Thanks - praise and chat

[Puzz3D]

I know, I just jerking your chain.

Don't make me create a page long post about guns.

[Nakamura Lobato]

I know, I was one of a handful of Japanese-Americans raised in rural Kentucky. We were all gun owners and in the NRA. There are probably guns in every third home. I wonder if Okinawans had guns if they would have been overrun by the Shimazu. Probably so, they were invaded by almost everyone. One of the first things the Russians (post-Communism) voted back into their laws was the right to bear arms.

Page forward to World War II. The Japanese left a handful of soldiers on Okinawa as the Americans approached. The Okinawans fought largely with sharpened sticks (not even proper spears). My mom told me that when she was taught at age 7 to aim high with her "spear" since the soldiers were so tall. Luckily she wasn't killed in the invasion. Her older 9 year old brother was pressed into service in the Japanese army to be a helper. So much for the heroic American invasion versus the Japanese at Okinawa.

In the bombing raids preceding the landing of American troops, some of the Okinawans hid in caves. The kids were crying, and my grandmother Tsuru said to them "Samurai do not cry." Some of the women were told that they would be raped, so they simply hung themselves. My mother found one such unfortunate as a child. Other women were staying in caves thinking they were safe, and refused to come out. As a result flame throwers were brought in and they were napalmed.

After the invasion, the Japanese schoolchildren helped pick up the dead. Of course they couldn't pick up all of them, so many simply rotted in the soil. Months later, they would have school outings to pick up the bones for burial. Can you imagine? There are few really large trees in Okinawa since most were destroyed by the bombings. In the aftermath, everything was dead, crops destroyed, homes gone....my mom said that they boiled water and ate the slugs that crawled about during the rains. Many precious artifacts and records were lost.

I have mixed views of the indiscriminate weapons of the technological age. Civilians have always been killed during wartime, but with the invention of the gun came civilian death on a large scale. It is through this lens that I both appreciate and consider the necessity of the "gonne" as a modern weapon. With guns came artillery, flamethrowers and bombs. Picasso's Guernica speaks volumes about such warfare.

Despite the historical usage of modern weapons by the samurai, it is with great sadness to see an age where hand-to-hand combat, the perhaps artificial nobility of Bushido, the beauty of one swordsman training for years, etc became anachronistic. With teppos came a new way of fighting. It is not that they are dishonourable, it is that they made the world a different place.

Today is a melancholy day, it is my daughter's 20th birthday, and I am far away from her. I wonder what kind of honourable world I have brought her into. As we pull out our soldiers from Iraq, I wonder how they will fare as the swarms of opposition soldiers swell into their numbers. I remember the exit of our soldiers as we exited Vietnam, I'm old enough for it to be a strong memory. These are my musings these days as I play the rare game of Samurai Warlords.

Perhaps if war were so terrible to fight, as it was with hand-to-hand combat facing swords, we would be more careful about our battles. Somehow we have lost the closeness of death. The samurai knew death as a mistress, and as such knew how precious life was. When we see the violence on television, we shrug since it is commonplace...and yet who among us knows the real taste of battle and loss?

Although the use of matchlocks were used by the samurai, although ninja were used by many, I simply cannot use these weapons myself while I fight battles. Although I know historically they were used, and that the Bushido of my childhood was a fairy tale, they make me sad.

Nakamura aka Nakandakari Lobato

[Irinami]

War was terrible before the gun, and war will be terrible long after the gun too has gone long out of fashion.

Swap the word "gun" with that of any weapon. Nakamura-dono's words are beautiful, but the realist in me can only look to even a brief study of history to refute them--though he does so some himself, for which the man is due his honours.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Whether it was made by spears, swords, rifles, or bombs, the meaning of a field of bodies will never be appreciated by urban folk until they themselves are among the dead and dying. Curse the gun? May as well curse the bow, for showing the way. Curse the bow? A pox on the sword, for bringing the trappings of "honor" and "righteousness" to killing. Curse the sword? Curse the spear for bringing simple killing beyond the reach of a man's arm. Curse the spear, and to the crows with the rock, for making killing a thing that a man can blame upon something other than himself.

Curse the rock and you get to the root of the problem: Curse the killer.

[Nakamura Lobato]

:atama_sageru:

[jerome]

hello everybody
i have a pb
i dowloaded the version 7 and installed everything but how do i start the game?
i have everything or so it seems but no application to start.

please help

je

[CBR]

Just use the shortcut you have on your desktop to start the game. If im not mistaken the version 7 install should even put in a shortcut with an STW icon.


CBR

[TosaInu]

Well I was at least wrong about part, if not all of this. If the Japanese din't have any record, what about other people of the same period?

To try to make some comparisons I started looking for anything on 16th century weapons and their manufacture. In several places I did find reference to arquebus being carried on sailing expeditions (Sir Francis Drake, etc.), and looking at pictures must conclude that there is a marked resemblance between the Japanese and European versions, including size!

For example:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/fora/arms.htm

I will be continuing to research this subject, and collect data

Japanese guns can not be compared to the European ones. The first gun hitting shore in Japan was from Chinese origin. It wasn't all that great. Next were Portugese rifles, those were better. But the Japanese started to copy and improve it. Apart from making a very good quality arquebus, it could shoot in rain (impregnated fuse), standard boresizes were used, and they had cartridges. Standard boresizes made it much easier to supply, but it also speeds up reload (Western gunners had a tool to 'cut' the bullet to their bore). Cartridges also speed up reloading.

[R'as al Ghul]

i dowloaded the version 7 and installed everything but how do i start the game?

As CBR said, you use the shortcut to Medieval. The installer does not create a shortcut but there's an icon file which you can use to change the look of the shortcut. To do this you select properties of the shortcut, and change the icon.
If you don't have a shortcut on your desktop you can create one by right clicking the medieval.exe file and dragging (while holding right button down) it to the desktop. Let go the button and select "create shortcut".

Once in-game you select the beta_7 era.

Hope that helps?

[jerome]

thanks for the tip
however, i do not have medieval total war but rome total war
'that a problem?

[Puzz3D]

thanks for the tip
however, i do not have medieval total war but rome total war
'that a problem?

Yes. Samurai Wars mod is for MTW/VI v2.01.

[jerome]

ok
thanks anyway
was worth a shot i think

[Tristrem]

First, I would like to thank everyone that put their time into this mod, it is amazing. I'ver played every total war game except shogun, and only found mtw to require proper strategy to win. However, I have taken a severe beat down in the campaign and battles of this mod. Why can't I win a battle in my campaign, I am only playing on normal. It's like the enemy samuri are on crack, the never break. Are there any helpful hints that I do not know about? Any advice would be appreciated.

[R'as al Ghul]

However, I have taken a severe beating down in the campaign and battles of this mod. Why can't I win a battle in my campaign? I am only playing on normal. It's like the enemy samuri are on crack, they never break. Are there any helpful hints that I do not know about? Any advice would be appreciated.

Well, that's because I taught the AI what it means to be Samurai.
Yes, I think most of us agree that's it's tough. I've to admit that I've lost a lot at the beginning, too. Part of the strength of the AI is certainly due to my tweakings but the other part is due to the AI's command stars. Having 6* or more generals considerably boosts the combat values of the units. You're well advised to field your best commanders of at least equal rank. Also, pay attention to the level of upgrades the enemy units have.
The "normal" difficulty doesn't give you or the AI any other combat advantage. So, while it's hard and the AI does know how to fight it's still possible to win.
You've to use your units properly, though. You cannot just overpower the enemy like in Rome. The game doesn't allow much mistakes.

I'm not sure if this helps you in any way. If you like we can have an extra discussion thread. Perhaps you would like to give us some screenshots of battles and a description on how it went. Then we could tell you what you've been doing wrong.


R'as

[Noir]

I love to lose in SWs and i dont lose because of battlefield cheats or swarming, that's for sure. I lose because the Ai is doing great match ups, uses flanking and knows how to keep and employ reserves and protects the general (that he enters as a last smack )

I played about 3-4 campaigns with the Tokugawa. Its great! Apart from their lovely colour and mon, you have to balance between the scary Takeda, the resourcefull Imagawa, the up and coming Hojo, the ambitious Oda and the skillful Honda.

Much like it really was.

The campaign building times and prices also help alot - you have to work on your limited resources and take calculated risks with what you have in hand to increase your lands - turtle and advance when you are ready will not win you the game because the potential wealth does not guarantee many and good troops.

Multistack armies are also not very easily supported and so battles are less of a chore at advanced stages.

All in all - i've had many lost campaigns that i've felt i won since "my honour was great, perhaps inanother life i will succed"

[Puzz3D]

Part of the strength of the AI is certainly due to my tweakings but the other part is due to the AI's command stars. Having 6* or more generals considerably boosts the combat values of the units.

I think the command stars are still too high in beta7. A general with 8 command stars boosts the combat power of the units under him by a factor of 2 which is a lot, and it doesn't leave much room for command star increases based on subsequent battles because the commant star counter rolls over after 10 stars. I would like to see the best generals given no more than 6 stars to start.

I have taken a severe beat down in the campaign and battles of this mod. Why can't I win a battle in my campaign, I am only playing on normal. It's like the enemy samuri are on crack, the never break. Are there any helpful hints that I do not know about? Any advice would be appreciated.

When you enter a battle press F1 and check the morale of your units. In MTW/VI, the general's traits can lower morale and this affects all the units under his command. So, a high command star general doesn't guarantee high morale troops. Low morale troops (morale under 6) cannot be put under much stress without them routing, and should be used in multi-unit formations with their flanks covered by other units.

[Martok]

Also in MTW/VI, an army is not necessarily commanded by the strongest general. For example, if you have a 9 star general who is not a family member and a 3 star family member in the same army, the 3 star family member will be the commander on the battlefield.

With all respect to your near-infinite knowledge of all things Total War, Puzz, that actually only applies to the faction leader. His sons and brothers are treated like any other general, and will only take command if they're the highest-ranked general in the stack.

I'm not just quoting the manual, by the way -- I speak from experience. I'll often "apprentice" an inexperienced prince in MTW to a more seasoned commander for a couple battles. (In my Spanish campaigns, El Cid tends to get quite a few apprentices during his tenure.)

Now if an army stack has 2 generals of equal rank and 1 of them is of royal blood, then in that case the family member would be the army commander.

[Puzz3D]

With all respect to your near-infinite knowledge of all things Total War, Puzz, that actually only applies to the faction leader. His sons and brothers are treated like any other general, and will only take command if they're the highest-ranked general in the stack.

Yes you are right. The strongest general takes command of the army. I'll edit my post. Thanks for pointing out the mistake.

[Martok]

No problem, sensai.

While I'm thinking of it, I have a question about SW to which I haven't found a clear answer: Does the mod include Shogun's sound, voice, and music as well? Or are we stuck with the medieval music and Sean Pertwee's voiceovers?

[R'as al Ghul]

While I'm thinking of it, I have a question about SW to which I haven't found a clear answer: Does the mod include Shogun's sound, voice, and music as well? Or are we stuck with the medieval music and Sean Pertwee's voiceovers?

No, we won't include the original Shogun voices and sounds due to copyright restrictions and the fact that it would mean about 200-300 MB additional data to download.
What you can do and what we've done is to use Tosa's soundswapper or copy the files manually into your SamWars install.

R'as

[R'as al Ghul]

I think the command stars are still too high in beta7. A general with 8 command stars boosts the combat power of the units under him by a factor of 2 which is a lot, and it doesn't leave much room for command star increases based on subsequent battles because the commant star counter rolls over after 10 stars. I would like to see the best generals given no more than 6 stars to start.

I'd even argue for a lower number. Keep in mind that we've the office and province titles which at least give 1 command star.
I'd say a max of 4 for all starting generals and other historical characters is enough.

[Puzz3D]

I'd even argue for a lower number. Keep in mind that we've the office and province titles which at least give 1 command star.
I'd say a max of 4 for all starting generals and other historical characters is enough.

I think max 4 command stars would work fine.

Maeda Toshiie posted how command stars increase by winning battles in STW/MI. I think this is probably the same for MTW/VI.

A general's rank increases with the net number of battles won (wins - losses):

1 win: 1 star
2 wins: 2 stars
4 wins: 3 stars
8 wins: 4 stars
16 wins: 5 stars
32 wins: 6 stars