FotS Satsuma Army Set Up

[CaptainBirdseye]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me the ideal army formation/set up (IE what mix of units is best) for the Satsuma armies? As described in another thread I have no idea on this era and wondered what the best mix for an army is. IDeally I like to pick my enemies off at long range.

[The Juggernaut]

Are you talking for campaign or MP? I don't have much experience playing FotS on MP, but in campaign I generally strive for large amounts of line infantry (elites if you got 'em), several units of armstrong guns (parrott guns are ok, armstrong guns will blow anything away, frequently with 500 casualties per unit in large battles). 3-4 units of cavalry are useful for running down routing units or making some opportunities, but aside from that lack a lot of functionality. As soon as I can, I get rid of a lot of my melee units, as experienced or elite troops can generally kill attacking troops before they reach your lines, and suitable numbers of artillery pieces and a bit of patience makes melee units obsolete in a siege.

EDIT: Don't forget sharpshooters! While they're not that helpful when dealing with melee samurai, they're good for dealing with bowmen, clearing defenders from walls during sieges, and picking away at line infantry.

[hochmeister devin]

Artillery, and imperial infantry. You don't need anything else.

[Noif de Bodemloze]

Lot line infantry, couple cannons to the hill and light infantry/sharpshooters to flanks. If have traditional units, keep them behind of lines, when enemies charging to melee combat, take your traditional units to take them off.

example:

LL XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX LL
A T T T T A
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[CaptainBirdseye]

Thanks guys,
I've just started a campaign as the Satsuma clan. I'm finding it very difficult to put together any sort of strong army due to financial restraints!

[Noif de Bodemloze]

Thanks guys,
I've just started a campaign as the Satsuma clan. I'm finding it very difficult to put together any sort of strong army due to financial restraints!

Playing satsuma is really easy campaign (of course it depend difficult level), but once you have half or full Kyushu island in your control and good harbours, your incomes will be high. I higly recommend use Radious mods to make your game more enjoyable > extra incomes, better and balanced units and long battles and more things.

[Slaists]

Playing satsuma is really easy campaign (of course it depend difficult level), but once you have half or full Kyushu island in your control and good harbours, your incomes will be high. I higly recommend use Radious mods to make your game more enjoyable > extra incomes, better and balanced units and long battles and more things.

You don't need extra (modded) income with Satsuma (or any other faction for that matter). With Satsuma, aim to control the three "very fertile" provinces on Kyushu. Once that goal is attained and the farms there upgraded, your income will be sky-high even on VH campaign difficulty.

In SP campaign, bee-line for parrot guns. Once you have a couple (better 4) in your army (composed mainly of cheap line infantry trained in kneel-fire), the AI is toast (on any difficulty). The biggest challenge with Satsuma is the control of the seas (given that some of the minor islands in your back-yard are likely to ally with Shogunate soon; even your starting vassal might 'get ideas' if they feel your military is weak). However, once Satsuma has full control of Kyushu, and have conquered or vassalized the minor islands, there is no stopping them on land or the seas. Note that Satsuma has easy access to 2 provinces with coal as well (cheapest ship-yards there).

[zaript]

And that is why you should try and win battles using tactics Computer makes a lot of silly mistakes which you can exploit.

I believe, composition isn't deciding factor(if it isn't completely stupid), so if you will try to think in terms of "ideal composition" you may fall into a mental trap. What important is a battle plan, manoeuvring and timings.

[The Dutch Devil]

Thread moved from Shogun II general discussion to gameplay and strategy discussion.

[DeMolay]

Yes , i don't think there is an "ideal" army composition with Satsuma either , basically like said Hochmeister , in the end of the campaign , the only thing you need is arty and shogunate/imperial infantry , i would add cavalry too because rifle cavalry is very strong and useful and more mobile of course

But as an example , i personally build my armies like this with most clans :

Early game :

Tradition army : 1 general + 6 Yari Ki (2 groups of 3 on each flank ) + 2 katana kachi + 6 Yari kachi + 3 white tiger or levy inf + 2 bow kachi behind them
Modern army : 1 general + 4 revolver cav + 6 line inf + 2 sharp shooters + 4 levy spears (2 on each flank ) + 3 parrotts

late game :

Tradition army : 1 gen + 6 yari Ki + 4 shogitai + 4 Yari kachi + 4 shinsengumi (my first line in 2 row formation ) + ninjas
Modern army : 1 gen + 4 rifle cavalry + 8 imperial/shogun/republican infantry + 1 gatling guns + 4 armstrong/parrott guns + 2 sharp shooters / Yugekitai /Tosa riflemen etc

Traditional armies are more like rush armies designed to mass rout , wheras modern armies are more static , looking for attrition , and basically killing everybody instead of mass routing the enemy

So for Satsuma , i would just replace line infantry with Black bear infantry in mid-game


There is a fun technique though which i used in my last Aizu campaign to have fun in early game , so like the AI in hard difficulties , i used 1 general and 19 white tiger force , it's quite fun to encircle the enemy with all your levies and win in the end , a bit costy in human lives but quite easy to replace the casualties though I guess you can do the same with the late game top of the line infantry , and maybe only add a few cannons

[Huitzilopochtli]

Dont´t forget to include 2 yari infantry, at least later, after RD, when you go Imperial and fight the Shogunate (they just love Yari kachi), they´ll come in handy. Put one on each of your flanks, behind sharpshooters if possible as those will get owned by cav if they can´t shoot them first. I´m playing Satsuma on very hard and the Shogunate clans usually have like 4-6 cav in every stack.

And like the other guy said, build a navy, three Kaiten class on strategically important points are enough: AI sends full stacks to Kyushu all the time, but always on one ship Just make sure they dont get through and you can leave Kyushu completely undefended and use the money on invading stacks.

I don´t think you really need any other infantry but line infantry, but come on, they´re fun! That was the problem in Shogun 2 for me: The cool units were just to expensive on vh, I hardly put some katana sam and yari cav into my stacks, it was always Ashigaru, Ashigaru, Ashigaru. Monks or Kisho Ninjas are unneccesary prestige units in that game imho.

[DeMolay]

It's true it's always useful to have 1 or 2 units of Yari on the flanks until late game , however once you have "kneel fire" and "suppressing fire " , i found my unit of line infantry (in 2 rows formation ) can block alone a cavalry charge and don't need the spears , so i replace spears with cannons in the end , but it's still a good idea to put them behind sharpshooters as those don't have kneel fire and can indeed be vulnerable to cavalry , that's also why i deploy my sharpshooters (most vulnerable unit ) the last during the battle and always put them on auto -skirmish , but i usually prefer to protect them with pistol cavalry (or rifle cavalry ), as they are more mobile and handy to chase the enemy afterwards and can fire over the troops thanks to being on a horse so the risk of friendly fire is limited

[Slaists]

For sharpshooters: put them in loose formation and put one line infantry (kneel fire formation, 2 rows deep) right behind the sharpshooters on fire at will. I have yet to see any AI unit get even close to that formation (as long as the flanks are protected).

[Huitzilopochtli]

If you have to defend a hill, its also great to put the sharpshooters behind your line infantry, they´ll fire over their heads if they´re on a bit higher ground and still hit the enemy line because of their larger range. And they´re absolutely safe there.