Yee-Yee-Oh!: Mori (Legendary, Domination)

[Maltz]

Table of Content

Introduction
Chapter 01. Lesson of three arrows
Chapter 02. Battle of Izumo Port
Chapter 03. License to betray
Chapter 04. Self-fulfilling prophecy of attack
Chapter 05. Fatal attraction
Chapter 06. First-time boarding
Chapter 07. Closing the trap
Chapter 08. Taming a crazy dog
Chapter 09. Disappointed sailors
Chapter 10. Dishonorable heroes
Chapter 11. Elusive great catch

Naval Tactics Discussion:
Naval Tactics #1: Trapping
Naval Tactics #2: Chaos Begins
Naval Tactics #3: The Wall of Arrows
Videos: Japanese fleet vs. The Black Ship (3 clips)
Conclusion: Naval Battle Wrap-up

Note: "Yee-Yee-Oh!" is a phrase immortalized by the Japanese game maker KOEI's "Nobunaga Ambition" series. In its 9th installment (Ranseiki, 2001), the victors/survivors of a naval battle (which was simply auto-calculated) chant "Yeeee-Yeeee-Oh!". This sound clip is recycled over and over in the game's subsequent incarnations.

[Maltz]

INTRODUCTION



Having skipped Empire and Napoleon TW, I am particularly interested in how naval battles work in STW2. So far I have seen "faster-than-you" Bow Kobaya and "fire-until-you-jump-ship" Nanban Trade Ships/Black Ship. But there are no tactics in those Naval Battles! The real pirates jump onto the enemies' ship and... kick them into the water!

So let's do the last western clan - Mori, to walk on the way of the Sea! We will fight naval battles manually whenever possible and figure out at least one good formation/unit composition/tactics for conventional naval battles!

First, let's take a preview of the Naval units, sorted by time of availability.

[Maltz]

Category 1: Early-Mid Game (Pre-Realm Divide)

Note: All stats are based on in-game encyclopedia (v1.1.0 Build 4768.314775) on Mori's naval units.

Bow Kobaya. Agile but fragile, poor damage output. They are the designated escort of trade fleets. Practically, when the trade fleet is under attack, we order the Trade Ships to retreat, and let the Bow Kobaya run in circles for 20 minutes. After getting Fire Arrows (Way of the Bow), we might be able to set enemy ships on fire with them, making them a lot more useful in serious naval battles. The Mori variety comes with +10 Marine (bow crew). So they are actually pretty good as ranged units!

Medium Bune. Medium naval units with a surprisingly large bow crew. (All the more advanced, larger ships mainly increases their melee crew.) The higher ranged damage output without the requirement of boarding means that a group of them can concentrate their fire on a ship and quickly decimate it/sets it on fire. The Mori variety comes with +10 seaman (melee crew). So they have a good chance to win boarding other regular Medium Bunes, too. They are the backbone of early naval battles! But maybe there are harder backbones towards late game.

Sengoku Bune. Requires Military Port. Their low bow crew count means they provide very little ranged damage. But they make up by having a large melee crew. The Sengoku Bune seem to be the ideal counter to Medium Bune and anything that has significantly less melee crew and cannot out-run Sengoku Bune. A good ship to have in early game fights against Wako Pirates, as Wako Pirates have lots of Medium Bune that only has 35 seamen (melee crew). The Mori variety unfortunately only has +1 extra morale.

Fire Bomb Kobaya. Requires the lv1 naval tech (Way of the Sea) and Military Port. In my Shimazu campaign, my Nanban Trade Ship was often set on fire quickly by something like these little pests. They seem to be an ideal counter to the large, slow, and always flammable ships, as the Kobayas' speed can keep them from being hooked and boraded while throwing devastating fire bombs. Since burning enemies require time to repair their damage, this could be a good way to paralyze important enemy ships so we can work on the others. These small ships can also lay down water mines. So far I have only seen the mines in the tutorial! Maybe we can slowly replace lost Bow Kobayas with them. The Mori variety unfortunately only has +1 extra morale.

Synopsis: The above four should provide a solid roster for pre-RD naval battles. A preliminary battle plan looks like this: Medium Bune (60%) function like Yari+Bow Ashigaru to be the main damage dealer, while Bow/Fire Bomb Kobaya (20%) act as harassing troops, like Bow Cavalry, on the flank. Sengoku Bune (20%) acts as Heavy Cavalry to board weakened/paralyzed/slow opponent so our line can focus on the next target. The fast ships then chase down the routing units.

[Maltz]

Category 2: Mid-Late Game (produced during the pause before Realm Divide for post-RD actions)

Heavy Bune. Requires Lv2 naval tech and Military Port. They actually have fewer bow crew than Medium Bune, so just like Sengoku Bune they will be looking for chances to board enemy ships. But their poor speed probably means that they have to remain stationary and wait for the prey to get close. (The AI always will. ) The Mori variety comes with only +1 morale. Looks like a good replacement of Medium Bune to form the line, but they will soon become obsolete as we have a better option down the road...

O Atake Bune. Requires Lv3 naval tech, which unlocks Dry Dock (the upgraded Military Port). This O Atake Bune is pretty much the upgrade of Heavy Bune. They also inspire other ships just like an army general's blue circle, so they are designed to be the Flagship. The Mori variety... again comes with just +1 morale. With the largest Marine (bow) crew (60) among all ships (Medium Bune has 55, a close second), O Atake Bunes are also quite deadly in ranged combat. But at this point the main damage dealer is probably handed to the next one...

Cannon Bune. Requires Lv3 naval tech, which unlocks Dry Dock. This is the Japanese (and weaker) version of Nanban Trade Ship (which is a weaker version of the Black Ship). If we fill the most of our fleet with Cannon Bune, they should be abe to severly weaken enemy ships in their approach, allowing for very low-casualty victories. They also cannot be boarded! The Mori variety comes with +10 accuracy and +10 reload! That's 50% on top of the vanilla! Of course we cannot let such a huge bonus go to waste, just like we would love to use Mori Bow Kobaya and Mori Medium Bune before. There seems to be a limit on how many Cannon Bune can be deployed.

Synopsis. The O Atake Bune and Cannon Bune easily replace Medium Bune as the backbone of the fleet. The Cannons will do great damage against various enemy ships, while the O Atake's arrow join in the attack when the enemy ships gets close. They still need to be complemented by fast ships, which should be the veteran Bow/Fire Bomb Kobaya from earlier. So a good post-RD fleet would be Cannon Bune (to the limit), plus O Atake Bune, and 30% of fast, arsonist ships like Bow and Fire Bomb Kobaya. The Cannon Bune and O Atake will form the line, while the light ships flank the sides.

[Maltz]

Category 3: Others

Nihon Maru. An one-time gift for becoming the new Shogun. They are even a further upgrade from O Ataka Bune, with 33% more bow crew, 100%(!) more melee crew, and the same inspiring ability. I am sure that castle on the ship contains multiple 3-piece restrooms. There is no Mori variety of the Nihon Maru, unfortunately. And of course there is only one Nihon Maru.

Matchlock Kobaya. Requires Gun Mastery, the late-game tech that enables the production of matchlock Ashigaru, Samurai, and Warrior Monks. The usage of them is similar to other Kobayas (Bow, Fire Bomb). So if we alrady have veteran Bow and Fire Bomb Kobaya, there seems to be no need to get the third.

Siege Tower Bune. Requires Gun Mastery. A medium-sized ship that shoot enemies from their high deck. But there are not many Bow/Gun Crew on the high deck, either. Since we already have Cannon Bune to fulfill the ranged damage dealer's role, there is no point to get them.

Matchlock Kobaya and Siege Tower Bune are probably designed for those who wish to go after gun tech while ignoring naval techs, so they can have better army (which in my experience is NOT) and navy at the same time.

But as the navy-savvy Mori we will ignore the last two kinds of ships.

[Maltz]

Other goals we wish to achieve in this campaign:

- Train multiple generals, one for each battle fleet, down the Admiral-Pirate path and use them to command all key naval battles.

- Test drive the Sengoku Jidai DLC special unit Wako Raiders and look for tactics to utilize their potential. The Wako Raiders is like a mutant of Katana Samurai. Compared to the samurai, the pirates actually have inferior charge (12 vs. 15), poorer armor (3 vs. 5), but higher melee defence (7 vs. 4). They are more surprise shock troops than hold-your-line tanks. They require Military Port and Sword School. So we can field them at the same time we have Fire Bomb Kobaya.

That concludes our introduction. Let's begin with the story.

[leonardo davinci]

60% of your fleet a cannon bune will not work, because there's a limit on them. thought it was 2. so don't make plans to rely on them for the most part later in the game.

will read this story with great interest. the others were great!