Oda ~ A Fight For Survival

1530 ~ Beginning Of dark times

The Year Is 1530. The great clans of Japan have shown large strength and have proven that the time has come for the clans of Japan to fight and attain the new title of Shogun.

I am Oda Nobuhide, Daimyo of the Oda clan. The peaceful times have come to an end and now we must fight for survival, but more importantly, to become Shogun. I dreaded this time to come. But my friendly ways must be interrupted as I and the other generals in my grand force will fight for survival against the great clans.

As we all know, wars can be quite eventful, and even the slightest even can turn the tides of the war. So I have issued this Journal of the events of the war, so others can study and see the mistakes I could create while the Oda clan is under my command.

Spring 1530 – The beginning. I must be careful in these times, as one uncostly move could devastate me for the entire war. First of all I intend to build a port in Owari for future growth and to easily ship troops out, but then I think. I will take a long time to create, and would stunt growth and expansion. So instead I will invest in a castle in Kii, this will be a secondary City, producing units alongside Owari. My Emissary will also be looking for Lord Hojo, Hoping we can form an alliance.
Spring Summary: Castle in Kii to start construction next season, Improved Farmland in Owari and Omi to begin next season. One unit of Yari Ashigaru and One unit of Samurai Archer are to be trained.

Summer 1530 – Lord Mori has moved some troops into Harima, this makes me feel uneasy. The construction of Kii Castle has begun, as has the Improved Farmland in Omi and Owari. Fresh Yari Ashigaru has been added to the Owari Garrison, they will be soon merged with a new army that will be operational in a few years.
Summer Summary: No new units recruited. Kii Castle is underway and Improved Farmlands in Owari and Omi are also underway.

Autumn 1530 – Kii Castle is at the half way mark, and I am conscripting more units for the Grand Oda Army. I am also now regretting the Improved Farmlands in Owari, as now I must wait to gain more powerful units to train and deploy. Also in the hunt for Lord Hojo My Emissary Akechi Toshitaka has moved into the Hojo land of Musashi
Autumn Summary: Two units of Yari Ashigaru, One unit of Samurai Archers and one unit of Yari Samurai’s.

Winter 1530 – Not much happening. Toshitaka is still moving through Hojo lands and is now in Shimosa. I’m hoping that I Toshitaka finds him soon. The Mori also are making me feel uneasy. But he could be sending an emissary, but I‘m still cautious.
Winter Summary: Kii Castle almost complete. But still a while to go on the Farmlands in Omi and Owari.
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This is my first story, and first post at the Dojo. I have been reading some of the campaign storys and wanted to do one of my own. Ill post a year at a time, and try to get pictures in too.
I dont really have a stratergy yet, but ill think of something eventually.

Good to see, welcome to the dojo! :2thumbsup:

1531 ~ Time of the Unfaithful Emissary

Spring 1531 – Kii Castle has been completed and forces for the Grand Oda Army are slowly being garrisoned. Now Kii can begin to grow and possibly become my home away from home. Toshitaka didn’t find Lord Hojo in Shimosa so he is moving north into Hitachi. Lord Mori is still amassing forces in Harima, I am getting worried now. I will try to send an emissary to Lord Mori, hopefully he will accept an alliance and focus on other Clans than mine.
Spring Summary: Kii Castle is now complete and I have commissioned the construction of a Spear Dojo, an Archery Dojo and a Tea House to be built next in Kii. I have also asked for another emissary in Owari.

Summer 1531 – My son Nobuhiro has finally matured and is ready to serve under my command, Although he is in a unit of Yari Ashigaru, I know he will still fight honourably.
Summer Summary: Spear Dojo in Kii has begun to be built, and Nobuhiro has entered service.

https://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5416/summer1531.jpg

Autumn 1531 – Lord Takeda and Lord Mori each have an emissary up north in Warasa and Lord Uesugi had one in Mino. There have been no land gains or losses yet for me, I am liking this extremely well. But Lord Mori’s Forces in Harima are now extremely worrying me. He has built them up and up, he could either be going for the Ronin State of Awaji, or my Provinces of Tamba or Kawachi. Toshitaka has moved into Shimotsuke in hope to find Lord Hojo.
Autumn Summary: Still Toshitaka has yet to find Lord Hojo. I Thought that I could trust him and find him. But my patience for Toshitaka is running out.

Winter 1531 – Once again Toshitaka has failed to find Lord Hojo. I have made a decision to not let him back in without an alliance formed. I have a new emissary out in Omi, on his way to find Lord Mori, Hopefully he will be more successful than Toshitaka. I have also only just noticed that Lord Imagawa has a large amount of troops in Mikawa, this worries me just as much as Lord Mori Does. I will get an emissary to Lord Imagawa as soon as possible.
Winter Summary: The Improved Farmlands in Omi and Owari are almost completed, same for the Spear Dojo in Kii. I have commissioned a Large Castle to be built in Owari, when it is completed I will also declare Owari the Oda Capital. I have also asked for another emissary, and conscripted one Yari Ashigaru, Two Yari Samurai and One Samurai Archer to be trained.
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The Mori and Imagawa are starting to worry me a bit. seeing as i dont have much of a large army. but i should find a way on how to get out of it. Also thanks Sasaki :beam:

A few suggestions if I may......

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I dont really have a stratergy yet, but ill think of something eventually.

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Because you only receive income every 4 turns instead of, for instance, every turn in RTW, it's essential to plan your development carefully especially at the start of a campaign when koku is likely to be sparse.

A good rule of thumb when deciding on farmland improvement is this: if the normal koku yield is under 200, don't bother.....if you do the math you'll see it will take over 20yrs to repay your investment just for a single upgrade. If the koku yield is in the 200-400 range, a single upgrade is profitable but further upgrades return less and less for a longer period of time. Only do these past the initial upgrade if you have excess koku to burn. Koku yields above 400 are profitable to upgrade to the max.

Pay very close attention to your profit/loss screen. If you show a profit for the year, decide how much will go towards infrastructure and how much you think you'll need for new units and refitting damaged ones. Try and build a reserve for those "poor harvest" years. One or two of those in the middle of an expansion phase can be killer.


At the start, don't try to produce every kind of unit in every province. In the case of Oda, Owari already has some infrastructure and has some of the richest farmland in Japan, so concentrate there on farm upgrades. Omi has ironsands, hence you can build an armory. Get that up and running, ASAP. It's farmland is relatively poor, despite what the province description says (somewhere in the 300-400 range, IIRC) but one upgrade is ok. Troops trained in Owari can move to Omi and get armor upgrades. Kii has a monk bonus, so you will have to decide early whether you want monks or guns (actually, you can have both but that's another story) as you will face severe unrest if you switch from Buddhism to Christianity (and there are ways of dealing with this).

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Although he is in a unit of Yari Ashigaru, I know he will still fight honourably.

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Although certainly not fatal, it's not usually a good idea to let your heirs be Ashi. Yes they will eventually get their own Hatamoto guard when they become Daimyo, but it's still too easy to get them killed as ashi. Everyone has their own preference....some like cavalry heirs, some yari samurai, others monks or no dachi. My own preference is either yari samurai or samurai archer. YS generally have good morale, can stand up to cavalry, and are easily refitted just about anywhere. SA are usually behind the main ranks and less likely to be involved in other than an archery match with enemy archers.

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Lord Takeda and Lord Mori each have an emissary up north in Warasa and Lord Uesugi had one in Mino.

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I don't know what difficulty level you are playing at, but it's been my experience that you should treat these as spies especially if they just sit there. Get a ninja up and operating to clear these guys out. I never, ever allow diplomats to stay more than a turn in any of my provinces. Even ones from an ally:inquisitive:

In general, alliances are nearly worthless in STW. You almost always will get betrayed especially if you have common borders. In all the campaigns I've played over the years, I could count on one hand the number of times an alliance held out to the end or was useful for something other than the extra 250 koku income.......................:shame:

If Mori has an alliance with Shimazu, that pretty much makes you the next target.....and possibly from both of them combined. You must hold Mino....otherwise your whole interior becomes vulnerable....and Mino is mountainous and easy to defend.....much easier than the lowlands of Omi.

Tokugawa and Uesugi generally don't like each other, and if Uesugi doesn't fortify Shinano heavily, Tokugawa will usually try to take it. Takeda and Tokugawa will often form an alliance against you, however, and Mino is usually the target.

As Oda, no matter which starting date you play from, you cannot afford to turtle. You have to fight on two fronts and you must be aggressive or you'll get overrun.......

Anyway, I hope you don't mind the amount of opinions expressed here and find at least some of it useful.

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Hello Kerby, welcome to the Sword Dojo. I have to admit I was surprised to see anyone posting a new campaign report. Surprised, but glad nontheless.

Oda is a very good choice if you want to play a slightly harder campaign, as Reluctant Samurai mentioned you will almost certainly end up in a two front war. Be bold at the start and try to focus you expansion in one direction for a while. Maybe go to Kii for good farmland and Warrior Monks or head to Mikawa & Totomi, Mikawa is another easily defendable bridge province and Totomi produces superior Archers.

Whichever way you decide to go, don`t push too far too quickly. Take some provinces, spend a year or two securing them then move on again.

Good luck mate :2thumbsup: I`m eager to see how you progress as I did an Oda campaign back in January and it turned out to be one of the most thrilling and difficult campaigns I`ve ever played.