View Full Version : Hojo campaign: "Half a campaign: Half a Japan"
Seems like there is nothing else we could talk about so I'll just let those interested participate in the interesting phase of my Hojo campain.
I started 1530 on expert. I already talked about what happend in other threads, so I'll spare the retrospective here. After I conquered Central Japan an build a strong border towards the Shimazu empire in the West I tackled the remaining Oda forces in the East in a rather minimalistic war. Oda seemed to have financial or infrastructural problems there and hardly had any troops. The biggest problem was a rather big rebel army, smashed into the mud by now.
So I start throwing all my forces to the Western frontier. Shimazu owns the one half of Japan (excluding tiny little Bitchu, where the last Oda forces await there fait with a amount of men) and I am owning the other half (apart from little rebel Kazusa, which I'm invading at the moment). Oda asked me for a ceasefire AND an alliance. Could be useful, perhaps he draws some Shimazu troops attention, if he is not allied to them.
I have a strong income (oh wonder) and am training rather qualitative then quantitative troops. Essentially I fight with archers, all three types of cavalry, No Dachi and some Kensai.
Because of its strategic importance (port and strong income there) I'm invading Owari first. Could be tough one, I'm way better at defending rather than attacking, but I fear that the Shimazu break into mass troop production and build a wall of 3k armies. This could make the campain last some years longer... :wall: <- Wall.
https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3937/1570fi8.jpg
Hm, obviously they are preparing the invasion of Wakasa. Quite smart, since it the least defendable province at the moment.
Well, you have the Kwanto, so I think money-wise, you're having the upperhand. Just slowly crush the Shimazu with your superior troops?
Mass attack on Mino. Shimazus 3rd attempt to win this province. And his armies get bigger and bigger. Same map, fortunately. Unfortunately, I missmanaged my army-composition when choosing the invading troops for Owari, so I have 50% archers.
Considering the hill, it is nice, but they are outnumbering me 3000 to 1000... Anyway, I have a decent slope and I inmediately reach his troops with my arrows. He sends a unit of Arquebusiers, the try to get to my bowies and I have to waste loads of arrows on them till they finally rout. Thought of crashing them with my single cavalry unit but they were way to near the enemy lines.
Then the enemy approaches. 6 archer units give them a piercing welcome, the kill ratio is exploding. He rushes my archers with his Naginata Cavalry (General). My Yari Cav bashes into his flank while my No Dachi and a Kensai take his front with a nice slope advantage. The fall like crazy and rout after one minute of encounter. Mass routing at the enemy. They seem to recognize some bodies on the grass, I demolished 2 whole armies 2 and 3 years before.
I try to chase them as good as I can with my single cavalry and the No Dachi. I try to withdraw in time, cause I'm expecting some more of those, a bit to early though. They regroup and form a small 2nd wave which routs after one volley of (my last) arrows and a charge of my cavalry.
The 3rd wave isn't to keen on fighting either, seems like they are hardly able to walk with all the bodies and arrows around... :oops:
As always, the reinforcements come from all sides. It gets sticky. My units are tiring, a lot now. fortunately the enemy routs constantly, even if he's majority. Still, I have hardly any horses left and Cavalry Archers are driving me crazy.
Finally they give up. I have hardly anything but archers left and the site looks terrible:
https://img65.imageshack.us/img65/3551/slopenz3.jpg
Anyway:
- 1550 heads taken, 250 lost. I'm fine with that.
- AI is lame, how on earth is it possible to send his reinforcements from all sides. It's not realistic, it's not really clever but it is very annoying for me. :furious3: (Especially in bridge defense. Didn't believe when suddenly cavalry was charging me from behind :dizzy2: )
- Archers rule. They are twice as strong as the MW Archers... :2thumbsup:
Afterwards I'm allowed to attack Owari. But I cancel. Don't like cancelling, but they were suddenly outnumbering me. (Damned port they have there...) Not much, but too much to achieve an easy victory. I can wait.
Invading the rebel province:
Easy win. He has mainly Archers, I charge him from multiple sides. After some chasing, they rout one by one.
Hm, obviously they are preparing the invasion of Wakasa. Quite smart, since it the least defendable province at the moment.
Sorry, for mistake. I mean Echizo FROM Wakasa.
Talking of Wakasa: I'm regrouping for defense and launch a counterattack on Wakasa. He has not more than 1k of troops and no good general there. Am doing this one tomorrow though.
Rebel castle lasts 2 seasons, I am starting to send my garrisons towards the Western frontier, need infantry. :sweatdrop:
Yeah, Wasp, that's what I thought, too. But I wasn't sure whether Shimazu's income could still be higher. He's friendly with the Portugese, while I'm refusing to let those Christians in. :no: Additionally, he keeps sending thousands of troops to Owari, nearly every turn and from all over the country as it seems. A fast mass production of troops could run me over, since he is being rich for quite a long time now, while I just finished securing my borders to the East. Let's see what happens. Maybe I have to deal with some more of this mass attacks till he runs out of money.
Sasaki Kojiro
12-13-2008, 09:33
I recall them fixing reinforcements in a patch so that they only came from your opponents end of the field. Regarldess, it's best not to chase the routing enemy too much...
Mino and Mikawa are very easy to defend which should work to your advantage. Would be good to take owari though, if you can.
Would you know where to find that patch, Sasaki? Or is it already in the Gold edition?
I have the Gold Edition and ran the current patch... at least I think so. :inquisitive:
It ocurred to me, that invading Wakasa is a more or less useless thing. The province is rather poor and quite hard to defend. The main advantage is that a victory there would put some pressure on the issue because I would brake his defense line. A lot more provinces to attack while only defending three.
Still I'm launching. As I could see before the troops there are mainly those that survived their attacks on Mino. Many units of 30 or less. If he doesn't regroup then he will be quite a minority on battlefield. See if he is that stupid.
I'm approaching hin slowly, can see some peasants in the forest, 48 men. I want to tickle them out there because I have 4 units of cavalry I'm placing on my right flank. I approach them fast with my archer, without rushing my infantry. First volley of arrows gets some movement into the woods archers appear, but suddenly fall back, followed by the peasants and his general, 10 naginata cavs. His other cavalry, mainly with bow approach from far behind the forest while his units (indeed, 3 to 5 small ones with <40 men) run right into my cavalry that comes chasing from the right side. My No Dachi approach from behind, including a Kensai. Mass rout, including general. Kensai seem to be ugly or so because the regularily convince my enemies of routing. :whip:
I chase them down with my cavalry while drawing my archers and infantry to a hill for possible defense.
He seems to have shown up with half his army (due to the small units) so I await the reinforcements. The ones I see rout as soon as they spawn, but the battle isn't over...
Is I thought. The troops spawn at all sites of the (huge) map. I start sending my troups all over the field, all by themselves, what else could I do?
Noone, nowhere... wait!
A little unit of peasants, backed up by some archers came wobbeling out of the forest, right into the arms of two of my archers. No Dachi are near as well and I'm approaching from two sides. Little brave peasants. 2 volleys and they are half, as soon as the No Dachi touch them they rout, and die. The archers, same story. As the last one dies, battle is over:
https://img178.imageshack.us/img178/79/winnx2.jpg
Additionally, it seems like attacking Wakasa was not such a bad idea at all:
https://img529.imageshack.us/img529/476/emptybz8.jpg
His provinces are rather empty (like would be mine if he broke through :clown: ). Should start a mass invasion, attacking 4 or 5 provinces at a time?
"Is I thought." -> As I thought. :laugh4:
Still can't edit my posts, so I'm sorry for doubleposting. I'm rather against invading all the provinces, could make a hard defense, once he strikes back. I would rather wait till he distributes his troops, so I can tackle Owari. As soon as Owari falls I hold his :balloon2::balloon2: in my hands.
How long til the garrison in Owari falls, by the way?
Am I misunderstanding you? I see no siege in Owari. :dizzy2:
Gah; never mind. I didn't look closely enough at the screenshot, and thus didn't realize that was a Shimazu army sitting outside the castle (I'd thought it was one of your armies). :oops:
Hm, Martok. I'd say it was still my fault... you were just a bit more advanced: a awaited spring to come, then attacked Owari and Omi. Guess what: there's a siege in Owari now. The garrison is about to hold for 3 seasons. :2thumbsup:
Battle was funny actually. Attacked with loads of archers and some heavy cavalry because I was expecting a hard bridge defense against the Shimazu No Dachi.
Fortunately: 2 bridges. Additionally the enemy was spread all over the map, only some peasants, No Dachi and Naginata Cav between the too bridges. I approach them with my archers and they start withdrawing. I rush both bridges with my horses and bowies, the only ones brave enough to encounter me are the Naginata Cavs. I block them with my Cavalry and charge some Yari Cav into their back. The die like crazy and rout. I start chasing the enemy including his infantry (marching very quickly... :inquisitive:) uphill and see the majority of his army is already leaving the battlefield. Some Yari Cav and Cav Archers (General) are awaiting their fate, they don't even defend themselves or run, they just die. To lazy for Seppuku I guess. Or the Cav Archers just don't have a sword at hand? This must be a bug, or the enemy troops are just terrible dismoralized by the failures of the past.
Since most of the army routed I killed only 360 while I lost 30... veeery weird battle, thought this might become more difficult.
Shimazu withdrew in Omi. New line of defense established and Shimazu is distributing his troops all over the provinces now. Since I have taken Owari he won't get reinforcements too soon. Let's keep this thing movin'. :whip:
Sasaki Kojiro
12-13-2008, 22:17
The AI isn't properly equipped to handle owari. The two bridges thing confuses it. I hate defending it because a lot of the time the enemy army just freezes on the other side of th river and you have to wait out the timer.
One thing about seiges that's useful to know, if you do a castle assault you get to keep the fort in its current state, if you let the seige finish it downgrades by one. Can be worthwhile depending on the army.
Wow, really didn't know that, THX. Though too late that I read it. But never mind, have plenty of money and I'm not competing on time, as you might see. :beam:
Anyway, I did not really keep the thing moving. I hoped for a counter attack on Owari, unfortunately Shimazu finished his port in Ise on time and is sending massive armies there. That's what I was talking about, he seems to have like 10 provinces to build peasant armies, while I'm focusing on three provinces that have bonusses and high class infrastructure. :shame:
Still, while I was regrouping my troops Shimazu did not counterattack and I don't know what he is waiting for. I will launch an attack on Ise in the next turn, but I'll do so tomorrow. Thanks for the attantion and the help. :idea2:
Seems like this could be a break through turn... :inquisitive:
Launched my attack on Ise with a nearly 2000 men army (unit size 120), invading from Owari. For support, I shipped fresh ND from Sagami directly into Ise. I was very confused as I lead my attack on Ise with a 120 men army, encountering 120 men of Shimazu, then I finally figured out what happened:
Shimazu invades Owari with his 2600 men army, stationed in Ise (I saw that later) and tries to defend Ise with a garrison. This blocked my major attack on him, but since the ND came by sea they still attack.
First I thought "Crap! All the year without attacking, and then!?". But, giving it another look: if my No Dachi win in Ise and I defeat his attack at the river, the whole army is trapped and gone. Concluding, this could have been his worst move, ever.
First battle, 120 No Dachi invading Ise by sea. Pirate crew, ganbarimashoo! :pirate2:
Ise is rather flat and has woods, that could help me a lot. I'm missing MTW, where you are able to see the units you're encountering, but anyway. My No Dachi are well equipped and honourable, so I hope they beat up each infantry unit he could provide. Archers could make it quite frustrating, but with woods (do they have the same effect on aiming archers like in MTW?) and loose formation it could work. Cavalry, same story. If I lure them into the woods they'll definitely fall.
Approaching I can see a Shimazu No Dachi unit. Probably the worst case I could get. They keep falling back as I approach, always trying to conserve their height advantages. I'm trying to minimize the latter. As they reach the end of the map, they are on a slight slope and both armies must be quite tired now. I put my ND into 3 rows, his are in 4. I want to surround them a bit. I'm approaching them, then charge. Hm, might be another bug, but the AI doesn't use his slope advantage to charge as well, he just remains there, awaiting me. Massacre, they just get slaughtered. One of the first to beat the grass is there General, few seconds later they root. Lucky me, but an excellent foundation for a devastating defense battle at the river. :2thumbsup:
Second battle, 2600 Shimazu invade Owari from Ise, have 2200 for defense.
I tried to account for everything, even if the army might remain freezed. Deployed like this at the two bridges:
https://img229.imageshack.us/img229/1713/bridge1tr9.jpg
https://img229.imageshack.us/img229/3108/bridge2aw4.jpg
The first seconds, nothing happened. I was about to brew some Ocha for my men, when they started moving. Mainly archers, btw. About 800 enemies with bow. I hope he isnt up to a static warfare... :inquisitive:
I start withdrawing infantry, on the left bridge, my archers have a slight height advantage, on the right they don't. If he approaches them one by one, a good volley could still cut their amount of arrows down to a harmless number, see what happens...
One unit of archers comes to close, so I put two of min in loose formation and start shooting at them. 20 of them die, before he retreats. At this time I start realizing, what he did. Ok, AI is really not equipped for Owari, his deploy looks nice from an geometric point of view but has nothing to do with Sun Tsu. Since they are trapped anyway (and perhaps got nuts by this :clown: ), I do not take advantage of this and hunt them down, could cost some men anyway...
https://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5289/weirdwj8.jpg
See what he does next.
He approaches again with his archers, and draws back, and approaches... I keep shooting at him if he's near, and eventually approach a bit more. Now I'm close enough for him to shoot at me as well. I have plenty of archers, so I don't care about some losses.
Boring bugs. The archers sometimes shoot, sometimes just get shooted. This continues till both his archer units where shot down completely (without routing... thought: if the AI tactic is buggy, his units are buggy as well, so they do NOT rout if they get moral penalties?). Time limit expires without further movements.
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/7226/endce8.jpg
Ok, indeed, the whole T-formed army got caught, his provinces have little garrisons only. I agree with Sasaki-san, defending Owari sucks, because I have an hudge advantage now by this stupid bug. Last picture of this thread, promise:
https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5192/victoryab8.jpg
I think of starting a mass invasion in spring. As you can see he can send reinforcements to Kawachi only and I can block this province by taking Tamba, Yamashiro and Yamato. I'll need some extra troops to defend myself against Kii (no harbour atm) and Tanila, but this should be easy.
Ah, btw: I'm fighting my first siege now, because Ise will last over one year. Another funny thing: although I only had around 70 No Dachi in Ise AND a siege going on I have 132% loyality their. They seem not to like Shimazu too much. :D
Wow! Winning by nice numbers in battle! It'll be easy victory for this campaign now you got so far, it seems.
When I read the first post, I wanted to say 'Use lots of regions with castles to traing lots of troops'. Few troops was usually my problem 4 years back. I couldn't win when the enemy had the other half of the map, because I wasn't spending enough money on creating more troops. But you're going fine!
Different defense at those bridges btw! I usually keep lots of archers in front, but not so close to the bridge that enemy archers can hit me from the other side. I let units cross one by one, shoot them one by one. (they usually rout, but keep coming back) Then when you run out of arrows(killed hundreds by then), I charge and chase them across the border.(killing loads when they are massive on the bridge, they're blocking their only way out)
But your defense went well. ;)
Hey Drisos. :)
Yeah, I already read that most players pit the archers to the front. Funny thing that I've never done that. I always kept my archers behind spearmen or other infantry (in MTW). The only advantage is that the do not have to retreat when enemies are approaching, essentially it might be due to lazyness. I already thought about your way of defending bridges and have done similar, too. Still, do you block approaching units after they crossed the brige? Or do you really shoot them down so hard that they inmediately rout?
(In my case my archers were out of range of the enemy archers, I just approached them because I wanted to do something. :laugh4: )
Back to topic, then. It's late, but I want to execute the attacks I prepared today. As I told you, I'm invading Yamato, Yamashiro and Tamba with my main armies. I'm launching an attack from two sides on Iga, so they can't backstab me.
https://img372.imageshack.us/img372/9295/attackhq7.jpg
He retreats in Tamba, Yamato and Yamashira. Battle of Iga:
Bit of highland, so I'm looking for a good path to get a height advantage myself. This tires my troops a bit. He seems to have two units of Yari Cav and some Ashigaru Samurai. As I approach his Cav with Archers they withdraw and keep doing so till they have a height advantage themselves. Their General is far far away in a forest with slope. I think that one No Dachi unit will do and just send them. Returnig to my archers I see that the Yari Cav started charging. Crap, grave mistake, this is going to be an expensive battle. Fortunately I can send my Heavy Cav in to block them, but they take many causalties as well. My infantry arrives and starts slaughtering them all apart from two that got away. Tallking of slaughtering: his YS kicked my NDs hard, I start raining arrows on them and the withdraw to open field. My horses hunt them down. Battle over, could have done this a lot better.
Situation:
https://img514.imageshack.us/img514/1157/attackdoneae3.jpg
I'm ending the minor siege in Iga next turn and one major in Yamashiro. Next will be Kii and Kawachi. Afterwards I have a stable border he can run against. I'm not expecting any counterattacks that could harm me seriously, but I reorder troops so I'm on the safe side. To be continued tomorrow.
Now, I have some General Questions that ocurred to me during the last 3 or 4 turns:
a) Is the Emperor in Yamashiro of any valour, except the diplomatical one?
b) The AI makes his movements after considering mine, right?
c) If I'm attacking a province, and the AI counterattacks in the opposite direction, am I always defending?
d) When do I use triangle formation? What drawbacks must I consider? Do I inmediately switch back to normal formation after the impact?
e) Does it make sense to let troops rest? I see them tiring out very fast and hardly see any benefit of letting them rest.
f) How do I best deploy the infantry? No Dachis in long, but few rows, so they can cludge aroung the enemy? Cavalry same story? Or more compact? How about the Ashigaru? Should they always remain in line and/or hold position? And archers? Do they hit more of they are in a more squared deploy or if the are in 3 long rows? Does it affect their aiming if they are in loose formation?
g) Are there siege battle where the doors are closed (like MTW) or where there are arrows coming from towers or so?
h) Till now, I never was friendly to Christians, because I feared religious uproars in my provinces. Can somebody explain me, how exactly the different interactions (giving audience, accepting their proposal, building a church, building trading posts) with Christians affect the believe of my Daimyo and my people.
Just wanted to proove I'm still rather new to this came. :D Maybe I'll have some more later. Sorry in advance. :clown:
Sasaki Kojiro
12-15-2008, 08:47
g) Siege doors always closed unfortunately. No arrows from towers
e) They can regain some energy depending, but it's not really practical to try and rest them
d) I never really used triangle. Maybe if your hitting someone from behind or really want to quicken a battle. Definitely don't combine with hold formation!
f) Archers aim best in 2 rows. Not always practical in 120 man units. Usually for other units I leave them in standard and adjust to fit the terrain and the enemy army.
g) Siege doors always closed unfortunately. No arrows from towers
Thanks for your answers. Till now I only fought sieges against the small castles. They just go uphill and have an entrance, which is not blocked by dors like in MTW. You can just walk in and smash the units standing at the door. Only advantage for the defender is some height advantage and that the enemy must pass the entrance, so you can try to block it with some heavy armoured high class unit. Like in a bridge battle for example.
Indeed, 2 rows for a 120 men archer unit isn't too practical. But if you have three of them you will grow wide anyway, so you could place them after each another instead of aside.
A) That province gives an honour bonus to every troop produced there.
B) I believe it does, yes.
C) That's a tough one. If the system processes your actions first, you'd be the attacker I think.
H) Christianity in your provinces can be seen with right-clicking. If there's a percentage, it means that that part of the population is Christian. People like a Daimyo with the same religion, so a mainly Buddhist province will be harder to keep loyal.
c) :
Launched my attack on Ise with a nearly 2000 men army (unit size 120), invading from Owari. For support, I shipped fresh ND from Sagami directly into Ise. I was very confused as I lead my attack on Ise with a 120 men army, encountering 120 men of Shimazu, then I finally figured out what happened:
Shimazu invades Owari with his 2600 men army, stationed in Ise (I saw that later) and tries to defend Ise with a garrison. This blocked my major attack on him, but since the ND came by sea they still attack.
First I thought "Crap! All the year without attacking, and then!?". But, giving it another look: if my No Dachi win in Ise and I defeat his attack at the river, the whole army is trapped and gone. Concluding, this could have been his worst move, ever.
That's why I'm asking. This time I was attacking and he was attacking and it ended in a defense for me.
Thanks for the answers.
I'll now start another turn. Don't have much time these days so I'll probably only do half a year.
Battle of Kyoto:
The castle is rather packed, many 6 times 60 men units in there, but no archers. I approach with my 6 units of'em and start raining the castle with arrows. Most arrows hit the wall, but since I have quite a few of them it has the desired effect. Finally I send two No Dachi units in to deal with the second half, supported by two Kensai. The ND take many casualties but fight bravely. As one of my Kensai trusts his sword into their General the battle is over.
Battle of Iga-Ueno:
A baby siege. 3 Yari Cavs await their fate next to the walls. I keep shooting arrows at them, and after the first quarter their General finally breaks together under the weight of hundreds of arrows that pierced his body. What a man! :shame:
Both castles down and I'm able to move on. Shimazu send plenty of troops to Kawachi and he switched from No Dachi to Warrior Monks as it seems. At least money he must have, then. I'm attacking Kii and Kawachi heavy. This might be a heavy blow for him because it's one of his last ports. I wonder whether he is smart enough to build some more at the moment? Anyway, taking Kawachi will give me some time to reorder my troops and minimize the number of provinces I need to defend.
For fun I send a Shinobi to Oda, see what he's up to. He is chillin, essentially, with a huge army in under his butt. I can't imagine that he is surrounded by Shimazu troops. Why does the coward hesitate to attack? He's my freakin ally! Additionally he could win some more land... A feature I missed in MTW as I do here: some sort of comunication with AI allies. Example: "Attack this province next turn." This information should at least raise the probability that he really does so. Are there perhaps similar features in the newer TWs?
Coming back to my campain, the situation:
https://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4748/siegesxa4.jpg
Sasaki Kojiro
12-16-2008, 00:20
Sorry patdj, I meant to say that the doors are always open.
As for cooperation with allies, sometimes if you invade a province that you both border they will invade it as well, and you'll have a 3 army battle. I don't think I've ever resisted the temptation to stab them in the back in those circumstances though.
Yeah, I already read that most players pit the archers to the front. Funny thing that I've never done that. I always kept my archers behind spearmen or other infantry (in MTW). The only advantage is that the do not have to retreat when enemies are approaching, essentially it might be due to lazyness. I already thought about your way of defending bridges and have done similar, too. Still, do you block approaching units after they crossed the brige? Or do you really shoot them down so hard that they inmediately rout?
(In my case my archers were out of range of the enemy archers, I just approached them because I wanted to do something. :laugh4: )
Having your infantry in front has no big disadvantage either. I like keeping them behind because I hate to get those 'friendly kills' (even if only few)
I usually shoot them down so hard that they rout yes. But depends on how many archers you have, and especially on the enemy's units that are crossing the bridge. Sometimes they don't rout yet, and I have to charge with some cav. (that usually routs them right away so you don't even have to engage)
a) Is the Emperor in Yamashiro of any valour, except the diplomatical one?
That message about his support is only a symbol, I think. Doesn't help. But as Wasp said the region is GREAT for training ANY troops. Always use it to train troops if you have that region. ~:)
b) The AI makes his movements after considering mine, right?
Unfortunately, yes. so it 'cheats'. :shame:
c) If I'm attacking a province, and the AI counterattacks in the opposite direction, am I always defending?
I don't know how it works.. your attacks are usually cancelled yes. But I do recall lots in variation in what happened at lots of different scenario's in mixed up attacks/defenses. I don't know the general formula.
d) When do I use triangle formation? What drawbacks must I consider? Do I inmediately switch back to normal formation after the impact?
Purely offensive formation if I am correct. I never use it actually I'm afraid. Should be useful when you need a lot of kills in short time. (opposite of holding off the enemy while getting reinforcements)
e) Does it make sense to let troops rest? I see them tiring out very fast and hardly see any benefit of letting them rest.
I almost never do. There's usually no time. However, when you do have time, and the waiting has no other disadvantages: yes, of course, don't go running around. ~:)
f) How do I best deploy the infantry? No Dachis in long, but few rows, so they can cludge aroung the enemy? Cavalry same story? Or more compact? How about the Ashigaru? Should they always remain in line and/or hold position? And archers? Do they hit more of they are in a more squared deploy or if the are in 3 long rows? Does it affect their aiming if they are in loose formation?
less rows= offensive
more rows= defensive.
Less rows is quite crappy when you want to circle round the engagement to attack from rear or flank. and the effect isn't that big, usually.
h) Till now, I never was friendly to Christians, because I feared religious uproars in my provinces. Can somebody explain me, how exactly the different interactions (giving audience, accepting their proposal, building a church, building trading posts) with Christians affect the believe of my Daimyo and my people.
Example: "Attack this province next turn." This information should at least raise the probability that he really does so. Are there perhaps similar features in the newer TWs?
Pity indeed that such option isn't there. This is one of the many nice features that S:TW2 has. (in my dreams.. ~;))
I don't think I've ever resisted the temptation to stab them in the back in those circumstances though.
ghehe. :D works fine. I recall attacking the enemy together with an allied daimyo. When he almost defeated the enemy, I started attacking my ally, turning the tide of battle. My former ally routed, and of course I blocked off the bridge, killing his entire army and his daimyo. I think it was Oda. Yeah, these battles have great effect indeed. :beam:
h) Till now, I never was friendly to Christians, because I feared religious uproars in my provinces. Can somebody explain me, how exactly the different interactions (giving audience, accepting their proposal, building a church, building trading posts) with Christians affect the believe of my Daimyo and my people.
I believe that accepting the proposal does nothing yet. Once you build the trading posts and churches, your Daimyo will be Christian, and the whole religious loyalty question begins in your provinces.
Lol honourable Backstabmurais talking. :dizzy2:
But yes, I noted that allies join battle sometimes. But I hate fighting with them, because they are way too slow. I only attack if I can crush the enemy (alone). Waiting for an ally is annoying then, so I just bash them and hope that stupid allied archers don't send arrows into my back. Not smart, but never went wrong till now. What sucks is that (at least in MTW) the ally gets the province if he provided the bigger army (of PEASANTS!!! :furious3: ). I recall biting my keyboard after kicking the Saxons for the sake of peasant-burner Mercia.
Concerning churches: it would be best then to build churches in all provinces at the same time, so you haven't got one half Christians and one half Buddhists. How long does it take for your people to convert (all)?
To 100%, I believe that takes a few years (spam priests in all provinces to do it quicker).
Ok, thank you. :2thumbsup: Perhaps in one of the following campains I'll be a Christian. :book:
Well, I did the next turn because I wanted Kawachi befor wintertime. Was a bridge defense and I think I started well:
https://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5958/bridgekl0.jpg
lured his whole cavalry onto the bridge and shot them down heavily with archers. Than I made a mistake that cost me some men. Shimazu started retreating, and I thought I could hit him hard into the back by rushing my cavalry into him. He turned pretty fast and surrounded me with Yaris. I still kicked him but it could have been a lot easier with more pacience.
End was 880 heads, 530 men lost.
Second I invaded Kii. He had Naginata Cavs (2x), No Dachi and Samurai Archers there. I feared a considerable piece of work, but I lured one NC uphill und smashed them from both sides, he supported them with his General unit, NC aswell. They fell pretty good and started routing after being nearly completely terminated. The NDs and SAs waited in the forest. Was an infantry fight, where I had the better cards. NDs fought to death and the archers routed at half their size.
I regrouped troops for a potential counterattack but I think I have nothing to fear. Need more infantry though. My NDs died out somehow. :oops:
Yay, now this get's more interesting:
I've send a bunch of Shinobi to Inaba, his nearest port, to makes his "logistics" a bit more difficult. Guess what happend. Zombie-Takeda, the undead, reemerged there the third time in this campain. He must have it goin with the ladies because his line seems undeletable. I'm fine with that and hope that he does some troublemaking at the Shimazu provinces.
Additionally, Oda is getting ambitious now and attacked two Shimazu provinces. I think he was successfull, too.
Two turns later Takeda got kicked. Short story of success. Prroves that Shimazu is still able to fight. I can't see it properly, but I think, Oda was driven back, as well. My Shinobi caused a Ikko Ikki uproar in Inaba, so Shimazu gets no time to rest. But I do. I'm reinforcing my troops and waiting for a good opportunity to proceed:
https://img409.imageshack.us/img409/3765/takedafe5.jpg
Yay, I'm allowed to edit now. THX to whomever. :)
Doing well, it has now become a matter of time, I think?
This is quite a good campaign report. I`ve enjoyed reading this so far. :)
Thanks Wasp and Wishazu.
I'm a bit surprised that it is this "easy" on expert. I'm familiar with the basic concepts of the TW games, but I'm far away from being a Shogun-professional. I thought it would be more challenging. But, I guess, I was really lucky sometimes. I never really had too fear a strong rival at my borders. The Takeda, Uesugi, Oda and the rebels kicked each other really nicely so I could take what they left over without much effort. I built a stable infrastructure for highclass troops instead of raising armies of peasants. As Drisos already mentioned, this could have broken my neck pretty early.
Additionally, a major thread I'm facing right now, too, is that my line might die out. The Shimazu Ninjas killed 2 or 3 of my heirs quite some time ago and failed killing the Daimyo when he was the only one left. I now have one heir whom I keep in the center of well guarded provinces.
But yes, I think this is a matter of time now. And as I already said, I'm not rushing. I think Shimazu will struggle with the new ambitious Oda and I'll do my best to draw some troops away from them. Some rebellions will probably do the remaining in the north. I will try to take Kyushu next. I hope I can do this in a fast one-year-battle. I'm already training troops for this purpose.
If the battle with the Oda and Ikko Ikki keeps him busy, perhaps I can even get to Satsuma.
Unfortunately I'm busy with Christmas presents at the moment so I'll postpone the next turns. Until then I have 2 more questions:
i) Is there a rule for the level of difficulty? Like things, the AI does and Expert and not on Easy? Or that loyality in provinces is harder to be kept on Expert? Or something similar?
j) The weather, a really broad topic. First: you should not attack in winter, because troops get tired fast when walking, right? Same in summer? Are there similar effects when it's raining? What else is important considering the seasons? Second: Fog reduces sight, for the player himself (I hate searching for the defending armies...) and for the bowman. Rain does the same and reduces the range of their arrows? What about snow? Is there an overview of the times and the resulting effects?
Arigatô gozaimasu in advance.
Well Ive just started a campaign on Expert in 1530 as the Imagawa. I`m really struggling with cash flow lol. I have the bare minimum of troops to hold what I have and Im slowly (very slowly) expanding alongside the Shimazu. The only chance I get to expand is by destabilising their provinces with Shinobi and then moving in and picking off the rioting rebels.
To answer some of your questions. On expert I believe the enemies troops have slightly higher morale, also, the weather is obviously very important - Your guns wont work well, if at all in the rain. I can`t say I`ve ever noticed the weather in Shogun effecting the fatigue levels of my troops.
i) Is there a rule for the level of difficulty? Like things, the AI does and Expert and not on Easy? Or that loyality in provinces is harder to be kept on Expert? Or something similar?
One thing I know for sure:
Easy = small morale penalty for all enemy troops
Normal = Fair
Hard = small morale bonus for all enemy troops
Hardest = big morale bonus for all enemy troops
I don't know about any other difficulty-linked 'cheating' by the computer.
So I guess it's just that + the AI get's smarter in as well battle as on campaign map.
j) The weather, a really broad topic. First: you should not attack in winter, because troops get tired fast when walking, right? Same in summer? Are there similar effects when it's raining? What else is important considering the seasons? Second: Fog reduces sight, for the player himself (I hate searching for the defending armies...) and for the bowman. Rain does the same and reduces the range of their arrows? What about snow? Is there an overview of the times and the resulting effects?
Some general advice: don't bother looking at the season. The weather seasons give is various, and even if it would always be the same weather in a season, it's not as important as the moves you want to make. Have your campaign map strategy/actions depend on other factors. When you want to attack a region, and have the capacity for it, do so right away. Don't wait for a better season. It's just not as important.
So, don't bother about the seasons.. but, DO bother about which weather you pick before battle. There's usually a broad spectrum of possibilities within that season. You'll have to let it depend on your army, the enemy's army, the map, your strategy, etc...
I'll copy some stuff on a little guide I wrote some day... I remember I had a chapter on weather. Now let me find that thread..
Ah. got it.
Weather and fatigue
Weather is an important factor in S:TW/MI/WE MP as it has big affects on fatigue and ranged fire. There are many different weather situations that appear in shogun, but there are certain groups with the same effect. You can simply see them as six: Cold weather, Snow, Rain, Wind, Fog and Sunny weather. All have their own different effects on units, beneath is information on their effects:
- Cold weather: Increases units fatigue speed. Increases armoured units fatigue speed greatly.
- Fog: Decreases your sight.
- Rain: Decreases your sight. Decreases the effect of musket fire and archer fire. Arquebusiers cannot fire in rain. Heavy rain decreases the defenders morale. Increases units fatigue speed.
- Snow: Decreases your sight. Decreases cavalry speed. Decreases the effect of musket fire and archer fire. Arquebusiers cannot fire in snow. Increases units fatigue speed.
- Sunny weather:
- Wind: Decreases archer fire accuracy.
In Multiplayer the attacker always has the benefit of choosing the weather. When you play in teams, you never know who will, so in that case you'll have to make the decision together.
Though you select the weather after selecting your army, you must think about the weather while selecting your army, because the season is already selected and the different seasons have different weather. There are four seasons, Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. The different weather scenario's have their own season of happening often, beneath is information on what weather you'll find in what season:
- Cold weather: Appears often in Winter.
- Fog: Appears often in Spring and Winter.
- Rain: Appears often in Spring and Winter.
- Snow: Appears often in Winter.
- Sunny weather: Appears often in Fall and Summer.
- Wind: Appears often in Spring and Summer.
Before the match, you must decide what season you'll play in. Always think of the army you'll use and the army your enemy will use. Then decide what weather would be the most useful and choose a season in which that occurs often.
Big fatigue will greatly decrease your chances to win battles. Your men won't only have lower morale, also, their attack and defense are lowered. Therefor, try to keep your units from getting tired before the attack. Things you can do to achieve this:
- Don't attack in rainy, snowy or cold weather.
- Don't deploy your army too far to the edge of the map, but delpoy in the middle of the map instead. This will save you a lot of time, but it also gives the defender the chance to surprise you, so be careful.
- Don't move around too much, Try to walk in a straight line towards the enemy, unless you have tactical plans like attacking him from the side.
- When your men are really tired, simply wait. Give them some rest, and they will do better in the fight. Time almost never runs out in multiplayer games, so it's safe to wait a little while. Of course this does not give you an exciting battle. Try to find something to while you wait. For instance, move one unit over to the side or change your formation a bit.
- Put your units in formations with lots of rows when long walks are inavoidable. For instance 20 rows, which means 3 men next to each other. This formations decrease fatigue speed.
When defending, you will rarely notice your men are fatigued. You can even try to tire your opponent. For instance, by forcing him to move by changing your position, or to deploy to the edge of the map, so the enemy will need to walk a lot before the fight.
in short... biggest factor to think of is negative influence on ranged fire.
(though fatigue should never be underestimated.)
edit:
Ah! About the difficulties: There's certain features that the computer doesn't seem to use on lower difficulties. I think they only use Geisha's when on Expert level. There may be similar rules for other features... Attacking by sea may be difficulty-linked too. Not sure though.
Sasaki Kojiro
12-18-2008, 02:09
The only weather you have to watch out for is naginata in winter and archers/gunman in heavy wind/rain fog. Fog can be the best weather to attack in as you can often hit them from the flank before they see you.
On expert, it really depends on the clan you pick. The hojo are easy because they start in a strong position on the wealthy side of japan.
On expert, it really depends on the clan you pick. The hojo are easy because they start in a strong position on the wealthy side of japan.
I'd say:
Easy = Hojo & Uesugi
Medium = Mori & Shimazu
Hard = Oda, Takeda, Imagawa
But it might just be me. As Mori/Shimazu I was usually to slow to conquer territory and the eastern clans had grown much stronger than me.
i) Is there a rule for the level of difficulty? Like things, the AI does and Expert and not on Easy? Or that loyality in provinces is harder to be kept on Expert? Or something similar?
Well the Hojo is one of the easier clans to play as, since they start out with some of the richest territory. Uesugi is similarly easy, maybe even a bit more so since their lands are not only rich but easily defensible as well (me loves Mutsu and Echigo! :2thumbsup: ).
If you want more of a challenge, I'd suggest playing either the Shimazu or Takeda clan. If you *really* want a challenge, then go with the Imagawa, Mori, or Oda. :yes:
The 'easy' part in Shimazu is the relatively safe position, but if you don't advance to get better land, you'll be put down eventually. It's a good clan to begin with for a few campaign years and battles, I guess. To learn the mechanics ~:)
Nice Drisos, this is exactly what I was looking for. One last question "Decreases your sight." implies less effect of archer/gunman fire?
Lol, I thought I picked a rather difficult clan with the Hojo because they are pretty surrounded. :wall: I played the Shimazu first and overran Japan with No Dachis. Wasn't on Expert though. I'll try one of the more difficult ones next then. :juggle2:
Thanks for the other answers. :idea2:
Nice Drisos, this is exactly what I was looking for. One last question "Decreases your sight." implies less effect of archer/gunman fire?
No, that's just about you own observations. ~;) It's not a big role in the game, but fog does bring a surprise now and then. :book:
Ah, fighting in fog. My palms are getting sweaty just thinking about it.... ~D
Ok, I have some time and I have enough of peace. Loading the game I see that Shimazu has his pants down.
I invade Tajima and Harima with considerable armies and send 1,5 units of cavalry and some No Dachi to Inaba where some rebels produced an uproar. The latter I do just for fun or to get an easy win if Shimazu and rebels get into trouble.
As I already said I prepare the invasion of Kyushu by sending troops to Kawachi.
See what comes out:
Best case in Inaba. The rebel army does NOT retreat and an equally strong Shimazu army joined to hold one of their last ports.
Battle of Inaba:
I want to keep my self away from battle and see what rebels and Shimazu do. I'm attacking in spring, what, as I now learned, is an absolutely useless and irrelevant information. I'm choosing fog as weather, which is good because I'm playing on surprising both armies with a heavy cavalry charge.
So I start mooving towards the center of the map, avoiding a forest, when suddenly rebels come sprinting down the hill to my left. Dammit! What are they up to? I see a Shimazu unit of archers far ahead of me, damned fog! Already regretted! The rebels rush into the forest near my troops. I withdraw and hope for them to turn left towards the Shimazu. They stop, and still there come archers running down the hill, some of them very lonely. I think of hunting them down but don't. Senseless. As the take no notive of me, I decide to climb up the hill where they came from. If they approch the Shimazu I would be able to heavily hit their flanks.
But they don't they start rushing towards the other side of the map, still in a very long line. The Shimazu archers approach me uphill and as they want to start shooting I charge with a single Yari Cav unit. Massacre. The rest of the Shimazu troops are approaching. Arquebusiers, Cavalry Archer and another archer unit. They stop, then the latter approaches again. Withdraws and approaches again, backed up by the gunmen. I get them the other Nagi Cav unit to play with and chase the Cav Archers with my yari cavs. I send the No Dachi as well because I'm on total encounter anyway. (I bet I now get rebels racing into my flanks. :idea2: ).
Total massacre. All archers and gunmen dead. I hope that my yari get the archers while I'm looking for the rebels with the NDs and Nagi Cavs.
Suddenly, the Shimazu general routs and the battle is over. Looks like the rebels already withdrew. Funnily, at the "You Win"-Screen they are said to be my allies. Don't recall the negotiations. Must have been quite a lot Sake. :D
Shimazu withdraws in Harima. He would have done same in Tajima but he has no way out. So:
Battle of Tajima
I have loads of archers and its flat coast map.
I approach the enemy that is far ahead of me. Suddenly some archers start firing from a little forest at my left. I answer with arrows, too. Then I send some peasants in to bring the archers out of formation and chase some horses into their flanks. The peasants get defeated and I loose to many horses while my archers approach the main part of the enemy army in a larger forest at the foot of a hill ahead of me. I send NDs to kick the last archer in the little forest. They are chased down by cavs while I send the infantry to the remaining Shimazu units. Mainly archers, as well. My arrows got a lot of them down. The infantry does the remaining.
His peasants withdraw, the archers, including the general, die bravely.
I get after the peasants which try not to stay in archer range. Still I shoot a lot of then. A cav charge and they rout, right into their arms. All dead, battle won.
Nice round, got three new provinces. Funny, too: Uesugi reemerged in the Oda province. This is getting funny up here but I think I'll get a strong defensive position and concentrate on the south.
https://img373.imageshack.us/img373/8165/uesuginm5.jpg
To be continued. :)
Lol, weird. Bitchu should've been loyal to Oda by now... Surprising, those Uesugi... Anyway, it's kinda fun that it's not Shimazu vs. Hojo Finishoff-campaign anymore.
On expansion, I'd suggest: Take Shikoku within a year from now or so. You can then rest in Iyo for a while, while you conquer southern Honshu. The Oda and Uesugi will probably kill eachother, and Shimazu doesn't have much forces either... shouldn't be too hard to move on to a Bitchu-Hoki(-Iyo) line of defense.
Good luck! :book:
Thanks for the advice, Drisos.
Before giving those Christian Daimyos some Christmas rest, I'll deliver my presents:
As I planned and you suggested, I'm moving to Shikoku. Awaji is first to fall. Mass invasion there and a not unconsiderable army there (relatively to the rest I see of him.). Still I expect withdraws till, perhaps in Ijo, he faces me with full (remaining) strength.
See what happens...
Retreat in Awaji. As I thought. Additionally, Oda and Uesugi did NOT kill each other, they now build a second and third rather strong factor in Honshu (apart from a relatively big Shimazu army). I stick to turtle tactics and wait for anyone of them to come. :juggle2:
Meanwhile, I'm moving Shinobi to Hoji in order to apply some (more) pressure :oops: and invade Sanuki and Awa with splitted troops.
https://img385.imageshack.us/img385/1299/invasionni1.jpg
Moved forward. Awa and Sanuki surrendered and fell back. Funnily, Oda joined me in Sanuki. Apart from that they did not do anything interesting. Now I'm in a situation, where Oda could backstab me. I'm moving forward to Ijo and Tosa. The latter one must be the origin of Shimazus peasant armies and a relatively advanced province. I decided to end the siege in Inaba, although the castle about to fall. Want to keep the port. It's winter, BTW.
Retreat in Iyo, now Tosa has to fight. They do, outnumbered 3to1. Snowy map with many forests. I have 3 units of cav, what a shame. I see his General in the forest to my right and I bring archers in position.
Since he does not seem to have archers he does not do much. Arrows are raining down on him with minimal effect. My archers fire uphill and the woods catch the majority of the projectiles. I'm advancing with infantry but decide to wait till my archers did their job. Being economic, one could say.
His second and probably last unit is now visible. Peasants, too. They get some arrows as well and, being sure to kill all of them and avoid a siege I start surrounding them with infantry and cavalry.
They start moving now. Towards my archers. I tackle the moving army from 3 sides, stop the arrow rain and watch the happening.
Rout, inmediately. They could as well have done Seppuku. Shimazu generals get more stupid every turn, I think. Poor AI. I close the circle and kill all 224, loosing 9 men.
The siege is not much of a story. 29 archer defenders, 2 whose horses have already died. :laugh4: I send one unit of cavalry in, they kill all, loosing 4 men.
Shikoku is saved. I destroy the church that was build in Tosa and start preparations (palace?) for a Buddhist temple (40% Christians there, Merry X-mas!). Additionally I regroup troops. Doesn't look like I have to defend much against Kyushu troops so I send most of my attacking troops to potentially defend against backstabber Oda. Still I'm waiting for some action there in Honshu. 3 major (potential) enemy armies there. :smash:
https://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3960/invasion2im8.jpg
I guess this was my last action before Christmas, I'll give them and me a rest. Therefore, I wish all my readers to have a Merry Christmas and, if I'm busy a Happy New Year as well! See you in 2009 then. :clown:
ReluctantSamurai
12-22-2008, 19:57
h) Till now, I never was friendly to Christians, because I feared religious uproars in my provinces. Can somebody explain me, how exactly the different interactions (giving audience, accepting their proposal, building a church, building trading posts) with Christians affect the believe of my Daimyo and my people.
You can accept at any time. The conversion, as mentioned, doesn't happen until you build your first trader. Prepare ahead of time. Have at least two shinobi in every one of your provinces.....maybe extra in provinces far away from your Daimyo. Don't hardly waste your time on the arquebus...having a few in the interim before muskets is ok. Plan which provinces will have churches, which one gets the cathedral, and where to build the gun factory. You should have muskets years before anyone else gets them:beam:
One thing often overlooked by players afraid of the conversion is the income from the cathedral. That 1200+ koku has seen me through many a poor harvest:dizzy2: Those religious fanatics just can't wait to fork over their earnings in the name of god:whip:
Ah, good job in overrunning those. ~:) This should cost shimazu a great deal of his income. :book:
40% Christians? Holy crap! (ghehe)
How does loyalty seem in Shikoku. May proove a bit difficult.. let's hope for the best.
How about diplomatics? Have you allied Oda yet? (If I missed it out reading somewhere, sorry) Shimazu is a no-no of course.. but either Uesugi or Oda should be an ally for now. Anyone you must try to achieve that it's not you who needs to exit all those troops there. (they should kill eachother preferably)
You seem to have big load of cash btw! :2thumbsup: Only thing is those few armies in Honshu... once you get these down you win... :book:
Wow, took a while to read, but great, all of that writing, woah its comparable to an epic AAR, nice info :bow: also as martok said try oda or mori if u want a good challenge, though with your battle results your easily better at the game than me :laugh4: also i've never known uesugi to rebel in bitchu, in fact ive never known oda to own bitchu either, oh well :dizzy2:
Yay, back again. :smash:
Loyalty in Shikoku is a bit critical, yes. No thread but I'll need to spend some years in infrastructure and holding, requiring time and men. Here is my medium-term plan:
Hold Shikoku, slowly gathering troops for a quick invasion of Kyushu. This should break Shimazus neck. I hope for some action in South Honshu in mean time. I'm allied to the Oda and hope for the 3 big armies there to crash themselves.
2 turns without much action, then something interesting:
Oda cancelled his alliance with me, due to my war with his ally, Shimazu. This might draw attention to Honshu sooner then I thought. Oda might want to invade Sanuki, a temporal weak spot which I'm taking care of now. Well, I'll try to get friendly with Uesugi now.
Additionally, Shimazu drew troops to Bungo. Looks like I'm soon having some fun with the green root-force.
2 turns nothing, then BASH IN BITCHU!
Oda and Shimazu attacked Uesugi to whom I am still not allied. Still I think this is the time to attack. Revenge for my future friend!
So, Invasion of Oda-Bizen, Mimasaka and Hoki (both without Shimazu troops in there). Have to keep an eye on the Butcho garrison, which is growing steadily.
Attack on Hoki, I'm outnumbered 850 to 650. On of the first attacks I have a disadvantage. Still, I do not withdraw, because I expect low quality troops. DÖÖÖD! Wrong: Arquebusiers, No Dachi and Naginata in a weird formation await my arrival.
Hm, my archers do a lot o damage to their approaching No Dachi. I send cavalry to my right flank for giving them a big blow. Bäm, suddenly two big infantry units storm out of the forrest and hit my horses. I have to send help, leaving my archers nearly without protection, their infantr, especially their Naginata do the remaining. If I recall right, my first defeat in this campain... 350 killed, 500 lost. :wall:
Next attack, Mimasaka. A big Shimazu army returned, joined by an Oda army (is he at war with Shimazu now? He is said to be neutral...). Summing them up I'm otnumbered 1600 to 1350...
Oda is placed to my left. I'm moving along a valley towards the Shimazu troops. Lucky me! Oda seems to be attacking Shimazu. I would like to hurry now and crash them all, but the terrain is way to much highland. I approach slowly and see what is left over.
I Shimazu left two cavalry units (including general) to take care of me while the rest of his army seems to be defeating Oda. I want to provoke them with archer fire and block their attack with Yari Ashigaru. I'm a little too slow, loosing some bowmen, but the YAs do a decent job. His general gets defeated and roots.
I attack the rest of them, they come stoming through the forrest. Its an expensive fight because I cant bring my cavalry into play (damned woods) but my infantry is superior and wins. Meantime my horses kill Oda, who approached with his Daimyo unit, the only one left over.
Summing it up, kicked them both, killed nearly 1000 and lost nearly 500.
Battle with Oda. 1900 of mine against the remaining 400 Odas. Bad troop management, aye? Not much of a story. I kick the majority of his army with archers. Without loosing one men. Cav Archers ftw. His archer units, one of them general, hide in the forrest and await my bunch of No Dachis. They are outnumbered heavily but manage to kick quite a lot of mine, including my general! :thumbsdown:
Whatever, could have been easier, but I was in a hurry.
Oda killed in battle, no heirs. I'm angry with Shimazu and advance to Bitchu in order to help Uesugi. Additionally, I run a second attack wave to Hoki. Finally all my trops are good for something!
To be continued, perhaps even this year. :P
Aw, tough losses in Hoki and Mimasaka. Glad to hear the good news on the defeat of Oda. ~:)
Btw, if possible, it's be most helpful for you if the Shimazu would kill off the Uesugi. It will cost Shimazu some troops, and you won't have to betray and defeat Uesugi later on. (you would have to if you saved him now)
Btw, screen? ~:):book:
Yeah, I know. I'm being silly. :embarassed:
But this isn't about fast winning. This is about the new order I'm establishing. I will not tolerate that Shimazu will put an end to the line of Uesugi. He is just not entitled anymore to end anything on this isle. It is the Hojo who will send the Uesugi as well as the Shimazu to a life as monk or their death, be it on the battlefield or by Seppuku. :clown: (Sorry, I'm getting weird.)
But seriously, I'm getting nuts by now and launched everything to offense.
https://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5366/uesugiru3.jpg
My second wave on Hoki was succesfull, Shimazu retreated without battle although he moved his Daimyo there. The big attack on Bitchu will probably determine the fate of southern Honshu. Shimazu sent reinforcements, I have 1400 men attacking 1200 Shimazu defenders and I think I have the upper hand.
Bridge defense. I should watch the map a bit more precisely. But I have plenty of archers and learned from my faults. See what I can do.
Shimazu stays at distance. I try the tactics I used before and send my strong infantry to the bridge. He sends is best infantry to welcome me. I withdraw in time and build a block on the bridge. The defending force becomes attacker and rained down by arrows. I take a glace at his units. 2 of archers, no horses, rest is more Yaris than No Dachi, one of them general.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4098/uesugi2wd9.jpg
I hit my people as well and my block is expensive. His troops withdraw so I'm advancing a bit. This time he sends more, including his archers firing at me. Now I'm efficient, all his men get pierced like Brosnan, including his General.
The rest of his army advances, I still have some NDs left, so lets get it on. :2thumbsup:
Same story. I nearly loose all my infantry but so does he. And me has troops left. I think he got that, too. He is withdrawing. Some of them openly routing, rest just "marching quickly" as if death was behind them. :skull:
He is, in fact, but he is faster, he has horses. :laugh4:
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7983/uesugi3hb2.jpg
The rest isn't very thrilling. I only get some of them before they reach the "safe zone". Nevertheless, a nice victory and a good revenge for the shame of Hoki. And the process of battle is read perfectly from the overview:
https://img71.imageshack.us/img71/6733/uesugi4oc7.jpg
Everything looks fine. I'm besieging Uesugi now, as well as some Shimazu remainings in Mimasaka and some rebels in Hizen. It's perhaps a bit of a game problem but somehow, Uesugi did never want to see my emissaries since he is locked up in his castle. How disrespectful! I think there is no other way than ending the siege and thereby... ...his line. The other sieges will be ended as well. Tomorrow. This took some time and I'm tired. :sweatdrop:
PS: 16% Christians left in Tosa, nothing new from Butcho, apart from new troops arriving every turn. I think he wants Shikoku back. I'm prepared, muaha!
DAMMIT! (Sorry.)
I just kept telling everything that happened during the last turns, but the usually very useful extra buttons at my mouse screwed everything by accidentally returning to the page I was before.
So, I'll only give you a short overview.
I ended the sieges, not much of a problem. Then I concentrated on getting reinforcements, especially infantry. We both got two new heirs, I have 2, Shimazu only 1 now. And he turned Buddhist again, for what reason ever.
I'm attacking Izumo, Bingo and Butcho now. In Izumo is his Daimyo, in Bingo his (only) heir. Could be a final trust.
Oh my. Retreats everywhere. Funnily, Kyushu looks deserted, only one garrisn in the north. See If I can get the whole isle in one strike. First I'm isolating south and north. Thereby I can conquer the south without letting the northern troops help.
I have the smell of victory in my nose while I send my troops to Iwami and end the siege in Bingo.
https://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5866/emptycd2.jpg
Total succes. Retreats everywhere, siege ended well.
Is stick to my offense. Invasion of Aki and Hyuga. Port in Chukugo is very useful. Need mass troops to hold my instable position.
Took Hyuga as well as Aki without battle. Loyalty in Hyuga is difficult. Especially the remaining sieges will be problematic, as they are the first on big castles. I think I rush the south of Kyushu as fast and safe as I can and try to hold my position against the sieges and population.
Meantime, I'm advancing to Suo and Nagato. Might be able to catch his Daimyo.
Retreats, retreats, retreats. Except Suo. Daimyo HAS to fight. 1600 of mine against 1000 of his.
He awaits me on a woody hill right infront of me. I tickle him with archers and he cmes storming down. I'm pretty well prepared and soon his Daimyo roots, and dies. So does the rest of his army. Lost 265, killed 860. And the rest got trapped. :oops:
I have a nice position now, I'd say. Sadly I have no time left to think it through, so this is the situation at the end of this years offense.
https://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2497/empty2oz6.jpg
I wish you all to have a Happy New Year!
Wow! Massive citadels! :beam:
Victory is yours for sure... ~:) Happy new year. ~:wave:
I've just started a "starting at 1530" Takeda campaign. In the first two years Imagawa joined me in a battle and died on the field leaving no heirs. The result is that I've gained his lands... so off to a good start so far. A lot of rebellions so far so I'm on my toes trying to keep those down. Gaining Hizen from Imagawa was very welcome however as the Takeda starting provinces have poor farming potential.
Happy New Year. :balloon2:
Yeah, getting the lands of a former ally really rocks. :2thumbsup:
Indeed, Shimazu is pretty smashed by now. Unless he has something big growing in Satsuma this might be done within another year. I'm looking forward to the citadel battles. Never did one before and now I can choose. :dizzy2:
Yes I think your campaign is now a forgone conclusion patdj. What will be your next campaign? :bow:
Mine is going ok, but my expansion is still stifled by poor income. To make matters worse Shimazu is now going after Hizen. I have held him off for the last 6 seasons, always fighting at a disadvantage with a smaller force.
My attempts om Sagami where Hojo is holding out, have been a dismal failure so far. Two attempts have resulted in defeat, the second in the loss of Shingen... I think I may be striking to early before my force is at a decent strength. I also don't have enough decent cavarly to take on his No Dachis.
In this campaign I have taken the different aproach of going fully Christian. That means accepting the Portuguese converting all provinces to Christianity and building churches in every province and most importantly no Monks.
:bow:
My fellow soldiers,
I am General Hayashi, the leading military adviser of Great Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu, the Conquerour of Whole Japan. Japan has seen 245 winters since the Ashikaga unrightfully snatched away the lordship over this isle.
Today it is again the Hojo, who bring peace after all this years of war. I am proud to have done what I could in order to reestablish the rightful dynasty. I led my sword as well as the sword of thousands of fellow Samurai to the battlefields, in glory, honour and victory!
Hail to Shogun Ujiyasu, hail to Japan, hail to the Samurai!
Excerpt from Hayashi's records:
"It is winter in the 6th year of Tenshô Tenno. The Babarians call it the 1579th year. This years offense was a break through. Shimazu troops are clustered all over their remaining provinces and unable to regroup properly. Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu took four provinces in Kyushu, Bungo, Higo, Hyuga and Chikugo. I know from a messenger of Hojo Uiyasu-sama that the Daimyo troops are trying to end the ongoing sieges in the South.
Me and my troops reached the most western coast of Honshu this fall. Now where are moving over to Kyushu, planning to land in Buzen. I don't expect much defenses their, since Shimazu is heavily outnumbered. He took to heavy losses in Suo and the young Daimyo seems unable to keep his troops together. The final battle will come within a year."
"Spring is coming. We arrived in Buzen one half moon ago. Shimazu had his troops retreated, the peasants seemed relieved that there will be no fighting on their lands. Still I see crosses hanging onto to some people necklaces. Especially the local noblemen seem to carry it with great believe but I don't think that this will last long.
Today a messenger arrived from Uiyasu. He said that Obi castle fell to our troops in a perfect victory. Udo was taken, though bloodily, as well as Iwakuni Castle in Suo. Looks like the siege on the citadel in Buzen lasts until the end of spring. We hope for the safety of our Great Daimyo!
My troops have another week of rest, then we move westwards and invade Chikuzen. A last major Shimazu force is awaiting us there. I asked Hojo Ujiyasu-sama to send a minor force to Hizen in order to overwhelm the little garrison there and guard the border in case the Shimazu army we are attacking is retreating towards them.
In the meantime Hojo Ujinao-sama, the talented heir to the Throne is attacking Daimyo Shimazu Muneharu in Satsuma."
https://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9534/onenm6.jpg
"I got a letter from Hojo Ujinao-sama yesterday. He told me that the coward Daimyo Muneharu fled over sea. Satsuma fell to his troops and the Shimazu forces are trapped in their citadel.
Daimyo Ujiyasu managed to take Yanagawa castle without much difficulty and determined to burn all Christian churches and foreign trading posts in Kyushu.
Unfortunately, the little troop attacking Hizen arrived there outnumbered 2 to 3. From what I heared they fought bravely against a large group of local warrior monks, supported by the fire throwing foreigners without honour or bravery, but where overwhelmed in the end. Daimyo Muneharu, who came here to lead his last big army, thereby managed to flee to Hizen. This will be the last decisive battle.
My troops are ready, we start marching. Ujiyasu-sama is supposed to meet us at Tachiyama tomorrow morning. We will rest there before we attack the last free Shimazu army, lead by the last heir to this minor Japanese family."
"The battle is over. We encountered Shimazu Muneharu-sama and 1000 of his men this morning on a wide and broad field in Hizen. It was fog on the fields and we hoped for a quick attack from multiple sites with critical cavalry strikes.
We found the Shimazu still manouveing. I could believe my eyes when I saw Christian unit wandering through the fog, without any protection, as if they where blind. They where heading to a little forrest to our left and I suggested Daimyo Ujiyasu to encircle these woods. He did, but he sent heavy cavalry after the two units of gunfire-men, too. Some minutes later scouts told us, that Muneharu-sama himself was following the fire-throwers. Another unit of cavalry was send with the scout in order to perhaps get a fast and easy grip on our enemy.
Some unjapanese yelling made me feel confortable, although I never loved to here the sounds of dying men. But these sure weren't ours. And the scout was right, as well. My lord went of to face Muneharu himself, our Yari Cavalry had him trapped at the foot of a hill.
The rest of the army I saw scrambled up in the woods, hoping to thereby defend themselves against our smashing horse power. Ujiyasu-sama told me to encircle them and attack, when the troops were ready or arrows started to rain down on us.
So far, neither the one nor the other thing happened so far. The Christians got chased of the battlefield, not worth one koku.
Then, we stormed. From about 4 sides my men moved uphill into the woods. No perfect circle, but the equally lethal. This time I couldn't hear whether these are the screams were those of my enemies or my friends, but as I was approaching in the secand wave of attack I saw more dead bodies with the green Shimazu emblem. Soon there were only archers left. As they were unable to aim properly in the thick woods we literally slaughtered them without much casualties. A messenger told me that our Daimyo had beaten Muneharu in battle. If that is really the case I couldn't tell, but it was good for my mens moral, in any way.
Soon they fled out of the forest, with my horses behind them. We took many heads, 950 in total but we are equally burning 166 of our brave soldiers, who made this victory possible on this glorious day.
The line of Shimazu has ended, there are only some rebel forces left in the castle."
"Today arrived a two messengers. One from General Ota, who took Hiroshima castle in Aki. The other one came from the south of Kyushu. Ujiyasus son Ujinao-sama, who successfully took Osumi with a minor army and without Shimazu defenses."
https://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7518/twokv0.jpg
"I met Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu today. He asked me end the ongoing sieges with the rebels in Satsuma and Hizen while he is visiting Tenshô Tenno in Kyoto Castle in order to be nominated Shogun.
The rebels will not be much of a problem, I would say, but for now I don't have the capacities effectively distributed and I will need until winter to be ready for an attack on the castle in Satsuma."
"Nagasaki castle fell three days ago. It was today the day I wanted to leave for Satsuma, to subordinate the last unpeaceful castle on this isle. But I was asked for an urgent audience by another messenger. He wore golden robes. It was a royal messenger of the Tenno himself. A message he send to all castles all over Japan:
A new Shogun was nominated. His name is Hojo Ujiyasu. Finally, peace has come. Finally, the Hojo rule again and will bring this country wealth and power. Hail to the Shogun!"
https://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6586/threefg9.jpg
Puh, finally done with this one. THis roleplay thing costs time. Need to go to bed. Cya. :D
A very good campaign patdj, and a most enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing it with us! :bow:
THX guys. Now that I'm done with I'm already missing it. But still, I'm a bit too busy at the moment for large campain reports. I'm playing a Viking Invasion campain sueing my free time. When I'm ready with that one I'll give one of the more difficult ones a try. With extended reporting, of course.
Sasaki Kojiro
01-10-2009, 20:51
Excellent writeup patdj :bow:
Excellent report Patdj. I loved every minute I spent reading it. Looking forward to the next one mate.
Biggest piece of writing i've ever engaged in :laugh4:
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