Chosokabe guides, hints and tips

[Andres]

The Chosokabe is the clan most people will be familiar with, as it's also the clan you get to play in the tutorial.

As with most of Shogun II's campaigns, it's possible to lose this one in the first few turns, so your first moves will be very important.

Turn 1

First of all, you'll want to deal with the Ichijo rebels in your province. You need to destroy the entire army in your first turn. And when I say "entire army", I mean "entire army". If you didn't kill them all in your first battle, you will have to attack them a second time in the same turn to make sure they are all dead. Failure to do so, will result in the rebels, no matter how small the remains of their army, destroying one of your facilities, which is to be avoided at all costs.

Have your daimyo leave the castle and join the army lead by your general, Kira Masayo, and attack the rebels.

Once you have dealt with the rebels (which will give you the "inspired endeavours" reward), return your army to your castle.

Upgrade your port, upgrade your farm and build a yari ashigaru unit.

The Chosokabe are supposed to be the masters of the bow. Eventually, you will need to study the bushido arts up until Way of the Bow. You are the Chosokabe after all. That said, in the early game, as with all other clans, ashigaru units are more than good enough, so I always study Way of Chi and then Todofuken first. So, start studying Way of Chi now.

Then click the end turn button.

The next turns.

You cannot rest now. Allthough Tosa seems pretty peaceful now, you have a very aggressive neighbour in the North, the Kono. They probably already sent their army to invade your province.

Take your entire army and march towards the North. Recruit another ashigaru unit in your capital and end the turn.

In the next turn, you might want to look at your province first and develop you port further. You really want trade ships asap, so that you can take as many trade nodes as possible. Don't forget to chose the Fodofuken art in the arts screen, since the game will otherwise have you study Zen.

In most campaigns, the Kono army is now out in the field, marching towards Tosa. Meet them and destroy their army. Once this is done, you can either go directly to their castle to take Iyo, or you could wait within your borders to have your troops replenished.

I very much prefer to push through and take the castle.

Sometimes, the Kono stay in their castle and you're obliged to siege them. You don't want to be in enemy territory during Winter, so you'll have to take the castle immediately.

If you're not very good at sieges, you can autocalc the battle; it always gives a fair result.

Once you have dealt with the Kono, you can decide to take a brief pause, to allow your troops to replenish, to recruit some extra units, to build your infrastructure (always pay attention to farms! The Chosokabe get a bonus for farm income. Farms are also important in the long run. You don't want to encounter a food shortage later on in the game by unthoughtfull building; upgrade roads and ports if money is available). Build a level 1 market in Iyo (don't shy away from destroying whatever other building they might have built). No need to waste money on expensive military units or infrastructure now or to upgrade your castles. Ashigaru are more than enough. Besides, later on, you'll take Awa province from the Miyoshi clans, which will have all military infrastructure you'll need.

Continue the conquest of Shikoku


After a short break (don't take too long though!) to replenish your troops and upgrade your structures, you will want to take out the Sogo first, since they're far less powerful than the Miyoshi.

You don't need to leave more than one unit in Iyo and Tosa. Take the rest of your army and march on Sanuki castle. Pay attention to the seasons. Don't invade Sogo territory in Autumn or Winter. From your border in Iyo to Sanuki castle will take you just a very little bit more than the distance you can travel in one turn.

Their army will usually be outside in the field when you invade their province. The cowards retreat into their castle as soon as they see you coming most of the time, though, so taking this province will be a costly affair again. That's ok. Your troops love to die for you and the other troops love to die for their daimyo, so bloody messes make everybody happy here. Except the daimyo who loses his head, of course. He won't be too happy about that. Not that you should care about that. As long as your head stays where it belongs, it doesn't matter who's head gets chopped off.

Attack the castle, accept your losses and take a turn or two to catch your breath.

Finalising the conquest of Shikoku.

There was a reason why I told you you shouldn't waste too much time.

The first 10 to 15 turns or so, the Miyoshi spend their money building infrastructure. They're building all those nice and expensive buildings for you, so that you can take them without having to make the investments!

However, if you waste too much time, their buildings will be complete and they start recruiting troops.

You want an easy target. A rich castle with a weak army. You don't want to face a strong opponent.

The turn before you invade Awa, cancel your trade agreement with the Miyoshi, so you don't suffer the "dishonouring treaties" penalty in your diplomacy relations later on.

Once that's done, attack Awa, with all you've got. Don't worry about the Miyoshi sending reinforcements from Awaji. By the time Awaji province has build up a small army, you will have taken Awa.

After you have defeated the Miyoshi in Awa, taking Awaji from them will be a formality and Shikoku will be all yours.

Your trade ships should now have take some trade nodes. If you have ships without a node and all other nodes are taken, then have the "lonely" trade ships join those already on a node. It'll give you additional income.

Now what?

Now, it's time to breathe and rest. Build up your farms, ports. Build a level 1 market in Awaji. Heck, build a level 1 market wherever you can, whatever clan you are playing. Don't go further on the market chains though, unless you have a big food surplus. Higher level markets consume food.

Anyway, you'll want Shikoku to make money and produce food for you, it's not handy to have your remote Island as your centre to build up armies, since it'll take you too long to get armies from there to the frontline later on in the game. So, don't spend too much money on other stuff than economy and food, but build up a decent invasion force and a respectable fleet. Use the infrastructure in Awa if you want better troops than ashigaru.

Soon, you'll have to leave your warm and cozy Island if you want to move up in this world.

The choice you'll have to make now is whether to invade mainland Japan or conquer Kyushu first. The latter seems the most easy step. Before invading, send out a trade ship to scout the island, or drop a ninja on the island, to see which province is easiest to take. Make sure the army you take with you is large enough. Once you have a foot on Kyushu, you're set.

After the conquest of Kyushu, the best advice is to take a period to consolidate and rest. Build up infrastructure and build up your forces, before invading mainland Japan and going for the main prize: Kyoto.