The "'I've lost a campaign to the AI" thread

[S-te-Fan]

People, share your experiences, as I just lost my campaign as the Shimuzi. With a flourishing economy the shogun all of sudden decides to turn against me after conquering the Chosokabe. Even my most trusted allies turn against me, and as I played quite a passive campaign to explore the game I stood no chance against the huge Takeda clan. Suddenthly rebellions pop up everywhere, which I never had before (even though I converted to christian). My navy was undefeatable with my best stack being 5 namban trade ships and the black ship. However the rebellions and the constant pressure of the Takeda clan made me give up. I was only a few provinces removed from Kyoto

[Amelorn]

I had a chain reaction of pirates, vassals turning against me, buddhist rebellions, and a Takeda invasion of Kyushu. I beat the invasion back, but pirates crippled my trade-based economy. On turn 71, I was destroyed. I went back to turn 68 and rectified a few things.

One could say that it's unfair to do that, but it is a very valuable learning experience for me.

[underworld965]

I'm on my 5th campaign having won a legendary as the oda once (hardest clan by far) and having lost the previous 3 times. AI hit you whenever you show ANY weakness. Currently I'm playing as....the Oda, hoping to get a more challenging (and less feeling like I just got lucky) game (mass revolts destroyed takeda and hattori my only real endgame rivals.) Oda beginning is EXTREMELY hard though

[keith moons liver]

I don't think I could lose if I wanted to. The AI is completely incapable of taking a multi-level fortress in my experiences.

[McCarronXLD]

I've lost a bunch of campaigns to AI. Not gonna go into too much detail because they're all generally the same.

A couple turns in I complete the designated opening objective for whatever faction, then expand into a province (usually wiping out the occupant is it was a small clan) then stop and begin building up my economy and focusing on chi tech.

Then some clan declares war on me out of no where and steams in through with 2 heavy, experienced stacks... this is only -20 turns in mind you. Normal difficulty. Oy...

While I am not a fan of the biased aggression the AI seems to have towards the player, I have had a greater campaign experience so far than previous TW titles.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

lost twice as the Oda i dont mind the agression what i hate is the magical super powered troops the AI spawns, i know god damn well an enemy like the Honma who never get attacked dont have no rank 5 20 unit army with Generals at rank 5 as well its a bit asinine in that department, but overall the challange is good. just really dislike the magically spawning armies

[athropos1]

lost twice as the Oda i dont mind the agression what i hate is the magical super powered troops the AI spawns, i know god damn well an enemy like the Honma who never get attacked dont have no rank 5 20 unit army with Generals at rank 5 as well its a bit asinine in that department, but overall the challange is good. just really dislike the magically spawning armies

Stop playing on very hard?

[Crazyeyesreaper]

that kinda defeats the purpose the magical armies are bad yes but giving the AI a magical 20 man army of maxed experience + armor upgrades or weapon upgrades is a bit much, seen a full army of Bow Samurai at rank 5-6 with accuracy upgrade within 30 turns of starting, obviously thats not really possible but seen it happen, The AI is better able to give me a challenge on Hard or Legendary, i dont mind if they get a few extra units, but entire armies of massively upgraded troops is 1 hell of a stretch add in realm divide where i had 3 full stacks spawn with high xp and other upgrades and it just gets insane, on Easy and normal the AI gets steamrolled, on Hard there decent very hard and legendary they put up a great fight but with each step there entire armies get super sized with bonuses, reminds me alot of M2TW, just a lame way of fixing the AI, now a koku bonus so they can maybe build up quicker produce bigger armies fine by me, but really? max or near max experience 20 unit bow samurai army with a bunch of upgrades, please, its really funny when i see it happen from a faction that has 1 or 2 cities, that cant even actually produce the units it gets its bad but i do get a laugh out of it so i guess its not a total loss. Laughing is always good.

[Becephalus]

I autoresolve so I go through the campaigns very quickly. I have won 5 and lost IDK a dozen (when you cant beat the crap out of the BAI the CAI is much harder).

I would say I have ZERO idea what people are talking about with the "magical spawning stacks". I have played for 80 hours or so and not seen this behavior at all. Sure the AI has slightly more and better troops than you would expect, but only by a little bit.

I think people are just sore losers.

[Dragooon]

Play on hard or normal, VH is ridiculous in this game.

And I lost my campaign on the 190th turn in Normal lol....

[Drtad]

And I lost my campaign on the 190th turn in Normal lol....

That ALMOST happened to me as Hattori (my first campaign that I just managed to win). The realm divide had been in effect for awhile and if my close allies the Tokugawa had betrayed me I would have been done for. Unfortunately I had no easy avenue of expansion to get the required 25 provinces to secure the Hattori Yasunaga's rightful place as the Shogun other than betraying Tokugawa...

Well it worked out anyway. Not exactly a loss but it was a NEAR defeat. It was 1575 when I took the 25th province.

[Dragooon]

That ALMOST happened to me as Hattori (my first campaign that I just managed to win). The realm divide had been in effect for awhile and if my close allies the Tokugawa had betrayed me I would have been done for. Unfortunately I had no easy avenue of expansion to get the required 25 provinces to secure the Hattori Yasunaga's rightful place as the Shogun other than betraying Tokugawa...

Well it worked out anyway. Not exactly a loss but it was a NEAR defeat. It was 1575 when I took the 25th province.

I had been under Realm divide for about 20 years(80 turns). The problem happened when my allies betrayed me seeing my declining power and their rising power, and two of the factions raided some of my farms and besieged 2 of my unguarded cities. Basically within 3 turns I had lost over 8 regions, 6 due to rebellions and 2 due to enemy capturing them. Then it kept going south.

[Drtad]

I had been under Realm divide for about 20 years(80 turns). The problem happened when my allies betrayed me seeing my declining power and their rising power, and two of the factions raided some of my farms and besieged 2 of my unguarded cities. Basically within 3 turns I had lost over 8 regions, 6 due to rebellions and 2 due to enemy capturing them. Then it kept going south.

Hmm yeah I think I got lucky in particular because my allies in the East were still dealing with Takeda & co (their vassals). As long as my allies were fighting someone else they had other things on their mind.

[Reiver]

I had been under Realm divide for about 20 years(80 turns). The problem happened when my allies betrayed me seeing my declining power and their rising power, and two of the factions raided some of my farms and besieged 2 of my unguarded cities. Basically within 3 turns I had lost over 8 regions, 6 due to rebellions and 2 due to enemy capturing them. Then it kept going south.

Yeah, there's none of that artificial hesitancy the AI used to show. They are quite happy to ruthlessly exploit and steamroll. The speed at which things can go down hill means you're never safe or comfortable. So, so much better than anything since the original medieval.

I've lost two v. hard campaigns and am in the process of losing a Takeda campaign on hard. Mostly i keep making silly mistakes; not scouting, expanding in the wrong direction, picking the wrong Ally... The latter has cost me dearly as it's my long term allies the Imagawa who are going to do me in this time.

[aeoleron9]

I lost several times, I'm ashamed and happy to admit. The first was when in an early battle against a larger ashigaru army, got thoroughly beaten and my entire army decimated. No way to turn that back, so I reloaed the battle. This time, although I won, all my generals including the daimyo managed to impale themselves on pointy sticks when they tried to charge from the rear. Again, pretty much a lost cause.

Then there's the campaign side mistakes I made, like making vassals when I should've occupied and prematurely declaring on the huge Takeda-Hojo-Imagawa alliance. Managed to ambush and kill Takeda Shingen himself, but after that his sons and generals came at me with a vengeance. I actually held on until like turn 40, when my vassals were all wiped out and I was in full retreat ready to make a last stand with my tattered host in my capital. Again, lost campaign.

Then there was the recent embarassment of having my elite frontline stack ambushed by one of the loyalist factions near Kyoto. It was a decisive defeat, and with the Realm Divide looming my campaign was pretty much done for. Damn sneaky AI.

[Xatham]

My very first game as Tokugawa, I was outsmarted by the CAI o.o

dozens of hours later, I've more or less figured out how to beat the BAI/CAI consistantly : you have to goad it into attacking your prepared positions, such as bridges and such. Back in rome, that's how 1 man held against 3 men. In S2, it's more how 1 man holds out against 1.5 men, lol.

The diplomatic game is a crapshoot for me - sometimes it works on my favour, sometimes there's a cascade of alliances leading to me being isolated diplomatically. I especially dislike when the AI, who is my ally, declares on my vassal. That's my only gripe with the diplomatic game - my trusted ally, too dumb to figure out that going to war with my vassal will mean war with me. Along with other vassal issues, it means that they're not really worth it.

[Shabby_Ronin]

The game is hard for me on normal; I'm very good in battles, but I've always been deficient when it comes to the campaign map. I'm too meandering and self indulgent when it come to building things and planning short term.

[aeoleron9]

The diplomatic game is a crapshoot for me - sometimes it works on my favour, sometimes there's a cascade of alliances leading to me being isolated diplomatically. I especially dislike when the AI, who is my ally, declares on my vassal. That's my only gripe with the diplomatic game - my trusted ally, too dumb to figure out that going to war with my vassal will mean war with me. Along with other vassal issues, it means that they're not really worth it.

Yeah really hate it when allies declare on vassals. You can sometimes avoid it if the said allies are preoccupied with fighting someone else, but it's hit and miss. Also the vassals themselves seem to love turning on you as well, with those harsh previous grievances penalties they all hate your guts.

[Popgun]

Lost my first game as oda on the first turn as I forgot to move my army back to the capital after destroying the rebels.

[Auditor]

Lost my first campaign on VH, lost my second on H, now at my third on normal, not sure I will win this one either... Love this game