My personal army-setup

[Jevanko]

Nice post, I agree on almost everything, especially the yari sam/bow sam/matchlock sam, I never use them..
Only thing I'd add is that because of only encountering challenging players in 1v1 when playing vs. 10 stars I am building my limited amount of vet slots around 10 star armies.. It is hard to get 2 good armies in 10 star games when you don't want to lose too much in lower fund battles. For instance I still keep some loan sword and yari ashigaru but besides that I deleted most of my lower fund vets.. It is hard though to delete a rank 9 vetxD..
Altough I think 2 yari sam vets might be nice, to add on a cav fight..
What about ranked fire, worth it?

[Kocmoc]

Nice post, I agree on almost everything, especially the yari sam/bow sam/matchlock sam, I never use them..
Only thing I'd add is that because of only encountering challenging players in 1v1 when playing vs. 10 stars I am building my limited amount of vet slots around 10 star armies.. It is hard to get 2 good armies in 10 star games when you don't want to lose too much in lower fund battles. For instance I still keep some loan sword and yari ashigaru but besides that I deleted most of my lower fund vets.. It is hard though to delete a rank 9 vetxD..
Altough I think 2 yari sam vets might be nice, to add on a cav fight..
What about ranked fire, worth it?

Ranked fire is not good. The whole unit need LOS, else the unit wont shoot at all. Without the upgrade you get at least a part of the guns-unit to shoot, with ranked = nothing. You lose a lot more, than you gain. The only place where it would make sense are maps like rice field, which are very flat.

To get 2 good armies to play 22k all the time is no problem at all, you need 4-6 monk bows (4 will do, so you switch 2) and 6-8 good katana, monk or whatever melee units. I also have 4 good cavs to switch, this way I get enough units to always spent the 22k and also have room to use a cheap 670 (no retainer) inspire ashi for a 3rd inspire.

[Jevanko]

The problem is that if you use no ashi for 22k (and I use trading post for ultra battles) you get 19 2x for ultra battles of all expensive units which is 38 slots.. Then you have your 3 hero's so 41.. Then you only have two slots left for some loan swords or some other units to vary your setups, which is just too few.. It is ok, but that is when you run with the same setup most of the time..

[Kocmoc]

The problem is that if you use no ashi for 22k (and I use trading post for ultra battles) you get 19 2x for ultra battles of all expensive units which is 38 slots.. Then you have your 3 hero's so 41.. Then you only have two slots left for some loan swords or some other units to vary your setups, which is just too few.. It is ok, but that is when you run with the same setup most of the time..

You dont understand what I mean.

I use 6-8 normal units and just 3 veteran monks, 2 veteran gun monks, 2 veteran monk bows and some veteran cavs. Its a mix of normal units and veterans.
My expensive monks costs 1200+, the guns 1200 as well and the bows 1300. Some of the expensive units are the shock units, who win me the game, the rest has to hold it long enough.

This way I can bring 10-12 veterans, this said, I use about 20-24 units for the 22k games. Its pretty easy, as long you dont use only vets ;)

[Dionysus9]

Thank you for sharing your tips, Kocmoc. I didn't make enough Ashi vets early in the game so once I hit rank 10 and open up the last 5 vet slots I'm going to start making some loan swords and a few more vet ashi spears. The inspire bot option is a nice touch. Thanks again.

[Kocmoc]

Thank you for sharing your tips, Kocmoc. I didn't make enough Ashi vets early in the game so once I hit rank 10 and open up the last 5 vet slots I'm going to start making some loan swords and a few more vet ashi spears. The inspire bot option is a nice touch. Thanks again.

Inspire is the most important ability, alone the huge boost to your missles is awesome. I build my army always with cheap spots and expensive spots.
If you have a too balanced army, you wont have any units to "waste". As example, in a 22k game I got now expensive units, as described above, so I can field one inspire spear-ashi. This cheap unit I move with my archer or with my bow gen. I can block enemy cav with it, it gives inspire and I dont mind to use it as cannonfodder, if needed.

In each game you have to make sure, that you got some "cheap" units you can waste. Especially to block incoming infantry, so your guns can continue to shoot. You will have friendly fire, but if your units are cheaper than the enemy, it will pay off.

I also want to point out, that there are retainer, like +2 defense to spears, which only pay off, if you actual got enough spears.
Same goes for the +3 defense for swords. Whatever you choose, you have to ensure, that you make the retainer count as good as possible.

[Dionysus9]

Those are really great points. With the retainers for -10% price of ashi units and -5% price of all units the basic Ashi spearmen costs only 297. I've been using them quite a bit as cannon fodder lately and also to guard my gunners. Also good for leading charges and absorbing uncoordinated missile fire while the swords come behind.

What retainers do you usually run with? What do you think about the Bad Omen (- morale of enemy ashi) retainer at 22k, based on what other armies you see out there?

Do you put your gunners in skirmish? or do you micromanage their skirmishing? Situational? I was leaving them to hold their positions for that last devastating volley but too often they were getting tangled up in melee so now I'm setting them to skirmish and they aren't getting as many shots in but are usually able to back up through my spears and resume firing.

Maybe my questions are going beyond the original intent of this post but I'm always interested to hear about what successful players are doing.