The Hojo Campaign Guide

[For Victory]

As the Hojo, how soon should I be churning out ships to nab the trade nodes? I hate being so far away from all of them. Thanks.

[Shabby_Ronin]

As the Hojo, how soon should I be churning out ships to nab the trade nodes? I hate being so far away from all of them. Thanks.

I don't.

[I WUB PUGS]

I do it right away, but that's just me. I mean, I like the extra 20k from trade nodes I'm getting right now, but it's up to you.

[Shabby_Ronin]

You would have to get there very quickly, and most probably be beat to it and not be in a position to defend them when other factions get salty. You can do it, but it isn't a good option considering how long it takes to get over there.

[Ma'ahes]

It's actually quite fun when you get the hang of the Hojo faction to "colonize" other parts of Japan. If you focus on Chi, and make use of the +% to research you get from missions (as well as Sugaru), you can rush to nab the -15% cost on building castles. In my current Hojo campaign, I've vassalized a powerful Tokugawa (4+ provinces), and used a Satomi war with Date to nab the northern three provinces. If you wait for enemy--or neutral--factions to overstretch their forces, you can land a nice army behind their lines that they can never defeat when besieging it. But, when you're thinking about attacking anywhere, make sure the province is making good money per turn. No use in engaging the Takeda in a lengthy war when their most profitable center is a measly 1200 per turn. Play defensively, and you'll find it's easy to dictate turns.

Oh, and to get the most out of your gold mine, build a sake den and market up to their max level in the region. No reason to go any higher really, since at that point it'll be over 5k, with Musashi close behind at around 4k due to its market/port combo. I've never bothered with trade nodes specifically, since most money is poured into construction, and you'll get plenty of money to satisfy your growing empire. Keep a watchful eye on relations, and make sure there are at least 4-5 units in a stronghold on any somewhat contested border.

[Shabby_Ronin]

It's actually quite fun when you get the hang of the Hojo faction to "colonize" other parts of Japan. If you focus on Chi, and make use of the +% to research you get from missions (as well as Sugaru), you can rush to nab the -15% cost on building castles. In my current Hojo campaign, I've vassalized a powerful Tokugawa (4+ provinces), and used a Satomi war with Date to nab the northern three provinces. If you wait for enemy--or neutral--factions to overstretch their forces, you can land a nice army behind their lines that they can never defeat when besieging it. But, when you're thinking about attacking anywhere, make sure the province is making good money per turn. No use in engaging the Takeda in a lengthy war when their most profitable center is a measly 1200 per turn. Play defensively, and you'll find it's easy to dictate turns.

Oh, and to get the most out of your gold mine, build a sake den and market up to their max level in the region. No reason to go any higher really, since at that point it'll be over 5k, with Musashi close behind at around 4k due to its market/port combo. I've never bothered with trade nodes specifically, since most money is poured into construction, and you'll get plenty of money to satisfy your growing empire. Keep a watchful eye on relations, and make sure there are at least 4-5 units in a stronghold on any somewhat contested border.

You always offer sound advice.

[Noif de Bodemloze]

I tested Hojo campaign on normal and I must say it is bit difficult. At start I killed that small rebel army and kick them back to their province. Then I started gathering units to Imagawa and paid some cash for Takeda that they broke their alliance with them. Then I charged to Imagawa and conquered both their areas. Suprise suprise Tokugawa had full army on their area and saw it was a vassal of Imagawa and I didn't noticed that it declared war for me. Then I had half-full army in old imagawa castle andd I tried negotiate with Tokugawa about peace, but they never accepted as I offered money in turns, hostages etc... Then my bad luck they moved their full army to my just conquered castle, raped my all soldiers there and took this castle for themself easily. Well... after they got it, then I got peace with them. Then I turned my army back to east and go crush to the rebels. When I arrived to rebel castle. There was full army+2 generals against us. I used my catapults and I destroyed many places and killed both enemy generals from the hills on my catapults. I though enemies has lost their morales and I sent my army attack to the castle, but when my warriors arrived to the walls and climb up. It was suicide journey for them and I lost it. pfff.... Perhaps I played on Hojo wrong. >_>

[zorphon]

I tested Hojo campaign on normal and I must say it is bit difficult. At start I killed that small rebel army and kick them back to their province. Then I started gathering units to Imagawa and paid some cash for Takeda that they broke their alliance with them. Then I charged to Imagawa and conquered both their areas. Suprise suprise Tokugawa had full army on their area and saw it was a vassal of Imagawa and I didn't noticed that it declared war for me. Then I had half-full army in old imagawa castle andd I tried negotiate with Tokugawa about peace, but they never accepted as I offered money in turns, hostages etc... Then my bad luck they moved their full army to my just conquered castle, raped my all soldiers there and took this castle for themself easily. Well... after they got it, then I got peace with them. Then I turned my army back to east and go crush to the rebels. When I arrived to rebel castle. There was full army+2 generals against us. I used my catapults and I destroyed many places and killed both enemy generals from the hills on my catapults. I though enemies has lost their morales and I sent my army attack to the castle, but when my warriors arrived to the walls and climb up. It was suicide journey for them and I lost it. pfff.... Perhaps I played on Hojo wrong. >_>

Yes the one thing you did really wrong is to not finish the rebels off completely in the first couple turns. After defeating their army march to their castle as quickly as possible and gain that province. From there you can go after Imagawa

[Shabby_Ronin]

Yes the one thing you did really wrong is to not finish the rebels off completely in the first couple turns. After defeating their army march to their castle as quickly as possible and gain that province. From there you can go after Imagawa

Make sure you don't attack the Imagawa, let them attack you.

[Noif de Bodemloze]

Today I started my Hojo campaign again and now it goes much better. I decided made one army in east, who take rebel castle and then build 2nd army to take Imagawa army down, so this worked when I build quickly bit over 10 units army, then imagawa scared themself to the castle. Then I surrounded them and waited my catapults on 1 turn, then during turn there came 1 imagawa archer unit to charge me to land battle. So it mean got easy fight against imagawa and enemy generals made suicide rush to my spearwall. Then rest was wipe-festival.

One question: I saw that imagawa had Tokugawa as vassal. Last time when I attacked to imagawa's castle and kicked them out. Then tokugawa came with 1 full army to me and wiped my army. What should do with them?

[Ma'ahes]

Noif, that's why you vassalize the Imagawa instead of wiping them. Taking the province immediately to your left from the Imagawa reduces them to one province, so they're not really a threat anymore. And when you vassalize them, you get the Tokugawa thrown in there as well, effectively doubling your empire in one turn. That territory to your left gives you a nice buffer from western expansions from enemy clans, allowing you to focus on the east and north. Vassals may be killed off later, but in the early-mid stages of the campaign, they are invaluable as sources of income and buffer states.

[Shabby_Ronin]

Noif, that's why you vassalize the Imagawa instead of wiping them. Taking the province immediately to your left from the Imagawa reduces them to one province, so they're not really a threat anymore. And when you vassalize them, you get the Tokugawa thrown in there as well, effectively doubling your empire in one turn. That territory to your left gives you a nice buffer from western expansions from enemy clans, allowing you to focus on the east and north. Vassals may be killed off later, but in the early-mid stages of the campaign, they are invaluable as sources of income and buffer states.

I find after you vassalize the Imagawa, the Tokugawa get very salty and attack them.

[Euan]

I just played a hard campaign as the Hojo, it was my second campaign after I decided to postpone my Shimazu campaign till a time when I'll feel like going Christian. (Buddha ftw)

I have to say it was one of the most fun games of total war I've played for a long time, and I've played all the titles (still do most of them). I just quit the campaign but I'll get back to why in a minute. Hojo were just what I was looking for this time, some small scale but important early skirmishes and the ability to turtle.

So right at the beginning I asked the Takeda to become my allies and forget about those stinky Imagawa's, the offer of my young heir as a hostage sealed the deal (even got some cash out of it). of course I took Mushashi with my standing army, very straight forward. Three field battles (the initial one, the slaughter of some runaways and a defense against their army coming from the city to pounce on my tired troops) and one siege later and my general leveled up twice.

Then I get a message that the Imagawa plan to attack me, but also that the Satomi plan to do the same. I wasn't sure if I was able to fight a two front war right yet, especially since I've only been able to train a few Ashigaru reinforcements, but I thought it cowardly to restart the campaign and hope for just one aggressor. The Satomi came to Mushashi first with a slightly bigger force of Yari Ashigaru but slightly lacking in archers, and I just managed to kill them from my stronghold walls. After that I used my battered army to destroy the few units they had on route to reinforce the doomed siege and took Shimosa province. Rather than wait for reinforcements I marched the army straight to Kazusa, and while it ended up with barely any units left, thanks mainly to my starting unit of Yari Samurai (lifesavers when they charged the engaged from the side forest time and again) the Satomi where no more.

The forces built up in the mean time took care of the incoming army of the Imagawa before they even left their province, and after I took Suruga and destroyed their remaining field army I made them my vassal, which meant also gaining the Tokugawa as vassals. I found in my Shimazu campaign that if you take a factions last city and then force them to be a vassal, it counts as the faction being destroyed, then reinstated and then becoming your vassal, all in one moment. This is a point to consider in this case, as this renders all their previous diplomatic arrangements void, aka no Tokugawa to call your . If you do it that way the Tokugawa attack the Imagawa and you find yourself in a war you don't want (I saved and tried this way as well, just to see the difference). Also fighting these battles with the Daimyo helps in leveling him up and keeping the other general loyal.

Anyway, from there on out I just turtled, built my economy nice and strong, upgrading farms and all that, waiting for my expansion penalty to go down. It's kinda a case of do what you want at that time, as you have a solid base to launch an attack at pretty much whoever you please. I ended up going North-East, planning to divide this part of Honshu between me and the Takeda, my trusted allies with whom I was hoping to fight the rest of the country, side by side, when Realm Divide happens. It wasn't to be though as in my almost desperate first military campaigns I had made some allies to ensure I wouldn't be overrun from the North-East when my early forces where spread thin from defeating the Satomi without many reinforcements. I figured it would be easy enough to have them break the alliance, or have another ally attack them or the other way around. But at some point I kinda lost track or something and declared war before breaking off (I think it was) military access that I forgot I had or something. Anyway, I was hit with the dishonoring treaties penalty, got attacked from three sides and the Takeda broke off the alliance (even though we were at something like +200 from a recent marriage, kinda too bad really). Annoyed that I made such a stupid mistake, especially since I also didn't have any backup savegames, I decided to call it a loss.

But like I said, had a great time, time to start again with another faction right away!

[Ma'ahes]

I find after you vassalize the Imagawa, the Tokugawa get very salty and attack them.

Really? Never encountered that, although I generally get the Hattori demolishing both the Tokugawa and Imagawa later on when the Tokugawa try to expand, so perhaps the factions simply aren't around long enough to cause trouble with one another .

And I didn't know about that little bug, Euan. Although I think that's because I just take the Imagawa's eastern city and then force vassalage immediately afterward since they have no more army. Definitely something to consider for the future, though.

[Giantsfan24]

I just quit a Hojo campaign because diplomacy went TOO well. I allied with Takada and Imagawa at the start. As takeda grew, they expanded south, towards kyoto. Problem was, Takeda allied with Uesuegi they formed a massive power block that no one would dare touch. You may ask "why not expand north?". Well, I allid with the Ashigaru(yellows ones below Date), and they were also allied with takeda dn Useugi AND Date. Dat TOO was allied with Takeda. By 1560, clicking on Takeda on the diplomacy screen looked like a giant glowing green land mass since they were allied with everyone around them, while Uesugi were the aggressive ones conquering further south. I had my 4 provinces and lots of cash but no where to go. I suppose my next time I will try to bribe clans to break alliances.

How, in your opinions, successful is that to bribe to break alliances? Any other advice when you get in that situation where the entire northern part(r most of it) is allied with each other and your stuck for 20-40(10 game years) turns with nothing to do but build up?

[zorphon]

I just quit a Hojo campaign because diplomacy went TOO well. I allied with Takada and Imagawa at the start. As takeda grew, they expanded south, towards kyoto. Problem was, Takeda allied with Uesuegi they formed a massive power block that no one would dare touch. You may ask "why not expand north?". Well, I allid with the Ashigaru(yellows ones below Date), and they were also allied with takeda dn Useugi AND Date. Dat TOO was allied with Takeda. By 1560, clicking on Takeda on the diplomacy screen looked like a giant glowing green land mass since they were allied with everyone around them, while Uesugi were the aggressive ones conquering further south. I had my 4 provinces and lots of cash but no where to go. I suppose my next time I will try to bribe clans to break alliances.

How, in your opinions, successful is that to bribe to break alliances? Any other advice when you get in that situation where the entire northern part(r most of it) is allied with each other and your stuck for 20-40(10 game years) turns with nothing to do but build up?

Well, a tip is to offer them military access (if their integrity is either sufficient or dependable) for like 5 or 10 turns, plus a small payment and they usually break an alliance. Or if you have an abundance of children, offer a hostage to somebody sufficient or dependable for integrity (any lower and they might kill the hostage).

I find getting them to break alliances isn't too difficult, usually. Sometimes alliances are really strong and you need a ton of money to do it, but some you don't need much.

In that situation I would have probably just sent some armies in ships to the west of Japan and started colonizing other parts and starting wars there.

[Prophet0A]

No reason to ally with either Imagawa nor Takeda. Takeda will very likely expand north, and Imagawa will screw you over (Basically impossible to avoid). Although the Mushashi faction might ask for a peace treaty after you're done with Imagawa and Tokugawa in which case you might want to consider making them your vassal. Worked well for me.

[Ma'ahes]

The one thing I would really stress as the Hojo is to scout what each province is making, and its territory size/features. Take the Takdea provinces, for example. In all reality, only Kai is worth anything at all. It has a horse export, and decent soil. North Shimano and company all make relatively nothing and stretch your forces out too much...pretty much requiring a significant garrison in four major provinces if you find yourself under attack from both sides. Going west will net you Owari and prime farmland, and even going east has its perks (religious site, library, and pottery). Izu is fantastic, as is Musashi, but you're going to require lots of cash factories if you really want to expand properly. Push west to Owari and east to at least Musashi, and then see where your relations take you. Either way, this creates only three ways into your territory via ground; Kai, Owari, and Musashi.

[I WUB PUGS]

^Agreed, just started another Hojo campaign after a few futile Takeda campaigns. Was able to finally get the diplomacy to fall in favor taking out Imagawa and Tokugawa. Moving south from Izu you net prime lands, and then just sit on Musashi until diplomacy breaks down.

I could go Realm Divide at any time but I've got 25 years left so I'm going to sit and rake in the cash for a while.

Hojo can turtle really well. I know it seems somewhat boring and maybe even intimidating watching the Date sweep down south and the Takeda expanding at a seemingly endless rate, but eventually they will make plenty of people mad and you can exploit this.

I just backdoored the Takeda while they were pushing towards Kyoto. Took Kai, North Shinano, Kozuke and the home province of Uesugi in a blitz. They paid me 6000 koku, trade agreement and a hostage, and I lost almost no men. So I sit with 19 provinces biding my time, building up strong relations with far away clans in preparation for Realm Divide.

[Ma'ahes]

I rather like being at war with the east when I have Musashi as a castle...easy XP for troops and generals. Plus, it's a perfect place to level up agents such as ninja. But unfortunately that falls more under the category of "abusing the horrible BAI." Oh well, off to twiddle my thumbs until a better BAI comes out...