Shinobis

[chaouki]

has someone an explanation why an enemy ninja is able to kill multiple priests in one of my provinces despite having a shinobi there? i always thought he would kill every ninja there like the enemy border forts seem to do

[caravel]

Hello chaouki,

This is based on agent honour. When a ninja infiltrates a province his honour is tested against the counterspies there. This is not a simple less than or greater than calculation, but includes a random factor as well. Higher honour simply increases the chance of success for the agent.

For example if a 4 star ninja enters a province he first has to survive the counterspies in that province. If the counterspy in the province consists of 0 - 1 star ninja/shinobi, then it's likely that the ninja will pass through undetected. If the counterspy is a 2 - 3 star shinobi/ninja then the chances of his being caught are higher.

Border forts are roughly equivalent to something like a 4 or 5 star shinobi so their success rate is higher. The problem with border forts is that they render your shinobi/ninja redundant and they won't gain honour for catching rival agents (because the border fort catches them instead).

[chaouki]

ah thanks, the rank system explains a lot. didn't think about it :(

well even though i'll stick to shinobis for the known reasons and build a couple additional priests instead :D

[Togakure]

The key is that the security check (counterspies; border forts) seems to be made once--when an assassin enters a province. Once in, a ninja doesn't have to go through the security check again (unless he leaves the province and attempts to return), and can attempt to assassinate any target in the province--all he needs is a successful kill roll.

If I have emissaries or valuable low-star generals in a province where an enemy ninja has just infiltrated and killed, I move them elsewhere, usually to a province heavy with security in hope that the assassin will be caught following them. Usually I'll keep moving them between high-security areas each season until the ninja is caught.

I realized this when I'd flood a province with shinobi/ninja counterspies after being attacked by ninja and they didn't seem to have any effect. The assassin kept killing the soft targets in the province, turn after turn. Finally, I moved the remaining targets to another port with a border fort and a pack of spies, the enemy ninja was caught immediately.

[Brandy Blue]

Thank you everyone. With that information in mind, I just might have a nasty surprise for that naughty Oda warlord who broke our alliance.

[gollum]

Not sure that the security check is made once. For example when i enter a province with a team of ninjas and the province has BFs some of the ninjas get caught in entering, but if i leave the rest in, in subsequent turns the rest get caught as well.

[ReluctantSamurai]

but if i leave the rest in, in subsequent turns the rest get caught as well.

That's been my experience with shinobi....if I leave them in an enemy province after they've made it past the bf, they will all eventually get caught if I don't move them.

[caravel]

As far as I know the counterspy check occurs every turn. This is also the case in MTW. I can see why it can sometimes appear that the check only occurs once though, because once a rival clan's ninja is in, kills and increases in honour, he can leave your counterspies behind in terms of honour, making him harder and harder to catch. This is where the tactic of pulling out all of the "soft targets" into any border forted province comes into it's own. Hopefully the ninja will follow the emissaries/priests - to his death.