武士の道

[silencer_pl]

Hey folks.

 

I have just aquired from 75% promo on steam new Shogun 2 Total War and I have decided to try with my very own AAR. Together with you I will play my first Grand Campaign in this game. I have played previously Medieval Total War 1 & 2 but never was able to finish the grand campaign. Maybe together with you I will be able to make this break through.

 

So without further addo.

 

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The story takes place in year 1545 in feudal japan struck by civil war as local clans fight to become Shogun. Though Japan had an emperor - he was likely a symbolic figure - Shoguns were true political power.

 

So let's get started:

 

 

This is the main screen..

 

Now we will decide what clan we take.

 

First is Chosokabe clan - their main trait is better trained archers and more income from farms. Clans capital is located in southern island.

 

 

Next we have Shimazu clan. They are the best swordsman in Japan therefore can hire better Katana wielding Samuais, have more loyal generals and can field the most powerful Katana wielding Heroes. Katana samurais are bread and butter of all Japaneese army and these are the best - pretty obvious decision for the beginners like myself. Also they start at south west corner in Kyusu Island so the expansion is straight forward.

 

 

Next Hojo clan - excelent builders and siege experts - lower cost and time of repairs and cheaper siege weapons

 

 

Mori clan - naval experts

 

 

Oda clan - they specialize in Ashigaru units - the most basic unit in game - cheap and in numbers but easly defeated by their samurai counterpart.

 

 

Date clan - they specialize in charge tactics - all charging units gets bonus to charge attack and no-dachi samurais. No-dachi samurais are Samurais with bigger swords but poorer armor - overall they are weaker than Katana samurais but very devastating at flanking charges. They have the famous 'Banzai' warcry.

 

 

Takeda clan - mounted specialists

 

 

The famous Tokugawa clan - Masters of Intrigue - they can field kisho ninja, a ninja unit that can be used in battlefield and Metsuke agent have 2% increased performance. Metsuke is special agent something similar to Spanish Inqusitor but can also maintain a city which increases its income.

 

 

Next Uesugi clan - they specialize in Warrior Monks. They are the strongest units, but their price is also huge. It is believed that still Samuari warriros are still better in cost / efficiency aspect. Also monks agents are better - monks here are like priests but can even persuade enemy agent to switch side.

 

 

Next Hattori clan - they are masters of ambushes - their special units can hide in battle and all ninjas are 2% better. They with Tokugawa can have kisho ninjas.

 

 

Last clan is Ikko-ikki - very strange clan - they can field greater ashigaru and warrior-monk units. They cant' have Metsuke agents and their generals can convert people to their clan religion same as monks do.

 

 

Having decide I will go with Shimazu clan. I will be playing on normal difficulty and my goals are to conquer and hold Kioto for 1 games year and hold 6 other provinces - Bungo, Higo, Hyuga, Osumi, Satsuma. I must reach this goal before year 1600. 1 years equals 4 turns, 1 turn eqauls one season (spring, summer, autmun and winter).

 

So here we go...

[silencer_pl]

 

Our clan province is Satsuma. It is average soil land witch means nothing good and nothing bad. Our province speciality is blacksmith and that means every new Samurai unit will have better armor and better weapon.

 

The clans wants us already to take Osumi province - that will give us increased conscription queue for 4 turns.

 

 

But first, few technical matters. Since we have costal province I order to upgrade our fishing village to get Trading ships - near us are few trading ports and I need to establish trading routes in order to gain money - more money = bigger army, bigger army means I can advance faster.

Next I add to queue 1 katana samurai unit - it will train for 2 turns. Then I decide what teachings should we pursue.

 

There are two trees. Bushido which grants military bonuses and the way of chi which boosts cultural aspects. We begin with bushido since we will do a lot of fighting at early stages and we need our forces to be strong.

 

 

 

Our starting army is pretty strong - 2 general units including Daimio the clan leader (same as king in Medieval), 3 spearman units, one is samurai unit and one archer unit.

 

 

The preparations aredone - we march to kill the Ito clan

 

[silencer_pl]

So here we are trying to capture our hated Ito clan province. The weather is bad as it is raining... well only archers have disadvantage and since we have only 1 archer units we are more at advantage - although the keep has two units there was a general unit in the area and he will surely come to aid from the eastern side - so we prepare for him.

 

 

Yari units in front, archers in middle and our general units in back.

 

The encounter went exceptionaly well... their light cavalary unit tried to charge our generals but instead they rammed our wall of spears. Then we charged at their Yari unit while our General devastated their archers.

 

 

So having one problem solved I gather soldiers and surround the keep. Archers and one spearman unit from east side. Two spearman units from south side, and both generals units from west side.

 

 

Because this is Japan there are no siege towers or ladders - every foot soldiers can climb the walls (so manly). The Ito decided to attack our spearman unit that was climbing the sout-western part of wall meaning it took heavy casualties - but our brave Daimio saved the day, while on the other side we buther their archers.

 

 

 

 

Victory is ours - the routed forces retreat to safety. But they won't get far anyway.

 

 

 

Battle Outcome

 

Fielded Lost Remains Killed

We 800 307 493 621

They 640 613 27 218

[FullAuto]

Oooh, unificationtastic!

[Space Voyager]

Really good to see a S2TW AAR! And nice choice of faction as well. I love foot units in TW series most and this seems to be the faction to prefer them.

[Thorondor]

"No growth without assistance. No action without reaction. No desire without restraint. Now give yourself up and find yourself again." - Li Mu Bai

 

A most worthy recounting you have here, silencer-san.

 

::

 

Perhaps best of all, once past the chaos of battle, is being allowed to contemplate, victorious, the blossoming cherry trees.

 

"The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life." - Katsumoto

[silencer_pl]

After this glorious battle I have realized that we can afford one more samurai unit, so before I end the turn they were added to the queue so in turn 3 we will have 2 katana samurai units.

 

In next turn our clan wants me to develope 'The way of the sword' which will result in free katana samurai unit and second harbor in the now occupied city.

 

 

No big deal as I was going for it anyways - few turns later I have realized that game tricked me and I thought that was inventing bushido but later I found out that game switched it for way of chi - blasted game - it gave me the possibility to build marketplace which is usefull at it gives more money and more money means more samurais. But the I failed to switch back and it went for monstery 'tech' which is crap at this stage - bah oh well I said this is my first game....

 

Back to war. In the newly captured city I placed in queue one archer unit and one yari unit.

 

After harbour in Satsuma and Osumi we were given another task to build trading port which I was aiming at the beginnig - we will get 1000 gold for this so it will cover expensens for building it.

 

 

Turn 4.

 

We gathered our forces but it appears that Ito clan wants revange and failed to do a sneak attack as they army was spotted just outside our borders. The army was smaller than ours and it was led by clans Daimio, so without hesitation we attack.

 

 

 

The terrain is pretty simple - mostly flat land with forest and hill on the eastern side - this obviously shouts 'The best position on the map'. So we deploy our forces.

 

Spearman taking the point, archers behind them and samurais just in between while generals taking the back seat.

 

 

The Ito clan decided similar location so I just moved forward. At first I thought that they are crazy because they rushed their horse unit at my spearman - actualy it was kind of diversion to break my formation - unlucky I didn't fell for it and soon they forces were overrun.

 

 

A decisive victory

 

 

Fielded Lost Remains Killed

We 1190 90 1100 696

They 699 696 3!! 89

 

Only 3 units remaind - should have continued the battle and slay theme too - maybe another time - someone will have to warn others of our superiority.

 

Given that victory our Daimio gained new level.

 

 

Here in Shogun 2 generals and agents gain skills and 'perks' called retainers - this are persons or objects that bolsters unit skills - you can have 3 of them

 

At this level I was given the option of taking minstrel biwa or drummer taiko. I have chosen the minstrel as it gives more morale. The drummer I think it gave more defence or better charge - obviously something worse than morale boost.

 

 

Also for each level general or agents gets skill points which can be used to gain additional skills. When it comes to general his skills are divided into whole army bonuses or general and his bodygurads. Obviously we want stronger army as attacking with general in the heat of battle is suicide. So I took 2 points in the army bonuses that increased armys movement points by 30%.

 

[silencer_pl]

Since this turn is winter and in winter you take attrition damage not being on your own province I wait this turn and attack their main (and only) province.

 

 

Meanwhile back to base management I have orderd to upgrade villages in both provinces - upgrading provinces gives more food income to the province and more money to the coffers. Also I have built one archer ship for scouting.

 

Into battle we go

 

 

The Ito clan stronghold is surrounded by water. I decided to strike from 2 positions.

 

 

Slowly marching ahead I was waiting what will they do. The Ito clan decided to reinforce the eastern point as there was more man approching so I gave the order to attack of the western units. They did not found any resistance and as soon as they captured west wing of the keep the eastern boys were climbing the walls.

 

 

 

After a while we were just stomping in pile of dead bodies.

 

 

Again decisive victory...

 

 

...but this time NO survivors

 

Fielded Lost Remains Killed

We 1149 349 800 620

They 620 620 0 295

 

I wonder how the loses are calculted - they killed 295 and yet I lost 349 - probably deaths from injuries...

No matter - we have 3 provinces although this one has barren soil so our income will be minimal.

 

After conquering clans main province or taking their last province - we can make them vassals - this gives us free regin over their terrain + one additional military unit as a gift, but on the other side we would have to babysit them. Because this is Total War - we simply entered their land like it was ours all along.

 

On the other side trading port was built and I have ordered 5 trade boats - they will increase our income. I hope that I will be the first to claim silks from china.

 

BTW I wish I was able to add bigger images as resizing 1080p size to 640 makes things to little to read. Or maybe I don't know this special trick ?

[Space Voyager]

BTW I wish I was able to add bigger images as resizing 1080p size to 640 makes things to little to read. Or maybe I don't know this special trick ?

You can freely link bigger images, they will be resized to fit the forum and will have to be clicked on to be seen in full.

 

Though AAR is much easier read if you crop the images to the content that is relevant. BTW, is it possible for you to shift to English? I know this is not a "nationally correct" question but my Polish is a bit rusty. OK OK, I have no knowledge of it.

 

Or perhaps even better - you could add an explanation and we'd be given an opportunity to learn.

 

Ah, if you don't mind... I'd love a silk shirt if our ships make it through!

[silencer_pl]

Everything that is important in the pictures i write it in english in AAR - I'll check if I can have English UI -I thought about it in first place- but then again - this is 'official' UE language + you can learn it

 

You can freely link bigger images, they will be resized to fit the forum and will have to be clicked on to be seen in full.

 

Hmm I think I once tried it and the pictures just went overborder - will try with next batch - probably on sunday.

 

OK OK, I have no knowledge of it.

 

So you have an oportunity to gain it

[Knan]

I wonder how the loses are calculted - they killed 295 and yet I lost 349 - probably deaths from injuries...

From experience, the rest is mostly friendly fire from your own archers.

[silencer_pl]

Yeah right - forgot about that

[silencer_pl]

Just a heads up - I didn't forgot about this AAR but right now my interest is somewhere else. Probably I will resume it with the restart of new Jagged Alliance and when Pete will finish a project that I asked him about.

[silencer_pl]

Hello.

 

It's me again returning to Feudal Japan after quite a while. This time I hope to finish this this properly. Again I'll start with Shimazu clan but only ramping up the difficulty by a notch.

 

 

It's been also few patches later and 2 more DLCs too (well 3 but Rise of the Samurai don't bring new stuff to the OC).

First is the Otomo Clan pack. A clan dedicated to spreading Christianity and better gunpowder units. The second DLC is Saints and Heroes which adds more hero units and standard units. The Otomo clan is located very close to Shimazu clan so I bet we will be fighting very early on.

 

Since very few post were made in the beginning I will not go once more to explain the beginning of things (if a mod decides to clear the earlier posts - that is fine by me - but I leave decision up to you). Our clan starts on the very west side of Japan on Kyushu island.

 

 

Our advantage is that we have few foreign trading posts nearby. Securing the access to them should yet a profitable income of money. And that is what the adviser in the opening says we should do.

 

The disadvantage of our position is that nearby territories are poor for farming purpose and that means less money from taxes. On top of that we are at war with Ito clan (purple) that have 2 provinces and plenty of troops to kick us out if they wanted to.

Also we don't have much starting finances too.

 

As we get control of the game we are immediately bombard with mission to capture Osumi province within 4 turns (1 turn = 1 season, so 4 turns = year). But let's take care of other business first.

 

 

First we need to upgrade our fishing community to harbour. It won't allow us to build trade ships but it is necessary upgrade.

 

 

Second thing is to upgrade our farming community. Farms are the base of province wealth - the bigger they are the more wealthy peasants are, the more money from tax comes. Also better farms improve growth of the populace (well it should but the growth in Japan is calculated differently than in Medieval Europe).

 

 

And ordering those two construction has depleted our treasury. A sad truth. Now let's take a look at our army.

 

 

Nothing special. We have 2 general units - a Daimyo which is the clan leader and his second general. Both are horse units so they will be used to kill those pesky archers and do aggressive flanking maneuvers. Next we have Samurai unit with Yari (spear). As we know spear are best against mounted units. Then we have 2 Ashigaru with Yari and 1 Ashigaru with Bow unit. So pretty much our army is looking poorly.

 

But our family demands the capture of a province and we must do it before enemy can fortify enough for us to make it impossible.

 

 

Our forces march straight to the castle and start the siege. Because we can't wait till they die out of hunger an assault must be made. The enemy forces are numerous. 2 bow units, 1 light cavalry unit, 1 yari unit and samurai guardians - they act as castle defenders and only spawn during sieges. The better the castle the more defending units spawn - so losing them and wining the defense is a very good option.

 

We attack from the south. And even so being on hard difficulty doesn't prevent AI to made suicide charges. Frankly I've seen better actions in much older Medieval Total War. As you can see the AI decides to blindly charge with horses against 3 units of spears just to get my archers.

 

 

They did however managed to kill few peasants. But that left the archer unit vulnerable to our general units.

 

 

The remaining yari unit tried then blindly charged at our generals - but you know - horse will always be faster then footmen, so the tactic was to attack with my yari units in their rear and that made fast deal of their morale which soon followed by panic and instead of fighting they decided to flee. What do you expect from peasants. That allowed again my general units to charge unit and murder almost everyone in that unit.

 

So now let's focus and assaulting the walls.

 

 

The retainers have a routine of patrolling the courtyard while archers are only moving when I guess I am at the desired spot for them. So that means I can put my archers in a spot to pepper the defenders without retaliation until they will run out of arrows - which should be enough to kill all the samurais. Meanwhile other troops use the cover of the forest and move behind.

 

With only archer unit left they storm the walls. And so the victory came. Pretty much glorious victory. I think I've lost a little to much of soldiers but that is random generator when units are fighting. I think when I was preparing the "perfect" strategy for first few turns I had a victory with almost half the casualty.

 

 

With the successful occupation now comes the decision whether we should peacefully occupy the province or should we rape, murder and plunder. Although the second option sounds nice - it is always better to peacefully occupy new land.

 

And that concludes the mission. Now our castles can train up to 1 more unit per turn (so if a province could train 1 unit per turn now it can train 2 units per turn). The bonus will last 4 turns, but since we are so poor in funds this bonus is useless to us.

 

And with that comes the first turn of the game.

[silencer_pl]

On the second turn we got new mission. Master Kenjutsu. As a reward we will get free Samurai unit. We will get it eventually.

 

 

Second turn will not contain much action. Because there is high disorder in our new province. Our army needs to occupy the palace for a turn or so, and we need to build sake den. It will improve public order because people will be too drunk to complain and we will be able to recruit the (in)famous ninja agent - Saboteur, Assassin, Spy (S.A.S ). 3 skills in one black package.

 

Also staying in the province probably will force the Ito Daimyo to move out from his hiding hole and I must face him on the open field.

 

Turn 3.

 

After completing the harbour, we are ordered to build Trading Post. That will finally allow us to build trade ships. The bad news is however the trade port costs almost 2000.... that is why I didn't upgrade the army on second turn.

 

 

 

Also our clan mastered the way of chi. This will allow us to build basic marketplaces. A good place if a province has some additional luxury resource.

 

 

Now we can focus on mastering Bushido and going straight to Kenjutsu.

 

On this turn our Daimyo heads out to capture last province of Ito clan.

 

Turn 4.

 

There are still problems in Osumi with peasants. But the sake den and newly trained unit will make them content enough to stop complaining.

 

 

The great news of Japan says that the Great Oda clan has been wiped out.

 

 

Historically, Oda clan should win But games and history have only names in common.

 

But forget about that. This is the most important thing and the decisive battle. Will the Shimazu clan be victorious ?

 

 

The odds clearly aren't in our favour. It's almost 2:1... so in theory we are screwed.

 

The battlefield doesn't look to good. A hill in the middle and they had the advantage of lower slope. So it wasn't good idea for me to charge on the hill. Instead we will wait in the forest.

 

 

And here comes their generals... again blind charge. That's the perfect situation to use those yari.

 

 

Although one of the generals avoided contact. I've sent one yari unit after it. His flanking maneuvers didn't look quite well and in the end he also charged straight into death.

 

Without the general my units just rolf-stomped the enemy.

 

 

That's clearly game breaking tactics. Just lost almost 200 units. Unfortunately I wasn't able to wipe all of them and so the remaining force retreated to the castle. Also because it is winter and I am in enemy controlled sector, I will lose small amount of men because of starvation and cold. But that shouldn't stop our advance.

[silencer_pl]

With the Ito clan destroyed, we get the option to make them vassals. Not that great option, since vassals can eventually revolt on you.

 

 

So on to turn 6.

 

Trading Post is ready, and we get a 1000 koku to make some trading boats. Unfortunately it will be 1 per turn but we should manage to acquire some trading routes.

 

 

And also our clan masters the Strategy of Attack.

 

 

With the Ito clan murdered, it's time to separate our general from Daimyo army so we can have 2 armies. With lots of casualties, we need to reinforce in order to make further advances. 4-5 turns should be enough and with growing income we can recruit our Katana Samurai.

 

Turn 7.

 

During AI turn I've notice strange movement. It was a thought that AI took over one of the trading routes. And I just saved to show you this.

 

 

This is Otomo clan, and they've already built 4 trading ships. This is one uber cheat. The bastards, since we have borders now, guess who will be on the pike in few turns.

 

I don't know too much about Japanese culture, and specially Feudal Japan. But our Daimyo son is mature enough to be a general.

 

 

What is so surprising ? He is 14!!!! Imagine a 14 years old boy commanding an army. And get this sometimes sons of Daimyo come out of age after 18 years old. So he must be special.

 

 

This here is a queue for the second army. I think 2 Katana Samurai units were already recruite, so I guess when this queue is finished we will march to war.

 

Next our first trade ship made contact with one of the foreign traders. Not much big deal but it will get higher once more ships will join the route.

 

 

Also not a turn after our son matures, he gets the opportunity to have a wife.

 

 

A perk "Polite Wife" increases his loyalty. Unfortunetly another clan has cheated us too from gaining another trade route, so I've reloaded and tried to screw his cheat too. That resulted in same wife but without the perk.

 

Also we have some ambitious traders and since our trade will be mainly from the sea, it's just no-brainer what to get.

 

 

And as I was saying - the Miyoshi clan tries to be a smart ass so we teach them some respect.

 

 

 

A very "intense" naval battle with trade ships. But after cleaver (and a little risky) maneuvering we capture their trade ships thus increasing our future income.

 

 

They won't be able to retaliate that quickly and if so, we will be ready.

 

Of course our family tries to be funny and after that victory they issue a mission to win a naval battle.... well screw you.

 

 

With those 4 boats and that nice 25% bonus to trade we have quite a nice profit.

 

 

Meanwhile on the island, we prepare for another war. Our ninja scout reveals the nearest Otomo province.

 

 

The problem with Otomo is not that they don't have a army in it, but they are starting as Christian. So that means a religious war in their territory. They have both a chapel and a nanban harbour, that converts our people into Christians, and since we are of Shinto religion, guess what can happen. I guess after invading I will have to raze those buildings. Although I am not sure either should I do that or convert myself. But probably will want to stick to Buddhism.

 

Also in other news, another clan was wiped out. And frankly I am glad they did.

 

 

Ikko-Ikki clan is also one of those with other religion. But their religion can be a pain in the ass too. If your province borders with Ikko-Ikki province - they religion will spread. And if by chance you get revolt, the rebels that spawn will be of Ikko-Ikii origin, so they can gain lands through rebellions. Nasty stuff.

 

So without any delay, we need to resume our conquest.

 

[Space Voyager]

Finally I get a chance to go over the AAR... Great stuff, love it! May your sword never get blunt.

 

And here comes their generals... again blind charge. That's the perfect situation to use those yari.

 

Ah, the bane of Total War series... Won me game after game after game... Somehow the AI was never taught to differentiate between the general's unit and the rest of the heavy cavalry. In one of the RTW2 interviews the AI programmer promised that this will be corrected. But I've heard such promises before, so let's wait and see.

[silencer_pl]

I think in MTW2 AI played better.

 

So it's time to attack Otomo clan. Their borders look pretty defenseless. Without any units the job was left to the archers.

 

 

But unfortunately the Bungo province will be a tough nut to crack when it comes to public order. It's all because of the religion. And they say that Christianity is religion of peace.

 

 

Even exempting from taxes will not be enough. I will need to leave army there for quite a while, demolish that church and unfortunately demolishing that nanban port will reduce it to ground 0 instead of tier lower

 

 

Also we will be needing monks as fast as possible to convert that province, so I need to change the research for some Chi Path.

 

 

I was hoping to attack the Sagara clan too - though we are at friendly, but their army made me change the plans. And it's strange that they can support it with 1 province. AI bollocks nr 1.

 

 

So instead of war I need to move the second army towards Otomo lands and Sagara province is in the way. So I asked for military access.

 

 

He countered with Military Alliance.... ok he also wants Otomo dead...

 

 

But military alliance still doesn't count for Military Access... and I must pay them. Highway robbery I call it. AI bollocks nr 2.

 

 

On the sea however AI spawns ships after ships after ships. Otomo tries to destroy our trade ship en-route to trade port, but Trade ship is a tiny bit faster than Medium Bune. And since we are playing on timed battlefields well I'll just need to survive 20 minutes (in accelerated time of course).

 

 

Though no damage done it counts as victory, so I guess I achieved something that I didn't even plan to do.

 

 

And also another Clan bites the dust.

 

 

After those 3 turns now we can build monastery but I am tiny bit on cash to start building it. Next turn perhaps.

 

 

 

[silencer_pl]

Our clan wants to upgrade castle in the recent province we have captured. Although it would be nice to have it, we can't spare the money to do it. It costs 1600 and we barely have enough for the monastery. Monk is really important to have. Those Christians need to be converted or they will give us trouble.

 

 

Meanwhile on the sea, Otomo is scaring our trade route. If it was one ship I could take it out, but 3 trade ships vs 2 medium bunes and matchlock kobaya - not a chance. The only option is retreat.

 

 

Also their Metsuke strikes at our ninja agent - those are the moments when AI kicks you bad.

 

 

But we are gaining more land. Strange that their army went somewhere else - and it was quite big one. Oh well I prefer they attack us during siege.

 

 

With capturing that province we have 5 provinces, that brought the attention of the Emperor.

 

 

Clearing of any possible scouts.

 

 

And our other general gains a level.

 

 

Jujutsu Master gave bonus when ambushing - pretty useless since we are not ambushing.

 

 

Traditionally - the farther you can go, the more you can do.

 

 

At last we can order construction of Buddhist temple. Even with tax exemption those christian peasants can cause troubles

 

 

On the sea we have a quite an occasion though. Another trade ship to be captured.

 

 

Otomo Metsuke is again causing trouble. I've sent Ashigaru Bowmen and Katana Samurai to defend the last captured province, and the bastard bribed the bowman.

 

 

Another sea battle - another ships to our collection.

 

And yes before you ask, our main money issues are because of large upkeep of army and navy. This also is the fact that the provinces we have (except clan capital) have very poor soil. That means taxes from peasants are low. But there are better lands - the problem is they are well protected and AI gets it's stupid boost or reduction in army upkeep.

 

Another province of Otomo clan - I thought this will be the last one, but it ain't. Also I saw a very big army of theirs.

 

 

Because they have 2 samurai archers units I needed to keep them at check. AI tends to not move archers if you put units in front of them but far enough not to be shot.

 

 

This gave me one side that I could climb with soldiers and my archers to fire their own rain of death.

But assaulting strongholds is never easy.

 

[silencer_pl]

And it happened. Where is the love guys? Did they forgot to teach you rule number 5 ?

 

 

And another task given.

 

 

Let's try that monk on those rebels.

 

 

I thought that demoralize will either stop them (but that only ninjas can do) or made some troops disband. Unfortunately that too is out of the question. Guess it lower the morale for one turn, but is it effective against AI? Really don't know. Specialy on Harder difficulties where AI gets bonus to morale.

 

 

Well at least it gives some XP for the monk so he will get better at converting faster.

 

Because we need to move towards Otomo clan, the lands of Ouchi are on the way, and since they don't want us to move through their turf I don't have much choice (well I could move some ships but they are busy elsewhere).

 

 

Unfortunately Sagara did not pick our side. The bastards will pay. But we will be fighting on two fronts with two big armies over AI side. Like this one for example.

 

 

It's all what we have against all what they have.

 

Of course always AI get's better ground when I am attacking and defending. Bollocks nr 3....

And this here is the Otomo Matchlock unit. Pretty brutal when it fires.

 

 

I had to use all of my wits and devious luring AI generals and using my to flank some Yari Ashigaru. But we managed a victory.

 

[imghttps://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vitHeKLwLXQ/UehCSZOivaI/AAAAAAAAK4U/BXi6OOyJ45o/s0/085.jpg[/img]

 

Although having 50% loses we didn't lose a single stack and that is important, since the numbers will restore over time and no money is needed.

 

That completes the mission we were given few turns ago.

 

 

And our Daimyo reached another level.

 

 

With their army gone Otomo asks for peace. But this is Total War, so no.

 

 

Now I will have to deal with them unfortunately.

 

 

Again Ouchi and they are willing to pay 180. Lousy fee, but again NO!

 

 

And the rebels attack our settlement.

 

 

At least we had 2:1 kill ratio

 

 

And the game said that Shimazu have it easy.

[silencer_pl]

If we can't deal with the peasants, we can deal with Christian missionaries. Go home missionary, you're drunk.

 

 

That leveled our monk and now he can be better at converting and this land needs all the conversion power it can get.

 

 

Meanwhile our Daimyo finishes remnants of once large Otomo army, while the rest of our troops prepare for the battles with Sagara clan.

 

 

And it's time our Metsuke does his job too.

 

 

With essence of the Spirit we can build better monasteries.

 

 

Another general in the ranks - you can never have too much generals, even if you're bleeding for money.

 

 

Our scholars needs guidence. Well we need to finish few Martial Art techs, so it's obvious what to pick. I am aiming for ability to ignite arrows, that will allow our Kobaya Ships to be more dangerous and every archer unit get's few volleys that has bonus damage.

 

 

Of course being cheater and all Sagara clan has two very large armies. I on the other hand have only one. So a trap must be set.

 

 

That's one army out of commission.

 

Also we learned Kenjutsu.

 

 

Not only we fulfilled long task, but that allows to us to upgrade katana dojos to no-dachi dojos. What are no-dachi samurai?

If you think that normal katana is badass, what would you think of katana twice the size? Yep no-dachi are wieleding very big katanas, they are like foot-cavalry. Their primary task is to charge in and do massive killings. However they are poor at defense. Still normal katana samurai will be core of our army.

 

With that the last tech for now from this side of the tree will be Way of the Bow, we will need to make our farms bigger and more efficient.

 

 

And let's finish that first stack of said big army.

 

 

Back at sea more patrolling and capturing enemy ships, soon we will have to scuttle some.

 

 

Let's retake that lost land. I think their other army returned to main province. Cowards don't want to face me on open ground.

 

 

More metsuke action.

 

 

And the second lost province.

 

 

Another general. I will probably have to make general army, because with so many generals I will not be able to produce so many armies.

 

 

And he gets a wife pretty fast. Loyal wife +1 to loyalty of general. Not that our generals have problems with loyalty. Shimazu clan has bonus for loyalty in core foundations.

 

 

This will be the final battle of Sagara clan. The place favors them but it is still better than assaulting stronghold.

 

[silencer_pl]

So, the great battle. The game always gives you big "Fuck you" to the face.

 

 

As you can see the enemy has nice high hill position and he has no plan of doing anything. So I must make him do something. I've divided army into 2 groups. The one on the right are samurai units, archer units and few yari units. On the other side the generals with other yari units including yari samurai. At first I tried to ambush the AI and expose my archers so he could blindly charge in and I could destroy their cavalry (and generals).

 

 

At first it worked but he I think foresaw it and turned back. Blast. Then I had to play cat and mouse game with my generals and yari units so I slowly aggored the AI and he finally let stupid charge with generals towards my generals and then my yari could poke them to death. But even so the enemy was not broken, so again few circling maneuvers and still I had to fight uphill battle.

 

 

Pyrrhic Victory but all in all I've won and only lost one unit (due to low number of units remaining). But those who survived will regain numbers in few turns and no money spent.

 

Following on, another general has joined.

 

 

And a cache of weapons but I am low on money anyway to make use of it.

 

 

And those fire arrows.

 

 

When those few new generals joined our main force, the last province of Sagara is now under siege.

 

 

Shame for the lost units but at one point my economy will not suffer that much (tiny much). At least this is very good province so income will be much better.

 

 

All now is to capture again that province which rebels took and all of the Kiusiu will be ours.

 

Meanwhile our traders dominate trade routes.

 

 

But what is this. Once they begged for peace, now they assembled an army? What is this insubordination!

 

 

And one of our Metsuke agents gained a level.

 

 

Again we used our monk just to get more XP. Though doubt this has effect on AI forces.

 

 

 

That's expensive looking army. It will be my pleasure to destroy it.

 

 

How do you like them arrows?

 

 

And a wife for one of the generals.

 

 

Tooltip says Fecud wife has good constitution. Don't know what that means. Either she can have more children or the general gains few hitpoints.

 

When I had land divided I couldn't get anything from other clans. But now when I am the lord of Kiusiu, things start to look different.

 

 

Two clans agreed to trade. This will make our economy rocket sky high - for a while. I need to build more ports to try with more clans.

 

Let's also improve our economy from things like farms. And also make them bigger.

 

 

Ok let's try to take that province from the blood thirsty "Christians".

 

 

Well I fluffed up at one point during the assault, but I think I'll stop using ashigaru units. Since we are going to invade Honsiu, we will need a professional army.

 

 

Our new wealth has brought people to the cities, well more people means more money, more money means bigger army, and the bigger the army, the faster we will conquer all of Japan (or at least that 40 provinces).

 

 

And speaking of money after those 2 deals and all 7 provinces we now earn almost 7k Koku per turn (and it took us 50 turns). Too slow but now the real campaign can begin.

 

[Space Voyager]

Just in case you're bothered by the AI and several annoying features, you can mod the game with Darth's mod. The guy recently retired from modding as he's working on a game of his own but before he did, he released the v5 of his mod and people seem to praise it all over.

[silencer_pl]

Modding mid game is not the best idea.

[silencer_pl]

Ok, time to move this joint forward. And I must apologize for one error. Taking Kiusiu island didn't take 50 turns. I've miscalculated basing on the current year in game. I thought the starting year was different and it is 4 turns per year. So in reality it took me 35 turns to take over Kiusiu.

 

Now it's time to prepare for the invasion on the main island. Unfortunately this start with minor issue. Because of supporting growth of the cities instead of farmlands, our food surplus is reduced for a year. Well not worries for now, but I will have to upgrade my defenses and improve farmlands and that is not cheap.

 

 

And of course we still have to be vigilant on the seas since we still have many enemies and they will raid our trade networks.

 

Meanwhile a great news spreads in Shimazu clan, as our Daimyos Hair, gets his first son.

 

 

And in other news, Date clan is gone. Date clan is something in opposition to Shimazu. They're starting position is on the far east of Japan and they too are focused on swordsmanship. Except they are more experts at devastating charging attacks and their special units are No-dachis.

 

 

We also need to capture more trade routes. This one on the northern part of Japan is under control of Homma clan. Their provinces are far on the east so I guess little retaliation will be seen.

 

 

We also seek new trade partners as our ports improve.

 

 

And we improve our knowledge in creating bigger farms.

 

 

But of course preparing for great things you also have to deal with some bad things.

 

 

Stupid monks... that is an earthquake a something common in Japan.... -1500 is a lot, but you have to keep the peasants happy.

 

After something around 15 turns, we must continue to make progress (probably because me being paranoid of not making in time).

 

 

With that battle our renown is further increased. The shogun probably will not like that we are getting stronger and bolder.

 

 

And it's time to finish Ouchi clan.

 

 

Also that last battle was considered so heroic that it is even placed on the map.

 

 

We lose some partners and we gain some partners. We will be losing more, if our power will rise more. But this is how it was.

 

 

Upgrading strongholds came quicker than upgrading farms and some global hunger has struck one province. But not for long.

 

 

Our merchants found a way to acquire more weapons. I don't know if funding 2000 for getting a little discount on troop production is good deal but what the heck.

 

 

Our army still on the advance. This time Amako clan is in the way.

 

 

During the siege assault they've decided to open the gates for us.

 

 

So let's meet them in the clusterfuck.

 

 

Although I could do better. A win is a win unless there would be another army ready to take advantage of it. But there isn't yet.

 

 

And our Daimyo raises again in level department.

 

 

I don't know when I will research bushido arts, but it may happen and the faster it gets the better for us.

 

Also new trade partner, but I think it will be short relationship.

 

 

The Amako tries to recapture last province we liberated.

 

 

It didn't go well for them.

 

As time passes, slowly more clans start to hate us.

 

 

Only one more step to be able to build the largest farms, though I think I'll doubt if I ever will issue construction order for them, since they are quite expensive.

 

 

So I said, you lose some, you gain some, as long as the money keeps flowing.

 

 

And because we parked and defended the Aki province with big enough force we gained a bit of safeguard.

 

 

After a while we have reached to another borders of new clan that must be wiped out. They come with allies, but their allies will not stop our advance.