Decisions...

[Togakure]

Hmm, I've not noticed that. With a single click? At first, when troops are fresh, I've noticed that they move "quickly." But after that I assumed they lost their initial vigor and just walked unless specifically ordered to run. I'd have to test this to know for sure.

I move as an army at first (all grouped), to a (hopefully advantageous) position where I intend to engage the enemy, using the all-army rotate command when I need to angle. Then I separate them all and command units individually (a common MP method). I always assign numbered groups, but don't use them very often in SP. When I do, it's usually to bring that group to a common place after the battle has been going for a while and troops are scattered about. I don't use hard groups much because I often use the tabs to select, and too often in the frenzy of battle I've accidentally double-clicked instead of single-clicked a unit, selecting the group instead of the desired unit within that group to attack something. This is usually not a good thing.

Heh, I run around a lot. Both Tosa and Puzz have teased me, observing in past games that I had been to just about every place on a map over the course of a battle. I expect my troops to be tough, and to perform! No rest for the ... err ... nvm.

[caravel]

I actually group similar units but I don't use those groups as groups if that makes sense? I also ungoup and change groups around. Anyway I noticed this problem whenever two or more units are selected, whether they are grouped or not. They run everywhere, on single clik movement, until they're exhausted. I will be interested to hear of your findings.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I am used to finishing a 1530 game between 1550 and 1555.

Yikes! With my playing style, I've probably conquered a dozen or so provinces in that same time-span

I've not noticed that grouped units move dbl-time....the unit cards show run but, IIRC, the units themselves are walking......I could be wrong tho'................

I use grouping much more on defense than the attack.....preferring more micro-managing when the aggressor. I'd use grouping much more probably if I didn't find the deployment formations so useless for the attacker. I'm a big user of CA and they should be at the front of my army, dammit, not stuck behind all the other cav

More on topic.....I'd evict the Takeda from Nagato, ASAP, as there are no provinces on Shikoku that have ironsands for an armory. When I play Shimazu, I accept for guns as soon as they're available, and Nagato will eventually get the gun factory (it's one of the few provinces that meets all the conditions) and I have muskets long before anyone else

[Togakure]

Heh, I'm by no means one of the speedier players who've have posted here over the years. Sasaki, Noir, and others have said they've completed campaigns in 10-12 game years. I've never been able to do that. Iirc, they even posted campaign reports illustrating how they did it somewhere in here. It was quite a while ago though.

[caravel]

I'll have to check to see if the units are actually running when I fight the next battle, though I was sure they were. (-edit: They'll probably be running from Shingen in the next battle anyway...)

Anyway this is the latest:


At the moment I'm raising troops and trying to fortify my position but I will be moving against Shingen next. Also my provinces are no where near converted so I need to convert them to just above 50% to stabilise a bit first. Taxes are on punitive though so it's ok so far. Garissons are only single units of Ashigaru. I'm building a Sword Dojo in Satsuma and it's also ready to train Portuguese Teppo Ashigaru if needed. As you can see my forces have only just arrived in Hizen and I have a lot of farm upgrades to build there. I suppose I'm neither a turtler or a blitzer. I usually build up then expand rapidly and then wait several years before expanding again.

[ReluctantSamurai]

One of the things often overlooked by players reluctant to convert to Christianity is the income bonuses generated by Portuguese trading posts and a cathedral (if you choose to go that route). For an income-starved clan like the Shimazu, that can really jump start the war effort. I can't tell you how many times the extra 1200+ koku from a cathedral and the 200 from each trading post has saved my butt during 'poor harvest' years. I remember one campaign, as Imagawa, where I had 5 consecutive...and 7 out of 10 of those things

Even with the added income I was barely able to hang on and then because I resorted to something I rarely do which is mass assassination of enemy generals (making my battles somewhat easier).

I see you have a bevy of priests. For some reason, probably because they are such easy ninja targets, I never use them.....preferring to let the churches I construct spread 'the word.'

If you can afford it, you could take on Shingen with the echelon tactic, perhaps. Send a decent enough army to cause casualties, and then a second one to finish him off. With 5 stars already, it's highly unlikely he'll be gaining another anytime soon....................

[Togakure]

Indeed. A Cathedral has pricey prerequisites and requires churches to be built. The value really kicks in if other clans have gone Christian and are building churches (this doesn't seem to happen often in my games). In the 1580 campaign I try to take the Oda Cathedral from them (in Ise).

Trading Posts are excellent sources of income for a Christian daimyo. I like ports, mines, mine complexes and trading posts because they yield a constant income, unaffected by seasonal variances.

Rapid expansion means more koku faster from each province conquered. Because the Shimmies are poor and the lands between them and Kyoto aren't particularly rich (but many ...), the rapid expansion strategy really helps maintain financial growth and military expense parity. One great thing about the western lands is, almost all are coastal, and can support both port and trading post. Once you get a good number of ports and trading posts going, the rest of the game gets pretty easy.

When I do battle with a 6-star general, my primary objective is to kill him on the field. If he dies, a mass rout is pretty much guaranteed from the huge loss of morale (death of the general penalty and -3 honor, which equates to -6 morale). You just need to keep your army massed and right on the enemy's butt until they leave the map.

Hmm. I guess I'll mention this. You can change your taxes to Punishing in the fall, reap the larger profit, and then return taxes to minimal the following winter to reduce population discontent and leave it there until the following fall. You'll reap maximum harvest value this way, and loyalty will improve much faster over time. I consider this an exploit, but I guess you could say that you are manipulating the perceptions of the population, lying to them most of the year and then declaring a higher tax at harvest. Wouldn't be so different from what a lot of politicians have done historically.

[ReluctantSamurai]

When I do battle with a 6-star general, my primary objective is to kill him on the field.

Agreed. Here it depends on where the AI deploys. Nagato is an uphill battle all the way. If the AI deploys on the first hill, it's not too difficult to flank. But if it turtles on those hills in the upper left corner................

I consider this an exploit, but I guess you could say that you are manipulating the perceptions of the population, lying to them most of the year and then declaring a higher tax at harvest. Wouldn't be so different from what a lot of politicians have done historically.

[caravel]

The latest:

I've now begun larger scale Teppo and Nodachi training. Had a few battles so far and currently at war with Takeda. Trading posts are bringing in a decent income.

[Martok]

So what next, do you think? I presume you're planning on taking Sanuki to complete your conquest of Shikoku, but the choice seems to be less clear after that. Time to expand your Nagato bridgehead and start pushing northwards up Honshu, perhaps?

[ReluctantSamurai]

Tosa is a nice place to train teppo, with the ashi bonus

Personally, I'd take a two-prong approach:

1. Expand the Nagato bridgehead, as suggested by Martok, but only as far as Aki (at least in the short term). The lands further north will need conquering eventually, but they are poor koku yield and will tie up at least two armies if not three.

2. Push into Kawachi before it gets too heavily defended. Expand into nearby Harima and Bizen. Harima for it's mine and farmland, Bizen for it's cheaper port. Kawachi is fairly easy to defend and gives you a springboard into central Japan much quicker than slogging up Honshu.

It's nearly always been my experience that if you advance along a single axis, the AI just pours everything it has into your path, and you end up going strength against strength. I prefer to give the AI more choices to go wrong and guessing (Kirk to Spock: "Just make your best guess.") as to where your real intentions are.

My 2cents

[caravel]

Lord Takeda moves to retake Nagato:

The Shimazu army in Nagato constists mostly of Yari Samurai and Samurai Archers. Additionally two units of Teppo Ashigaru and another two of Nodachi Samuari join the battle with Lord Shimazu himself leading.


The resulting battle was a quick defensive engagement with the Takeda army taking heavy losses and routing before the volleys from our guns. (yes I shamefully corner camped this one, but positioning was very awkward - any other position would probably have placed me directly downhill of the Takeda army - who brought along a lot of Archers and Cavalry archers as well).


This is how things stand at present. Takeda has moved against Iwami twice and did once retake both Awa and Awaji. The Cathedral will soon be built in Satsuma and yes I am training +1 honour Teppo Ashigaru in Tosa.

I will be moving into Kawachi but I probably need to push further north into Honshu first. I should be able to train another decent army stack soon when the Cathedral is built. The income from Lord Takeda's churches will help as well.

[gollum]

Originally posted by Asai Nagamasa
That reminds me... I've noticed a "bug". I can't believe I've never noticed this before... When moving groups around they tend to always "run".

I've not played STW/MI extensively - I had finished the game several times before MI was released - and I don't remember this problem in STW v1.x (but maybe it was always there and I had never noticed). Any ideas on a workaround or solution for this? It's very annoying having to move units one at a time to stop them running and tiring out...

This is not a bug AFAIK.

When you group units and give the group the single click order to move to a place certain units will run to maintain the distances of the initial set up. The group moves in a common speed, so the slower units need to run occasionally in order to maintain it.

This is especially so if the group needs to rotate; by geometry the outter units/soldiers will run much faster than the inner ones (outer and inner with resepct to the certain of the rotation) in the same way that circumferences of a rotating circle have speeds proportional to the corresponding radii, that is the further from the centre the faster they spin (in order to maintain a common speed for the whole); the centre it self has 0 speed.

If you make a group of the same unit type and order them to march straight in a flat, none of the units will be running.

Similar things happen in MTW.