York. The rest of your invasion army should sail (!) further south to prepare for the Battle of Lincoln. This also represented the initial split of my army: The Berserks that captured York were the same ones that marched North to subjugate the City States.
  • Turn 3 – Normandy captures Dover
    Denmark captures Ipswich
  • Turn 7 – Stamford captured
  • Turn 8 – Northumbria captured
    Take good care of your Berserks here – this early in the game every single one of them is precious. Especially since those are the ones that will get highly promoted throughout the game.

  • Turn 11 – Nottingham captured
    Denmark captures Norwich
  • Turn 14 – Denmark captures Thetford
  • Turn 20 – Scotland captured
  • Turn 22 – Stafford captured
    At this point, with my Berserks sent North, the southern campaigns slows down a bit. First due to Anglo-Saxon reinforcements from Stafford and the City States of Wales. Later due to heavy onslaughts by Danish Vikings coming over from East England.

    Both attacks can be defended without losses worth mentioning. Two Pikemen and one Crossbowman fell in those battles. Don’t lose any of those cities though, because you’ll need to finish the Domesday Shire Courts. The best way to end the Danish invasion is to invade Denmark yourself. Which is why all units produced at home in Norway had been dispatched to the coast of Denmark! To capture the northernmost Danish city, Aalborg, a mere 4 Berserks and 1 Crossbowman had been enough.

  • Turn 26 – Galloway captured
  • Turn 27 – Aalborg (Denmark!) captured
  • Turn 34 – Chester captured
  • Turn 35 – Denmark captures Northampton
    End of the Danish conquest!
  • Turn 39 – Viborg (Denmark!) captured
    By now the Danish conquest will have stopped, because they won’t send many units over the North Sea. Their units will die at home, fighting your invading Vikings! To capture Viborg, you’ll already have to bring in a lot more units. Viborg itself and the Danish capital are producing units they’ll send against you. At this time still all your units produced at home will go to Denmark, to replace the losses you will inevitably suffer.

    In the end it’s only a matter of time though. Just remember to leverage your Vikings amphibious attacks and have them come from the sea. Also this grants them 1 more Movement Point every turn they start on water.
  • Turn 40 – Warwick captured
  • Turn 43 – Northampton (Denmark!) captured
  • Turn 46 – Ribe (Denmarks CAPITAL) captured
    By now your units from the North will have arrived on the southern theater of war. This plus continuous reinforcements from Norway and even horsemen from your islands will speed up conquest in the South.

  • Civilization 5 Year of Viking Destiny Norway Deity Oxford
    Oxford – gateway to London

    Turn 48 – Oxford captured
    If you’re any later than this – leave out Bristol. I only took it because my units were in place and I had some incoming Anglo-Saxon counterattacks, but eventually I was worried about not making it, because London was strong, big, resisted for a long time and is not the most productive city to start with…

  • Turn 50 – Bristol captured
  • Turn 53 – London captured
    Norwich (Denmark) captured
    Everything after London is actually just cosmetics. It doesn’t matter, but it’s cool to capture all of England.The very moment you capture London, especially if it’s even later than turn 53, you’ll have to bring in workers. While London is in resistance, build 3 Farms next to rivers. Improve the 2 northern and 1 southern hill with a Mine. Also build Lumber Mills on both forest tiles.

    Then – even while in resistance – LOCK the tiles so London doesn’t grow or starve, but maximizes it’s production. Save Gold from the turn London falls – you’ll need it to buy everything: Watermill, Workshop, anything that boosts production.Doing all of the above, London can finish the Domesday Book in about 5 turns. Locking the tiles is important so it starts with maximum production the first turn the resistance ends.

  • Turn 55 – Ipswich (Denmark) captured
  • Turn 56 – Thetford (Denmark) captured
    (Defeating Sweyn II of Denmark)
  • Turn 60 – Winchester captured
  • Turn 61 – Dover (Normandy) captured
    Chichester captured
  • Turn 66 – Finish Domesday Book in London and WIN

Time spent: 4 hours, 32 minutes.

This time I was counting my losses, as I progressed through the game:

In England: 5 Pikemen, 1 Crossbowman, 9 Berserks, 5 Horsemen

Playing Viking Destiny as Norway you won’t necessarily lose many units in England. It was only at the very end, when I had more units incoming than dying that I got a bit sloppy/careless, sacrificing units for the sake of making way for fresh ones and capturing cities quicker.

In Denmark: 10 Berserks, 1 Horseman

With the heavy resistance and the constant production from Viborg and Ribe, Denmark is a challenge. You don’t want to lose too many units (not more than you produce and than constantly enter the battlefield of Denmark), so you have to play it smart. Sacrifice units beyond saving for the greater good, kamikaze attacks and all. Eventually you’ll overwhelm the Danish.

City States

I highly recommend capturing the Northern City States for both their resources and to secure your hinterlands:

  1. Northumbria, 4 Horses (turn 8)
  2. Scotland, 4 Iron, 3 Horses (turn 20)
  3. Galloway, 4 Iron, 2 Horses (turn 26)

The most important reason to capture Northumbria though, remains the fact that you need a port! Without an early port, your economy will only suffer from your conquests in England, as they won’t be connected to your capital and thus won’t generate Gold per Turn.

Don’t bother with Gwynedd and Powys though. They’re not worth the time and you’ll always be able to dispatch some units of your main army to defend the midlands quite easily.

Order of Domesday Shire Courts built

You’ll land far away from London, which means you can (and have to) build Domesday Shire Courts in the first cities you capture. In the end you’ll even be able to produce reinforcements in highly productive cities like York and Nottingham.

  1. Lincoln (turns 3-36)
  2. York (turns 4-19)
  3. Stamford (turns 8-33)
  4. Nottingham (finished turn 26)
  5. Stafford (turns 24-40)
  6. Chester (turns 38-48)
  7. Warwick (finished turn 58)

Purple People Eaters – Conclusion

I’m just replaying the 1066: Year of Viking Destiny scenario with all factions on Deity difficulty. Norway was the faction I was successful on Deity in the first round to make the Steam Achievement for winning on the highest level of difficulty. For comparison: In my first attempt I won only very close in turn 69 and also only defeated Denmark that late.

This time it felt even easier. The victory over Denmark came earlier and even the Domesday book finished 2-3 turns earlier (whereas in my first try it was a close call in turn 68). I’m convinced what made the difference were the abundant resources of the northern City States that allowed continuous production of Berserks at home.

Unfortunately I didn’t capture all England, because Exeter was too far away, so the Domesday Book got finished before Exeter fell. On the other hand I even started an invasion of Normandy, so William the Conqueror would have been William the Conquered, had I been allowed to game on for some turns. Final conclusion: Playing Norway on Deity in the 1066: Year of Viking Destiny scenario is challenging, fun and very rewarding with still only four and a half hours of play time.

6 thoughts on “Viking Destiny – Purple People Eaters Steam Achievement Guide”

  1. I haven’t seen anywhere that it’s possible to win a domination victory by capturing all the cities of the other three factions but that happened on turn 69 in one of my playthroughs as Norway, whereupon I used a great engineer to build the Domesday Book and won a victory that way on turn 70.
    In subsequent playthroughs, I prioritized winning the Domesday Way and the earliest I managed was on turn 36 and then prioritized winning the domination way and did that on turn 55. Now I need to do the same as each of the other factions. I love this scenario!

    1. Woah! And all that on Deity difficulty as well? That surely must take some turn-optimization galore! 🙂
      Congrats! I loved this scenario, too, and even have played it multiple times on Civilization 5 Multiplayer with GMR. Big fun!

  2. Hi, using your guide I managed to beat the scenario on turn 52. I found that taking and holding aalborg distracts enough of Denmark’s forces. also rushing the domesday book with a great engineer really speeds things up

  3. I seem to have missed what the critical roads are
    One is clearly the road to Northumbria to connect everything to the capital (don’t forget to build the harbor right away the way I did!)

    There are some connectors that are nice, say a road to Scotland and then Galloway to help units move south

    Perhaps you felt a need for an additional connects around the midlands?

  4. one cool thing I learned is that if you set a citizen in tunsberg to the workshop, you will have a great engineer in time to build the domesday book in one turn! Helps a lot!

    1. I had read that as well, and I agree. Having the Engineer up one’s sleeve is a good backup plan!
      Nonetheless, especially (re-)playing the game on Deity, I tried to make it an as glorious victory as possible. In that regard, conquering Denmark is a more enticing goal 😉
      To do so, the extra growth and production in Tunsberg is a must.

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