hard Takeda campaign always 3-frontier-war at the beginning

[Carthago]

Hi,

I recently started the fourth time a hard Campaign with the Takeda. It all ended similarely - my ex-allies called Hojo declared war to me, Only one turn later 3 or 4 more clans declared war too, and one or two further turns, 4 or 5 fullstacks of Ashigaru arrived in my provinces.

my course of action:

1. game: orientation northward, North - shinano and Echigo occupied. Then war declaration by Hojo, Imagawa, Kiso and Saitomi, that mena a 3-frontier-war. Winning not possible -.-

2. game: orientation southward, declared war to Imagawa and Hojo, the former destroyed, the last as Vassals. Then war declaration in the north by the Uesugi, in the west by the Tokugawa and in the east by my Hojovassalls plus their allies. Same situation as in the first game, winning not possible.

3. game: defensive economic Orientation. Only occupied North - Shinano. Then markets and famrs in both provinces improved, Chi-arts researched. In every province ashigarus and some Katana - Samurai, then war declaration by Hojo in the South, Saitomi in the east, Kiso and Jinbo in the west, Uesugi in the north. Same situation as in the first game, and although my armies were better than in the first two games, my enemies were superior in the number of units 3:1.

can somebody who has won the Takeda-campaign on hard or very hard tell me the first turns, inclusive which provnunces should be occupied first, which bulidings should be built in the provnices,and which and how much soldiers should I build?

Thank you

[DeMolay]

Takeda is the hardest faction in my opinion , Oda has a hard beggining , but there is a way to crush Saito+Tokugawa and grab their land in less than 2 turns , and afterwards you get good trade thanks to the numerous ports on the coast and it becomes very easy to expand quickly with your superior ashigarus at the beggining .

However with Takeda , you are stuck with poor lands ( Kai , Shinano are poor ) with no access to ports for trade , and surrounded by multiple very aggressive factions (Uesugi , Hojo , Tokugawa , rebels ) .

I didn't play Takeda much so far , mainly focused on Oda , Shimazu and Uesugi , but from my experience in my Oda campaign , i'd advise you to try to capture northern Shinano ASAP (before Uesugi takes it ) , and then expand southward , specifically toward Imagawa , the land of Totomi and Suruga , this will give you the following regions : Totomi (with port ) , Suruga (with library i think ) , Kai (your stronghold ) , Northern Shinano .

Then the rest is a matter of diplomacy , allying with Hojo at the start would be wise if it's possible , then later you break the alliance and capture the precious land of Izu (gold mine ) and Sagami (with armourer ) but again , i didn't play Takeda for long yet so someone might advise better

[Cynik]

I felt the same way you did but on my third campaign I did a lot differently.

I had a few simple rules that I've kept throughout the game that are very good for Takeda, they being;-

1. Never declare war on somebody in the early stages

2. Never break an alliance

3. Recruit and use Metsukes, Ninjas and Monks fully (if you're going into to battle, get them to inspire your troops, if you have to leave a fort ungarrisoned, get a metsuke+monk to watch over it.

4. Do NOT recruit a full samurai army to begin with, go with Ashigaru troops and use the spear wall formation that is so destructive. Take a few units of light cavalry and a good chunk of archers. They are cheap, effective and you're able to have 2-3 armies for the price of one full samurai army meaning you can fight on all fronts.

5. Fight your wars through diplomacy, get allies to break alliances, join the other side of the war, do trade embargos, offer hostages and marriages to cement new alliances. As Takeda, if you decide to not declare war on anybody, you will be at peace for a long time and this is all you can do pretty much. Wait for the right opportunity, don't be impatient.

6. Focus on defence and spears in the Bushido skills section and focus on Chi mostly for farming and diplomacy.

7. Use Vassals to block off areas between enemies to give you some breathing space and focus on another warfront.

You will struggle to begin with and will seem hopeless, but be the mountain and you will be the last one standing in a better position than the rest. I'm on my third campaign on hard carving up Eastern Japan as I will, taking out entire Samurai armies with Ashigaru troops.

If you come across multiple stack armies, get your ninjas and other agents stuck in. The Hojo were twice my size and power, but I allowed them to destroy the vassals I had put up dividing their stacks as I had wanted. I think sent in my ninjas to sabotage the armies (which make them unable to move for one turn).

I then moved in with my one Ashigaru army and using this technique (demoralising them with monks and assassinating their generals and using monks to inspire my own men). I wiped out 3-4 stacks of their armies and took half of their provinces (they were the major power in the area).

Takeda is certainly hard but its a campaign for the patient

[Jean-Roch Coignet]

1. Never declare war on somebody in the early stages

2. Never break an alliance

3. Recruit and use Metsukes, Ninjas and Monks fully (if you're going into to battle, get them to inspire your troops, if you have to leave a fort ungarrisoned, get a metsuke+monk to watch over it.

4. Do NOT recruit a full samurai army to begin with, go with Ashigaru troops and use the spear wall formation that is so destructive. Take a few units of light cavalry and a good chunk of archers. They are cheap, effective and you're able to have 2-3 armies for the price of one full samurai army meaning you can fight on all fronts.

5. Fight your wars through diplomacy, get allies to break alliances, join the other side of the war, do trade embargos, offer hostages and marriages to cement new alliances. As Takeda, if you decide to not declare war on anybody, you will be at peace for a long time and this is all you can do pretty much. Wait for the right opportunity, don't be impatient.

6. Focus on defence and spears in the Bushido skills section and focus on Chi mostly for farming and diplomacy.

7. Use Vassals to block off areas between enemies to give you some breathing space and focus on another warfront.

You will struggle to begin with and will seem hopeless, but be the mountain and you will be the last one standing in a better position than the rest. I'm on my third campaign on hard carving up Eastern Japan as I will, taking out entire Samurai armies with Ashigaru troops.

If you come across multiple stack armies, get your ninjas and other agents stuck in. The Hojo were twice my size and power, but I allowed them to destroy the vassals I had put up dividing their stacks as I had wanted. I think sent in my ninjas to sabotage the armies (which make them unable to move for one turn).

I then moved in with my one Ashigaru army and using this technique (demoralising them with monks and assassinating their generals and using monks to inspire my own men). I wiped out 3-4 stacks of their armies and took half of their provinces (they were the major power in the area).

Takeda is certainly hard but its a campaign for the patient

absolutely agree with 1. 2. 4. 5. 6.
you can have a few yari samurai (really few at the start) and go for the spear way above the sword way at any time. crucial point is the war with hojo, if you win it and you are still alive at turn 30-40 you will win the campaign sooner or later.
mybe the metsuke/monk/ninja point is good too, havent tried it or simply i just didnt need it luckily in my 2 campaigns with the Takeda(normal/hard).

[Jean-Roch Coignet]

Hojo always attacks about at turn 20, you cant avoid that, Take North Shinano then Anegakoji will declare war obviously call Imagawa to help you, this should be done in the first 12 turns(3 years), then move your army to Kai and attack Hojo through Imagawa land or if Hojo has the province on the eastern border of Kai then take that province, make sure you have very good relation with Imagawa, try marriage/give one of your sons to them, that will increase the bound, and hopefully they wont side with Hojo.

[Jean-Roch Coignet]

Oh and play the first 5-10 battles by yourself to lose less men than the auto resolve would do for you.

[MemnonOfRhodes]

Takeda has been the 2nd easiest so far, allied with Hojo and Uesugi.
Take Hida and Shinano, and you got yourself a good starting area.

[PROMETHEUS ts]

2nd easiest I wouln't say so if is one of the 3 hardest , anyway I play them at legendary level so far I am doing fine , allied with imegawa and Hojo , and making war just in shinano north , they try to take the castle but they cant in meanwhile I can develope arts and make more allies .. thats my strategy for now ... ofc you need to fight every battle and win them ...

[PROMETHEUS ts]

Ok I managed to get 5 provinces with the Takeda on legendary , I am way beyond turn 14 and I am doing fine Hojo ally is getting the east and I can concentrate on east ... so it's fine ...

[Carthago]

Have you got at least two fullstacks in Kai?
Because everytime I have at maximum one fullstack including some Samurai, they are attacking me, and that means in round 5-10.
By the way, is it possible to make replays of the campaigns themselves? and if it is possible, can you please make one and add it to this thread?

[G-Spike]

hmm im playing takeda on legendary right now and im doing quite good on turn 40(ish)

I expanded north instantly and destroyed the murakami. I had alliances with hojo, imagawa and kiso.
Then uesugi declared war on me and i had a hard time fighting against their allies anegakoji and yamanouchi.
After defending a lot, i was able to break free and defeat the anegakoji. imagawa defeated the yamanouchi.

But my allies hojo and imegawa were losing against saito from the left and satomi from the right. I was very concerned when both hojo and imegawa got destroyed on the same turn, but i just substituted them with the saito and satomi. so i only had to fight the uesugi now.
After taking their lands i was in a very good position. But saito and satomi were even stronger than me and they started a war with each other. For some money i joined saito and together we were able to defeat the satomi.

So now im about to expand west because the bessho dont like the saito so they dont like me either. They've expanded quite a bit and rebellions take place everywhere in their territory. Im trying to get all those provinces from the rebels before someone else does it. and thats where i am.

i've got one fullstack with yari and bow ashigaru + 4 light cavalry and 2 katana cavalry. So quite a lot of cavalry. Im losing a lot of ashigarus, but who cares they are a cheap meatshield and buy me enough time to surround the enemy with my cavalry.
Thats my main force but i start building another one with katana and bow samurais.
I cant afford much more... i was defending a lot at the beginning and had to spend all my money on army, because i lost the majority every turn. I was so scared i kept producing units just to be sure. I almost ended up bancrupt because of that^^