Best faction for each campaign

[Valeriu_history]

Hi ! Can anybody tell me which faction you like the most for the Shogun 2,Rise of the Samurai,Fall of the Samurai ? I whant to start a new campaign with each of the 3 campaigns but I don't now what faction to choose from.I like them all. I would like to tell me why you like that faction.

[kostas84]

Rise of the Samurai: Minamoto

Fall of the Samurai, it depends, if you want a challenge go with Chogai or whatever, its the yellow Imperial clan, if you want a relatively easy time and good gunpowder units go with Nagi-something, its the Green Shogunate Clan. Man, damn my memory

Shogun 2 Vanilla has some interesting campaigns, you can go with Shimazu and switch to Christianity to have the best sea fleet and European Cannons and Matchlocks, or you can go with the Ikko-Ikki and spread your own religion with unique monks with their own skill tree and generals that get some unique skills too. Or you can go with Oda and be historical, lots of matchlocks in your armies along with some spear ashigaru.


Theres lots of good clans out there, choose your poison.

[DarthShizNit]

In Rise (my favorite) the Fujiwara are the easiest to play, great starting economies and positions (kill your sister clan as soon as possible) but the Taira are my favorite clan ever, challenging and regal campaign with lots of castles to fall back on in the case of set backs.

Shogun: Date or Shiamazu are the easiest, the Date because of their starting position, the Shiamazu because of early access to the jesus and his guns . That said, the Hojo are my favorite clan as they have awesome colors, start with a gold mine, and their castles are great to fall back on in times of assult. The Morii are also a great and fun campaign that will see island hoping as you try to get stabilized from everyone hating you, but you will dominate the water. The Ikko Ikki are hands down the funnest though, go kill Oda with your mighty peasants!!!

In Fall, the easiest is probably the Choshu (best special unit in the game hands down), or the Satsuma, based off of their positions and good economies. The Shogunate campaigns have always been the funnest though, with struggiling economies but a good selection of special units to choose from. Azui are a fun game if any. If you ever get Total War battles, the Sendai are fun, and the Obama or Tsu clan have challening and fun starting positions.

[Alaeron]

I haven't played much but I have to say that my favorite so far is Date for Shogun 2. They get cheaper and better No-Dachi Samurai (a bit of armor on them doesn't hurt though) and ALL of their units get a charge bonus. All of them, from Yari Ashigaru to generals. It's not a huge bonus but it's still roster-wide, something quite unique. They also have a good starting position with few large territories to capture at the beginning.

For Rise, the Minamoto, the ones with lower upkeep for all Samurai amog other bonuses I don't remember. I like them. The other Minamoto are fine too but they're a bit too much balanced towards warfare for my tastes.

I haven't played Fall yet.

[Valeriu_history]

Are the Tokugawa any good ? Personally I like them very much because I like white color and their bonuses look good for me ( I like intrigue and politics) and most of all they became the new Shogunate.

[Fizban-]

I like the Tokugawa, but they are a bit wonky at first as you start out as a vassal of Imagawa. So long as you don't care about taking a diplomacy hit, you can declare on them after mopping up Oda, but if you don't like losing honor than you have to wait for them to turn on you.Saying that, Tokugawa were the first campaign I finished, so I would wholeheartedly recommend you try them. Here's to Lord Ieyasu!

[eXistenZ]

Uesegi for their awesome warrior monks.

Fukuhara taira in rise of the samurai. I always lose when playing as fujiwara (on hard). either my sister clan gets me, or i get in a long war with them and minamoto is double as big when im done with them

[Valeriu_history]

I am the only who believe that the Chosokabe are even easier then Shimazu ? With the Chosokabe I have an easy time:
- destroy the rebel army
- make 2 units of Samurai Archers
- sieze Iyo
- make some Yari Ashigaru
- wait for replenishments
- seize Sanuki
- make 2 units of Katana Samurai
- seize Awa
- make 2 units of Katana Cavalry
- seize Awaji
- make a fleet there
- make some agents
- transport them to the mainland
Now from here things aren't easy anymore.

[zhiphius]

Hi ! Can anybody tell me which faction you like the most for the Shogun 2,Rise of the Samurai,Fall of the Samurai ? I whant to start a new campaign with each of the 3 campaigns but I don't now what faction to choose from.I like them all. I would like to tell me why you like that faction.

Shogun 2:
-Tokugawa. I like the challenge and the different mindset i have to adopt to play honorable while trying to win the campaign as a vassal.
-Chosokabe. Bow, i love bows. And they start on a island with possibility to expand and cause havoc anywhere
-Hattori. Challenging, interesting expansion option. Guerilla warfare ftw.

RotS:
-dark blue minamoto. Foot samurai.
-the rest is right in the middle of "like"


FotS:
-Sendai. Good resources nearby, love the siege bonuses. Excellent for traditional play.
-Obama. Good traits, start smack in the middle of the map, interesting to expand as.
-Saga. Blocked by ally, need to expand by sea invasions. Challenging if i dont go the cheesy way. Fun.


Good starter factions for newbies:
-Date, Chosokabe for shogun 2 campaign (sengoku jidai).
-Dark blue minamoto for RotS.
-Sendai and satsuma for FotS due to starting position, nearby resources and expansion possibilities.

[Valeriu_history]

Let's change the topic ! What about....what was the first faction you win as ? Mine was Takeda.

[zhiphius]

Let's change the topic ! What about....what was the first faction you win as ? Mine was Takeda.

whoa hard to remember

i do remember i played easy to familiarise myself with the game first.
i think i played as chosokabe, i distinctly remember my uber stack of bow warrior monks defeating 7 stacks of uesugi/tokugawa forces over 2 siege battles in a row not letting a single unit near the wall :p those where the days XD

the first proper campaign was won as Date though. first campaign: chosokabe, first proper campaign (not easy mode ) Date.

[amaROenuZ]

Obama and Sendai are DLC clans.

Let's change the topic ! What about....what was the first faction you win as ? Mine was Takeda.

I haven't actually won a game yet. I always get bored when realm divide ticks, because it's no longer hard, just tedious. Date was the first clan where I reached that point though.

[DarthShizNit]

Yeah I'm trying to remember If i've ever bothered to "win" a campaign outside of FotS once RD hits. It's such a stupid mechanic it just ruined an otherwise amazing game for me. I think I might have won one as the Christian Shimazu, but I can't remember if I simply called it quits after taking Kyoto and defeating Shogun Shingen's army.

Hojo were the first faction I hit RD with though. Morii were there first clan I played, I didn't last long

[CrowCakes]

My first win was as Date on an N/E Short Campaign. I managed to get lucky forging an alliance with Uesugi, who managed to take most of Kanto. Funny thing was, they did nothing after that, and forced me to do naval landings on Hatakeyama provinces to continue on to Kyoto.

Not part of the post: those green little buggers cause me trouble in every campaign.

[Darksaber1]

Quick question: How do I play as clans like the Obama and Sendai? Do I have to win a campaign as one of the other clans in FotS (as in Medievel 2), or something else?

[Noif de Bodemloze]

Shogun 2: If you like easy, then Shimazu. If you like challenge, Try Hattori, Takeda, Hojo or Oda.
FOTS: Easiest is Satsuma or Choshu and if you want challenge, then Aizu or Nagaoka.

[tomogawa]

Chosokabe, the bow spam is nearly invincible

[meliscarop]

the Date because of their starting position, the Shiamazu because of early access to the jesus and his guns

[Das Befehlen]

Not played Rise, so I won't comment

For Vanilla S2, there's a difference between interesting factions and interesting campaigns. Any of Oda, Hojo, Takeda and Tokugawa can be great because they will collide with each other at some point, along with the Uesegi and Ikko Ikki in the north pressuring, with the Date being mid/late game threats on a pretty large scale. They also offer a number of expansion paths; head for Kyoto immediately for a quick victory or try and be more realistic and spread north to secure flanks. Shimazu and Chosokabe are easy and allow for a lot of possibilities (easiness stems from start position and Chosokabe's farm bonus). As someone mentioned above, Shimazu allows you to secure Kyushu and then do whatever you want since your island is fairly easy to defend.

For FotS, I'm going to disagree with an above poster and say that the Choshu are actually very easy. They start out on the corner of Honshu so you know thta naval invasions aren't coming for a while. They also have an easy expansion path that takes them over some brilliant provinces; blacksmiths make your artillery absolute monsters and the game gives you an expansion path littered with lovely railroads. I'd personally pick an imperial clan on Kyushu and help them take over the island; they will be able to guard your coastlines and will be much stronger than a patchwork of various Imperial clans. The Shogunate will pretty quickly clamp down on everything past Kyoto and will likely hold quite strongly onto central Japan. You're going to have to take things at a decent, but not overly zealous pace. Use your ishin-shinshi well; they are probably the best agents in the game, capable of causing immense disruption in an enemy province, inciting a revolt, assassinating enemy Daimyos etc. If you have a maximum level IS in an enemy province, converting the populace and with some of the alter traits that significantly reduce happiness in the province, you can lock a large stack into a province for as long as you please, and then incite a revolt to let the rebels destroy that province's buildings.

[amaROenuZ]

I'll agree with Das Befehlen that Choshu is much easier than people might give it credit for being. It has two very effective expansion routes: The afore mentioned Honshu route and the Kyushu route, which is a good choice if you intend to go Republic. You secure a flank, acquire essentially every resource you would need, and gain control of some high quality farmland. Additionally there's the simple fact that they can reinforce the morale of their army in a way that most can't come close to. Kihetai are just fantastic.