Retro Game Walkthroughs for Shogun: Total War (PC Games)
Submitted By: spoonbeast
Shogun guide.
In this guide we’ll hints and tips to help you play this game and use your units effectively. Plus we’ll also go over some more important questions and go through some words that are important or useful to know. Hope you enjoy the guide.
[The burning questions]:
-Should I Convert to Christianity or stick to Buddhism?]
I would strongly stick with Buddhism, the Warrior monks are far more useful then any of the guns or the priests you’ll get in the game. The guns have far too many large weaknesses whilst the Christian diplomat is useless. Plus when the Buddhists rebel, you can expect stiff resistance from them.
-Command battle yourself or Automatic resolve?
Depends really, if you’re bored, think you can win the battle and do better then the computer, then you should command the battle yourself, however, on more difficult settings, choosing to automatic resolve might be a better idea especially in battles that you know will be difficult to win. Automatic resolves use only statistics to calculate the casualty rate and the overall winner and don’t take into account tactics. 8 times out of 10 a few high honour skilled units could almost certainly defeat a larger untrained army that consists of only basic units. Therefore, try and opt for powerful units with high defence and high honour to do more fighting such as the Naginata samurai. Once you’ve won a couple of battles, you could virtually automatically resolve most battles.
-How to obtain more money (Koku) easily at the start.
Well, apart from cheating, raising taxes on loyal areas, you can exploit harvesting time. This is when planning your attack on a certain season counts. If possible try and attack nearby provinces around 2 turns before harvest time. On the next turn jack up the taxes very high and when harvest roles and you’ve reaped the rewards, retreat out of the province to avoid the back lash of rebellions. Repeat process to gain more money. This tactic is also useful for increasing a generals honour ranking.
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[So, which clans are playable?]
There are 7 playable clans who want to kill each other for the prize of being the shogun (military leader) of Japan and leaving the other rival factions with a bloody hell to pay. They are:
[CLAN SHIMAZU]
Unit Advantages: 25% off on all No dachi samurai
Campaign difficulty: Moderate
Details:
The Shimazu inhabit the West Side of Japan. Although their lands provide moderate income of Koku and the occasional mineral resource, they are easy to defend against any invaders. Although they have a benefit on no dachi samurai, you can not exploit this advantage till you’ve gotten master swordsman in your clan. Another benefit is that the foreign traders come to them first giving them a technological advantage if they choose to accept it in the form of guns. The Shimazu don’t have many real rivals to contend with other than the Mori and Imagawa. The Ronin in the east would be a great place to start invading and boosting income.
[CLAN MORI]
Unit advantage: 25% off on Warrior monks
Campaign difficulty: Moderate
Details
Despite their lands being relatively poor, the Mori turn to religion for support and would frequently remain Buddhist to exploit their advantages. Their lands although not very fertile, do provide for some mineral resources that would straighten all their units whilst the few river provinces provide as natural choke points in the land. Also their surroundings aren’t as hostile as they seem, fair enough, the Takeda, Oda and Shimazu are rivals. But the Takeda will have to fight 2 wars on 2 fronts and this will no doubt weaken them whilst the Oda will be too busy subduing the numerous Ronin factions in the land to be a threat till some time later. This only leaves Shimazu who could provide any real threat and even then they have only one province they can use to launch assaults. Plus the Ronin provinces nearby provide a good start for expansion.
[CLAN TAKEDA]
Unit advantage: 25% off on Yari cavalry
Campaign difficulty: Hard
Details:
Considered one of the most powerful clans of its time, Takeda specialise in cavalry, but that being said, Takeda will need this advantage to protect their split lands, resulting in a battle on all fronts. Uesugi, Imagawa, Ronin and the Hojo threaten the clan in the east whilst Clan Mori surround all frontiers in land on the west. Because of the numerous enemies Takeda must face, choosing them will be much harder to win with this clan.
[CLAN IMAGAWA]
Unit advantage: 25% off on Ninja s and Shinobi
Campaign difficulty: Hard
Details:
The Imagawa suffer from similar problems as the Takeda as they have their lands split, relying on Ports to ferry in help to each other. Although not as many rivals border Imagawa’s borders, they are still in for a rough ride, as Oda, Ronin and the mighty Takeda will be your neighbours on your East Side. In fact right from the word Go, Takeda will instantly attack you first and with their numerous cavalry forces. Thankfully, Imagawa’s forces in the west are slightly more pleasant with a river province to help defend, but this is little consolation if you intend to invade as you are bordering Shimazu and their lands are notoriously difficult to take as their lands are in favour of defending forces. Your only advantages demand the use of black op tactics and use discount priced Shinobi’s and ninjas to wreck havoc within your rival’s territories.
[CLAN UESUGI]
Unit advantage 25% off on archers
Campaign difficulty: easy
Possibly owning the most fertile lands but yet some of the hardest to defend, the Uesugi are able to get plenty of funding for their massive armies of archers. Their enemies include Oda, Hojo and their historical archenemy the Takeda as their neighbours. They have a couple of provinces that could be used as choke points as well as staging areas for massive invasions. Its best to attack any of the rivals early, especially the Hojo who have some nasty river provinces that they could exploit with large armies. But with large numbers of land and an advantage in archers does make their campaign easy especially for defending.
[CLAN ODA]
Unit advantages: 25% off on Ashigaru spearmen
Campaign difficulty: Hard
Details:
The Troublesome Oda are situated right in the heart of Japan, surrounded by numerous Ronin Warrior monk forces, which are capable of annihilating anything or anyone that go against them. Oda are not helped by the fact that its advantage in the game is to produce cheap peasants. With their weak advantages and attacked on all sides, choosing clan Oda will mean the game will be much harder to win. Historically, Oda was the victor of the age of war, but was defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, a descendant of the Imagawa clan.
[CLAN HOJO]
Unit advantages: None, instead a 25% discount on castle building.
Campaign difficulty: Easy
Details:
Historically, a Hojo clan Daimyo was dubbed the shogun of Japan many years before during the periods when the Mongols attempt to invade Japan (only to have its fleet destroyed by a storm dubbed Kamikaze or divine wind). Now they intend to replicate their success again. Their initial set up is good, with their main power base is a river province as are many of their other provinces. An heir is already in order and will soon become useable within the starting moments of the game. To top things off, the Hojo specialise in building castles which is what generates forces, buildings and the such. With their numerous advantages, playing as Hojo should be much easier then most clans.
[THE RONIN]-
Unit advantages: None
Campaign difficulty: N/A
Details:
Historically, not all provinces in Japan came under the rule of the main clans that dominate the game. Rather, smaller splinter groups live as well. The game dubbed all rebel (white) forces as Ronin: Masterless samurai who will frequently sell their services to the highest bidder. Whilst The Ronin do not co ordinate their attacks like a clan would, they’re still a threat and need to be sorted out. They have no advantages, don’t tend to build extra forces or even attempt invasions unless a province is undefended. If a clan is killed the remainder forces will become Ronin and will inhabit that province. Ronin cannot be played by the player and are only used as a punch bag for other clans, as most clans will go for them first before confronting their rivals. You should do the same as well.
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[Glossary]
Naturally some of you lot will find difficulty understanding certain terms, so here is a break down of some of the most important terms you’ll ever need to know when playing this game.
[Honour]
This is the rank of your units. All units at the start of the game start with zero honour, as you win/lose battles, you gain honour or lose honour by one point (Minuses are possible thus making our units substandard), Improving or deducting the fighting skill or leadership of generals/units in automatic resolves. You can increase their base honour rank (and get new units) by up grading their training facilities. Make sure you check what level your castle has to be before you can start building the improved facilities.
[Koku]
In Japan, warlords came up with a way to see how many men each province or loyal subjects had to provide in times of need by the amount of Koku they. One Koku, was the amount of rice you could feed one person in a year, hence it’s important in the game to gather the rice every autumn and is also your currency.
[Taisho]
Another word for general. Don’t get him killed or you’ll lose all his honour and will be a massive blow to your army’s morale.
[Fatigue]
How exhausted units get during a battle. Fatigue can effect a unit’s speed and ability to fight. Fatigue builds up as a battle rages and travelling around on the battlefield. It increases during climbing hills.
[Daimyo]
Your leader of the clan you’ve chosen. If he dies and he has no heir, it’s game over. Make sure that he does not get killed in battle or assassinated. Obviously he will die of illness or old age so make sure that you have a heir who can fight by then or that’ll mean game over as well. Everywhere he goes a group of 10 heavy cavalry accompanies him into battle.
[Heir]
The son of the Daimyo. He’ll inherit all the lands and become the next Daimyo in the game as to keep your faction in the game. When he is born make sure you keep an eye on him as to know when he will mature and become a soldier (usually by 16). Be very careful when building your units at this point, as when he does grow up and is ready to serve, he’ll join the next fighting unit that is built (that could mean Ashigaru). When he does become Daimyo, 10 fresh new heavy cavalry will accompany him.
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UNITS
[ASHIGARU]
Requirements: spear dojo
Best against: Ashigaru and archers. Occasionally cavalry
Worst against: Anything else.
Effectively peasants trained up very quickly. Although fast and come in huge quantities, you’ll find they’re less useful on harder settings. They can’t fight properly, low morale and low armour make them not very useful other then suicide assaults, temporarily holding off areas, chasing down enemy, Increasing the morale of a province and as a temporary frontline whilst you get better units into help crush threats. You’re quite literally better off forking out the extra costs for the samurai spearmen.
[SAMURAI SPEARMEN]
Requirements: Spear dojo
Best against: Horsemen, spearmen, Ashigaru
Weak against: Warrior monks, (any) archer units shooting, no dachi samurai,
Also known as Yari samurai, These comprise the backbone of any fighting force. Men in these units are fully-fledged warriors who have had the proper training and skill to weld weapons. Effectively a more reliable, improved, durable and skilled versions of the peasants, in theory, they can be used in exactly the same way as peasants can but they can usually fare a lot better.
[SAMURAI ARCHERS]
Requirements: Archery dojo
Best against: tight packed units
Weak against: fast fighting cavalry, Naginata samurai, generally any fighting units that they lock onto head to head combat.
The first projectile unit you’ll get in the game. Effectively they’re fully-fledged warriors who weld a bow. Useful in any army, as they would be the first people who’ll do fighting, raining arrows onto enemies before they reach the frontline. Try and position them in long lines as to increase the amount of people shooting and if possible on hills so they get improved range and sight bonuses on the battle field, targeting tight packs of samurais. Although they may be skilled in archery, they’re not good at fighting hand to hand so make sure that whenever possible that archers are accompanied by a close quarter fighting unit such as spearmen or Ashigaru and when they run out of arrows you place them in a safe place. Only make them take part in routing forces away or doing attacks from behind to support another unit, as any other frontline attacking will result in heavy losses in most cases.
NOTE: archers can accidentally kill their own men so make sure that you stop firing at a unit that is locked into combat or you’ll suffer casualties.
[NO-DACHI SAMURAI]
Requirements: Sword dojo (and legendary swordsman)
Best against: Spearmen, Ashigaru
Weak against: Archer units shooting, warrior monks, Naginata, Heavy cavalry.
These warriors are taught the way of the sword and apart from warrior monks, they are the best unit at fighting. However, since they excel at attacking, they are very weakly armoured and if ambushed or under fire from archers expect losses to be high. No dachi samurai are best suited for shock tactics like ambushes, attacking exposed flanks at weaker forces (especially those with low morale) or be deployed during the middle of combat once the exchange of fire is over. If you choose the latter, make sure they make the charge first ensuring THEY get the charging bonus for a more devastating attack.
[WARRIOR MONKS]
Requirements: Monk temple
Best against: Spearmen, no dachi samurai, Yari and heavy cavalry
Weak against: Any archer unit that fires, rival charging warrior monks.
These units are well equipped, with a high morale that make them a fearsome fighting force. They excel in combat and would annihilate all comers or give them a heavy pounding before they go down or flee. Although they are very skilled they still pose weaknesses against archers that shoot and other rival monks who attack them first because they would hesitate to attack their own fellow brothers. A pricey unit, but a good unit to consider for any army, but make sure you keep them happy by sticking to Buddhism as a religion or you will see these units rise against you if you convert to Christianity.
[NAGINATA]
Requirements: A famous spear dojo and armoury.
Best against: All heavy units, projectiles
Weak against: Guns
Personally, I think these guys are great. Why? Although they are slow, they come with some fearsome weaponry and are heavily armoured. Which make them perfect for breaking sieges or crossing bridges to attack, as they are so damn durable. In fact their defence is so good they can withstand a lot of punishment before breaking. Even if you think they suck on the battlefield, they’re still useful having around, with several of these units you can expect to win many battle on automatic resolve or on defensive situations. I recommend that you get them as soon as possible.
[YARI CAVALAY]
Requirements: Horse and spear dojo
Best against: Any archer units
Worst against: Heavy Cavalry, spearmen.
Effectively samurai spearmen on horses, they are the medium classed cavalries in the game, with probably just as much skill as normal spearmen except faster. The same strategies can apply and they seem to be the cheapest unit that can catch archer cavalry. Be very careful at who you attack as they will get mauled by quite literally most fighting units. If possible try and deploy them on top of hills or using them as fast strike forces to encircle and surround units. Never should you get them into woods as this will break their formations and won’t be as effective. Personally, I wouldn’t buy too many of them as they aren’t very effective unless as routing forces, chasing horse archers or for flanking attacks as they aren’t too effective.
[ARCHER CAVALRY]
Requirements: Horse and archery dojo
Best against: any foot units apart from archers.
Worst against: cavalry
Effectively samurai archers on horseback, these prove to be just slightly more useful then the Yari cavalry. The great thing about these units is that they can be quite annoying to close quarter fighters as their speed means they can run away quickly when ever they get too close and continuously pelt them with arrows. Unfortunately their bow range are slightly shorter then normal archers so they can still suffer terrible losses from rival archer groups and horsemen reduce their speed advantages of getting away and once they get close they will be destroyed. Whenever they lock into combat, expect them to lose. Overall, I consider them a faster version of an archer and it’s not really worth it to have around because of the price and their weakness against rival archers.
[HEAVY CAVALRY]
Requirements: Famous horse dojo, armoury.
Best against: Archers units, Yari cavalry
Worst against: spearmen
The best cavalry and quite possibly the best unit in the game, they excel in combat and can destroy most units. Their units are reasonably sized, which means they can be quite durable, but you still should be careful of archer fire as it can effect you. To reduce losses to what is a pricey unit, you should use them as an elite group and send them against exposed ranks or against opposing cavalry. You could try and charging down into the frontlines of fighting units and probably win but you will suffer heavy causalities. Overall, a very good unit that’s worth investing. But buy only a couple, as the price will no doubt be high.
[SHINOBI]
Requirements: Teahouse
Best against: N/A
Worst against: N/A
These are a bit like the secret police/ agents in feudal Japan. In the game, they can boost loyalty within ones provinces and lower others whilst in rival ones. Whilst they are there, they can also pick up Intel on forth coming attacks by other clans. These people are highly useful as its a cheap way to maintain order within a new province and it can cause massive mischief in large groups in rival territory, buy ten or more and group them together into rival lands and you can see even the most loyal provinces rebel. There is a massive disadvantage to this tactic, apart from the risk of multiple Shinobi’s getting caught all at once when detected, but by having too many (50+) can result in the game to crash. Not sure if it would happen to you, but it did for me so watch out.
[NINJA]
Requirements: Ninja house
Best against: N/A
Weak against: N/A
Black clad assassins that everyone loves. They have only one purpose and that’s to assassinate anyone they are told to do. These range from diplomats and geishas to more important people like generals or even (if you’re ever lucky) the diamyo himself. Be very careful on which targets you want to choose. Its best to assassinate a better general before a major battle with them the following turn as to strip the opposition of any honour advantages. Be careful when considering assassinating great generals as the better the general the more likely chance your ninja will fail (best left to the geisha really). Also don’t bother assassinating bad generals with minus honour, as you’ll nullify any disadvantages they may have. I would only recommend buying 3 at most till the geisha come along as they are expensive and their services aren’t really required at times. Like the Shinobis they can get caught and killed as well as increasing the morale of a province at times.
[GEISHA]-
Requirements: Geisha house
Best against: N/A
Worst against: N/A
The ultimate assassination unit, the geisha is a female assassin. On easier settings her success rate can be very high, so high that she can take out rival diamyos with ease even on the lowest ranks. Whenever she attempts to assassinate, she will always be successful, but finding the opportunity will be difficult on harder settings. Try and build one as soon as possible and make sure at least one is guarding your leader, as they can be the only one who can guarantee the prevention of an assassination by a rival geisha. Make sure you deploy numerous ones into enemy territory and assassinate important targets. If you’ve got the time, prepare a strike force of ninjas to intercept an enemy geisha in your territory before it reaches your leader.
[PRIEST]
Requirements: Church
Best against: N/A
Worst against: N/A
A Christian diplomat. If you’ve converted your religion, you have the power to build these people. Effectively like diplomats but they have a better chance of persuading rival Christian clans to treaties. But since they have the same flaws as the normal diplomats and they aren’t so good against other clans with Buddhism its pointless to buy them.
[DIPLOMAT]
Requirements: tranquil garden
Best against: N/A
Weak against: N/A
Your bog standard diplomat, dragged and dropped upon rival leaders can cement alliances, peace treaties and cease-fires. On the early stages this might be important to buy time to prepare forces. But later on they are useless, as only violent means is the only way to win the game. The one at the start is more then adequate. In most cases they are easy pickings for assassins and angry warlords who would execute them on the spot. Don’t bother replacing them, the same will happen again to the next diplomat you buy eventually.
[ARQUEBUSIERS]
Portuguese or Dutch trading post
Best against: Tight packed units or heavily armoured foes
Weak against: Horsemen, the weather.
These are the first guns you’ll get in the game. Provided you agree to the foreigner’s demands you can buy the guns. They provide for some great damage and can kill quite a few people at a time. However, they have far too many weaknesses to warrant your attention. Their guns are slow to reload, they don’t work in wet weather and they can’t fight as well as archers so when enemies get close to them, they’re mincemeat. It’s got far too many disadvantages to be considered useful or necessary to buy in order to win the game.
[MUSKEETERS]
Dutch trading post or gun factory
Best against: Tight packed units or heavily armoured foes
Weak against: Horsemen, the weather.
These are the new improved guns with more range and accuracy. Again they suffer from the same problem as before and shouldn’t really be bothered with. If you really must have guns, then these units are the better option to go for. But like any other gun units its difficult to make them useful or effective unless your units are tightly packed and you can synchronise your attacks so that that one fires as one reloads.
So there you have it, a quick guide on all the factions, units and some useful bits of info on some terms in the game. Hope this guide has helped and remember if you don’t like or you want more shogun like entertainment, try medieval total war or the new Rome total war game. Thanks for reading and good luck on your campaign to become the shogun.
In this guide we’ll hints and tips to help you play this game and use your units effectively. Plus we’ll also go over some more important questions and go through some words that are important or useful to know. Hope you enjoy the guide.
[The burning questions]:
-Should I Convert to Christianity or stick to Buddhism?]
I would strongly stick with Buddhism, the Warrior monks are far more useful then any of the guns or the priests you’ll get in the game. The guns have far too many large weaknesses whilst the Christian diplomat is useless. Plus when the Buddhists rebel, you can expect stiff resistance from them.
-Command battle yourself or Automatic resolve?
Depends really, if you’re bored, think you can win the battle and do better then the computer, then you should command the battle yourself, however, on more difficult settings, choosing to automatic resolve might be a better idea especially in battles that you know will be difficult to win. Automatic resolves use only statistics to calculate the casualty rate and the overall winner and don’t take into account tactics. 8 times out of 10 a few high honour skilled units could almost certainly defeat a larger untrained army that consists of only basic units. Therefore, try and opt for powerful units with high defence and high honour to do more fighting such as the Naginata samurai. Once you’ve won a couple of battles, you could virtually automatically resolve most battles.
-How to obtain more money (Koku) easily at the start.
Well, apart from cheating, raising taxes on loyal areas, you can exploit harvesting time. This is when planning your attack on a certain season counts. If possible try and attack nearby provinces around 2 turns before harvest time. On the next turn jack up the taxes very high and when harvest roles and you’ve reaped the rewards, retreat out of the province to avoid the back lash of rebellions. Repeat process to gain more money. This tactic is also useful for increasing a generals honour ranking.
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[So, which clans are playable?]
There are 7 playable clans who want to kill each other for the prize of being the shogun (military leader) of Japan and leaving the other rival factions with a bloody hell to pay. They are:
[CLAN SHIMAZU]
Unit Advantages: 25% off on all No dachi samurai
Campaign difficulty: Moderate
Details:
The Shimazu inhabit the West Side of Japan. Although their lands provide moderate income of Koku and the occasional mineral resource, they are easy to defend against any invaders. Although they have a benefit on no dachi samurai, you can not exploit this advantage till you’ve gotten master swordsman in your clan. Another benefit is that the foreign traders come to them first giving them a technological advantage if they choose to accept it in the form of guns. The Shimazu don’t have many real rivals to contend with other than the Mori and Imagawa. The Ronin in the east would be a great place to start invading and boosting income.
[CLAN MORI]
Unit advantage: 25% off on Warrior monks
Campaign difficulty: Moderate
Details
Despite their lands being relatively poor, the Mori turn to religion for support and would frequently remain Buddhist to exploit their advantages. Their lands although not very fertile, do provide for some mineral resources that would straighten all their units whilst the few river provinces provide as natural choke points in the land. Also their surroundings aren’t as hostile as they seem, fair enough, the Takeda, Oda and Shimazu are rivals. But the Takeda will have to fight 2 wars on 2 fronts and this will no doubt weaken them whilst the Oda will be too busy subduing the numerous Ronin factions in the land to be a threat till some time later. This only leaves Shimazu who could provide any real threat and even then they have only one province they can use to launch assaults. Plus the Ronin provinces nearby provide a good start for expansion.
[CLAN TAKEDA]
Unit advantage: 25% off on Yari cavalry
Campaign difficulty: Hard
Details:
Considered one of the most powerful clans of its time, Takeda specialise in cavalry, but that being said, Takeda will need this advantage to protect their split lands, resulting in a battle on all fronts. Uesugi, Imagawa, Ronin and the Hojo threaten the clan in the east whilst Clan Mori surround all frontiers in land on the west. Because of the numerous enemies Takeda must face, choosing them will be much harder to win with this clan.
[CLAN IMAGAWA]
Unit advantage: 25% off on Ninja s and Shinobi
Campaign difficulty: Hard
Details:
The Imagawa suffer from similar problems as the Takeda as they have their lands split, relying on Ports to ferry in help to each other. Although not as many rivals border Imagawa’s borders, they are still in for a rough ride, as Oda, Ronin and the mighty Takeda will be your neighbours on your East Side. In fact right from the word Go, Takeda will instantly attack you first and with their numerous cavalry forces. Thankfully, Imagawa’s forces in the west are slightly more pleasant with a river province to help defend, but this is little consolation if you intend to invade as you are bordering Shimazu and their lands are notoriously difficult to take as their lands are in favour of defending forces. Your only advantages demand the use of black op tactics and use discount priced Shinobi’s and ninjas to wreck havoc within your rival’s territories.
[CLAN UESUGI]
Unit advantage 25% off on archers
Campaign difficulty: easy
Possibly owning the most fertile lands but yet some of the hardest to defend, the Uesugi are able to get plenty of funding for their massive armies of archers. Their enemies include Oda, Hojo and their historical archenemy the Takeda as their neighbours. They have a couple of provinces that could be used as choke points as well as staging areas for massive invasions. Its best to attack any of the rivals early, especially the Hojo who have some nasty river provinces that they could exploit with large armies. But with large numbers of land and an advantage in archers does make their campaign easy especially for defending.
[CLAN ODA]
Unit advantages: 25% off on Ashigaru spearmen
Campaign difficulty: Hard
Details:
The Troublesome Oda are situated right in the heart of Japan, surrounded by numerous Ronin Warrior monk forces, which are capable of annihilating anything or anyone that go against them. Oda are not helped by the fact that its advantage in the game is to produce cheap peasants. With their weak advantages and attacked on all sides, choosing clan Oda will mean the game will be much harder to win. Historically, Oda was the victor of the age of war, but was defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, a descendant of the Imagawa clan.
[CLAN HOJO]
Unit advantages: None, instead a 25% discount on castle building.
Campaign difficulty: Easy
Details:
Historically, a Hojo clan Daimyo was dubbed the shogun of Japan many years before during the periods when the Mongols attempt to invade Japan (only to have its fleet destroyed by a storm dubbed Kamikaze or divine wind). Now they intend to replicate their success again. Their initial set up is good, with their main power base is a river province as are many of their other provinces. An heir is already in order and will soon become useable within the starting moments of the game. To top things off, the Hojo specialise in building castles which is what generates forces, buildings and the such. With their numerous advantages, playing as Hojo should be much easier then most clans.
[THE RONIN]-
Unit advantages: None
Campaign difficulty: N/A
Details:
Historically, not all provinces in Japan came under the rule of the main clans that dominate the game. Rather, smaller splinter groups live as well. The game dubbed all rebel (white) forces as Ronin: Masterless samurai who will frequently sell their services to the highest bidder. Whilst The Ronin do not co ordinate their attacks like a clan would, they’re still a threat and need to be sorted out. They have no advantages, don’t tend to build extra forces or even attempt invasions unless a province is undefended. If a clan is killed the remainder forces will become Ronin and will inhabit that province. Ronin cannot be played by the player and are only used as a punch bag for other clans, as most clans will go for them first before confronting their rivals. You should do the same as well.
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[Glossary]
Naturally some of you lot will find difficulty understanding certain terms, so here is a break down of some of the most important terms you’ll ever need to know when playing this game.
[Honour]
This is the rank of your units. All units at the start of the game start with zero honour, as you win/lose battles, you gain honour or lose honour by one point (Minuses are possible thus making our units substandard), Improving or deducting the fighting skill or leadership of generals/units in automatic resolves. You can increase their base honour rank (and get new units) by up grading their training facilities. Make sure you check what level your castle has to be before you can start building the improved facilities.
[Koku]
In Japan, warlords came up with a way to see how many men each province or loyal subjects had to provide in times of need by the amount of Koku they. One Koku, was the amount of rice you could feed one person in a year, hence it’s important in the game to gather the rice every autumn and is also your currency.
[Taisho]
Another word for general. Don’t get him killed or you’ll lose all his honour and will be a massive blow to your army’s morale.
[Fatigue]
How exhausted units get during a battle. Fatigue can effect a unit’s speed and ability to fight. Fatigue builds up as a battle rages and travelling around on the battlefield. It increases during climbing hills.
[Daimyo]
Your leader of the clan you’ve chosen. If he dies and he has no heir, it’s game over. Make sure that he does not get killed in battle or assassinated. Obviously he will die of illness or old age so make sure that you have a heir who can fight by then or that’ll mean game over as well. Everywhere he goes a group of 10 heavy cavalry accompanies him into battle.
[Heir]
The son of the Daimyo. He’ll inherit all the lands and become the next Daimyo in the game as to keep your faction in the game. When he is born make sure you keep an eye on him as to know when he will mature and become a soldier (usually by 16). Be very careful when building your units at this point, as when he does grow up and is ready to serve, he’ll join the next fighting unit that is built (that could mean Ashigaru). When he does become Daimyo, 10 fresh new heavy cavalry will accompany him.
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UNITS
[ASHIGARU]
Requirements: spear dojo
Best against: Ashigaru and archers. Occasionally cavalry
Worst against: Anything else.
Effectively peasants trained up very quickly. Although fast and come in huge quantities, you’ll find they’re less useful on harder settings. They can’t fight properly, low morale and low armour make them not very useful other then suicide assaults, temporarily holding off areas, chasing down enemy, Increasing the morale of a province and as a temporary frontline whilst you get better units into help crush threats. You’re quite literally better off forking out the extra costs for the samurai spearmen.
[SAMURAI SPEARMEN]
Requirements: Spear dojo
Best against: Horsemen, spearmen, Ashigaru
Weak against: Warrior monks, (any) archer units shooting, no dachi samurai,
Also known as Yari samurai, These comprise the backbone of any fighting force. Men in these units are fully-fledged warriors who have had the proper training and skill to weld weapons. Effectively a more reliable, improved, durable and skilled versions of the peasants, in theory, they can be used in exactly the same way as peasants can but they can usually fare a lot better.
[SAMURAI ARCHERS]
Requirements: Archery dojo
Best against: tight packed units
Weak against: fast fighting cavalry, Naginata samurai, generally any fighting units that they lock onto head to head combat.
The first projectile unit you’ll get in the game. Effectively they’re fully-fledged warriors who weld a bow. Useful in any army, as they would be the first people who’ll do fighting, raining arrows onto enemies before they reach the frontline. Try and position them in long lines as to increase the amount of people shooting and if possible on hills so they get improved range and sight bonuses on the battle field, targeting tight packs of samurais. Although they may be skilled in archery, they’re not good at fighting hand to hand so make sure that whenever possible that archers are accompanied by a close quarter fighting unit such as spearmen or Ashigaru and when they run out of arrows you place them in a safe place. Only make them take part in routing forces away or doing attacks from behind to support another unit, as any other frontline attacking will result in heavy losses in most cases.
NOTE: archers can accidentally kill their own men so make sure that you stop firing at a unit that is locked into combat or you’ll suffer casualties.
[NO-DACHI SAMURAI]
Requirements: Sword dojo (and legendary swordsman)
Best against: Spearmen, Ashigaru
Weak against: Archer units shooting, warrior monks, Naginata, Heavy cavalry.
These warriors are taught the way of the sword and apart from warrior monks, they are the best unit at fighting. However, since they excel at attacking, they are very weakly armoured and if ambushed or under fire from archers expect losses to be high. No dachi samurai are best suited for shock tactics like ambushes, attacking exposed flanks at weaker forces (especially those with low morale) or be deployed during the middle of combat once the exchange of fire is over. If you choose the latter, make sure they make the charge first ensuring THEY get the charging bonus for a more devastating attack.
[WARRIOR MONKS]
Requirements: Monk temple
Best against: Spearmen, no dachi samurai, Yari and heavy cavalry
Weak against: Any archer unit that fires, rival charging warrior monks.
These units are well equipped, with a high morale that make them a fearsome fighting force. They excel in combat and would annihilate all comers or give them a heavy pounding before they go down or flee. Although they are very skilled they still pose weaknesses against archers that shoot and other rival monks who attack them first because they would hesitate to attack their own fellow brothers. A pricey unit, but a good unit to consider for any army, but make sure you keep them happy by sticking to Buddhism as a religion or you will see these units rise against you if you convert to Christianity.
[NAGINATA]
Requirements: A famous spear dojo and armoury.
Best against: All heavy units, projectiles
Weak against: Guns
Personally, I think these guys are great. Why? Although they are slow, they come with some fearsome weaponry and are heavily armoured. Which make them perfect for breaking sieges or crossing bridges to attack, as they are so damn durable. In fact their defence is so good they can withstand a lot of punishment before breaking. Even if you think they suck on the battlefield, they’re still useful having around, with several of these units you can expect to win many battle on automatic resolve or on defensive situations. I recommend that you get them as soon as possible.
[YARI CAVALAY]
Requirements: Horse and spear dojo
Best against: Any archer units
Worst against: Heavy Cavalry, spearmen.
Effectively samurai spearmen on horses, they are the medium classed cavalries in the game, with probably just as much skill as normal spearmen except faster. The same strategies can apply and they seem to be the cheapest unit that can catch archer cavalry. Be very careful at who you attack as they will get mauled by quite literally most fighting units. If possible try and deploy them on top of hills or using them as fast strike forces to encircle and surround units. Never should you get them into woods as this will break their formations and won’t be as effective. Personally, I wouldn’t buy too many of them as they aren’t very effective unless as routing forces, chasing horse archers or for flanking attacks as they aren’t too effective.
[ARCHER CAVALRY]
Requirements: Horse and archery dojo
Best against: any foot units apart from archers.
Worst against: cavalry
Effectively samurai archers on horseback, these prove to be just slightly more useful then the Yari cavalry. The great thing about these units is that they can be quite annoying to close quarter fighters as their speed means they can run away quickly when ever they get too close and continuously pelt them with arrows. Unfortunately their bow range are slightly shorter then normal archers so they can still suffer terrible losses from rival archer groups and horsemen reduce their speed advantages of getting away and once they get close they will be destroyed. Whenever they lock into combat, expect them to lose. Overall, I consider them a faster version of an archer and it’s not really worth it to have around because of the price and their weakness against rival archers.
[HEAVY CAVALRY]
Requirements: Famous horse dojo, armoury.
Best against: Archers units, Yari cavalry
Worst against: spearmen
The best cavalry and quite possibly the best unit in the game, they excel in combat and can destroy most units. Their units are reasonably sized, which means they can be quite durable, but you still should be careful of archer fire as it can effect you. To reduce losses to what is a pricey unit, you should use them as an elite group and send them against exposed ranks or against opposing cavalry. You could try and charging down into the frontlines of fighting units and probably win but you will suffer heavy causalities. Overall, a very good unit that’s worth investing. But buy only a couple, as the price will no doubt be high.
[SHINOBI]
Requirements: Teahouse
Best against: N/A
Worst against: N/A
These are a bit like the secret police/ agents in feudal Japan. In the game, they can boost loyalty within ones provinces and lower others whilst in rival ones. Whilst they are there, they can also pick up Intel on forth coming attacks by other clans. These people are highly useful as its a cheap way to maintain order within a new province and it can cause massive mischief in large groups in rival territory, buy ten or more and group them together into rival lands and you can see even the most loyal provinces rebel. There is a massive disadvantage to this tactic, apart from the risk of multiple Shinobi’s getting caught all at once when detected, but by having too many (50+) can result in the game to crash. Not sure if it would happen to you, but it did for me so watch out.
[NINJA]
Requirements: Ninja house
Best against: N/A
Weak against: N/A
Black clad assassins that everyone loves. They have only one purpose and that’s to assassinate anyone they are told to do. These range from diplomats and geishas to more important people like generals or even (if you’re ever lucky) the diamyo himself. Be very careful on which targets you want to choose. Its best to assassinate a better general before a major battle with them the following turn as to strip the opposition of any honour advantages. Be careful when considering assassinating great generals as the better the general the more likely chance your ninja will fail (best left to the geisha really). Also don’t bother assassinating bad generals with minus honour, as you’ll nullify any disadvantages they may have. I would only recommend buying 3 at most till the geisha come along as they are expensive and their services aren’t really required at times. Like the Shinobis they can get caught and killed as well as increasing the morale of a province at times.
[GEISHA]-
Requirements: Geisha house
Best against: N/A
Worst against: N/A
The ultimate assassination unit, the geisha is a female assassin. On easier settings her success rate can be very high, so high that she can take out rival diamyos with ease even on the lowest ranks. Whenever she attempts to assassinate, she will always be successful, but finding the opportunity will be difficult on harder settings. Try and build one as soon as possible and make sure at least one is guarding your leader, as they can be the only one who can guarantee the prevention of an assassination by a rival geisha. Make sure you deploy numerous ones into enemy territory and assassinate important targets. If you’ve got the time, prepare a strike force of ninjas to intercept an enemy geisha in your territory before it reaches your leader.
[PRIEST]
Requirements: Church
Best against: N/A
Worst against: N/A
A Christian diplomat. If you’ve converted your religion, you have the power to build these people. Effectively like diplomats but they have a better chance of persuading rival Christian clans to treaties. But since they have the same flaws as the normal diplomats and they aren’t so good against other clans with Buddhism its pointless to buy them.
[DIPLOMAT]
Requirements: tranquil garden
Best against: N/A
Weak against: N/A
Your bog standard diplomat, dragged and dropped upon rival leaders can cement alliances, peace treaties and cease-fires. On the early stages this might be important to buy time to prepare forces. But later on they are useless, as only violent means is the only way to win the game. The one at the start is more then adequate. In most cases they are easy pickings for assassins and angry warlords who would execute them on the spot. Don’t bother replacing them, the same will happen again to the next diplomat you buy eventually.
[ARQUEBUSIERS]
Portuguese or Dutch trading post
Best against: Tight packed units or heavily armoured foes
Weak against: Horsemen, the weather.
These are the first guns you’ll get in the game. Provided you agree to the foreigner’s demands you can buy the guns. They provide for some great damage and can kill quite a few people at a time. However, they have far too many weaknesses to warrant your attention. Their guns are slow to reload, they don’t work in wet weather and they can’t fight as well as archers so when enemies get close to them, they’re mincemeat. It’s got far too many disadvantages to be considered useful or necessary to buy in order to win the game.
[MUSKEETERS]
Dutch trading post or gun factory
Best against: Tight packed units or heavily armoured foes
Weak against: Horsemen, the weather.
These are the new improved guns with more range and accuracy. Again they suffer from the same problem as before and shouldn’t really be bothered with. If you really must have guns, then these units are the better option to go for. But like any other gun units its difficult to make them useful or effective unless your units are tightly packed and you can synchronise your attacks so that that one fires as one reloads.
So there you have it, a quick guide on all the factions, units and some useful bits of info on some terms in the game. Hope this guide has helped and remember if you don’t like or you want more shogun like entertainment, try medieval total war or the new Rome total war game. Thanks for reading and good luck on your campaign to become the shogun.
Submitted By: scraptus
Clans:
Clan Uesagi: is the hardest clan to command because it is isolated and not many emisarrys get to you. if Uesagi Attack the Hojo because they will bulk troops in Musashi, Abandon Shinano and Hida, in Dewa get 100% farmland, and build the bulk of Dojo's in here.
The Naginata Are the best at defence poor in attacking and have a very good morale bonus. only unit that can withstand heavy calvary attacks any other ground troop unit will be desroyed.
for a Perfect army:
4 units of Samurai Archers
6 units of Warrior Monks
1 unit of Yari Ashigaru
2 units of Yari Samurai
2 units of Heavy Cavalary
1 unit of Cavalary Archers
My Perfect Army is:
1 unit of Yari Samurai
2 units of Yari Cavalary
2 units of Heavy Cavalary
3 units of Samurai Archers
4 units of Naginata Samurai
2 units of Warrior Monks
2 units of No-Dachi Samurai
* Note: What ever clan you are do not attack the rebels at first you will have to deal with rebellions more than you getting more land
Clan Uesagi: is the hardest clan to command because it is isolated and not many emisarrys get to you. if Uesagi Attack the Hojo because they will bulk troops in Musashi, Abandon Shinano and Hida, in Dewa get 100% farmland, and build the bulk of Dojo's in here.
The Naginata Are the best at defence poor in attacking and have a very good morale bonus. only unit that can withstand heavy calvary attacks any other ground troop unit will be desroyed.
for a Perfect army:
4 units of Samurai Archers
6 units of Warrior Monks
1 unit of Yari Ashigaru
2 units of Yari Samurai
2 units of Heavy Cavalary
1 unit of Cavalary Archers
My Perfect Army is:
1 unit of Yari Samurai
2 units of Yari Cavalary
2 units of Heavy Cavalary
3 units of Samurai Archers
4 units of Naginata Samurai
2 units of Warrior Monks
2 units of No-Dachi Samurai
* Note: What ever clan you are do not attack the rebels at first you will have to deal with rebellions more than you getting more land
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