Shogun 2: Total War
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lawl, god damnit. My comment when I described how I was playing Shogun for my friends; "My armies moves like a crushing wave that spreads over japan.". One quiet second, then everyone, including me, facepalms in a mutual too-soon reaction. Even better is that I play as Date (which starts around the place where the tsunami hit the hardest, east, north-easten shores of Japan) and their color on the minimap is deep blue.
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Room101
Waifu Collector
Got my Linited Edition all the way on 15th, just took me a while to settle in (read: I keep starting playing as another clan each day. No matter what I do I can't stick with any!).
That said, I was amazed how soon it came, considering post here is rather capricious. No matter.
The thoughts so far are overwhelmingly positive. I like it. I *really* like it. The strategic map has much more depth to it then before, and I'm liking the degree to which you can influence your agents and generals in development, especially with retainers. It pretty much allows you to tailor the agents more efficiently towards what you need at the moment, which is nice.
I like the idea of how resource buildings and farms are spread out across the province like they where in Empire, so that you can wreck enemy economy even if your troops can't assault the castle directly.
I'm also a big fan of "clan bonuses". I don't know, but it just does better job at making factions different then usual differences between units stats that where so common in previous games (I'm looking at you, Empire). Dilemmas are pretty neat too, although they might happen a bit more often. Or it can be just me.
Battles are just as neat as they where in the demo, and I like the way in which they took "unit categories" - spearmen are best against cavalry and can hold off melee troops unless they're expert (like Katana and No-dachi samurai), archers can easily kill off infantry but are weak to cavalry, Naginata troops are relatively balanced against cavalry and infantry, but can't fight against them as well as dedicated troops (spearmen and Katana/No-dachi respectively) etc.
It honestly makes it much easier to discern who does what on the battlefield and adjust tactics accordingly.
Hand-to-hand combat looks gorgeous, hands down. They really went a long way from what we've seen in say, Medieval 2.
Sea combat is pretty interesting. I'm a bit surprised that there's an option to repair your ships during battle, but I'm guessing that it's not that useful anyway, since you can get boarded or set afire by enemy ships anyway. Although I must say I haven't seen too many naval skirmishes yet.
Speaking of which, it's incredibly well-optimized on graphics side compared to demo. Whereas the demo tended to be rather crunchy on my computer on high settings, here it works pretty seamlessly, unless there are two full-stack armies duking it out.
If there was one thing that annoyed me, it was the installation. First time around, it started randomly downloading form Steam, despite me having hard copy. I did managed to install it from the disc, but it's just ridiculous. Why bother selling discs if the game starts downloading itself from Steam anyway? Not fun.
I'd agree to the point of not being able to retrain units with armor or weapon stat increasing provinces. Maybe next patches will sort it out?
Also, I'm guessing I'll have to turn up the difficulty from Normal to Hard or further. Sure, Map AI is quite good, but it makes a nice practice of leaving cities undefended. On battle though, Normal AI is just Easy. The amount of Heroic victories is getting a little bit silly. Also, Normal AI has rather retarted habit of facing troops the wrong way, which makes outmaneuvering it quite easy, unless you send general forth. Oh, do they love charging at them.
Oh yes, I know how you feel. The feelings of just rolling over the castle of Sendai, with minimal resistance and maximum damage with Date is...awkward, to say the least.
That said, I was amazed how soon it came, considering post here is rather capricious. No matter.
The thoughts so far are overwhelmingly positive. I like it. I *really* like it. The strategic map has much more depth to it then before, and I'm liking the degree to which you can influence your agents and generals in development, especially with retainers. It pretty much allows you to tailor the agents more efficiently towards what you need at the moment, which is nice.
I like the idea of how resource buildings and farms are spread out across the province like they where in Empire, so that you can wreck enemy economy even if your troops can't assault the castle directly.
I'm also a big fan of "clan bonuses". I don't know, but it just does better job at making factions different then usual differences between units stats that where so common in previous games (I'm looking at you, Empire). Dilemmas are pretty neat too, although they might happen a bit more often. Or it can be just me.
Battles are just as neat as they where in the demo, and I like the way in which they took "unit categories" - spearmen are best against cavalry and can hold off melee troops unless they're expert (like Katana and No-dachi samurai), archers can easily kill off infantry but are weak to cavalry, Naginata troops are relatively balanced against cavalry and infantry, but can't fight against them as well as dedicated troops (spearmen and Katana/No-dachi respectively) etc.
It honestly makes it much easier to discern who does what on the battlefield and adjust tactics accordingly.
Hand-to-hand combat looks gorgeous, hands down. They really went a long way from what we've seen in say, Medieval 2.
Sea combat is pretty interesting. I'm a bit surprised that there's an option to repair your ships during battle, but I'm guessing that it's not that useful anyway, since you can get boarded or set afire by enemy ships anyway. Although I must say I haven't seen too many naval skirmishes yet.
Speaking of which, it's incredibly well-optimized on graphics side compared to demo. Whereas the demo tended to be rather crunchy on my computer on high settings, here it works pretty seamlessly, unless there are two full-stack armies duking it out.
If there was one thing that annoyed me, it was the installation. First time around, it started randomly downloading form Steam, despite me having hard copy. I did managed to install it from the disc, but it's just ridiculous. Why bother selling discs if the game starts downloading itself from Steam anyway? Not fun.
I'd agree to the point of not being able to retrain units with armor or weapon stat increasing provinces. Maybe next patches will sort it out?
Also, I'm guessing I'll have to turn up the difficulty from Normal to Hard or further. Sure, Map AI is quite good, but it makes a nice practice of leaving cities undefended. On battle though, Normal AI is just Easy. The amount of Heroic victories is getting a little bit silly. Also, Normal AI has rather retarted habit of facing troops the wrong way, which makes outmaneuvering it quite easy, unless you send general forth. Oh, do they love charging at them.
Ethil wrote...
I play as Date (which starts around the place where the tsunami hit the hardest, east, north-easten shores of Japan) and their color on the minimap is deep blue.Oh yes, I know how you feel. The feelings of just rolling over the castle of Sendai, with minimal resistance and maximum damage with Date is...awkward, to say the least.
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Ethil wrote...
lawl, god damnit. My comment when I described how I was playing Shogun for my friends; "My armies moves like a crushing wave that spreads over japan.". One quiet second, then everyone, including me, facepalms in a mutual too-soon reaction. Even better is that I play as Date (which starts around the place where the tsunami hit the hardest, east, north-easten shores of Japan) and their color on the minimap is deep blue.Lol. This isn't deliberate promotion, but the song in my sig has a picture of Tokyo ruins as the background. My friend didn't realise when he sent it to me, and commented that it had a particularly heavy drop... :p
Also, still need to get this damn game! May have to download it, money etcetera. Sounds pretty good though, thankfully.
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Room101
Waifu Collector
One more thing that I haven't noticed, but should have: No more independently setting the Battle and Campaign AI. Now, they're all related. Unless I'm missing something and am too dumb to find it.
A bit of shame, because while I love Hard BAI, but I personally prefer Normal CAI. I kinda wish we still had an option of combining various BAI/CAI levels.
Other than that, loving it. The Encyclopedia is also a nice little trove of information on all things Sengoku Jidai, and I often spend as much time reading it as I do play the game.
A bit of shame, because while I love Hard BAI, but I personally prefer Normal CAI. I kinda wish we still had an option of combining various BAI/CAI levels.
Other than that, loving it. The Encyclopedia is also a nice little trove of information on all things Sengoku Jidai, and I often spend as much time reading it as I do play the game.
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Anyone working on Legendary Difficulty mode yet? I'm going as Date. Some trouble with the rebels showing up. They seem to be avoiding my army so have to leave them alone for now, since I have some bigger problems with Takeda right now.
At least I got Uesugi and amazuki or such faction from right next to them as allies for now, hopefully they can delay them for a while.
Also the multiplayer is quite buggy still but fun. I laugh at the armies that only muster samurai and get crushed by my combined ashigaru, samurai force backed up by 2 yari cavalry or 4 light cavalry.
Also.. veteran loan sword ashigaru can get to same level as a regular katana samurai. Talk about sweetness.
At least I got Uesugi and amazuki or such faction from right next to them as allies for now, hopefully they can delay them for a while.
Also the multiplayer is quite buggy still but fun. I laugh at the armies that only muster samurai and get crushed by my combined ashigaru, samurai force backed up by 2 yari cavalry or 4 light cavalry.
Also.. veteran loan sword ashigaru can get to same level as a regular katana samurai. Talk about sweetness.
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Room101
Waifu Collector
Haven't tried Legendary, and probably won't for a long time.
I'm nowhere near being that good.
So, apparently, the option of changing the battle AI independently of Campaign one is there in the options menu once you begin the campaign. I have no idea why they put it there instead on clan selection menu, but okay.
Finally picked and sticked with a Campaign of Shimazu green. Getting stuck in a war between my side (South of Kyushu) and Sagara-Shoni alliance (rest of the island). Winning by a slight margin of one province, that'll either force Sagara to divide their forces from their massive stack, or face my attacking army from Sagara. Either way will turn messy, as just about entire island is getting fortified by now with unit stacks.
Speaking of which, I find it amusing that majority of my army is still based almost entirely Ashigaru troops, with vary few Samurai which are Shimazu's specialty. I guess numbers do matter after all, as does ability to rapidly replace those expandable peasants.
I'm nowhere near being that good.
So, apparently, the option of changing the battle AI independently of Campaign one is there in the options menu once you begin the campaign. I have no idea why they put it there instead on clan selection menu, but okay.
Finally picked and sticked with a Campaign of Shimazu green. Getting stuck in a war between my side (South of Kyushu) and Sagara-Shoni alliance (rest of the island). Winning by a slight margin of one province, that'll either force Sagara to divide their forces from their massive stack, or face my attacking army from Sagara. Either way will turn messy, as just about entire island is getting fortified by now with unit stacks.
Speaking of which, I find it amusing that majority of my army is still based almost entirely Ashigaru troops, with vary few Samurai which are Shimazu's specialty. I guess numbers do matter after all, as does ability to rapidly replace those expandable peasants.
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W4lt3r89 wrote...
Anyone working on Legendary Difficulty mode yet? I'm going as Date. Some trouble with the rebels showing up. They seem to be avoiding my army so have to leave them alone for now, since I have some bigger problems with Takeda right now.At least I got Uesugi and amazuki or such faction from right next to them as allies for now, hopefully they can delay them for a while.
Denfinatly not. Im having some trouble on normal. ive taken Kyoto but only because my ally Hattori controls most of the provinces around it. Im having trouble Keeping my allys Hattori and Imagawa happy. I plan on letting Hattori get pissed and betray me, but i don't want Imagawa to attack because i have no army's there and they control all of the provences in the south of Kai all the way up to Date, who is still alive and at war with me.
It is very nice and some what annoying that if you break or cancel a treaty people start to hate you and your Leader loses Honor. it makes you plan for the long term if you know that all your neighbors will hate you and probably go to war with you if you break that trade agreement to go to war with some one.
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Well, I'm doing just fine on my Legendary as Chosokabe. After taking Shikoku, I went to west for Kyushu and then north/east from there to western honshu.
Right now fielding 2 full armies and some smaller garrisons on my border castles, once I'm getting Tinza Mint and Chorindo from Chi tree, I should be able to field a third army.
What my armies consist of: General, 2 Yari cavalry (around lvl 5, got bajutsu dojo first), 9 Bow Samurai / Bow Ashigaru (mixed from lvl 2 to lvl 5), 4 Katana Samurai, Katana Hero (Hero lvl 3, Katanas lvl 5) and 3 Yari Samurai. (This was after i had taken Kyushu as well. Took couple turns to "modernize" the army)
Nice and flexible army, though I'm abusing the glitch on sieges that AI just stays there and gets shot.. Around 80% of the castle is dead when my bow units run out of ammo and then usually the katana hero alone is enough to cleanup the place.
Though right now, I'm about 3 or 4 provinces away from Realm Divide afaik. Maybe I should just hire some more monks and incite revolts in every castle between my border and Kyoto.
On the legendary difficulty mode, It doesn't seem that hard really.. CAI and BAI are bit better, you'r battle camera is restricted to stay near your own forces, you can still see what units enemy have by taking mouse over them. Though you cannot see the stamina / morale of the enemy units. Only from the banner can you notice them (if you have them active. I put mine away for the campaign after noticing this).
Captured castles give -8 happiness (resistance to invaders. at least this goes away in 8 turns. Some of my towns got stuck on shimazu to -4 for some reason)
Also if there's some people here that dislike the battle speeds or how fast units rout, try using these two mods: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=429413 and http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=433830.
Increased Morale Mod and Reduced Battle Speed mod. Latter has some options to choose from, ie only infantry affected speed reductions or then infantry + cavalry. You can get -30% for infantry and -15% for cavalry for example or then -30% for all units.
Right now fielding 2 full armies and some smaller garrisons on my border castles, once I'm getting Tinza Mint and Chorindo from Chi tree, I should be able to field a third army.
What my armies consist of: General, 2 Yari cavalry (around lvl 5, got bajutsu dojo first), 9 Bow Samurai / Bow Ashigaru (mixed from lvl 2 to lvl 5), 4 Katana Samurai, Katana Hero (Hero lvl 3, Katanas lvl 5) and 3 Yari Samurai. (This was after i had taken Kyushu as well. Took couple turns to "modernize" the army)
Nice and flexible army, though I'm abusing the glitch on sieges that AI just stays there and gets shot.. Around 80% of the castle is dead when my bow units run out of ammo and then usually the katana hero alone is enough to cleanup the place.
Though right now, I'm about 3 or 4 provinces away from Realm Divide afaik. Maybe I should just hire some more monks and incite revolts in every castle between my border and Kyoto.
On the legendary difficulty mode, It doesn't seem that hard really.. CAI and BAI are bit better, you'r battle camera is restricted to stay near your own forces, you can still see what units enemy have by taking mouse over them. Though you cannot see the stamina / morale of the enemy units. Only from the banner can you notice them (if you have them active. I put mine away for the campaign after noticing this).
Captured castles give -8 happiness (resistance to invaders. at least this goes away in 8 turns. Some of my towns got stuck on shimazu to -4 for some reason)
Also if there's some people here that dislike the battle speeds or how fast units rout, try using these two mods: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=429413 and http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=433830.
Increased Morale Mod and Reduced Battle Speed mod. Latter has some options to choose from, ie only infantry affected speed reductions or then infantry + cavalry. You can get -30% for infantry and -15% for cavalry for example or then -30% for all units.
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Room101
Waifu Collector
*anti-bug post*
EDIT:
Just asking, but are Katana Ashigaru and Matchlock Warrior Monks Multiplayer/Historical Battle-only units, or do you just need a particular art for them?
EDIT:
Just asking, but are Katana Ashigaru and Matchlock Warrior Monks Multiplayer/Historical Battle-only units, or do you just need a particular art for them?
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Loan Sword Ashigaru to my knowledge is only on the custom / historical battles and MP only. Matchlock warrior monks are the same I THINK... Or then you might need - Famous temple + arsenal - in the town to produce them. Though that is only my assumption.
Though both can be modded in or be easier to obtain in campaign.. If I remember right, someone from TWcenter is already working on to get these 2 units unlocked / easier to obtain in campaign. Along with (Uesugi) Naginata Warrior monk Hero.
Though both can be modded in or be easier to obtain in campaign.. If I remember right, someone from TWcenter is already working on to get these 2 units unlocked / easier to obtain in campaign. Along with (Uesugi) Naginata Warrior monk Hero.
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Room101
Waifu Collector
Thought so.
Shame, because I was counting on them to supplement my Samurai-force while it's still being trained.
Well, not that I need anymore. My little war has now concluded, and I'm a sole ruler of Kyushu.
Sagara's little death or glory attack ended up biting them in the ass, as I managed to crush their entire (almost) army in a single battle. That said, I'm glad my unit size is set to medium, or the game would probably crash.
Shoni didn't prove to be much of a challenge afterward, seeing how majority of their army was tied up on Honshu fighting another clan. Feels good.
Shame, because I was counting on them to supplement my Samurai-force while it's still being trained.
Well, not that I need anymore. My little war has now concluded, and I'm a sole ruler of Kyushu.
Sagara's little death or glory attack ended up biting them in the ass, as I managed to crush their entire (almost) army in a single battle. That said, I'm glad my unit size is set to medium, or the game would probably crash.
Shoni didn't prove to be much of a challenge afterward, seeing how majority of their army was tied up on Honshu fighting another clan. Feels good.
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Oh, get trade ships on the silk line at least. 1 full stack of trade ships equals roughly 5k in trade value, which in turn gives 2 to 3k profit in tariff or whatever with proper chi trees and red seal company. With that extra cash, upgrading towns and running full samurai army and some supplement forces is easy.
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Room101
Waifu Collector
Thanks for the heads-up.
I do have trade ships on Two Incense sources, two trade ships on silk and three on a cotton source.
I haven't actually thought about making a full-stack one, but since I have more ports and more cash, it sounds like a plan.
Speaking of which, ever gotten attacked/raided by Wako pirates?
I do have trade ships on Two Incense sources, two trade ships on silk and three on a cotton source.
I haven't actually thought about making a full-stack one, but since I have more ports and more cash, it sounds like a plan.
Speaking of which, ever gotten attacked/raided by Wako pirates?
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Couple times. They usually have around 4 to 6 ships in their fleets, so if you equal that or have bigger fleet, they shouldn't pose that much of a trouble.
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http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=444174
For those that want their units in japanese. Using romanji of course though.
There's lot of nice mods on Twcenter now. Anyone that is playing this, should take a look. Darth mod is nearly a must have. - http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=437591
Another good one is AUM (Additional Units mod) - http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=429938
Been mostly playing as Hattori clan. These guys are quite fun and are surrounded by friendly clans.. so to get even one more place to hold, you have to pretty much attack on first turn and ally with Ashikaga Shogunate.
Nice change of pace compared to the clans that start far away from the Shogunate or almost at the middle of Kyushu.
For those that want their units in japanese. Using romanji of course though.
There's lot of nice mods on Twcenter now. Anyone that is playing this, should take a look. Darth mod is nearly a must have. - http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=437591
Another good one is AUM (Additional Units mod) - http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=429938
Been mostly playing as Hattori clan. These guys are quite fun and are surrounded by friendly clans.. so to get even one more place to hold, you have to pretty much attack on first turn and ally with Ashikaga Shogunate.
Nice change of pace compared to the clans that start far away from the Shogunate or almost at the middle of Kyushu.
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Room101
Waifu Collector
I'm waiting on mod which will swap default Uesugi Kenshin model for the one from Sengoku Rance.
For teh lulz.
For teh lulz.
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So... I've been getting back into the multiplayer of this. Finally something clicked with me and I've started winning (was like 5-40 before, with 3 wins from afk's, 2 from the other guys DCing). Realized the clan I was in was Cavalry specced, didn't like it. Made my own "clan". Low tier conquests are lol-worthy. Barely any provinces were taken at the end of the last season. Got promoted with just 5 provinces :D
Am using a Katana Samurai core (I hear this is regarded standard + boring, but I've only 51 hours played (30 in SP), so I don't care).
Essentially I uses:
Core:
6 Katana Samurai (upgrade 2x dmg)
3 Yari Samurai (upgrade melee defence x2 and speed x2)
Extras:
1 Testubo monk hero/Fire Cavalry/Heavy Gunner (DLC units iirc).
X Ranged (often 2x Yumi Ashigaru (vet with more bow dmg), sometimes 2x Matchlock Ashigaru. Have been thinking of using a Bow Warrior Monk unit to draw attention on them)
X Sword/Naginata Attendants (if I have spare cash to blow and nothing more expensive is usable).
Am only rank 6, so am using heavy defense retainers (my Yaris have 14 defence, Katanas 9). Sacrifices a little offense, but I like it tanky like this.
Have been considering trying a morale busting army, something with the Avatar's Scare enemy trait + Katana Samurai Scare Enemy clan trait + some monks for their Warcry. Essentially just stacking every morale dropping ability I can get my hands on. Will probably end up with small army size (due to cost of upgrades), but could be an amusing trolly army.
And I still have no clue what to do with MP naval battles. I just don't understand them.
Could somebody point me in the direction of some explanation/guide/tutorial on the basics? (like what to consider when making a fleet and basic mechanics).
Am using a Katana Samurai core (I hear this is regarded standard + boring, but I've only 51 hours played (30 in SP), so I don't care).
Essentially I uses:
Core:
6 Katana Samurai (upgrade 2x dmg)
3 Yari Samurai (upgrade melee defence x2 and speed x2)
Extras:
1 Testubo monk hero/Fire Cavalry/Heavy Gunner (DLC units iirc).
X Ranged (often 2x Yumi Ashigaru (vet with more bow dmg), sometimes 2x Matchlock Ashigaru. Have been thinking of using a Bow Warrior Monk unit to draw attention on them)
X Sword/Naginata Attendants (if I have spare cash to blow and nothing more expensive is usable).
Am only rank 6, so am using heavy defense retainers (my Yaris have 14 defence, Katanas 9). Sacrifices a little offense, but I like it tanky like this.
Have been considering trying a morale busting army, something with the Avatar's Scare enemy trait + Katana Samurai Scare Enemy clan trait + some monks for their Warcry. Essentially just stacking every morale dropping ability I can get my hands on. Will probably end up with small army size (due to cost of upgrades), but could be an amusing trolly army.
And I still have no clue what to do with MP naval battles. I just don't understand them.
Could somebody point me in the direction of some explanation/guide/tutorial on the basics? (like what to consider when making a fleet and basic mechanics).