What's your preferred standard stack when you're ready to RD?

[RedKnight]

I've been playing S2TW many weeks and have gone through a lot of changes...

I suppose many of us like to stop expanding just before RD, then build stacks - then ram them home to victory.

While we don't always have the time to build our preferred stack before crossing the realm divide (esp. on short games), what would yours be?

Lately I am preferring:

• 12 bow samurai hopefully with full accuracy upgrade from a crafts province (bow master dojo plus master bowmaker), plus a little armor from a encampment/armoury for incoming arrows
• 4 nagi samurai with full smithy master armour and master yari dojo, plus a little melee attack from encampment/jujutsu dojo,
• 3 yari cav from the same province as nagi (same master armour, master yari dojo, a little attack from jujutsu dojo)
• 1 general

Plus of course one should have up to 3 generals within the range of attack, so they also get experience.

This combination benefits from the fact that it only needs two fully built out provinces (one smithy province, and the crafts province always takes longer).

I have played with changes, such as:

• having a matchlock instead of one of the bows (but matchlocks are really only good in castle defense - and while matchlocks are fun in general, I hope castle defense doesn't happen too often), plus it's simply a hassle to micromanage matchlocks and archers together,
• one katana cav instead of one of my yari cavs... but in the long run, given how the AI is liable to rush your cav with his cav, the much higher armor of yari cav vs kat cav, and you otherwise really shouldn't think of cav as infantry, just shock (hit from behind when wavering) and mop up ... I think 3 yari cav and a general, instead of 2 yari cav, 1 katana cav, and 1 general, are the simplest bet.

What's your preferred stack vs the AI, when you cross the RD line?

[Rothe]

It depends heavily on what I am playing. And a bit also on who I am likely to go against.

Typically, I use at least 6-8 bows. Then for infantry, I tend to use whatever my clan is best at (special unit) and add in a few others for a good mix.

For instance, as Uesugi, my stack would have 6 bow samurai, 2-3 bow monks, 6 nagi monks, and a few spears / cavalry. Against heavy archer fire, I would add some spear ashis to take the initial hit, or perhaps a few regular naginata units.

With Chosokabe, I would just use 10 samurai archers and a mix of infantry depending on my likely opponent. Usually it would be naginata, spear ashis and yari cav, with perhaps 1-2 monk or sword units for shock.

I also have "cheap" stacks that are meant to absorb assaults on a one-off basis (not able to resist many stacks in repeated battles). In those, I just have spear ashi and samurai bows/ashi matchlocks and a few mixed samurai melee units. I use them to defend, only very rarely I would attack with such a stack.

[spicykorean]

I've stopped spamming bows as it makes beating the AI too easy.

I usually go with:
5 bow ashigaru or samurai
2 naginata samurai
4 katana samurai
1 light cav
7 yari ashigaru
and the general

[edyzmedieval]

Not too many bows, I don't like it that much. Sure, it causes damage, but I'm a more hand-to-hand combat kind of player.

Around 6 bows maximum - Preferably 2/4 Bow Warrior Monks and 2/4 Bow Samurai, depends.

Yari Samurai are the mainstay of my armies, they can defend themselves and they can attack relatively well

Naginata Samurai - one or two

Around two katana samurai

Two Yari Cavalry / One Katana One Yari / One Great Guard One Katana

The General

Balanced enough, provides good firepower, provides flanking possibilities, provides defence/attack capability.

[RedKnight]

Thanks for your replies everyone, very interesting...

I've stopped spamming bows as it makes beating the AI too easy.

This made me raise an eyebrow... but then I guess the best games allow for a lot of flexibility in both play, and the types of people who play... I'm the type who likes to take his time building up a strong economy (in most any game), then hitting with a god-awful wall. I guess I challenge myself to see how well I can do it.

One thing I would hate to see with my 4 nagi sams, 4 yari cav, and 12 bow sammies, is: a ton of katana sams. They would eat through my 4 nagis (I almost never lose a unit!) and then it'd be Depends time ...

I like the way you folks seem more flexible. But I'll stick with death from afar for the time being.

[econ21]

[*]one katana cav instead of one of my yari cavs... but in the long run, given how the AI is liable to rush your cav with his cav, the much higher armor of yari cav vs kat cav, and you otherwise really shouldn't think of cav as infantry, just shock (hit from behind when wavering) and mop up ... I think 3 yari cav and a general, instead of 2 yari cav, 1 katana cav, and 1 general, are the simplest bet.

Maybe I am misunderstanding this, but Katana cavalry are armour 7 compared to Yari cavalry armor 4.

[Rothe]

I think he refers to defense of yari vs. katana cav (based on context). If you use only yari cav, you don't have to be so worried about enemy cav hitting your cav, since yari cav has a high defense vs. all other cavalry.

I just use yari cav to chase routing troops and to hit enemy cav. Hitting enemy infantry is usually quite hit or miss maneuver - even if there is a non-yari unit in the open, usually a yari unit is quite near to it and any entanglement means your cav will have to fight yaris too.

[Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout]

Hmmm

I tend to rasie units,than stack them,My choice

Damyio Takeda
Takeda Hatsuko Takeda Huokeo
Takeda Heavy Cavarly Takeda Heavy Cavarly.
Yari Ashaguri Yari Ashaguri Yari Ashaguri
Naginta Samurai Yari Samurai Nagainta Samurai Samurai
Bow Samurai Matchlock Bow Ashaguri

[Ishmael]

I was messing around a while ago with a stack for defensive purposes only, which fared surprisingly well. It featured about 10 units of matchlock ashigaru, a few units of yari cav and the rest light cav. The matchlocks can deploy palisade/fence things on the defence, which coupled with corner camping (and preferably a hill) will force any attacking melee troops to travel through a maze of bamboo, often attacking you in a conga line as they get caught on a corner. Meanwhile, the light cav harass the enemy archers, suicidally if necessary, whilst the yari cavalry protect them from enemy cav. This stack is relatively cheap, and allows you to hold on one front whilst pushing up on another with a better army (monks FTW!).

[Hamata]

I have been using mostly ashigauru and samuri

[RedKnight]

The matchlocks can deploy palisade/fence things on the defence, which coupled with corner camping (and preferably a hill) will force any attacking melee troops to travel through a maze of bamboo, often attacking you in a conga line as they get caught on a corner.

I haven't tried Bamboo Wall even once... it sounds evil! The AI can really be chewed up when forced into bad moves.

Pharaoh, it sounds like a good choice.