Shogun Total War ROCKS!

[Xehh II]

After taking a break from TW games a bit I decided to re-install Shogun and I have to say it's freaking awesome! I'm having heaps of fun playing as Shimazu and the Ninja Assassination movies are cool as well.
I do have some Q's though since it was a long time since I played last.
1. How do I get No-Dachi Samurai? Shimazu is supposed to be famous for them but I can't get them.
2. I read that somewhere that you could convert to christanity(sp?), how would I do this?

Those are the only problems i'm having at the moment, other than that this game is cool, it deserves a sequel.
S2TW! S2TW! S2TW! S2TW! S2TW! S2TW!

[phred]

1. You can train No-Dachi after you get the Legendary Swordsman event. Basically, one of your warriors in one of your units will gain enough experience to become a Legendary swordsman. Use your Daimyo unit to kill as many enemy units as possible and you should get it fairly quickly. You'll like the video pop-up that goes with the event.

2. To convert to Christianity you have to be visited by the Portugese (~1543) or the Dutch (but the Dutch show up late in the game). Converting to Christianity will give you a lot of unrest until you build churches and convert the masses. You wont be able to build more Buddhist temples* but you will get access to gunpowder units. Skip the arquebusiers and go straight for musketeers (requires a Cathedral).

enjoy!!

*You actually can build more Buddhist temples but that will be counted as a conversion back to Buddhism.

[Xehh II]

Finally smeone answered! Thank you, but how much experience does a unit need to get the event?

Is converting to get guns worth it? I've done it but i'm getting Ikko-Ikki revolts in Ise every season now and i've already lost Kii and Awaji.

[phred]

You may try searching the Shogun forum for "Legendary Swordsman." I've gotten the event on my very first battle, so the threshhold isn't unreasonable. The manual says, "A Sword Dojo can only be built when a samurai in the daimyo's army has become a legendary swordsman by killing many opponents in battle. You are notified when one of your units achieves this status." I would guess that once a warrior kills 10 or so soldiers you'll get the event.

As for converting, Muskets are very powerful. If you have 4-5 musketeers in your army in a good defensive position, you can defeat any army that attacks you. It's a little harder to attack with them, but with a good general (lots of stars) you can cheaply load up an army with musketeers and ashigaru and defeat most samurai armies.

You should browse the Shogun forum. There's lots of good advice there.

Also, Frogbeastegg's guide to MTW units has a section on Shogun units.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=31444

[Xehh II]

Ok, one more thing for some reason I was unable to build a Cathedral, why not? It kinda sucks that I'm stuck with aquebuseiers.

[phred]

build 5 (or 6?) churches, then you should be able to build a cathedral in a province with a citadel.

[Xehh II]

I had about 15 Churches and at least 5 Citadels.

[PseRamesses]

Xehh II,
To build a cathedral you need 6 churches. Cathedrals can only be built in citadels. You seem to meet all requirements to be able to build one.
Musketeers will be available through a port and armoury on castle level, then build a tradingpost on the fortress level and finally a gun factory on the citadel level. If my memory serves me right you can only get the muskets through trade with the Dutch.

[Xehh II]

I don't think I'm going to bother with converting in my next game, in my current game I went from controlling from my island up to Kyoto and then a couple of years later I was reduced to my main island and the one next to it, not worth losing half a country for muskets.

One more thing how do I know if another leader in Christan?

[Ramses II CP]

I never found that gunpowder weapons made Shogun battles more interesting, and I detested the idea of overseeing the conversion of Japan to Christianity. If you want to bring an undefeatable army to the field in Shogun, train all heavy cavalry with armor and weapon upgrades, preferably in Shinano. They'll sweep away all resistance easily.

Sometimes I think about those bloodsoaked hills in Shinano as one of the most interesting features of Shogun. There isn't really anything in the later games (I haven't played RTW) that compares.

[phred]

If you go with a pike and musket type of army with musketeers and ashigaru, you'll get some challenging battles. You can defeat most armies but you have to be really careful with your maneuvering. It makes for longer battles, but it can be really rewarding when you defeat an all samurai army with a mostly peasant army.
Also it's a really cheap army.

But, on the other hand, it's also really fun to build an elite, expensive army of samurai and just sweep everything in your path.

[PseRamesses]

I don't think I'm going to bother with converting in my next game, in my current game I went from controlling from my island up to Kyoto and then a couple of years later I was reduced to my main island and the one next to it, not worth losing half a country for muskets.

You don´t have to covert to trade with the Dutch so you can play with muskets anyway.

[Xehh II]

You don´t have to covert to trade with the Dutch so you can play with muskets anyway.

Cool

[Glyndwr in the Soke]

Gunpowder can be fun!

I had one of my best battles with just two units of Arquebusiers covering a bridge. I sent Ashigaru over as a lure, had the enemy charge into range and watched them diminish slowly. Eventually, my Ashigaru fled for good (exhaustion), but I had brought loads of additional baiting units.

This way, I actually won an offensive battle in a bridge province, while only bringing mediocre or just about average units along.

[PseRamesses]

Cool

The only drawback is that the Dutch arrive some years after the Portugese, I can´t remember if its 10 or 20 years. But playing Shimazu you´ll be the first to encounter them so if another faction has converted and started trading with the Portugese you´re not so far behind.

I usually advance through the islands, taking out the Mori and getting to the emperors province first, and gaining his favor, building up my no-dachi warriors, and I love the long drawn out battles, usually against the Hojos east of the capitol. Here I wait for the muskets to arrive. I´ve taken out the others in less than 40 turns but what´s the fun? I rp my clan hard-core, pretty much after their initial description from the options screen.

To determine weather a faction is christian ir not look for an icon on their faction symbol. I know it´s around there somewhere.

[aimlesswanderer]

Good ol Shogun, been ages since I played it, but recently played the MTW Shogun conversion, which brought back lots of memories.

I remember the first time I got a Kensai, but unfortunetly he didn't get to hack anyone up, as he died after the 1 group of enemy archers' first volley - he was the only casualty!

I also remember that, once we got hold of Shinano, since it borders so many provinces, we got attacked regularly, but the battle map - which was helpfully the same all the time - had a very convenient steep hill right at the back, as well as a steep slope for them to walk up along the way. Some of those provinces were absolutely shocking to attack if intelligently defended.... but conversely they were easy for me to defend.

[Martok]

Ah, Shinano. That province has seen much blood spilt in my time -- both my own, and (especially) that of my enemies'.

[gardibolt]

Just downloaded the freebie STW from Amazon and I'm stuck on the tutorial, of all things. On the First Encounter, how on earth are the archers supposed to kill the spearmen? The hint says hide in the forest, but that didn't do anything. They archers just shot into trees and did nothing useful and the spearmen killed them all. I went to high ground but the archers shoot and shoot and don't kill anyone. What is the trick to this?

[PseRamesses]

Just downloaded the freebie STW from Amazon and I'm stuck on the tutorial, of all things. On the First Encounter, how on earth are the archers supposed to kill the spearmen? The hint says hide in the forest, but that didn't do anything. They archers just shot into trees and did nothing useful and the spearmen killed them all. I went to high ground but the archers shoot and shoot and don't kill anyone. What is the trick to this?

Use the archers ability to run faster than the spearmen. Place on hill, fire. When SP gets close withdraw to higher ground, fire. Repeat until out of ammo then charge down hill.

[Shieldmaiden]

Just downloaded the freebie STW from Amazon

STW available as a freebie? Care to post a Link?

[Ramses II CP]

Only if you preordered Kingdoms. :)

[Goth47]

If i remember correctly(its been many years since i played shogun) if you wait for the dutch to arrive you can start building musketeers without converting to christianity. Only the portuguese require your conversion to christianity.

Goth