Pagans' Requiem: Shimazu (Domination, Legendary)

[Maltz]

INTRODUCTION

Hello, Daimyos! This is my second story of STW2, aiming at finishing a Shimazu campaign (Domination + Legendary). Many of the strategic and tactical discussions are based on the first story (Chosokabe, here is the link).

In fact, I seriously hate the Shimazu clan because they are usually hardly any strategy required to win with them in any Sengoku game. Maybe I can make this one a little harder.

Premises

(1) Must convert to Christianity. Shimazu's family crest is the Christian cross. So we must convert.
(2) Must use tactics favored by the historical Shimazu clan "Bait and Hidden". Please see explaination below.
(3) Must figure out an effective field tactics with guns, like the historical Shimazu.



The above diagram shows what "Bait and Hidden" basically is. I am not sure why Shimazu made such a big deal out of this to give it a unique name and became famous for it, because this tactic is nothing but luring an enemy into a trap - any 1-star general should know this trick. But apparently Shimazu's opponents were all dumb enough to fall for this elementary-school trick again and again. Maybe not marching into a likely trap is a sign of cowardness and dishonor?

Or maybe Shimazu's large number of guns requires this tactics, because guns cannot be used behind their main line - the straight-travelling bullets would shoot their own men's back. Shimazu had to arrange the guns on both sides so they could shoot the enemy's side and back. Instead of crediting Shimazu's cunning tactics or their enemy's incompetency, maybe it is Shimazu's only choice. If they win, it is because they managed to move the guns to the sides. If they lose, maybe their line did not hold long enough for their guns to rout their enemy.

Let's get started!

[Peasant Phill]

I'm curious how you'll succeed in this.

[Maltz]

Book 1 - Libera Me Domine

Chapter 01. Saving Precious Honor

Daimyos! My name is Shimazu Takahisa, the daimyo of the Shimazu clan. From now on I will proudly present the glorious story of Shimazu. Let me start with introducing our clan.



First, Shimazu has absolutely the sickest location nihon. We have few powerful enemies, but we are so close to all trade nodes. As long as we are not complete idiots, we should be able to defeat one enemy after one. The only reason for us to fail is that we expand too slowly and allow another clan to unite pretty much the rest of Japan. This is pretty much what happened in the history.

Shimazu has the best Katana Samurai in Japan, although in a closer look you will see that they are not really that much better than the rest. This sword light infantry is excellent in offence, but has relatively poor melee defence and armor. Certainly, we would train them using the expert armorers stationed in Satsuma to improve their longevity on the battlefield. We also have to accompany them with Yari Ashigaru early on, and Naginata Samurai later on.

Shimazu is the only great clan that is blessed by the option to construct a Nanban Trading Port from the start. The Nanban Port will allow us to import Matchlocks to train Matchlock Ashigaru. After the conversion, we will be able to upgrade the port into a Nanban Quarter to import European Cannons and Nanban Trade Ship. Since all of the above imports are ranged units, we are curious that if we build in port in Buzen, our "imported" units would receive the accuracy bonus of the province. We will have to find out.

Converting to Christianity definitely has its drawbacks. I will be veiwed as a dishonored daimyo (-2), which could have widespread negative consequences. Other clans will dislike us (-40) simply because of the religious difference. We will need some extra time to convert all our provinces to Christianity before we can move on. So this means that we will expand more slowly. But when we do, maybe we will be so powerful that nobody can stop us!

[Maltz]

You know, I have always heard people commenting that my face really resembles the Chosokabe Daimyo, the Mori Damiyo, the Takeda Daimyo, the Uesugi daimyo... OK, maybe we are all clones. Let's switch the topic to how to better prepare for a seamless conversion to the Nanban religion.



Saving Precious Honor

The most important thing about preparing for the conversion is Honor. My personal honor is important in three ways, the happiness of my people, the diplomatic popularity of the clan, and the loyalty of my generals.

For the happiness of my people, Honors have the following effect:

Honor = 1 or less: -2 penalty to happiness
Honor = 2: -1 penalty to happiness
Honor = 3: no effect
Honor = 4: no effect
Honor = 5: +1 bonus to happiness
Honor = 6 or above: +2 bonus to happiness

So I should at least avoid my honor to drop to 2 or below.

The effect of my honor on diplomatic popularity is quite random. At really high honor, it is possible to obtain up to +60 relationship from certain clans, although it is more reasonable to expect +30 or less (often there is no effect at all). Also, even for the same clan, in different seasons they tend to view honor differently. It is hard to predict. Let's just aim to increase Honor as much as possible.

The effect of my honor on general's loyalty is of little concern here, since we Shimazu clan is famous for our loyal generals. They will forgive me for beliving in even the flying spaghetti monster.

Since converting to Christianity reduces Honor by 2, I have to look for ways to restore my honor and hopefully still reach the maximum of 6. So I will be looking for five points of extra honor.

Here are the ways to improve Honor:

Default (+3) - Just like my clones everywhere in Japan... I start with 3 points of personal honor.
Arts (up to +1) - Tea Ceremony
Skills (up to +2) - Honorable, starting at level 4
Vassal (up to +1) - Only one is needed
Retainers (up to +3) - at level 2, 4, and 6
Random event (up to +1) - when another clan has a terrible harvest, donate 2500 koku to them. This may not happen at all.

What's no longer/will not be available:

Heroic victory (+1) - this has probably been taken out by patching
Polite Wife (+1) - sadly, I have to be polite to my wife in exchange for a quiet evening.
Order a disloyal general to commit Seppoku (up to +1) - our clan has extra-loyal generals, so this won't happen.

The earliest available honors are Vassal and Retainer at level 2 (20 experience required), for a total of +2 Honor. This will offset my Christianity conversion penalty and brings my Honor back to +3, the minimal Honor to avoid penalty.

When I reach level 4 (120 experience required), I will be able to obtain the Honorable Skill and another Retainer for up to 3 more honor points to push my Honor to max (+6). Or I can save one point of skill but research the art of Tea Ceremony, which is a pre-requisite for other arts that boost our diplomatic standing with other clans. We could really use those positive quirks in diplomacy to improve our anti-Buddha image.

So we could convert to Christianity as soon as we have a Vassal and I reach level 2. However, the instant diplomatic penalty might not be worth the risk. We need to establish all the trade relations first. Maybe a more reasonable timing is until I get to level 4, and have a robust economy supported by prosperous trade network.

I will discuss the other preparations for conversion later.

[Maltz]

I am now 31 years old, but I still recall the days I was young and passionate...



So now I have three sons aged at 12, 10, and 8! I have heard that other daimyos's kids joining the clan affairs as early as 14 years of age. So very soon the Shimazu clan will have a lot of generals running around. We probably have the best family roster among all clans in Japan.

[Maltz]

Our first objective is to occupy the Osumi province, which is right beside Satsuma. We should be able to reach the castle there in the same season. Upon completion of the objective we will be rewarded by a year of increased recruitment capacity.



The Osumi province is owned by the Ito clan, which is already at war with us. Fighting them is quite the obvious choice.

[Maltz]

Right now we only know two clans: the hostile Ito clan to the east, and the neutral (but trading) Sagara clan to the north. While Ito has two provinces and Sagara only one, Ito's provinces range from average to poor, and Sagara's Higo is one of the richest provinces in Japan. However, there is one port in Ito's provinces, but none for Sagara.



As I have been living in Satsuma for 31 years, I of course have heard the existence of other clans in Kyushu island. Currently, the Shoni clan owns two very rich provinces in the north. The Shoni clan is probably going to war the Otomo clan in the east, if they have not already. Otomo's Bungo province already has a Naban Trade Port. We will avoid capturing this province before building our own Naban Trade Port in another province (we are planning for Buzen).

While in history the Otomo clan will become a great power in northern Kyushu, here Otomo is likely to fail in no time, because they are diplomatically imcompetent idiots. Very soon they will go to war with pretty much everybody nearby, and while one army marches toward their castle, they will promptly empty the castle to invade the opposite direction. So they are strategically incompetent morons as well.

[Maltz]

Otomo's inevitable complete failure in diplomacy might be a result of their Nanban religion. Let's hope we will not end up like them.



Let's deal with Ito's Osumi province first! Did someone mention Shimazu is so darn easy? Surprisingly there were not even a general there to defend. The defenders have one more Bow Ashigaru unit, light cavalry and samurai retainer, but we have two generals and Yari Samurai. We can still expect an easy win here.

[Maltz]

The Osumi is located beside the coast. Anyone who has a basic sense of direction knows that the coast is to the southeast. Since on the battlemap the coast appears on the top, we know that Ito's reinforcement, which is located northeast of the castle, must appear the bottom-left of the battlefield. Right?



Wrong! Apparently the battleifled is always arranged with north on the top. This means that Ito's reinforcement will appear on the northeast. Maybe the local coast has a strange twist so the ocean appears to the north - something like this:

*****
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* **C**
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Oh wait the second - the Osumi castle is not even located by the coast on the campaign map! Maybe the water on the battlefield is just a wide river. Anyway, we successfully intercepted Ito's reinforcement by deploying on the top-right. (Lesson learned: Army's campaign map layout matches with the battlefield reinforcement direction - north is top) Their Light Cavalry foolishly charged at us, right into our yari infantry. They were routed very quickly.

Our own reinforcement, which is ME alone with my bodyguards, appear on the top-left of the battle. There is actually a shortcut from top-left to top-right along the coast. So I ordered my men to ran on the beach. Nice sand.

So this is probably not a river. Hm...

[Maltz]

After routing Ito's Light Cavalry, their Yari Ashigaru charged at us, so we charged at them!



They have two units of Yari Ashigaru. We also have two units of Yari Ashigaru plus one unit of Yari Samurai. So we are bound to win this encouter. Besides, my general is going to perform a back charge on them immediately.