I just realised this is the same Creative Assembly that made Stormrise: A game so bad I am yet to make it through the second level without it crashing.
Stormrise was made by their Australian studio which has since been disbanded (I believe).
Played the demo a bit yesterday. Combat seems very fluid compared to past games (and much quicker). Didn't get to play the campaign tutorial, but I hear it's quite improved.
Positive reviews on TWC forums made me buy Shogun 2. I played about 24 hours and I have to say it is the best vanilla tw game so far. What I like the most is that alliances actually work. Nevertheless, if you want great sp experience, install mods. Right now, I'm checking out the mp. The GeekNights Steam group is now a real clan and I'll fight for its honour and glory! Since I have almost taken my A-levels, expect me to be a lot more active in here.
I currently have a love/hate relationship with Shogun. On one hand, I love the graphics, the incorporation of auto-replenishing troops, state-building, etc. But some of the combat things have me a bit frustrated. For example: - I can take over enemy boats/ships and capture them...but I can not seem to replenish sailors on the ships. So I'll start a sea battle and two previously captured boats will just sink because there is no one manning them. - Storming a castle with less than maximum troops generally ends in disaster, no matter how few enemies there are inside. - My men flee constantly and at the slightest bit of loss. They're all dishonorable sissies with no will to fight unless the odds are overwhelmingly for them. - The economy doesn't seem to keep up with the pace needed in the game. In order to complete the game in the number of turns you have and 'win', the economy needs to move way, way faster than it does. You can't simply conquer/sack your way to money because people in the towns will almost always revolt immediately if you do anything but simply occupy. The total army size you need to actually conquer the territories you need is extremely large and generally unsustainable with the low speeds at which you gain income. For example, upgrading a major city in the first 20 or so turns can cost a upwards of 4800 gold, but also nearly 5 turns. In addition, in order to create many important money-generating structures, you also need to do the 'research' thing. While I like the research trees and skill trees, they also take a very, very long time for the really important stuff. There just isn't enough time (IMHO, and I've only played for a dozen hours or so total) to conquer what you need to conquer because the economy system doesn't allow for it.
- My men flee constantly and at the slightest bit of loss. They're all dishonorable sissies with no will to fight unless the odds are overwhelmingly for them.
It seems like they took this directly from samurai movie tropes! It always seems like the villagers/conscripts/whomever are too entirely willing to run away at the first sight of resistance.
My motherfucking Samurai Yari and Samurai archers will book, even if my general is on a horse right behind them while I furiously click on the rally icon.
My motherfucking Samurai Yari and Samurai archers will book, even if my general is on a horse right behind them while I furiously click on the rally icon.
You'd think Samurai would stand and fight and not run like some dog! Hopefully its just an AI tweaking out.
In order to repair your ships and recruit new sailors, send them to the next harbour and use the ship-repair-button on the bottom left corner. I used to do all the sieges myself, until the minor ones got boring. So I started to auto-resolve them, which actually works really good if you have superior numbers. Of course, I still fight the interesting ones myself. So at which point do you lose the sieges, maybe I can give you some tips. The key of the tw battle system is to concentrate on the low morale troops of the enemy. If you manage to make them route, it will cause a chain reaction and soon all the surrounding units will flee in terror, too. Another good possibility is to snipe the hostile general. Especially, armies with high ashigaru proportions are more likely to lose their already low morale. side note: One of the best tw mods I've tried so far is darth one's. Its focus is on improving the real-time battles according to history.
My problem with these games is that they focus too much on the world level and not enough on the actual battles. I'm really more interested in a detailed simulation of a particular interesting battle than I am in auto-resolving to win a more abstracted and less realistic high-level game.
Oh man. I played as the Oda last night, on normal difficulty, and I was utterly trounced within five turns. Once the other factions smell blood in the water, they strike fast. I fended off several stacks roughly the same size as my army, but my army just got chipped away at so frequently that even fighting from behind the walls of my castle wasn't enough to save the clan.
My problem with these games is that they focus too much on the world level and not enough on the actual battles. I'm really more interested in a detailed simulation of a particular interesting battle than I am in auto-resolving to win a more abstracted and less realistic high-level game.
You can play multiplayer. It has a sort of Avatar based unlock system where you have to win multiplayer battles in order to conquer different locations on the map. Certain provinces unlock certain units or abilities. However, you can play a classic battle if you want, giving both of you an even footing with all the units available.
If anyone is up for some multiplayer, let me know. Like Rym, I enjoy the battles much more than the campaign map.
Yeah, that's exactly what I want, too. And it is also the reason why i like the tw games so much. They have as far as I know the best real-time battles. There are lots and lots of people that play those games only for the singleplayer. They love to dive into the specific historic era, grow their own super generals with personal battle history and to rule a kingdom on their own. I also enjoy this particular part of the game, yet, I distinguish between the awesome grand strategy games as EU3 and HOI3 and the superior real-time battles of tw games. The campaign strategy aspect of Shogun 2 is rather a nice extra. So everytime a new tw is released I check it out, play the campaign, then I play the mp and if I'm in the mood, I install various mods for better immersion and gameplay in sp. In the end the tw games are flawed, but they are unrivaled in their scope.
My men flee constantly and at the slightest bit of loss. They're all dishonorable sissies with no will to fight unless the odds are overwhelmingly for them.
My motherfucking Samurai Yari and Samurai archers will book, even if my general is on a horse right behind them while I furiously click on the rally icon.
Make sure you keep your strongest units in the center of your line. If the enemy is able to split your forces, you've essentially lost the battle. While Samurai Bowmen are better than Ashigaru at melee defense, they will be cut down like butter by any sort of sword or cavalry unit. Keep them in loose formation in front and enable skirmish mode so they retreat behind your main lines if charged.
The most important tip with regards to morale is to never let any sort of enemy movement happen behind them. Even the sight of cavalry maneuvering at their rear during an engagement will severely damage their morale. Position your yari units on your flanks and be prepared to fend off any cavalry. If you've eliminated all enemy cavalry already, use them to envelope any units your sword infantry are engaging.
Being able to skirmish effectively with your cavalry is a large portion of the battle. Knowing when to strike and when to pull away is of utmost importance. Timing a cavalry charge into the rear of an infantry line ala hammer and anvil will break the enemy.
Read up on the Battle of Cannae and other historical battles. You will learn a lot of directly applicable tactics.
In singleplayer it is also important which clan you chose. For example, the Hattori units are really expensive, even the ashigaru cost almost twice as much as normal. But the Hattori infantry units have undergone special ninja training that enables them to get much closer in deployment phase before the battle starts. They are predestined for ambush techniques. Also, the Uesugi clan relies heavily on maximized trade income (they even have bonuses) to pay for their elite monk troops. a good tactic is to use naginata samurai to absorb arrows, while your troops with weaker armor can advance (the monks).
Comments
What I like the most is that alliances actually work. Nevertheless, if you want great sp experience, install mods. Right now, I'm checking out the mp. The GeekNights Steam group is now a real clan and I'll fight for its honour and glory!
Since I have almost taken my A-levels, expect me to be a lot more active in here.
- I can take over enemy boats/ships and capture them...but I can not seem to replenish sailors on the ships. So I'll start a sea battle and two previously captured boats will just sink because there is no one manning them.
- Storming a castle with less than maximum troops generally ends in disaster, no matter how few enemies there are inside.
- My men flee constantly and at the slightest bit of loss. They're all dishonorable sissies with no will to fight unless the odds are overwhelmingly for them.
- The economy doesn't seem to keep up with the pace needed in the game. In order to complete the game in the number of turns you have and 'win', the economy needs to move way, way faster than it does. You can't simply conquer/sack your way to money because people in the towns will almost always revolt immediately if you do anything but simply occupy. The total army size you need to actually conquer the territories you need is extremely large and generally unsustainable with the low speeds at which you gain income. For example, upgrading a major city in the first 20 or so turns can cost a upwards of 4800 gold, but also nearly 5 turns. In addition, in order to create many important money-generating structures, you also need to do the 'research' thing. While I like the research trees and skill trees, they also take a very, very long time for the really important stuff.
There just isn't enough time (IMHO, and I've only played for a dozen hours or so total) to conquer what you need to conquer because the economy system doesn't allow for it.
I used to do all the sieges myself, until the minor ones got boring. So I started to auto-resolve them, which actually works really good if you have superior numbers. Of course, I still fight the interesting ones myself. So at which point do you lose the sieges, maybe I can give you some tips.
The key of the tw battle system is to concentrate on the low morale troops of the enemy. If you manage to make them route, it will cause a chain reaction and soon all the surrounding units will flee in terror, too. Another good possibility is to snipe the hostile general.
Especially, armies with high ashigaru proportions are more likely to lose their already low morale.
side note: One of the best tw mods I've tried so far is darth one's. Its focus is on improving the real-time battles according to history.
If anyone is up for some multiplayer, let me know. Like Rym, I enjoy the battles much more than the campaign map.
grow their own super generals with personal battle history and to rule a kingdom on their own. I also enjoy this particular part of the game, yet,
I distinguish between the awesome grand strategy games as EU3 and HOI3 and the superior real-time battles of tw games. The campaign strategy aspect of Shogun 2 is rather a nice extra. So everytime a new tw is released I check it out, play the campaign, then I play the mp and
if I'm in the mood, I install various mods for better immersion and gameplay in sp.
In the end the tw games are flawed, but they are unrivaled in their scope.
The most important tip with regards to morale is to never let any sort of enemy movement happen behind them. Even the sight of cavalry maneuvering at their rear during an engagement will severely damage their morale. Position your yari units on your flanks and be prepared to fend off any cavalry. If you've eliminated all enemy cavalry already, use them to envelope any units your sword infantry are engaging.
Being able to skirmish effectively with your cavalry is a large portion of the battle. Knowing when to strike and when to pull away is of utmost importance. Timing a cavalry charge into the rear of an infantry line ala hammer and anvil will break the enemy.
Read up on the Battle of Cannae and other historical battles. You will learn a lot of directly applicable tactics.