No Gun Shogun: A Self-Proclaimed Suicidal Campaign in Futility

[Yesugey]

I would give this scenario a shot too very soon.

I am not sure if I would use the same rules of @frogbeastegg though. Shogunate never abandoned guns and technologies. And Spear Levy is totally useless even against Levy infantry. So I might not be using all-nontech units.

But I might always try to be under Development Research Level 1, for example. I think it's impossible because you advance after you complete the tree, but nevertheless. And all my decisions must be simple minded and conservative. (No alliance with nanbans, always pick the side of locals etc.)

We will see, if I lay low and make agreements, and wait for long time before take action... Why not? I believe it's possible to swarm the enemy from the sides with Kachi's, since AI makes mistakes.

I will take a look after I finish my Choshu Campaign, which turned greatly.

[Yesugey]

Interesting.. Coincidentally, yesterday I engaged with an army full of Shogitai, including 4 Yari Ki, 2 matchlocks, 1 bow and 1 Katana Samurai and 2 Kisho Ninjas, with my Line Infantry & Conscript Riflemen based army. And I lost the battle, even though I used kneel fire and Ganbatte ability..

I preferred a single line firing range, because I was sure that kneel fire will win the day. So when they get close, I shot one or two volleys and killed most of them, but after they got close, it turned to a bloodbath just like in the movie "The Last Samurai".

They surely got decimated too, 250 survivors on their side to 200 of mine. And I played very badly. But at the end they won.

I know it's impossible to say "No Gun Shogun" is possible only by the result of one battle.. But there sure is hope!

[Gregoshi]

Looking forward to another update further down your campaign path, Yesugey.

[Yesugey]

Looking forward to another update further down your campaign path, Yesugey.

Thanks mate, my current campaign with Choshu actually gives me a lot of hints to how to succeed.

Yesterday I experienced that archers still decimates line infantry. They are short in numbers but they rain death from longer range and even they might be losing on one-to one, they have a good change of winning on army-scale battles. they may cause mass rout by hitting the enemy unit by unit. Especially with the threat of Horsemen. (Not the attack itself, but the threat of it. I believe only appearance of them at the rear would worry the enemy enough)

I think I might allow myself to only upgrade the techs not modern look alike. Like farms, or taxes maybe.

I decided to allow myself to use the wooden cannons though. They look primitive and useless enough to be allowed

[Yesugey]

I gave it a try with Aizu on Legendary, and it looks very promising.

At turn 1, I disbanded all my riflemen, including matchlocks. I trained 7-8 Spear levies instead. It was not disastrous at all, in fact I was still able to win the battle against two Imperial clans, ally with my northern neighbors and we destroyed several clans.

I made a mistake by having one I just beat as vassal so I might be starting again. But looks very promising.

But of course, I must be careful, still. I see even the riflemen with worst skills is able to kill one third of a unit in single volley, it means one mistake, and my army would melt under fire.

[Yesugey]

Ok everything turned out awesome for me. I now have 3 provinces around turn 40, only by using spearmen.

You see, you get a lot of sympathy bonuses because of the Shogunate-Imperial thing. Once you get strong alliances thanks to +75 allegiance bonus, even your fellas cut each other's throat around you, they don't even think lose friendliness towards you.

Moreover, even you don't use guns, your alliance members do. I am in completely safe zone, surrounded with Shogunate clans. I had to go Aizu to the small island close to Tosa, just to attack someone.

So after I survived from few critical turns, looks like Shogunate might win the battle without my help anyway.

I had to use the ships, as FrostbeatEgg already mentioned. You can't move your army or maintain your facilities because of bombardments. So ignore I use ships to move around, block passages or sink other ships. (I don't use Naval bombardment on Campaign Map of Battle Map of course)

I am fighting against Tosa now. If I don't make a mistake, soon No Gun Shogun will become real.

[Yesugey]

It's a battle I played myself. I was almost losing it, but killed the general at the last minute. I had the number advantage though.

But the game gone crazy, as usual. After eliminating Jozai, Edo, the strongest Shogunate clan went Imperial! It's obvious that there is an algorithm forces the clan to change allegiance, just to make the game harder. (It actually makes the game annoying.) Now I am at war with Edo and few other strongest Shogunate Clans.

My only hope is that once I become the Vanguard, they will rally under my flag and things will make sense again. We will see.