TROM3 Mini Preview - Improved Ashigaru Progression
TROM3 tries to mimick the historical development of ashigaru from part time farmer-soldiers or peasants to trained professionals which eventually formed the lower tier of the samurai caste. In the beginning of the game you only have access to untrained and ill-equipped yari (spear) and yumi (bow) ashigaru that are no match for samurai units. While yari ashigaru may have some success in their specialized role as anti cavalry troops, overall they can not hope to beat a samurai force and should be used mainly against other ashigaru, for garrison duties and as flanking forces. Yumi ashigaru will have a hard time piercing the superior samurai armor (especially at long range) and several yumi ashigaru will have to concentrate their fire on a single samurai unit to achive noticable results. Therefore, in the beginning of the game, battles are an affair of samurai against samurai with ashigaru in a supporting role only. However, this will change gradually over the course of the game. While all troops profit from tech and building developments, ashigaru can profit more so then samurai or warrior monks. Higher level castles provide newly recruited ashigaru with better armor and a melee bonus. In addition TROM3 has it's own military tech branch for ashigaru with bonuses for ashigaru only. These techs also allow the recruitment of advanced ashigaru units like the matchlock (teppo) ashigaru, the nagae-yari (pike) ashigaru and the kazuyumi (long bow) ashigaru.
Ashigaru Techs
NOTE: Tech effects are still WIP and may change until release.
- Ashigarushira (ashigaru sergants) - Giving ashigaru a better command structure improves moral (+2 moral for all ashigaru).
- Yoroi doshi - Better weapon training improves overall effectiveness (+1 starting xp for all ashigaru; -5% farming income; allows Nagae-yari Ashigaru and Kazuyumi Ashigaru).
- Collective Farming - Marks the transition from part time soldiers to professionals. Farming income will get hurt somewhat because of the lack of workers, but ashigaru become cheaper in upkeep and therefore you can field more of them (-15% upkeep for all ashigaru; +2% unit replenishment; -10% farming income).
- Upward Mobility - Ashigaru become fully professional soldiers and form the lowest level of the samurai caste (+1 moral; +1 starting xp; -5% upkeep; allows Ashigaru Sharpshooters, Pike & Shot Ashigaru and Ashigaru Cavalry Scouts)
Additional Building Bonuses
- Fortress - Adds +1 armor for all ashigaru recruited in the province.
- Castles/Citadels - Adds +2 armor and +1 melee for all ashigaru recruited in the province.
Ashigaru units
Early Ashigaru
Yari Ashigaru - Basic spear troops; good against cavalry and yumi ashigaru; capped to 8 units
Yumi Ashigaru - Basic bow troops; good against other ashigaru; capped to 8 units
Imported Teppo Ashigaru - Matchlock equiped early professionals; less men then standard teppo ashigaru; need a nanban trade port; capped to 5 units
Mid-game Ashigaru
Nagae-yari Ashigaru - Ashigaru with pikes; bigger unit size; better against cavalry and in holding a defensive line then yari ashigaru; need yoroi-doshi tech; no unit cap
Kazuyumi Ashigaru - Higher range, better accuracy and higher rate of fire then yumi ashigaru; need yoroi-doshi tech; no unit cap
Teppo Ashigaru - More men and cheaper then imported teppo ashigaru; need matchlock tech; no unit cap
Late Ashigaru
Ashigaru Sharpshooters - Small band of the best teppo ashigaru with very high accuracy; can hide everywhere on the battlefield; need upward mobility tech; capped to 2 units
Pike & Shot Ashigaru - Nagae-yari ashigaru with matchlocks in the front line; need upward mobility tech; versatile in offense and defence
Ashigaru Cavalry Scouts - Light yari equipped cavalry that can be deployed everywhere on the battlefield; need upward mobility tech; capped to 4 units
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