Am I the only one losing every time? (RotS)

[Ethien]

Gah I was hoping it was somewhere in an options menu or something. When I'm playing Total War just for some fun I like to have the campaign map a bit easier so I can tech and get uber units but I still like intelligent battle ai. Playing on legendary and worrying every turn about cost and upkeep and profit and micromanagement is something I only like to do once in a while.

Yeah, same here. It's why I think hard is a comfortable difficulty for my personal tastes where I can relax and still have an ample challenge. Though the battles have been a bit to easy for my tastes. I'll try more campaigns and see what the results are.

[Ludicus]

Moob, maybe try combining politics with warfare. I've been able to win many regions through agents and popularity so I can divert the weight of my troops elsewere.
As a matter of fact S2 and RotS have best political gameplay of the franchise yet. Treaties actually mean something and agents are actually useful. It will good to see CA take the positives from S2 into the next title.

Well said.

[cloner4000]

I remember seeing the option to change difficulties in game, so maybe its possible to start of easy so you can build up and once strong enough turn it to higher difficulties.

I think its important to not expand to fast. Having a few well build cities is better than a bunch of undeveloped cities.

[boifido]

You can edit the Battle difficulty in the game options ingame

awesome thanks!

[themoob]

At least some people in here are honest

I'm not some TW nub, I know to specialise towns, use politics, be patient, so on and so forth. The AI cheating is just way too blatant, and the other major clans are very aggressive, and your clan-mate always seems to suck.

[Ragga]

Agreed with OP...

I've been having just the most difficult time with RotS... 3 campaigns down the tubes!!! 1st one on very hard... got wiped, so i went to just hard - played longer, but after awhile every single clan hates me!

tried a 3rd time and within several turns im getting doubled and tripled teamed:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...994?tab=public

Thanks CA - in all honesty - in creating a challenging game!!! I'm sorta in the juxtapostion of having a lot of fun and also being very frustrated!!!

some pointers from the 'gods' who find it absolutely easy would be nice!!! instead of just whip'n out their epenis... LOL - in all honesty, im no tw noob and have passed many campaigns in all of the series - some challenging some not - but this one is by far the most challenging!

oh well.. on to my 4th try!!! should i try norma???????? nawhhhh!

[Alzenrider]

My campaign for the Fujiwara on normal has gone very well, I managed to steamroll over half of eastern Japan, including my sister clan (they sided with some clan I declared war against almost at the beggining of the campaign ), seducing/bribing every general (fear my army of 18 generals ) I found in my path, and I am barley meeting any seriouse resistance now, since 4 clans want to kick my ass, have not played in a while but I think I might lose or I might conquer all of Japan, we will see what happens.
Of course before that I played the Minamoto on normal and got ganged on.

[Sylentwolf8]

Gah I was hoping it was somewhere in an options menu or something. When I'm playing Total War just for some fun I like to have the campaign map a bit easier so I can tech and get uber units but I still like intelligent battle ai. Playing on legendary and worrying every turn about cost and upkeep and profit and micromanagement is something I only like to do once in a while.

It actually is in the options after you start your campaign, I believe it's under game settings. You can only change battle difficulty though once the game starts.

[Sylentwolf8]

Agreed with OP...

I've been having just the most difficult time with RotS... 3 campaigns down the tubes!!! 1st one on very hard... got wiped, so i went to just hard - played longer, but after awhile every single clan hates me!

tried a 3rd time and within several turns im getting doubled and tripled teamed:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...994?tab=public

Thanks CA - in all honesty - in creating a challenging game!!! I'm sorta in the juxtapostion of having a lot of fun and also being very frustrated!!!

some pointers from the 'gods' who find it absolutely easy would be nice!!! instead of just whip'n out their epenis... LOL - in all honesty, im no tw noob and have passed many campaigns in all of the series - some challenging some not - but this one is by far the most challenging!

oh well.. on to my 4th try!!! should i try norma???????? nawhhhh!

Personally I play a very political somewhat slow game style. You could go without using agents really at all in the main Shogun 2 campaign, however the agents are completely necessary in this one. With the picture above in your post, you could have easily delayed those armies using shirayaboshi to seperate them into more manageable forces.

Also, attrition warfare against a superior enemy is going to fail every time which is what it looked like you were doing. It's better to wear them down through ambushes, and sending an army behind their lines, especially if they send so many forces at you head on like that. Chances are in that case they are very undefended in their home regions and you may be able to sack their stronghold and get a ton of money. A ton of money = gigantic armies.

(Playing Hard/Hard with Minamoto Yoritomo, have about 20 provinces, completely wiped out Fujiwara clans, and have wiped one of the Taira clans whilst crippling the other Taira clan)

[Ragga]

thanks for the heads up - i'll have to try to slow down a bit more; it's hard though when your watching your enemy's army grow.

as for the screenie - i was using shirayaboshi like crazy; but the ai came from the north and south... and i only had one (if you look at the pick i actually used one right before the initial attack). i was worn down by them and not only lost my main army... but lost the provence which in turn they began 'gang banging' me back and back.

i'll have to try sneeking around and looting... and also, slowing a down a bit (i just have to get the turn limit out of the back of my head)... and most importantly, i have to use my agents alot more!!! i'll post the results of my 4th attempt soon!

[Altimis]

Amazed about people careless/underestimated with ROTS campaign lol

[Sylentwolf8]

thanks for the heads up - i'll have to try to slow down a bit more; it's hard though when your watching your enemy's army grow.

as for the screenie - i was using shirayaboshi like crazy; but the ai came from the north and south... and i only had one (if you look at the pick i actually used one right before the initial attack). i was worn down by them and not only lost my main army... but lost the provence which in turn they began 'gang banging' me back and back.

i'll have to try sneeking around and looting... and also, slowing a down a bit (i just have to get the turn limit out of the back of my head)... and most importantly, i have to use my agents alot more!!! i'll post the results of my 4th attempt soon!

I'll be interested to see how it goes.

Regarding the turn limit, like you said just ignore it. You really have a LOT of time to do everything you need to do. Just make sure to get the right allies, boost your economy like crazy, and diplo-annex those loyal minor factions as often as you can afford. (Unless of course they're helping you in a war)

[Stil]

My nose has been bloodied royally on the campaign and I love it

Because of influence mechanic and managing happiness, because of improved siege battle AI and the fact that high tech units (that AI seem to get so fast) do so well vs massed low tech I've had to restart already.

On my third playthrough I'm doing so much better. I've been moving at a steady rate of expansion and doing more strategic thinking (takes me back to AI war - if you expand too fast you'll make the AI angry before you're ready to handle it, if you grow too slow you'll lose the race to wealth, regions and tech) as to my research path and building placement choices. I've been looking more at the diplomacy panel, careful of who'll be upset if I make a DOW and using my allies and vassals for support in the field and as buffering zones. Agents have been very useful to me so far also

[themoob]

So I started another campaign as the Taira clan who owns Kyoto, and wow, it's a hell of a lot easier. I think the issue with Fujiwara and Minomoto was that you came into conflict with the other major clans at every single border you've got... but Taira only has to worry about the Minamoto, which also has to fight the Fujiwara, so you can still expand west while they fight. Also, your fellow Taira clan is nice and safe behind you, so they wont' get squashed.

[Ethien]

I'm actually having a hard time as the Fujiwara. They have to cross over their large provinces and begin with bunka advantages, however, this doesn't help much when you're not able to field potent armies. I'm going to have to try again and come up with a new plan.

An army of sword attendants and foot samurai in the opposing army is rather crushing.

[valky]

So I started another campaign as the Taira clan who owns Kyoto, and wow, it's a hell of a lot easier. I think the issue with Fujiwara and Minomoto was that you came into conflict with the other major clans at every single border you've got... but Taira only has to worry about the Minamoto, which also has to fight the Fujiwara, so you can still expand west while they fight. Also, your fellow Taira clan is nice and safe behind you, so they wont' get squashed.

Started over too, even if I was quite satisfied with my other clan, I did several mistakes and ended up with a wide-opened front. Did choose the same Taira clan like you, and not only your other ally protects you on your left flank, you can set up 2 or even 3 massive chokepoints towards the western region, where the enemy is forced to attack the fort/castle...and can NOT sneak past (south shinano + Kaga and maybe in the southern region, depends how things will develop)

The problem in my other campaign was a conflict with DMS, where I couldn't build tradeships in the first tier port, so I had to advance to a region, where I could get wood. Sounds odd though, but that's where it started to slide out of control....

Oh, and I have Ninjas now *evil*

[Sylentwolf8]

So I started another campaign as the Taira clan who owns Kyoto, and wow, it's a hell of a lot easier. I think the issue with Fujiwara and Minomoto was that you came into conflict with the other major clans at every single border you've got... but Taira only has to worry about the Minamoto, which also has to fight the Fujiwara, so you can still expand west while they fight. Also, your fellow Taira clan is nice and safe behind you, so they wont' get squashed.

I agree, playing as the Minamoto is incredibly difficult. I chose them due to them historically being victorious, however once the realm divide hits you are seriously screwed. Unlike in the Sengoku campaign, you can't even become Shogun to help with everyone attacking you which makes things worse! I took and held Kyoto, expecting some sort of tax bonus or something at least but you really do get nothing.

Challenge.

Your not wrong.. CA have created a fun and Challenging DLC.. as much as we want to analyze every aspect.. and I am sure there are experts in this? the fact remains for the average player.. this new DLC offers a challenge.. different fron the Original game.. one has to carefully strategically think about your next move...Agent, politics have a more eager role to play.. if nothing else this a major step forward..
I am not finding this new DLC easy at all.. perhaps I'm old? but this offers a greater challenge for me.. even in custom battles.. its more difficult to achieve a win... and one must use the map features such as hidden tree lines.. flanking outmaneuvers.
Finally I cant complain about the A.I. anymore.. and will be looking forward to the next installment in the series.. using these parameters from ROTS.
and all that hullabaloo.

I agree, this is the most challenging total war experience i've had. I was able to win on Hard/Hard but it was quite mentally exhausting.

[lestard]

just finished my fujiwara campaign on hard/hard and it was very satisfying . Before i tried minamoto on very hard and got my ass kicked.

My campaign for the Fujiwara on normal has gone very well, I managed to steamroll over half of eastern Japan, including my sister clan (they sided with some clan I declared war against almost at the beggining of the campaign ), seducing/bribing every general (fear my army of 18 generals ) I found in my path, and I am barley meeting any seriouse resistance now, since 4 clans want to kick my ass, have not played in a while but I think I might lose or I might conquer all of Japan, we will see what happens.
Of course before that I played the Minamoto on normal and got ganged on.

its funny, cause my campaign started exactly the same. as soon as i took the first enemy province my sister clan jumped me and defeating them took me a lot of time, cause it was so early in the beginning.
i managed to beat them and get another province, but thats when almost every other clan declared war on me. from here on it was always defending and slowly trying to convert my neighbour provinces with my Junsatsushi, so they can take them over easily.
I can recommend as many Junsatsushi as you can get, cause these guys where the bread and butter in my victorious campaign!
In mid to late game i never recruited any soldiers, i bribed my way to unstoppable force. gaining a full stack of fine soldiers in one round is so much fun, and your enemy is weakened.
My Junsatsushi also helped me defend my territory easily cause when another army took one of my provinces i just demanded loyality from this province and most of the times i got it back plus the army !

i think this way of playing fits the fujiwara who got a headstart in economics.

[Ethien]

just finished my fujiwara campaign on hard/hard and it was very satisfying . Before i tried minamoto on very hard and got my ass kicked.



its funny, cause my campaign started exactly the same. as soon as i took the first enemy province my sister clan jumped me and defeating them took me a lot of time, cause it was so early in the beginning.
i managed to beat them and get another province, but thats when almost every other clan declared war on me. from here on it was always defending and slowly trying to convert my neighbour provinces with my Junsatsushi, so they can take them over easily.
I can recommend as many Junsatsushi as you can get, cause these guys where the bread and butter in my victorious campaign!
In mid to late game i never recruited any soldiers, i bribed my way to unstoppable force. gaining a full stack of fine soldiers in one round is so much fun, and your enemy is weakened.
My Junsatsushi also helped me defend my territory easily cause when another army took one of my provinces i just demanded loyality from this province and most of the times i got it back plus the army !

i think this way of playing fits the fujiwara who got a headstart in economics.

How did you beat back the Minamoto clans? Especially Kamakura. I know they have stacks of foot samurai, sword attendants and mounted samurai in immense droves. In every Fujiwara campaign I've played, there were always the dominant force. To bribe a stack you'll need 5,000 to 10,000 koku. Early on, that isn't practical. I took every province up to Shimotsuke, then I had only Kamakura to fight. They attacked me with two full stacks, of mostly samurai.

You can't destroy a great clan with junsatsushi's alone since it disallows you.

[lestard]

ya, ok, i had a little help.

i managed to get the Nitta clan as my ally for quite some time to help me out with the minamoto clans, they were the buffer between me and the minamoto.
early on i just bribed small armies, which they sent towards me, so i had 1-2 good armies myself to defend me.

also, i think bribing a full stack is cheaper when they sit in one of your cities they just took over with 100% fujiwara.