Where has all the battle tactics advice gone?

[Sasaki Kojiro]

It might be possible to tweak it so that the AI never builds it. Check around the modding forum for a thread about removing the geisha.

[Parallel Pain]

Thanks

Is there a link for a picture of the 3 campaign map starting positions of warlord edition?

[Wasp]

Sorry for double post *Where is the edit button*

If this can be done, would it mess around the AI?

I think the edit button isn't there for Junior Members, but I could be wrong.

I unfortunately don't know if it would screw up the AI, though. Sorry.

[Drisos]

Another silly question. Hope you don't mind. But I played a number of campaigns as the Shimazu (Green guys on the western side of Nippon). I would take all the Ronin territory, knock out Mori (Red guys) and move into central japan...to be confronted by Uesugi who out numbers my armies by 10 to 1...rofl.
Silly question..but is it possible for the Shimazu to win? I gave up with them in the end.

Hey! Cool to hear. I had the same problem when I was new to the game. If I'd be Uesugi/Hojo the Shimazu/Mori would outnumber me, and vice versa. Just practice. If you get used to bigger/chaotic battles, etc, you'll kick ass even when outnumbered. (keep asking stuff!)

More simple is to expand your territory faster. If you conquer 2/3 of the map before Uesugi gains the upper hand in the east, he'll stand no chance. It's a matter of, who grows 'big' as the first.

Advice if you need to expand faster... practice small battles a lot, and, attack people even when you have the same number of samurai, or even less. If you can still win small battles when the enemy has more men, you'll get to conquer lands much faster. (don't have to wait till you have huge armies first, to attack ) also, you can keep a closer look on taxes. you can adjust them sometimes to prevent rebellion while leaving minimal units in regions you've recently conquered.

oh yes and as mentioned: playing as the Uesugi/Hojo the problem will be less. They are 'easier clans'. It's easy for them to conquer lands/win, etc.

I think the edit button isn't there for Junior Members, but I could be wrong.

correct, I guess.

[thip]

Thanks for the reply Drisos. I won a campaign with Uesugi recently and am now playing as hojo on normal and life is definately a lot easier. So much koku to spend...
After this campaign I might try my Green friends again...

[thip]

A general question guys..do you develop only a couple of provinces with full upgrades to produce specific units or aim to build large castle/fortresses with upgrades in all provinces?

[Martok]

Most players tend to devote specific provinces to producing certain units. So you may have 1 or 2 provinces for Naginata/Heavy Cavalry, another couple provinces for Warrior Monks, etc.

Of course, the lower-tier units -- Yari Ashigaru, Yari Samurai, and Samurai Archers -- can often be produced in a lot of places, as most of your provinces will have Spear Dojos and/or Archery Dojos. That said, it can still be worthwhile to build up specific provinces to train those 3 units as well, provided you're willing to upgrade the Spear/Archery Dojos (along with the castle).

[thip]

Thanks Martok. I have been building perhaps too many upgrades in too many provinces. Running out of koku for more units.

[thip]

Looking on some of the older threads I noticed there is a lot of talk about Shinano. Don't you just love Shinano. Playing as the Uesugi a few weeks ago I decided to hang onto the province and was attacked repeatedly by Oda, Imagawa and Takeda.
In one memorable battle I was down to 300 troops, mostly archers, when Oda paid a visit with 800 troops. Mostly Yari Ashigari, or so I thought. I placed (or misplaced after reading some threads) my troops at the centre of the valley, up high thinking my flanks would be safe.
When Oda's troops emerged from the forest on my right I was feeling a little nervous. The general was leading his troops and they were running as fast as they could to my right flank.
The hail of arrows didn't slow them one iota. They just marched straight up the hill. One huge sea of Ashigaru. I sent my two Yari Samauri to protect the right flank.My general and Odas' clashing head on.
Then I hear "your general has forsaken his honour..." Being so close to the edge of the map he was gone in seconds. In the heat of the moment I hadn't even noticed two Yari Cavalry hit my left flank. The horde of Ashigaru crested the hill and all looked lost. It would only be seconds before my leaderless and outflanked troops fled.
But they held their ground ..holding back the horde...when suddenly a miracle happened. "You have taken the head of the enemy general.." How lucky could you be? I threw my archers into the fray and the Ashigaru wavered..and ran...
The cavalry put up more of a fight, but it was battle over. So there it is...300 (without a leader) against 800...and winning...just.
What a great game....and don't you just love Shinano?

PS As for the disgraced general, I tried dropping a ninja on him but the damn game wouldn't let me..lol.

[Wasp]

Yup, that's an example of the greatness of this game

[Martok]

No problem, thip.

I have been building perhaps too many upgrades in too many provinces. Running out of koku for more units.

Yeah, it's a common enough mistake for first-time STW players to make. (I myself was suffering the same fate when I first started playing before I finally learned better. ) Money in Shogun is generally harder to come by than in the other Total War games, so you have to be more careful about what you spend....and just as importantly, where you spend it.


A few tips for you (some of which are probably pretty obvious, but I'll list them anyway just to be on the safe side):

1.) If you own a province that grants an honour bonus to a certain unit, then by all means go ahead and tech up that province so you can train that unit there. So if you own Kaga, you should build up that province so you can train Buddhist Warrior Monks. If you own Totomi, make sure you can train Samurai Archers there. And so on.

2.) Location, location, location. I try to concentrate my main troop-training centers in strategically-located provinces that connect to several of my other provinces. That way it cuts down on the transit time needed to get new units up to my border armies, as well as minimizing the time needed to retrain battered units and bring them back to the frontlines.

2a.) Remember to upgrade your castles in provinces that have rich farmland and/or mines. Mines can be upgraded to Mine Complexes, but you first have to upgrade the castle (to Fortress, if I'm not mistaken) in the province the mine is located in. I believe farm upgrades (at least some of them) require the castle to be upgraded as well.

3.) If you own any provinces with iron sand deposits, you should generally focus them on training just Heavy Cavalry and/or Naginata. (They're the only units that require iron sand deposits.)

3a.) Shinano is a major exception to this, as it grants a +1 honour bonus to *all* cavalry units, not just HC. If you own Shinano (and have actually managed to hold onto it ), then feel free to build it up so that you can train all your cavalry units there.



There's probably a lot more advice I could add, but that should probably suffice for now. Let us know if you have any other questions or problems!

[thip]

Thanks for the advice Martok. Now I just have to put it into practise. There is obviously a balance between troop producing and province development that I need to find.

[Drisos]

Thanks for the advice Martok. Now I just have to put it into practise. There is obviously a balance between troop producing and province development that I need to find.

Ah, yes indeed. Of course, I you build too much, you want money to actuallly use it. So, my priorities are usually,

1. Training new troops.
2. Economical improvements (farmlands, etc, etc)
3. Technological improvements in main training region
4. technological improvements in others training regions

and, to give an indication, I usually build improved farmlands 100% in all regions that say to be good for farming in the description you get when you rightclick. I start upgrading them from year 1.

Furthermore, I use only 1-2 training regions in the beginning. If the campaign gets really far, I might take 2-3 more. For instance, when I'm uesugi, I build up Mutsu, and Shinano. (because of the cavalry plus) Then, I usually take one of the other clans main regions as third centre. (shimosa/kai, or preferably totomi because of the archers) I usually destroy all but financial buildings in regions I conquer. next, I always keep yamashiro for training purposes. I strongly recommend you to do so too.

with 4 you should have enough capacity already.. you can take more though.. Kaga, Kii, Owari, Satsuma, etc etc. Just don't go crazy and build training buildings in half of your regions. only increase the number of regions when you notice you have so much money you can't get rid of it. And especially, keep improving economically!

and btw, I do love Shinano indeed. It's great for killing loads of enemies!! I usually kill a few hundred of Imagawa #turn1, and I keep killing loads of Imagawa, Oda, Takeda troughout the game. I usually pick the huge hill to the left of the enemy's starting position. And I make sure I have loads of archers!!

[thip]

Thanks Drisos. I think I get the idea. One or two provinces building high quality units. Once established expand from there. Excellent.
Having fun with Hojo last night. I had just finished off Imagawa and Oda. Japan is nicely carved up into thirds,,Shimazu, Mori and Hojo when tragedy struck...CTD...and I hadn't saved in hours...

[LittleGrizzly]

Every coastal province can give you a gaurenteed 250 koku income a turn just by building a stage 1 castle and a port

If the enemy army consists of alot of low morale troops try to just quickly hit a few of thier units from all sides and this should start a rout chain going

If you have quite a few cavalry in your army you can often distract some of the computers units take them on a litttle detour and then either use the cavalry to pick of the units that followed you or send the cavarly sprinting into the back of the enemy whilst your main line hits them from the front. If they both hit at the same time then even with hugely inferior numbers and quality the enemy should rout.

[Drisos]

when tragedy struck...CTD...and I hadn't saved in hours...

Hey, there's always autosave! (I thought?)

You can load the 'autosave' file just from the 'load game' screen. You probably won't get back as far as you were, but definitely not hours back either.

Ports are good, but actually dangerous, you can be attacked trough sea! Though I've seen the AI do it only very(!!!) rarely.

[LittleGrizzly]

Ports are good, but actually dangerous, you can be attacked trough sea! Though I've seen the AI do it only very(!!!) rarely.

really ? never saw this happen...

also another good point on the ports it makes transporting armys around alot easier!

[Togakure]

It's rare, but they do attack port to port on Expert difficulty. Usually it's the Shimazu or Mori, sending a small group of units against Kawachi or Owari, and usually when the big push for Kyoto (Yamashiro) is happening.

A way I've actually triggered it is to block their forward progress with your front line armies and destroy their ports nearby if they have any. Then vacate the port province you want them to attack, and leave several units of ninja there. They only send a few units, and there are bridges in these provinces, so the ninja go to town. Interestingly, the AI will often send the same number of units again and again for a while, and your ninja can honor up very quickly just by hanging out in that port. You can also honor up a 3-star general to a 4-star general quickly by putting him in command at a port that is being constantly attacked in this manner.

***

Is that Wolf Grizz? Long time no see m8, good to see you're still in the mix (we played some fun games back in the day when I went by Toga).

[thip]

I'm in awe of your cleverness Masamune. Who'd have thought of a strategy like that? Brilliant.

[LittleGrizzly]

Is that Wolf Grizz? Long time no see m8, good to see you're still in the mix (we played some fun games back in the day when I went by Toga).

heya :)

still playing any TW ?

Nice tactic i was always trying to get nice high honour generals.

My basic game tactic was to get a few provinces early start going for money making ideas for a few years, ports mainly but mines if there or farm upgrades if worth it, then i would just go straight for teching up my units, mainly CA, SA, WM (or ND if shimazu) and then some HC, i try to make do with little units at the start to pay for teching up a few unit producing provinces quickly, it depends on the situation i create a few extra cheap units like YA or YS and SA if they're going to have to fight large battles, with good tactics and few YS and SA defending a hill you can take on repetitive attacks or a large attack.

[Drisos]

It's rare, but they do attack port to port on Expert difficulty. Usually it's the Shimazu or Mori, sending a small group of units against Kawachi or Owari, and usually when the big push for Kyoto (Yamashiro) is happening.

I never dug deep into this, but I only recall 2 or 3 times they attacked me through port. I can't remember the situations/regions, sadly.

also another good point on the ports it makes transporting armys around alot easier!

ah yes, we couldn't live without ports. Tranporting troops from Mushu, Shinano etc to the west when you're Uesugi attacking Shimazu (for instance) would be a pain. I usually create loads of ports later in the game. I don't use much shinobi's/ninja's, but build border forts everywhere instead. It seems to work, but levelling up ninja's/shinobi's the same time would be more profitable actually.. it's more out of lazyness that I use the forts.

[LittleGrizzly]

I don't use much shinobi's/ninja's, but build border forts everywhere instead. It seems to work, but levelling up ninja's/shinobi's the same time would be more profitable actually.. it's more out of lazyness that I use the forts.

I do the same, i think it saves you on ninja/shinobi upkeep

[Drisos]

True, of course. But by the time I build lots of ports (and those forts), I usually have too much koku already. I build lots of improved farms/mines, and I train troops in only a few regions... I just can't spend it all, so I could afford them.

Same goes for more training centres+more troops. I could conquer japan sooner, more easy, if I'd spend all my money.. but I think I prefer my campaigns to last a little longer, etc. I don't mind.

[thip]

A general query guys. I thought if you accepted the Portuguese offer and became Christian you lost access to warrior monks. But in my current game I am building churches, temples and trading posts in the same provinces and can build WM and Arq as well.

Have I missed something here?

[LittleGrizzly]

you still have accsess to both units just uilding a WM makes you buddist again...

[thip]

Does my entire clan revert to Buddhism or just the province that started to build the WM?

[thip]

Sorry if the above question looks lame but i can't find anywhere in game to tell who is Christian or Buddhist. My main concern is that there would be no point in building a Cathedral to make some Koku, if building a WM has converted me back to Buddhism.

[Wasp]

If you click the 'alliance' tab, you can see who's reverted to christianity by the large cross next to their banner.

Oda made the mistake of converting while their loyalty wasn't too high - didn't take me long to conquer some nice provinces while they had to fend off Warrior Monks!

[LittleGrizzly]

If you want to be christian you'll either have to stop building warrior monks, or i think if you build another portuguese trading post/church/cathedral you turn back christian (not sure) or you have to accept another trading offer

[Drisos]

As a general piece of advice: Either be christian or be buddist. So, when you accept the portuegese offer, don't use Buddist temples and WM anymore. It'd almost certainly cause revolts.

btw, I can't advise to accept the portuegese offer altogether! It makes it only harder to keep your people happy, you'll need to invest lots in churches en priests (which can be assasinated, btw) and you only get arq's. Now I don't recall which version you are on, but iirc arq's can't even fire in rain? plus, SA are usually more useful in battles. (unless you need to shoot for a looong time, arq's have loads of ammo.. )

If you play long enough to let the dutch come, accept. Their offer has no downsides.

Good luck!