CPU Factions

[Zeno]

Hi Folks,

I've played all the games in the Total War series and I just felt a bit nostalgic about the game that started it all, so the other day I reinstalled S:TW and started up a new game, I haven't played this in at least 4 years so I was a bit rusty. I'm playing as the Mori faction and didn't want to have to deal with enemies on two fronts, so I spent the first half of the game conquering the pesky Imagawa and Shimazu and just finished wiping them out, so now I have total control of the western half of the map.

Apparently, the computer controlled Hojo clan was doing the same on the eastern half of the map, and so at last finally it was down to just my faction versus the Hojo (I'm playing it on high difficulty), each big clan controlling half of the map. I was looking forward to building up my tech tree and consolidating my forces (the first Dutch traders just arrived) and slugging it out with the Hojo.

Well, on the very next turn after I got the offer from the Dutch, the Hojo daimyo invaded my Harima Province with a big army. I won the battle and managed to kill the Hojo daimyo and whattaya know, he has no heirs - so his entire eastern half of the map turned into rebels! I remember I think it was in Rome Total War sometimes factions would come back from the dead after you eliminated them.

So my question is - will the Hojo or one of the other factions be resurrected randomly after a few years? I forget if factions in STW have a chance to re-spawn somewhere on the map after they are eliminated. I'd hate to have this campaign ruined just because the Hojo daimyo is an idiot - fighting rebels across all the other provinces just seems to easy and boring. Thanks in advance for any replies on this issue!

[Togakure]

Are you playing the original Shogun, or Warlord Edition, Mongol Invasions?

It's unlikely that a faction will re-emerge if you've eliminated them all. They tend not to unless a province of yours or another clan's rebels. There seems to be a small chance of a re-emergence during any rebellion, but much less of a chance than a peasant, loyalist, Christian, or Ikko Ikki revolt.

This kind of situation is why I quicksave every turn. That way if something silly happens I can back up and lose only a turn instead of a whole campaign (Control+S; Control+L).

You can try to instigate a rebellion in one of your provinces, or a new one you just took over. Try taking a former enemy capital, back out leaving only a partial unit there, and raise your taxes to max. You might get lucky and inspire a re-emergence. The problem is, the army that appears is usually not very strong. Try it in Mikawa/Totomi or Echigo/Mutsu--Ieyasu or Masamune might appear, and each is a 6-star general.

I've noticed that STW seems to make turtling difficult. There seems to be a direct increase in opponent activity and expansion commensurate with the player's. After playing tons of games, I'm pretty convinced of this at this point. If you want to turtle, try doing so with only a handful of provinces.

[Wasp]

I've seen it a few days ago, when there was just me as Uesugi and.. well, somebody else, I think Mori, and Oda suddenly came back from the dead. So, it can happen, but I don't know the specific conditions.

[Zeno]

cool, thanks for the replies guys! btw i'm playing S:TW the original game, not the mongol invasion

[Wasp]

Had it again today - Imagawa was quickly eliminated in the 1550 scenario, and came back ~10 years later in one province, but lost the battle and was again eliminated.

[Xehh II]

Factions come back all the time. I play as Shimazu and I bet Oda and Hojo and they both came back, Oda even came back twice.

[Togakure]

I tend to be extremely conscious of province happiness levels, using ashigaru garrisons and shinobi to assure that provinces never approach the "red zone" of unhappiness (winning hearts and minds, etc., part of "total" war). I'm sure this contributes to why I very rarely encounter rebellions in my provinces, let alone one that results in a re-emergence of an eliminated faction.

On the other hand, I very often use massed shinobi to instigate unrest, and still, in Warlord Edition/Mongol Invasions version 1.02, I very, very rarely get re-emergences in enemy clan territories when I do this. Usually it's a peasant or loyalist rebellion, and occasionally in certain provinces, an Ikko Ikki revolt.

For the first time in ages, I experienced a reappearance in a campaign I was playing week before last. The Takeda reappeared in Noto when an opposing clan controlled by the AI failed to maintain an adequate happiness level in that province. The army was small and its commander feeble, so they didn't last long (it was a 1580 campaign; Shingen and Katsuyori were already gone).

I just got back my CDs for the original STW game. Over the next couple of months I'll probably play a few campaigns, reminisce a bit, and be in a better position to comment on things that happen in the original version of STW that don't happen as much in WE/MI.

[Drisos]

Well, at least in WE(I'm not sure about the original), pressing shift shows if there's any region with a problematic loyalty. Lowering taxes and moving cheap units and shinobi's should work enough to keep loyalty in all of them.

I've had a few reappearings in the past as well, and big ones among them as well, because lots of regions were owned by the rebels, and they tend to massively join the 'resurrection'. Some other clans seem just too goo in causing their people to revolt, and I'm usually slow in taking rebel regions.(They are no treat to me anyway, so no hurry in destoying them. ) So I experienced this quite frequently.