Uesugi guides, hints and tips

[aimlesswanderer]

On VH/VH, I found that for many years I was stuck defending Echigo against a steady stream of Takeda (once a year or 2), Jinbo (for 5 or so years until they got wiped out) and a few Hojo stacks. My troops and daimyo got heaps of experience, and sometimes didn't always have time to recover from the last siege (camps are good). I had hardly any income, and couldn't really afford anything, let alone take a province. Upgrading Echigo castle was critical, as the free defensive units, towers, taller walls and larger area were crucial. My monk was an expert demoraliser, and was crucial to keeping an eye on the all too numerous approaches, especially because he was the only agent I had for ages.

I only got a navy (apart from a few trade ships) after they started landing stacks on me, and they were there to stop that, and that's about it.

Eventually, after 10 years or so, I took Fukushima (they declared on me), and after that I headed NE and took over those nice provinces, which gave me a decent income for the first time. After that, it was steady progress against the Hojo and Takeda, and after an income hiccup at RD, on to Kyoto and the shogunate.

[Maltz]

After some limited exposure to Uesugi, I find that the turning point of the Uesugi campaign is whether I can quickly establish an alliance with Takeda after it absorbs North Shinano.

In my current game, I actually talked Takeda into breaking their alliance with Hojo in order to ally with me! This keeps Takeda very busy for a long time, while I can direct my effort into fruitful pursuits.

[Jacobin]

After four disastrous legendary attempts have little to add so far to Jungle Rhino's points.

As he says Etchu is not worth occupying for itself and making Jinbo a vassal does get you +1 honour (I always got Kenshin up to max 6 honour within a couple of years) - and in one game they then conquered 4 additional provinces before collapsing under the Ikko Ikki onslaught - but usually they'll only last a few turns and will get you at war with the Ikko ikki and Hatakeyama.

Had some very bad experiences with ships though - getting that NE trade node is attractive but going there will get you noticed by the Date who seem pre-programmed to attack.

Next go I may just build one bow kobaya to take me to Sado and that will be it.

[Jacobin]

This campaign I just ignored Jinbo who after three turns not just gave me a peace treaty but a trade agreement and marriage - and then paid me 1750 koku for 5 turns military access and became a firm ally for a few turns until Takeda conquered them.

Fortunately only Takeda and Hojo declared war on the Yamanouchi this time and having left them to be conquered while I was invading Sado island I retook Kozuke and was able to negotiate alliances with the Satake and Satomi for long enough to kill the Hojo.

However typically everything then went pear-shaped: now a vast Ikko Ikki horde is amassing in Suruga to attack the provinces I took from the Hojo, The Takeda had declared war but did nothing for years until I captured Kai upon which 4 stacks of doom commanded by Shingen appeared from nowhere, the Satake and Satomi betrayed me and even the Shimazu have just declared war.

So my only hope lies in the full stack under Kenshin which is on its way to Hitachi and with which I plan to fight all the way up the east coast while laying waste and abandoning everything behind me.

[Jarmam]

It seems the key to Uesugi lies in fully utilizing the power of their starting province's defensive capabilities. If the enemy comes from the west he can sabotage nothing without going through your castle first, and if he comes from the east there's a bridge right there which is like having three castles at once on the defense. Also you start out with stupidly good diplomatic relations with all neighbouring clans (including Takeda), which means you can choose which way to expand: To Ikko's lands, making a triangular defense between your capital, Ikko's capital and North Shinado (once things sour with Takeda) or to Date's lands, using your capitol as an unbreakable unharrasable barrier while you crawl eastwards in the beginning.

You can ally with basically whomever you want, so directing where the early-game threat will come from is fairly managable. Taking the goldmine island+having allies in either east or west while you go the opposite way means the campaign is actually somewhat managable. You gotta commit to whatever approach you take. You just have to be willing to take the -1 honor blow from sacking your vassals. They are absolutely worthless and serve only to draw you into wars you have no interest in.

There is a lot of replayability in this campaign. We should really pool together experiences in a thread. Its very hard to see a clear red line to victory with Uesugi. In my current campaign I just went the coward's route and did the triangle-defense while teching +25 acc Bow Monks and +5 armor Warrior Monks, so after 60 or so turns I still only have 10ish provinces (but I can support 3 stacks of Monks/Samurais, since Metsuke are so easy to rank up now, excellent change). It also really depends on how the map develops. Hojo/Takeda/Imagawa getting entagled with Oda seems set in stone, but Ikko is the Joker times 600, as they can do anything with completely unpredictable outcomes. In my current game they had 7 provinces after 10 turns which makes them impossible to deal with if they decide you're going down (fortunately they went for Oda, win-win for me).

Good fun!

[Jacobin]

Yes I finally did get to domination (or so near to to it that playing on became boring) but it was much harder to predict and plan for than any previous clan I'd played.

[Maltz]

Here are five ways of the opening of Uesugi.



(1) North Eastern Backyard

This is the most generic way to start the Uesugi campaign. By having our back secured to the sea, we will be able to reduce the number of armies and expand effectively - just like the Date clan. Initial enemies are all busy with their respective enemies, so it is quite likely that we will be able to defeat them while they are weak / absent. It might be a good idea to take on Honma (Sado Island) first as Honma is an ally of Hatekeyama. And Honma's AI loves to carry out landing attacks with tiny forces.

However, if you know a little background of Uesugi Kenshin and wish to role play, this is probably the worst, as it involves attacking friendly clans. (Kenshin follows the path of Righteousness, a rarity in Sengoku Jidai.) For example, Honma helped Kenshin's father to take back his rulership of Echigo at the lowest point of his life. You would be a total ass to attack Honma. :D