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

[Maltz]

Hidesato: "My Lord, Takeda Shingen has been returned to Kai on a stretcher!"
Motonari: "Nice! Now let's clean up their provinces in Kinki after their army leave."
Hidesato: "Will those stacks be shipped back to Kinki?"
Motonari: "They are probably not this smart... so it is reasonable to assume they will either stay idle or try to claim some nearby rebel provinces. Of course, we want the latter to happen, as their army can be sabotaged half way to their destination."

[Maltz]

Hidesato: "My Lord, Hatakeyama grabbed one province from Hojo, and now they have a trading port!"
Motonari: "Hm... we have to be careful here. Hojo has a powerful navy, and they can easily blockade Hatakeyama's new port."
Hidesato: "But then Hatakeyama agrees to pay us 2670 koku."
[B]Motonari[/B}: "Are you trying to argue with me?... Ok, let's hope Hojo's navy does not blockade their port, or takes back that province to interrupt the trade (note: which is the case later in the season.)"

[Maltz]

Hidesato: "My lord! Our town-management freak Metsuke has reported to duty in Iwami. He brings us 1590 koku of extra income!"
Motonari: "Great! Our research in naval arts will still take a while. Let's upgrade all of our other town management Metsukes."



Note: A 6-star town management Metsuke gives 30% of tax bonus (further subject to admin cost). A 11-star town management Metsuke gives 55% of tax bonus (another 5% comes from the 5-star financial commissioner). So we can hypothesize that for every star in town management, there is a 5% increase in effect tax rate. But the tax bonus are also subject to reduction from admin cost. At 21 provinces, the admin cost is sligtly less than 50%.

[Maltz]

Hidesato: "My lord! Our ninja reported that Hojo has launched a... weak invasion to Imagawa! But Imagawa is weaker, so they probably can't survive."
Motonari: "Hm... direct contact with Hojo could be trouble. Can we ask our ninja to sabotage Hojo's invasion?"
Hidesato: "We did that last season and made them suffer from winter attrition. But Hojo sent a Metsuke after us, so our Ninja had to take that Metsuke out this season."
Motonari: "Ops. That means Imagawa is going down. Let's... sell our infinite military access to them."



Hidesato: "They have more than 3000 koku... so why don't they hire more army? They had quite a few years to prepare after they made peace with us."
Motonari: "Good question. Remember they are crazy, so we might not find reasons in their actions..."

[Maltz]

Hidesato: "My lord! Now Takeda has broken up with Hojo. What's is our strategy for diplomacy?"
Motonari: "Hojo is the common enemy of everyone except Ashikaga. But since they have twice broken up some kind of treaties, probably alliance agreement, they have extremely poor relations even with neutral clans like us. So Hojo will become our enemy immediately after Realm Divide."
Hidesato: "So Hojo is out of our potential ally list. How about the other clans?"
Motonari: "Takeda and Hatakeyama both have provinces very close to us. So we might have to declare war on them soon after Realm Divide, if our agents fail to uproot them with rebellion. But if our agents succeed, we may as well ally with them."



Hidesato: "How about Honma? They have been a pain in the butt for Hojo."
Motonari: "Apparently the other clans are completely unprepared for naval invasions. And that's all Honma does. It would be the best if we can ally with Honma, but they are an ally of Hatakeyama, and they are at war with Takeda."
Hidesato: "Can we avoid declaring war on Honma while taking out Hatakeyama?"
Motonari: "Possibly, if we ask Hojo to let us join their war against Hatakeyama."
Hidesato: "But then we still cannot ally with Honma."
Motonari: "Correct. We have to ally with Honma first. But then Honma will have to make a choice whether to stay with Hatakeyama or us... anyways, let's not worry about those for now. Our Land Conslidation farm upgrade is not even complete yet... the situation might be very different later. The only thing we need to worry about in the short term is that Hojo would declare war on us and launch a major invasion. So tell Admiral Kuchiba to be ready in Totomi!"
Hidesato: "Right away!"

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Ah... it feels so good to finally finish the trainings. So I am responsible for Harima now?"
Metsuke: "My associates have turned Settsu to rebels when Hatakeyama's army moved away to attack another rebel province. Settsu is our step stone to Kyoto. So please somehow prevent Hatakeyama from taking it back!"
Takamoto: "Hm... how do I do that? If we grab one more province, we will trigger Realm Divide."
Metsuke: "Pretty much the same thing you did to Yamana. Lay siege to Settsu with anything, and lure the Hatakeyama army here. Then my associates can freely incite rebellions in their back."
Takamoto: "But the rebels have Light Cavalry in the castle. I can't take out a unit of Light Cavalry on my own."
Metsuke: "You have two Cavalry units in Harima, right?"
Takamoto: "Oh yes... I forgot. Argh, I will simply take the entire Harima army with me and purposely let some rebels get away in the sally battle."
Metsuke: "Sounds like a plan!"

[Maltz]

Hidesato: "My Lord! We are now able to upgrade our Pirate's Den and our Warehourse!"
Motonari: "The upgrade of Pirate's Den is useful in Bingo as we want to get the best advanced ships. How about Warehouse?"
Hidesato: "It upgrades to Red Seal company and... a 1% reduction in trade tariff from 6% to 5%. What the... somebody made a mistake?"
Motonari: "We are not using the port in Hizen to trade anyway, so there is little difference. But why would anybody pay to get a reduction in income? The Red Seal trade ships do not even bring back more trade goods..."



Note: The Red Seal trade ships have more crew on board, so one does not need to protect the trade fleets anymore. But we could always use 1 Bow Kobaya to protect them and wait for the real fleet to dispatch the threat. Besides, at this late point in the game, all trade nodes should have been filled with full stacks of regular trade ships anyway, and the Wakos always leave a full stack of trade fleet alone. So there is really no point to replace them with Red Seal trade ships. Red Seal Company should go bankrupt.

[Maltz]

Hidesato: "My Lord! Imagawa is history! Hojo easily defeated their garrison."
Motonari: "Fortunately Hojo's army is not very powerful in Suruga, so there is nothing for us to worry about yet. We just saw Hojo's huge army in the north, trying to wiping out Hatakeyama. Let's hope they get distracted by Honma's infinite sea invasion in that area."

[Maltz]

Note: Game successfully updated! Now V1.1.0 Build 5346

Jaku: "Admiral Kobayakawa! I am afraid I have a bad news to you."
Atsuyori: "What? We are still waiting for the Black Ship to appear..."
Jaku: "Unfortunately, Lord Motonari feels that it is pointless for a budding admiral like you to keep waiting for the Black Ship. So he will replace your spot. You will go back to Hyuga to train."
Atsuyori: "NOOOO~~~~"



Motonari: "It is good to be on the sea! The world feels a little different, don't you think, Captain Jaku Subalo?"
Jaku: "Yes. There a number "build 5346" written on our ship!"
Motonari: "Ok, here comes a group of Wako. Let's finish them!"

[Maltz]

Motonari: "I have read all the previous naval battle reports you wrote, Jaku. So we only need to wait for the enemy to approach, right?"
Jaku: "Yep. They will come. And we can actually lay some mines in the middle for them to step on."
Motonari: "Ha! Let's do it!"



Motonari: "Hm, strange, they are not coming."
Jaku: "They... have become smarter! Something has changed in this world! I also noticed that there is no more battle timer even if we set it on 20 minutes!"
Motonari: "Wow. So nobody can use Bow Kobaya to run around for 20 minutes, huh? Anyway, now we will have to go to them. But we are against the wind..."
Jaku: "How about we try to circle to their back?"
Motonari: "Sure... if they remain stationary, they will probably just watch us slowly get to their upwind..."

***20 minutes later***

Jaku: "Brilliant, my Lord! The Wako did not move at all! We can attack from the upwind!"
Motonari: "But ship moving is now a pain in the butt. There is bound to be a few ships confused of orders and keep turning in circles! It is even more stupid than before!"
Jaku: "Looks like the new build fixed something and broke something..."

[Maltz]

Motonari: "There is nowhere to hide! Come to your grandpa. Haha!"
Jaku: "A glorious victory, my lord! Your 6-star command is worth its name! ... hm wait, how come you only have 1 star?"
Motonari: "Oh-oh..."

[Maltz]

Motonari: "Well, 1 star or 6, at least we now do not have to worry about ships mysterious getting away. Let's hope the Black Ship come soon."
Jaku: "Yes. And since we have two fleets here, we can easily capture any Wako pirates spawning right in the middle of us."
Motonari: "Yes. They are so predictable..."

Note: One fleet parks west of Satsuma, one fleet parks just ouside the port of Osumi. When the Wako pirates spawn, they spawn right in the middle of the two fleets, making them very easy target within the same turn.

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Ah! Last night I had a very bad dream!"
Monk: "What is it? Maybe I can interpret for you."
Takamoto: "I dreamed that I was in the middle of a square formed by my bodyguards. Then there was a group of Samurai retainers challenging us."
Monk: "30 vs. 45? You are a 6-star general, they are nothing. You have the best Samuari, and they have the basic samurai. You are highly experienced, they are not. You are under Stand and Fight, they are not. You are both sword infantry. It must have gone well?"
Takamoto: "No! We were slaughtered - I think we barely kill more of their guys than they killed ours! I was surrounded by like 5 of their guys! I cut a few of their head off, but then I got killed! Then I woke up."
Monk: "Hm... I have an interpretation of this dream now."
Takamoto: "What is it?"
Monk: "Just... don't use Stand and Fight to actually fight. It is more of a battle buff... but thanks to build 5346, now it incurs a penalty on ranged attack."
Takamoto: "But what will happen to me?"
Monk: "You will have nothing to do in Harima while our clan is still researching Master of the Waves."
Takamoto: "Oh..."

[Maltz]

Jaku: "My Lord, finally we have finished upgrading all farms!"
Motonari: "And there is a two-year 25% boost of farm income, too! Let's start the recruitment to get ready for Realm Divide!"
Jaku: "But we are still researching the naval techs, and then we need turns to build the Dry Dock, and then turns to build the ships..."
Motonari: "Yes... well, I guess we will have to use whatever ships we can build right now!"

[Maltz]

Jaku: "My Lord, here comes more Wako!"
Motonari: "Let them come! Hm... you know what I have been thinking?"
Jaku: "Your missing command stars in naval battle?"
Motonari: "Ha... who cares as long as we can win. I have been thinking about that since the enemy does not care about our pre-engagement menuever anyway, can't we circle to the side of their formation?"
Jaku: "And eat them alive one by one? Brilliant, my lord! Let's try that!"



Motonari: "It worked! They are idiots!"
Jaku: "All thanks to Build 5346, now naval battle is brainless..."

[Maltz]

Motonari: "Yeah, come one by one to grandpa Mori! Wahaha..."
Jaku: "You would think the ship behind it would do something, but all they did was turn to us..."

[Maltz]

Motonari: "We won! Lost only 6 men!"
Jaku: "That's great, my lord..."
Motonari: "Now we have an easy formula to defeat Wako. We can leave a minimal garrison here in this water, and no command from an Admiral is necessary. We can then direct our real fleets elsewhere."

[Maltz]

Jaku: "So where are we going to redirect our main fleet?"
Motonari: "Let's trigger Realm Divide earlier than we have planned! So we can use two fleets to battle the Hojo Horde on the water!"
Jaku: "Ok! Let's order some Heavy Bune from Bingo!"

[Maltz]

Jaku: "My Lord, Hojo has declared war on us!"
Motonari: "Haha, They finally noticed our agents are eating them alive. Prepare two full stacks of fleets! Get the two admirals in Hyuga on water! And tell Admiral Kuchiba to get ready to fight in Totomi!"

[Maltz]

Ninja: "Admiral Kuchiba, Hojo has declared war on us! Please get ready to defend!"
Yorinobu: "Ok! But we have just turned Suruga to rebel. It would be a pity if we just give them right back..."
Ninja: "So what are you suggesting?"
Yorinobu: "I say we lay siege on rebel's Suruga castle and see if we can attract a Hojo crowd here - doing nothing but just wait in the line. This way our defending Totomi mission can also be accomplished!"
Ninja: "Sure. Oh watch out, the rebels are going to sally!"



Yorinobu: "That was easy!" (manual battle)
Ninja: "We had to purposely let some run away, so we can stay away from accidentally taking the castle."
Yorinobu: "Headquarter moves forward the countdown clock of Realm Divide. In two years we will have to fight the big battles!"

[Maltz]

Jaku: "My lord, we finally finished the resaerch of Master of Waves! We can now build a Dry Dock!"
Motonari: "Let's do it!"



Jaku: "NOOOO! My lord, we don't have find Wood!"
Motonari: "We did have wood last season. What's wrong?"
Jaku: "Our wood is supplied from Hojo! But they just declared war on us! What a good timing..."
Motonari: "Lucky bastards! Hm... what's our next closest access of wood?"
Jaku: "Tosa!"
Motonari: "Ok, tell Takakage to be ready to take Tosa anytime - we have to move forward Realm Divide for another year!"
Jaku: "OK!"

This concludes chapter 9 of our story.

[Maltz]

Chapter 10. Dishonorable heroes

Takamoto: "Father! It is good to have you here in Harima. But sorry, we do not have an army for you yet, just half a stack. We were planning for Bow Warrior Monks, so we did not produce extra Bow Ashigaru."
Motonari: "No time to waste. Place the order of Bow Ashigaru in Hoki now. And... I will borrow your army and you wait for the new stack."
Takamoto: "NO~~~~"



Takamoto: "So are we ready to trigger the Realm Divide?"
Motonari: "No, but we will do it anyway to give us the fine Wood in Tosa, so we can build the Dry Dock!"
Takamoto: "Why do we want to rush for the Dry Dock?"
maltz: "Because... building Dry Dock takes so long..."
Takamoto: "It's the crazy retainer again!... so which ally will we grab?"
Motonari: "Well, well don't have too much choice now. The most powerful of the remaining clan is Honma. And we can ask them to break alliance with Hatakeyama."
Takamoto: "Nice!"

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Father, are you sure you want to march toward Kyoto alone? Our army is not very advanced. It could be dangerous."
Motonari: "Maybe you are right. I will first take some surrounding provinces like Settsu and wait for your reinforcement to attack Ashikaga Shogunate together. Come quickly, though. Don't wait for a full stack."
Takamoto: "OK! To Realm Divide!"

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Father, should we ask for help from Honma to battle Hojo and Hatakeyama?"
Motonari: "Huh? Have Hojo and Honma not been fighting for decades? It is hard to believe Hojo signed a peace deal after they lost almost all of their northern provinces to Honma while they still had a larger army than Honma..."
Takamoto: "Maybe Hojo wanted to declare war on us?"
Motonari: "Hm... anyway, if Honma agrees to help for free, why not?"

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Father, the Ashikaga Shogunate has joined our enemies!... a season after they declared ourselves the enemies of the Shogun."
Motonari: "Yeah. This is like pulling down their pants before farting - unecessary. Anyway, is your reinforcement ready to go?"
Takamoto: "Yes!"

[Maltz]

Fisherman Yoshi: "Hey Nobu! How are you?"
Peasant Nobu: "Hey Yoshi! Not bad. Any catch today?"
Fisherman Yoshi: "Nope, there is something wrong with the world... the sea level has dropped for at least 10 meters! Now all of our ships are stranded on the beach."
Peasant Nobu: "Hm... maybe we need to start cutting down more trees to accelerate global warming."

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Father, here I am! Let's do this!"
Motonari: "OK! Let's start the siege!"
Takamoto: "Wait, father! I have a question. Since you already have a full stack army, why do you still want me as reinforcement?"
Motonari: "Have you not heard the news, Takamoto? We can now field up to 40 units on the battlefield!"
Takamoto: "That means I can join the fight, too? Great!"

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Ha, nice. I am on the battleifled, too!"
Motonari: "Takamoto, here is your assignment - find a weakness of the Citadel!"
Takamoto: "What do you mean by weakness?"
Motonari: "Find somewhere that your Bow Ashigaru can fire at the defenders without being shot by arrow towers."
Takamoto: "But wouldn't the defenders shoot at me?"
Motonari: "I will come up with a distraction. Good luck!"
Takamoto: "The ditraction better works..."



Takamoto: "Ha, here is a good spot!"
Bow Ashigaru Captain: "General Takamoto, are you sure we can shoot fire arrows while standing in waist-high water?"
Takamoto: "Yeah, just hold the arrow bag with your mouth!"

Note: This problem exists before the latest patch: our Bow units have a tendency to take a small step forward every time they are ordered to fire at a target. So we will need to manually pull them back a bit after every 4 shooting orders or so.

[Maltz]

Takamoto: "Father, we are in position! How about your distraction?"
Motonari: "Done."
Takamoto: "But you are marching everything to my side. Wouldn't this attract the enemy over?"
Motonari: "As long as we leave at least 1 unit on the same side of their original deployement, they will not move."
Takamoto: "So... one Light cavalry grabbing the attention of 2/3 of the defenders?"
Motonari: "Yep. Now keep shooting from that weakness spot!"



Note: The Citadel is in the shape of:

w = water
c = citadel
b = blind spot

wwwwwwwwwww
wwwcccccwww
wwbcccccbww
wcccccccccw
wcccccccccw
wwwwwwwwwww

The blind spots are quite small, holding one unit max. Here our Bow unit can fire safely without being shot at arrow towers. The defenders tend to parade inside the Citadel just like any castle. From time to time, we will have one defending unit stopping right in front of our Bow Ashigaru. 3 volleys! Fire arrows' power seems to have been increased by the 5346 patch, too.

[Maltz]

Motonari: "Look, another unit marches into our range!"
Takamoto: "But there are under the trees."
Motonari: "We have 12 Bow Ashigaru units! Just fire!"



Note: Apparently the trees inside the castles are just for the aesthetic look. They don't hide units like a forest does, and they do not provide any noticable coverage for arrow fires."