Help... the battle of Odawara

[irish22]

The Battle of Odawara is a Battle in the Historical Campaigns in Shogun Total War that i am having a lot of trouble winning. If anyone could send some help, or even better a walkthough, that would be awesome.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Which one is it? Can you give us a screenshot of the opening?

[gollum]

if its the "tough one" of the Oda, the one where the opponents have a unit of highly upgraded monks and a troublesome kensai (that was the most troublesome one from memory), i have had success by diverting the monks of the enemy by setting an archer unit firing at them at first and then set to skirmish. The monks chase it all the while around the map and while they are doing so they do not contribute in the battle in any other way until i have routed their army.

The other problem is the enemy kensai whom you need to shoot to death with your guns. Pin him on one side with a unit os spears set on hold formation - that will make him not blend with your unit in melee. You can also consider putting the unit in hold position that will shift 2 points from their attack rating to their defence rating making teh unit essentially lasting much longer for your gunners to shoot life out of the kensai.

Then either turn your pinning unit in such a way as to make the kensai fight with his back against your teppos or move your teppos on his back or a combo of both, and order the gunners to shoot him explicitly (once only though, as every time you tell them explicitly to shoot a unit, even the same one, the teppos will start reloading all over again, which will waste you time in shots). Remember to have the teppos in 3 rows - that will enable them scaling their reload time from 21 secs to 7 seconds for the whole unit by using altering ranks.

At your far left flank there is also a heated melee iirc for which however you have a unitof Naginata that can do the job just fine iirc. Once the kensai is dead you can shift your center forces to win on other engagement pockets peace meal.

[Togakure]

Hello irish22, and welcome

Odawara is definitely the most challenging of the historical battles for me as well. I haven't played it in so long that I can't remember well, how I finally won, but seem to remember using spears in a patch of woods at the onset to lessen the impact of an initial cavalry attack, lining up my guns just outside the woods after the cav had been repelled, while moving the remaining spears behind them for support. I think I had to race them there in order to get in position before the enemy cavalry hit.

Gollum mentions the importance of drawing off some of the monks in a "divide and conquer" tactic, which I also remember doing. Iirc, the player has a/some cavalry unit(s), which should be used at a critical moment to hit a flank or rear in an attempt to trigger a mass rout, and not wasted in a frontal attack. The kensai is a pain; I think I just used a strong defensive unit in Hold Formation to tie him up until I could bring my guns to bear. Guns are the best way to deal with kensai (a classic representation of the end of the sword era in favor of firearms).

Take all this with a grain of salt; it's been a very long time for me.

[gollum]

yeah, its been a very long time for me too, and apparently for Sasaki as well. We all speak like... amnesiacs

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Ah, is this the one with the big long castle wall? Yeah, it needs a lot of micromanagement. You have to get your spears on their cavalry and make good use of your range units.

[Togakure]

Ah, is this the one with the big long castle wall? Yeah, it needs a lot of micromanagement. You have to get your spears on their cavalry and make good use of your range units.

Yep, that's the one.

[irish22]

Ok wow, this thread has only been on a day and yet i already have 6 comments. Thanks to you guys I have almost commpleated this battle. Thanks again, and may Irelands blessings be upon you!

[gollum]

Glad we were able to help. Welcome to the org irish22 and cheers for the blessings.

[ReluctantSamurai]

We all speak like... amnesiacs

And indeed, all of you are...

Odawara is the final battle in the Toyotomi Hideyoshi campaign. The Oda campaign starts the historical battle series, this one finishes it.....and yes.....it's THE hardest battle of all. Not only the positioning of your troops at the start, but the killing 90% of the enemy while losing only 40% of your own troops is...well....a killer.

I've never won this thing. I've lost I can't tell you how many times because I could fulfill all victory conditions except the loss ratio. I finally gave up in the end and considered it a moral victory for myself, and cursed the designer for such an arbitrary figure

[gollum]

Designer was feeling sado and figured players were feeling maso, and he was right if you ask me :)

Thanks for correcting us Reluctant Samurai

[Axalon]

Over at the TWC, in 2010, I made this post on the subject…

Well, the way I see it…

This battle is all built up on initial screwed up deployments by the designers. Your task is to redeploy your troops properly to have optimal effectiveness against enemy formations. The most important flank is the left one, while the right is of little significance initially (meaning use most troops deployed there to reinforce the centre. Use the archer unit (on the far right) to draw away the monks from the main action. Use your cavalry to deny enemy use of muskets). You must secure the left flank to slaughter enough fleeing enemies in order to get your win. To get all your troops in proper order – I guess you are left with little choice but to use the pause button excessively at start-up….

- Cheers

Maybe it helps?

[irish22]

VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! I just won! all of you helped a ton, but I in the end, togakure and gollum were the reason for my victory. I held my line togeather when the Hojo attacked and I won by only 7 troops. Thank you all so much,

[Togakure]

:D Congratulations! That is indeed a very tough battle. It took many tries for me to finally win as well, and long ago, it was Orgahs here who helped with suggestions. Glad to be able to give some of that good karma back.

Cheers, to many more successful battles!

[gollum]

Good to hear and well done. I remember doing it with the 5th attempt and... never trying it again :)