Rise to power: How I learned to stop worrying and love Realm Divide

[Monk]

I'd definitely say two things are needed in regards to your economy

The first: I would secure a vassal/alliance by any means necessary (other than hostage). Once you hit realm divide, Japan will hear the call of the shogun. Any trade relations you have going will go right down the drain. If you have a vassal or an ally with some good standing, you can keep trading for a while.

Secondly: You need to be self-reliant. That means farm upgrades. lots of farm upgrades. When i neared RD, i started teching up. I had a level 3 farm in every province, two trade nodes and two vassals, and barely managed to break even (with a two full modernized stacks). As i secured more territory and expanded my trade dominance, this margin quickly increased. But those first years? Don't be surprised if you make -2k a turn. You might find yourself disbanding a lot just to keep yourself afloat.

[Dead Guy]

I think there's a lot going for taking a few years to tech up to land consolidation.

Right before Realm Divide, you'll have 20 or so regions in a long campaign? Build Land consolidation in all of them and that'll be another 20 food surplus, giving an additional +20 taxable income in every region per turn. Just waiting a while letting that town wealth grow might give you enough to pay for another army eventually.

[Leptomeninges]

Is land consolidation really worth it? I thought I read that you won't make back the return on investment -- not counting the opportunity cost of researching the tech. Haven't crunched the numbers myself.

I personally handle it differently than Monk. I turtle at the maximal number of provinces and then pick a few provinces to conquer simultaneously as I trigger realm divide. It's easy to find some that can be liberated and turned into vassals. The problem with having vassals before divide is that they count against your Clan Fame conquest cap that triggers realm divide. I'd rather develop the big infrastructure around the maximal number of provinces (all owned by me) and then create vassals afterwards. I agree on creating at least one strong ally.

I also spend a lot of time looking at my finance screen and deciding if I'm solvent at a given level of military maintenance if I remove trade from the picture.

[Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout]

I say,just loot.

Its useful when you're bankrupt.

[Monk]

I say,just loot.

Its useful when you're bankrupt.

You know that's actually not bad advice. Once you'd hit RD it's probably the easiest, most secure way to get a lot of income. Especially if you're completely desperate and about to hit bankrupt. Just be careful: Looting will affect your daimyo's honor, if it gets too low, your generals' loyalty may suffer

I personally handle it differently than Monk. I turtle at the maximal number of provinces and then pick a few provinces to conquer simultaneously as I trigger realm divide. It's easy to find some that can be liberated and turned into vassals. The problem with having vassals before divide is that they count against your Clan Fame conquest cap that triggers realm divide. I'd rather develop the big infrastructure around the maximal number of provinces (all owned by me) and then create vassals afterwards. I agree on creating at least one strong ally.

Ah, very good point! I forgot vassals count toward your fame cap.

[Seyavash]

I have played several normal campaigns now. With first one Realm Divide caught me by surprise but I still managed to hold on. Afterward I tried the mod that reduces the effect but that actually made things too easy, now I am back to using the full RD. I find it makes for a much better game. The key is farms, food supply and roads. Low level markets are helpful as well and better than castles as you can always destroy them if your food supply gets too low. Trade is good to build up a war chest but be ready to go without it once RD hits.

The trick to surviving is to create vassals after RD, any from before will betray you eventually. those created after RD are not affected by and will trade with you allowing you to rebuild this aspect of your income. Plus vassals can be surprisingly effective in waging war on your enemies so it becomes a true civil war and not just you against the world. Even if your vassals are not aggressive they will usually provide distracting targets to their neighbors. this gives you all kinds of opportunities to exploit.

[katank]

Definitely build up. Another thing that's very useful is to train up the maximum number of ninjas and monks and keep using them to destabilize neighbors, etc. You can afford lots of agent missions while trade is still good before RD.

Sabotaging enemy armies and assassinating their top ranked generals can give you breathers for the dog piles. It's also much harder for the AI to make war on you effectively when all their farms are in ruins and they're constantly wracked by rebellions.

[Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout]

[QUOTE=Monk;2053294233]You know that's actually not bad advice. Once you'd hit RD it's probably the easiest, most secure way to get a lot of income. Especially if you're completely desperate and about to hit bankrupt. Just be careful: Looting will affect your daimyo's honor, if it gets too low, your generals' loyalty may suffer

HM,,Loot Kyoto and other big cites,I rebulid the looted provinces after that.

[Dead Guy]

An important detail about trade-vassals set up after realm divide: The penalty is applied to all factions again when you capture Kyoto. Not a huge problem, but be aware. It will start from 20 or however much it is for those that aren't already affected.