shinajaran: [game] Shogun2 Legandary difficulty level for Tokugawa clan pt2

Perseverance my friends. After countless events of total annihilation by my rival daimyos', my army turned against me, rebellion created by enemy monks. I survived until turn 220.

The methodologies to win the war are rather idiosyncratic. War is all about money and economics.

My shogunate could not progress at the tech tree at a faster pace then my rivals. Hence my soldiers are mainly regular yari ashigaru and bow ashigaru with the exception few units of sword samurai. My castles are 2 level below my rivals and the production speed of my soldiers are rather limited. Most of the time, my army was outnumbered. I learned to let go my ego of banging head on with the hardened enemy and circumvent them using my newly devised methods.

Having said that amassing a large fleet of ships, large contingent of army and agent units are very taxing on the finance for the rival state. I make a good guess on the financial status and the rice supply status. At every turn, maybe my rivals are not making enough profit to cover the new army created.

If you guys could recall months back game play at turn 45, I have a couple of metsuke (secret police) running around, coupled with some monks and ninjas.

My metsukes' was leveled up regularly by apprehending rival agent units at each and every turn. The success rate of apprehending grow slowly from 20% to 95%. While level up, I would choose to develop the bribery skill to the highest level. Usually, the apprehending would be successful, because Tokugawa clan specialty have a +2% of success rate.

I did level up my ninjas' too. Sabotaging rival rice plantations at every turn. This would decrease the rice supply by -1. Beside rice plantations, structures such as castle gate, rice merchant, tea house are possible targets too. If rival army are marching near to my territory, my ninja would sabotage the army to buy me time to lay an ambush. The skill sets of the ninja are build towards the "Ninjutsu" at level6. After my ninjas were leveled up, I start the process of assassinating rival generals, to make the rival army bare naked without the positive influence of a general.

As for my monks, I send them far back into enemy lines, creating rebellion at poorly garrison castle. Of course, along the way I would use my monks to convert the enemy agent units.

The above 3 steps requires very little money to sustain. The bulk of my profit goes to building elite shock troops. It really took a very long time to build army that are truly useful.

With my newly acquired army, sufficiently trained agent units and MONEY. The journey of clearing the Hatakeyama clan eastwards begin. At that point of time, having war at both sides of my border is a strict no no to the financial status. At the west borders, I have my agent units sabotaging enemy army and preventing them from marching to my land. At the east borders, my army is still outnumbered by the rivals. Good thing is, not every army are lead by a general. I would use my metsuke to attempt to bribe this category of army. Once successful, I would march my army near to this newly acquired army and enter battle with the rival and try to outnumber them. Once the enemy retreat or loses the battle, I attack the castle and loot the castle. Looting gave my shogunate a 20K income. Remember to set the newly acquired castle to no tax and put a metsuke to oversee the town, just in case of rebellion.

With the new money, I could attempt to bribe more army. Some army are lead by general. Simple, send in the ninja to attempt assassination. If successful, send in the metsuke to bribe. If successful again, merger the new army with the current ones I have. Send in a ninja to sabotage the castle gate before sending in the merged army of mine. If successful, loot the castle. My rival clan recruited super elite units such as Bow hero, Sword Hero, Yari Hero, Great Guards and more. Bribing this army would make this units at my disposal. Indirectly, my army get level up without upgrading my castle facilities.

The cycle repeats itself again. With some variations along the way of course.

revenge is sweet.

Game statistics suggesting the gruesome path that leads to the rising of my Tokugawa clan.

I have created 4 vassal states, just to trade with. Trading will increase the financial profit. Occasional rebels were created by my monks. Then I would send in my generals to put out the rebellion. Indirectly, my generals get to level up!