Trouble with Uesugi SP

[Anjin]

I am having trouble getting a good start playing Uesugi. Any tips about what I should be doing the first year or two? It seems that no matter what I do Imagawa, Takeda and Hojo are gang tackling me all the time.

[Vanya]

Hold Shinano and get a river province to guard. That way, you can grind them down to dust. If you can get Mushashi, you will do well... the Echigo-Shinano-Mushashi line is perhaps one of the most defensible and difficult to penetrate fronts in the game, and the best way around it is usually through Sado and Dewa. Get that front established, and the game is purty much yours.

NOTE: You start with 2 of the 3, but are spread thin on both sides. Hitachi can be a meat grinder for you, as it is quite flat ('cept for the corner http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif ). So I would stay away from Hitachi and go for Musashi...




[This message has been edited by Vanya (edited 11-19-2001).]

[Maltz]

If you are talking about the original STW sengoku campaign, you might want to completely abandon Hida & Shinano first as Imagawa/Oda will try to take it soon. Hojo is the most immediate threat. With the armies from the west it is possible to defeat Hojo and become rich early.

After Hojo is done, the fall of Takeda and Shinano (probably of Imagawa) can be expected soon.

[solypsist]

also, don't forget to use your emissary early on to ally with clans bordering the enemy clan you intend to attack regularly. if you're going after hojo, then ally with imagawa (he always grabs shinano) and takeda/ allies can support your attack to help minimalise your own casualties.

[BSM_Skkzarg]

Of course, alot has to depend on your difficulty level, but be prepared to consolidate your lands before going on the offensive. Pull out of Shinano, creating a 2 front hostile border (don't worry about Sado - I have never seen the ronin attack from there) and concentrate on troops - balance yari and archers - then, depending on your style, blitzkrieg or (my personal favorite) create a trap. Blitzing entails detaching a force to run THRU the enemy provinces and take out their infrastructure. If you do this, forget trying to HOLD the province, just clean it out. The danger here - especially early in the game - is creating rebellion troops that add to the might of your enemy. To create a trap, set 4 or 5 archer units in Shinano, along with 2 or 3 yari sams. This force is built for defense in the province, and can hold it against a force 2x its size with ease. As Shinano is rich AND massively exploitable, its arguably the most desired and important province on the map. Your enemy will waste his strength attacking Shinano, where you can and should bleed him as dry as possible. In doing so, you can drastically increase your strength advantage in manpower over your enemies.

Qapla!

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BSM_Skkzarg
"A mind is a terrible thing to taste."

[Anjin]

I've been playing on hard. My current strategy before returning to the forum was concentraing on Hojo and if neccessary allowing Shinano to be taken. I only played a couple of years in this campaign so we will see how it goes. Blitzkrieg? I think I like that idea. Thanks for the advice.

[Anjin]

I tried the campaign on normal and found that the clan starts with 3000 as opposed to 2000 on hard. I was able to expand at ease. I am going back to the hard level and try to kick some rear.

[DoCToR]

Anjin, the best plan is to pull yer forces from Hida into Shinano and Hida is pretty much worthless and only Ronin will take that even if left empty.

This gives you a two extra units with which to defend Shinano while you start building it up. I have done this on expert level and have kept Shinano from the start and now i am beginning to make in-roads into Hojo http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

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MizuDOC Otomo
DrJambo Ouchi