TROM3 - Gameplay Questions & Advices

[Kurisu Paifuaa]

Any tips for the Oda campaign on Hard? What I generally do is invest in my economy in the early game, but that's in vanilla and it doesn't seem like economy investment is making that much of a difference in the early game with this mod.
So what do you guys generally do when you start up, do you invest in military or economy, do you expand as quickly as possible or do you try to stabilize your current provinces before doing anything, in Oda's case that's a bit difficult with this mod when everyone surrounding you outclasses you both economically and militarily.

I have not played for several years, but from what I recall, the income gained from conquering a single province far outweighs what you'll get in return from early investments. You'll need to invest in multiple regions to exceed that sort of return. So, you should try a period of modest expansion, followed by investment. Then continue to expand as opportunity presents itself, remembering to protect vulnerable parts of your growing borders through diplomatic agreements.

[averages]

I have not played for several years, but from what I recall, the income gained from conquering a single province far outweighs what you'll get in return from early investments. You'll need to invest in multiple regions to exceed that sort of return. So, you should try a period of modest expansion, followed by investment. Then continue to expand as opportunity presents itself, remembering to protect vulnerable parts of your growing borders through diplomatic agreements.

By conquering you mean peaceful occupation or razing the province? Sorry for the very late reply, I forgot I had posted this question here.

[Kurisu Paifuaa]

By conquering you mean peaceful occupation or razing the province? Sorry for the very late reply, I forgot I had posted this question here.

Likewise. Just getting back to playing again.

I guess you mean looting? When you loot a province, you're basically extracting all of it's accumulated town wealth, along with some additional amount that depends upon the buildings present (which suffer heavy damage). It's situationally worthwhile... you have to inspect the province details before you attack.

The options panel that pops up after you conquer doesn't really do a good job at describing the target and consequences of looting . "Town wealth" is the portion of a province's wealth that shrinks and grows per turn... it's separate from other sources. Provinces will start the game with some pre-set amount of town wealth, so it varies as to whether or not looting is worthwhile. Early in the game, if you can sack a wealthy province that will yield you many turns of income, I'd say it's worth considering. Otherwise, 'occupy' is better as it doesn't dent your honor, damage buildings, or cause extra unrest. Remember that wiping out town wealth will lower tax income from the province proportionally, and will take time to replenish. I generally do it if it's a region I don't think I can hold... it's a quick return and it hurts the next owner. Of course, that may be you again at some point.

[averages]

Likewise. Just getting back to playing again.

I guess you mean looting? When you loot a province, you're basically extracting all of it's accumulated town wealth, along with some additional amount that depends upon the buildings present (which suffer heavy damage). It's situationally worthwhile... you have to inspect the province details before you attack.

The options panel that pops up after you conquer doesn't really do a good job at describing the target and consequences of looting . "Town wealth" is the portion of a province's wealth that shrinks and grows per turn... it's separate from other sources. Provinces will start the game with some pre-set amount of town wealth, so it varies as to whether or not looting is worthwhile. Early in the game, if you can sack a wealthy province that will yield you many turns of income, I'd say it's worth considering. Otherwise, 'occupy' is better as it doesn't dent your honor, damage buildings, or cause extra unrest. Remember that wiping out town wealth will lower tax income from the province proportionally, and will take time to replenish. I generally do it if it's a region I don't think I can hold... it's a quick return and it hurts the next owner. Of course, that may be you again at some point.

I think I only ever looted a province about 3 times in the few campaigns I played before replying, I think the damage to honor hurts far more than the benefit you get from the gold you get from looting since it can lead to widespread unrest on your provinces and every other clan will just hate you, wasn't worth it at all when I did it, even when I knew I couldn't hold the province and did it to get a money boost, the downsides remain for a long time. But I suppose looting might be really fun if you're playing as a bandit, might try that with the Ikko Ikki at some point.
I've done a few campaigns by now, managed to beat the game with both Date and Oda on hard, your tips were very useful, moderate early expansion did secure my early game economy and allowed me time to relax and invest as well as build a better army, the mod gets much easier in the late game if you managed to stabilize yourself and prepare before Realm Divide.
I was going to start a Taira campaign with this mod but it's bugged, shame it's not supported anymore, I really enjoyed it, felt like I was playing vanilla++++.