Shogun 2: Total War Heaven

My Shimazu (Normal/Normal) campaign started out as you'd expect with a war with the Ito. After I had dealt with them the Shino declared war, forcing me to arrange military access with the Sagara to attack them. After defeating a large Shino army approaching my capital their three towns were poorly defended and I seized them.

The Honshu provinces right across the land-bridge in the north-east of Kyushu were owned by the Ouchi, so to protect my flank I made an alliance with them.

Not wanting to get diplomatic penalties for cancelling the military access with the Sagara, I sat back and built my economy until the treaty ran out before declaring war. They had two regions, which I took in just a few turns.

Now my attention turned east. The Ouchi still held the first few territories of Honshu, so I didn't attack there to keep them from backstabbing me. Instead I boarded ship and conquered Shikoku. The Chosokabe Bow Samurai proved tough, but I did beat them in the end.

My allies the Ouchi had been at war with the Kikkawa (who owned three provinces north of Shikoku) and their allies the Hatano (who owned the rest of Honshu west of Kyoto). I decided to help them and declared war on both. I first attacked the Kikkawa. The first battle against their army was pretty epic, but after that their provinces fell like dominoes.

This left just the Hatano. Relying on the Ouchi to keep them busy near the former Kikkawa provinces, I landed my forces at Kii and started taking the poorly-defended Hatano provinces there. After capturing three of them, the inevitable happened: feeling threatened the Shogun declared me an enemy of state and all other clans lined up to declare war on me. With regular payments I managed to keep the Ouchi at my side, as I really didn't want to open up another front in a war I couldn't afford already.

The biggest problem with the realm divide is that you'll lose most of trading partners. My economy was floating on trade, so my 6000 koku profit quickly turned to a 5000 koku loss per turn. Only by disbanding garrisons (praying the AI wouldn't do a naval invasion) did I manage to stay more or less afloat, although my 50,000 treasury shrank to 4,000 at alarming pace.

I realized the only way to stop this was by expanding quickly, so I gathered what forces I had left and started taking Hatano territories. Two armies met up near Kyoto and together they captured it without too many losses.

With Kyoto under my control things started to straigthen out. The Hatano had been beaten and taking their remaining provinces was more an exercise of repetition than of skill. The biggest problem was defending the are just east of Kyotot: there, the Hatana had one last army left and the other clans to the east were invading. This is where my ninja's really became important, as sabotaging armies helps a long way to breaking up one big battle you'll lose in two two smaller ones you can win.

After a while the invasions dropped in frequency and I was free to continue my conquest. My battle-hardened veterans had little trouble defeating the enemy greenhorns, and so a few years later victory was mine.

One good thing I can see from reviewers (experts and normal players like us) is the AI has improved and the campaign is a real challenge!

[This message has been edited by Legion Of Hell (edited 03-18-2011 @ 01:03 PM).]

-Date Campaign- (Normal)

I'm at turn 5 at the moment, i started off with a rebellion out of rivalry between two brothers, so first thing i had to do was make a bowmen and a spearmen. Than add them to my army outside and march at the rebel brother. After defeating him i got my first bonus. Than i went onto war with the Mogami.

Two years later, Fall 1547 i had a fight with the Mogami leader.
Battle of Ugo Fields: Phyrric Victory. Which gave me another sweet bonus ^.^

I'm loving the abilities to increase your general and learning the Arts.
The bonus stuff is really comfortable
And as being used to playing European factions, i just love having a coastal save side in my back, instead of two sides fighting enemies lol, just like the Shimazu who died in the 3rd round. But seriously, the Oda got crushed in the first turn at my campaign to.. Alot of clans actually die, it's obvious but still it sounds kind of weird.

I'm 5 years further now, and i still only have 2 provinces, i've been through the entrance era of this campaign, i now got hold of no-dachi swordsmen! This will probably loud in multiple victories on the Hatakeyama.

I really enjoy playing Date! To bad i have to conquer Fukushima lol.
But the 'normal' is kind of easy to go through for now. I think i'm going to try a Hojo or Mori Hard campaign after this, the one with the special boates.

I also had a mission to conquer Sado, i send a boat to scout since someone said it was hell. Well, when i saw all those soldiers when i pressed on the castle i was like Wow THAT many? i have like 3/4 of the amount, but no i can't fend off that much infantry lol.

[This message has been edited by Nick The Hun (edited 03-18-2011 @ 02:30 PM).]

Chosokabe. Current date 1571. Normal/Normal

After a positive start, conquering Shikoku within three months of starting, I made the worst possible decision, taking an expeditionary force commanded by my Daimyo onto the mainland, where I conquered a Mori city, before being kicked out again by an enormous Hattori army, hidden in a forest nearby. I lost my Daimyo, leaving me with one general, the Daimyo's underage son, and leaving the wife of my late Daimyo as the regent, indeed, the new Daimyo. Underneath the the new Daimyo, the clan prospered. Proving that women are better at multitasking, two new fronts were opened on the mainland, with much greater success. Claiming my initial two provinces provided me with a firm foothold from which to expand, and now I stand as the most powerful clan on the mainland, thanks largely to two fully levelled ninjutsu, and a monk who has done sterling service inciting revolts in provinces that I am interested in. By doing this, he enables me to take provinces from rebels, without going to war.

Two years after the commencement of the Chosokabe-Mori war, I captured the last Mori province, and they were destroyed, before re-emerging several years later from another factions rebellious citizens. In 1570, after the death of my Daimyo, the woman who had lead the clan from 4 provinces to 21, one of my other generals acceded to the throne. He did not last long, dying early, and was followed by another one of my generals. This new Daimyo is the first of my Daimyo to have any children, and I hope that his family can produce the first true dynasty of clan chiefs. After his accession, he celebrated by reopening the war against the resurgent Mori, and their Ouchi allies. Progress was swift, and the Mori are once again reduced to a single province, which I intend to take shortly. Little progress has been made against the Ouchi, mostly because I have not bothered to move against them. Not out of fear or anything, just that they pose no threat. Soon however, they will feel the wrath of the Chosokabe. The darkness of the Chosokabe will spread to engulf the island nation.

The actions of the Chosokabe have not gone unnoticed by the Shogun. Although we are his allies, he trembles in his boots, and will soon realise that he has no choice but to submit to our will. It has seemingly escaped his notice also that every single one of his predecessors has died beneath the blade of a Chosokabe ninja. He will be no different. He is Shogun only until we decide otherwise.

Awesome write ups guys

Nothing much has happened since my first post. I've lost 1/3 of my territory both to rebels and also to Takeda/Hattori alliance.

I did however scramble an army to defeat the Date in battle and I should probably look at swooping up north to eliminate them so I have a secure back and can then focus on the grind to get to Kyoto.

Figured I'd better start a Hattori campaign, seeing as I've got the Limited edition. Wiped out two small clans already, allied with pretty much everyone else my province is surrounded by, and using my (rather experienced by now) ninja to keep the Ikko Ikko down a bit and stop them from getting their third province

Hows it going as the Hattori? I was tempted to play as them but am going to opt for a faction a little further from Kyoto first.

Just finished my Uesugi campaign last night by meeting the victory objectives. I control all of Japan from the north down to Kyoto and the surrounding settlements. Only the (very) powerful Shimazu and Chosokabe exist on their respective islands. The Amako control the segment of territory on Honshu that I don't. The Chosokabe already repelled two invasion armies. So I was content to call it a day. I really like that your faction name changes once your Daimyo becomes the Shogun.

I am playing as the Shimazu. I can't remember off the top of my head what year but it has been quite a while. Normal/Normal

I have had the realm divide and I am on the door step of Kyoto. I have three identical armies consisting of: 1 general, 2 katana cav, 2 yari cav, 3 samurai archers, 1 naginata samurai, 11 katana samurai (I know... I love them). I find this army setup for me anyway to be really good. I have one army in the West that is standing by to take kyoto. My Eastern army has been battered to pieces. The tokugaws, shogunate and hatano sent a full stack army (each) to attack my army. I warded them off for now. My third army is returning from crushing a naval invasion of the bingo province by the shogunate.

Everyone is at war with me. There is an alliance across Japan determined to stop me.

My agents are in the heart of Kyoto doing as much as they can to be a hinderer to the shogunate.

My economy is doing rather well, 5000 a turn. I am using the money to build more troops and trying to build more sword schools and encampents. I am using my "vassal system" (explained in another thread - Realm Divide) and it is working quite well.

I am all Shinto religions orientated. I destroy every nanbu trading dock and I honor the gods everytime I get an event where I have to pay tribute. Most of my techs (arts )are done researching. I am split on going for economic or military because both of the arts are not really that important.

My clan is going pretty well and powerful.

I suspect that in a few turns I will launch the final assault on Kyoto. It will be a hard battle though because I will leave my regions open to amphibious assaults and the alliance has massive reserves of man power. I will let you know how it goes next time - probably by tomorrow.

My problem is that I'm still trying to learn all the names. I think I'd better set up a new campaign to get a ninja to explore round and learn all the clans in my area, because I blitzed a few

i started a new campaign not to long ago as the shimazu. I control my home island, and the 3 trade nodes directly to the west of me. I am allied to the Hojo clan and the Chosokabe. Hojo is at war with Tokugawa and Ashina clans, which are allied,so i joined the war and invaded their coastal regions with a full stack of samurai and anoher 14 units of mostly ashigaru fighters. I have taken 2 ashina regions and 2 tokugawa regions. After i defeat both clans and build up a nice little territory there, i will invade the Date, and conquer the four end regions they own. Im sure by then i will have gotten the realm divide message, and will be forced to push through to Kyoto. Shouldnt be two difficult this time around, as long as i plan my steps carefully.

I have completed Date normal-normal short campaign and Takeda hard-hard campaign.
Nothing much to say for Date simply wash out everything in my way to Kyoto :P.
Takeda is harder since horseman are terribly weak again the cheap yari ashigaru, especially in hard difficulty. My katana cavalry lvl 6 with 5 charge bonus still lose again a yari lvl 3... However with the tokugawa + iwa something alliance I finished off date with ease and have a great base to move on.

I just tried Oda hard-hard and got owned after the second turn lol. Extremely hard initially since you're surrounded by 3 enemies and a rebel.

The AI and difficulty level in STW2 really improves.

[This message has been edited by Grey704 (edited 03-30-2011 @ 00:56 AM).]

Continuation of my Shimazu Campaign:

I have taken Kyoto. Now I have 3 full stack armies in the front. What I did was that I would conquer regions, let them rebel and recapture the region, then I would take the region again and would make them my vassal. This way I had people fighting for me and I could use the break to rebuild my army and fleet. I had four vassals under me, the Oda, Asai, Takado, and someone else. The Takado have betrayed me but it will be easy to crush them again.

My economy is doing really well. I am making about 5000 a turn but I make a lot of money just looting towns. I love using ninjas. My fleet is in tatters and the Hatano are raping my trade routes.

The hard part now is that the Hatano have landed a massive army on northern Kyushu. The only army have around is a quarter stack in central Kyushu. What do you guys think I should do? There is no way I am winning that battle. Should I try to make peace with Hatano for a lot of money or let them take it and have a bitter struggle in my homeisland and risk the loss of my capital?

It won't be worth the money to make peace. Just get a stack back there asap and retake your territory. Chances are at that stage of the game if you pay them Koku for peace they'll only declare war again a few turns later so you'll be back in the same situation.

You should have a fleet guarding your coasts and some sort of army hanging around in anticipation of an invasion.

I've tried to get started on a Hard Mori campaign and a Hard Tokugawa campaign but I failed both after varying amount of time. I'm gonna start as Tokugawa again later because I like their starting predicament.

I actually moved past this yesterday.

So now in my Shimazu campaign:

I now have about 9 vassals under me including the tokugawas and oda using the vassal system I explained earlier. The only flaw in this plan was that I couldn`t expand my borders via land armies very efficiently. But the benifit is that it has givin me about 10000 more money per turn. This has allowed me to quickly assemble a massive fleet. I have killed all the other ships in my area that were killing my trade routes. I plan to use my fleet to launch an invasion with 2 full stack armies into northern Japan - yes that`s right, all the way on the other side of the world.

Problem is, I have been building my infrastructure up massively but now because of increased number of castles, I am facing huge food shortages. I already built up all of my farms up to the max. My only hope is to invade the island where the chobaskake spawn and get more. I don`t want to betray my vassals. I could demolish buildings but I already invested so much into them. I wish I could buy food from places like China for money.

I have an army of agents wandering around North Central Japan. It consists of 4 ninjas, 2 metsukes and 3 monks. I use them to constantly assassinate daiymos and other agents.

My only main enemies left are the Hojo and Hattori.

I usually only upgrade the castles on the frontlines or where a strategical 'troop factory' would suit well. For example those provinces with armouries in I tend to build Sword, Bow, Cavalry, Spear Dojos to maximise the bonuses.

In most towns though you don't need past a Fortress, some are good enough at Fort! That way you can save food, which in turn gives you a town growth bonus.

Me and my friend are playing a multiplayer Co-Op campaign on VH.
I'm playing as the Usegui and he as the Takeda.

Currently were about 20 turns in and we both only have 2 provinces each. This is because everybody is declaring war on us, even the Shimazu because I broke a trade agreement with them.

It is a very tough yet exciting struggle for survival. I think CA did a great job on the multiplayer campaign.

I'm currently on a Hard campaign a the Hojo. With a bit of foresight I created two vassals (the Saito and the Sakai) to act as a barrier between me and Kyoto. Meanwhile I expanded across Japan and am now bordering the Date and Ashina.

I had already allied with the Ashina (to protect my northern flank) and the Chosokabe (to help keep the Shoni busy, who declared war on me) when the Sakai captured a region and triggered the Realm Divide for me. Wasn't quite expecting that so I was still in my preparation phase.

Luckily, my allies all stuck with me when the other clans went to war so I'm hoping I can keep them on my side. I'm glad that I still have four trading partners so my income wasn't affected much.

I'm now marching on the Date and have resurrected the Uesugi as a vassal to act as barrier. In the south-west I'm preparing to attack Kyoto although it will be a while before I can. I also have to fend of naval invasions from the south but so far so good.

As far as I can tell, your allies will only stick with you if you have a threatening military presence on their borders. So you can really only count on them to shield you for a few turns while you prep for onslaught. Once you advance past them they tend to attack you from the rear.

Yeah in my experience it's best to not trust anybody after the divide.

I chose to do a long campaign as the Takeda on hard difficulty. I took North Shinano on the third turn, but it was awhile before I was able to expand beyond those two provinces. I established alliances with the Hojo and Imagawa, and I was eventually able to cut through some minor factions to the West Coast.

The Jinbo were drawn into a war with me due to an alliance with the Anegakoji, I believe; but they were incapable of standing up to the mighty horsemen of the Takeda. Luckily for them, they realized this and capitulated with an agreement to become my vassal. They were useful, too. They were able to hold back the Date long enough for me to mobilize an army against them, after the Ikko Ikki had been destroyed. The Hojo conquered the Date and Mogami in the East, while I handled the West, after a brief jaunt to subdue the Honma and capture those valuable gold mines.

Once the Date and Mogami had been destroyed, it looked like we would enjoy a time of peace. Unfortunately, this was not to be. The Hojo declared war on the Jinbo and I was honor-bound to protect my vassal; so I was forced to break my alliance with the Hojo. This was of great concern to me because they had four or five full stack veterans from their war with the Date and Mogami. I had but two, and one of those had been moved back to the West Coast. I used the other to attack the former Date capital, now in the hands of the backstabbing Hojo. I sent a veteran monk to incite a revolt in the territory which extends from the center of the island, in the mountains, all the way to the East Coast (whose name escapes me, but I'll look it up when I get home). He was successful, which isolated Miyagi from the rest of Hojo territory. Fortunately, I had a very skillful ninja whom I was able to use to pin down a Hojo veteran stack of samurai at Miyagi for several turns preventing them from taking the short road west to capture one of my castles, and giving me enough time to bring my army south to meet them. It was expensive, but well worth it.

In the meantime, I moved my other army east to put pressure on Hojo holdings. I, of course, began recruiting heavily once war was declared. I managed some impressive siege defenses with ashigaru and one field battle pitting two of my medium-sized ashigaru armies against one large Hojo samurai army. At several points I thought all was lost, but we were able to rally and pull through with just a couple of bow ashigaru units left mostly intact. My general barely survived and almost my entire force was wiped out, but the Hojo samurai had been destroyed leaving only two heavily-depleted ashigaru units.

Around the same time, I saw several unprotected citadels and moved a small army from Kai, which included my heir, to make a quick strike and divide the Hojo territory. I was too greedy. While I had scouted the area beforehand, my ninja were apparently ineffective, because I quickly found myself engaged by a full samurai army led by four generals, which I had not discovered. I was able to flee the engagement, but it took me well off the road and I was unable to get back to Kai. I knew they would be able to engage me again, and I would not be able to escape; so I peeled off one each of a bow and yari cavalry unit to guard the road to Kai and force the Hojo army to move off the road. During the two brief skirmishes, I managed to kill one of the generals and nearly 300 soldiers in exchange for the honorable deaths of my 120 samurai, who gladly gave their lives to protect the Takeda heir. My heir was able to make it back to Kai, where we crushed the Hojo offensive.

By this time, I was finally able to bring my two veteran armies to bear and had formed a third. Within six seasons, we had completely eliminated the Hojo threat and their name will be forgotten by history. However, when we captured Miyagi, our 18th territory, the rest of Japan, except my loyal allies, the Imagawa, determined that we Takeda were the real threat. The Jinbo also backed me, but their only territory was soon captured by rebels. I had to quickly finish off the Hojo and the rebels to restore my rapidly depleted treasury, with the loss of a great deal of trade income.

We plan to march through Kyoto in just a few years, once we have taught the Tokugawa, Bessho and the others who is the rightful Shogun! Unfortunately, I have no navy to speak of, and I do not have the fund to build one. With the capture of several territories, I now have a reasonable seasonal income, though not exceptional; so my plans to march on Kyoto in just a few years may be overly optimistic.

[This message has been edited by BastWorshiper (edited 04-08-2011 @ 12:13 PM).]

As far as I can tell, your allies will only stick with you if you have a threatening military presence on their borders. So you can really only count on them to shield you for a few turns while you prep for onslaught. Once you advance past them they tend to attack you from the rear.

Giftin koku helps a lot in keeping your alliance intact. Expensive, but it can be worth it, e.g. when a vassal of yours holds about 20 regions for you

That was a good read Bast, wanting to play as the Takeda as my next campaign.

I've been playing a diplomatic game for some 15 years in my Tokugawa campaign, only taking territory from the Hojo after inciting revolt there. Meanwhile my Ninjas and Metsuke kill or apprehend their generals/agents and sabotage buildings. The Takeda have wiped out the Date and are my 'Very Friendly' allies, but the Hojo must have poisoned them against me for I just had the message warning me of an impending invasion from them.

Luckily I've been milking the Nanban ports and trade resources to the extent I'm reeling in 6k per turn with a 90k treasury. I've been on a spending binge recruiting plenty of Samurai to fight the coming war.

As the Takeda are by far the most powerful faction on the map, probably holding 9 or 10 provinces I'll be on the brink of the Realm Divide once I've defeated them, so I need to be preparing now.

I've picked up the Hojo campaign I mentioned earlier again. I now control all of Honshu together with the Saito, my vassals, who own about 15 regions. I'm currently playing defensively to further build my economy as I need quite a lot of money to keep the Saito friendly and I don't want to fight them.

At the bridge between Honshu and Kyushu I've parked a navy to keep the Shoni and Shimazu from attacking me. Meanwhile monks and ninja's are roaming the islands killing generals and inciting unrest, while I prepare to take the islands in one quick strike so the Saito don't have time to declare war on me.

My relationship with the Saito is a major problem for me. I don't want to go and conquer their 15 or so provinces, but they quite dislike me for all the territorial expansion I've done. If it weren't for regularly gifting large sums of cash to them they would have declared war ago. Anyone else ever have a situation like this? Any tips to keep them on my side?

I'd suggest just attacking them. Nothing better than a good ol' offensive!

I started a Uesugi campaign a couple of days ago, I have taken about 7-9 regions and for some reason everyone hates me. Everyone this side of Kyoto has declared war on me even though I have done nothing wrong and the realm divide hasn't happened yet. I still have my vassal. I have got a medium stack south getting attacked by 2 full stacks, 1 Hojo's and the other some minor clan (Asai I think), but I keep reloading but lose every time.

And that army is the only that stands in the way between them and the rest of my unprotected castles. As my bigger army is off up north wiping the Date out.

I have just finished my Oda campaign!!!

With everyone at war with me apart from my allies the Date but i dont think theyl be my allies for long seeing as im unfriendly with them and the realm divide is gettin worse and worse but im still kicking everyones ass's as I control the seas and have 5 full stacks attacking them every turn.

The only real problem i have is that everyones ninjas have been sabotaging everything but I dont have the money to fix them.

Good luck to you Liam, sounds like you're in trouble. I'm currently in a similar situation in my Oda campaign, where my big army is in the area south of Kyoto and the Saito have just attacked me from the north.

Thanks Currently I can't actually play it because I started downloading the update/patch but it did not complete, and I cannot access the internet again on my laptop untill the weekend.

I'm planning on capturing the Black ship when I get back to it though, as a little extra challenge.

I'd suggest just attacking them. Nothing better than a good ol' offensive!

Just did that, and it seems to be working well so far. Took three territories from the Saito on turn one of the war, have another one under siege and three full-stack armies are currently defending against as many Saito armies. It's a good thing you can block landbridges with fleets as that's all that's keeping the Shoni and Shimazu from attacking me.

Just finished a Date short campaign that was considerably easier than I'd figured it would be. Takeda was allied with me through the whole game, even persisting through the realm divide. I'd built up a huge warchest prior to make sure I had funds when the trade economy went away (thankfully due to the alliance, I was still running a big net profit even after).

Started up an Uesugi long campaign last night, and made rather rapid progress quite early. I decided to be bold and struck out along the coast, wiping out the Ikko-ikki early on. Just got full access to the warrior-monks so I'm going to build up a pretty big stack around the brother, while my daimyo takes on some smaller fish after his run down the coast.

Has anyone else had Tsutsui figuring prominently in every campaign they've played? They have always been a rather major force in mine, wiping out greater clans and building a rather large holding around Kyoto.

I've never seen the Tsutsui do anything besides getting wiped out in the phase where clans are getting whiped out everywhere. For me it's often the Hatano that conquer the area east and south of Kyoto.

They never do very well in my campaigns. I have hardly even heard of them.

Such is the beauty of Total War: Shogun 2, if not video games in general. Each user can have a different experience within the same game. As for my campaigns, sometimes the Tsutsui do well and other times not so well. There is some nice variation between my campaigns as to which AI clans prosper and which ones fade to dust.

Yes, it's nice to see things working out differently in most campaigns, unlike in RTW where it was almost always the same.