After the patches Shogun 2 is unplayable

[lacrossepl9]

When I first bought this game I played as the Date clan and was able to push through and got all the way to realm divide before my computer bugged out and I was never able to play again till now. My problem now is I have a great new computer but Shogun 2 even on Normal is absolutely unfair. I've played 3 clans on hard (Hojo, Shimazu, and Date) I start off fine but then by turn 35-40 there is a super clan that apparently can move faster than anyone else and even though a super clan is threatening to take over the entirety of Japan the AI decides to prey on me....this game makes no sense anymore, diplomacy is so off now getting a trade agreement is like pulling teeth, I played as the Hojo on normal and even though I have gold no one wants to trade with me unless I give them MORE money. On top of that I spend money to get trade agreements and the VERY next turn they break the agreement. This is ridiculous, I make no money which means no army, and the Oda clan is running around with 20+ settlements and has an ALLIANCE with the ikko ikki which has 15 settlements all basically adjoining the Oda empire.....WHAT!!! and they decide to prey on me. I'm ready to throw in the towel on this one instead of fixing the archer mess and making it so that the armies of Bow Ashiguru no longer win battles they made the AI just impossible to beat. I don't know what I'm doing wrong at this point and I refuse to play easy cus I like battles to be a little bit challenging.

[wealthmonger]

Try a multiplayer co op campaign with a more experienced player and ask them questions about what they would do, it might help. Trade is quite goofy now, try getting warhorses some clans really like it when you have those to trade, otherwise getting larger and having more to trade usually helps and try to keep up your military strength so you don't appear weak to the other clans.

[W4lt3r]

The trading AI is bit silly sometimes.
If you can get your hands on horses, they WILL trade with you. Even if you make like... +1k from the trade deals. But somehow they aren't interested in the other trade goods that much.
I think there are some mods that affect the diplomacy AI a bit, to make trading easier.
A tip: IF they demand money from the trade deal, they will break it the next turn.

[Kusarigama]

When I first bought this game I played as the Date clan and was able to push through and got all the way to realm divide before my computer bugged out and I was never able to play again till now. My problem now is I have a great new computer but Shogun 2 even on Normal is absolutely unfair. I've played 3 clans on hard (Hojo, Shimazu, and Date) I start off fine but then by turn 35-40 there is a super clan that apparently can move faster than anyone else and even though a super clan is threatening to take over the entirety of Japan the AI decides to prey on me....this game makes no sense anymore, diplomacy is so off now getting a trade agreement is like pulling teeth, I played as the Hojo on normal and even though I have gold no one wants to trade with me unless I give them MORE money. On top of that I spend money to get trade agreements and the VERY next turn they break the agreement. This is ridiculous, I make no money which means no army, and the Oda clan is running around with 20+ settlements and has an ALLIANCE with the ikko ikki which has 15 settlements all basically adjoining the Oda empire.....WHAT!!! and they decide to prey on me. I'm ready to throw in the towel on this one instead of fixing the archer mess and making it so that the armies of Bow Ashiguru no longer win battles they made the AI just impossible to beat. I don't know what I'm doing wrong at this point and I refuse to play easy cus I like battles to be a little bit challenging.

You sound like you just need to learn how to manipulate the AI a little more. Your playstyle is very run and gun and hope the AI plays nice. AI cheats with money so you cheat in battle! Vanilla Shogun 2 is very hard especially on the higher difficulties but actually pretty manageable. I will give you a few tips to help you start out.


1) DEFENSE! Ashigaru are the most broken unit in the game. 4 Yari Ashigaru and 4 Bow Ashigaru are enough to take a monk army in a fort battle to show you how broken they actually are (bow monks will win but just naginata monks can be manhandled by this garrison). In turn you can counterattack if you have vision by a Ninja and think its safe to do so.
2) Recruit Samurai after you have 4-5 provinces and have the majority of the upgrades to your economy. Samurai/Monks are a luxury, Ashigaru are the only unit you need to win a campaign. Hide your choice of Samurai in the woods and let your OP ashigaru take most of the brunt.
3) Abuse Way of Chi, get 2nd tier or 3rd tier farms as soon as possible with getting Bushido as needed.
4) Abuse Agents; use monks to block bridges so armies can not cross, use Ninjas to scout forests and prevent stacks from spawning in a target area, use Metsuke to bribe armies if its cost effective to do so.
5) Do not use ships. S2 really failed here and are just not worth it.
6) Best advice I have ever gotten in vanilla shogun 2, 1 millitary province for every 3 economic provinces. Economic provinces are expendable and as the Romans did to Carthage if they land somewhere desolate you can just block them in, starve the army of reinforcements, and run a rampage on them later on while getting veterans.
7) Trade agreements has been and always will be a luxury. Tax is where all your income should come from and whatever income from trade you can get. Do not depend on trade agreements to support your army.

Now these are just a few and you seem to start out great getting to turn 35-40 from what you say but emphasis attack over using defense battles for Veterans and General levels which lets you actually do counterattacks. Using vanilla units to beseige is not really smart you really want to take the settlement right after an attack which most of the time for me is actually assaulting the walls. Do not wait for the AI to spawn another stack to defend the settlement! If all else fails use DMS or a mod to tone down the AI cheating.

[Noif de Bodemloze]

5) Do not use ships. S2 really failed here and are just not worth it.

If you want these extra incomes from trade notes, then it is worth it. 6 Trade ships and some medium or bow ships covering their working.

[djvandyke]

Just suck it up and pay them for the initial trade agreements. Once the AI are friendly you should be able to do some very good deals with them. You can make your money back and some in later deals such as royal marriage once you are friends.
I have had great success finding two or three AI who are already friendly with each other, declaring war on their enemies and forming alliances. They will fall in love with you and be very generous with future deals, if you work on it you can even create a coalition strong enough to see you through realm divide.

[Ichon]

Learning to use agents is probably the most difficult part in Shogun 2 if you've played other TW games. I didn't really figure that out until 3rd or 4th campaign and reading online. Otherwise I agree with Kusarigama but learn how to use agents otherwise some of the advice like blocking and starving AI armies of reinforcements is lost.