Monk Matchlocks, the solution to hill campers ?

[Abe86]

I've just had a game recently on that river map, where my opponent waited for me on the hill behind the shallow water, with a unit of fire rockets in tow.

Now one interesting thing I noticed is that when your opponent's army is on a hill, matchlock units will have clear line of sight to every "row" of his army, so take three units of matchlock monks, activate improved range, and snipe the fire rockets, the general, whatever your heart desires.

If someone would tell me how to upload a replay, I'd gladly give a play by play commentary of the game. Cheers !

[GambleFish]

I posted this in another thread, dunno if it'll help ya but here it is.

This is how I do it.

You will need 2 programs - FRAPS, and some video editing software (I use Windows Movie Maker 2.6, just cause its really simple).

To begin, make sure you save your replay right after the battle ends, before you go to the casualty report screen. As Knowing Crow said, otherwise you will get an invalid file.

Step 1. Open FRAPS, then start Shogun 2.

Step 2. Open your replay. FRAPS lets you record video by pressing F9 (or whatever other button you set it to). With the free version of FRAPS, it goes in 30 second clips (so just keep hitting F9 when it stops). With the full version, it won't limit you at all.

Step 3. If you plan to use FRAPS to record voice, do it with the FRAPS settings. Otherwise, Windows Movie Maker has a great "add narration feature." Start Movie Maker.

Step 4. Go to "import video" (it's on the left side of the movie maker). It will allow you to browse you computer for video. Find the FRAPS video folder, and select the clip you want to import.

Step 5. If you have multiple clips, import them all. Movie Maker will break them into small chucks of 10 or so seconds. Once you have them all done, take the small clips and put them in the storyboard - it is the entire bottom of the Movie Maker screen.

Step 6. Once all the clips are in order, you can add narration (if you havent done so earlier). There is a clearly labelled option to do so.

Step 7. Hit "save movie to computer." This is where you choose what quality you want to save the movie at. I usually put it on the highest quality (still not great) because I have a fast internet connection. *NOTE: This step takes forever, as it has to encode the movie / compress it (dunno the terminology) and it takes a while.

Step 7. Go to youtube, hit upload movie. Find where you saved your Movie Maker movie, and upload it. This shouldn't take too long, unless your speed sucks. Voila, you are done.


This is a really basic description. If you have trouble, search youtube videos showing how to use movie maker or fraps, there are plenty. Good luck!

[Knowing Crow]

Under Advanced post, on the top row of options there is something that looks like a paperclip. You can select that and add a file from your computer.

[Abe86]

Thanks Gamblefish and the Knowing Crow.
I think i'd rather not start with fraps and youtube, there are already many excellent multiplayer commentators around, such as yourself, so i'll leave that to the experts.

Forgive the name of the replay, it was a spur of the moment thing.
You'll notice the opponent's quite scary army composition: fire rockets, a boatload of katana samurai, one unit of yari cavalry, some yari ashigaru backup, one unit of matchlocks and two archers.

So first thing I always do on this map when I see fire rockets is park my army behind the hill, giving his unit a really bad angle of fire and hoping for some wasted ammo. This usually works against bad players.

I made the mistake of letting my cavalry loose too soon when I noticed some reforming on the opponent's part, again I was hoping for his rockets to be on fire at will and ravage his own army, that's why you'll notice I tried running a unit of cavalry above his general. I would have loved him to off his own general, but of course that was wishful thinking, as he held his rockets firm.

Now for the last part I charge quite too late, my plan was to get him while his army was unorganized.
Fortunately, as explained in my earlier post the fact that his army was on a hill allowed for my matchlocks to pick their targets, instantly destroying the fire rockets and forcing him to remove his general from the melee, winning me the morale fight in the end.

As you'll notice i'm no expert, but I was curious as to what the better players might make of the matchlock monks countering hill camping. Is it a viable solution do you think ?

Cheers !

Edit: Ah, I cant attach replays as they're labeled as invalid files. I'll make a zip file of it in a moment.

[GambleFish]

Thanks Gamblefish and the Knowing Crow.
I think i'd rather not start with fraps and youtube, there are already many excellent multiplayer commentators around, such as yourself, so i'll leave that to the experts.

Forgive the name of the replay, it was a spur of the moment thing.
You'll notice the opponent's quite scary army composition: fire rockets, a boatload of katana samurai, one unit of yari cavalry, some yari ashigaru backup, one unit of matchlocks and two archers.

So first thing I always do on this map when I see fire rockets is park my army behind the hill, giving his unit a really bad angle of fire and hoping for some wasted ammo. This usually works against bad players.

I made the mistake of letting my cavalry loose too soon when I noticed some reforming on the opponent's part, again I was hoping for his rockets to be on fire at will and ravage his own army, that's why you'll notice I tried running a unit of cavalry above his general. I would have loved him to off his own general, but of course that was wishful thinking, as he held his rockets firm.

Now for the last part I charge quite too late, my plan was to get him while his army was unorganized.
Fortunately, as explained in my earlier post the fact that his army was on a hill allowed for my matchlocks to pick their targets, instantly destroying the fire rockets and forcing him to remove his general from the melee, winning me the morale fight in the end.

As you'll notice i'm no expert, but I was curious as to what the better players might make of the matchlock monks countering hill camping. Is it a viable solution do you think ?

Cheers !

Edit: Ah, I cant attach replays as they're labeled as invalid files. I'll make a zip file of it in a moment.

I think you forgot to attach the replay

[Abe86]

Sorry, slowly getting the hang of these forums. There it is, edited in the previous post.

[StormtrooperDan]

I would think your own fire rockets would be able to counter hill campers. Matchlocks don't have the range to go against Bow Monks or regular Bow for that matter.

What's the advantage to high ground vs low ground in terms of melee? Has anyone tested this with one unit vs another on the side of a hill?

It seems that fatigue is the only factor when fighting against someone uphill.

[GambleFish]

I would think your own fire rockets would be able to counter hill campers. Matchlocks don't have the range to go against Bow Monks or regular Bow for that matter.

What's the advantage to high ground vs low ground in terms of melee? Has anyone tested this with one unit vs another on the side of a hill?

It seems that fatigue is the only factor when fighting against someone uphill.

And morale - I've seen units with "confident - encouraged by high ground" or something like that. I think there might be a slight combat increase, but I can't say for sure.

[Haru]

Yeah, Gamblefish is right, most definitely when units are have the high ground they are given a slight advantage in terms of melee fighting.