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Redemption Autumn of 1552  "More rice markets?" complained Masanari. "Is there nothing exciting?" "People need to eat, no matter who they are" the attendant replied. "Although I have reports of several fortifications completed to secure our lands." "That's more like it!" grinned Masanari. "Protecting our people is the duty of the Daimyo." He stopped and looked thoughtful. "Something wrong, my Lord?" inquired the attendant. "They have a raised archery step... right?" questioned Masanari. "Not that I need it but..." The attendant laughed. "They most certainly do. Every Hattori fortification has such a step installed, just in case you are called upon to defend us. Yasunaga's orders." Masanari nodded. "I won't let my people down." With the construction of the third Merchant Guild in Kii, the last of our major economic investments is complete, which hopefully should decouple us from external economic forces like trade, although if everything does go wrong we won't be able to afford much more than maintaining our current forces, but at least we won't face bankruptcy if the worst happens. Fortification of our secondary island strongpoint in Sanuki is improved with the construction of a Stronghold. Although what to do with the extra building slot is a question that we don't really have the money to answer at the moment, any additional flexibility is handy given that the primary purpose of the upgrade was the additional defence the bigger walls provide. Another Stronghold is also completed in Kawachi. Although Kawachi is not at any real risk of attack anymore, the additional building slot will hopefully let us construct additional specialist cavalry as well as giving us the option of recruiting more samurai at the heart of our empire.  "Tales speak of mighty men, Heroes and Daimyos changing the course of history" boomed Yasunaga. "But I know this is wrong" His eyes swept the assembled recruits. "They are wrong because it is the men who serve, who change the world" he continued. "You are all the instrument of victory, every Hattori achievement is yours, every glorious triumph." Most of our recruitment has stopped as we reach the capacity of what our war economy can reasonably support, with an additional Hattori Yari Ashigaru in Wakasa to help replace the losses of the attack and keep Yasunaga's army able to project force. In addition, we recruit another Hattori Katana Samurai to slowly trickle in more elite units to our ranks as we prepare for the inevitable heavy invasions and counter attacks that will be needed if we are to claim Japan.  "Could there be any finer ships in all Japan?" wondered the shipwright. "I think not." Similarly, our western fleet is likely to come across heavy and repeated resistance, often from many angles. Our construction of another 2 Medium Bune should help ensure our supremacy on the western seas, even if several enemy fleets combine forces to attack us.  "My Lord, the son of the Sakgami family is a most skilled general, if a little young" stated the attendant. "His father requests that you give him his own command and let the boy prove himself." "The Sakgami serve us well, his father serves with incredible skill commanding our eastern fleet" noted Yasunaga. "But we barely have enough men for our ground forces as it is. My answer is no, assign the boy under his fathers command on his ship." A great event with the opportunity to field another general as all of our generals are either fully equipped with armies or otherwise in fighting condition. However, with our economic situation likely to leave us unable to raise another stack and the fact that we simply have more pressing needs for the koku, we decline. While I'm not sure it's the right choice in the long term, the extra upkeep and cost could instead be another unit of Samurai which our armies sorely need.  With the incredible defence of Wakasa, there could no be no doubt as to the supreme leadership skills of Yasunaga, both as a warrior, a general and as a Daimyo. Men both friend and foe alike knew of the tales, which only grew with each telling. Although he was not quite a dragon slayer, there could be no doubt that few relished the thought of facing him in battle. Our valiant defence of Wakasa has seen Yasunaga advance to become a rank 4 general, equal to Taketoshi. Although as the Daimyo the additional ranks don't give us any boosts like when our commissioned generals gain a rank, Yasunaga will nevertheless continue to repeatedly demonstrate why he rules the Hattori.  Like a surgeon, Yasunaga seemed to know where to strike an enemy where they are weakest. No matter if the enemy was an army or a samurai, he knew the perfect spot to strike, his moves always methodical and purposed. To be struck by Yasunaga was to be struck by a serpent, quick and fatal. At Rank 4 most generals start to distinguish themselves from their compatriots and Yasunaga is no exception. Yasunaga is a mighty general and conqueror, inspiring those who serve beneath him with both his incredibly effective prowess in combat and his sharp strategic mind. A decisive man of action, Yasunaga will happily use defence if it will give him an advantage, but his true prowess is in the sword stroke and deadly attack! To that end, we give him a point in both Master Swordsman to increase the combat effectiveness of himself and his bodyguard, as well as a point in Field Attacker, making our forces even more effective on the attack (when the additional morale is generally required!).        Our retainer choice here is interesting, with a choice between boosting Yasunaga's immunity to ninja to almost ludicrous levels or to push his honour all the way to maximum. Given that we will almost certainly be able to take another vassal before the game ends, the extra honour is a matter of having it now rather than later, compared to the always on effect of reduced assassination chance. However, the additional happiness and loyalty of the honour boost means that I can avoid having to reinforce our garrisons in the Ikko Ikki provinces to prevent rebellion (by one unit, but over several provinces that adds up). In the end, we decide that immediate advantage is more useful and so we take Master Potter. Hopefully this won't come back to haunt us...   Dismissing the tea girl, Yasunaga relaxed on his cushion, picking up his fresh cup of tea. He had never been one for tea, but he relished the quiet moments that the tea with his thoughts brought. "I miss them" he thought, the loneliness washing over him. "But I will keep my family safe. This has to be done." He smiled to himself, thinking of his young son Masanari. "He must be so big now" Yasunaga mused. "Almost a man. But he won't be safe until I end this." The men said that Yasunaga was the best archer in the army, although he suspected that was said out of respect and a healthy fear of more archery drill. Although right now as the ache of drill seeped into his bones, he wasn't sure that he could handle more drill, even if his men feared it. "Don't get old" he laughed to himself. "It's not worth it." Yasunaga is an unstoppable force for the Hattori, warping Japan with his very presence. The Shogunate has ever right to be in fear, for no matter the situation, Yasunaga excels. Although none of his boosts to any one area are particularly large, no area exists in which he does not change the battlefield simply by existing. All our forces fight harder, longer and better while he leads them and his bodyguard is a veritable wrecking ball, devastating even the most elite enemy troops. Simply being ruled by him brings peace to the streets, although if this is from contentment or fear it is hard to say. No matter what Realm Divide throws at us, Yasunaga is ready to take the challenge head on.  "The new Merchant Guilds are just hives for trouble" Tanesuke thought to himself, sitting in the shadows and watching the bustle. "But no-one knows trouble like me." Putting another solid foundation down for keeping our economy solid, Tanesuke has gained a rank. Despite the loss of Chikafusa, we are well on the way to stabilising the Metsuke issue and returning to having 5 quality tax bots.  "Please, no" screamed the merchant. "I don't know any names!" "Why don't I believe you?" stated Tanesuke flatly, slamming the hilt of his sword down on the merchant's fingers. The merchant screamed as the crack of shattering bone filled the air. Like every Metsuke ever, we put a point into Secret Policeman so that we can drop a full 3 points into Censor next rank. Rank 3 nets you very little in terms of skills, although the extra star means that we get another 5% tax income in the province, which is not to be sneezed at.    "Ashikaga Munekata" babbled the merchant, nursing his broken fingers. "I don't know anything else, I promise. I PROMISE." "That wasn't so hard, was it?" stated Tanesuke. "Amazing what you can remember if you really think about it." Although Tanesuke isn't one of our best tax bots, he's actually rather competent at capturing enemy agents, something which is likely to be essential if enemy agents slip past our ninja.   "Taira Kanetomo?" asked Masanari, his eyes wide. "Like the Taira, Taira?" "That's right, my Lord" replied Kanetomo. "Descended from Tomomori himself, although, not quite as rich yet. Yasunaga has ordered me to ensure that the tax is paid on time and that corruption is stamped out." "Oh, of course" replied Masanari, trying to look serious. "I'm sure you will do great!" We recruited Kanetomo to replace Muneaki in Iga and that's exactly what he is going to do. With a firm belief in the glory of making sure the money keeps flowing, we send him to get the job done.   "Ikko Ikki sails, admiral" screamed the lookout. "A single one!" "They don't ever learn" noted the admiral, shaking his head. "Intercept course!" The Ikko Ikki fleet can't be allowed to build up to dangerous numbers and needs to be taught a lesson for straying too close to our eastern fleet. Also, I like the idea of free ships so we launch our attack!  A great splintering noise erupted as the Bune crashed into the Kobaya, men jumping from deck to deck as the Hattori forces attacked. As quickly as it had begun, it was over, the Ikko Ikki forces unconditionally surrendering. 4 Medium Bune and 2 Bow Kobaya against a single Bow Kobaya will be absolutely no contest, as evidenced by the ludicrous power bar. This battle was autoresolved, there is no battle video.  "That's how you take a ship" grinned the admiral. "I hope you were paying attention, lad." "Yes sir" replied the captain, bristling slightly at the lad comment. "Wasn't much of a fight." Success! Another ship to join the glorious eastern fleet and one less Ikko Ikki vessel to threaten us.  "It wasn't much of a fight because we beat them before the battle had even started" replied the admiral. "The best battles are the ones we never have to fight." Remarkably heavy losses for an auto-resolve so heavily in our favour, but I suppose that is the price of laziness. The loss of the 10 men on the Medium Bune is especially galling, but it's cheaper than buying a whole new ship.   "Take her to port and get her repaired, lieutenant" ordered the admiral. "I know she's your first command, but I have more ships than I do experienced officers. Do her proud." Our new ship is sent back to port in order to conduct repairs, while the bulk of our eastern fleet continues to extra delicious cash from enemy shipping. Such actions keep our income relatively healthy, but I'm worried I'm starting to be too reliant on these less than reliable income sources.   "The Takaoka have chosen their side" boomed Yasunaga. "They chose to lose, they just don't know it yet. Let's teach them the price of opposing the Hattori!" The Takaoka must be taught a painful lesson in how to conduct an attack and Yasunaga is the man to deliver this sermon! Gathering our forces, we march to crush the scattered remnants of the Takaoka attack force and instil a little order in these lands.  "My Lord, the enemy approaches, we must flee!" stated the scout. "Yasunaga himself rides at their front!" "The horses are exhausted and we can run no further" replied Mototaka, wearily. "This is as good a place to die as any, I suspect. Form up the men, we die like warriors." The paltry remaining General and Bow Ashigaru is severely outclassed by our Light Cavalry, Hattori Yari Samurai, 4 Hattori Yari Ashigaru, 3 Hattori Bow Ashigaru and Hattori Kisho Ninja. Although Yasunaga commands the smallest army of all our generals, the relatively high veterancy gives it a lot more punch than you would expect. This battle was autoresolved, there is no battle video.  "Archers, sweep them from the field!" commanded Yasunaga. "Ashigaru, charge!" The Takaoka stood bravely, but there was never any doubt. After the archers had done their gruesome work, a scant few remained to resist the ashigaru attack and those few soon fell. The outcome was never in doubt, with the loss of 5 troops, more than acceptable in order to eliminate the last of the Takaoka attack force.  "If the Takaoka think that they can attack us without reprisal they are sorely mistaken" boomed Yasunaga. "Grab some rest while you can, but in the morning we march to victory." A single combat rank gained for our green Hattori Yari Ashiragu is a nice payment for doing simple clean up. Now that the rookies have been blooded, it's time to go show the Takaoka how you really launch an invasion! Sneak Peek: A Floating Forest...
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Jul 9, 2014 15:21
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Gotta love the reference to your Rise LP there.
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Jul 9, 2014 21:43
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I always love getting my daimyo's honor up to maximum as quickly as possible. The positive effect throughout your territory is just too good to pass up.Stephen9001 posted:Gotta love the reference to your Rise LP there. I wonder what it would be like to have such an ancestor. Cool? Or just depressing to know that your family had fallen from such heights?
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Jul 10, 2014 02:31
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That's a nice couple of quick stomps there.
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Jul 11, 2014 07:04
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Third Murderer posted:I always love getting my daimyo's honor up to maximum as quickly as possible. The positive effect throughout your territory is just too good to pass up. WAAAAAAAAY back in the Han Dynasty, my family was basically the right hand of the Emperor, and even had enough power to depose the Emperor and install a new one. Then court politics happened and that entire branch of the family got executed  Granted that's so far back (literally 2000 years) as to be essentially meaningless, while the separation between Rise and vanilla Shogun is a "mere" 400 years. Tarezax fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 07:40
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Tarezax posted:WAAAAAAAAY back in the Han Dynasty, my family was basically the right hand of the Emperor, and even had enough power to depose the Emperor and install a new one. Then court politics happened and that entire branch of the family got executed
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Jul 11, 2014 07:48
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FredMSloniker posted:So either you're not descended from that branch of the family, or your avatar is more appropriate than I thought? They still had the same surname! Probably not directly descended though, yes, unless they somehow missed some. Seeing as how the surname originated just about 1000 years before that, there were probably plenty of branches on that tree. Side note: it's interesting that China began making use of surnames long, long before they came into common use in the West. This was even before Confucius, so you can't exactly blame him for that. Edit: Reading up on Wikipedia, the average Japanese person did not use surnames until the Meiji Era. Before that surnames were restricted to the nobility. So by mere fact that he's got the Taira name that guy is probably doing pretty well for himself. Tarezax fucked around with this message at 08:03 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 07:53
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Shalcar, you're a great LPer. Excellent balance of narrative and instruction. I really look forward to your posts.
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Jul 11, 2014 08:12
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Tarezax posted:Edit: Reading up on Wikipedia, the average Japanese person did not use surnames until the Meiji Era. Before that surnames were restricted to the nobility. So by mere fact that he's got the Taira name that guy is probably doing pretty well for himself. Correct, as far as I know, peasants didn't have the right to bear proper surnames, they just had their name and a sort of surname/nickname related to their village of origin or their profession. If you were a boatman, you could be literally named "boatman". Being a peasant in a rigidly hierarchic feudal society sucked. I've been watching the miniseries James Clavell's Shogun, it's really good and puts me in the mood for reading this LP. Looking forward to see the siege of Kyoto, I bet Shalcar is going to put the kisho ninja to good use there. Angry Lobster fucked around with this message at 11:05 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 11:02
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Angry Lobster posted:Correct, as far as I know, peasants didn't have the right to bear proper surnames, they just had their name and a sort of surname/nickname related to their village of origin or their profession. If you were a boatman, you could be literally named "boatman". Being a peasant in a rigidly hierarchic feudal society sucked. This actually holds true in Shogun 2, although you probably wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it since I always refer to the first name of the agents. Generals, being noble, always have a full name, while Metsuke often, but don't always have a full name as being a noble son was helpful, but not essential. Monks and Ninja never have last names, as they were not open to the upper classes, only lower classes. The same holds true for Geisha, although Missionaries, often being foreign, tend to have last names. I think it's a really nice touch. lenoon posted:Shalcar, you're a great LPer. Excellent balance of narrative and instruction. I really look forward to your posts. Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it.
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Jul 11, 2014 11:18
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An update without a battle. A shameful display.  How long till you attack Kyoto?
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Jul 11, 2014 11:23
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my dad posted:An update without a battle. A shameful display. The next update has a battle worthy of two updates, I promise you that. Kyoto will be in our sights when the the flood of half and full stack of armies and fleets gets dealt with and the game calms down a bit, so likely 10-15 turns or so. I'm aiming for a turn 50 finish, but we will have to see how it all pans out. It might all fall apart!
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Jul 11, 2014 11:37
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For those of you considering picking up Shogun 2, Get Games Go has their Total War: Shogun 2 Collection on sale for 75% off ($12.50 USD, £9.99) which includes all the Shogun 2 DLC including Rise of the Samurai! e: It's Steamworks, so you will get a Steam key.
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Jul 13, 2014 09:06
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Bonus Economic Update 4 - Other Economic Buildings While Markets and Farming are the heart of your economy in Shogun 2, there are other buildings which provide economic benefit which will need to be taken into consideration when you are choosing how to expand your economy. Chains which have two possible upgrade paths with differing economic benefits will be listed in two separate items. Where relevant, trade good buildings will show two lines, one for all their trade goods sold and one for none of their trade goods sold (which only nets you half value for each produced good). Province Speciality buildings don't have the first building listed (because they are free and so it wouldn't make any sense). Of these, only one occupies a standard building slot, the Stealth Chain, while the others are all province specialities. Let's start by looking at the Stealth Chain. As the Stealth Chain can be built in your free building slot or upgraded fortification slots, we need two lines for the initial Sake Den, one with the food cost factored in (since the building slot costs food if you upgrade just to put in a Sake Den) and one with no food costs (If you built it in the starting building slot in a province). Given the absolute best case scenario for the Sake Den, let's consider a SLOW game (5 turns per province taken) starting on the first turn but without a Metsuke (Note that even with a Metsuke in the province the overall conclusions don't change). Non Metsuke Provinces STARTING TURN 0 - STEALTH CHAIN  Thoughts: You will never break even by building a Stealth Chain, although you can mitigate the loss by upgrading. Having said that, the upgrades take a very long time to pay for themselves and are basically rubbish in an economic sense. Stealth Chain buildings should only be built for their additional strategic advantages (extra Ninja agents, Kisho Ninja etc). The economic benefits are simply a nice bonus. The only exception to this is the Legendary Stealth building, the Infamous Mizu Shobai District, which pays for itself in (24000/ province wealth) turns. So for a relatively rich province of roughly 4000 province wealth, it would pay for itself in a mere 6 turns. This is, however, a reward for reaching the top of a tree with all the associated research and build costs, unless it is the focus of your gameplay (and it's only in a single province) it's a bad idea. Given that in the best case scenario it's a bad idea to build for economic reasons, I won't bore you with the even worse situations! START TURN IRRELEVANT CRAFTWORK CHAIN - FLETCHER PATH  Thoughts: These upgrades are clearly built for the additional accuracy that they give to ranged units produced in the province, with only one ever breaking even and taking over half the total game time to do it. CRAFTWORK CHAIN - MILLS PATH  Thoughts: Nothing makes as much money, as quickly, as the Craftworks chain when you upgrade it into the Mills speciality. Just for fun, if you managed to starting building a Paper Mill on the first turn of the game and sold all the goods, by the end of the game your initial investment of 1350 koku would have returned 35505 koku. That's a lot of koku! GOLD MINING CHAIN  Thoughts: Perhaps unsurprisingly, gold mining is a very lucrative chain, although the lag time until your initial investment is paid back is quite long due to the substantial building time of the buildings themselves. On the other hand, the actual cost is relatively small compared to the additional income you get, so once it is built it serves as an incredible source of wealth. WARHORSE CHAIN  Thoughts: Somewhat surprisingly, both the Horse Breeders and Warhorse Studs take the same amount of time to repay their initial investment, with the Warhorse Studs having the higher rate of return as a percentage of invested koku. Given that the Warhorse Studs are locked away behind a midgame art, however, this isn't too unusual. Nevertheless, this chain remains an incredibly competitive economic performer regardless of your situation. IRON CHAIN  Thoughts: Second only to Crafts in rate of return, Iron mines repay their initial investment quickly thanks to a swift build time and strong income performance. ASSASSIN CHAIN - BURAKUMIN VILLAGE PATH  Thoughts: Despite looking like a solid economic investment, the Assassin chain actually has relatively poor rates of return with a long break even time. These are mitigated somewhat by the fact that the provinces which contain the Assassin chain speciality are very valuable and likely to have Metsuke in them already, but even so, it remains one of the worst specialities to invest in. STONE CHAIN  Thoughts: One of the less valuable trade good upgrades, the Stone chain takes longer to return a profit and does so at a lower rate. However, the fact that each level of Stone chain building reduces the cost of other buildings by 10% (30% reduction at Stoneworks level) means that you can heavily subsidise the cost of these buildings if you plan to perform other major works (generally upgrading to a Castle, for example). Even with this factored in, it's one of the less profitable province specialities. TIMBER CHAIN  Thoughts: Another of the less valuable trade goods, the Timber Chain is, like the Stone chain, quite reliant on being able to sell the trade good it produces in order to make it a competitive upgrade choice for your economy. It is, however, still a worthwhile upgrade even if it won't be your highest priority. INFRASTRUCTURE CHAIN  Thoughts: Infrastructure is built primarily for the increased movement speed and replenishment rate, not for the economic benefits. There are many superior options for making money if that is your priority. PORT CHAIN Despite giving a boost to province growth, it makes no sense to compare Ports outside of their context of enabling increased trade. By tripling the value of trade goods which flow through them, Ports act as a huge wealth multiplier, especially when you get another trade route. On the other hand, these benefits really only occur when you have additional trading partners that you could be trading with or have many trade routes running through the same port. If none of those are the case, then port upgrades make little economic sense. Join us next time for the final economic bonus update, were we take this huge volume of information and distil it down to a simple set of rules of thumb which will serve you well to grow your economy in almost every situation.
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Jul 13, 2014 15:43
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I came for the Samurai action and awesome story telling I stayed for the Graphs and economy lessons. Well not really, but I do appreciate the amount off efferent you put into to your economy posts. I have learned a great deal form them.
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Jul 16, 2014 13:45
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A Floating Forest Autumn of 1552 (Continued)   "The Takaoka think they can strike into our lands with impunity" announced Yasunaga. "But they mistake our graciousness for weakness. We will show them that arrogance has a steep price." Marching Yasunaga deep into Takaoka territory, we find it almost completely undefended as we had expected. Unfortunately, we don't quite have enough movement to attack their capital, but their time is certainly numbered.   "I stand before you as a commander" boomed Korekata. "But I too have duties, as do we all. Duties to the clan." He paused, surveying the assembled horde. "Even now, the enemies of the Hattori plot our downfall" he continued. "But no more will we hide in the shadows! No longer will we wait for our enemies to strike! No! We will raise the glorious black and red of the Hattori and we will make the world tremble!" Commanding a full stack, Korekata now commands more men than any other Hattori general and despite being almost completely ashigaru is a force to be feared. The Hatano are a threat too dangerous to be allowed to live, so in order to further secure our hold in the area we launch an attack upon their province of Tamba.  "We... don't attack?" questioned the samurai captain. "I'm not sure that's what I expected to hear, my Lord." "Our victory is assured, no doubt" replied Korekata, studying his campaign map. "But the losses would reduce us well below combat efficiency. Our primary task of securing the heartland would be threatened." "So, we wait" noted the samurai captain. "Yes" responded Korekata. "We wait. Either they come out on their own or they starve. We fight on my terms." This is... less than ideal. With the province defended by 2 Generals, 2 Light Cavalry, 1 Yari Samurai, 3 Bow Samurai, 8 Yari Ashigaru and 1 Samurai Retainers to our 1 Hattori Katana Samurai, 1 Hattori Yari Samurai, 13 Hattori Yari Ashigaru and 4 Hattori Bow Ashigaru, any frontal attack would by pyrrhic. Although I have supreme confidence that we would win, the losses would completely cripple Korekata's defensive force at a time when we will need them the most. On the bright side, it looks like all the troops of the Hatano are mustered in this place. We will force them to come to us on our terms or they will starve. We begin the siege of Tamba.   "Look at the so-called Shogun" boomed Taketoshi. "Unable to even control his own borders! My grandmother could do better, she would keep an army out of her kitchen with a broom alone!" Moving Taketoshi's veteran force through the hostile land of Kyoto, we meet up with some additional reinforcements.   "No force in Japan is as fine as this one" announced Taketoshi. "But children march faster! Pick up the pace!" An extra Katana Samurai now under Taketoshi's control, the armies meagre size belies the sheer firepower it commands, with a sizable compliment of Katana Samurai and veteran ashigaru led by a skilled general. Although not quite 3/4 of a stack, the enemies of the Hattori must tremble! Taking his newly reinforced army, we move to Omi to prepare for our eastern defensive and offensive actions.  Sitting on a rock, shading from the midday sun, Nakasada marvelled at the glorious curved roof and many terraces of the Echizen Fortress. Even with his travels barely begun, Nakasada marvelled at the small differences of things from his home town, even down to the slightly differing patterns on the birds that flew around the northern banks. In a moment of quiet contemplation, he smiled. Life was good. Echizen is a hot-bed of Ikko Ikki sentiment and we must stamp this out if we are to be able to retain control of the situation. Nakasada moves into Echizen to see that this happens. Although Monks do convert just as well in the countryside as inside the city, a monk will give additional happiness to the population based on their skill and the percentage of the population that supports their religion. It functions in reverse to the Non-Clan Religion penalty, where the maximum amount of happiness given is based on the skill of the monk (skill / 2, I believe) and the actual amount based on the religious support, with higher support meaning more happiness. High level monks are quite capable of keeping a freshly conquered province content all by themselves!  Nobuchika was rapidly realising the world was far, far larger than he had ever thought possible. He had heard that it took a man 3 years to walk from one end of Japan to another, but it had seemed an abstract thing, like coin paid to a merchant. His feet, on the other hand, were under no illusions as to how much walking 3 years would take. He had not yet walked for a season and only just left the province of Ise. Whatever wonders such an enormous world held, he sincerely hoped they held a place to soak his feet. Nobuchika begins his journey with a brief stop in Owari to help convert the populace there from the Ikko Ikki ways. As the sharp eyed amongst you will note, the Takeda have captured Owari, completely severing us from the Ikko Ikki and leaving us with no choice but to wait and see how the situation develops. The Takeda own a province we need for victory and are currently fairly indifferent about us. Treachery must be coming soon, but from which side?   The magistrates offices were lush, spacious and well decorated with ornate wood furnishings and the finest woven mats. "Supremely inflammable" thought Tameshige to himself. "A building can be killed much like a man. Fire consumes all." He set about his work, placing small files and piling inflammable goods upon them, before retreating to a safe distance to watch the show. Many minutes passed and still nothing. "Did I set it right?" he wondered. The Ashikaga Shogunate can't be making a profit on their ludicrously large army, which means that they are operating from their cash reserves. Once these cash reserves have been exhausted, the AI will disband units so that they are not going to be bankrupt. We can help this process along by targeting the most expensive buildings for sabotage, in this case the Magistrate. Being both relatively inexpensive and likely for us to sabotage and quite expensive to repair, it's a perfect target for Tameshige.  Click here to see the mission!  He was answered as a plume of smoke started to rise from the offices, reedy at first but growing in strength as a reddish light started to illuminate the surrounding night. "It's just not as much fun this way" he sulked. Success! In addition to the repair costs, the Ashikaga have lost the 5% tax rate boost from the building, quite likely dealing around 2000 koku worth of damage overall. Unlike the other clans, it makes sense to commit economic sabotage against the Ashikaga, as you absolutely have to take Kyoto and they are a tough nut to crack. Every unit we can take out of the fight earlier is a huge boon for us.   Despite being deep in Hatakeyama territory, the inn was heavily protected. "Shifting patrols, well lit areas, dedicated guards, this won't be easy" Chisato thought to herself. "But it won't be that hard, either." Moving with a guided and practised skill, Chisato found her mind starting to wander. "What sort of man was this Munemitsu? A good man? An evil man?" she mused. "A loyal son?" She dismissed such thoughts. She had a duty to the clan and she would see it done. Around the next corner stood two guards, standing watch to their Lord's room. She would need to be perfect. Speaking of taking units out of the fight, the Hatakeyama look like they are planning on mobilising an attack on our provinces in the near future, if not next turn. With their army almost primarily ashigaru, the single biggest thing we can do is to remove their leadership through assassination, since simply sabotaging the army doesn't really gain us much compared to weakening it and hoping they dash themselves on our walls. Despite Chisato's exceptional skills in all areas, the odds are less than fantastic as Daimyo's and their children are the single hardest targets in the game to assassinate, requiring a highly skilled Ninja and a poorly skilled Family member to even be remotely feasible. As we can see, the odds are not much better than a coin flip, but Chisato has enough survival skills that even if this should go wrong, she should get out alive.  Click here to see the mission!  Rolling out from the corner, Chisato unleashed two underhanded dagger throws and her aim was true, taking each guard in the throat. As the bodies crumpled to the ground she burst into the room, sword drawn. Confused and panicking, Munemitsu fumbled for his sword but it was too late. Chisato's blade found it's mark and Munemitsu fell, never to rise again. As quickly as she had struck, Chisato was gone, the ghost of the Hattori had struck again. Luckily none of those escape skills were needed today, with a decisive blow struck against the Hatakeyama. Either their attack will be 30 heavy infantry weaker or we have bought time to further harden the northern provinces. Either way, this is a win for the Hattori.     "Ahh, fresh meat" grinned the Admiral. "Time to sort the lucky and the good from the dead." "Sir?" questioned the captain. "The Kikkawa force is one of the most fearsome we have seen." "A good warm up" nodded the Admiral, breathing in deeply. "Ahh, I love the smell of pitch in the morning." The Kikkawa fleet is substantial, the largest we have ever seen, but thanks to a little good fortune on our side, our own fleet has just received reinforcements in the shape of 2 Medium Bune. With our fleet now the equal to any other in Japan, we launch our attack to repel them from our territorial waters.  "We are nearly upon the enemy, admiral!" yelled the lookout. "They are yet to respond." "Bring us about, captain, signal the left flank to maintain course" ordered the admiral. "Signal the right to fold around leaving us inside." "But sir, that will expose our flank to the enemy ships!" protested that captain. "It's a huge risk!" "That's the point, you damned fool" barked the admiral. "GIVE THE ORDER." Despite the large size of the fleet, it consists mainly of lighter ships, with only a single Medium Bune, 4 Bow Kobaya and a Trade Ship against our more substantial fleet of 6 Medium Bune and 1 Bow Kobaya. Unless we approach this correctly however, we run the risk of being outflanked and taking far larger casualties than is required. Ideally we want to capture some of this fleet (especially that Medium Bune) and use it against the other fleets that are almost certainly coming.  Click here to see the battle! "Sir, the enemy is bearing down on us!" announced the lookout. "They are coming in fast!" "That's our cue!" bellowed the admiral. "Captain, bring this ship hard starboard and slip in behind the right flank. Signal the left flank to collapse in and engage in boarding actions. Lucky bastards." "You heard the admiral" boomed the captain. "Now move before I throw you overboard myself!" The map is less than ideal for us, as it forces our fleet to approach from a single direction and in a clustered manner, which lends itself poorly to a fight against a more mobile foe. We are going to risk our soft underside in the hope of luring the enemy fleet into a trap! Our objectives are to minimise casualties and hopefully capture the Medium Bune. The complete destruction of the enemy fleet is a secondary concern, but would be nice!  With a mighty crash, the two ships slammed together and Hattori forces streamed onto the Kikkawa ship. Arrows raked the deck as the Hattori forces supported their boarding action, leaving the defenders a terrible choice of letting the boarders on unopposed or being cut down by swarms of arrows. Throughout the Kikkawa fleet, the heavy, brutal Hattori Medium Bune were crashing into the Kikkawa ships, leaving them no choice but to fight in a battle they could not hope to win. The Kikkawa had suffered a brutal defeat this day. Now that's what I call a victory! The enemy fell for our track (even if we did have to use the admiral as bait) and losses have been kept incredibly low considering the number of opposing ships. In fact, only a single one of our Medium Bune is no longer at fighting strength, which is the best we could really have hoped for. In addition, we captured all of the enemy fleet with the exception of a single ship. We can't really afford to be starting a second fleet in the region and we are now at more than the 10 ships maximum in a stack, so we disband the Trade Ship and the most heavily damaged Bow Kobaya, leaving us with a full stack of warships. Victories don't come much sweeter than that!  The admiral laughed. "You let one get away!" "I'm sorry, sir" apologised the captain. "It won't happen again." "Don't be sorry" replied the admiral. "We have more ships than we could man even if we stripped the fleet. As it is we will need to scuttle some of these hulk and send the rest back to port. I only wish I got to force the surrender from the Kikkawa admiral personally." With that victory comes a great haul of experience for all our ships, making the fleet even more deadly than ever before. Although I suspect we are going to need every ounce of skill to take out the many fleets that are coming towards us, I'm now quietly confident that the western seas will be firmly in Hattori control sooner, rather than later.   "A more motley assortment of wrecks I have never seen" grinned the admiral. "But Hattori shipwrights can work miracles, so you better get those back to port before a light breeze comes along!" With our newly captured ships heavily damaged and some of our own less than fully operational, we dispatch the damaged ships to the Awaji port for repairs. The sharp eyed here will realise I have messed something up. Go on, look closely. That's right, I've sent my undamaged Bow Kobaya back to port as well, reducing the operational strength of our western fleet for literally no gain. I'm going to claim that it was to protect this fleet and no-one will ever know!  Sneak Peek:Korekata's test
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Jul 17, 2014 16:51
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With the army composition that Koretaka has with him and the units defending, doing a siege makes the most sense there for Tamba. Never seen an opponent surrender to a siege before, so I'm assuming that they'll attempt a sally sooner rather than later. Your next turn preview makes this even more likely... Just looking at army compositions, you'll likely take tons of ashigaru casualties if they do sally, but not as much as you'd lose on a frontal attack, just from the Bow Samurai alone... Also, with winter coming up next turn, attrition might be a problem for that besieging force, since it is mostly ashigaru and every one of those counts when you're facing a defending army of that size and quality behind the walls or if they sally. Too bad Yasunaga didn't have the movement to take Tango this turn, it definitely would've been easy for him to do so, what with the enemy army there wiped out during their last ill-fated attack. If he could've taken it this turn, next turn he'd be in position to swing his force (minus what is needed to garrison Tango) down into Tamba to assist Koretaka in taking the place. Oh well.
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Jul 17, 2014 17:55
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Okay, that's going to be a fun siege to chart the progress of.
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Jul 18, 2014 05:09
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shalcar posted:Bonus Economic Update 4 - Other Economic Buildings You missed the most important one: the Kraftwerk Chain
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Jul 18, 2014 05:27
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Bozart posted:You missed the most important one: the Kraftwerk Chain Technically speaking, Kraftwork is off the chain! GhostStalker posted:Too bad Yasunaga didn't have the movement to take Tango this turn, it definitely would've been easy for him to do so, what with the enemy army there wiped out during their last ill-fated attack. If he could've taken it this turn, next turn he'd be in position to swing his force (minus what is needed to garrison Tango) down into Tamba to assist Koretaka in taking the place. Oh well. We don't want Yasunaga too far to the west, as this is covered by Korekata and our victory provinces are all in the other direction. Yasunaga doesn't really have the force to be rampaging and will need to spend a few turns gathering strength. In all likelihood we will want him to start moving south towards the Ikko Ikki provinces with Taketoshi to ensure swift progress there and leave the entire western defence to Korekata. This, of course, will rely heavily on having the money to equip him with the more than defensive army that he has at the moment.
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Jul 18, 2014 11:21
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That was a beautifully executed naval battle, shalcar. The moment when your left flank sealed the trap was loving awesome, like something out of a movie.
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Jul 18, 2014 11:26
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That was indeed a beautifully executed trap.
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Jul 18, 2014 17:23
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How many ships in that fleet are captured now? Does your admiral just bring extra flags with him assuming that every little trip out will result in him getting a few more ships for the clan? By this point he should. drat. That was a beautiful naval battle.
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Jul 18, 2014 19:19
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This LP got me to boot up Shogun 2 for the first time in a few years; since I'm a bit rusty, I'd like some advice: First off, I'm using two mods: one unlocks multiplayer units, which means that loan sword/naginata ashigaru exist in the game, and are used by everyone. Second is a Radius realm divide mod that makes the initial penalty worse, but also eventually eliminates the diplomatic penalty all together. Second, I'm playing as the Chosokabe, and I'm still in the early game (no major clans have been wiped out yet). Military is ~4 bow samurai, several bunes, a bunch of Bow Kobayas, and roughly two armies of an ashigaru mix. My other assets are as follows:  The black circles are trade nodes I control (although I'm still making trade ships to actually use all of them), and the blue circles are my bune-led fleets.  This one is all the territory I have: all the victory provinces, save Kyoto (and the 30 territories needed for the long campaign). I just finished wiping out a minor clan, and thus I am at war with nobody. As you can see, there's a lot of places to go, and so I'm a bit lost: should I expand inland in the hopes of isolating Kyoto and grabbing valuable provinces? Move up north, allowing other major clans to fight each other while I grab easy territories? Or maybe something strange, like attacking along the coast so I can move armies quickly while stopping everyone else from trading? And advice would be greatly appreciated, since I'm more or less green outside of knowing what economic buildings suck (thanks Shalcar!).
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Jul 18, 2014 21:42
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When I did Chosokabe I shifted West and nabbed that island. You can put your back to the wall and once those provinces are calmed down pretty much strip the garrisons. (Esp if you go Christian and throw some Nanban ships into your defense fleets.)
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Jul 18, 2014 21:50
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thetruegentleman posted:Stuff. Just a quick disclaimer that I have not used any of the mods you're using, so I can't speak to what effects they'll have on you down the road. But given your situation, here's what I personally would do to lock down the game: 1. Take Harima and Tajima, build them up to strongholds/fortresses if they're not already there, and put a halfstack garrison in each to give you a solid western defensive border. 2. From Tajima, push east to Echizen. You can also take Kaga for the blacksmith but it isn't needed at all. Either way, do the same thing and build up the border province to a stronghold/fortress and put a defensive stack there. 3. In the south take Settsu, Iga, Ise, and Omi to solidify central Japan and lock down the east. Do the same defensive stuff as I said before in Omi and Ise. Like in the north you can push further into Mino and Owari if you want their goods, but it isn't needed. 4. It should be at or well past RD at this point, with solidly defended borders and almost all of central Japan in your pocket. Move in and crush the Shogun, take Kyoto, and once you've held it for four turns, win the game! And as usual, I'll give my warning that best laid plans always fall apart, and this is just a high level strategy you can follow. If things go south, improvise. In any case, hope my outline helps a little!
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Jul 18, 2014 22:27
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For anyone who was wondering about the Vassals and Realm Divide question posted earlier, I can now confirm that taking Kyoto triggers another Realm Divide for your vassals. On the other hand, any vassals made after triggering Realm Divide and taking Kyoto don't ever get the penalty.  e: Learn something new every day! Many Hattori Ashigaru died to bring you this information (~1500 of them). shalcar fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Jul 20, 2014 |
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Jul 20, 2014 09:10
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shalcar posted:For anyone who was wondering about the Vassals and Realm Divide question posted earlier, I can now confirm that taking Kyoto triggers another Realm Divide for your vassals. On the other hand, any vassals made after triggering Realm Divide and taking Kyoto don't ever get the penalty. So, uh, did you just test this to make sure or...?
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Jul 20, 2014 09:15
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Kavak posted:So, uh, did you just test this to make sure or...? Yes, I tested it to make sure. At the very least, the vassals had no Realm Divide malus on them before I took Kyoto and then immediately afterwards they had a Realm Divide malus of -10 before I had ended the turn. Once I ended the turn, both the vassals had a Realm Divide penalty of -15, which is exactly what I would expect. For those wondering how I tested, I simply opened our existing game, checked our vassals for the malus and noted there was none, then sabotaged the second stack of Ashikaga Shogunate forces, stripped every garrison and sent Korekata and Taketoshi on a Kyoto capturing mission, which they successfully completed (albeit at the price of obliterating basically all my forces). I then Peacefully occupied Kyoto and immediately checked the vassals diplomatic status, which now had an additional line of Realm Divide -10, just like I would expect. I'm not sure what other conclusion can be drawn from that except that taking Kyoto triggers Realm Divide on the clans which are currently not Realm Divided, which would make sense from a programming view if it's just a simple trigger of "Capture Kyoto, apply Realm Divide to everyone". I didn't check if the existing clans got an additional Realm Divide penalty applied to them (So they might be -10 lower than they were at the start of the turn).
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Jul 20, 2014 09:27
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Zebrin posted:How many ships in that fleet are captured now? Does your admiral just bring extra flags with him assuming that every little trip out will result in him getting a few more ships for the clan? By this point he should. The Hattori Admiral is such a goddamn man he just stared at the enemy flags, and they turned black out of respect. 
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Jul 20, 2014 11:28
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Ratoslov posted:The Hattori Admiral is such a goddamn man he just stared at the enemy flags, and they turned black out of respect. I like this idea. He then uses his laser eyes to carve the Hattori mon in red into the now totally black flag. This is canon.
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Jul 20, 2014 13:56
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My favorite part of naval battles are my tiny men jumping ten feet between boats. Fleets are easy to grow when you impress everything weaker than you. A few Bow Kobaya turned into 40 ships and covered every hostile harbor.
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Jul 20, 2014 20:02
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I enjoy the level of detail they put into the tiny men on the boats. You can zoom in and hear them singing a song to keep the rowing in tune.  Fall is probably my favorite, where you have giant battleships of 300+ men, and they're all doing something. Patrols milling about the deck, gunners checking and cleaning their cannons, officers chilling on a gangway shooting the poo poo, etc. And then everybody scrambles to positions when combat starts. It's these little touches that make the moment where you blow their ship up and watch them fly 50 feet into the drink all the sweeter. 
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Jul 20, 2014 21:14
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Scalding Coffee posted:My favorite part of naval battles are my tiny men jumping ten feet between boats. My favourite part of the naval battle is that if you repel the boarders, the enemy all line up to jump back onto their own ship and it waits until everyone is back on their own ship before they disengage. It's just so.. polite With 3 updates on the page, I thought I would gently nudge the thread to help get us onto the next page for the weekends update!
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Jul 24, 2014 13:37
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Cheap ploy to generate discussion. I tried to play this, but the biggest issue for me isn't in the gameplay at all. It's the size! This game's massive! I don't have the disc space for this on my old-rear end machine!
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Jul 24, 2014 13:54
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This thread has been quite exciting so far. The economic discussion has helped my own game some, and I absolutely love your tactical analysis of battles. Also, the narrative's been quite delightful. I'm very much looking forward to Fall of the Samurai and seeing more interesting and useful battle tactics than my usual forte there.
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Jul 24, 2014 14:24
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Being a lowly mac owner, I have heard rumours of an aspyr (shudder) port. Has anyone heard anything more concrete? I managed to play all the total war games up to napoleon on my old creaking machine (yep, same one I played shogun one on) which I keep around for low-spec PC only games, but this LP has really got me itching for shogun!
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Jul 24, 2014 14:36
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I'd started several campaigns of Fall of the Samurai but it doesn't "click" yet for me, but I'd love to see Shalcar doing an LP, it probably has the best naval combat of the entire series, ramming speed! with ironclads 
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Jul 24, 2014 14:42
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Sydin posted:I enjoy the level of detail they put into the tiny men on the boats. You can zoom in and hear them singing a song to keep the rowing in tune. There are some excellent shanties in Fall of the Samurai for those sailors. A lot of people didn't like the naval combat in Fall, I think, but I enjoyed the spectacle of it if nothing else.
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Jul 24, 2014 14:48
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Angry Lobster posted:I'd started several campaigns of Fall of the Samurai but it doesn't "click" yet for me, but I'd love to see Shalcar doing an LP, it probably has the best naval combat of the entire series, ramming speed! with ironclads I just fielded my first ironclad in my current play through of it and the first use was quite anti-climatic. I spend the first part of the battle maneuvering into position and then suddenly the battle is over as the first shot caused the enemy ship to explode. Combat in Fall can often be summed up with one idea: I brought cannons and you didn't, so I win.
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Jul 24, 2014 15:00
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