How is your first campaign going?

[Daveybaby]

Just had the divide event on my second game (shimazu, hard, 40 provinces). I knew it was close, so i'd turtled up to reinforce my economy and troops before the onslaught. To my surprise it occurred anyway due to me winning a *defensive* battle. I'd assumed it was purely down to number of provinces owned but it seems there are other factors involved.

Happily my three allies (chokosabe, amako and mori) and three vassals decided to stick by me. There's about 120 turns to go and i've got 25 provinces (including kyoto) left to capture, should be doable, as long as my vassals dont get there before me.

[Monk]

Just had the divide event on my second game (shimazu, hard, 40 provinces). I knew it was close, so i'd turtled up to reinforce my economy and troops before the onslaught. To my surprise it occurred anyway due to me winning a *defensive* battle. I'd assumed it was purely down to number of provinces owned but it seems there are other factors involved.

Happily my three allies (chokosabe, amako and mori) and three vassals decided to stick by me. There's about 120 turns to go and i've got 25 provinces (including kyoto) left to capture, should be doable.

Heroic victories also contribute to your clan fame if i recall, although not as much as taking provinces.

[Ituralde]

My Uesugi campaing is nearing the end.

Despite loosing my home province and all may generals early on I have made a successful recovery. The Kanto is mine! After that I paused a little bit and tried to get my farm infrastructure going as I was raking in 4k a turn from trade. I wanted to have a good economy before Realm Divide hits. I couldn't hold off my offensive too long, as I could see the Hojo home province empty and the Imagawa lands undefended. I couldnt' resist and have torn through the Southern provinces all the way to Realm Divide!

My Date allies in the North are still faithful, but barely. I have an army in the region, which just conquered Sado. That gold mine, plus the one in the Hojo home province is financing my war efforts. My main enemies are the Shokugawa, which hold South Shinano and all the provinces between me and Kyoto, and the Amakawa, which control all of Western Japan except the islands. There some smaller clans are also busy fighting against me. I only need three more provinces including Kyoto. Hope I'll make it, before my undefended hinterland gets pillaged and burned!

[A Nerd]

I've been doing something interesting in my latest Hojo campaign. I wanted to maintain trade with some smaller factions but I also wanted to take their provinces. So, I have been using monks to incite rebellions and when the rebels take the castle, I then take the castle from the rebels. More territories and I maintain trade with the other clan. I've taken a number of castles that way thus far. Despite the success precentage being around 30%, they still seem to incite rebellions quite often. It might affect relations though, I am not sure, but most of the other clans are hostile toward me.

[quadalpha]

Only failed agent actions affect relations. It should be under "Sabotage Attempts" or "Hostile Agent Actions" in the diplo tooltip.

[Monk]

Nearing the end of my Chokosabe campaign. A hard push and a capture of Kyoto, back and forth fighting (kyoto exchanged hands 3 times) and my Daimyo is now officially Shogun. The Oda are reeling from the loss of power and are on their heels, scrambling for defense. Their army quality is steadily dropping as they lost the ability top field heavy hitters. I'm up to 37 provinces, 3 away from victory.

All i have to say is what a game. When realm divide hit and the game turned into East vs West I didn't think I'd ever be able to finish, we were completely deadlocked. However, a few acts of heroism from my generals, key assasinations, a well placed uprising from a Monk and a couple allied armies to my rescue gave me the upper hand. I really don't like using the word, but the only way I can describe the ending of the game is epic.

Tens of thousands of men died in the war for Kyoto, the heroes of the Kyushu campaign among them. Even Chokosabe Motochika was counted among those who fell. Oda Nobuhide and Nobunaga both met their ends in the disaserous war for control of the Shogunate. New heroes arose for the Chokosabe time and time again, even when things were at their darkest and i'd been pushed back three or four provinces, there was always a chance to rebound. My vassals even surprised me, riding to my defense numerous times when the fighting reached its apex around Kyoto and the former lands of the Asai. I even began to dread certain generals on the other side, trying to out manourver them rather than fight them. Osaka became littered with the dead, as I fought six battles near the city. I can only imagine that locals are now telling tales of the angry spirits of the dead, roaming the countryside at night and continuing the battle fought in life.

All in all.. i think i'll need a break from Shogun 2 once this is all done. Not because I'm tired of the game, but because this one campaign has given me so many vivid memories, i'd like time to reflect on them all.

[andrewt]

I started as Chosokabe on N/N. I conquered Shikoku and then started with Kii on the mainland. I didn't know this at the time but that was a good choice since this area is one of the most fertile in the game.

I hit realm divide when one of my trade partners in southern Kyushu declared war on me and I started conquering their provinces. Eventually, I vassaled them, hit realm divide, then had them turn on me immediately. Everybody except my allies, the Shoni, turned on me. They had roughly 11 provinces and I had 2 stacks tied up on my borders with them for their eventual betrayal.

It was just a matter of slowly pushing east, consolidating, then beating the Shoni when they betrayed me. It also helped that the other power is the Date. They didn't bother me for a while after I beat the initial armies they sent after realm divide.

Right now, I'm just turtling at 59 provinces trying to fully explore the tech tree.