Hello,

It's been a while since I've actually played Shogun 2 (busy busy) but when I was last really into it my main Shimazu campaign was going pretty alright. I was way over the time limit, but I did manage to become Shogun. I picked up Fall of the Samurai recently (finally...) so I was poking around the Wiki's to glean a bit of info (no clue when I'll be able to play it though). I found this quote on the Stronghold entry for core Shogun 2, though:

Your Clan's Administration and Tax Collection will incur a severe penalty if most of the Provincial Castles under your control are Forts and Strongholds. As such, it is always important to prevent this from happening by upgrading every Castle Town to a Fortress to consolidate the gains of your territorial expansion.
http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Stronghold_%28TWS2%29

I never read very many guides, but the one I did read all the way through advised, if memory serves, to not upgrade castles unless absolutely necessary, due to the rice consumption they impose on you making it unlikely they pull their weight. Same with the rice exchange if memory serves. By the time I read that guide I already had either built or captured misc. castles at various levels, and in all honesty was never 100% sure how to determine which ones should and shouldn't get an upgrade - the front lines are always advancing.

In any case, I don't think I've seen that penalty mentioned anywhere, not even in that guide. Is this a depreciated mechanic, or one that has come in after the game launched? Is the penalty that big of a deal? I don't think anything in the game itself called attention to this going on.

Thanks,

M.