How is your first campaign going?

The title says it all, how are you doing in your first actual campaign (let's say +15 turns in case someone decided to switch)?

I started up Mori on normal to try things out, I thought the campaign would be much more navy centric, but I've actually only had 3 naval battles where I've faced more than 1 enemy ship (I'm 60 turns into the campaign). Also not having any specialty land units made first 20 turns a real pain. I'm at war with Ashikaga Shogunate and neighboring them from north, I'm allied to Shimazu who hold their entire island and friendly with Chosokabe who also border Ashikaga and are turning into a powerhouse.
I'm literally rolling in cash (10K income) because I control all trade nodes except 1 and I should really put that money to use hiring armies to protect my borders from inevitable betrayal of Shimazu and to deal with Chosokabe, though Shimazu could be contained only using navy.
I'm just putting together fresh army to take on Ashikaga, all Samurai + Siege units with improved accuracy for bows, greatly improved melee attack for katanas and charge for cavalry.

I'm definitely going to see this campaign through, but next campaign I'll probably start somewhere near Philosophical Tradition so that I don't run out of things to build like I did in this campaign, or I could just start far away from trade nodes.

I'd move against the Shimazu if i were you. It makes you have only one way to go and so easy to concentrate all resources on one front. Even if you beat the Ashikaga you might get sandwitched by Chosokabe, Shimazu and whoever is strong on the other side behind the Ashikaga.

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Originally Posted by gollum

I'd move against the Shimazu if i were you. It makes you have only one way to go and so easy to concentrate all resources on one front. Even if you beat the Ashikaga you might get sandwitched by Chosokabe, Shimazu and whoever is strong on the other side behind the Ashikaga.

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I'm currently thinking about preparing full naval blockade against them and then sandwiching them from north and south with naval invasions, forcing them to spread their forces so that I'm unlikely to face a single full stack.

Sounds like a good idea. I'd go after them first and get Kyushu (their island), before moving towards Kyoto. I'd bust the Chosokabe next too :)

Then the road would be clear and can move forwards undisturbed.

Since I'm playing long campaign, I pretty much HAVE to capture Shikoku and Kyushu, otherwise I risk running into the strongest AI faction in my present game: Takeda. And I don't want to face them in mountainous plains and very large provinces when the distance between my best recruiting regions and frontlines grows.

That's right, on top of that imagine the Shimazu or Chosokabe turn on you, as they will. Hence, crush them in one front and then move on the other :)

Played two campaigns, both an legendary: Uesugi and Chosokabe. Both times I lost without taking a single province, I think for the same reason: I focused first on developing my income and spurned recruitment. Either that, or I should have waited until I recruited a full stack. I'm going to keep trying with the Chosokabe and hopefully I can at least unify Shikoku.

Probably Cecil. I would expect that a strong rush at the beginning is essential.

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Originally Posted by gollum

Probably Cecil. I would expect that a strong rush at the beginning is essential.

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I've heard the opposite actually. It looks to me like if you're too aggressive early on you'll get worn down quickly.

Right, don't take my word for it, i haven't the game yet.

I got it installed at 10PM yesterday, when I normally start heading to bed :p

Started a Chosokabe campaign (VH), took the province to the north and a turn later got a warning that the guys to the east are likely to invade soon because of my weakened state. Hope I can hold them off somewhere where I can take advantage of the terrain, and then go into build-up mode for a while.

I think recruiting Samurai Archers might have been a really bad idea. They're so much more expensive, fewer men per unit and cost more upkeep. I bet the ability to envelop even with ashigerus would be worth more in the field.

Once again, being at work is being in hell... =)

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Originally Posted by Cecil XIX

I've heard the opposite actually. It looks to me like if you're too aggressive early on you'll get worn down quickly.

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I guess that depends on the circumstances. Though I haven't played on legendary, I've taken a couple of provinces by letting 2 enemies wear each other down, or capturing a castle that was just captured by someone else. Just have to be really careful about betraying your allies, it doing so too early in game can cause serious loyalty and happiness issues on top of the relationship penalties.

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Once again, being at work is being in hell... =)

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Unlike hell it doesn't last forever. Weekend is coming ;)

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Originally Posted by Cecil XIX

I've heard the opposite actually. It looks to me like if you're too aggressive early on you'll get worn down quickly.

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That is what happened to me (Hard setting); now I am faced with a need for multiple armies for defense and expension, but I cannot afford both because I dont have the economic infrastructure to support them.
I cant build up my economy in existing provinces because I need the funds to maintain my military, so I need to conquer additional provinces. But I cant conquer new provinces because I cant afford the extra units without leaving myself wide open on the other front.

So in all I'd say I'm dying a slow death; I can keep what is mine, but make very little progression while other clans are making much greater progress. Soon I will be hopelessly behind in development and killed off no doubt.

Loving it.

Well I went for the Shimazu clan. A reasonably fast paced attack at the start to grab a few provinces, but nothing too excessive. I seem to be managing my finances fairly well, while keeping what appears to be a fairly decent sized army. And then a neighbour (who hated me, it wasn't exactly too surprising) attacks from the north. He appears to have a similar income to me and a fairly substantial army that matches mine... time to prepare for war!

Next turn, a full stack of enemy troops, higher quality than my own, appears out of no-where on a fleet of ships far behind the front lines. No possible way to get enough troops together to hold that stack at bay, considering it would be a fairly good match for both my armies combined. And those are both needed to match the enemy forces in the north, and are too far away to help in time.

Bugger.

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Originally Posted by LordKhaine

Well I went for the Shimazu clan. A reasonably fast paced attack at the start to grab a few provinces, but nothing too excessive. I seem to be managing my finances fairly well, while keeping what appears to be a fairly decent sized army. And then a neighbour (who hated me, it wasn't exactly too surprising) attacks from the north. He appears to have a similar income to me and a fairly substantial army that matches mine... time to prepare for war!

Next turn, a full stack of enemy troops, higher quality than my own, appears out of no-where on a fleet of ships far behind the front lines. No possible way to get enough troops together to hold that stack at bay, considering it would be a fairly good match for both my armies combined. And those are both needed to match the enemy forces in the north, and are too far away to help in time.

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I have played two times on hard, 15 rounds with the Uesugi and currently with the Date.
In both campaigns the Shimazu where killed within 3-4(!) rounds!

And other "major" clans are hardly doing better in my Date Campaign... I have reached 1567 and only my Date, the Hojo (weak) and the Chosokabe have survived the onslaught.
Leaving out the Chosokabe, who are still only located on their island, and out of 9 major clans only 2 have survived...

And it is not because of me; I have 7 provinces right now and annihilated 2 minor clans, but aside of the Chosokabe the rest of the map is domineted by 3 strong "minor" clans

I have noticed a huge turnover of provinces right at the beginning of both campaigns, with clans dying and (re)emerging everywhere, a huge contrast to the first Empire campaign I played 2 years ago, where there was one big stalemate within europe throughout the game.

If there is anything to complain, I would like to see more rebels and less "minor" clans to emerge, giving a bigger weight to the "major" clans

Maybe there should be a short period of turns where the major clans get a bonus against rebels and go after neighboring rebels beforing going after each other. It sounds a little unstable right now.

I'm against anything that gives the so-called "Major Clans" an edge. The best part about the Warscape engine is how every province is controlled by a unique faction instead of generic rebels.

I've played about 2 dozen turns as Shimazu and it's really lovely. At one point, as I was fighting Shoni and was only a turn away from a third castle to conquer I was backstabbed by a trade partner. They showed with two stacks near my capital and in the chaos I lost all I gained except my starting province. But a few decisive battles later I had the whole of Kyushu (the southern island) to myself. I've seen AI stack it's armies, backstab me when there was an opening, even sneak in an army by sea. What I'm glad I didnt see were the silly one unit speed bumps that were so annoying in the previous games.

So, Chosokabe VH campaign.

Started off on the military side of the arts, gathered an army and quickly moved on the province to the north. I take it and shortly after I get hints that my eastern neighbour (Miyoshi?) is planning to invade. I build a few more units, and my economy sort of grinds to a halt.

Now I send trade ships to the trade nodes and save money to improve my economy, and switch to the economic side of the arts, going for the improved farms. Both the Miyoshi and the other neighbour on the northeast side of Shikoku have a full stack each, mostly Ashigaru to the NE, Miyoshi has cavalry too.

I spend a good deal of turns sending trade ships to 3 different nodes and build ports to trade with other clans, and I start making a profit again, building new buildings almost every turn and training katanas every now and then.

I didn't attack until the NE clan moved on the Miyoshi and got repelled. Then I immediately threw my almost full stack at their castle town and took it. I then took the Miyoshis provinces but then I had to go to bed. This is the first time I've had anything like the upper hand on a neighbour :p

The battle against the Miyoshi was really quite nice. The AI used his cav pretty intelligently, his spears bunched up a bit but nothing incredibly stupid or passive.

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Originally posted by martyshka
What I'm glad I didnt see were the silly one unit speed bumps that were so annoying in the previous games.

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Welcome to the org martyshka, enjoy your stay.

this sounds like a substantial improvement and really good news. I haven't seen teh AI mass his forces properly since the MTW days when armies were massed due to teh 2d map.

Playing as Date. Wiped out the red clan you start at war with, killed my rebel brother, and have been allies with the green clan that starts next to you since 5 turns in (they apparently start at war with Takeda, so I was luckily not pulled into that). I use the green clan as an invasion buffer, but I know I will have to turn on them at some point because they hold 2 regions I need to win. It's unfortunate, because they ALWAYS join me when I declare war. I march through them and expand, boating around Takeda and finishing off Uesegi. There's an awesome 1-city island just north of Takeda's land; it has a gold mine and is owned by a minor clan. It's their only city, so I recommend wiping them out and taking this city immediately. It made 1800 a turn at the level it was at when I got it, I upgraded it (took 7 turns!) and now it makes 2500.

First time player of any Total War game and I must say that I am enjoying my experience thoroughly. I started with Shimazu since I wanted an easier situation to learn the game mechanics. I read the forums to look at strategies and techniques so I started by becoming an ally and trade partner to my neighbor to the north and positioning my general on my borders to the east since I was at war with that clan. Since I started with a blacksmith, I refrained from training any troops until I could train them with advanced weaponry - which luckily worked in my favor. Slow and controlled build-up and execution have worked for me.

I'm about 60 turns in and I really love the immense feeling when two generals do battle with full stacks of armies (just happened on my last turn). I had the enemy castle under siege when I was attacked and little could I believe my luck when I had a perfect positioning; 2 hills, one massive and minor, both covered in forests. I set a small strike team of my samurai archers/yari on the small hill with my main force and generals on my main hill. I waited until their main army committed to the large hill and then let my samurai archers' fire arrows fly. I took about 400 troop loss since my front lines became fragmented when some of their troops routed but I chalk that up to my not micromanaging.

I really like the ninja in the game. I enjoy having a 5 star master assassin that I can send to remove worrying generals. However, I'm not really sure if I'm using the market unit (the one that specializes in counter-espionage) correctly. Basically he's just sitting in one of my newly acquired castles to improve happiness since the religion is Christianity and I am not.

But as I said, love the game. Can't wait to try something harder once I finish this one up.

Welcome to the org Thelne, enjoy your stay. From what you post sounds like a fun campaign.

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Originally Posted by Thelne

However, I'm not really sure if I'm using the market unit (the one that specializes in counter-espionage) correctly. Basically he's just sitting in one of my newly acquired castles to improve happiness since the religion is Christianity and I am not.

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Welcome to the Org. We are the more mature fans of TW. You mean your Metsuke. The Metsuke has many uses:
- Use him as you are doing to pacify the populous
- Use him to apprehend and hopefully execute enemy Ninjas and Metsuke
- Use him to travel with your Diaymo or generals army to protect them from enemy agent activity
- Establish a "crime syndicate" to earn extra income

I kinda like the Metsuke :)

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Originally Posted by Cecil XIX

I'm against anything that gives the so-called "Major Clans" an edge. The best part about the Warscape engine is how every province is controlled by a unique faction instead of generic rebels.

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I think some minor factions start with 2-3 provinces at the start so they may have an advantage. The second minor faction I fought also had a 3-4 star general with 2-4 experience units near the start so there might be some bug giving them the edge.

That said, I do like seeing the minor factions being able to compete with the major ones. In my normal Chokosabe game, Oda died during the first turn. During the next 20 turns, Shimazu, Mori and Uesugi died as well, with Shimaze reappearing then dying again. Hojo eventually got killed by a minor faction after being in war with the Takeda and too many other factions. The most powerful factions right now are me, the Shoni and the Yamano. I've been trading with the Shoni for a while and I attacked the Yamano after they went to war with each other.

Also, the Kanto plain yields might have been nerfed from Shogun. The eastern part used to have the richest provinces. Unless the factions there are just behind in developing, the yields there are not noticeably different than the lands near me.

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Originally Posted by Barkhorn1x

Welcome to the Org. We are the more mature fans of TW. You mean your Metsuke. The Metsuke has many uses:
- Use him as you are doing to pacify the populous
- Use him to apprehend and hopefully execute enemy Ninjas and Metsuke
- Use him to travel with your Diaymo or generals army to protect them from enemy agent activity
- Establish a "crime syndicate" to earn extra income

I kinda like the Metsuke :)

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I use them to increase the tax rate on my richest provinces.

I thought the last one was for the ninja?

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Originally Posted by andrewt

I use them to increase the tax rate on my richest provinces.

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That's essentially all I do with my Metsuke, if I can't recruit them from a province with philosophical tradition (+1 or more experience level) I send them wandering around bribing and apprehending until they gain a rank and retainer. Though just having them in castles "overseeing" slowly gives them exp, it's so little you probably won't reach 3 star level starting from 1 even during an entire game.
stationing Metsukes in provinces with gold mines + market really brings in the money.

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Originally Posted by andrewt

I use them to increase the tax rate on my richest provinces.

I thought the last one was for the ninja?

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Good call and I gotta check on that last one as you may indeed be correct.

My Mori campaign is still going after 7-8 years. Thought I was a goner as I lost Aki but my capital switched to Iwami - my only other province. Surprisingly, my war with the Amako is still going on. Neither of us can get a knock out blow on the other. I've taken Iwami from them and that is as far as it goes. Amako fails to take back Iwami and I can't take Izumo. The Amako have sued for peace twice, but smelling blood and their weak army, I've declined the offer. The first time, my army made it to the Izumo castle to besiege it and the Amako sallied out and beat me because I rushed to the seige without waiting for trailing samurai units to catch up.

One thing I've noticed is that the AI does not protect its capital well enough - but honestly, I haven't either. I witnessed a double knock out in my campaign. the Kikkawa sent their whole army against me and I had one or two paltry units to block their march to Aki castle. Thought I was done for. Suddenly, during the AI moves, their army disappeared and I noticed the clan on the opposite side from me was occupying the Kikkawa castle. By the end of the AI moves, that conquering clan was eliminated as well and the Hattori banner was flying above the Kikkawa castle.

I have to say, I was punch drunk for a while with all the fighting. I just wanted the fighting to stop so I could build something - an army, buildings...anything. There always seemed to be 2-3 clans at war with me leaving no opportunity to build the economy or an army. Fortunately the clans in my area aren't much better, though the Amako have recently shown signs they are out-teching me. I need to eliminate them soon - very soon. Personally, I think I'm doomed at this point, but I'll tough it out and see how long I can last.

Started my first campaign as the Uesugi on Normal and it's given me enough of a challenge that I can't complain. Fought the first battle against the Rebels and sustained way more losses than I had anticipated. Ashigaru just whittle away under concentrated Arrow fire. After that I began a slow build up. With the provinces so large I needed enough troops to stay with my Damyo and also muster a second expansion force. You start with your southern neighbours as vassals and I got friendly with all my other neighbours as well except for the Benji to the East whom you start at war with. My Damyos brother took an invasion force to the Benji homeland.

One turn away from their castle another clan comes in and destroys the Benji. Guess that's why they offered me a peace treaty and some money earlier. Next turn the Benji reappear and take their castle, but now their army is really large and they try to oust me from their province. I retreat back into my lands and the next turn Rebels take over the Benji province and they loose their army as it was in my territory. I have no problem to take my second province from the Rebels. I take my eyes on the peninsula just to the north of the Benji province and to the small island off the mainland, that has the gold mine on it. But my preparations for war are interrupted.

The Hojo have been busy in the South and now have 6 provinces, they're allied with the Takeda who own 4 provinces and the Date have crushed my buffer clans to the north and are now up to 4 provinces as well. Since the Takeda and Hojo attack my vassal, and my allies of Ashina I find myself at war with both of them. Luckily my allies take the worst of the beating and Takeda neglects to guard Hida province properly. I rush in from the north and take out his under defended castle. I then advance towards North Shinano, where it's touch and go for a while. His garrison is too large so I retreat back to Hida, where the Takeda follow and try to storm the castle. I beat them off soundly, but still have to defeat their remnants in a field battle next turn. After that the road to the North Shinano stronghold is open, but it is still heavily guarded. The fighting is fierce and I loose my Uesugi Warrior Monks, but I'm up to 4 provinces as well.

I have focused on the Chi path to get to the Warrior Monks, but I neglected to build a Naginata Dojo or Foot Archery Range in my capital so I can't recruit any Warrior Monks yet. Down the Bushido path it is then. Of course the Date have now also declared war on me. So I'm facing off against three major clans and my one ally (not the vassal) has been beaten and reappeared several times. Now the Hojo are at my doorstep and the Takeda are ready for a counteroffensive. Also the Ikko-Ikko muster their forces near my Benjo province, which is sorely undefended and I want to take that gold island asap, but it is heavily garrisoned.

I'll see what the future brings, but it looks to get interesting!

I lost my first campaign after 4 or 5 turns. Second campaign as chosokabe (i think) on normal difficulty level is actually going surprisingly peacefully. Took over the whole of the Shikoku (for a total of 5 provinces) in the first 20-ish turns, at which point i was broke from fielding a pretty large army. Decided to sit back, disband a sizable chunk of my army and trade & turtle for a bit and build up my economy, which seems to be going pretty well. Nobody is at war with me, i managed to nab 2 of the trade posts (which i'm busily spamming with trade ships).

Currently have a market in every province, with a metsuke keeping the peace, raking in over 3k per turn, should be much more when the bulk of my trade fleet reach the trade posts and i upgrade the markets. Upgrading roads, farms & harbours like there's no tomorrow. However, if someone dumps a full stack anywhere on the island i'm buggered.

Planning to take over kyushu next, as they all seem to hate me over there (for no apparent reason) and it might give me an excuse to nab some more trade posts. Need to build up my army + navy first, but every turn there seems to be something to build that pulls in yet more money. Seems I'm getting greedy.

Lost my first campaign as Date on Hard.

did fairly well before i ran outta money and only had 1 field army which couldnt compete with hojo's 4-5 full stacks, i held my own for a while but it was a futile effort.

Second campaign is going well, shimazu on hard, slowly taking control of the island u start on, had some good fights with the minor factions on the island, own about half the island atm and most of the trading posts currently working on building some better troop training facilities and feilding a large army to take the rest of the island.

started first campaign on hard with Date and i'm now stangnant. i dont see how i can win. i'm hemmed in by strongly allied factions i hold only two provinces not much income and not a large enough army to carry out a sustained war. unless war breaks out among my neighburs and i can pick of the weakned provinces i might have to start a new campaign soon on normal. unfortunately all my neighburs are strongly allied. battles wise its been excellent. 90% of my battles have been large ones and you dont see une unit armies running about all over the map, the AI also attacks only in force. i think what everyone emans by the battles ebing fast is the kill rates. i ahve no problems with movement speeds. kill rates could be slower so we can have those epic battles of STW and MTW but they are not as bad as RTW. terrain makes a real difference again and most of the battle is spent out manouvering each other (good old days ) i managed to outfalnk the enemy last night by waking 4 units thought woods. i havent seen much higher ground advantage yet but thats cos i have had to defend/attach a hill. once battle is joined its bit hard to differenciate units becasue they all seem o be dressed the same but i guess we can put that down to battlefeild confusion.

all in all i might fall in love with TW again :D

Rather enjoying my first campaign, I have to say. Uesugi was my favourite clan from STW, but they didn't start at the end of the map, so plumped for Shimazu at the other end for a change.

CAI is much more aggressive than the last few games, handles naval invasions well, doesn't fight to the death, sticks broadly with alliances where it makes sense, handles its agents effectively, armies appear balanced and well proportioned, etc. I'd say the CAI is pretty good from what I've seen on normal. I'm not one for playing the battles that much, only play crucial or interesting battles (eg where I just have ninjas - that was fun!), so I don't really have that much experience of the BAI (plus my first campaign was on normal difficulty). Still seems a little susceptible to tricks, eg I intentionally routed one of my light cav units when the AI assaulted one of my castles. The AI had half its army, and all its infantry, chasing after them for a good few minutes. In that time, I sallied out to destroy his archers and spear his general, leaving just the now exhausted and demoralised peasant spearmen to face my balanced army. Was a massacre.

I have few little interface gripes, but they are just minor annoyances that I'm sure can be taken care of (like selecting an agent from the agent list and it selects the army he's overseeing).

I'm Shogun and have 52/60 provinces now, so will win soon. Just mopping up Takeda in the East. I'll be move on to top level difficulty and see how I get on... Looking forward to it!

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Originally Posted by therother

I'm Shogun and have 52/60 provinces now, so will win soon. Just mopping up Takeda in the East. I'll be move on to top level difficulty and see how I get on... Looking forward to it!

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:2thumbsup: I'm impressed. :bow:

Lost my first campaign as Oda, because my vassal started realm divide by taking a town, then turned on me. I didn't know they could do that, but I don't make vassals anymore.

Second game is corrupted and crashes whenever I click anything. I was close to winning it.

I will not be starting another single player game until there is a patch. I do not feel comfortable playing any game that corrupts save files this easily. Its only happened to me once before, in the hundreds of hours I've played total war games. I think it was as France in MTW 2. Having it happen the second campaign here is not a good sign.

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Originally Posted by DisruptorX

I think it was as France in MTW 2.

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Heh, could just as easily have been RTW, or more likely ETW, that had savegame corruptions as a feature listed on the box IIRC.

Ah well, almost comforting to know some of CAs signature features are still alive and well. :-)

Currently playing first campaign as Shimazu on normal - seems to be the most enjoyable version of TW since MTW.

I took over the faction that Shimazu starts at war with, captured all 3 trade nodes to the west, and then sent my faction heir to the Island where the Choksabe clan lives because my island is peaceful (for now) I'm a little over 20 turns in and only have 4 regions... which is probably the least I have ever had in a TW game 20 turns in

2 thumbs up

I started my first campaign on Normal as the Hojo, and after dispatching the ones I start at war with, I was 'betrayed' by the ones on the left. They took the town to the north of the capital the Hojo start with, and with a two flanked attack I managed to retake it. Right at that moment, I got the campaign bonus for finishing the art of attack and I got the mangonel.

With that, and a steady stream of replacement Ashigurai I totally crushed that foe, while at the same time I was focusing on creating trade agreements. And that seemed to be enough to stop people from going to war with me, allowing me to tech up, and actually afford about 2 stacks consisting of 4 Yari Ashigaru and 4 Bow Ashigaru together with a few scraps of Samurai (and the mangonel).

The Date to the North and the Tokugawa to my West were really growing very fast, and considering I was allies with the Tokugawa, it seemed I was waiting for my own destruction. Then the Tokugawa finally went to war against the Date (it did require some Hojo money to convince the Date an alliance with the Tokugawa wasn't wise).

And I profited most from that war, by utterly destroying the Date (and vassalizing everything to the north and east of my position). Then I rolled back and conquered a few rebel provinces, remnants of the Tokugawa Date war.

At that point I had 4 of those aforementioned armies (although my generals sure were dishonorable, I had to order them to commit seppuku a lot).

So I decided to go with the proverb 'There is no dishonor in victory' and struck against the Tokugawa's allies. And they broke their alliance with me. However, upon destroying that ally (I think it was the Satai with just two provinces), the Shogun decided I was a threat and I got the Country Divided event. Everybody that wasn't an vassal of mine came at me. One of my vassals actually was very successful and rolled up the Tokugawa, while I got some scraps too. And then I decided to try and capture Kyoto, with two full stacks only to be horribly surprised that it was guarded by an army unlike any I had ever seen fielded by the AI.

With two of my four armies destroyed, no fleet to speak off, the my Clan soon fell to the combined might of the other clans. Leaving me with exactly what I started with. I was almost begging for peace, and fortunately for my vassals, I was still fairly well in the income. And it was only a matter of time (3 turns or so) before those vassals realized the mighty Hojo had fallen, and they came at me for revenge.

End game.

And all in all, I have to say, this Total War is perhaps the most enjoyable straight out of the box of them all.

Legendary Shimazu. They zerg Ashigaru at me until I die on both the times I've tried it.

Rolling with the punches on my Normal Uesugi campaign. I made peace with Takeda and secured the trade node up north without Date interference.
Hojo showed up with one and a half stack in my home province though and besieged me. I had the brilliant idea to sally forth, and although I had only slightly fewer units the Hojo completely wiped the floor with me. Next season I sit in my two tier Castle Town without anyone to defend it.

My second army that rushes up is too late and so I loos my home province and my Damyo. But that's not all. With the half-stack reinforcement they immediatelly go after the reinforcing army, which is also crushed by the superior troops. I loose my second general who has become Damyo in the meantime. With my home province gone and all of my generals dead I think this is game over! I lost on Normal!

But no, there's more. Some distant relative claims to be Damyo and I have even managed to conquer my home province back with a little support from my vassal. Due to a rebellion and the following battle I got a Man of the Hour general, so five years later I'm back where I started from. No progress. This is really the most intense campaign I've ever had on normal.

Playing as the Tokugawa on N/N.

The war with the Oda was brief; after a closely won victory over the Oda army that began the campaign in our territory, the Oda sent a fresh army into our province and we were besieged. A narrow and phyrric victory was won but our faithful general Matsudaira Hidenaga was killed. The Oda intended to follow up a couple of turns later but they were overthrown by the Saito who invaded from their home province. This has allowed us to build up our trade and infrastucture - we commissioned the construction of a Buddhist temple in lieu of a spear/katana/archery dojo which we hop will facilitate a speedy our acquisition of new capabilities. Our clan is strengthened by the addition of the Ii clan, and their leader Ii Michinaga. He has since proved his loyalty and is providing invaluable service to us.

Being a vassal state, it has limited us to small things. Fortunately, the Tsutsui, alarmed by the expansion of the Saito attacked them and killed their Daimyo. They drove north even to the borders of the Takeda clan. They apparently overextended themselves and were preparing plans to attack us; declaring war, but the Tokugawa Daimyo, leading a strengthened army of Mikawa troops, defeated them and took Owari. The Imagawa have sent a large army to our aid and we are now considering our next move. Ships are traveling the coasts and securing trade routes which will hopefully bear fruit soon.

Once our lands are extended toward Kyoto we will carefully consider the future of our arrangement with the Imagawa.

This isn't my first campaign, but I've been making succesive attempts at a Legendary Chosokabe campaign. First two tries I couldn't take a single province, third try I conquered the Kono but went against the Miyoshi too early and got crushed by two succesive near-full stacks.

I'm on my fourth try now, took down the Kono again and bided my time before taking on the Miyoshi. The Miyoshi lost Settsu, and the Sogo took Awa from them, so they were reduced to Awaji and smartly accepted peace with me. The Sogo kept all their army in Awa province, so I took the iniative and seized Sanuki province before fighting their main army in a climactic battle for control of Shikoku. I was finally able to unify the province, and the Miyoshi even sent an army to help me! I was worried they were going to stab me in the back, so I let them do all the fighting in the second battle. But they were perfectly faithful, and returned to Awaji once I unified Shikoku. I decided to let them be, since I was worried that if I conquered Awaji I'd come into contact with a big clan that would then declare war on me. So I disbanded my inexperienced ashigaru and set about investing in infastructure.

I made my first mistake when I decided to attack the Hatakeyama before finishing off the Miyoshi. Once you're at war with other clans Awaji Island isn't useful as a buffer. My second mistake was to be overconfident when the Hatakeyama left their castles in Kii, Kawachi and Settsu provinces were all forts guarded by one regiment of samurai retainers. I sent my Daimyo over without recruiting new soldiers, so he only had 15 regiments. The Hatakeyama Daimyo led a full stack against me after I had taken Kii and Kawachi, so I retreat to Kii's castle and hoped their superior numbers would convince them to assault.

Well they didn't, and next turn I saw two more full stacks approaching. I decided I needed to sally, but gotten beaten badly because my so-called "courageous" Daimyo fled in terror from some arrow fire after he lost 80% of his bodyguard. But by a stroke of luck, Kii province had a ninja village outside the castle. I was able to upgrade it, and it turns out you can recruit agents from a castle that's undersiege! I started out with two levels, and so I put them all into assassination. Then I sent him after the the Hatakeyama Daimyo... And he killed him. Another sally later, and my Daimyo was free! There was a second army to the south blocking off his retreat, but I had another ninja sabotage him and we was able to get away. I sent a fleet over to pick up my Daimyo, soldiers and ninja, but before they could leave the coast they were attacked by a Hatakeyama fleet! They had two Medium Bunes and two Bow Kobaya, while I had one and three of the same, plus an general on board. I did terribly though, lost all ships but one. Then the next turn I discovered that if you stray too far from the coast, your ships take attrition. I should have known, that's why I had to manually tell the ship to go that way instead of simply ordering it directly to port. The ship sunk taking everybody with it. :skull:

I didn't have any generals or navy, and had barely begun retraining my army. Then the Hatakeyama landed an army in Awa and took the castle! Their army was small though, so I though if I sabotaged the gates, I could take advantage of my superior number of bowmen and shoot them out. Unfortunately my archers didn't do too well, and even though I outnumbered them my samurai got beaten back rather pitfully by the ashigaru when they rushed the three gates. What's worse is that it seems if you lose a castle assault, you don't retreat away long enough to be safe. The enemy sallied and attacked before my turn came up again, so I couldn't retreat. Some of my unit survived this battle, but the Hatakeyama were still able to reach them again! This time they got destroyed. I tried this again using a different strategy for assaulting. But it still didn't work. Eventually I was able to take the castle back, but by then the enemy landed a full stack at Sanuki province! Fortunately by now Motochika Chosokabe has come of age, and I was able to get a ninja to sabotage the invading army and delay it for two seasons. Now they're finally attacking the castle, but it's a Fortress so I think I can get rid of quite a few of them, especially since I recruited two units of Rank 3 Bow Ashigaru. The enemy army is all Ashigaru with no general, and Motochika's got 15 regiments with some samurai, so between taking the Castle and having to fave my Daimyo I'm confident I can repel this invasion. I think I'm fortunate in that the Hatakeyama's southern provinces don't have ports, the have to sail to Shikoku all the way from Noto. Then again, I'm also at war with two other clans that are much closer and they haven't done anything.

...My, that's a lot of text. :dizzy: Apologies if it's too long, but this is easily the best campaign experience I've ever had in a TW game, and I've been playing since the original. Every time you move an army it can cause a complete disaster, and I'm loving it.

I'm loving these campaign reports. I'm thinking this game will generate some fantastic AARs.

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Originally Posted by Naughtius Maximus

Once our lands are extended toward Kyoto we will carefully consider the future of our arrangement with the Imagawa.

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I've been playing legendary as Tokugawa and, just as a note, beware Imagawa. A couple of campaigns I've played(and lost) because I grew too comfortable with Imagawa and then they turned on me... which was strange since I was their vassal.

In my campaign, I've pushed west to the provinces east of Kyoto and tried to solidify my alliances and economy. Unfortunately, it seems legendary has made the other factions uber aggressive. Hojo turned on Imagawa and crushed him with three stacks and then besieged my capital. I turned my forces (I've got a 3 star Daimyo with maxed out campaign movement) and reached them just in time to fight on even footing between two of his stacks and two of mine. Their forces were more upgraded with samurai bowmen, bowmen cavalry, and katana samurai. I defeated the two stacks but only had about 600 men left when he attacked me with the third stack of about 1200. This battle literally came down to one man, I saved the replay because it was so ridiculous. I defended the fort and managed to whittle him down just enough but I saw the writing on the wall when, hope against hope, I saw the enemy begin to waver. So, I charged them with what I had left except for my lone minister(the rest of his unit had been slaughtered in the previous battle) who sat back to provide morale support. Unfortunately, katana samurai just cut through my ashigaru bowmen like butter and they rout. The katana samurai were still wavering and all I have left is my single minister with +3 defence who I send charging in. He manages to cause them to run and I win the battle.

I have 4 provinces and a severely depleted military. The Hojo to my east have 8 provinces but their army is destroyed. The Hattori to my west have declared war due to my weakened state and have moved half a stack to siege one of my towns. Takeda to the north is friendly, but an ally of the Hojo and mighty. Based on what I've played before, I might as well restart because the Hattori are going to obliterate me. I can't bring myself to quit though because this is still the strongest and longest I've managed to stay in while playing as Legendary.

This is the first Total War I've ever actually lost a campaign. It is hard as nails and I love it.

The war with the Oda was brief; after a closely won victory over the Oda army that began the campaign in our territory, the Oda sent a fresh army into our province and we were besieged. A narrow and phyrric victory was won but our faithful general Matsudaira Hidenaga was killed. The Oda intended to follow up a couple of turns later but they were overthrown by the Saito who invaded from their home province. This has allowed us to build up our trade and infrastucture - we commissioned the construction of a Buddhist temple in lieu of a spear/katana/archery dojo which we hop will facilitate a speedy our acquisition of new capabilities. Our clan is strengthened by the addition of the Ii clan, and their leader Ii Michinaga. He has since proved his loyalty and is providing invaluable service to us.

Being a vassal state, it has limited us to small things. Fortunately, the Tsutsui, alarmed by the expansion of the Saito attacked them and killed their Daimyo. They drove north even to the borders of the Takeda clan. They apparently overextended themselves and were preparing plans to attack us; declaring war, but the Tokugawa Daimyo, leading a strengthened army of Mikawa troops, defeated them and took Owari. The Imagawa have sent a large army to our aid and we are now considering our next move. Ships are traveling the coasts and securing trade routes which will hopefully bear fruit soon.

Once our lands are extended toward Kyoto we will carefully consider the future of our arrangement with the Imagawa.

Part II

We are at war with the Tsutsui, and our overlords, the Imagawa prosecute their war with them and a seesaw battle for Ise province ensues. The Imagawa prevail but only briefly. This is probably because our lord orders our armies to hold a defensive line at the river crossing to Owari and not to aid the Imagawa directly. We concentrate on strengthening our trade networks and before long our merchants report that we have a monopoly on the incense and silk trades. This appears to make other clans, particularly those in the west of the country eager for our trade. The Hojo declare war on us; and they overrun the Imagawa lands to the the East. Not since the invasion of the Oda has there been such a threat. Almost simultaneously the Tsutsui prevail in Ise and the Imagawa are quickly wiped out. This comes as something of a mixed blessing that while we are released from the constraints of our vassal status we are beset upon on both sides by sworn enemies. Amazingly, the Tsutsui offer an alliance to which our lord wisely assents. At the same time the Takeda declare war, allying themselves with the Hojo. Lord Tokugawa and our best army then quickly moved east to counter the Hojo threat. The Hojo overrun Suruga, Totomi and, shockingly our home province of Mikawa, but have brought insufficient reserves to prevent us from taking it back. There are two great battles in Mikawa and the Hojo are annihilated. We drive east, taking Suruga and Totomi, deaf to the repeated entreaties of the Hojo emissaries. Soon our men are hammering at the gates of Odawara, and a second army drives up through Shinano and takes Kai from the Takeda. The Tokugawa heir, Ieyasu, assumes command of the army attacking Odawara. More good news follows; the Date offer an alliance and they are driving south, taking Hojo and Takeda provinces in their stride. Between us is the Satake clan, who, though they had been up til this time been neutral, decide to ally themselves with the Takeda. This is unacceptable to our lord and he launches an immediate attack on them. Our bold action pays off and Izu is added to our conquests.

Word reaches our lord from friends at the Imperial Court of fears in the Ashikaga Shogunate of our recent expansion. Upon hearing this, our lord orders more troops and fortifications in Owari and Mino provinces.

The barbarians offer trade several times, but, our lord having built an important monastery in Mikawa declines the offer as he apparently does not want to alienate our Buddhist followers as the monks have provided invaluable services in our victories over the Hojo and Satake. The Namban will have to seek their profits elsewhere.

Most recently, there is evidence of the cooling of the alliance with the Tsutsui. They have refused a modest request for military access. This is, perhaps, a harbinger of a future conflict.

My first campaign is going fantastic so far! I play Chosokabe, and I started by taking over the entire island I started on (Shikoku?), destroying two minor clans and vassalizing a third who only owns the small island just east of me where you can cross the strait without ships. I've got a murderous general who I've now sent onto the Shimazu island (the Shimazu are long gone themselves); I've killed the Ito and now, I'm facing my first really challenging opponent, a really large clan who originates from the northwestern part of the main island but who've taken almost all of the Shikoku island. Luckily, they are also at war with the Matsuda clan, who own four provinces on their eastern front, so I hope they will be distracted so I can conquer the Shimazu island completely - I only just took Kagoshima from them, my first conquest in this war.

I am probably going to post some fluff text about how I see the game (in-universe fiction, or whatever you want to call it) in this forum. Just, fragments from my campaign so far.

Second go as the Mori on legendary and am loving it. I have carved out a nice little 6 province empire and am banking about $3500 a turn right now. I'm about 40 turns in and have been on the brink of defeat twice but managed to hang on by the skin of my teeth and claw my way back. It's just such a different and more rewarding experience with this game over previous CA offerings. I mean to feel a sense of accomplishment after conquering only 6 regions forty turns in says it all. Oh ya and the game looks ridiculously good. Playing a night battle during a rain storm...

I wonder if anyone has done the Takeda Campagin?

If so,I would love to defeat you,to stop your influence spreading on my lands.

Takeda vs Others.

I just started my first campaign as Shimazu, on easy, I know, I stink! But in reality, I just wanted to get a feel for the game before I attempt a more difficult level. I took my first castle. The siege was much more fun than in M2TW. I leveled up my first general and enjoy the rpg options available to increase his aptitude. Scouting north with a ninja to see how I will plan my next invasion. The game runs amazingly smooth on my older PC, all settings on high. All in all I am really pleased, I haven't had this much fun in quite some time. We will see how things go when I acquire a few more enemies!

I started a Date campaign on H/H on fri night as soon as I installed the game.

I must say, money is a serious problem, and the 2 turns needed to train the better units makes it challenging to build up a decent army fast.

I got rid of the rebels after about 3 turns as I trained some reinforcements. A few more ashigaru and it was off to the northern Mogami province, which fell after a siege where they ran around in circles.

By this time the economy was struggling badly, and for the next 5 or so years I couldn't build a decent sized army to take on the Hatakeyama to the south. I eventually managed to take them out, then it was war with the Satake, the Hojo and the Uesugi. Struggled to defeat the large and numerous Hojo and Uesugi stacks, but gradually made my way to the Kanto.

Meanwhile, the Ito had taken Kyushu, the Amako the western third of Honshu, the Hattori the area around Kyoto, the Uesugi had 5, the Hojo 6, and the Takeda 7.

I think it's about 1568 or so, and I've managed to mostly kill off the Hojo, and the Satake and Uesugi are gone. The Takeda lost their core provinces to a new clan and moved north and west. Once I killed the new clan's main army they had 3 provinces with hardly any defenses. I've got 11 provinces, and 3 single province vassals, and 3 trade ships. Now I have enough money to field nearly 3 full stacks of good troops. I only make about 3k a turn though, and I trade with everyone who I can and am not at war with. The Amako are at Kyoto, the Ito are still on Kyushu, the Takeda, Imagawa, Tokugawa, Hojo, and Kiso are fighting over the land between me and Kyoto. Shikoku is divided amongst 3. Looks like it'll be a huge fight between me and the Amako when we eventually kill off everyone in between us.

You really need to wait till the province you want is undefended because they've sent their army off or just got attacked, as otherwise you struggle to come up with sufficient troops with your limited income.

I must say though, my family has only 5 male members, including 2 adopted, for 11 provinces. And no generals. Haven't been able to adopt one for ages. I can't even distribute all the clan offices! All good so far, but it's a bit clunky at times. Scrolling around the campaign map is slow and difficult.

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Originally Posted by sassbarman

I mean to feel a sense of accomplishment after conquering only 6 regions forty turns in says it all.

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In my Mori campaign I have only 4 provinces and I feel the same way. I've a sense that I will not be uniting Japan under the Mori banner, but I think I've managed to earn a line or two in the history books and that is enough for this first campaign. :bow:

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Originally Posted by Gregoshi

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Originally Posted by therother

I'm Shogun and have 52/60 provinces now, so will win soon. Just mopping up Takeda in the East. I'll be moving on to top level difficulty and see how I get on... Looking forward to it!

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:2thumbsup: I'm impressed. :bow:

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Thanks, was quite lucky a few times, and had more than a few sticky moments (including a very impressive long range, behind the lines naval invasion of Shikoku by Imagawa after Realm Divide). Plus I think Shimazu are easier than most.

My new Very Hard (non-legendary) Shimazu game is proving even more of a challenge, and even more fun, forcing me to be more creative. Was very hard pressed at the start: thought it would be easy to take Osumi and Hyuga from Ito as it had been in the normal game, but it was a real fight: had a fair few battles where I was badly outnumbered. Managed to finally finish them off, then started some diplomatic tricks to take Higo and Bungo: got the Shoni to cut ties with the Sagara, isolating them. Declared war, having positioned my main army offshore, poised to invade. The Sagara sent two armies south to attack Satsuma, leaving Higo relatively unprotected. I sabotaged the main army led by their Daimyo, landed my army on the beach just north of Higo. The 2nd smaller army moved to intercept, but I defeated them on the beach and took the town easily. The main army then turned into Rebels, which I destroyed a couple of turns later, when my reinforcements arrived.

In the meantime, my monk had been hassling Bungo, causing two uprisings. The first was defeated, but at a heavy cost. The Shoni appeared preoccupied with their war with the Ouchi, so no reinforcements came, and when I seeded a second uprising it was successful. The rebels, however, were easy pickings. I took the province losing a couple of dozen men. Doing it this way allowed my to retain my relations with the Shoni, giving me time to make preparations to blitz them with three armies, two from Higo to take Hizen and Tsukushi, one from Bungo to take Buzen. With my agents and ships spying on their armies, I waited until their main force was out of the way so I could sabotage it and then nip in and take their provinces. Worked a charm: took Hizen and Tsukushi without much of a fight, Buzen was more tricky but I won the battle. I could then concentrate all three armies on their main force, which was outnumbered 2 to 1, they were mostly Ashigaru whereas I had mainly Samauri. Wasn't a fair fight.

They still have a couple of stacks in Suo and Nagato, so they aren't beaten yet. Currently I'm building up my armies and consolidating my gains. My plan is to mount a naval invasion of Suo and take that for myself (has horse breeders: good cavalry), then try to make the Shoni a vassal in Nagato (although it's got good soil and a port, so not quite sure yet). I'll see what my agents can do about Iwami (gold) and Aki (Hallowed Ground: good monks) but then big campaign is to take Shikoku and use that to launch an invasion of the mainland near Kyoto (good monks and ninja around there!) plus a research bonus in Settsu. Now if only I didn't have work to do!

My first campaign was on Hard with the Chokosabe (please excuse my spelling of the Japanese names. My knowledge of Japanese history before the first World War is embarrassingly low) and I had to concede defeat fairly quickly. Like others, hard campaign AI is, uh, hard!

I'm trying again on normal with a different clan (who's name escapes me at the moment. The clan with the superior Katana's) and it seems like it could go either way at the moment.

All this brings up my biggest SP complaint so far: why is there no seperate option for difficulty between campaign and battles? Hard battles and normal campaign would probably be the perfect challenge for me at this point, since I have a far better grasp on the battles than I do on the campaign.

Wozzle, according to Jack Lusted from CA, you can change the battle AI difficulty via the game setting once you start the campaign.

Playing Shimazu on Hard/Hard.

Started with a war against a minor clan, Ito, and quickly took Osumi province. Soon, they were joined by Sakara (their ally) and Shoni (another clan on the same island, which attacked me, Ito and Sakara!), and I was soon fighting against three clans. Although I was winning battles, I could not take any other provinces. Shoni, another clan on the same island (or is it a peninsula?), was, however, more agressive than me and soon took over all provinces from Ito and Sakara, destroying them in the process.

Owing to Shoni's might, I thought it would not be prudent of me to continue fighting them. I offered them peace and trade agreement. Since I was actually winning battles against them and was giving them a lot of grief, and because they had another war going against Mori, they accepted my proposals.

So there I was, sitting with two provinces at the bottom of Japan, cut off from the rest of the world by mighty Shoni clan. For a number of years, I simply developed my provinces, my arts and my strength. I concluded a number of trade agreements, but had no allies.

All these years, Shoni's strenght have only been increasing. They were extending north and took a number of provinces from Mori. Their attitude towards me was "friendly".

Since they were stronger and more prosperous than me, I was a bit worried about attacking them. However, I finally saw my chance when most of their armies were committed against Mori outside my island (peninsula?) and their towns were left badly protected.

Hence, after all these years of waiting, I finally backstabbed Shoni by declaring war and taking Hogi. Unfortunately, I did not take advantage of their forces being so stretched and did not blitz through their territory. This gave Shoni time to destroy Mori and concentrate on me. We fought great many battles with great losses of lives on both sides. It took me many years to take another 3 territories from them.

By that time, 2 other minor clans ('minor' only in name -- their respective strengths are "terrifying" and "mighty") declared war on me. Not willing to be too stretched out, I offered Shoni peace, my alliance and trade agreement, and Shoni happily accepted it. By that time, Shoni lost almost all its territories, and only had 2 provinces remaining on my island/peninsula.

So far, I only fought 2 defensive battles against those new enemies, and I won both of them.

Everything was looking well, until Chosokabe, a mightly clan which was in war with Shoni, suddenly landed a full stack of troops on my island and destroyed Shoni in 2-3 turns by taking the remaining 2 provinces from them. At first Chosokabe were "very friendly" to me, but recently I received a message saying that it is possible that they will attempt to use my current situation and attack me. Their attitude towards me has changed to "indifferent", and I consider the war to be imminent.

So, it looks like soon I will be fighting against 3 very strong enemies. I need an additional army to fight Chosokabe, and I need to think hard about its composition (I looked at Chosokabe's full stack and it consists almost entirely of Bow Samurais). The future looks very uncertain and very interesting.

Oh, and I haven't lost a single battle in my whole campaign yet! :)

BTW, now is a year 1570.

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Originally Posted by Gregoshi

Wozzle, according to Jack Lusted from CA, you can change the battle AI difficulty via the game setting once you start the campaign.

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!!! Now that is good news! That is my biggest issue with single player right now! Yay! Still, not sure why they would hide it away, but as long as it's there. I'm off to change my campaign right now! Thanks!

Second campaign,

Shimazu on H/H

Took all of the island i start on, allied with chosokabe(sp) who own their whole island. took my war to the mainland, took out a few minor clans, kept spreading forward with some full stacks of upgraded units. conqoured all the way to kyoto, and took it im now shogun, bout 100 turns thru my camp, have like 25 provinces. its a domination campaign so ive still got a long way to go.

Im liking it very much so far, had my fully ranked up ninja assassin roamin the land slaughtering generals, and now im ranking up a metsuke who is 1 rank off max. i like that the agents change appearance, when they get to the higher ranks.

the main powers left in my camp, are me, the chosokabe, the hojo, the hattori, and the tuistuis( or w/e that minor clan is) im allied to hojo and chosokabe and havnt had the realm divide event yet.

i like the fact that the AI is much more open to negotiations if they are getting thouroughly beaten, altho this can be exploited. if found it was possible to declare war, steal a few provinces then get them to agree to peace a few turns later before they can muster any real force in opposition.

all in all tho im very happy with the game.

Won the game as the Tokugawa, summer of 1598. I have much to learn with this game; looking forward to some good reality-based mods.

I thought that the arts took too long to accumulate; I didn't even get to the point where I had Teppo Ashigaru. All in all, it was a very challenging campaign, even on N/N. We are pleased.

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Originally Posted by Naughtius Maximus

Won the game as the Tokugawa, summer of 1598. I have much to learn with this game; looking forward to some good reality-based mods.

I thought that the arts took too long to accumulate; I didn't even get to the point where I had Teppo Ashigaru. All in all, it was a very challenging campaign, even on N/N. We are pleased.

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Did you try to get them, or just research everything in order? Aside from my 1st Mori campaign, I haven't had much trouble with arts research because I've concentrated on getting to philosophical traditions, though I should prioritize more in the future, like choosing between spear+siege+gunpowder path or sword+bow+horse path.

@Zarky - thanks for asking the question; I concentrated on chi arts @ first because some of them confer a research bonus to begin with; there is also the chronic food shortage I had to deal with before I could expand.

Along with a question looking for your valuable input, here it is.

First true stab at a campaign was with the Hojo on H/N, after a few experiments with Oda and Date to get my TW sense back. (Note: I was bouncing back and forth between Hard and Normal battle difficulty trying to get a sense for how the differences play out. So far.. i haven't noticed much of one. At least in terms of decision making.)

Started out securing alliances with both Takeda and Imagawa to lock down my western borders while I dealt with the Ogigayatsu. With money rolling in from trade and a steady stream of recruits it wasn't hard to knock them out, but when I secured their last province (putting me to 3) i realized just how large my 'ally' Takeda was getting. He was already up to 4 provinces and was threatening war with the Uesugi. I'd need some support. The Satomi clan who were my trade partners, decided to make them vassals of the growing Hojo clan, only one problem. When i declared war upon them the Ashina, the Satomi's number one trade partners and the real power in eastern honsu, declared war right back.

The Ashina already held 5 provinces and had the muscle to back it up. Worse yet, even though I secured aid from the Takeda, Takeda Shingen was apparently in the midsts of one of his legendary fueds with Uesugi Kenshin, as Echigo was changing hands back and forth at rapid pace. I'd be going it alone. Thankfully I had a decent 3-star general who spear-headed the attack into Shimosa province. After an entire year's worth of maneuvering and battles I was eventually repulsed back to Musashi. The Ashina and Satomi pressed their advantage at the Battle of Edo in 1548. My general however proved the deciding factor and won the day with a rallying charge at the 11th hour. I was impressed and had my daimyo adopt him into the royal family. Hojo Ujitane, the hero of Edo. It took a year of rebuilding before my troops were ready to move out, back into Shimosa. This time I won easily, and after pushing further south I vassalized the Satomi. Though now I had a fairly big problem: Ashina. Even though i'd decimated their forces at Edo they were still the big dogs in east Honshu.

The Ashina campaign took a collected 4 years and 16 turns, providing back and forth fighting until I was able to get the upper hand near Tochigi, shimotsuke. The Ashina Daimyo fled north while I hunted down stragglers in my newly aquired province. During this time I also managed to head south to Hitachi, the town was left basically undefended thanks to the battles fought in the north and it was an easy victory. I didn't have the men to garrison the town effectively so I allowed the Satake to come back as my allies/vassals. I then marched north, however, my best general Hojo Ujitane had by now grown incredibly disloyal. 5 years of campaigning against the Ashina, taking orders from a far away lord who never ventured to the battlefield... he was growing restless. However I decided to let him have another chance. What a terrible decision.

At the Battle of Shimotseku fields in 1553, Hojo Ujitane betrayed his clan and joined the Ashina forces, taking with him fully half of the army. The veterans who had followed him through hell on the fields at Edo and Shimosa obviously feeling more loyalty to him than some far away Daimyo. They slaughtered my men and forced a route. Now I'm scrambling to muster a counter attack. It's doubtful I'll be able to save Shimotseku before Ashina Ujitane arrives. I'll likely force a confrontation on the bridge leading to Shimosa. A very fun campaign just got a whole lot more interesting... :sweatdrop:

Started as Shimazu, ended up using a system of alliances and trades with eastern clans, took over most of the west of Japan, and took a vassal of a clan right next to Kyoto. I'm sitting poised, attempting to scrounge up enough units/still be able to upkeep them, to be able to attack Kyoto. It's not looking good...

I'm about 50 turns or so in I believe...

Last night I finished my first campaign! Long campaign Mori N/N.
Nearing the end I was mostly rushing provinces to actually get to 40, because at some places I was facing large enemy armies with no chances of achieving peace with anyone anymore.
I was setting up quite many vassals, which seemed a logical step after about 20 provinces owned. But much to my dismay I noticed that my longest time vassal (since turn 20 or so) which had a full stack of units many of which katana samurai attacked my other vassals in adjacent provinces (acquired within 10 turns of 1st vassals betrayal), so I had to scrape up an army and beat them.
None of my vassals previously had indicated any interest to betray me so I want to know what kind of experiences do other people have with vassals. Have they ever betrayed you? And I was surprised that they were able to declare war on each other, since I was under the impression vassal could only declare war on his master. So can they declare war on other people, or just other vassals under same master?

I had an odd thing happen in my current Shimazu campaign. I am at war with two clans on the island you start on. One red and one white, I cannot recall the names. That I can understand. But I was sending two ships to explore the rest of Japan to discover new clans so I could trade and the like with them. Along the way I discoverd Imagawa. A small clan of three provinces far east of me. My enemies are not allies with him, I don't think they trade with him and our only interaction is a small fleet that passed by their coast. A turn or two later, he declared war on me! We don't share borders or anything! I found that odd. Finances are low at the moment and I want to avoid as many conflicts as possible. Bizare. He has no fleets near my small 3 province holdings either. None of my two trade fleets were molested as well.

Don't worry, Imagawa have a habit of drinking themselves up to the point where they can't decide why they were there despite outnumbering you 1 to 10.

^^

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Don't worry, Imagawa have a habit of drinking themselves up to the point where they can't decide why they were there despite outnumbering you 1 to 10.

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Dumb ol Imagawa! I think I will plan a naval invastion when I become stronger just to get revenge!

Overconfident and beaten down as Chosokabe.

Started well by conquering my island - Then attacked Settsu and made the minor clan there a vessal. Really been using it as a test bed to figure out economy and the likes. Figured out how to boost my income up massively etc, then donated a load of money to the minor vessal clan - I think they were the Koto but don't quote me on that. Also had a 5 star ninja running about.

Was doing well when the Hattori declared on me, and they were based beside and north of Kyoto, so I attacked and did a lot of damage. Problem is now however that because my vessal clan went on a westward rampage taking out the Ouchi and Mori, the shoguns just managed to unite everyone except my vassals and the Shimazu (long term ally and trading partner) against me. The Hattori were my vessals in their last region but retook what they lost through sneak attacks when I was fighting the Tokugawa, so just down th my own island again :(

Will it take time for us to figure out the flaws or the AI is quite challenging this time ?

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Originally Posted by LeftEyeNine

Will it take time for us to figure out the flaws or the AI is quite challenging this time ?

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I think the flaws of the Ai are pretty evident when they show up. One of them is that it's inconsistent, like i've said before. Sometimes it will throw away its cavalry on a suicide charge - other times it comes marching at you, rank and file, and it's pretty intimidating. Right now the AI isn't brilliant, but it's passable and provides a good challenge. If CA continues to fine-tune the AI post release maybe they can hammer out some of those oddities and make it even better. We'll have to see. :yes:

Just had my first AI glitches during a siege battle. After I repelled the initial waves of attackers the rest of the Takeda attackers just stood there. It was Naginata and Yari Samurai so they could have inflicted some damage on my Ashigaru centered garrison. I had run all out of arrows for my Archers too. But the enemy Damyo just hung back and his remaining troops let themselves be shot to pieces by my towers. Annoying.

Not that it's helping my campaign in any way though. I managed to defeat the Takeda, snuck by their main army into their last province of Kai. I also had my first Naval battles against Date where I successfully defended my trade spot with the Ainu. A Mogami army that was harrassing my main province was killed off, because the Date conquered their home province and I even pushed out and conquered Fukushima. That's when the Imagawa and the pretty numerous Tokugawa decided to attack me. Tokugawa snuck in through South Shinano and conquered North Shinano with ease! My newly adopted faction heir is besieged in Kai province and my Damyo had to leave Fukushima undefended to rush back to my mainland which is wide open to the Tokugawa troops in North Shinano. I'm 50 turns in now and convinced that I'll never make it to Shogun. I'll try to learn as much as I can during this playthrough though!

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Originally Posted by LeftEyeNine

Will it take time for us to figure out the flaws or the AI is quite challenging this time ?

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Like Monk said, inconsistent but certainly better than it's been for a long time. No more armies turning rank and file to completely face away from you. I see the biggest difference in the campaign map more so than the battles. Siege AI still is a bit iffy though.

@Zarky or anyone who knows,

Do vassals count towards your province limit? So if I need 25 provinces to win and have 23 but 2 vassals is that enough?

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Originally Posted by Wozzle

@Zarky or anyone who knows,

Do vassals count towards your province limit? So if I need 25 provinces to win and have 23 but 2 vassals is that enough?

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Yes, I believe it's stated somewhere in game that vassals do count towards province limit and I've seen/had it work for me, they're good to make in some provinces just to get reliable trading partners late in game. I haven't tested if you can win if you make a vassal to a region you're supposed to own in order to win the campaign (like most neighboring provinces for any clan).
I'm just worried about vassal loyalty after Realm Divide.

I just got to the realm divide - I took Kyoto before the Shogun could call all of Japan to attack me... This triggers the realm divide anyway.

I really like how just as you start to roll (by taking Kyoto) the game gets really tough. I was making about $3K/turn with 2.5 armies roaming around and a couple extra food. Now I am pinned down Kyoto, have -1 food (damn citadel:furious3:) only have 1 ally (I had 4 allies and 1 vassal prior ro realm divide), and am set to make $151 next turn, so there is no way to replenish.

Having a great time, but I am a little concerned that I will have a setback on my way to get all 60 provinces... The Imagawa-Tokagawa empire is huge in my game

First campaign just came to an abrupt end. As stated above I'd lost a large invasion force to betrayal, those who stayed loyal were slaughtered and the Ashina had mounted a counter attack to support my betraying general.

I scrapped together as many troops as I could and marched out to meet the Ashina. As predicted I was nowhere near in time to save Shimotseku and I mounted by defense on the bridge to Shimosa. Outnumbered 2 to 1 I held fast despite mounting casualties, but it just wasn't meant to be. In desperation the Hojo Daimyo charged against the oncoming Ashina forces, even as his men struggled to hold the line. In an epic clash he faced the traitor, Hojo Ujitane in single combat.. and was struck down. With the death of their lord, what few samurai who had managed to hold broke, as did the Ashigaru auxiliaries. It was a massacre.

The following season Imagawa and Takeda, having sworn to an alliance behind the Hojo's back declared war, crossing the border and pushing south toward Edo. With a dead daimyo, defenses in tatters and war on all fronts, it looks like the Hojo's quest for the Shoganate has come to an end...

I really love this game. With the character development and loyalty systems the narrative almost writes itself.. :2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Monk

First campaign just came to an abrupt end. As stated above I'd lost a large invasion force to betrayal, those who stayed loyal were slaughtered and the Ashina had mounted a counter attack to support my betraying general.

I scrapped together as many troops as I could and marched out to meet the Ashina. As predicted I was nowhere near in time to save Shimotseku and I mounted by defense on the bridge to Shimosa. Outnumbered 2 to 1 I held fast despite mounting casualties, but it just wasn't meant to be. In desperation the Hojo Daimyo charged against the oncoming Ashina forces, even as his men struggled to hold the line. In an epic clash he faced the traitor, Hojo Ujitane in single combat.. and was struck down. With the death of their lord, what few samurai who had managed to hold broke, as did the Ashigaru auxiliaries. It was a massacre.

The following season Imagawa and Takeda, having sworn to an alliance behind the Hojo's back declared war, crossing the border and pushing south toward Edo. With a dead daimyo, defenses in tatters and war on all fronts, it looks like the Hojo's quest for the Shoganate has come to an end...

I really love this game. With the character development and loyalty systems the narrative almost writes itself.. :2thumbsup:

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I loved reading this, thank you.

Games that make their own stories are destined to be winners in my heart. Part of the reason Civ 4 is one of my all-time favourite games is because of all the stories it's written for me. I have on game in particular, that I played years ago at this point, that has always stuck with me because the story was just so excellent. I'm more than willing to let Shogun 2 into that little club of games.

Now off to continue my second campaign. Not sure I'll win it, but I'm having fun and am ready to, gasp, crank this sucker to H/H for my next campaign!

Just made an epic mistake. After the realm divide, I wanted to pick at the edges of the massive alliance against me, so I ran around the diplomatic screen, tossing out gold and hostages to divide (and conquer). In the end I passed out ever under-ten member of my clan as a hostage to secure a bunch of ceasefires. Bad idea. Really, truly bad idea. Don't do this. Ever.

Every single ceasefire I secured has been broken. Every little girl and boy has been executed. I single-handedly wiped out a generation with my foolishness. Now I'm adopting generals to replenish the gene pool. Stupid lemur!