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I've played capaign games lots of times but only the daimyos in the corners... Shimazu, Usegui... Playing Takeda and Oda has really been a pain. I'm having great difficulty. I get surrounded, don't earn enough koku and then they all pick on me because I'm weak. Alhtough I can defend myself though tactical expertise, waves and waves of attacks wear me down... and I don't produce as fast as them. What's the trick???
[This message has been edited by jomni (edited 09-26-2001).]
Maybe try to expand quickly at the beginning of the campaign. Spend koku on troops instead of buildings.
If you are not producing troops as fast as your enemies, maybe you can build additional castles and dojos to train more troops. In the early campaign you might not have much koku so you might find yourself training more yari ashigaru. It's probably going to be more quantity than quality at this stage.
In MI you can also upgrade farmland since they are cheaper and faster than in STW1, but only do it for the richer lands like Owari.
you might also try building alliances with a few of your neighbors. give some consideration; you don't want to ally with someone when your provinces are the only way towards their expansion (and vice versa). but I've found that they do tend to take the heat off a bit if you ally with the right ones. For example, when playing Takeda, ally with Hojo and Oda: this lets Hojo concentrate on Uesugi, and lets you work on Imagawa (consequently, Imagawa will be at war with both you and Oda, a two front war for them). Just don't get careless and leave your provinces too defenseless, keep in mind your allies will eventually become your enemies in the future.
Thanks guys, I kinda thought of those ideas before... it's just hard to impliment.
I'll try the ashigaru trick... I rarely train ashigaru. But it makes sense at a historical perspective. Armies at that time are composed of lots of ashigaru. Samurai aren't that many because of the bloodline requirement.
It sounds like the problem lies in your strategy not your tactics. Play the game at an easier level and autoresolve the battles (I can hear the sniggering already), the idea is to see what strategy works not your tactical ability.
This is a very quick way of finishing a campaign, at hard level it can take 40 minutes to win as the Mongol Horde and about 1hr 20 to win as Hojo on medium.
Make as many alliances as possible, expand towards one end... if you are in the middle I tend to go left as there are less daimyos.
If I go right its with a large army and I pretend I'm the horde, so stay mobile and hit as many castles as possible and sell off everything. Don't seige just let one of the opposing clans do this.
Use a non-heir general who you can kiss goodbye.
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Victory first, Battle last.
Ashigaru is cheap. Make use of them. Quantity matters in the beginning. Scare 'em enemies away with your heavy numbers.
Making alliances is very very tricky. Check your alliances scroll repeatedly to see who's up against who..and use your emissaries to check the progress of a particular clan. A good example is takeda. It's almost impossible for takeda to have a truce with Mori (becuse MORI needs those western lands). Best bet is to make truce with Imagawa, Hojo and Uesugi. Make Kai and Sagami your central provinces for development. Dont ever ever lose Sagami if you intend to fight for your western domains because you need the port facility.
I usually take out Musashi before the Hojo build up because the river province is easier to defend and it provides a buffer for Sagami. After that, the HOjo will be busy with Uesugi..and then you have to watch out for Imagawa and Oda. At least you don't have 'em bloody warrior monks in the beginning of the game to fight with...
Another pointer - don't start building stuff on every province. Start off with one province and equip it wit the necessary (spear, archers dojos)..start upgrading your farms in other koku-rich lands. Start building fortresses, upgrades and mines only when you have enough army to defend yourself.
There is a trick where you make your own ninja assasinate your Daimyo. Drag and drop the ninja onto your Diamyo, and your Daimyo will survuve the attempted assasination. From then on, your Daimyo will be made of Steel and Feathers, and your entire army can fly.
This is a great trick, but can only be used in 1862.
Good Luck!