Provincial Government & Army Rework

Hey y'all, this is the next step of the project I'd previously mentioned in the main forum- what began as a new unit roster has expanded into a broad project that gives you, the player, more control over how your rule is felt in the provinces, giving deeper expansion and development choices and creating more diverse and tactical armies. Realism is emphasized but not necessarily historical accuracy- you can think of this as a light alt-history mod if you like.

The core of this mod are Government slots. Just as settlements in FotS have both towns and forts, castle-towns in this mod have administrative buildings as well as castles- they can be torn down and replaced from scratch with new models of government, but naturally this will be a lengthy process. Each government type reflects a particular focus or specialization, and will unlock relevant chains for your additional building slots. So far there are four government types, one for general military and three for the various agents and a range of economic, social and recruitment effects:

Government Types:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Clan Estate
This government type emphasizes your role as daimyo- you rule through vassal samurai and enforce a military government of the kind that was particularly widespread in this era. The primary concerns of the feudal government are arming and deploying troops, maintaining order and extracting taxes from the peasantry, and as such this tree opens recruitment of the more advanced ashigaru units as well as tough, loyal samurai troops. Tax rates and repression are kept high but growth is low and besides agricultural improvements, chances for economic expansion are few. The upside is that those economic slots are instead devoted to buildings that improve the equipment, training and abilities of your armies and help to advance your military tech, so feudal estates will consistently produce large, balanced and effective armies.

The Bureaucracy
A more Confucian model of governing, this type emphasizes your role as shugo, or provincial governor. The emphasis is on an orderly and prosperous society and to achieve this, military power generally takes a backseat. The bureaucracy has lower effective tax rates than the feudal estates but promote growth and open up many wealth-increasing options, plus they produce great Metsuke. In terms of military recruitment, troops from these provinces are mediocre. The lower orders of the ashigaru can be pressed into service and, in a pinch, ronin can be hired to supplement your forces with troops that are competent, but never quite the equals of your own clan samurai. Bureaucrats can also be useful in advancing Chi arts.

The Ikki
A kind of local self-defense force of peasants, monks and rural samurai, Ikki (not only of the Ikko religion) were widespread throughout Japan in this time, though in few places did they ever gain independence from the great clans. This model of government represents an alternative to the top-down feudal approach by lowering taxes and devolving some authority to local communities. Income naturally suffers, but recognizing the Ikki greatly increases happiness in the province, grants large garrisons, improves your Monk agents and allows you to recruit Ikki troops. Ikki units represent a mix of all the provincial social classes and though their kit is lower-grade than that of your clan samurai, they have high morale and excel in defense. Ikki provinces yield little income but cost little to defend, and produce useful troops and agents in addition to improving Chi.

The Criminal Syndicate
As much as feudalism often resembles a protection racket, true criminal organizations did exist in most medieval towns and although the authorities theoretically were supposed to destroy these organizations, a daimyo can benefit from a little corruption. This model of rule co-opts the criminal syndicates instead of suppressing them. The benefits are large incomes, stealthy Ninja agents, offense-oriented troops and bushido research. The downsides are stifled growth and growing unrest. In terms of the available units, this government's troops are near opposites to the Ikki- where the Ikki are hardy defenders the bandits are fierce and mobile attackers. Where the Ikki have high morale and will stand against great odds, bandits are opportunistic and will break if faced with major losses. Syndicates can also produce battlefield ninja, who don't quite reach the superhuman level of vanilla ninjas but are still fast, stealthy and effective ambushers. Syndicates also open avenues for bushido research.

Going hand-in-hand with the government types is the major rework to units. Unrealistic troop types (mainly katana units, ubermonks, etc) have been removed and in order to make armies more visually and tactically diverse, each government type has its own troop tree reflecting certain traits and specialties. The rock-paper-scissors effect is much weaker overall and victory often hinges on maneuver. Units fall into several broad classes, and are as follows (I'm still working out the exact Japanese names I'll be using, so input is very welcome). The best units are generally capped, with advancements in their relevant buildings raising the cap and allowing for more elite armies over time.

The Units

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Conscripts (Nohei)
These guys are the absolute bottom rung, recruitable at low cost from all provinces regardless of government or other buildings. They have poor morale, mediocre fighting abilities and only the most basic equipment but can be mobilized en masse. They only come in yumi (bow) and te-yari (short spear) varieties.

Ashigaru (Hei)
In contrast to the No-hei, the ashigaru are a recognized military force issued weapons and armor by the lords they serve. The ashigaru roster includes archers, pikemen, gunners, artillery crews and a variety of other types. Their versatility, low cost, wide availability and lack of unit caps mean that ashigaru will be the staple of most armies.

Clan Samurai and Hatamoto
Besides the daimyo's personal troops and a handful of elite units, your clan samurai (drawn from your direct vassals and their retainers) are the highest-quality troops available and the main draw of the Feudal Estates government type. They have a near-monopoly on cavalry (who are also effective when dismounted) and can fight on foot with long spears, muskets, bows, and no-dachi. They are not especially expensive but take time to recruit and are capped based on the number and level of your estates.

Where clan samurai are your vassals and their retainers, the Hatamoto is your daimyo's personal troops. They can only be recruited from your daimyo's headquarters, a unique building that establishes a province as the official home of your clan and household. The Hatamoto includes missile, melee and mounted troops with superior equipment, high morale and an inspiring aura but is constrained by low caps.

Ronin
Ronin are an inferior option compared to your own clan samurai, but for economic provinces that lack an advanced military infrastructure they are often the best available. Because they are landless and bound to your clan only by money, they have inferior equipment and morale compared to samurai from the estates as well as higher upkeep. They are useful for stiffening ashigaru in the field but are not economical as the backbone of an army.

Bandits (Senzouku) and Ninja
These units make up the specialty troops from Criminal Syndicate provinces. Bandits are a mix of commoners and samurai united by a common desire to loot, plunder and raid at the periphery of the Sengoku Jidai's great battles. The lower bandit units fight mostly with looted gear of uneven quality, but their better units are formed mostly of impoverished samurai who can manage better weapons and armor. As a rule, bandits are light on their feet and offense-oriented but they have questionable morale and will not stand and fight if they feel the odds are against them. Basic senzouku fight with short spears and yumi but the elite fight on horseback or with massive no-dachi swords.

Ninja are irregular fighters from secluded mountain villages and have mastered light infantry warfare. They are lightly armored but are fairly tough fighters with good morale and the ability to hide nearly anywhere. They can deploy outside the normal combat area and so are best used for taking commanding terrain before the enemy can reach it, laying ambushes or preparing to attack from unexpected flanks. They can fight either with bows, or with swords and firebombs.

Ikki
The Ikki are provincial leagues of peasants, jizamurai and sohei and as such their units are classless. Monks, warriors and peasants stand in the same lines and fight with the same weapons. This organization, combined with their political and social independence, gives Ikki troops very high morale. They lack the elite military skills of feudal troops, but have enough discipline and cohesion to be skilled in defensive warfare, especially in holding fortifications. They field units armed with naginata, bows, and teppo, as well as small units of cavalry.

More to come as I make progress- special thanks to Hazbones for consulting with me on Japanese terms while I was in the early stages of planning this.

In the time since I started planning out this mod, I stumbled upon a book of published articles on Sengoku-period governance, law and economics, and what I'm learning is pushing me towards a more realism-based and ultimately deeper approach. Ikki and bandit units will still be in, but the government building tree will probably see major changes over the course of my ongoing research. Historical input, design suggestions, and questions are welcome!

This looks as though it could be an awesome mod. Cant wait for beta.

Woot, I have a reply!

I'm the type who likes to have most of my changes planned out in detail before I actually start working on the files, and that plan keeps changing as my research turns up interesting new options. One thing I'm sure to add is branching paths for farm development in like with the different ways land was taxed by Sengoku Daimyo. Besides wealth and food supply, farms are also your recruitment centers for the kokujin- your rural and peasant vassals and a major source of troops. I'm still figuring out exactly what the tree will look like, but at the very least you'll be able to specialize along agricultural or military lines. This is based on a system used especially by the Takeda clan that divided lands between the lower and the upper peasantry, with the upper peasantry (myoshu) paying a portion of their taxes in military service instead of in cash or produce. Those myoshu will make up most of the men fighting in your better ashigaru units, so it can be worth the loss in income to be able to support better and larger peasant armies.

I'm also toying with ideas about various triggered modifiers (like the ones you get for achieving missions or at the turn of the seasons in FotS) to liven things up and take advantage of all those empty modifier slots you have everytime you look at the Clan Management screen. Things involving the reputation of your daimyo, the happiness of your greater and lesser vassals, the economic and social impacts of your rule, etc., influencing everything from diplomacy to growth to food supply to morale. Disclaimer: I play Europa Universalis so I have been conditioned to LOVE TRIGGERED MODIFIERS.

Also, having given it more thought, I think I'll be simplifying the Government Slot and turning the Ikko, Bureaucracy and Criminal Syndicate into specialized building lines (although maybe making it impossible to build more than one of them in a given province, or having them appear by event, like the Nanban Quarter). The Feudal Estate would be the government building of every province, but it would have a variety of branches that could direct it towards more military, economic or agent-oriented options. I'm leaning towards definitely including at least a Fudai-Tozama split, basically reflecting whether the management of the province is being given off to a closer, higher-ranking vassal (fudai) or to a more distant vassal (tozama)- Fudai management would open up recruitment for your own clan's samurai while Tozama would let you recruit from the local clans, and I'll try to find other ways of making them distinct and interesting, possibly adding a third option. For Ikko or Christian clans, I might make special government types. Naturally this idea is making me think that AoR recruitment from farms and Tozama estates would be a worthwhile addition- at the very least it would break up the visual uniformity of armies, something I'm all about (I would be sure that AoR forces kept their own local colors regardless of who's recruiting them).

I have a tentative unit roster mostly figured out, so I'll post that soon, and then I'll go ahead and make some of the units I'll be using for the sake of screenies.

With the Samurai will they have really good stats with small amount of men or will they be more like vanilla game? That was one thing with Sekigahara that I really liked although I found it a bit annoying how they were really spaced out.

I haven't played Sekigahara so I don't know exactly how large their samurai units are, but I do plan on making samurai units smaller and more elite, besides capping them so that they make up a smaller proportion of the average army. The size difference may not be very drastic though, because the philosophy I'm trying to apply to this mod is that your kashindan (vassal samurai) are a built-in part of your clan- it's relatively inexpensive to raise and support your vassal troops but the only way to increase the size of your kashindan is by expanding into new lands and handing those lands out (i.e., expanding the Feudal Estates building in conquered provinces). Sengoku armies grew in size and effectiveness by recruiting more and better ashigaru while retaining the elite samurai core, and I'm trying to reflect that in my mod.

(The changes I'm trying to make are going to have the effect of poorer clans relying almost entirely on their kashindan with richer ones fielding more ashigaru, which is basically the opposite of what happens in vanilla)

That is exactly the approach I was thinking to adopt for a mod project. Buildings, Units ... Yeah exactly the same idea as a starting point. I wonder how much limitations are you planing about samurai recruitment ?

I am sad to say I won't be able to assist you in this project but be assure you have at least one fan.

Good luck mate.

This mod sounds amazing. Definitely something I've been looking for to keep Shogun 2 going for me! Just wanted to show my support.

Hey all, thanks for the show of support. I'm sorry to say I haven't had much time to work on this mod for the past couple weeks, but I'd like to get back into it.

Regarding the samurai recruitment, I'm ballparking maybe 3-4 samurai units supported by a minor castle town and a well-developed one supporting more like 5-7. This would vary a little depending on how you specialized each settlement, but I think it's a good ballpark. In general I think economic development should get you more and better ashigaru rather than getting you more samurai, so their numbers go up a bit as your castle towns and administrative quarters expand but by a good bit less than your overall recruitment capacity.