The Uesugi Campaign Guide

[Amaranthen]

I'm really struggling with Uesugi just on normal difficulty. I've restarted my campaign several times in a row and still running into big problems. More often than not I'm unable to get to Etchu before someone else destroys Jinbo. Then as the turns wear on it seems like everyone like Takeda, Hojo, Satomi and Ashina are all magically, cough stupid AI bonuses cough, able to have these huge ashigaru stacks and they all seem to declare war on me or my vassal and then begins the slow spiral towards defeat because as soon as I destroy one stack there are two more only a few turns away. I never have enough money, even with naval trade nodes, to have a big army to defend myself.

This is exactly how I got my rear wiped out.

Mogami wiped out Date, and attacked me. At the same time, caught fighting with keke, Hojo, and Imwaga, and somehow Tokugawa landed in the middle.

RESTART!

[blank]

What i do as the Uesugi is first get trade agreements with everyone possible (obviously), then ally with everyone possible. If they refuse at first, wait a few turns until the relation bonus from trading kicks in and try again. The 2-province clan further east is usually up for an alliance right off the bat. The reason being, the AI (especially after the patch, it seems) doesn't attack you as swiftly if you have a few allies in the bag.

Rushing Jinbo ASAP is of course crucial (i'd advise building roads in your capital immediately so you can move reinforcements in faster if needed), after which the island to the north should be next as soon as you can get a few ships out. The biggest problem is the Takeda, since the smaller clans to the west of Etchu are usually busy fighting each other. Getting a trade agreement with them again helps. They will turn you down at first, but keep trying, if you do manage it will postpone their inevitable attack somewhat. I'd also recommend diplomacy-boosting retainers and arts if possible.

If your vassal gets attacked, it tends to be by strong multi-province clans such as Hojo or Satomi. Unless you have at least 2 somewhat developed (preferably 3) cities, it's often better to abandon them, since the measly income they provide doesn't justify the cost of a large war. Especially considering that Takeda will join in more often than not.

[Ma'ahes]

I'm not sure if it is due to the mods (TROM and AUM-SHO) I'm using, but I've found that you can force the Jinbo into peace for some cash pretty early on...even without fighting their first army. But, if you destroy the first one, you can at least vassalize them to free up your time somewhere else. However, I cannot stress enough the tactic of selling military access for cash; this will let you then pay off the Takeda to break alliances and trade agreements. Then, declare war on the Hojo preemptively, thereby bringing the Takeda into war down south. It will buy you valuable time to focus on Sado and the other northern territories. And this can all be done within the first three or four turns, easy.

[bobtheubilder]

selling military access isnt a tactic so much as an exploit, similar to how it was in civ 5 before the devs updated the ai to not accept

[Hoppi]

Just finished my Uesugi long campaign VH/VH. Used Darth Mod and AUM-SHO so that might have done it easier... Started with taking out Jinbo. Then paid Takeda some bucks to break their alliance with the Hojo and allied with them myself. Together we took down everything in the east except Mogami who also was my allies. In the west Shimazu was growing huge and actually managed to take the shogunate. Once again I paid the Chosokabe and the Saito to break their alliance with Shimazu. Together with my four allies I triggered Realm Divide and just took nearly every settlement west for Kyoto (except Shimazu's starting island). My only enemies were Shimazu and the Homna. With over 600k in the bank it was going smoothly. At 38 provinces I asked Homna to become my vassals and paid them 50k to agree. Might add screenshots later.

[Halie Satanus]

Just finished my Uesugi long campaign VH/VH. Used Darth Mod and AUM-SHO so that might have done it easier... Started with taking out Jinbo. Then paid Takeda some bucks to break their alliance with the Hojo and allied with them myself. Together we took down everything in the east except Mogami who also was my allies. In the west Shimazu was growing huge and actually managed to take the shogunate. Once again I paid the Chosokabe and the Saito to break their alliance with Shimazu. Together with my four allies I triggered Realm Divide and just took nearly every settlement west for Kyoto (except Shimazu's starting island). My only enemies were Shimazu and the Homna. With over 600k in the bank it was going smoothly. At 38 provinces I asked Homna to become my vassals and paid them 50k to agree. Might add screenshots later.

I did the same with Takeda and Hojo, paying off Hojo to break their alliance and forging my own with them. The other factions around me then fought amongst each other for years while I quietly built my infrastructure and moved south down the coast against the Ikki Ikko. The Takeda were wiped out fairly quickly without Hojo as an ally and they never came back.

The south was dominated by the Ito who eventually became Shogun. Then I eased into the centre until it was a three way split between myself Hojo and the Date. Once I had taken out the Date Hojo declared war, but by that time I had enough forces across their boarders to sweep them away. The struggle for the Shogunate then started. I lost my Diyamo but managed to sneak into Kyoto and hold it.

Probably the key is to let the other factions deal with the Takeda by forging alliances with the factions around them (especially Hojo)..

[Ma'ahes]

Yeah, since the Takeda area is economically weak and strategically stretches you out thin, it is a lot better to expand along the coast instead of going into the mountains. As for the "exploit," I prefer to think of it as creating a better balance of AI diplomacy: if you are Takeda, the Hojo will pretty much always betray you, and vice versa. When the AI controls both factions, they are the happiest of allies. Just wanting some consistency to the actions of the AI, especially when it's the one getting the cheats on the harder difficulties.

[Ciphre]

My favorite clan is Uesugi, though in STW2 they have a pain in the arse starting position, been playing hard lots of failures, reading this forum gave me a few ideas and stuff. I've tested this starting method a few times and it works.

I will post here my first 10 turns and moves and what happened when I was playing this time around.

#1 Sado is a must for the Uesugi
#2 Diplomacy is key to my strategy
#3 Trade nodes are your bread and butter so rush them ASAP.

Here goes:

#1 turn

Research: Way of Chi
Build: Harbour
Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru and recruit a monk
Finance: Very high taxes for 1/2 turns
Diplomacy:

Ashina: 1st offer trade agreement when they accept, u follow up with offering 5 turn military access( They will be busy with Satomi so no need to worry about them for now, keep and eye out though) and demand single payment of 500
Mogami: 1st offer trade agreement when they accept, u follow up with offering 5 turn military access( They will be busy fending off the Date so no need to worry) and demand single payment of 500
Murakani: Offer trade agreement and 10 turns military access( Don't worry Takeda will take them out in the first or 2nd turn) demand 500 single payment

you get 1500 just out of this easy money and no need to worry for now.

Army: with your army + 2 generals attack the rebels

at this point I had about 1500 credits and next round would get +/- 1700

#2nd turn

Build: Farm
Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru
Finance: Very high taxes for 1 more turn
Army: Move them into your castle. Move your monk towards Etchu to keep an eye to what is happening there.

at this point I had about 1700 credits and next turn would get +/- 1500

#3rd turn
*at this point in this gameplay Takeda wiped out the Murakani in N.Shinano

Build: Trading port
Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru | Bow Kobaya at Harbour
Finance: Set taxes back to normal
Diplomacy: (and here is the key)

Takeda: Offer Trade rights + military access for 10 turns and Demand break alliance with Imagawa and break Trade rights with Hojo.

at this point I had about 800 credits and next turn would get +/- 1100

#4th turn

Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru
Diplomacy: at this point in time Jinbo offered peace which I took, than offered trade rights + military acces 5 turns Demand single payment of 500 and Break trade with Takeda clan( this made me the only clan Takeda was trading with at the time which was good for me)
Army: Take your Bow Kobaya and move it closer to the castle so that you can board your Sado invasion force( I used Kenshin for this and left the brother in Echigo).

at this point I had about 1500 credits and next turn would get +/- 1000

#5th turn

Build: Warehouses
Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru
Army: Invade Sado( Yamanouchi joins u and Hatakeyama joins Honma clan)

at this point I had about 900 credits and next turn would get +/- 1000

#6th turn
* at this point Jinbo clan was eliminated by Anegakoji clan

Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru
Diplomacy: Anegakoji offer trade rights
Army: Lay siege on Sado castle. move your Bow Kobaya towards Date region to meet them.

at this point I had about 1200 credits and next turn would get +/- 800

#7th turn
*by this turn tradeport is done which is good because I can produce 2 trade ship per turn, because I was about to take Sado island as the Honma garrison attacked me.
*Jinbo rises back to power
*Finish the rest of the Sado troops

Diplomacy:

Jinbo: trade rights( had to offer 5mil turns to get it)
Mogami: offer 5 turns military access and demand single payment of 1000
Ashina: same as Mogami

Build: Sado: Open pit gold mine | Echigo Stronghold
Recruit: Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru | 2 trade ships, each province respectively

at this point I had about 100 credits and next turn would get +/- 1200

#8th turn
*Warehouse done +30% trade income
*Jinbo army marches towards Echigo, move your monk to intercept them and demoralise even if % is low, I got lucky and did twice in a row on 32%.

Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru | 2 trade ships( by this point keep making them until you have about 10 send them to Ainu trade node you'll be getting close to 2000 credits from them with +/-10 trade ship there at this point.

at this point I forgot to write down balance and next turn profits

#9th turn
*Takeda wiped Anegakoji
*Hojo declared war upon Yamanouchi( I stuck with them)
*Jinbo declared war upon you, use monk to Demoralise again.

Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru | 2 trade ships

at this point I had about 1000 credits and next turn would get +/- 500

#10th turn
*Takeda wiped Jinbo
*Stronghold done
*Use monk to check out Takeda army in Etchu

Recruit: Recruit: 1 Yari/Bow Ashigaru | 2 trade ships( by the next turn first set of trade ships should reach Ainy village trade node)

didn't write down balance again for some reason.

anyways this is what I have that's been working for me, Mogami and Ashina are easy to get money out of Diplomacy when they have 2+ provinces I get 1000 or more from them and they pose no serious threat. Takeda should be kept under close eye constantly and Hojo, well they rush you anyways eventually( had one time around where Satomi(purple ones close to them) was hitting them hard and kept them at bay while I breezed through first turns )

Hope this helps

[Ma'ahes]

Next time, try allying yourself with Takeda and then immediately declare war on the Hojo. You can get this done before they have a good army, so the Hojo gets tied up in the south for a while. Thus, no reason to worry about Takeda until turn 30 or so, since they will eventually cut ties...even if they are losing a war with the Hojo. Did this on VH, and it worked like a charm.

[KyD[A]]

well people, if you really want to use this military acces exploit, I'd like to inform you, that if you wait first turn and try to sell your military access, they will pay you much much more. Seriously.

[Pinky333]

True story, you get twice as much on turn 2

[Jace11]

On turn 1 sell military access 5 turns to all adjacent factions. On turn 2 sell 10 turns of it, etc etc. Murakami, Jinbo and sometimes ashina get wiped out by major clans anyway. Mogami might stick around and will ally with you too. More money....

Then pack your swimsuit and evacuate to Sado. Take everything, burn everything left in Echigo and then look for where to land next. Ugo (Mogami / Date is good) It will limit you to a 1 front war. Then just follow a similar start to the Date, expand south. Sado - get market / metsuke - oversee towns, yakuza etc, farms, gold mine, get another metsuke. Buildup a good stack (but basic troops cause you don't have many free building slots etc). Sado tax reevnues will soon be over 4000. Rice exchange, merchants guild - 5000, to 6000. level 5 metsukes will help but they gain experience to slow unless you do apprehensions.

Uzen next, make it Monk central. Awate, swords central Miyagi - money and replenishment. Then Fukushima, Hitachi - Bow specialty.

On onwards...On legendary you may have to fight 3 stacks at once, watch out for getting caught in settlements when vastly outnumbered (they may siege and force you to sally), I prefer ambushes.

[razor1952]

Also trouble on VH, Long campaign

Took Sado early on and sacrificed Echigo to build Sado and research.


Now Turn 75! at war with everyone except Shoni, have just Sado turning out enough for 2 stacks of Ashgaru have beaten back full stack attacks by Hojo(x3), Imagawa X2 , Hatajemax1 , NO stacks from Takeda . cannot build castle without stone so sacked northern stone province of Ashina

Cannot however establish stable province on mainland and restart,

Must try again!

BTW with latest patch Ai now seems to deal with rebels much more effectively.

VH seems really to be = fight everyone NOW.

Anyone tried as Christian?

[SgtLong]

Juts a few tidbits:

I always play Normal/Normal-With Aum Additional Units Mods and Darth Mod.

1st Turn:

1. Open Trade with neighbors get $100-$300 per agreement.

2. Build Roads/Pirate Bay or Depending on your taste go the other route.

3. Recruit 2 Archers

4. Attack Rebel Army

5. Recruit Monk

6. Returns both armies to capital.

7. You can Alliance with 2-3 other clans at start, this is a gamble, really depends on first turn. If you ally with them then make sure you ally with all 3 not 1. If so this can lead to a tough choice if CPU attacks one and you are forced to abandon (ally) or attack another CPU player.

8. Select The Economy Route Technology wise.

9. End Turn.

2nd Turn:

1. Build Farms

2. Create Military Access with some allies or neighbors. Should make 1-3K if not then wait. You should be able to grab at least $1K for 10 turns. Then send your monk to continue on to the enemy city west.

[Jorkan]

I need help.

To start off, I’m already a veteran of Legendary Campaign difficulty as I’ve already beaten the game with Shimazu and Date on Legendary. I’ve read all the comments on here and tried to incorporate those strategies into my game. For the life of me, however, I cannot beat the game on Legendary.

I’ve tried multiple strategies but cannot get anywhere. I’ve tried taking Sado, then moving over to take out Date. I’ve tried taking Sado then moving to take the Jubo.

Here’s what I usually do:
1. Sell 5 turn access on 1st turn, sell 10 turn access on 2nd turn, sell 20 turn access on 3rd turn.
2. Train the maximum # of ashigaru units every turn possible.
3. Immediately move to kill the rebel army.
4. Try and take Sado ASAP, upgrade the gold mine and try to use the city as a money supply city.
5. After taking Sado, my strategy diverges and I’ve tried tons of different strategies to try and set myself up, but nothing has worked out.

Some things I’ve noticed:
1. If you leave a city close to unprotected, your neighbors will likely declare war on you and move to take it, regardless of how strong you are.
2. Diplomacy is very very important, if you don’t keep nice with most of your neighbors, the field of AI players will quickly turn each other against you.
3. Having multiple alliances helps keep AI players from attacking you, but not always.

If anyone has beaten STW2 using Uesagi on Legendary, your advice will be appreciated.

[razor1952]

(on vh I believe the same as legendary except for save things)Now turn 132 finally making some headway 3 provinces and 30k in the bank Hojo and Hattori have sued for peace, but I know they will backstab me the minute they recover from their beatings. At one stage all ai's were at war with me.
Interestingly chokosabe have 20 provinces and the shogunate.

I cannot get any stable alliance even with only one province marriage and +100 diplo points , they all declare quite quickly . even new clans with 0 diplo's will not ally sometimes will trade for a short while.

The few clans I did ally with for some time (Hatano) got quickly nuked by the the rest of ai's

My previous patch strats of getting rebel provinces now doesn't work either as the ai's now target them asap.


The ai's really behave like a pack of dogs. Congrats to the programmers.

[xveys]

i found it very easy to make the jinbo, ashina, yamanouchi my vassals and defeat destroying takedo, allying with chosokabe and hattori. and taking kyoto

[Charsi]

I move straight west to Jinbo. However, I managed to dodge their army - on Hard, they get wiped out by Anegakoji since their army is all out in Echigo wanting to kill you. So the army quietly vanishes. I then spoke to Anegakoji and paid for 10 turns of military access, moved my army through their lands, and attacked Ikko Ikki - who by this time had moved south and actually wiped out Hattori. I took both Ikki starting provinces and am holding them with mass troops to suppress the populace while I tech for temples to convert the populace.

I also upgraded the coastal village on turn one, sent out 4 bow kobaya while upgrading the basic port into a trading port, and then sent 4 trade ships after the 4 kobayas. I managed to snag five trade nodes, am holding at Echigo (nobody seems to want to kill me, but the city does have a small garrison) and repelling Ikki counterattacks at Echizen.

Anegakoji expanded southwards, wiped out Kiso, Murakami and Takeda clans. They are now a five province force to be reckoned with, owning Etchu, Hida, North + South Shinano and Kai.

[Nergui]

Something I discovered about warrior monks and hallowed ground provinces while playing a Uesugi campaign.

With Famous Temple and Great Shrine, their respective "+2 ranks" bonus for monks, also applies to naginata warrior monks and bow warrior monks. A fully upgraded province (all legendary buildings) can produce rank 8 naginata monks and rank 5 bow monks as well as giving both a +5 morale upgrade.

They are slow to produce and fragile against archers, but they outclass everything in melee but hero units and are unlikely to rout until almost wiped out.

[Shayd]

Cross-posted from the TW Forums:

I've recently completed Uesugi on Legendary, so I'll chip in. [N.B.: this is a modified version of my Sado Island Relocate strategy I've mentioned previously with respect to my Uesugi hard campaign.]

The opening Uesugi position is almost unplayable: it's a gankfest. Even with luck and skillful diplomacy, you will find yourself at war with aggressive clans before you can build up sufficient strength. (If you can find your way through this position, you are a much better player than I, and I nod my head in respect.)

However, recall that the tree that bends in the wind survives the storm.

Build a cheap full stack ashigaru army, load your troops & generals aboard a bow ship, and invade Sado. That's right: abandon your home province. (This is the bend part. And it hurts, I know.) Your enemies will declare war on you right around now, but before they do, don't forget to sell them military access for a few thousand koku. (Savour the subtle victory here - your enemies think their betrayal will be that much more surprising after you've allowed armies onto your land - land which you have no intention of keeping).

The Sado gold mine, once upgraded, will keep you in koku as you rebuild. Do not upgrade Sado with any military building: you will have those soon enough; build a market and sake den. Don't forget to use a metsuke for tax increases.

Across the sea, your enemies will take your home province, and continue to weaken themselves with war. You should upgrade the Sado port, build some trade fleets and try to grab the trade nodes. This should also expose you to some other clans with whom you can trade. In addition, you'll want some naval strength to dominate the sea and prevent piracy.

Once you feel stronger, take your army and invade Kaga (the coastal province to the west with the blacksmith). The castle should be nicely upgraded, providing a good base of operations to re-take your home province. You may want to invade Echizen just next door for its bow bonus, though I would not expand further west than that right now. Try to make peace with the Omi (or whoever you attacked to gain Kaga); if not, don't worry - after he dashes his brains against Kaga's thick walls with a couple armies and you display his generals' heads on pikes, he'll listen to reason (and you'll gain some experience for your army). Use your starting monk and navy to scout the eastern coast. (Not scouting ahead of a planned invasion is death in legendary - but you know this.) Have your monk practice his skills: you'll need him later.

Continue to research until you have farming and encampment upgrade. Upgrade Kaga with an encampment and smith, building advanced units as desired (I prefer all armor upgrades). Don't worry if this is too much turtling - you'll be rampaging soon. Make sure that you're effective at castle defence; leave some decent units to defend Kaga (you may face armies from the west, and you don't want to lose your foothold here; it's a fallback position if things go badly.)

Once you're comfortable, think about moving east to Noto and Etchu. There will be a temptation to sprint back to Echigo: resist this. Consolidate your gains, and quickly take Hida. This should secure your southern flank. You should now be generating enough koku to pump out further advanced, armored units from Kaga, which can be sent to the eastern front. Remember - if disaster strikes, you can always fall back to Kaga, which is your Helms Deep).

If things go well and your south is secure, scout toward Echigo and invade: home province retaken!

Make peace with whoever is reliable and reasonably positioned against your probable long-term enemies. (In my game, Date (a previously sworn foe) became my most trusted ally; he stayed with me to the final stage with two marriages, trade, alliance and gifts.) From here, I just invaded south toward the gold mine (I love me some big fat gold mines) in Izu and the castle at Suruga (?) then Totomi, then west toward Mikawa. (Note: The mountainous South Shinano is tempting, since it seems to secure your western flank, but I was never in a position to take it until near the end-game. I tried to rely on a bend/retreat strategy rather than forward-or-death approach, resisting the temptation of over-expansion - since mistakes get punished on legendary.) I never expanded too far east because it opens up too many fronts: I just held the spine of the mountains, leaving Date to occupy the weaker eastern clans.

As an alternative, you could, once you secure Echigo, march east on Date, but I just find the distances too long - it prevents fast reaction you need on legendary. (N.B.: you don't need any of the far eastern provinces as Uesugi.) I ceded the east to my ally Date and together we crushed everyone else.

In my game, the real action was at Owari: 3 or 4 enemy stacks converged there, hoping to break through my coastal cities and push north toward North Shinano and Hida. However, since (by the time you take it) the castle at Suruga and North Shinano are strong, I was always able to fall back if necessary (with an ambush here and a last-man defence there.) After I marched south, no clan ever tried for Echigo - it sat there like a white elephant, secured by a useless full-stack army. I hardly even used it to produce warrior monks. Go figure.

Importantly, this strategy does not require an abundance of armies: you need a strong garrison at Kaga, a single unit at Sado (if that), some units at Echigo, and an army somewhere in the mountain spine of Hida and North Shinano - your main strength can then be concentrated expanding west along the southern coast. (This obviates the problem of the opening position where you don't have enough armies to intercept enemy troops as they converge on wide open Echigo.)

I play conservatively, so I advanced only slowly toward Kyoto. The game ended as I moved west from Kyoto through the southern Settsu & Harima, and northern Wakas & Tango. I relied heavily on ninjas to sculpt the battles I wanted to occur. I never got the Black Ship and lost the Nihon Maru a turn after I go it in a bloody naval battle involving 3 or 4 full stack enemy fleets. I recovered from this disaster to later intercept 2 naval invasions and send armies to the sea bottom. I had at least 3 of my armies destroyed and generals die, lost many provinces (sometimes for years) but was content to fall back to strong castles that held long enough to bring reinforcements. All said, it was my most enjoyable campaign to date.

I hope this helps.