Early TW days

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Nope, unfortunately none of the versions of shogun gave you the option of executing the emissary, though it was much requested.

There is a hidden geisha video that's never played in the game though. It's pretty cool.

[matteus the inbred]

I noticed this thread while idly scrolling down and thought...good grief, it was one of the few games I had on my PC that I used to play again and again even after completing it with every clan. I agree with everything everyone's already said, but I particularly miss the movies, the way the AI really could hand you your head when it wanted to, and the less 'Bill Gates' style of economy...every koku counts, instead of MTW where you're so rich it's silly, long before the end of the game.
But most of all I miss...
'My lord, your enemy's taisho fears for his life! He is running like a whipped dog!'

And that movie where the assassin gets to chop the geisha had me cheering every time...phew, saved the clan again.

(ps, Martok...how could you?Are you so easily seduced by the lure of cheap fake-half-timbered castles with 'Dunroamin' written on the front? Play a proper clan, like the Takeda )

[Martok]

Nope, unfortunately none of the versions of shogun gave you the option of executing the emissary, though it was much requested.

Weird; I honestly could've sworn that was in the original game. (It's a pity it wasn't, but I'm not complaining!) Guess my memory's getting foggy in my old age.

There is a hidden geisha video that's never played in the game though. It's pretty cool.

No kidding; what is it of? (I'm guessing I can find it in the video files, yes?)

I agree with everything everyone's already said, but I particularly miss the movies, the way the AI really could hand you your head when it wanted to, and the less 'Bill Gates' style of economy...every koku counts, instead of MTW where you're so rich it's silly, long before the end of the game.

Yeah, that's another good point. I liked that you really had to budget your money carefully, and invest your koku where it would do the most good. I rarely saw the "runaway ecomony" phenomenon, even when I was huge.

(ps, Martok...how could you?Are you so easily seduced by the lure of cheap fake-half-timbered castles with 'Dunroamin' written on the front?

Yes. (Mmm, fake timber.....)

Play a proper clan, like the Takeda )

Bah; I eat Takeda heads for breakfast!

Well okay, not really; I'm usually more in the mood for them in the evenings. They're great with a little garlic salt.

[Drisos]

Martok, here it is:

Shogun Main Folder > 'Evanims' folder > the movie file 'Geisha7'

[Mount Suribachi]

I think you could kill an emissary, but only if they were Christian and you weren't.

Like Simon, I read all the hype over the game on the old usenet forums. I'd been tracking it since it was first announced as Taisho: Total War, and seeing all the americans going nuts over the game convinced me (they got it a week earlier). I took a half-shift at work and bought Shogun on its day of release

[matteus the inbred]

Bah; I eat Takeda heads for breakfast!

Well okay, not really; I'm usually more in the mood for them in the evenings. They're great with a little garlic salt.

reminds me of that bit in the Samurai Sourcebook where they go on about taking heads and head-counting ceremonies...a must-have book for all STW fans.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samurai-Sour...e=UTF8&s=books
Ahhh, might crank up the ol' STW again if it works, it's been ages since I defended Shinano for the 15th consecutive season against four other clans using only my daimyo, five battered ashigaru and nine knackered samurai archers...

[R'as al Ghul]

They featured the head counting ceremony very nicely in Shogun:

[matteus the inbred]

'My Lord! Your warriors have taken the life of your enemy, and your victory has been brought closer!'

Did anyone rate the Warlord Edition Samurai vs. Mongols campaign much? Or is it all Sengoku Jidai for you guys? I'm a SJ fan only really...

[Martok]

Did anyone rate the Warlord Edition Samurai vs. Mongols campaign much? Or is it all Sengoku Jidai for you guys? I'm a SJ fan only really...

I play just the Sengoku Jidai period as well. The Mongol Invasion campaign is interesting in theory, but in actuality I found it somewhat lacking.

[Martok]

Thank you, Drisos.

reminds me of that bit in the Samurai Sourcebook where they go on about taking heads and head-counting ceremonies...a must-have book for all STW fans.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samurai-Sour...e=UTF8&s=books

Looks interesting. Now I just have to see if I can find it on Amazon's U.S. site!

Ahhh, might crank up the ol' STW again if it works, it's been ages since I defended Shinano for the 15th consecutive season against four other clans using only my daimyo, five battered ashigaru and nine knackered samurai archers...

Egad, I hate defending Shinano! In my current Hojo campaign, I've been just sitting there letting Imagawa occupy the province, even though I could crush him--I successfully blitzed & destroyed Uesugi, and now own 6 of the richest provinces in the game--just because it's so darn hard to hold onto with everyone gunning for it.

Shinano will be mine eventually, but first I must go crush the Takeda dogs.

[econ21]

Egad, I hate defending Shinano!

I know but that +1 cavalry bonus is so tempting!

And the Shinano battle map - it is so beautiful! And defensible - there's a convenient little sunken plateau on some heights to the rear east of the map. The enemy can tire themselves marching there. The ridge line is something of a right angle but just right for about 3 archers and accompanying foot. The sunken plateau can hide your cavalry to hopefully surprise the enemy in a counterattack. An excellent position - but the Shinano map still becomes a virtual Verdun as the Hojo horde and others bleed my men to death there.

[Martok]

I know but that +1 cavalry bonus is so tempting!

Eh. Imagawa won't be able to hold onto it long enough to take advantage of it anyway.

And the Shinano battle map - it is so beautiful! And defensible - there's a convenient little sunken plateau on some heights to the rear east of the map. The enemy can tire themselves marching there. The ridge line is something of a right angle but just right for about 3 archers and accompanying foot. The sunken plateau can hide your cavalry to hopefully surprise the enemy in a counterattack. An excellent position - but the Shinano map still becomes a virtual Verdun as the Hojo horde and others bleed my men to death there.

Your last sentence highlights exactly why I'm reluctant to move in and take it. It doesn't matter how defensible Shinano is--unless I'm desperate, I don't conquer that province until I know I can hold it. With Takeda still hanging around my western border, I at least have to eliminate him as a threat first.

[Drisos]

I like having Shinano and being attacked there. I could always kill many hundreds of enemies with very few losses, which made attacking a lot easier. (The Imagawa almost sent their entire armies into death in an attack on shinano.. over and over.. )

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I know but that +1 cavalry bonus is so tempting!

And the Shinano battle map - it is so beautiful! And defensible - there's a convenient little sunken plateau on some heights to the rear east of the map. The enemy can tire themselves marching there. The ridge line is something of a right angle but just right for about 3 archers and accompanying foot. The sunken plateau can hide your cavalry to hopefully surprise the enemy in a counterattack. An excellent position - but the Shinano map still becomes a virtual Verdun as the Hojo horde and others bleed my men to death there.

Ahhhh, shinano is glorious for defending. I like the steep ridge up front on the left. With archers up there the enemy usually starts with a couple units in range, you can destroy them as the march up the hill. Since you start at such an angle when the AI wheels its army the left flank gets caught on the cliff (mostly archers usually). I like to route the infantry with cavalry sent of to the left, then charge my infantry around so they are between the archers and their route point. My cavalry I've kept in reserve at the back of my map route the archers who get slaughtered by my infantry while trying to flee. It's b e a utiful.

[Cha]

Including the things mentioned before, STW was the first of its kind. Plus I liked the foggy atmosphere and the music. Another thing was that it was about a culture that I wasn't very familiar with, so it was a very new thing for me.

Warlord Edition or Mongol Invasion would've been better if the Mongol side had more variety of army units. The Chinese and Korean military (or maybe most of them) really didn't dress like they did in the game. The Korean uniforms in the game were actually Mongol uniforms.

[Tamur]

This discussion of terrain and Shinano makes me think of yet another general area: connection with the landscape.

At the time I was playing, I was occasionally annoyed with the two-landscapes-per-province phenomenon (if there was a river). However, with discussions like this and hindsight being what it is, that is yet another interesting connection to the game.

I don't think anyone can develop a love for dynamically generated landscape unless the dynamics create exactly the same place reliably. Otherwise we can't all mention the defensible ridge to the left, or the hidden plateau, at specific spots, since each map grid will be slightly or wildly different.

edit: plus, this thread made me dig out my Shogun disk case and realise I'm missing disk 1! Ack, time to hit Amazon.

[max_minimod]

yup I hope the sec. jidai of RTW will bring a bit of the exelence athmosphere of STW back to the game.

The games after STW look all a bit not-ready for me, like EA wanted to save some money, if there would be not so many good mods (pike&muskets, NTW on MTW, a lot more in the making of RTW)I had never bought the MTW and RTW!

Seems to me like the 'new'-standart:, software only finish one good game, after that they come up with half-ready stuff and let the usermods finish it.