Improvement Suggestions for Shogun 2

[econ21]

Nice list.

On archery, I think nerfing indirect fire against defenders in a castle courtyard would be a major improvement. It's too easy to shoot them to death often without even needing to storm the walls, giving a major imbalance against the AI (who is not so savy). It also feels unrealistic - if you are not storming the walls, surely the defenders would be sheltering from fire.

On the interface, I get frustrated by clicking on a province in the mini-map. I end up quite far from the province - often out to sea. It makes navigating around a large empire cumbersome.

[therother]

Thanks, added those suggestions. Nice to see you around, btw.

[gauch0]

Another UI request: Make it possible to review information in the diplomacy section when presented with the "Ally is attacked" choice. I hate it when one of my allies is attacked--especially when the attacker is another ally--and I have to try to remember who is allied with whom. I want to be able to get at the information that will help me decide who to side with, including alliances, trade agreements, geography, enemy strength, etc.

[Rothe]

Another UI request: Make it possible to review information in the diplomacy section when presented with the "Ally is attacked" choice. I hate it when one of my allies is attacked--especially when the attacker is another ally--and I have to try to remember who is allied with whom. I want to be able to get at the information that will help me decide who to side with, including alliances, trade agreements, geography, enemy strength, etc.

This I definitely want.

I just had this happen to me and I had to reload because I triggered a major war with 3 clans because I sided with my ally.

[IRONxMortlock]

Fix the Realm Divide negative relations modifier! Keep it the same at the point of Realm Divide and have it continue to cause declining relationships until you are Shogun. Once you are Shogun, it's affects on your allies and those who didn't fight against you should be gradually reduced while it is locked in for your enemies. This would better simulate the polarising affect of the change of power structure.

[Nelson]

On archery, I think nerfing indirect fire against defenders in a castle courtyard would be a major improvement. It's too easy to shoot them to death often without even needing to storm the walls, giving a major imbalance against the AI (who is not so savy). It also feels unrealistic - if you are not storming the walls, surely the defenders would be sheltering from fire.

Quoted for truth. I heartily endorse this request!

[econ21]

On siege defence (and possibly field batttles), the AI archers tend to fixate on an initial target and not re-adjust to new threats. This means that if you threaten one section of the wall first, you can get all the AI archers to line up on the walls to oppose you. This allows you to climb the other walls free from any archery fire, while the AI archers continue to watch their initial target, even though it has never been in range. The AI needs to be programmed to either deploy archers to more present threats or be deployed in a more dispersed fashion around the walls (a smart player will threaten multiple sections of the wall).

With this tweak, and protection from indirect fire, siege assaults vs the AI would be as murderous as siege defences.

[edyzmedieval]

I would like to add perhaps the adding of two three extra trade nodes to make sure the AI player gets the revenue and produces the respective resources. When I control almost all trade nodes I rack up immense amounts of money and the problem is that the AI cannot build legendary buildings/build citadels and all that because they do not have the resources available, even with imports.

[aimlesswanderer]

I think castles are too easy to assault, especially when autocalcing. OK, so the enemy only has 30 samurai retainers against your 500 samurai, but surely they'd kill at least 1 for 1, unless they just stand around and get showered with arrows. After all, the castle defender is supposed to get a large bonus for putting all those resources into building that nice big castle.

And another castle related problem. You melee units just stand behind the wall getting shot, even when there aren't any troops to attack. Crouching down would be a good idea. And yes, more cover. Weird how you have that nice big keep and it does nothing useful at all. The ETW option of putting people in a building would be an excellent idea.

Plus, shouldn't missile units defending a castle get extra ammo? Say, +10 or + 50%. After all, they've stockpiled food, why not ammo? Historically they grabbed as much food, water, and weapons as they could.

Oh, and more than 2 different castle designs would be nice. How about those near a river having the river right next to the walls, to make assaulting more difficult?

[quadalpha]

There's one that's kind of on an island with streams around it, right?

[Rothe]

I'd really like to see a change on how Metsuke work in the game.
Basically, I'd like more incentives for them to move around, instead of just standing in the most wealthy city from day 1.

One idea I had to fix it, was that you would not get the +tax-% ability right away. The "stars" from Metsuke would instead be +X to growth. Top tier skills could then be +5% tax or similar. That way, unexperienced Metsuke could move around and spread growth, but only experienced ones would boost tax. You could actually take the Metsuke to your "front line" and do missions other than boosting economy from time to time, and then go back to the city until you get yet another enemy agent showing up or such.

Currently my Metsuke are only sitting in the wealthy cities from the start. It is very rare to see them move from those cities.

[aimlesswanderer]

There's one that's kind of on an island with streams around it, right?

OK, maybe 3 or 4 then. But none where the river goes right up to the walls. They really should have gotten their hands on a book of Japanese castles and borrowed designs from there.