[FOTS] Newby strategy questions

[Angkordraught]

Hi,
This is my 1st post here, so here’s a brief introduction.
I’m not a big gamer: I like games but usually never play them for very long once I feel I’ve figured their general mechanics. There are notable exceptions though, such as with TW. I’ve been a fan of the series since I discovered Medieval I, and see the game almost as the new chess. In any case, though I’ve played a few of the TW installments over the years, I never fully invested in learning all the strategic aspects of them. Now with Shogun II, and especially FOTS, I find I want to understand and play the game better.
I’ve been reading many strategy discussions on this forum, as well as the Satsuma quick guide, and learned a lot from them. Now I have a few general questions regarding my own strategy. I hope maybe some more experienced players can give me some tips on how to improve my game. And sorry in advance for the very long post: I’ve bundled up all my questions since I started playing here.

I’m only into my second FOTS campaign. (I bungled up my economy in the first one, which didn’t last very long before I abandoned.) I decided to play with an easy faction, Satsuma, on normal level, long campaign. I’m now in August 1866. By now I’ve conquered almost all of the home island, save for Nagasaki which is still controlled by Saga, as well as Hizen, which they snatched just as I was about to invade it myself. (Bastards! ) Saga are my allies, so I’m leaving them alone for the time being, concentrating on foes to the East.

Here are my questions:

ECONOMY
This time around, I’ve mainly developed my economy. I.e. I’ve almost exclusively developed the civil technologies; choosing everything that helps with taxes and growth, all the while systematically developing farms, trade ports and specialties in every province, as soon as I have the cash and technologies for them. (The only exception so far is Buzen, which I’m saving for a military port once I finish developing copper plating. I read somewhere that coal provinces are ideal for military ports, though it’s not clear to me why… ) Foreign quarters have now become available, so that would seem the next logical step in development.
I’ve only just started developing military technologies. But I’m wondering if I should aim at naval or land troops technologies, or a balanced mix? And how about developing agents, happiness and the rest?... What should be my priorities at this stage?
Also, I’ve not developed my cities and forts at all so far. I thought I would get a solid economy rolling first. I’m now raking in about 8k per turn (though my trade routes are getting attacked increasingly frequently, which is why I thought developing my naval abilities should be a priority at this stage).
Is this a sound strategy? Or is it dangerous at this stage to be leaving my cities undeveloped and should I hurry to catch up on that?

EXPANSION
I have 2 enemy provinces left to my East: Nagato and Suo; and beyond, it’s all friendlies (for now). I thought I’d take care of these two, set a foothold on the continent (and catch a province with railway potential!), and then turtle up to develop what I have, both economically and militarily. Probably send agents and fleets to police around while doing so.
Is this tactic sound (expand then develop, then expand again)? And is catching two isolated provinces on the continent right now an invitation for trouble while I'd rather turtle up?

And what should I do with my armies while I’m not conquering? I know I could probably calculate it all, but is it better to keep huge armies on idle in peace time, or rather disband them, save for minimal garrisons and a few specialized troops, and then re-hire only when I need armies again?

DEVELOPMENT
In vanilla Shogun, developing too fast could lead to food shortages and revolts. I see nothing like that in FOTS, apart from lower happiness from modernization. Am I missing something or can I just develop away and repress or entertain to compensate?

ESSENTIALS
Finally, what would be troops/buildings/technologies that you’d consider essential to acquire as early as possible in the campaign? I’ve read many people who mentioned parrot guns and kneeling down as very useful, as well as iron plating for ships. But what else could improve my capacities at this point?

Thanks a lot for reading and for any tips.

...

PS- I’ll be taking my little brother there next week: http://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/exhibitions...chard-beliveau
That will surely give a bit more depth to my gaming experience!


PPS- Why not a dedicated FOTS forum section? That would make browsing through posts a lot more convenient...

[wealthmonger]

Cause a rebellion in Hizen and take it. It's a very good economic province.

If you don't have it get the explosive shell military tech and central reforms, revised land tax on the civil side.

Once you feel confident enough to do so you might want to take one province on the other side of the map, perhaps on hokkaido, leave the rest to rebels. Use that as a staging area for RD.

[Angkordraught]

Cause a rebellion in Hizen and take it. It's a very good economic province.

If you don't have it get the explosive shell military tech and central reforms, revised land tax on the civil side.

Once you feel confident enough to do so you might want to take one province on the other side of the map, perhaps on hokkaido, leave the rest to rebels. Use that as a staging area for RD.

Thanks for the reply.

You pretty much spelled out my plan for Hizen. That did seem like the most rational thing to do. Glad to see I got that right.

Concerning techs, I did research the ones you mentioned on the civil side, but I was hesitating with the explosive shell, not knowing how much of an advantage it would be... I guess I'll look it up as soon as I'm done with copper plating.

As for taking a province on the other side, not sure I understand why... (Don't forget I never made it to RD; not even in vanilla.)

[Stellarnight]

Coal Provinces if im not wrong, lowers the cost of ship building. Those ships do cost a bomb.

Havent play the game in a long while but Foreign Quarters should lead to you being able to build a foreign trading port, which enable you to hire up to 3 elite foreign troops. (when i mean elite, i really do mean elite! Well worth the koku!) The Port also allows you to hire the Foreign Veteran Agent which can lower recruitment cost in the town of station or train troops(i.e increase their EXP while idle).

Probably a balanced mix when it comes to military tech. Explosive shells works well against wooden ships as they set fire to them more easily. If you can, get at least copper plating so that your ships dont catch on fire so often.

Ships are very very important in FOTS because of the bombardment and also to sink any invasion attempts from the main land. The Ironclad is a really good ship because of its huge range. Support it with conventional ships(forgot their names) and you should do well.

As for Agents, concentrate on the Shinsengumi as a well trained Shinsengumi can quickly tame a recently conquered town and more importantly, to create revolts all over the country. Revolts are good because you are messing with the AI plans without officially declaring war on them and if successful, you can create buffer zones of rebel provinces in which you can roll in when you feel like in and take it over.

Shinobi while expensive, can be critical in stalling an enemy's advance. A very well trained Shinobi can pretty much stop an army in their tracks for several seasons and this can come in useful. Also they are good at killing other agents which is good.

I stick my Geisha in my money making towns as they have a bonus towards money making. They are sometimes used as emergency Army distractors.


As for development of towns, the modernity meter is important as unhappiness can be significant if you are not careful. For me, i usually build inns and stick 1 or 2 levys in towns with no bonuses or simply crappy fertility. For fertile lands, i would upgrade the farm by 1 or 2 levels and stick some inns there.

For lands with silk or gold/silver mine, i would build factories and industries. Of course, this creates unhappiness so stick a levy or two there~

While in peace, take the chance to build up infrastructure and try not to over-rely on your foreign trade port because the AI loves to bombard your Ports so you might find yourself suddenly in the deficit when the AI decides to mess with your ports.

EXPANSION
Send your agents to mess around and level them up. then create rebellions to weaken the incumbent and then strike. Shinsengumi can also help convert some of the populace to your allegiance while standing around, so no harm sending them into territories that you ear mark for expansion.

Disband only outdated troops like your yari ki, katana kachi, levies and even line infantry once you reach a certain stage of development. Keep at least 2 armies around if possible. If you disband most of your troops, your military standing would drop and neighbouring clans would suddenly turn hostile and pounce on you in weakness. Aim for quality troops instead of quantity. Foreign troops are incredible value so is revolver cav.
Upgrade to shogunate line infantry whenever possible and disband your line infantries. I would also suggest cannons of the Armstrong variety.

DEVELOPMENT
There is no food in FOTS. The main bulk of unhappiness if likely to come from modernity. Inns, Geishas and upgraded forts along with shinsengumi serve to counteract this issue.

ESSENTIALS

Kneel Fire is a game-breaker. It is just way too powerful. Artillery is a must in mid game. If you can, get at least the revolver cav tech as revolver cav while lacking in plentiful ammunition, is powerful. Other than that, its all about pimping your armoury/weaponsmith centre and pumping out troops with incredible starting stats.

One more thing you should consider is Looting.
While you take the honor hit, the loot from looting is tremendous in FOTS. You can get sums of 20+k to 30+k which can come in useful when the hits the fan.

[Angkordraught]

Hi,

Thanks very much for the long and detailed answer. I never expected that much!
There's so much that I can't comment for now, but I see many useful tips and answers to my questions. I'm sure I will see more as I play on.

Only one question right now: What do you mean by "levy" and "levies" in the context of the game ? (Sorry, English is not my first language.)

Otherwise, I'm really getting into this game. Maybe too much... My next thread might very well be entitled: «Please help me convince my wife not to divorce and take away the kid so I can finally be alone with my new girlfriend the pc»...

[Stellarnight]

Hmm Im pretty sure they were called levies. They are the lowest level rifle troops you can hire. Those guys with crappy stats. Every 1 troop gives you +1 Repression which counters unhappiness, so for such purposes, hire the cheapest guys which are the levies~

Enjoy the game!

[Angkordraught]

Hmm Im pretty sure they were called levies. They are the lowest level rifle troops you can hire. Those guys with crappy stats. Every 1 troop gives you +1 Repression which counters unhappiness, so for such purposes, hire the cheapest guys which are the levies~

Enjoy the game!

They might be called that indeed, but my game runs in French so sometimes I have a bit of translating to do when I read English forums or guides. In any case, I see which units you mean now.

I now entered what will likely be a peaceful period in the game. I didn't expect it, but it looks like this will be the most complicated part so far; in terms of deciding what to develop and where...
TW really is a lot like playing chess (my favourite game), except with so many more options.

Thanks again!

[Angkordraught]

I have a couple more questions while I'm at it:

When you build buildings that lower and increase modernization, their effect is clan based rather than province based, isn't it? And, if you build one that has -1 modernization and one that has +1, they will nullify each other in your overall clan progress, right?

If so, does it mean that building a whole bunch of traditional buildings would not only increase happiness, but will also push back when RD occurs?

Finally, just to make sure: RD occurs when the progress bar in your clan's summary window reaches full, right?

Thanks again.

[Stellarnight]

Buildings can have both a global and a local effect.

For example, take Factory A.
Factory A has +2 modernity and also -1 unhappiness. This contributes 2 points towards global modernity and -1 unhappiness locally. Let say that these 2 points of modernity pushes your clan onto a new level of modernity. Being on this new level creates a new level of unhappiness globally. But in the province you build factory A, you suffer from this global penalty in addition to the -1 happiness from Factory A.

You are right in saying that buildings can cancel out in terms of modernity but you cant roll back technological progress. i.e lets say you are at Stage 4 of Modernity, even if you raze every single modern building and build traditional dojos, you will be stuck at Stage 4. Hence traditional buildings like inn serve as some sort of restraint when you feel you are still not ready to modernise onto the next stage but yet you require to build some modern buildings. I dont think Traditional buildings affect RD at all.

RD will occur primary as a result of you taking too much territory and to a much smaller effect, heroic victories and high honor ratings.Watch the progress bar on your clan screen. When it is almost full, that is the time to consolidate your forces and deploy them in anticipation for the attack. Take the time to accumulate some $$ before triggering RD by taking one or two more provinces. When RD is triggered, there will be a notification giving you a choice between being the vanguard of your allegiance or to go independent as a republic.

If you choose to be a vanguard, then all clans that is aligned to your allegiance would rally to your side and Japan becomes split into a battleground between two opposing blocs. If you choose to be a republic, everyone hates you to cut the story short. You will also face the challenge of re-converting all the provinces under your control to the republic allegiance so if you seek a true challenge, go republic

[Angkordraught]

Ok. I'd gathered much of that but wasn't 100% sure and didn't want to be surprised with unexpected RD or sudden mass disaffection from my population.

This is very much a learning campaign for me so I'll try and push back RD for a while and explore different areas of development for a while longer. And I think I'll leave the republic option for a next campaign.

Thanks again, you're being very enlightening.