Realm Divide, talk about a challenge.

[The_Emperor]

Hi guys

Well my campaign hit realm divide real fast and I must admit while I enjoy the challenge it seems a bit too much.
having vassals turn on you is a mechanic that really sucked, I really do not think it should happen given they are already submissive.

I did however still manage to keep 1 ally with me after becoming shogun with all my diplomatic bonuses but i still saw that reputation was plummeting like a stone as the realm divide penalty increased turn after turn.

Suffice to say my short campaign came close to victory at 23 provinces and now the Takeda managed to land a strike force on Kyushu with my armies spread thinly and running out of cash I think it might have hit that turning point.

Does anyone have any hints on how to beat it?

[xploring]

You can get some ideas from this thread:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...e-Realm-Divide

The main ideas I have gathered online are:
- stall before realm divide to build up economy and war chest
- create vassals after realm divide between you and your enemy to act as buffer
- prepare for multi-offensive and strike out to capture several provinces at the same time to trigger realm divide

[Graphic]

I managed to keep the Hojo from attacking me (Hattori) after realm divide by giving them massive gifts of money to keep them in the green. If there's another superpower that you want to avoid war with, thats the ticket.

Also when you're building up before triggering realm divide, focus on making buildings that generate tax income as opposed to building up trade income, as you will lose most of your trade partners (if not all).

[TinCow]

I found it was crucial to get your economy on solid ground before Realm Divide. You need to be prepared to operate for the rest of the game without ANY trade income. If you manage to keep some, consider it a bonus, but make sure you can fund your armies without it. If your economy collapses during Realm Divide, you're toast.

Another strategy I used successfully is to break up AI alliances and provoke wars prior to Realm Divide. The AI will break alliances if you pay them enough to do it, so if there is an AI alliance that you do not want to face during Realm Divide, use diplomacy to break it, and possibly even get them to declare war on one another. The more AI v AI fighting there is at the time of Realm Divide, the easier your conquest will be.

[The_Emperor]

Cheers for the input guys.

I have some new strategies so i will reload an earlier save and provoke it after preparation.
My income did not go negative during the realm divide as I had already invested much in infrastructure but it did once one of my trade fleets was attacked by Wako (thankfully they got captured and all my ships were back in position for end of turn).

Looking at the threads I find it interesting that the realm divide penalty does not apply to vassals created after the realm divide event and I think i will use that to my advantage to "make" some friends and trading partners.

My own feelings about the event are mixed, while I do like the challenge I do think that the realm divide penalty should not hit your "Very friendly" long term allies hard enough to enter war (and should not hit vassals at all) but everyone who does not have great relations should take the big hit and side with the Shogun.

To me this would make more sense as the realm divide would be more like a civil war then with the old Shogun and his supporters vs the upcoming shogun and his supporters.

Losing all diplomacy is a real immersion killer for me with the event and I think it should be scripted better so that you keep your vassals and maybe a couple of your very faithful long standing allies vs the rest of the map (who have penalties so harsh you will never win them back), it would be more keeping with the atmosphere of the game.

[xploring]

Another guide for surviving realm divide
http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...g-Realm-Divide

Marriage right before realm divide can help you keep an ally too. The diplomacy bonus from the marriage declines over time though.

[Rothe]

Cheers for the input guys.

I have some new strategies so i will reload an earlier save and provoke it after preparation.
My income did not go negative during the realm divide as I had already invested much in infrastructure but it did once one of my trade fleets was attacked by Wako (thankfully they got captured and all my ships were back in position for end of turn).

Looking at the threads I find it interesting that the realm divide penalty does not apply to vassals created after the realm divide event and I think i will use that to my advantage to "make" some friends and trading partners.

My own feelings about the event are mixed, while I do like the challenge I do think that the realm divide penalty should not hit your "Very friendly" long term allies hard enough to enter war (and should not hit vassals at all) but everyone who does not have great relations should take the big hit and side with the Shogun.

To me this would make more sense as the realm divide would be more like a civil war then with the old Shogun and his supporters vs the upcoming shogun and his supporters.

Losing all diplomacy is a real immersion killer for me with the event and I think it should be scripted better so that you keep your vassals and maybe a couple of your very faithful long standing allies vs the rest of the map (who have penalties so harsh you will never win them back), it would be more keeping with the atmosphere of the game.

In my Hard/Hard games, I have always kept one ally and perhaps 1-2 vassals after the divide. It is not that hard. All you have to do is to get their relations maxed before (long term trading, marriage) and then get some diplomacy chi advances. You'll have plenty of time before they turn on you, and you can extend that time by paying them around 3-5k when they go to 0 in relations. My economy is usually so strong that those payments are not really tough to make if I only keep one ally. Vassals I usually stomp out when I get to a point where I don't want to garrison any forces near them.

- Prepare for the divide by conquering a realm that can be defended from 2-3 points effectively.
- Max out your agent pool. Ninjas are great at stopping multi stack offensives by sabotage.
- You'll need around 4-5 armies for a long game, perhaps less for a short one, and perhaps a few smaller forces that can act as a castle defense in trouble spots.
- Keep a strong economy.
- Keep only one ally, and pick that ally carefully so that you can still fight on forward to Kyoto, but so that the ally is useful to you. I usually keep the ally on the opposite side of Japan, to keep my enemies occupied at both ends.
- Max out relations to your ally pre-divide
- Keep a fund to pay the ally if the campaign lasts so long that they might turn on you. Keep track of the diplomatic relations turn by turn.