Favourite faction?

**Dexter** · 06-23-2006, 13:24

Geeze ... why do you dislike Ashigaru ... they can be the key to wictory ... yes they are the wakest ... but a good warrior uses this to his advantage ... did you know ashi can kill even sohei ( warrior monks) and even the kensai ... LoL ... whit Oda it is the only option for expanshion ...
The key to wictory is formation ... and Ashi are made exactly for this ... ewer heared of hold position hold formatoin ? ... wedge ? loose ? ... in loose formatin they thend to loose morale rapidly ... but if supported by samurai they do there job ... if your army is mainly ashi then a palace and a drill dojo does the job ... + a general ( can be ashi rank 2)
ewer won the game just whit ashi ? expert ??? do it ... it is possible ...
Historycally in Japan the major part of the armys where ashi ... Toyotomi Hideyoshi is the best of them ... well search the net and you`ll see ....

**_Maximus_** · 06-23-2006, 19:20

They were major because elite and rear units are not always in big numbers! It is possible to beat Monks with Ashiragu but I think the Monks are more powerfull and they are also some kind of fanatics so their moral and Ashiragu's can't be the same! Conclusion> I am not sure that Ashiragu can beat in numbers Monks! But who knows,maybe you had some kind of interesting expiriance!

**Ludens** · 06-23-2006, 20:50

Well, koku-for-koku Ashigaru tend to be a better buy than Monks. With a swarm of Ashigaru, some honour and a bit of cunning you can beat those Sohei easily. I think that is what Dexter is trying to say. Off course, at equal numbers Sohei beat anything, unles it has extremely high honour.

**Sasaki Kojiro** · 06-23-2006, 23:13

Originally Posted by Ludens

Well, koku-for-koku Ashigaru tend to be a better buy than Monks. With a swarm of Ashigaru, some honour and a bit of cunning you can beat those Sohei easily. I think that is what Dexter is trying to say. Off course, at equal numbers Sohei beat anything, unles it has extremely high honour.

So, in the beginning of the game when money is scarce you can use the yari ashi to good effect. But 5 stacks of ashigaru will lose to 1 stack of monks, and a stack of cavalry will beat either. So in the later parts you use the more expensive units, they aren't available right away anyway.

**_Maximus_** · 06-24-2006, 10:17

I agree!

**Dexter** · 06-26-2006, 08:22

Originally Posted by Ludens

Well, koku-for-koku Ashigaru tend to be a better buy than Monks. With a swarm of Ashigaru, some honour and a bit of cunning you can beat those Sohei easily. I think that is what Dexter is trying to say. Off course, at equal numbers Sohei beat anything, unles it has extremely high honour.

1 to 1 ratio is not recomended ( 70% of them dies since they have -4 morale at start - Oda has an advantage - starthing 1550 - here, they have a palace +1 morale and a famous speat dojo +2 honour= 4 morale points and +general -rank 2 ore 3- bonus is again 2 morale so : -4+4+1+2= 3 morale ... not much since sohei usually have 8 to start whit and 1 honour= 2 morale ) ... only if you are desperate, and do not expect to win to battle ... the intention here is to hurt the enemy more than he can hurt you .... Oda tactic : Leave no enemy alive !
Whit Oda have 2 ashi and 1 Archer ... or 3 Ashi 1 Archer ... keep this ratio ....
Say the enemy has 4 monks and 2 Archers You need 5 Ashi 2 Archers to win ... 4 hold there ground - meaning hold positon hold formation - preferd higer grund - do not attack `till last minute (meaning double click) - 5. flanks - engage at will - ... archers newer ewer (!!!) fire at will ... pik your target carefully, meaning the AI will attack 90% of the time one ashi unit whit 2 Sohei, and one more since you have only 1 ashi more the AI will atack you :) ... Bingo archers make short work of them ... oh and if this happens that means 2 ashi units to flank :) ( most of the time 4x120=480 Sohei will fight `till there are only 40 of them left , so to reduce your casulties attack - flak the enemy general .. killing him makes the enemy considerably weaker -
The monks will still make you pay ... meaning you may lose 3/4 of your ashi if you are not carefull. Obout the Archers, well by the time you attack them they should be out of arrows... and you should outnumber them.

Monks are overconfident, so when the battle stars they are most of the ahead of the archers and by the time they are in range you should be able to decimate the Sohei. Most of the time Sohei killed only 1/2 of my Ashi since the other 1/2 died by arrows .. yes even fredly fire ... and here is the cache ... arrows grin down more ... meaning : 1 archer fiering -1 morale 2 = -2 and so on ... so if you have 2 and the enemy has to = -4 morale ... here comes the Drill dojo bonus ... your ashi don`t run right away ... only if enemy loses little ( 1/6) and they a lot (2/3)...
Well all sad it is a game of balance ...

I think i`ll star whit Oda again (1550) unit size 100

**sunsmountain** · 06-26-2006, 15:27

If I like quick conquest, Oda.

If I like to build up to monks and then conquest, Mori.

Sometimes the ninja clan, but then i restrict myself to the starting areas and kill everybody with ninja's & geisha's (quickly level, defend all attacks).

**_Maximus_** · 06-28-2006, 13:32

I like Takeda's Yari cavarly! A unique kind of cavarly! With short sword's! They can be devastiting! And something is not clear to me! Shimazu has a one guy unit samurai! Could someone Explain what is it about! They can only be recruted as Shimazu warriors!

**Sasaki Kojiro** · 06-28-2006, 15:01

Originally Posted by _Maximus_

I like Takeda's Yari cavarly! A unique kind of cavarly! With short sword's! They can be devastiting! And something is not clear to me! Shimazu has a one guy unit samurai! Could someone Explain what is it about! They can only be recruted as Shimazu warriors!

The Kensai? Anyone can train him...you need a bunch of buildings though, I can't remember what.

**_Maximus_** · 06-29-2006, 19:31

I think that Takeda's specific train unit is that cavarly! In fact I am not sure about the name but I know that thay have the cavarly that no one else have! Kansai! Yeah now I remember! But I am not so sure that anyone can train them! They are a specific unit of Shimazu clan! They can only be recruted on the island to the right of their capital!

**Ludens** · 06-30-2006, 16:27

Originally Posted by _Maximus_

I think that Takeda's specific train unit is that cavarly! In fact I am not sure about the name but I know that thay have the cavarly that no one else have! Kansai! Yeah now I remember! But I am not so sure that anyone can train them! They are a specific unit of Shimazu clan! They can only be recruted on the island to the right of their capital!

There are no unique units in S:TW. Every faction can recruit Kensai. The Kensai does require a legendary sword dojo that is only available in Tosa at the start of the game, but any faction can build it. As for cavalry, the Takeda can recruit cavalry at a discount, but they do not have any special advantages.