Tips on unit setup

[Tempiic]

Hard to say Hamysho, as I've seen lots of combinations from my opponents and myself, and most of them seem to be working, eventhough certain units have certain roles to play. Each unit have an use. What would be handy to do is to try to field as much unupgraded veterans besides the couple upgraded ones, so that they'll gain experience for later while costing as much as the regular units.

However rather than the tier 3 units, I'd first go after the discount retainers.

Personally I avoided the loan swords, having taken a mixture of katanas and a strong cav presence until I got naginata samurai and guns.

Regarding no-dachi samurai, I'd only take one unit of these and use them as a reserve unit, to strike at an already engaged unit. Which will make disengaging and recharging easier. I've played with 2 cav units and as much as up to 8. Both can work, depending on your overall plan and use of said units. I am fond of keeping my yari cav somewhat in reserve or at the flanks, while my 3 light cav units do the skirmishing as they cost much less so can be sacrificed. And sometimes draw enemy cav in so your yari cav can counter charge. Generally it is better to engage enemy infantry with cav when they are already engaged, but sometimes you simply have not the luxery to wait for a weak spot.

What ever you do, cover your weakness or increase your strenghts (which in this game I find to be the same). If taking few cav, you'll need more spears to help deal with enemy cav. If taking more cav, you'd need less spears but more swords to deal with enemy spears.

I've used both ashi bows and sam bows, preferring a mixture where the bodies of the ashi shield the sam ones.

Most important thing though, is to keep your general alive and realize that everything can be sacrificied. But it is much better to reinforce and focus on your line where you are stronger and gaining rather than where you are weaker and loosing.

[jackie_fish]

at that low levle you just need to go for numbers not skill but still try get some tier 2 or 3 units if you can vets as you will need them later on in the game

[00owl]

Hey, so I remember my first 10K game. I was all ready and used to those 5k games and enjoying them quite a bit. They were very intense and fun. I had armies saved for 5k and had no idea when I would jump up to 10K so it took me totally off guard, I was lost, and on top of that my opponent was nice enough to ready up as soon as we connected so I didn't have time to think out my units. I just took a larger version of what had worked for me in the 5k battles: ashi spears, ashi bows, and 2 yari cav. Needless to say I got stomped, was not happy.

But I've learned, and I expect you will too. As someone who enjoys going archer heavy and likes to win the skirmish battle please note that bow samurai are your best enemy and worst friend. It doesn't take very many upgrades for bow ashigaru to just be better than them, when vetting bowmen always focus on accuracy first as I believe that it doesn't matter how fast your guys shoot, or how much damage they do, if they aren't hitting the enemy then they aren't doing anything. I found that after maxing their accuracy upgrades they can easily outshoot unvetted bow samurai for much less the price, and even if they can't win if your general is nearby they will usually eat enough arrows to protect your melee guys.

As for your specific build go with what you like, feel free to experiment and have fun losing/learning. Don't get frustrated and pay attention to what your opponents have. Always go for a balanced army as those are the most reliable, and most fun to play with/against.