Lets Play: Total War, Shogun 2 (Pre-Rise)

[Mantaray]

EDIT: poll is live. if you have a favourite few, you can vote more then once.

Hello Dolts! welcome to my first Lets Play!

Im going to be doing this on a image basis for the world map with videos of the big battles and sieges (plus commentary!).
first we need some kind of consensus on what clan to chose
the options are as follows



*Chosokabe
Increased income from farms
Reduced recruitment cost and upkeep for all bow infantry
Can recruit superior bow infantry

*Date
Charge bonus to all units
Reduced recruitment cost and upkeep for no-dachi samurai
Can recruit superior no-dachi samurai

*Hattori
+2% to the success chance of ninja actions
Specialist Hattori units can hide effectively in battle
Specialist Hattori units possess kisho training

*Hojo
Castles are cheaper to build and repair
Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for siege units
Can recruit superior siege units

*Mori
Increased campaign map movement range for all ships
Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for all ships
Can recruit superior ships

*Oda
Improved morale for all ashigaru
Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for all ashigaru

*Shimazu
Increased loyalty for all generals
Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for katana samurai
Can recruit superior katana heroes
Can recruit superior katana samurai

*Takeda
Improved morale for cavalry
Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for all cavalry
Can recruit superior cavalry

*Tokugawa
+2% to the success chance of metsuke actions
Bonus to diplomatic relations
Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for kisho ninja
Can recruit superior kisho ninja

*Uesugi
+2% to the success chance of monk actions
Increased trade income
Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for warrior monks
Can recruit superior warrior monks

Once we've got that down. i'll do the first 2 years and we'll see where we go!

[Zallis]

I'm partial to the chosokabe myself, because superior archers make castle defense loltastically easy. It's a minor point in the end, since you'll probably conquer the island you're on first, so you won't be attacked too often. Later on, with a full stack of mounted archers and their stupidly high accuracy, you can bleed armies dry before they ever reach your lands by continuously engaging, using all your arrows, then retreating from the battle.

Shimazu are also nice because you're really close to most of the trade points. I think you can access 2 of them with just one movement. Better katana samurai are also great, especially since they're the only advanced unit you can have in reasonably large numbers without completely crippling your economy.

[ShinZed]

My vote is for Hattori. Why brute force everything when you have ninja's round every corner to make things easier for you? Plus the central location will make for fairly constant conflict.

[Mantaray]

that's true Shinzed, but more expensive samurai with less moral can be quite a pain. but they do get kisho training.

[Pocktio]

Chosokabe!

Increased farm production is so exciting

Consensus achieved?

[Zallis]

Total Farm, Shogun 2!

"Our men are retiring from the rice field! Shamefow dispray!"

[Ewokz]

I vote Shimazu, massed Katana charges are awesome, you have all the trade routes to the west and the island is pretty defend-able. Some of the other factions on the island can be a massive problem though.

[Mantaray]

is 20 farms like 30 if chosokabe lifts?
serious note, gonna go out for a few hours and when i get back. we'll roll. so get your votes in. (crap. should have done a poll)

EDIT: poll is live. if you have a favourite few, you can vote more then once.

[Coey]

Oda

[Methuselath]

Hattori (argh, the historian in me cries) is a good choice for an action-packed game; although if Samurai is the issue then Oda is a good substitute.

Delicious access to the provinces of the Hojo (hey-o Armoury and Horse breeders to the east!), even more mouth watering access to both Armoury AND Bow-maker to the North. Both requires a good blood-soaked slog through two possible super-power that is the Ikko-Ikki and the Tokugawa and an already established clan of the Imagawa. There's also a smattering of shrines (yay monks!) and ninja villages (good enough trade substitute to farms) on the way to Kyoto.

There's good promise for a doom-stack army when Japan inevitably turns on you, with enough passes and open territories to keep the play through interesting with non-stop conflict. No choke points, no turtling. I say go for the Oda.

(Also mass Ashigaru army? Yay!)

[Thorno]

Chosokabe.

Because farms are the shit.

[Sinogrim]

I voted Hattori or Uesugi.

Though I would've liked to see Ikko Ikki, but it is not in the poll .

[OpelFalcon]

Chosokabe, For the farmland and those archers.

[Codex]

is 20 farms like 30 if chosokabe lifts?

omg this is classic. So glad I understood that reference.

[Zallis]

We should totally go Hojo because no one wants it!

[Mantaray]

AND SO! it is decided. Chosokabe wins by a landslide victory! i'll get started and post up soon

[Mantaray]

http://www.livestream.com/doltmanta/...edium=ui-thumb

First 2 years are up!

Where do i go first? do i finish off the kono having dealth with their army? or prehaps go and strike the miyoshi?
suggestions, questions and feedback!
tomorrow: 5 more years! (trying to keep segments down to ~30 mins, after the first few battles it goes quite quick)

EDIT: link fixed

[n0z3k1ll3r]

I think go for Christianity. Getting the guns earlier makes a big difference, and they'll mesh well with your above par archers for epic firepower.

[Mantaray]

well you say that. but all you get is imported matchlock ashigaru and European cannons. the cannons are good in opening sieges, and the ashigaru are good for.. well.. nothing realy. the reload skill and accuracy means they'll struggle to break a half decent samurai unit.
samurai matchlocks are amazing though. but the only short-cut to that is black powder mastery.

the nanban quater trading ship is an absolute beast tho. its essentialy a 'european black ship' but with half as many cannons. still! 333 crew is no laughing matter. especialy with the only true match in the o ataka bune only manning 100. and cannon bune only fielding 4 per side.

[Iamme]

Aww, Chosokabe. Any S2TW Let's Play is welcome, but they're so bland. I really want to see someone play with Uesugi or Tokugawa. Uesugi I haven't done, but I have fond memories of a trade and agent empire under the future Shogunate.

Though if you're going Chosokabe, might as well go Christian to spice things up. It gives your clan bonuses something to do, as well.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Matchlock Ashigaru in a front rank with archers behind (probably yaris between the two) means potentially a lot of firepower being directed at the front units of the enemy formation; they hopefully catch the arrows and the matchlocks simultaneously. Although I'll admit that I mostly used them as Oda clan where obviously they're a bit more useful.

[Nurizeko]

Takeda have a fun starting position.

[Mantaray]

i'd like to say that actually. i DID miss out a clan. i have the ikko ikki DLC. and i'd also like to echo any opinions that maybe chosokabe can be very bland. once you own that island it's basically solid. been reading on the TW forums that the AI seems completely unable to land invasions via ships.

we're only 2 years in. if you guys would like to see a restart as something with a bit more flavour like say, hojo for the lolartillery or ikko ikki for the interesting monks. do speak!

[Nurizeko]

Takeda or Oda will probably make for a more interesting start. First time me and my mate played a coop campaign he started as Takeda and got wiped out because he wasn't so careful. We didn't make that mistake the second time.

[Mantaray]

i did have an interesting idea.
basically. i make a quick kit-bash mod where every community member who's interested gets a custom unit.
and i take around an army made by the community to kill everyone i meet.

Fairly simple guys,
pick what type of unit you want, either

* Yari Samurai
* Bow Samurai
* Katana Samurai
* Naginata Samurai
* No-dachi samurai

or if you really want, you can be an ashigaru unit.

then, i crack out a custom unit (Manta's Katana Krushers)
with balanced alterations (ie, 5% men reduction for +1melee attack basic)
or anything else cool you suggest.
then. when i come home on Wednesday in about 92 hours time. i'll get cracking.

[Iamme]

I'm a fan of Naginata Samurai and/or Bow Warrior Monks. Either are pretty badass when used well.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Yari Ashigaru!!!

[Nurizeko]

Send some Yari Samurai my way laddie.

Nuri's Shafters.

[Pocktio]

No-No Pockti-dachi. The ultimate surprise/rape unit.

[Mantaray]

So far we have:

Iammenata Samurai
Yari n0z3garu
Nuri's Shafters
No-No Pockti-dachi

im gonna start working on tis tonight chaps. closing date will be friday night 6pm GMT+1. thats when i intend to finish off and get started. i'll be livestreaming from 7pm http://livestream.com/doltmanta

keep'em comming. to everyone who's allready contributed a unit feel free to contribute another one in case we dont have enough to field an army.

[Rook]

sounds like an awesome idea. Katana Samurai are my favourite so id like to claim them. Clumsy and easily distracted, these Rookish swordsmen will hold the line against any enemy that attacks...mainly because they are lazy and don't want to run anywhere.

[Mantaray]

Rooktana Samurai. +1 melee defence -1 charge bonus.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Can I have the other Ashigaru units (unless someone else wants them). Give them even less effective combat stats but increased pluck (morale).

[Iamme]

Unrelated to units, can I encourage a picture log like the other let's plays we have? I like the highlights and decisions format a lot more than sifting through a long video for the interesting parts. Just my 2c.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

The picture format also makes it much easier to gloss over your failures and highlight your successes so you come across as way more awesome than you actually are. Not that I do that at all.

[Mantaray]

okay. pictolog for the campaign map. and i'll record the battles for people who want to see how there units do.
n0z, would you be happy with 2 yari ashigaru? sorry but if i was to reduce bow ashigaru combat abilities they wouldn't even hit a barn at 20 paces.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Yeah dual n0z3garu would be awesome

[Zallis]

Can we only have those units? Mounted bow samurai (I think that's what they were called) were the shit! It's also how samurai traditionally conducted warfare. More accuracy but less ammunition and shorter range would be a pretty awesome way to go - every shot WILL count, but it's not like you can just have them sit back and make shit disappear.

[Mantaray]

my experience with mounted bow samurai has been very mixed. if the enemy has no cavalry then is an excellent asset. but if they have light cavalry then it all goes downhill.
also your unit wouldn't be included until i rack up some bajutsu research/structures.

we don't have any dolt archer samurai yet. interested?

[Nurizeko]

Bow cav is fine but be prepared to micro and always take some Yari cav with you.

Bow cav are to be used as skirmishers, hit and run, to wittle the enemy down but most of all unsettle him by flanking and making him reposition and mess around.

A valuable unit as long as you;re comfortable and confident with their micro. Plus on maps with capture points, they amp up your manoeuvrability nicely, dismount cap, remount and off you go.

But like most vanilla units would think hard about taking them against FoTS armies.

[Mantaray]

in multiplayer yes. in the campaign. not so much... the AI doesn't seem to care at all about bow cav unless they have a cavalry unit. in which case you'll spend all your time running away from the fast cav that are more them happy to just chase you around the board.

[another penguin]

Well its looking like you're in need of some archers, so I'll choose some bow samurai. Call them the penguin perforators or something. These guys are know for their 'strategic maneouvres', "we're not retreating, we're advancing, towards future victory."

[Mantaray]

okay. we're nearly at the deadline chaps.

[Mantaray]

despite a functioning testbed i've decided to delay this till monday afternoon. turns out my weekend plans demand my attention this evening (packing for a trip)
also this means i'll be leaving the community unit roster open for the weekend.

we currently have

Iammenata Samurai
Yari n0z3garu x2
Nuri's Shafters
No-No Pockti-dachi
Rooktana Samurai
Afoxakabe Bow Samurai
Penguin Perforators

its a fairly even spread so go for it chaps

[Nurizeko]

Haha Relic Dolt's taking over Japan, this could potentially be a beautiful moment in forum history.