Finally bought Fall of the Samurai and these are my thoughts

So I finally bought this Fall of the Samurai device, thought I might as well give my thoughts about it.

Thought #1: This games kinda...slow, I guess is what I'd call it. I'm playing as Tosa and i'm 3 and a half years into my campaign( a year is like 24 turns or something?) and I've only captured 3 provinces, though i'm not too far from capturing Sanuki, the last Shikoku province.
Modernisation also takes a while in my opinion but it's probably supposed to be like that, took me a year and a half to get to level 2 then another year to reach level 3

Thought #2: This game is mightly challenging, as pointed out above, 3 years in and I only have 4 provinces.
I went into most of my early battles thinking "ha ha samurai enemies, I have guns!" Now I have learnt to respect and somewhat fear samurai, they are worthy foes.
I've also been bankrupt 3 or 4 times, doesn't help when all the buildings cost lots of money but I've survived somehow.

Thought #3: The map is way different and took a while to get used to but now I think the new map is amazing.

Thought #4 Most of all this game is FUN! I never would have thought, with all the challenge and hardship that i've faced that it would be so fun. Fun, fun, fun.


I've missed alot of other stuff in the game but this basically sums up my experience so far. All up this game is really quite amazing and I really have to thank CA for making it.

The speed takes some getting used too, as well as the slower than usual conquest. But once you set your mind to this, it is really a great expansion.

Yeah, it does take a while to get used to but it's well, well worth it I love this device so much. I have been playing the last few hours and even though I started slow, I've started to pick up alot of speed. I finally control all of Shikoku, Goto Island and I've also managed to gain a foothold on Honshu, capturing Settsu and even Yamashiro. Now onward to battle the heart of the Shogunate, for the Emperor! (Even though the intro movie seems to portray the Emperor as the bad guy.)

All in all I am loving my Sendai campaign in FotS. I have finally gotta balance between modern Shogunate Infantry and Katana Kachi :) Have a mixed army, where I use the tactic of hitting the enemy with my sharp shooters and line Infant, while i flank and charge with my Yari Kachi, Katana Kachi and Yari Ki :) Awesome Fun. Every 'koku" (I don't think the Japanese currency was called Yen till the 19th century.... maybe i am wrong) counts :juggle: I am juggling with my treasury and whom to attack, due to the consequence of loosing trade, leading to bankruptcy, loosing honor and army desertion and rebellion a chaotic chain reaction :( This is the 1st TW game Every penny spent or invested counts, for the future of your empire, way more than you could imagine. I am a spendthrift at heart so you can imagine what loads of conundrums i have to go thru :dizzy2: Right now I control the Northern Most Island, and some parts of North and sitting on a treasury of ~ 11k :) And the year is 1868, and am contemplating on advancing into Imperial territory :creep: I was an ardent fan of M2TW (with the year and turn put to the actual 2 turn /year campaign) But Now I seem to love this one more :bounce:

oh i am also in the logic of buying or not buy

I have had probably the most fun messing around with the FOTS units. Based upon a number of Long Campaigns with different factions it is too bad that the AI armies continually walk towards my army, since I have no will-power to stop employing a lot of arty pieces. Almost every encounter sees the opposing army routing before ever getting into rifle range. I only play vanilla and prefer Normal/Normal. I wouldn't have minded a hard-code limitation on arty pieces (did I mention I have no will-power to play by house rules?), and of course get those AI soliders hustling to the front instead of slowly marching forward. In the end though, what is needed is the AI fielding much more arty pieces to get me moving from my defensive position.

Still, agree that FOTS works on a number of fun levels even if it is typically weak on the challenging side of things.

Regards,
TS!

Well I also play on N/N, and presently playing as the Rep. of Satsuma (away with the pompous emperor and proud shogun) I have mostly been able to survive due to my naval superiority and by that keeping trade with France and Britain open, and presently making 20k-25k each turn :D But when I am to attack sometimes the AI chooses to stay on a high ground, instead of charging, and this happened when I deployed without any arty :( I think when you have arty the AI is supposed to charge against you, but charging over a field is quite impossible in real sense, by the time you get to the enemy lines you are out of breath cannot fight, so that they march, but since you have superior guns and arty they never get close enough to the charging distance :-P ( well that's my 2 cents in that ...lol) anyways have fun with FotS :D