All these units...What the deal?

[Taffer]

Hello, I am new to this forum and the Total War series in general. I first heard about Shogun on another forum, where it was described as a good real-time tactical game. Seeing as there where no copies of Shogun in stores, I downloaded the Medieval demo and am looking forward to its upcoming release. However, I am a bit confused, what exactly do all of the diffrent unit types do? What is the Difference between the many diffrent kinds of foot knights and infantry units?

[Dionysus9]

Well Taffer, to answer your question-- we dont really know yet.

It won't be clear until the game is officially released-- but here are some guarantees:

Spear units will generally beat cavalry units. Archers will generally beat spears. And cavalry will generally beat archers.

Thats about as specific as we can get right now.

[chilliwilli]

Well stats of course, not everyone can build them since there are units who are specific to a faction(Longbows for English), units who are specific to a province, and units specific to regions. There are also other things to consider such as units with heavy armor will fatigue faster in an arid and hot environment. You should look at DDs preview here: http://www.fourbelowzero.com/games/strategy/MTW/preview.htm it really breaks down the more complex areas of the game such as units.

[Papewaio]

Essentially the units are easy to use. And you will really only start to notice some of the subtle differences with play.

In Shogun it is a paper/rock/sissor scenario.

Spears beat calvary
Calvary beat anything bar spears
Shock troops beat spears
Archers beat shock troops
Poor tactics get beaten by everyone.

That isn't to say you automatically win... every single soldier on the field (and in STW in single player you can have up to about eight thousand in a four way battle) is individually calculated for its attack in battle. And a lot of factors are included (fighting up hill, in woods etc).

So spears should beat calvary but the spearman may stuff up, miss the calvary and get overrun and killed.

[Forward Observer]

Quote Originally posted by Taffer:
Hello, I am new to this forum and the Total War series in general. I first heard about Shogun on another forum, where it was described as a good real-time tactical game. Seeing as there where no copies of Shogun in stores------[/QUOTE]


You have got to be kidding. I see at least 1 or 2 copies of the original Shogun in just about every store I go in---Target, Walmart, Best Buy, K-Mart, Toys-R-Us, Sam's warehouse, Circuit City, not to mention EB and Software, Etc. It is budget priced now at $10 to $12 US. There are not so many copies of the War Lord Edition around, but it is going for about $20 US.

That's a heck of a lot of fine wargaming for only $10, and it will help you learn the basic controls, plus practice a lot of the open field tactics that will be common to both games.

I fairly well breezed through the demo just becuase the controls, being almost identical to that of the previous games, were so familiar. STW will always be a classic.

Cheers

------------------
Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

[This message has been edited by Forward Observer (edited 08-09-2002).]

[MagyarKhans Cham]

Taffer from Secret?

that will certainly attract our GWIS

[chilliwilli]

hehe.

[Nobunaga0611]

Check out this site ran by Tootee, it'll help you out a lot:
http://shogun-academy.tripod.com/

[Taffer]

I have really enjoyed the game so far as I am also a big fan of a Warhammer Fantasy (a wargame created in England bearing so similarity to Total War), and I have enjoyed other real-time tactical games such as the Myth series. This game is hard to get a hang of though, as I know next to nothing about military theory and thus usually tend to loose.

"You have got to be kidding. I see at least 1 or 2 copies of the original Shogun in just about every store I go in---Target, Walmart, Best Buy, K-Mart, Toys-R-Us, Sam's warehouse, Circuit City, not to mention EB and Software, Etc. It is budget priced now at $10 to $12 US. There are not so many copies of the War Lord Edition around, but it is going for about $20 US".

I have checked at my local Best buy and CompUSA, but if this game is as available as you say I will try harder.

[Nobunaga0611]

You can order it online too. Just check www.totalwar.com (http://www.totalwar.com) for links. Its a good game and well worth getting no matter when you get it, but MTW is coming out in like 2 weeks so its your choice as whether to get MTW first or STW. But you can get the game at so many online sites for $20 (the warlord edition, which I would recommend) that its real easy to find.

[mizuYari]

Dont need to know about any military theory to play the game. The real battle field command is completely different, because in the game, the commander can place his men on the exact spot. In real life it is more like:

1. Scouts are placed at the front and run back and forth to report enemy positions;
Don't have scouts in this game.

2. The commanders use flags, drums, horns, firecrackers, fires, smokes and shouting to give orders. Therefore, the units tend to be close to each other (at shouting distance, at visible linesight, at hearing distance). In this game, the commanders see exactly what each unit sees and can order the men to where he wants.

3. High command (which commands the entire army) must send command to the different regiments using horse courrier. Usually, the commanders of the regime ride with the high-command, gets the battle orders and then go back to their regiment. Again, flags, drum and other means have to be used. There is no wireless phone at the time. In the game, communications between generals in multi-plays are as fast as one can type.

I think a game uses flags, drums, horns and horse couriers is a bit too difficult to master.

My point is: we shall never forget this is only a game.

MizuYari