STW2 AI not recruiting larger ships?

[Yosh]

Yeah I have been kind of noticing this. I was playing as the Shimazu on hard difficulty. I had already taken over the main Shimazu island, and had just taken over the Chokosabe's small island. As I geared myself to ferry my troops to the mainland for the final glorious push to Kyoto, I found that my navy was attacked by a very large fleet... of the Takeda's bow koboya.

I had a few medium and heavy bunes (as well as a small number of fire/bow koboya), but it was still a close battle, because the AI had so many freaking koboya.

But yes it does seem strange that AI clans don't have an especially diverse navy. Somehow they still have a strong navy compared to mine >.>... But maybe that's just me.

Edit: I ended up running away from the koboya in the end, and nobody won.

[Maltz]

I started a new campaign after the March patch, and so far (year 1564) I have not fought any thing above Bow Kobaya.
And I thought it is because my enemies happened to like Bow Kobaya.
Now it makes some sense to see larger-than-before multiple fleets roaming with no tasks - because they are all Bow Kobaya?

[Jacobin]

Very late (1580s) Oda am seeing a few heavy bunes but very few medium or sengoku bunes and none of the higher tech specials.

Also sure the Ai is massively over-spamming ships in the early game to the detriment of their land forces - pre-patch Hojo were always a real challenge but now they pump out endless BKs which uselessly roam about instead of the multiple stacks of bow and yari samurai they used to field.

[edyzmedieval]

Fire Bomb Kobayas are quite common, along the Medium Bune. Sengoku Bune and Heavy Bune are rare, and I've never seen a Nihon Maru other than mine.

Oh, and a Portuguese caravel captured by Date...

[Jacobin]

On the black ship you can easily capture this on autoresolve with a stack of bow kobayas so I am frequently seeing it pop up in other clan's fleets - although as they never repair it its not that great a threat even in autoresolve battles.

[Maltz]

Update: Now I am further into my campaign (year 1566), and I can see AI carrying various larger ships.
Somehow AI does not build medium bune, so that's probably why people see lots of bow kobaya.
But the AI does use sengoku bune, fire bomb kobaya, heavy bune, and nanban trade ship.

[Nelson]

I've never seen a Nihon Maru other than mine.

Only the shogun can have the Nihon maru and the shogun at game start is landlocked. Another clan would need to become shogun before you or the Ashikaga shogunate would need to get a port somehow. I don't think the Ashikaga ever captures provinces.

[Jacobin]

I have seen both Nihon Marus and Great Guard units in other factions - all they need to do is capture Kyoto and hold it for a year and as I am a slow but steady player this frequently happens.

I have however never seen a Nanban trade ship pre- or post-patch - possibly because I've mostly played western clans and always eliminate the Christian factions before they build any (even in my current Oda campaign Shoni unwisely declared war on me and I took the opportunity to conquer all of Kyushu).

[edyzmedieval]

Only the shogun can have the Nihon maru and the shogun at game start is landlocked. Another clan would need to become shogun before you or the Ashikaga shogunate would need to get a port somehow. I don't think the Ashikaga ever captures provinces.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying, I've had two clans become Shogun in my games (apart from me) and never encountered their own Nihon Maru.