The Uesugi Campaign Guide

[sentinel37]

Alright, update to my Uesugi Hard campaign.

I left off right after taking Etchu and Sado (along w/ my capital), and right after Takeda declare war on my vassal (which I've decided to defend). I've successfully countered Takeda's invasions and took North Shinano, Hida, and Kozuka. That means I went from 3 province to 6 and Takeda was down to 2 (Kai and South Shinano).

This time, I went very aggressive and fought hard to destroyed Takeda. I went south to siege Kai and prepare another army to invade South Shinano. I captured Kai and Takeda requested peace. I instead counter-offer and ask them to be my vassal instead and they accepted.

Immediately afterward, Ikki declared war on me and I couldn't be happier because my South is safe for now, and I made alliance with Date in the East. My focus is to completely eliminate Ikki because I'm afraid of the religious difference. I redirected the army that was attacking Takeda and moved them toward Kaga. Ikki had only 3 provinces but for some reason, they had 2 full stacks with decent units (bow ronins mostly) coming my way. I quickly took a lowly garrisoned Kaga and build up more units to hold Kaga. What amazed me a bit was that Kaga had the Ikko Temple that also gives a Warrior Monk garrison! I used that unit against them when they seize Kaga and it was decisive victory. With their army down to 1 stack, I quickly went to Echizen and to take them down and deny them their precious bow ronins. I then took down their temple in Kaga and build my own Buddhist temple.

With that, I've got 10 provinces under my belt and for the time being no major enemies. Later on, it turns out that Takeda was a handful as a vassal, because soon Oda and Hattori wanted to take on that prick. However, it is more manageable and I'm finally on my way to victory.

Some things I've observed during playthru:
1) As some people have said, the east (Date/Ashina) is quite calm (at least on Hard), those two usually fight each other and leave you alone.
2) No matter how I play it, Ikko Ikki will fight me the moment I shared border with them (post patch they are also much stronger). Their temples also give bad public order to me because it was trying to convert my provinces. I find that I must try to eliminate them at all cost. The benefit is that I get Kaga and Echigo by eliminating them, which I proceeded to build my troops (Nag Sam, Monks, Bow Sam and Bow Monks). I rarely need any cavalry.
3) Once I've subdued Takeda, the south was also very quiet, with only a couple of minor clan (Satomi and Oyigayatsu being relatively peaceful). My biggest surprise was that Hojo didn't really do much and turtle in their 2 starting provinces.
4) Oda and Hattori are usually the more worrisome neighbors, and they are aggressive in expansion.
5) I found out that I can't spam warrior nuns. I guess they are borderline hero units... The cap for me was 4 warriors nuns. That sucks!
6) I can only get 1 Uesugi Warrior Monk hero, which I got relatively early because it's in the Chi-tree and the temples/monks can generate very high Chi rate bonuses. I'm almost at 100% research rate bonus with my 5 monks, 8 temples, and 1 Philosophical tradition.
7) Since playing Uesugi, I've naturally select monk-research in my Chi tech tree, which means my monk agents are the best I've ever had for a Buddhist clan (my previous Shimazu play, my monks didn't have any benefits from chi-research), but now I get >60% revolt chances. Using them will help win a lot of battles and even help wipe out a clan.

After this campaign, I'm undecided on who to play next. What do most people play next after their Uesugi campaign is done?

[CptAustus]

After this campaign, I'm undecided on who to play next. What do most people play next after their Uesugi campaign is done?

I think I did a Takeda campaign, just to see how it was to have allies. Or I did my Christian Mori and conquered the sea.

[theozagem]

Ew, Uesugi was by far the hardest clan to achieve victory with on legendary difficulty!

[Roots]

Ew, Uesugi was by far the hardest clan to achieve victory with on legendary difficulty!

I'd imagine being next to Ikko, Takeda, Date, and Hojo. Plus poor clan.

[Man o' War]

After this campaign, I'm undecided on who to play next. What do most people play next after their Uesugi campaign is done?

Good question.

I've nearly finished my legendary Uesugi world domination campaign in which I've fought every single battle.
I'm considering Ikko or Tokugawa as a next step but don't know if I'll bother with legendary again.

[Emperor VI]

- Kill rebels.
- Kill incoming Jinbo army.
- Take Jinbo and complete "capture province mission".
- Build as many units as you can with the +1 training bonus from mission.
- Meanwhile research Essense of Spirit for the free Monks.
- Sail everything you have to Sado and take it from Honma. In the meantime you'll probably lose Etchu and Echigo because everyone has declared war against you.
- Wait some time, get an army together, sail to Iwate while the Date armies are stuck somewhere far away. Enjoy your free buildings and Blacksmith.
- Build second army.
- Steamroll!

My current Uesugi hard campaign has been true to the certain point in your description.
1. Took out incoming Jinbo army. Then captured Etchu.
2. At this point all hell broke out. Nearly all my neighbors including Takeda and Ikko Ikki declared war upon me.
3. Initially the campaign was successful. I managed to take Kozuka from Takeda with my second army. The main army under the command of Daimo successfully defended Etchu against Ikko Ikki and Hatakeyama attacks.
4. But soon superior Takeda armies surrounded my second army in Kozuka decimating 1500 men including the general. Road to my capital was open to enemy armies.
5. Moved main army from Etchu to Echigo to defend my capital against incoming Takeda army.
6. Realized 2nd full stack inbound Takeda army. The worst situation was even further aggravated with the invading force of Ashina. I would have been outnumbered 1 to 6.
7. In desperate move sent recoinesance ship to Sado. To my luck, Honma main army was battling Date in Ugo.
8. Taking into account odds I moved my main army from Echigo to invade Sado abandoning my capital to Takeda clan.
9. Ikko Ikki took Etchu next season. I was reduced to one island region of Sado. Luckily it was rich region.
10. Started to rebuild my army and especially my navy which I was ignoring up to this time. In the east Date took out Honma in Ugo and Ashina in Fukushima carving out for himself good sized country.
11. Got my Daimo married to Date queen, making alliance between our clans. My navies' successes forced Ikko Ikki and Hatakayema agreeing to a peace.
12. Soon Date and Takeda clashed for the regions of Shimoza and Musashi. Using the opportunity invaded the mainland capturing my capital back.
13. Together with Date started to push back Takeda, my armies capturing North Shimano, Kozuka, Shimotsuke.
14. Currently my Uesugi clan controls 5 provinces and my situation is a little bit stabilized. There are optimistic points for the future and psesimistic points as well.
Optimistic:
- healthy income
- good sized navy (although not comparison to Mori or Date) controlling my trade routes
- being in peace which provides good opportunity to consolidate my newly acquired provinces
- being ally with Date which nearly destroyed Takeda. I can be safe for my Eastern borders.
Pessimistic:
- huge clans to the west; especially Ikko Ikki and Mori which divided the Japan mainland between themselves.
- inferior armies; in numbers and in experience.
- no direction for expansion as to the west I have huge Ikko Ikki who usurped the Shogunate and to the east there is my ally Date.

It is going to be fun campaign.

[Chad29]

I've been playing Uesugi recently, and I'm wondering if the naginata warrior's warcry ability stacks with each other. For instance when I send a group forward to engage the enemy, should I just set them all off at once, or use the warcries one at a time?

Another thing regarding the gold provinces is I've noticed people saying Izu is the best. Seeing how sado and the one in west Japan have ports, and the western one having better soil, I'm not sure how Izu could be a wealthier province.


In my personal campaign, I usually travel east first, so I eventually have all my rivals on one side. I am practically forced to abandon Yamanouchi, because everyone wants to take Kozuke. I tend to head east, then make my way west to take over east Japan. One thing I try to do is field more yari samurai than I usually do with other clans, since Takeda is big on cavalry. Ashina is probably the best ally, since he has a woman for my single guy to marry. Not that he won't go to war with Yamanouchi like the rest, though. It's a good clan to help cover my rear as I take on Date and Mogami, and steal the iron province from Hatakeyama.

Warrior monks are mid-late game units, but getting an army morale boosting monk quickly is an advantage also.

[Homusubi]

OK, so I unified Japan on Normal with Uesugi in about 1570. Here's what I did.

First thing is to take Sado, then rush your army back to Echigo in case Jinbo invade. They didn't invade me though. Ignore them.

Getting Takeda on your side is VERY important. On the other hand, if you're both heading for the same province, make sure you take it, because they WILL betray you after realm divide.

At this point it's best to improve Echigo's infrastructure (focus exclusively on civil arts, beeline Zen and then Equal Fields). Get Echigo castle and both farms up to the maximum level (improved irrigation + fortress at this point IIRC). Get a spear dojo and an archery dojo in Echigo ASAP.

At this point, Yamanouchi will probably get attacked by someone. If it's Takeda, break the alliance. If it's Ashina, seize the opportunity to take Fukushima. If it's Satake or Hojo, I'm not sure what you should do. Kozuke seems to be a magnet for expansionist clans. Goddamn predecessor-to-Kenshin making the wrong vassals.

Anyway, the next thing to do is to expand north. Take Fukushima if you haven't already. Start with about 2-to-1 ashigaru-to-samurai ratio armies and progress to all-samurai as you get richer. A 50/50 split of yari and bow samurai worked for me. Substitute the necessary amount of ashigaru if you aren't making enough money. If Fukushima is in the hands of a clan further south, take Shimotsuke (and Kozuke if Yamanouchi are gone) as well.

Now you need to stop yourself fighting a two-front war. Do whatever it takes to capture Iwate, Uzen, Ugo, and Miyagi. If Date take them all over and ally with you, then great, don't do that just yet unless they hate Takeda. Once you claim Ugo, upgrade Echigo to a castle. It's going to be your unit-spawning province for a while. Yeah, Iwate would produce better units, but it's miles from any conflict.

Expand into the Kanto at this point, taking out anyone who isn't allied with you or the Takeda. Even if you conquer 3/4 of Kanto, if you have followed my advice (Jinbo should have made peace by now) Realm Divide shouldn't have happened yet.

Once eastern Japan is split two ways - you and Takeda - turn your attention west. DON'T attack Takeda, as this will make everyone hate you. By this time you should know who controls Kinai. There are usually two clans in the region by this time. If one of them is Ikko-Ikki, Takeda will probably be at war with them, so annex their entire domain ASAP and worry about rebellions later. One stack of yari and bow samurai should do it, maybe two, as the Ikko have a habit of fielding armies that mostly contain ashigaru. Likewise, Hatakeyama will probably also be annoyed with you, so if they have expanded from Kii, take them over.

If you take over Kinai, you will have activated Realm Divide and will probably have an enemy to the west. If it's Chosokabe, take over Shikoku; if it's anyone to the west, e.g. Amako, defend Kinai, maybe build another strongpoint (I used Kii and made it into another castle), but move the rest of your army east, because THIS IS WHEN TAKEDA BETRAYS YOU.

If you have maybe 3 or 4 stacks of yari and bow samurai on the map, you can steamroll Takeda before they take more than 3 provinces off you, probably Mino or some other frequently switching province. Then you have a ton of good quality armies and only one front... you can effectively annex the entire map at this point.

[Homusubi]

After this campaign, I'm undecided on who to play next. What do most people play next after their Uesugi campaign is done?

Takeda, just to see what life looks like from the other side of the fence.