Feedback & Campaign reports

Hi,

I watched Ran for the first time yesterday, and it got me thinking about those old Shogun playing days. I tried to download my old shogun, but unfortunately I've mislaid the box and so the CD key. Never mind, I downloaded your mod instead!

First of all I like to say - good job! I'm having a lot of fun playing with the slightly amended Shogun world - although the newer games are also fun, I appreciate the simplicity of the limited unit roster and more basic economics.

I might even venture onto the MP server at some point - I did play on Samurai lords when it was first produced - also a lot of fun!

If you're still making improvements to the mod, i've noticed a couple of little bugs, plus some comments that have occured to me as i've been playing:

• In some regions if you attack the castle, or are attacked, there is no castle model, and it plays out like a normal battle
  
  Some vices/virtues are assigned to 'spare hero slot'
  
  On a number of occasions i've had a unit being recruited disappear - sometimes they reappear in the right province a few turns later - sometimes they don't.

In terms of comments - I really like the large number of clans in the game - however, i have noticed that because they are so close to each other are all very cautious, and don't tend to expand very fast - this can be a problem if you then get powerful and are opposed by puny opponents.

I was a bit dissappointed you decided to retained the Ashigaru crossbowmen unit - I thought this was a bit pants in the MI expansion - did they even use crossbows in Japan?

I like the Hatamoto unit - however with heirs, the seed seems to have been set quite virulent at the moment, and if you're not careful you end up with masses of heirs and ex-heirs.

Anyway, great mod, I may see you online!

Originally Posted by KyodaiSteeleye

I like the Hatamoto unit - however with heirs, the seed seems to have been set quite virulent at the moment, and if you're not careful you end up with masses of heirs and ex-heirs.

I don't find this to be a problem. You get to develop a glorious lineage!! Plus deal with all those annoying, royal relatives of yours sucking up scads of money whilst doing precious little. ... Unless you use them as shock troops, gallantly leading the charge into battle. This tends to keep their numbers down to a decidedly manageable level. ;) In other words, it just changes the gameplay a bit.

Originally Posted by KyodaiSteeleye

If you're still making improvements to the mod, i've noticed a couple of little bugs, plus some comments that have occured to me as i've been playing:

• In some regions if you attack the castle, or are attacked, there is no castle model, and it plays out like a normal battle
  
  Some vices/virtues are assigned to 'spare hero slot'
  
  On a number of occasions i've had a unit being recruited disappear - sometimes they reappear in the right province a few turns later - sometimes they don't.

In terms of comments - I really like the large number of clans in the game - however, i have noticed that because they are so close to each other are all very cautious, and don't tend to expand very fast - this can be a problem if you then get powerful and are opposed by puny opponents.

I was a bit dissappointed you decided to retained the Ashigaru crossbowmen unit - I thought this was a bit pants in the MI expansion - did they even use crossbows in Japan?

I like the Hatamoto unit - however with heirs, the seed seems to have been set quite virulent at the moment, and if you're not careful you end up with masses of heirs and ex-heirs.

Anyway, great mod, I may see you online!

Hi Kyodai,

thx for the comments. We could use another MP player. A beta_9 will be released some time.....
- castles: We're aware of that and it will eventually be fixed.
- yes we still have some spare hero slots and they'll be filled with names
- I suppose the unit may hide behind the province's castle; try to switch off the castles with "c" I think, may only work together with -ian
- the number of clans was a bit of a showoff, for the final version barocca has planned several starting eras, Minamoto and Taira for example will get their own era and the rest will be spread over the other historic eras when those clans played a relevant role
- i'm not too fond of the ashi-xbow myself, I think the idea was to restrict them to a very early era
- the heirs, heros etc. need to be spread out more, so that they don't come all at once

Thanks,

R'as

Originally Posted by R'as al Ghul

the number of clans was a bit of a showoff, for the final version barocca has planned several starting eras, Minamoto and Taira for example will get their own era and the rest will be spread over the other historic eras when those clans played a relevant role
-

I personally love all the factions in the game. I like the selection and the fact that since many start small its much more random which grow to be powers. How many eras where you thinking of having? 2? So would you have more factions but more spread out across the eras?

Well, I came around while downloading the huge M2TW patch, and saw this had been updated since I last played it. So I had to stop the patch dl and give this a go again. I went with the altered province income and started a game as the Ukita. Went well intially, then I got embroiled in a war with Asai. Long story short, I win the war thanks to allies but get crippled by support costs. With three provinces as the Ukita I was paying around half or more of my income to support my Daimyo + heirs.

So I just spent that game using my meager income to build up my provinces and get a feel for things again. It finally ended when the Mori got tired of all my castle building and invaded.


So after that one I edited the support costs for Hatamoto down to 64(so its 88 for Heirs/Regular, 96 for King) and started a game as the Mori. I expanded into rebel held lands, then consolidated my games making allies as I prepared to deal with the Amako. My slow buildup must have annoyed the Ukita however(funny how that goes) and they declare war on me in 1497. Naturally the Amako who I refused to allie(so I wouldn't be seen as a backstabber when I finally did invade) also declared war on me.

I got tossed into a two front war with all of my provinces able to be attacked, not an attractive position. Luckily, the Ukita were also at war with the Sanada, so they could only send a token force or two at me now and then without risking their own lands to a Sanada assault. With them occupied I focused on breaking the back of the Amako. We went back and forth for a decade, him raiding and me retreating into fortresses or fighting.

I managed to win all the battles and releive those that looked too risky, until finally I saw Iwami open and invaded. With their forces stretched thin they didn't fight, and I got a nice bit of plunder. That made them desperate, so only a few years later our armies met in battle. It was disasterous for them, my warrior monks chewed up their few elite units and ripped apart their ashigaru. After that they had Nagato rebel and I took Iwami once more, then finally Izumo.

They last of their forces got defeated in Izumo, then I seiged their Daimyo to death finishing off the Amako. Interestingly, my Daimyo died the same year as the Amako. I guess he died happy knowing they were vanquished as well. I've spent the few years since shoring up the defenses and re-building my armies. I'm going to consolidate my gains a bit quicker this time, then move agains the Ukita. After that...perhaps the Miyoshi, depends on how Japan looks then.

Heres my game in 1516:


Having alot of fun with beta 8, though I know it'll probably spoil me and leave me wishing M2TW was like it when I finally get around to reinstalling it and patching.

Don't know if anyones reading this thread anymore, but I might as well update. After the Amako I consolidated my gains as plans, then led the assault on Ukita. They fell pretty quickly, having mostly ashigaru. After them I had another long period of teching up and building my armies before moving on to the Miyoshi in like 1554, conquest of their island took a decade or so. Though I had to occupy it with my main army for longer to keep rebellion down.

They put up the hardest fight yet, having more trained(non-ashigaru) troops than the Amako or Ukita. I'm only playing on normal, but the battles have been interesting because i've been playing it so only my Daimyo can command the offensive attacks. So far, my best Daimyo has been the starting one, and after that a 3 star skilled attacked. My current one is only a 1 Star due to Pride, but is also a Great Warrior so I plan to get some good use out of him in the 20-30 years he has left.

Right now i'm at another crossroads, i've spent the past couple of decades consolidating and teching up. Now i've got a couple modern armies ready to go bash some skulls. I could either try to wipe out the Otomo, Ryou-whatever, and Shimazu to secure my southern borders, or launch an invasion of Oda's territory once they finish off the Asai. The Oda are obviously the bigger threat, but I would like to take all of the south under Mori control.

Anyway, heres the look in 1581:

Thanks for the feedback on the campaign game. I haven't tried Mori, but you have a long way to go to win. The campaign won't go beyond 1868 IIRC, so you have about 270 turns left to win it. Faction re-emergence can really slow you down, so I maintain fairly strong garrisions in all my provinces which unfortunately also slows down my expansion. I would worry if one clan starts to dominate the northern half of the map, so you would probably want to take action against a clan that becomes significantly stronger than the other clans. The new province incomes reduce the difference in income between the northern and southern halves of the map, so I don't think it's absolutely necessary to always go for the northern half which leaves you with the two strategic options you now have.

On normal difficulty playing Ashikaga, I've only been able to get control of 9 provinces by 1632, but I did eliminate Oda. Playing Oda I controlled 14 provinces by 1631, and 25 provinces by 1740. That only leaves me 130 turns to get the remaining 39 provinces, but I have almost all of the northern half of the map.

To save money, I disband the hatamoto that no longer have heirs. However, that can put the AI at a disadvantage because it doesn't do that. On the other hand, the AI makes its moves after you make yours, so that's an advantage for the AI.

Awww! There's an end-date? I want to plunge the "known world" into feudal war for unending aeons!