The Gempei War, Sengoku Jidai, and Boshin War are all major turning points in Japanese history. I like reading books and stories about them because the biggest theme in all 3 is the differences of social classes and their role in warfare. I got a realm divide on turn 44 with the Satsuma and won the campaign in 116 turns on legendary. Document[docs.google.com] The Art of War - Summary The Art of War is an interesting book, and I’ll go over a few important maxims that I believe relate to Shogun 2. Keep in mind that Shogun 2’s principles and AI are based off the book. The Art of War - Maxims Pt. I War is / A grave affair of state;... / A matter / To be pondered carefully. The meaning is simple; war is more of a last resort rather than a necessity. If you can take territories by other means (monks, revolts, even the metsuke), that is better than having to use an army. Discipline is / Organization, / Chain of command, / Control of expenditure. Its great to be good at land, naval, and siege battles, but you also need to be good at managing units and, in the campaign, money. The Way of War is / A Way of Deception. I like this maxim. In Shogun 2, textbook tactics are only useful in the beginning and end of a match. In between, almost anything can happen, from a one unit routing causing a chain rout to a general being sniped. You have to outdo your opponent by cunning most of the time rather than with brute force. Lure with bait / Strike with chaos. Feigning routs to make your opponent come to you can lead to their destruction. Of course you have to be careful of a fake retreat becoming a real one. If he is angry, / Disconcert him… / If he is relaxed, / Harry him. It is extremely easy to take the initiative when your opponent is provoking you. For example, light cavalry, bow cavalry, or carbine/revolver cav are all good at provoking your opponent into rash actions, causing disorder. Because Shogun 2 is a faster-paced game than the other Total War games, this could cause a provoked player to lose important units. Attack / Where he is / Unprepared; / Appear / Where you are / Unexpected. Obviously, attack where you are strong, defend where you are weak. To expand on this a little, you have to constantly persist in attacking a weak point and make your own weak point look like attacking it would be pointless. Chp 2. In War, / Victory should be / Swift. This maxim is important. Shogun 2 is a fast-paced game, meaning that a lot can happen in a short amount of time. With this being said, the faster you win, the better; prolonged fights in this game can become really boring and disadvantageous at times. According to the book, Julius Caesar knew this. One of the reasons he was so successful was because he was quick to take advantage of a situation and to remedy tactical mistakes. I have heard that in war / Haste can be / Folly; But have never seen / Delay that was / Wise. I learned this the hard way many times. When I started playing Napoleon, I believed that it was pointless to attack even if there was a clear advantage on my part, partially because I could risk losing my units in the process. Whenever I waited, however, I’d get overrun. It’s important not to hesitate if your opponent indirectly gives you an advantage unless you’re sure that it would be worse for you than him, just like chess. The Skillful Warrior / Never conscripts troops / A second time; / Never transports provisions / A third. The Skillful Warrior will come up multiple times in this guide. Technically speaking, the Skillful Warrior is more of a necessary evil than the goal of a good player. This maxim means you shouldn’t have to recruit more units than you’d need if you’ve already started a war and you’re well into it. In legendary campaigns, you might have to. Chp 3. Ultimate excellence lies / Not in winning / Every battle / But in defeating the enemy / Without ever fighting. This is the most important axiom related to Shogun 2. There are a lot of morale debuffs in Shogun 2 and the best way to win a battle in Shogun 2 is to cause chain routs. Retainers, your general, and the constant dynamic of battles can make this happen. Whether you do hammer and anvil tactics or the infamous “chariot-like pull through” tactic, it is better to cause chain routs than to fight a prolonged battle because you won’t lose as many men as your opponent. That is how you get decisive and heroic victories in multiplayer. In the preceding and succeeding titles, chain routs are quite difficult to make considering those dynamics and the debuffs, but it was possible. The highest form of warfare / Is to attack / Strategy itself;... / The lowest form of war is / To attack / Cities. / Siege warfare / Is a last resort. Attacking strategy itself can mean to take the initiative and attack before they do, therefore making them have to change their strategy or be defeated. However, being offensive only works if your opponent is forced to change their strategy. In some battles, you might have a good attacking force, but if your opponent has very good units of their own that can defend well and the ability to attack you at range, it might be you who has to change their tactics and that can cause problems. As for sieges, they are a last resort in the campaign. I don’t like sieges because in custom battles both sides have the same amount of funds, which doesn’t make sense since defending is easier than attacking in all cases. The Skillful Strategist / Defeats the enemy / Without doing battle, A mindgame quote. Again, cunning over brute force. A small force / Obstinately fighting / Will be captured / By a larger force. This can be applied in multiple situations. When you’re using a Shogun 2/traditional FotS army against a modern army, the battle will always go against you if you’re outnumbered, since line infantry rely on firepower over quality. Numbers do matter in Shogun 2 only if your units are of similar quality; ashigaru almost always are outmatched by samurai, yet two ashigaru for every one samurai per class is dangerous. In the campaign, try not to be outnumbered since you could lose more men than if you had the same amount as your opponent. Have a capable general / Unhampered by his sovereign. In multiplayer co-op campaigns, the person who is better at doing battle or in using armies should have complete control of them. In campaigns overall, having new generals to lead your armies is great, but you’ll find out sooner than later that it is your daimyo that should always be the highest rank, since he is not only your government’s leader but also your military leader. Hence the saying / “Know the enemy, / Know yourself, / And victory / Is never in doubt, / Not in a hundred battles. Before you start a multiplayer battle, you can click on your opponent’s profile picture to find out more about their avatar (leadership, marksmanship, or swordsmanship). Also, the more you fight against a person, the more you learn about them. The most important thing to take from this quote is the more you learn about the A.I, the easier battles become because they will always do the same thing and when you play other Total War games you’ll notice this, too. The A.I should form the basis of your tactics in multiplayer, not the other way around. Chp 5. Of old, / The Skillful Warrior / First ensured / His own / Invulnerability; / Then he waited for / The enemy’s / Vulnerability. To this day I still believe that in most cases, the winner is whoever makes the least amount of mistakes. You can make a few mistakes but make a comeback if your opponent doesn’t capitalize on them or makes a bigger mistake. Consider your strengths and their weaknesses. The Skillful Warrior / Can achieve / His own / Invulnerability; / But he can never bring about / The enemy’s / Vulnerability. The mistakes you make are up to you. You can prevent yourself from making them but the same applies to your opponent. Charging cavalry with no support to follow up with is a mistake that cannot be blamed on the receiver. Invulnerability is / Defence; / Vulnerability is / Attack. I like this maxim because it is so true in Shogun 2. Unlike the other Total War games I’ve played, it actually pays off to be defensive. There are a number of issues, fatigue and game speed being the two biggest. Defensive players can counter offensive moves while not having the same debuffs that the attacker would have. The Art of War - Maxims Pt. II Defence implies / Lack; / Attack implies / Abundance. Of course, a defender doesn’t attack because they don’t have what is necessary to do so. The same goes for an attacker; they won’t defend if they can’t. Usually this is determined by the units you bring, but it can also refer to the terrain; if you have the high ground and can keep it, don’t give it up, or if you’re defending a castle, chances are you’ll be outnumbered in an auto match. The victories / Of the Skillful Warrior / Are not / Extraordinary victories; The importance of this quote differs from how the book puts it. In the book, it talks about the victories not being well known. In the campaign, however, decisive and heroic victories help build fame. His victory is / Flawless / Because it is / Inevitable; / He lets slip no chance / Of defeating the enemy. I’ve displayed this many times in my streams. A victory is apparent if your strategy can counter your opponent’s before you start fighting. For example, in one of my battles (https://youtu.be/ChzBshLSbWg?t=35m41s) I already knew what I wanted to do based on my opponent’s army and executed it flawlessly, giving myself a quick rout and a decisive victory. The victorious army / Is victorious first / And seeks battle later; / The defeated army / Does battle first / And seeks victory later. You have to come up with a strategy before you enter the battlefield or you start a campaign. I know I’m years behind this but no matter what game you start, if you go in blindly, you’re in for disaster. True, a “trial and error” approach can be useful to see what works and what doesn’t, but you should at least know the basics, otherwise there is no point of trying at all. The defeated army in this maxim shouldn’t be seen as a negative, but rather as a learning experience, since they will try harder to win next time. Chp 5. (pg 172) In warfare, / Engage / Directly; / Secure victory / Indirectly. One of the basics of warfare that is almost always used; engage in the front (directly), attack the flanks and rear (indirectly). This allows for a secure victory. In the dynamics of War, / There are but these two-... / They give rise to each other / In a never-ending, / Inexhaustible circle. This emphasizes the point that I mentioned. Direct and indirect attack work together in harmony. They both give infinite permutations (a direct attack can be followed up by an indirect one, and vice versa). The warrior skilled at / Stirring the enemy / Provides a visible form, / And the enemy is sure to come. If you show some sort of weakness or vulnerability (leaving missiles too far from support, isolating units, etc), your opponent more likely than not will come to you because they believe this is an opportunity. Depending on your actions, it could be an advantage or disadvantage to you. The Skillful Warrior / Exploits / The potential energy; / He deploys his men / To their best / but relies on / The potential energy. It should be obvious that you should match units with what they’re good at, not use all units as universalists. Yari Samurai are anti-cavalry specialists while Katana Samurai are anti-infantry specialists. To use either of them in opposite roles is to waste their potential. This is why people tend to prefer Katana Samurai over Yari Samurai; there will almost always be more infantry than cavalry. Chp 6. The Skillful Warrior / Stirs / And is not stirred. Again, remember that Shogun 2 rewards players who defend/counterattack and punishes those who aggressively/recklessly push forward. It is easy to get stirred into combat, but avoid it and be patient. Appear at the place / To which he must hasten; / Hasten to the place / Where he least expects you. This maxim can be applied to both the battlefield and the campaign map. On the battlefield, it means making a maneuver that your opponent has to answer to. In order to do this, however, you not only have to take the initiative, but you have to be offensive. Remember that patience is key in Shogun 2 and if you overextend yourself, these maneuvers can be disastrous. On the campaign map, taking key cities can deter the AI from trying to take your settlements. If they have one settlement remaining, for example, the AI usually defends it unless it can take a nearby settlement. Sometimes they’ll leave the settlement undefended to take it. I advise that you take the settlement because if you do and the army is out of the province, the entire faction is destroyed. If you take it while the army is still in the province, they’ll just become rebels, which is obviously better than having to deal with the faction but at the same time it’s still an army. Be sure of victory / By attacking / The undefended. Part of a Napoleon: Total War quote about artillery says this: “keep pounding, and they’ll take casualties.” It’s important to note where a weak spot in both your own and your opponent's’ armies are, so that you can attack theirs but protect yours. Simply put, don’t make your weak spot look weak or don’t engage with it. The Skillful Warrior attacks / So that the enemy / Cannot defend; / He defends / So that the enemy / Cannot attack. This can be applied to micro. If you can out-micro your opponent, they won’t know which part is more important to pay attention to or defend, and their army will collapse. On the opposite end, you will be able to respond quickly to maneuvers made by your enemy, intercepting them and stopping any momentum that could’ve been gained otherwise. By reinforcing his vanguard, / He weakens his rear;... / By reinforcing every part, / He weakens every part. This is important because I see people do this all the time. The biggest problem with countering people’s moves is that it weakens a part of your army and it creates new advantages for their opponent. If you try to commit to every part of your army but your opponent focuses on one part (for example if you pike box or camp but your opponent attacks one side), chances are you’re going to lose. Weakness / Stems from / Preparing against attack. / Strength / Stems from / Obliging the enemy / To prepare against an attack. Continuing from the point made above, if your opponent does attack and focuses on one point, he can defeat it and then focus on another point and defeat that, too. Ashigaru - Summary Ashigaru are peasants; I don’t need to go into detail because you probably already know that. Like all fresh recruits, it is with experience that peasants truly become valuable. Ashigaru are investments. What this means is initially they’re bad, obviously. As the level up, however, you’ll notice that they are very cost effective, with some being almost as good as their samurai alternative. Yari Ashigaru Role: Multipurpose; anti-cavalry, charge deflector, prevent pull through tactic Upgrades: 2 attack, 4 defence, 3 morale Loan Sword Ashigaru Role: Multipurpose; anti-infantry, meatshield Upgrades: 4 attack, 2 defence, 3 morale Bow Ashigaru Role: Long-ranged skirmishing, screening Upgrades: 2 reload, 2 accuracy, fire arrows Matchlock Ashigaru Role: Powerful skirmishing, massed volleys, screening Upgrades: 2 reload, 2 accuracy, rapid volley Samurai - Summary Samurai are the elite soldiers of medieval Japan. You’ll be relying on them more than any other unit most of the time. They have great morale and good stats, but in the campaign they cost 2x more than an ashigaru unit, so great care is needed with them. It is safe to say that they are slightly more specialised than their ashigaru counterparts overall. Samurai don’t rely too much on veterancy, as they already have good stats. However, they can achieve some incredible feats with the skill upgrades. Katana Samurai Role: Anti-Infantry specialist, offensive vanguard Upgrades: 4 attack, 2 defence, 3 charge / Banzai/Scare enemies (Sword clan) No-Dachi Samurai Role: Shock infantry, offensive vanguard Upgrades: 4 attack, 2 defence, 3 charge / Scare enemies (Sword clan) Yari Samurai Role: Anti-cavalry specialist, flanking maneuvers Upgrades: 2 attack, 4 defence Naginata Samurai Role: Versatile; stop cavalry from pulling through, armoured vanguard, backbone against infantry Upgrades: 2 attack, 4 defence, 1 armour (optional), 2 morale Note: Are not affected by spear-boosting/debuffing retainers or Drill Yard (+1 defence) Bow Samurai Role: Long-ranged skirmishing, screening Upgrades: 2 reload, 2 accuracy, increased range Matchlock Samurai Role: Powerful skirmishing, screening Upgrades: 2 reload, 2 accuracy, rapid volley Warrior Monks - Summary Fervently religious, the warrior monks are dangerous in battle. This is mainly because they have more morale than samurai and have great base stats. However, they are expensive. Most of the time, the warrior monks don’t benefit a lot from veterancy when you compare it to their price. Often, it would be better to get 4 upgrades and leave it at that, but who knows. Naginata Warrior Monks Role: Versatile; great at tackling cavalry, good at tackling non-sword infantry, Warcry for support Upgrades: 2 attack, 4 defence, 2 fatigue resistance or speed or morale (optional) Bow Warrior Monks Role: Very long-ranged skirmishing, good at baiting, whistling arrows allow for severe debuff Upgrades: 2 reload, 2 accuracy, increased range (optional, consider the price) Matchlock Warrior Monks Role: Powerful skirmishing, increased range ability gives them the first shot Upgrades: 2 reload, 2 accuracy, rapid volley Cavalry - Summary Cavalry are essential in Shogun 2. They give your armies mobility, speed, and can cover ground, although they do lack the same power as infantry. Cavalry can upgrade fairly well, but the choices are different and sporadic since they don’t have the same roles. Yari Cavalry Role: Anti-cavalry, hit and run (infantry), devastating charge Upgrades: 2 attack, 2 defence Katana Cavalry Role: Anti-infantry, tackling melee generals, deny sword infantry charges Upgrades: 4 attack, 2 defence, 2 speed Bow Cavalry Role: Mobile long-ranged skirmishing, baiting, screening Upgrades: 2 reload, 2 accuracy Light Cavalry Role: Scouting, eyes and ears of the army, harassing skirmishing troops Upgrades: 2 attack, 2 defence, 3 increased spotting, 2 speed Great Guard Role: Anti-Cavalry, cataphract tactics Upgrades: none or 2 attack, 2 defence, 2 speed Siege & Stealth - Summary Siege units are what win siege battles; without them, taking and protecting a castle becomes a lot harder. Of course, not all siege units have to be seen to be deadly… Only the ninja is worth upgrading. The other units (except the DLC ones) usually don’t see a difference with veterancy. Fire Projecting Mangonels Role: Fire over walls and into infantry, Area of Effect Upgrades: none European Cannons Role: Destroying walls or gates Upgrades: none Fire Rockets Role: Multipurpose; can tackle walls, towers, or units at an extremely long range Upgrades: 2 reload Fire Bomb Throwers Role: Offensively, to destroy walls. Defensively, to stop units from climbing/sacrificing themselves Upgrades: none Kisho Ninja Role: Stealth specialists, shock value, partial guerilla warfare, debuffing (veteran) Upgrades: 4 attack, 2 defence, 2 speed or charge / Armour Piercing (Sword clan) Heroes - Summary Men that excel at the task at hand, heroes are the best of the best. Whether it’s killing units, holding the line, or both, heroes can always be relied on get the job done. Most of the time heroes will not rout until they have 10% of their original size has been destroyed. Heroes also have about 3-4 more hitpoints than regular units, so their survivability is fairly good. For the most part, heroes don’t need upgrades. The biggest handicap is their price; that combined with their size (¼ of a regular unit, such as melee samurai) means it’s hard to make them cost effective in most battles. This is why most people don’t use them. For example, the Katana Hero can kill most units twice or thrice as fast as Katana Samurai, but they lose the same amount of models when under fire from matchlocks and muskets. When the unit size is set to large, this means that every model in a Katana Samurai unit is worth 6.25 talents but the Katana Hero is ~43.3. There are a lot of circumstances and possibilities where the hero can be less useful and litter where they can be. Katana Hero Role: Anti-infantry, morale support, shock value, spearhead Upgrades: none Yari Hero Role: Anti-cavalry, morale support, hold the line Upgrades: none Bow Hero Role: Extremely long ranged skirmishing, excellent for sniping high value targets Upgrades: none, although whistling arrows can be useful Naginata Warrior Monk Hero Role: Versatile; excel at tackling most cavalry, great in the centre of an army, warcry for support Upgrades: none Note: This is a DLC unit, but I felt it would be better to put them in this category. DLC units - Summary Shogun 2 isn’t really a pay-to-win type of game, but I must admit having the Ikko Ikki pack is very useful for new players because the unit (or units if Loan Sword Ashigaru come with it) don’t have to be unlocked by capturing provinces. These units are unique in the sense that they either combine two traits together or are slightly better than other units in their class. The problem with DLC units is that there are cases where they don’t properly synergize with base game units. A good example is the use of Hattori Bandits in multiplayer. Because you have to get them to level 9 to have them snipe units, their use is fairly limited to catching your opponent off guard. Also, their ranged stats are bad. On the other hand, units such as the Portuguese Tercos are good at going solo and usually don’t require support. Therefore if you like using units that work well with you, think twice about getting DLCs. |
