What I learned from my campaign...

[LeftEyeNine]

- Building the right net of diplomacy, you can dodge the highly probable consequences of Realm Divide.

- Making allies with one of the giants and doing your best to make them clash with the "next" big thing can win you the game.

- Koku is meant to spend. Splash it around to even out the diplomatic surface before anything that may threat your integrity breaks out.

- Metsukes and monks can act as one-man armies at times. When you have the chance, there's no need to spill blood.

- "Vassalizing" is the way to go when you are destined to accomplish the campaign objective especially when your conquests are prone to countering from different angles.

- Arranging marriages are bases to build alliances on. The positive bonus is substantial.

- In any case you have to go naval with at least 2 packs of bunes each fleet having at least 6 ships.

- Aggression is best during your first years of reign. When you have to pause to breathe, starting off with improving the farmlands is a better idea since Realm Divide *may* trash your income provided you did not found a smooth diplomatic balance.

- Make the most of trade. Even one turn of trade that generates 200 koku will come in handy.

- Diplomacy panel is your key to victory. Silent storms do blow there. Keep checking, keep speaking.

- You feel sorry when your once-giant ally is shrunk to an extent of extinction during your Shogunate celebrations. :no:

How about yours ?

[Daevyll]

A few observations from my games so far:

- Dont threaten unless you actually mean to declare war
- The trade-spots are very valuable, both in tradeable income and in making you an eligible trade partner (which has diplomatic benefits as well). They're worth even more than their trade values suggest!
- Garrison your frontiers and strategically vital provinces with about 5 units (3 bow and 2 melee work well for me). This enables you to turn back weak assaults from your castles, and bleeds strong attacks enough that you only lose the 1 province.
- Always have a strategic reserve (army). The AI is quite aggressive, uses naval invasions, and you just cant trust your neighbours, so it pays to have a defensive reserve army. It doesnt have to be big or high quality, just powerful enough to combine with a garrison and hold up the enemy (see above) or at least bleed it enough to prevent losing multiple provinces.
- Always use a tactical reserve in battle. 2-3 units is enough, I especially like Yari Samurai in this role because they have a speed boost ability, plus you often need to respond to cavalry movements against which they have a big bonus.
- Embed a Ninja in your attacking army, faster movement + further line of sight is great
- Embed a Metsuke in attacking armies as well. He can protect your army from enemy agents, kill them, and helps pacify new conquests
- Black Ship is a money-sink and not cost-efficient. Scuttle it.

Oh, and 3-way battles during campaign play are epic :)

[Rothe]

A few observations from my games so far:

- Dont threaten unless you actually mean to declare war
- The trade-spots are very valuable, both in tradeable income and in making you an eligible trade partner (which has diplomatic benefits as well). They're worth even more than their trade values suggest!
- Garrison your frontiers and strategically vital provinces with about 5 units (3 bow and 2 melee work well for me). This enables you to turn back weak assaults from your castles, and bleeds strong attacks enough that you only lose the 1 province.
- Always have a strategic reserve (army). The AI is quite aggressive, uses naval invasions, and you just cant trust your neighbours, so it pays to have a defensive reserve army. It doesnt have to be big or high quality, just powerful enough to combine with a garrison and hold up the enemy (see above) or at least bleed it enough to prevent losing multiple provinces.
- Always use a tactical reserve in battle. 2-3 units is enough, I especially like Yari Samurai in this role because they have a speed boost ability, plus you often need to respond to cavalry movements against which they have a big bonus.
- Embed a Ninja in your attacking army, faster movement + further line of sight is great
- Embed a Metsuke in attacking armies as well. He can protect your army from enemy agents, kill them, and helps pacify new conquests
- Black Ship is a money-sink and not cost-efficient. Scuttle it.


I play without major reserves in the strategy map, but only if I have enough information about the enemy movements.

My armies will have a monk rather than Metsuke or Ninja. The reason is that a Metsuke is worth far more in a high wealth province to boost tax. Monks do a clearly beneficial thing for the army, whích is to boost morale. Also, you can break the monk out of the stack if you want to demoralize the enemy stack rather than boost your own morale.

A ninja can see a lot more if it is already in your target area, rather than in your stack. It also allows better pre-emptive army sabotage to separate enemy stacks if you want to attack only one at a time - you see the stacks and you can pick one to sabotage (sabotaged stacks do not reinforce). Also, you might see a situation where you don't want to attack at all, and this is easier if the ninja is in enemy territory before your army takes a single step.

As for garrisons, I find that matchlock units and samurai archers are perhaps the best additions to any garrison.