Worst. Commander. Ever. (or: How to beat third STW tutorial)

**swolff** · 02-10-2006, 16:41

Hi everyone. Short time reader, first time poster.

After overcoming the usual Starforce (may it burn in a nasty place) errors, I managed to get Shogun: Total War running again yesterday.

I've beaten the campaign (several times?) some years ago, but only by letting the computer autofight my battles. Now I want to see what this game is really about, so I've decided to learn how to lead my armies into war.

I'm utter crap at commanding my army on the battlefield, so I hope to get better by training in the tutorial battles.

Having pored through every guide I could find on the subject, I believe I know the strengths and weaknesses of each of the unit types, but alas! I seem to be unable to beat even the third Shogun tutorial ("First Encounter"), in which you control 30 archers defending a hill against 34 spearmen.

I remember giving those spearmen a severe thrashing, but only once, and I have no idea what I did right...

I've attempted to retreat further up the hill, then spreading out in a line formation before letting my arrows rain down on the spearmen below, but the spearmen barely lose a single soldier before they're upon me, kicking my behind in a bad way.

Could one of the mighty warlords frequenting this forum please enlighten this junior (in experience rather than years) officer: How do I (consistently) beat the spearmen in the third tutorial (called "First Encounter") of Shogun: Total War.

/Stefan

**matteus the inbred** · 02-10-2006, 16:51

I sympathise...I found that one really tough as well!! IIRC, I spread the archers out into a very thin line for shooting, thus allowing every archer to fire, and then formed up into a wedge to charge downhill and break into the spears' formation, before spreading back into a line for the remainder of the combat...keep at it, I generally thought that one was mainly down to luck.

**phred** · 02-10-2006, 17:08

I seem to remember having luck by forming the thin line as matteus the inbred suggested, then letting the archers skirmish up the hill a little bit and finally charging the spearmen to finish them off.

Finding the right time for that final charge is key.
I never tried putting the archers in wedge formation but that sounds like a good idea.

**Slyspy** · 02-10-2006, 17:15

Remember that in STW only the first two ranks of archers actually fire, so stretch the unit out for full effectiveness. When the spearmen are close form into a wedge and charge them.

**Ludens** · 02-10-2006, 20:23

I don't win this one always either, but I found that the place where the archers start is rather bad. It seems that the incline actually blocks the archer's line-of-sight or something, as I can only take out two yari's at best. I always run my archers to the peak, stretch them out to two ranks and let them fire. When the enemy gets within charge distance (you hear a horn blow to signal they are charging), I counter-charge. I do not use wedge as it reduces defence and a wide, thin formation is usually better at a straightforward melee.

To be honest, this tutorial battle has little to do with skill, more with luck. The next one is ridiculously easy: you have to storm arquebusiers while it rains. They will never move, not even the one lying in ambush. The last one is rather though, but I recommend playing it several times. Once you can beat it consistently, you are well prepared for the campaign.

Welcome to the Org,

.

**Just A Girl** · 02-10-2006, 20:35

Welcome to the org.

Im sure the helpfull advice already given here is more than i could tell you about the tutorials.

So im simply going to invite you to join us in my servers foyer for MP games when you can :)

You can read the STW MP section. In the sword do jo,
to find out how to manualy configure your game to connect to the foyer.
"Shogun Tw Probs??? Read here 1st" thread should be a good place to start.

Or you can simply download.
ShambleSTW.exe from my web page,
(link is in my sig)
Which will configure your game for my server.

We then arange games In the STW MP section,
in the thread called.
"im in the foyer now"
We also use msn to arange games.

I hope to see you in the foyer some time soon.
People are freindly there and very helpfull.

they will (on avarage) give you helpfull hints and tips.

So like i said.
Hope to see you in the foyer soon.

**Cowhead418** · 02-11-2006, 05:40

IIRC, the unit you face is a Yari Ashigaru, right? Don't Samurai Archers beat the YA in melee? At least they have in my experience. Couldn't you just fire arrows at them, kill a few and then beat them in melee pretty easily? Obviously not, considering what some of you have said.

**econ21** · 02-11-2006, 14:05

Originally Posted by Cowhead418

IIRC, the unit you face is a Yari Ashigaru, right?

No, they are Yari Samurai. It is not an easy tutorial. I think part of the point of it is to show you that those archers are still Samurai and are pretty decent with their swords. With a few minor advantages - charging downhill, enemy morale lowered by missile losses/tiredness etc - they can take on YS and win. The tutorial also vividly shows you the impact of bad weather on archery.

But I agree with Ludens, I tend to pull the archers back, further up the hill. Then shoot, charge and pray. Hadn't thought about the thin formation but it sounds like a good idea.

**Cowhead418** · 02-15-2006, 03:19

Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

No, they are Yari Samurai. It is not an easy tutorial. I think part of the point of it is to show you that those archers are still Samurai and are pretty decent with their swords. With a few minor advantages - charging downhill, enemy morale lowered by missile losses/tiredness etc - they can take on YS and win. The tutorial also vividly shows you the impact of bad weather on archery.

But I agree with Ludens, I tend to pull the archers back, further up the hill. Then shoot, charge and pray. Hadn't thought about the thin formation but it sounds like a good idea.

Yes, my mistake. I just played the tutorial again and lost. I hadn't noticed that it was supposed to be difficult because the first time I played it I won pretty handily. It seems that luck plays a large factor.

**Crian** · 02-20-2006, 15:42

I had a little trouble with this one too... I think it was the 3rd try when I won.

March the archers up a little higher, spread them in a thin line, then when the Yari are close enough, close up on a wedge then charge. After that it was all luck. That's how I remember it.

**doc_bean** · 02-20-2006, 20:15

I've never beaten it

I didn't try often though, I just wanted to know what Shogun looked and felt like compared to MTW...

**BelgradeWar** · 02-20-2006, 23:23

I do recall STW tutorial being rather tough at moments. Plus the battlefield was something completely new to me, so it was bad...but not as nearly as the campaign...I hated the campaign...until I got warrior monks...now that was something...

**matteus the inbred** · 02-21-2006, 11:39

Originally Posted by BelgradeWar

I do recall STW tutorial being rather tough at moments. Plus the battlefield was something completely new to me, so it was bad...but not as nearly as the campaign...I hated the campaign...until I got warrior monks...now that was something...

the big pointy mincing machine of Japanese warfare...worth the wait.

the secret to that tutorial is, if at first you don't succeed, skip it and play a campaign. tutorials can be surprisingly tricky cos they put you in a situation you're rarely going to get caught in yourself.
like the MTW siege tutorial, where it puts all your catapults within arrow range of the castle...

**swolff** · 03-14-2006, 12:44

Sorry for bumping an old thread. Just wanted to say thanks for all the suggestions. All of a sudden I found myself able to beat the tutorial battle in first go, making me think that luck plays some role.

By pulling a bit further up the hill, then fanning out into a one-man-thick line to rain arrows on my opponent, and subsequently ordering my archers to grab their swords and charge, I finally succeded. Thanks all!

/Stefan