*Sniff* What's that Oda?

Well here's my bit of refreshing fun, following in the footsteps of Gollum.

A Hard Oda Sengoku Jidai campaign. I haven't played very much so far, but perhaps you fellows could tell me whether I am headed for destruction or not. It is very different from MTW.

https://i52.tinypic.com/2f04yrs.jpg

https://i55.tinypic.com/2r3cffd.jpg

Imagawa attacked Uesugi immediately, and I rallied half my military to Owari under the Daimyo and the other half to Kawachi.
I took Mikawa... But I have never seen such bloodshed! Missiles are just godawful murderous in STW, and I lost all but 45 men from 360 Yari Ashigaru. Finally sick of such waste and thinking my campaign was already finished, I charged my three units of archers, the Daimyo and remaining Ashigaru across the bridge against the two units of archers and battered Yari Samurai. Luckily the Daimyo covered the ground swiftly and they were chased from the map.

Since then I fought one battle in defence of Totomi with three units of archers and some Yari Ashigaru under the Daimyo against two units of Yari Samurai, two of archers and two of Ashigaru. I covered a small mound with what I had and just battered them with what missiles we had, knowing by then the potency of archers. With the help of that very savage unit of 11 men, the Samurai were routed under an awesome hail of missiles and the archers fled with them.

My general strategy is to work from within a base of operations comprising all provinces within Totomi/Shinano/Etchu and Kawachi/Tamba/Wakasa. Currently I am desperately shifting Yari and what archers I can afford to the assistance of my Daimyo who is troubled with rebellion in the Imagawa provinces and also to the large defensive army in Kawachi, which has grown significantly enough by now to intimidate the Mori, and I am contemplating an attack against them since they have allied with Imagawa.

I am allied with Uesugi, Hojo and Takeda, intending for the short term to halt all eastward expansion at Shinano. Those provinces such as Iga and Kii in the south have been largely ignored except for upgrade of agriculture which is exclusive to those secure provinces for now, and I recently began fortifying them since the peasants became grumpy after a poor harvest.

I am the richest faction with 2407 koku in profit on an average season, and I used this last harvest to finance a large levy of Yari Samurai which as you can see are on their way to take Shinano and Hida with the Daimyo.

Hojo is the most advanced!

I think it most likely I will consolidate a firm base within those borders after removing Imagawa, defeating all rebels within the borders mentioned, and then an attack against the Mori will follow, who have the greatest potential so far it seems but are severely weakened by rebellion.

This is my first real attempt at STW!

(P.S. Archers are horrible! Oh the slaughter!)

Missiles do more damage as units carry less armour on average than MTW in STW, especially at the early stages of the campaign when Naginata mounted and on foot are not present (in any numbers at least).

With the Oda, the strategic dillema is whether you will clear the rebels in Ise and Kyoto before you proceed elsewhere, or, if instead you'll take on the other clans and leave them rebels for later. Ise and Kyoto are good provinces but, the rebels there are loaded with WMonks that are very difficult to tackle early on without any comparable units of your own (WMonks/Naginata foot). This means that you may have to try more than once and suffer large casualties.

The Oda have a discount on Ashigaru - that's both on yari Ashi and teppo (guns). So becoming Christian makes sense with them, and their strength is in rushing as Ashigaru are cheap and easily available.

My take is to rush the right hand clans (that is the northwestern clans): Imagawa/takeda/hojo/uesugi, as lands there are far more fertile. This carries the risk that your rush may stall after which point your enemies will outtech you and it will be all the way downhill then. In Gold edition you play, it also carries the risk of clan reappearances if you are not quick enough to snatch all the ex rebel lands of a clan you wiped out - by killing their Daimyo.

Generally, do not move into Shinano intending it permanently (quick raiding attacks are always ok), unless you have already a significant proportion of teh provinces that are adjacent to it. From the position you stand, this means getting over Totomi, Suruga, Kai at least before you make a perma-move into Shinano.

Even if you decide to take on the rebels in Kyoto/Ise, take a defensive posture against the Mori, as defeating them will waste you time and will get you little in return - their lands are poor. Instead your north-western enemies will use that time and be coming at you, especially if one of the clans there defeats the others (typically the Hojo or the Uesugi that have their backs against the sea).

The income you get in STW is yearly - you get money only in harvest time - that's the Automn turn. So the income you see does not cme per turn, but per four turns - just so you know :)

Also be careful and wise with your heirs and your daimyo - don't let them die as they generally come in shorter supply than in MTW.

Glad to see you moving into STW.

:bow:

I agree with gollum about heading for the richer pastures of the Kanto plains. Ise and Yamashiro are rich provinces, however, and the +1 bonus Yamashiro provides to every unit trained there should not be overlooked.

The real threat from the south is more often Shimazu than Mori. The vast majority of Oda campaigns I've played, regardless of the starting date, usually end with Shimazu overrunning Mori and a two-front war with them and whomever survived the battles to the north.

Just make sure that's you:laugh4:

Its always a dillema - whether its worth it to spend the resources to take them early, that is likely to be costly, or simply go North in order to take from your future opponents the resources that will help them crush you later on :)

Indeed Shimazu become eventually a thorn - they have their backs to their wall and they just roll forward eventually.

The Oda need to anchor their one side to safety at least before too much time passes.