Are the Nords the worst faction?

[Hsuan]

Nord VS knight:
knight charges,
if you made the huscarls stand together, ( 30-40 man in 3-5 line)
they will pwn the knights, first they will storm them with their deadly throwing weapons, and when the knights charges in to the lines of the huscarls, they will be stopped and killed immediately

[Captured Joe]

...as long as the Huscarls outnumber the Knights with a good marge.

[Wheem]

High tier Nord armies are actually quite amazing, and are still respectable even at lower tiers (whereas many other factions' infantry are barely superior to peasants until tier 4). Still, player-led armies with a lot of heavy cavalry can often beat up on them in field battles since the AI doesn't use its infantry properly against a mounted force. Once they break ranks and start trying to chase your horsemen down, they've lost (unless of course they way out-class and/or out-number you).

The Nords are also nightmares in siege battles; all that high-proficiency, high-power strike, high hit point infantry with solid armor and short reach axes and maces is just brutal.

[tzlop]

...as long as the Huscarls outnumber the Knights with a good marge.

As much as I hate Swadia, I agree to this comment.

[MrExpendable]

...as long as the Huscarls outnumber the Knights with a good marge.

As much as I hate Swadia, I agree to this comment.

Huskarls are cheaper then knights so that shouldn't be a big problem. Oh, and it's not very common for NPC lords to have many high tier units around.

A huskarl army numbering 1/3 of any Swadian army can destroy them with barely any losses.

[AnuErebus]

...as long as the Huscarls outnumber the Knights with a good marge.

As much as I hate Swadia, I agree to this comment.

Huskarls are cheaper then knights so that shouldn't be a big problem.

In terms of upkeep yes, huscarls are cheaper. In terms of training, Knights are tier 5. Huscarls are tier 6. Takes longer to get the same huscarl force as knights.

[Captured Joe]

A huskarl army numbering 1/3 of anySwadian army can destroy them with barely any losses.

If the Swadians have a lot of high-tier units too, the Nords will have a problem.
Sergeants and Knights alike tend to be armed with Morningstars and such often.
(The Men-at-Arms and Infantry have Fighting Pics often, which too are good against armor.)

[Argeus the Paladin]

Ahem.

As someone who plays SvN quite often, I can draw one conclusion: Nords are nothing short of freaking brutal. They demolish any Swadian army of the same size that does not have more than 30-40% in cavalry. Suffice to say, a single "Kingdom of Nord has declared war on Kingdom of Swadia" line is often enough to ruin my day.

(Then again, I mostly play Swadia without any cavalry, so my only anti-Nord defense is sergeants-and-shots, the former falling too far behind Nords in competence to be reliable. It is also possible that this is owing to an AI problem in Diplomacy - if you tick the "polearm fix" option, your sarge will keep trying to draw his awlpike in the middle of facehugging combat, to predictable result.)

[Wheem]

Ahem.

As someone who plays SvN quite often, I can draw one conclusion: Nords are nothing short of freaking brutal. They demolish any Swadian army of the same size that does not have more than 30-40% in cavalry. Suffice to say, a single "Kingdom of Nord has declared war on Kingdom of Swadia" line is often enough to ruin my day.

(Then again, I mostly play Swadia without any cavalry, so my only anti-Nord defense is sergeants-and-shots, the former falling too far behind Nords in competence to be reliable. It is also possible that this is owing to an AI problem in Diplomacy - if you tick the "polearm fix" option, your sarge will keep trying to draw his awlpike in the middle of facehugging combat, to predictable result.)

Stats-wise, I think the Swadian Sergeants are actually pretty close to the high tier Nord infantry, and their armor is actually a little bit better. The real advantage of the Nords seems to be their weapons; Morning Stars and Bastard Swords (either standard or heavy) aren't very good when used with one hand, while the Nords' axes and maces are great with the up-close-and-personal fighting style that the AI tends to favor. I've never actually tried modding it myself, but if you simply switched out the Swadian weapons for the exact same ones that the Nords use, and left all armor/skills/proficiency alone, I'd expect the Swadian infantry to fare much better against the Nords than they currently do.

[est333]

Nord VS knight:
knight charges,
if you made the huscarls stand together, ( 30-40 man in 3-5 line)
they will pwn the knights, first they will storm them with their deadly throwing weapons, and when the knights charges in to the lines of the huscarls, they will be stopped and killed immediately

I usually you tell my troops "stand together" 4-5 times. How do I create lines and are they better?

[MrExpendable]

What also works is making a meatshield of cheap-ass infantry to absorb the impact of cavalry charges. On the campaign map, recruit a small number (15% of your total party) of any type of recruits (preferably non-Nordic since Nord recruits require double wages). Make a unique group with them in the party screen. When the battles starts, you order your heavy Nordic infantry (Warriors, Veterans, Huskarls) to stand in a tight shieldwall formation (Hold Position + Stand Closer) and recruits to stand in front of them at a few paces (Hold Position).

So when the enemy cavalry charges, they will be stopped by you cheap recruits, whereafter you charge with your trained infantry. It works very well if you're after preserving any elite infantry you have. I personally don't use it unless in dire situations, because it isn't very noble to let peasants die for my cause. But if you don't care about the morality in this tactic, I suggest you give this a try.

[WuTaNiSt]

Nord VS knight:
knight charges,
if you made the huscarls stand together, ( 30-40 man in 3-5 line)
they will pwn the knights, first they will storm them with their deadly throwing weapons, and when the knights charges in to the lines of the huscarls, they will be stopped and killed immediately

I usually you tell my troops "stand together" 4-5 times. How do I create lines and are they better?

That's what he means. Hold position puts them in a long line, stand closer shortens & thickens that line.

[Chaingun]

A huskarl army numbering 1/3 of anySwadian army can destroy them with barely any losses.

If the Swadians have a lot of high-tier units too, the Nords will have a problem.
Sergeants and Knights alike tend to be armed with Morningstars and such often.
(The Men-at-Arms and Infantry have Fighting Pics often, which too are good against armor.)

Also, it's difficulty setting-dependent. Take "N of X beats M of Y"-advice with a grain of salt on this forum.

[Captured Joe]

Exept when people say "50 Swadian Knights beat 50 peasants".

[Chaingun]

  Yep