Which is the Best Faction to Play as?

[The Vault Dweller]

Hello i am going to get S2TW in the following month and i would like to know which faction is the best to get through a campaign with.

I already wanted to do the Usegii but after reading on the forums they are quite hard to play, i might save it for later but for now i just want to get through 1 campaign and get to the hard stuff later on.

Thanks!

[RO Citizen]

In S2TW try Chosokabe or Shimazu.

[Ishan]

To TWS2 forums.

[zoser]

Hojo...

Early on you get Hojo Mangonels, and they are awsom against any bigger army, especialy on bridge...

Position is nice, 2 starting provincies, one with gold, other with smith...

Recomendation to play on VH/VH, game is lot more intresting if its hard to win, or advance...

[X_maniac_X]

HATTORI!!!1

[Grouchio]

Shouldn't this be a poll?

[Dileos]

I like the Shimazu and the Chosokabe. Expand quickly, take over your little home island and then convert to Christianity. Then you get to go surprise the hell out of the mainland with an assload of cannons and musketeers.

I'd say my top 3 has to be
1. Chosokabe
2. Shimazu
3. Takeda

[SupAll]

Either the Chosokabe or Shimazu. Both have islands that you can conquer and are then granted the ability to pretty much turtle and build up. They also have the easiest access to the trade nodes (Shimazu can get them all quite easily). My 3rd choice would be the Date because they allow you to expand into mainland Japan without worrying about two fronts, have really good no-dachi samurai, start with a Smithing specialty for their capital territory, and have a single trade node to access to boot.

[Empyrean]

Easiest are Chosokabe and Shimazu, with the Shimazu being the easier of the two. The factions in the middle are really easy to screw up diplomatically and get swarmed by everybody. Don't try them until you have a grasp of how diplomacy works.

[anomaly]

i thought the date were pretty easy. i've tried half a dozen others, date definitely take the cake. in my late date campaign my freshly recruited nodachi samurai had 43 charge, that's more than any cavalry unit i've ever seen. in conjunction with banzai your nodachi samurai will inflict terrible, terrible damage during their charge, often killing 30-40 men in the first 5 seconds of conflict. if the enemy doesn't have a good general that's practically a rout right there.

they have lots of campaign advantages too. you are basically given 1 front to only ever worry about. your starting capital has a smith which is amazing. new generals get the advantages of your smith and the 1 recruitment slot bonus is really nice. the eastern honshu peninsula is fairly wealthy and fertile as a whole and makes for good taxation.

it's a long road to kyoto though. that's the only downfall of this faction. you have to take a lot of territory to get to kyoto. you'll probably hit realm divide well before you're in range unless you launch a naval invasion.

[Keepbro]

For ease like everyone above says try Shimazu - dont know what others say but I find Chosakabe tend to get landlocked in that tiny island.

For starting position - Hojo for sure as they start with a gold mine have a lovely position which is easily defendable and has huge opportunities for expansion but you are going up against the Takeda who the AI is nuts with

For fun - I love the Oda as you are in the middle of loads of warring clans and everyone seems to have a go at you at some point. They also get what I lovingly call "Super Peasants" which make up the majority of Clan armies and I've found to be the best Clan attribute by far. Many people say Date is fun but i've found that they are too far from the action and you spend A LOT of time just moving armies from one far off territory to the other.
Also try the Hattori (I haven't as I dont have the limited edition) as people say that they get cool deployment bonuses and are quite fun too (apparently??)

[napoleonic]

what's a good faction to familiarize with this game? I've became very accustomed with medieval 2, and never tried the last 2 games I did play shogun though, but that was 10 years ago however I can still recognized the reused music

[Bylandt]

what's a good faction to familiarize with this game? I've became very accustomed with medieval 2, and never tried the last 2 games I did play shogun though, but that was 10 years ago however I can still recognized the reused music

Not a single clan will give you the time to slowly get familiarized with the game. The first 10-20 turns are always quite brutal, even for the Shimazu. But they will get some breathing space after you defeat all ennemies on the western island

[DeMolay]

The most interesting factions to play depends on your style of play in my opinion :

- If you like to turtle a lot with a handful of territories , tech up your armies then fight epic battles far from your territory most of the time : Chosokabe , Shimazu or Hojo
- If you appreciate being challenged to face up strong adversity at your borders from the start : Takeda or Uesugi are a good bet
- If you like steamrolling factions from the start and rule over large empires : Oda (once you survive the first few turns ) and Date are suited for that
- If you like a mix of those : Mori is very nice (don't know about hattori , didn't have the chance to buy the limited edition )

Then it also depends what kind of units you prefer :

- if you're more about archers , factions like Chosokabe are great but other factions who have access to regions with "Craftsmen" are every bit as good , because if you build an encampment+hunting lodge+have craft in your region , your archers will be awesome in accuracy : So factions like Uesugi (Echizen with crafts ) or Mori (Buzen with craft ) have state of the art archers if you get these provinces and build the right buildings , there are other regions with craft , don't remember them all

-if you're more about cavalry , Takeda are great of course , but again , there are some regions specialized in horsemanship (Mikawa , Higo , Nagato ) , so clans like Tokugawa , Shimazu or Mori will always have excellent cavalry if they build encampment+proving ground in the specialized regions

-If you're more about infantry , Date (no dachi ) , Shimazu (satsuma warriors ) and Oda ( superior ashigarus ) are the best bet , but again , any region with an armourer (Sagami , Satsuma , Kaga , Bizen etc ) will always provide great infantry if you build encampment+armoury , so again , clans like Shimazu , Hojo , Uesugi , Mori , Oda will have access to superior infantry

-if you like to use agents a lot obviously , Tokugawa (it's their specialty ) and Hattori will be the best choice ( regions of Iga , Omi are specialized in ninjas )


Then it depends if you want to be seriously challenged at higher levels like hard mode : Takeda and Uesugi wil normally be the most difficult campaigns because you are surrounded by hostile factions
If you want easy start for your first campaign to get acquainted with the mechanisms of the game , then Date or Shimazu is a good choice because the potential enemies are less and you fight on one front at a time (usually )

Good luck

[Heartfire]

Mori are one of the best starting factions. Even though it is possible to get caught into a two front war, they have nearby resources that provide well for their soldiers, and a great navy for invading and defending against the island nations.

[Babaganoush]

Hojo are fun to start out with. You start out with a gold mine for some nice income. Mangonels are awesome. Chosokabe is easy modo as your island really doesn't get invaded. Also in vanilla arrows are homing so bows are quite handy.

If you're a beginner I suggest Uesugi Legendary Mode.

.... >_>

[xxoverlordxx]

The Oda, the easiest faction to start out with.