A few misc. questions

**Brian_** · 11-14-2009, 19:33

Originally Posted by gollum

:

a) Alliances buy you off time to deal with a more imminent threat. If you are a clan that is facing more than one potential enemies along its borders it is imperative to keep them off your back until you deal with others first. Otherwise you are risking being attacked by more than one clan and being swamp by enemy numbers even if you are winning battles.

I've thought about this but aren't AI clans pretty much all treacherous? I mean, do they really place any value on agreements such that I can trust them to keep their word?

**gollum** · 11-14-2009, 19:56

From what i gather from the relevant parameters in the AI preferences for the AI personalities, the AI clans can invade you on the basis of:

a) They think that they are ready to invade you.

b) They find your border garissons weak enough to chance an opportunistic attack and see what happens further.

There are "invasion values" that control these and these values are lowered if you are an ally and to a certain extent if you are neutral. They are highest if you are at war. So by being an ally you increase your chances of the AI laeving you in peace and selecting other targets until your hands are freed. In the same manner even if an AI clan attempts to attack you unsuccesfully, you can offer ceasefire or accept their offer - dont stubbornly reject it, because then the AI may also stubbornly keep attacking you which although not dangerous may steal precious development time and resources or progress against another clan.

The AI clans are ruthless as you are but are also facing the same multifront problem that you do; so unless the AI feels absolutely ready to invade you (that is he is extremely rich and prosperous and has a lot of regions etc), these considerations matter to him. Once he is ready though you can discard them, which is basically the same the player does. But you can tell when he has reached this point because then he completely disregard diplomacy not only towards you but towards the other AI clans too.

edit: Forgtot to mention that certain Daimyos are assigned personalities that are less trustworthy than others. Typically in the beginning of the game, the Hojo and Shimazu are reliable, while the Takeda and Mori are not with the other three gravitating in between. However their heirs can be given different personalities at random. To know the personality of teh Daimyo you must have any agent in the province he resides for the season; then right click the base of his counter iirc.

**Brian_** · 11-14-2009, 20:27

Thanks for the great information, Gollum.

**gollum** · 11-14-2009, 23:21

You are welcome Brian_, enjoy

**phred** · 11-15-2009, 18:21

Originally Posted by Brian_

I've thought about this but aren't AI clans pretty much all treacherous? I mean, do they really place any value on agreements such that I can trust them to keep their word?

One trick to keeping an alliance is to keep a health army on your mutual border. The instant you reduce your border army, the ally will backstab.
I've had an alliance last the whole game using this method. But that was only ONCE in all my STW games, and I usually don't have enough koku to keep large stacks inactive on my ally's border (until late in the game).
I'm currently playing Imagawa and I don't have any money. I'm hoping my ally Oda doesn't backstab me anytime soon, because my border guards are pretty weak.

Edit: Also, another good reason to make alliances is you may inherit provinces when your ally is defeated and his provinces go rebel.

**ReluctantSamurai** · 11-17-2009, 05:19

Does anyone think there's anything worthwhile in trying to make an alliance?

Nothing wrong with making alliances.....just don't trust them to last. I've been playing STW since it's release and in all the games I've played I've had exactly two......2.......alliances that lasted the entire game until my clan and my ally's were the only two left. I didn't have the heart to finish them off, even tho' I could have.........too much of a softy, I guess

My suggestion is to never autoresolve unless you are at the end of the campaign and just don't feel like fighting a 12000 vs 12000 battle. If you have teppo in an army guarding a river province, you will not make out very well as teppo have poor melee stats when in reality the teppo tip the balance in your favor if you fight it yourself. If I had autoresolved some of the battles in my last Oda 1580 campaign, for instance, where I was defending against 3000+ attackers in Mikawa and Mino, I would have lost battles that I easily won. Besides, you learn nothing about fighting technique if you autocalc.......

You are probably doing the typical error new players are doing of trying to control each unit individually that indeed makes you ineffective.

A very fine post, gollum, but I don't agree with this particular point. In big defensive battles against multiple stack invasions, I very much manage each individual unit to maximize their defensive value, to pull them out of the line for rest, and to direct my archers and teppo from one part of the battlefield to another. In particular for bridge defense. Every unit has a specific task and I simply do not trust the battle AI to get a unit where I want it, when I want it. On the attack, I tend to use grouping a bit, but only to get my troops across the battlefield. Once battle is joined, I'm back to my old micro-managing self...............

Also, another good reason to make alliances is you may inherit provinces when your ally is defeated and his provinces go rebel.

Don't hold your breath for this to happen. I could count the number of times I've inherited a vanquished ally's lands on one hand, for all the games I've played. I've had the AI give all of an ally's lands to a second ally even tho' I was the first and biggest ally to that clan

**gollum** · 11-17-2009, 06:14

Originally posted by Reluctant Samurai
Once battle is joined, I'm back to my old micro-managing self

That's actually the right way to do it imo; however its best to "choose" which of the units are worth your time and attention otherwise you may suffer from an attention split and neglect an area that may prove critical. This is best done, by learning to use the interface and filter out the information it transmits, but also by mastering unit behaviour and the morale system that allows you to make predictions that come true.

A very fine post, gollum...

Thank you,

**Brian_** · 11-23-2009, 20:37

Here's a few more questions;

1. Do units ever recover fatigue through rest? In other words, if I pull a unit out of the battle, can I expect that they'll recover any of their lost energy points?

2. I've used Shinobi in enemy provinces to lower peasant loyalty and increase the odds of an insurrection. Is that strategy worthwhile in Rebel provinces? From what I've observed, the loyalty level will go no lower than 100 in those provinces.

3. It seems like the overall skill level of ronin/rebels is quite poor. But if they possess a general with say, four stars--can I expect that they and their units will have the same skill/morale as an army from a named clan having the same level of general?

4. How do Shinobi gain levels of experience? Is it by residing in enemy provinces or by discovering ninja?

**Sasaki Kojiro** · 11-23-2009, 20:50

Originally Posted by Brian_

Here's a few more questions;

1. Do units ever recover fatigue through rest? In other words, if I pull a unit out of the battle, can I expect that they'll recover any of their lost energy points?

Yes, I think they will recover some fatigue, I wouldn't recommend pulling them out of battle though. The only thing you really have to know about fatigue is that you shouldn't march quickly when you don't have to, that taking long flanking maneuvers might not be worth it in winter, and that very tired/exhausted troops are weaker and less brave and should be treated as such.

2. I've used Shinobi in enemy provinces to lower peasant loyalty and increase the odds of an insurrection. Is that strategy worthwhile in Rebel provinces? From what I've observed, the loyalty level will go no lower than 100 in those provinces.

No, rebel provinces can't rebel.

3. It seems like the overall skill level of ronin/rebels is quite poor. But if they possess a general with say, four stars--can I expect that they and their units will have the same skill/morale as an army from a named clan having the same level of general?

Yes, in fact some of the ronin can be quite dangerous, especially the monk armies.

4. How do Shinobi gain levels of experience? Is it by residing in enemy provinces or by discovering ninja?

It works the same way general upgrades do I think. Catching an enemy agent or causing a rebellion counts as 1 "win".

So rank 1: 1 win
rank 2: 2 wins
rank 3: 4 wins
rank 4: 8 wins

Although with ninja, killing higher honor generals gets them promoted faster, and something like that might occur with shinobi.