How is your first campaign going?

**AussieGiant** · 04-11-2011, 08:32

I'm 50 odd turns into a Date campaign on N/N. I'm struggling. I just go beaten in a straight fight with a half stack on half stack open plain battle. My economy is only producing about 1000 koku per turn surplus. I have 4 provinces and about 4 trade agreements. I'm finding the sea battles easier than the land battles!! 12 years of a Total War games and I really feel like I'm missing something in how I'm handling the Clan!! :) LOVE IT!!

**Ituralde** · 04-11-2011, 08:41

Don't worry about it. My first land battle on N/N with even numbers was an unmitigated disaster, which eventually cost me my home province. But I stayed in the game and am now on the cusp of grabbing the title of Shogun. Just hadn't had any time to play further yet. Love the challenge as well!

**AussieGiant** · 04-11-2011, 08:56

Originally Posted by Ituralde

Don't worry about it. My first land battle on N/N with even numbers was an unmitigated disaster, which eventually cost me my home province. But I stayed in the game and am now on the cusp of grabbing the title of Shogun. Just hadn't had any time to play further yet. Love the challenge as well!

Ituralde, good to see you again and thanks for the information.

**GeneralHankerchief** · 04-11-2011, 09:10

I have a paper due in 7 hours. So naturally here I am talking about my campaign.

First one I took a crack at was a Hojo, N/N. About ten turns in and both my daimyo and general are dead. I now have zero army leaders. Didn't feel like waiting around and getting slaughtered, so I reset.

My next/current campaign is a N/N Shimazu effort that I went nice and easy with. Unified my island without any major problems, though I probably could have done it faster. Spent about 10 turns building up armies and I eventually made a simultaneous push to get a toehold onto Honshu as well as send an army out to conquer Shikoku. The good news is, since the Chosukabe were also making a push onto the mainland, Shikoku was relatively undefended and I was able to take several cities without much of a problem. The bad news is... the Chosukabe were focused on Honshu. After I took two of their Honshu cities, they sent this massive archer-heavy army out at me and summarily took one of their cities back without much of a problem, never mind that I had my highest-quality army inside that city. This was easily the worst city-defense loss I have ever experienced in my Total War career when I had some semblance of an army inside.

I was able to regroup and push the Chosukabe back, finally defeating them without having to face that super-army of theirs again. But that war was a costly one, and as it happens the last city I conquered was my 16th province, hence the Shogun finally getting fed up with me and declaring war. I now face a situation where all of Japan is bearing down upon on me, with slightly less than two battle-ready armies, and I still haven't even unified all of Shikoku yet. Oh, and my starting island isn't even a troop factory yet, because I set it up to be economy-based and that did me a lot of good considering how I'm only breaking even. This is going to be a grind, but I'm pumped for it.

...on second thought, I may just eschew sleep tonight and keep playing as soon as I finish that paper.

**Monk** · 04-11-2011, 17:30

Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

...on second thought, I may just eschew sleep tonight and keep playing as soon as I finish that paper.

Just like the old days huh? That's the spirit!

Originally Posted by Ituralde

Don't worry about it. My first land battle on N/N with even numbers was an unmitigated disaster, which eventually cost me my home province. But I stayed in the game and am now on the cusp of grabbing the title of Shogun. Just hadn't had any time to play further yet. Love the challenge as well!

Heh, i'm almost afraid N/N will feel too easy after so long on H/H. I dont want to lose that intense challenge, but i just might have to downgrade. Some of the eastern Honshu clans are down right murderous in difficulty.

**Zim** · 04-13-2011, 06:58

Not my first campaign, but the first to get anywhere. After having one game where I ran out of time while being nowhere near becoming Shogun (Chosokabe N/N), a couple non starters (Oda and Date, the latter on H/H, not sure about former's difficulty) I started with the Hojo on N/N. It's been a bumpy ride. After some initial expansion against minor clans (and an alliance with the Togugawa and Takeda) I ended up way over my head in a war against two of the northern minors, having to pay a hefty tribute to keep from being destroyed. One of those minors then proceeded to be cut apart by the Togugawa and Takeda, and after a hostage I sent the minor had returned, I grabbed a few provinces off of them.

Since then I've been laying low, getting provinces when I can and trading as much as I can (although I only grabbed two nodes in time). Twice I've been threatened by much bigger clans. First the Tokugawa (who paid for their treachery when they gained a few two many enemies) and much more recently by the Hattori who had replaced them. I ground a couple of their armies against my castles (with very heavy losses) and managed to take territory from them and secure a favorable peace deal.

Here's a slightly out of date map. I now also own the two Hattori provinces west of my border with them. I'm at 12 provinces and starting to worry about the Realm Divide. I've only managed so far because my enemies have bitten off more than they could chew. If I hit the Realm Divide anytime soon I'll be in trouble, being surrounded on all but my sea side by large clans. I also made some early mistakes. I didn't get most of the trade nodes in time and I built up my castles not thinking of how important surplus food was. Right now I have no surplus and I'm working on researching terraced fields, and trading with almost everybody while I prepare.

Most frightening surprise of the game: When the Hattori first went to war with me they struck at one of my vulnerable provinces behind our border. Not by sea (although I've seen AI factions do that to eachother this game) but by marching right around my heavily defended border castle. I was barely able to hold them off (their army was high on yaris, low on bowmen) but it was quite a shock.

Most pleasant surprise so far: I had a Daimyo's widow as regent for some time and didn't think anything of it. Finally, when my best general was getting delusions of grandeur and his loyalty hit rock bottom I decided to name him heir. Instant Daimyo with honor through the roof from so many heroic victories. Most of my generals are above full loyalty now and Daimyo honor is +4.

**Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout** · 04-13-2011, 12:05

I've had the most epic campagin ever,playing as the Takeda on H/H.

Right now,I've conqerued all the lands,well Kyoto is in my hands,Uesgai are gone,Noto,echizen,and many others are now under my rule,But I need help,My allies the Hojo dont like me,since they destroyed my enemies the Date,and they will declare war on me,and take my provinces,I dont have enough armies in Kai and other places,And the imagawa are crushed by The Tokugawa,Whom I have been winning battles excellently,could someone help me out here?