What is your fighting style?

[smooth_operator]

What is your fighting style in fighting on Shogun 2?
Here are the choices. Please note that I just made them up according to my concept of fighting styles so don't criticize me too harshly. :)

1. Rusher- quickly overwhelms the enemy with a swift downpour of lethality
2. Reserved- likes to wait until the last moment before committing to battle
3. Artillery Man- the "Napoleonic" guy who exploits all his artillery and missile units to pepper the enemy before they get close
4. Ambusher- cunningly conceals men and catches the enemy off-guard
5. Unorthodox- employs out of this world tactics which succeeds most of the time(please detail your strategy)

Now Post!!!

>>>Since I accidentally forgot to put Ambusher in the poll, just post it if you are one. :) Sorry for that.

[Ishmael]

I went for 'Artillery Man' when playing against the AI - whilst I don't actually use artillery all that often, I love to take the missile advantage in a fight and force the enemy to come to me. I figure in a battle against the AI, if I can make the AI attack me I can usually dig in in a fortified position and win quite easily.

[A Nerd]

I rush, but don't always overwhelm. I tend to take high casualties as well. Combination of my men being expendable and my poor generalmanship.

[econ21]

I picked artillery man - I tend to rely on bows to try to get relatively bloodless victories. It shades into reserved, as my standard approach is a wall of spears to protect my archers. I've done that in virtually every TW game since the original STW. I probably should be more aggressive on the flanks and use swords more in the centre, but I tend to let the AI commit before going in for the kill.

My tactics seem to work relatively well in STW2 - archery seems extremely lethal while cavalry is perhaps not as powerful as in some earlier titles. I seldom get the bloodless victory though - the AI is competent and its archers know how to fire back.

[Dead Guy]

I'm a very defensive general, fielding lots of archers and a siege engine or two.

I think this behaviour has been hammered in through the last few titles, where firing at an advancing enemy was often extremely effective, especially in RTW/M2TW with their rather extreme battlefields (mountain sides).

I find that defending a hill is sometimes actually not as effective anymore, because the enemy can fire back as soon as your archers can fire at them, and the AI always sends his archers out first, starts firing, and then send in the infantry. My Ashigaru line gets decimated by the enemy archers if I place them in front of my archers, and if I place archers in front, I lose time when I have to pull them back. I think the most viable tactic is to counter charge downhill when the infantry approaches my archers, but this works best with katanas, and using that makes me vulnerable to center cavalry charges. I mix these approaches up a bit. I often use a mangonel or two, since it often makes the AI attack my position even though I'm technically the attacker, and they can be really devastating if you know where to aim as the enemy advances. They take out a whole lot of horses when they hit cavalry, and can of course be used to cheaply eliminate the enemy leadership.

I rarely rush per se, the battles where I am forced to go on the offense are very slow at first, I skirmish intensly to get the upper hand in an archer duel, or attack a flank with archers, and then I might rush if the AI re-arranges to go for my exposed flanking archers. I almost only use cavalry to charge archers left alone behind the clashing lines, I find that reduces casualties more than charging the rear for morale shock, since arrows are so lethal.

[Andres]

I usually use similar tactics as econ21 and Dead Guy.

Have my archers hide behind a bunch of spears and let the enemy come has been my usual playstyle in previous titles. Now, the enemy finally knows they can fire back, so I sometimes put my archers in front of my spears. Imo, retreating your archers when the enemy infantry charges is less effective than letting your own infantry charge at the charging enemy and have them clash in front of your archers. Currently playing as the Date, I'm slowly starting to occasionally have my No Dachi or Katana samurai charge first and it does have good results. Cavalry isn't as powerful as in previous titles, but still very effective to cause a chain rout when charging a few enemy infantry units in the rear.

Just like Dead Guy, when on the offense, I always try to take down a few units on the enemies' flanks with my archers or try to bait them with my cavalry before really engaging them.

[Vladimir]

Good to see king of battle getting proper respect. In MTW2 the choice is easy. If the enemy has missile superiority it will usually stand it's ground. That's why before I can produce enough artillery I try to have missile superiority; the enemy always attacks. Kinda predicable and exploitable, and javelin infantry can throw it off. That's why I burn through cavalry so quick. Good ol' Sun Tzu.

[Yesugey]

I'm an infantry person. I get only one Archer, (just to deal with annoying hit-run tactics) One or two light cavalry (to deal with mass archers) And I mass all spear and sword infantry. Its so nice to watch the enemy peppers my countless soldiers, even they know it doesnt matter how much they killed ^^

[Daevyll]

I'd say ambusher.

My favourite tactic involves an army consisting of general plus 6 Naginate (first wave), 4 No-dachi or Katana (second wave), 2 Katana (reserve), 3 Yari Cavalry and 3 Katana cavalry (remaining slot is whatever I feel like; Kisho Ninja maybe, or some Monks).

First wave and second wave deploy in two lines the Naginata in front. General behind the second wave. All cavalry is deployed together, on one flank at a good distance from the infantry and all in hiding if at all possible (nearly always is). Cavalry doesnt move and stays hidden until infantry have engaged.
Infantry engages enemy units and ties them down, Naginate first and no-dachi and katana move in second. General uses 'stand and fight' ability.

Once enemy units are all tied down, the cavalry appears and circles at top speed. Yari Cavalry priority is to hunt down and kill enemy General, Katan cavalry priority is to clear up archers. Any cavalry left over/mission accomplished charge into the back of engaged enemy units.

I've had really good results from this so far, including against armies with superior quality men (those 5-6 xp stacks from hell) and superior numbers. I dont miss the archers.

[The_Emperor]

originally i said reserved because I like to attack my opponent with unconventional means before fighting, using Ninja and sparking revolts really holds a place in my heart to weaken my enemies and as Sun Tzu said defeat your enemies before seeking battle.

However when actually in battle I tend to be an artillery man, heavy on archers and infantry with only a few cavalry units to provide flank support and flexibility.

[HopAlongBunny]

Vote for reserved.

Offence and defence I tend to do the same thing. Archers up front; Spears; Heavy infantry; Cav on the wings. Archers retreat through the spears when necessary; heavies look for opportunity to flank or can plug holes; cav runs deep and can hide, charge or distract depending on the situation.

I voted for reserved since I normally deploy in layers (above) and "unwrap" it as the battle progresses.

[snorky]

I voted rusher, because of the AI's nature to field a large amount of archers, so I want to close melee as fast as possible. Normally I field a large amount of Yari Ashigaru, forming around half of the main body of my army. I Use them together with one or two archers to draw out a few units on the flanks, then kill the them with cavalry support as quickly as possible before their main force reacts, When they do react I move my Yari Ashigaru in a full charge often angling towards their left flank. When most of their army is engaged I move in the rest of my melee force (the samourais) towards their right flank. to finish I charge all my cavalry led by my general in their rear, and unless completely outnumbered or in unusual terrain it does the job.

[JeromeBaker]

I like to mostly defend, espcially when your terrain has natural choke points (which doesnt seem to happen as often in S2). I agree with dead guy that defending hills is not as effective as in MTW2 and RTW, but there are some hills with only a few paths to the top. I like to fill these pathways with a mix of infantry, have the archers do a checkerboard by having them stagered behind my infantry and some in front and I make good use of the flaming arrow barrage. I will use flaming arrows from the archers behind my infantry to cover the retreat of archers in front of my infantry. While the attacking units slow down slightly from behing hit with the flaming arrows, my retreating archers fill in the holes inbetween my archers behind my infantry. I then like to hide a couple cav units in the trees way in front of my lines to then take out the enemies general or archers...

In normal flat terrain I still go defensive with spears in the middle, 2 samuri behind the spears to plug holes (or use a hero unit for this), samuri on the ends, cav either way way out on flanks or hidden in trees and then use the same checkered board set up to my archers. I always try to have numerical archer superiority so I am not forced to go on the attack.

If I am forced to attack, I split my army in two similar groups, split them to two sides and try to swing one around behind or to the direct side of the enemy. If you do this right sometimes the enemy wont know which to face and with minor movement on your end they will constantly keep rotating back and forth between your two army groups which wears them out. This works espeically well when one or both of your army groups are in trees and can become hidden. Everytime you move one of your army groups slightly and they become visable, the enemy moves. Then when the enemy turns, let your army group they turned to go hidden again and move the other army group and the enemey typically moves back to face them, keep repeating and they get tired. I know... its kinda cheap but you can get a lot of heroic victories this way. I learned this tactic from someone else on the forums, but I couldnt find their original post to give them credit.

[Ituralde]

I voted for Rusher, but then realized that this applies only to my MP games. I try to overwhelm my enemies with infantry units, because I lack the skill and patience for a prolonged archer battle.

In Single Player I stick to the good old double line of Spears and Archers and let the enemy come at my position. I try to mix it up though, as others have mentioned before Spears are not always the best choice in the center. So I try to get accustomed to have my Spears ready to counter cavalry and my Swords closer to the actual melee in the center.

One thing that's different in both SP and MP for me is that I hardly ever use Cavalry in any shape or form.

[gollum]

My style?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Ycw0d_Uow

[Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout]

Artelly man.

[Dead Guy]

If I am forced to attack, I split my army in two similar groups, split them to two sides and try to swing one around behind or to the direct side of the enemy. If you do this right sometimes the enemy wont know which to face and with minor movement on your end they will constantly keep rotating back and forth between your two army groups which wears them out. This works espeically well when one or both of your army groups are in trees and can become hidden. Everytime you move one of your army groups slightly and they become visable, the enemy moves. Then when the enemy turns, let your army group they turned to go hidden again and move the other army group and the enemey typically moves back to face them, keep repeating and they get tired. I know... its kinda cheap but you can get a lot of heroic victories this way. I learned this tactic from someone else on the forums, but I couldnt find their original post to give them credit.

I resort to this tactic when I face a strong force with lots of archers that retreats to a hill. You can suffer great losses storming some hills, especially if the enemy has quality infantry up there. First time I did it, it was pretty much inadvertantly though. I wanted to lure the enemy down, or gain local archer superiority on a flank before being forced to assault, the flank was incidentally covered in forest and had another smaller hill on it. So I moved all my archers to that forest, with some spears and naginatas behind, and kept all my katanas to the enemy's front. If he moved to fire on my katanas, I withdrew them so he would be forced to leave the hill and open himself to counter attack on flat ground. As you describe, the enemy were running back and forth across the hill he was stationed on and tired the troops, this happened pretty much at the same time as I was luring out some of his archers with my archers in the forest, and eventually he went for my flanking force, and I ran my katanas up the hill, though he was smart and split his force to counter my potential hammer and anvil. I still lost quite a few katanas fighting uphill, despite his infantry having orange or even red feet (i.e. tired, very tired I guess).

So hills are still very effective, just not for archery.

I, too, love those hills with limited access points, chokepoints even. Yari Ashigaru in spearwall can really hold the line on those slopes, while flanking and enveloping with hidden units becomes much easier. Alternatively you can force the AI to move some units out of the melee to react to cavalry threats for example, and fire on those units now in the open with your archers.

[aimlesswanderer]

My armies tend to be heavily spears/naginatas, katanas, and some monks now I'm Uesugi. Plus a few cavalry, and a few archers. I love melee, though if the enemy has lots of archers I prefer to let them come after me. Archers being a bit dumb doesn't help their cause. If they won't come to me, I try and get my units as close as possible while getting shot up as little as possible. Once in hand to hand range I'm normally ok.

My brother as Chokosabe had 100% samurai archer armies. He found attacking was sometimes problematic.