Hello and welcome to the official Shogun Total War hints and tips pages. Check out this great guide which was written by Bob Smith, the programmer who designed Shogun Total Wars AI. We also have sections written by Jason Fitzgerald (Studio Marketing Manager) and Michael de Plater (Executive Producer) from Dreamtime Interactive, which you can see here, and a section written and compiled by the guys at http://www.totalwar.org/which you can see here.
You can also check out our fantastic on-line guide The Way Of The Daimyo. This is an historical companion to Shogun Total War that will give you some of the background knowledge that will help you to understand the time period and your opponents better. There will be more features coming soon, so keep an eye on these pages. Anyone who wishes to submit a strategy guide should contact the webmaster.
Shogun Battle Simulation and Tactics
Introduction
The battlefield simulation model in Shogun is a complex affair. It aims to combine common sense realism and the psychology of massed troop bodies, within the context of an exciting game. The realism of the simulation largely frees the new player from having to learn the rules of the game, since they are largely a matter of common sense. If you are asked to climb a steep hill while wearing heavy armour, you will move slowly and be tired when you get to the top, and so it is with your soldiers in Shogun. If you are asked to stand in a field all day, in the pouring rain, you will get cold and tired. Again, so it is also with your soldiers in Shogun. If you are ordered into a situation where the most likely outcome appears to be that you will be butchered by some steely faced enemy samurai, you may choose a heroic death, but more likely you will run away from the situation as quickly as possible. It should come as no surprise when your Shogun soldiers do the same. This article explains some of the features of the simulation, and discuses how the player can use them to advantage. It also aims to explain some of the battlefield psychology that is modelled, which may not be obvious to someone who has not studied military history.
Combat
All combat in Shogun in calculated on a man to man basis. Each man makes one attack each animation cycle, but may be attacked many times during the same time. The chance of a man making a kill during his attack, depends on his attack factor, the opponents defence factor, the honour and fatigue of both parties, and on other factors such as whether the attacker is charging, or attacking the defender's side or rear. There are special adjustments for troops with spears fighting against cavalry. However, the spearmen only receive them if facing the cavalrymen. Again this is determined on a man by man basis, so if the spearmen's formation is broken up, then individual horsemen may get flank or rear attacks on single spearmen. Of course if the whole cavalry unit attacks from the flank or rear the spearmen are in big trouble.
Terrain
In open battle the most important terrain type is the hill. If you defend on a hill you have many advantages. Firstly you gain a good view of the battlefield, and the enemies approach. As the enemy approaches your archers enjoy longer range, and have greater effect. As he approaches closer his troops may tire from the climb, and once they reach your lines, then fighting uphill will put them at a big disadvantage. The higher and steeper the hill, the more advantage you get from it. Unless you have a much superior force, it is usually best not to attack uphill. Try instead to work round the side of the enemy's position so that you can approach them from the same level.
Woods are another important feature of the Shogun landscape. They offer concealment and protection from missile fire. It's also worth noting that cavalry fight particularly poorly in woods. This because the riders are distracted by the hazards of low branches, and because horses are much more cumbersome than men on foot when manoeuvring amongst trees. Woods also break formations up, allowing men on foot to get amongst the cavalry and attack individual soldiers from flank or rear.
Shooting
The shooting model in Shogun is straightforward, and fairly realistic. Each man picks an enemy man to shoot at, the computer then calculates he exact angles he must aim in to hit the target, then adjusts these angles by a random percentage based on the skill of the shooter, and the accuracy of his weapon, and the weather conditions. It then tracks the arrow or bullet until it hits something. This means that they are more likely to hit what they aim at when at close range, and that they may hot someone other than their intended target, indeed they may well hit someone on there own side. This is a particular problem when firing into melees especially if the firing unit is behind your own unit. Units firing "at will" will not fire into melees, and will stop firing at an enemy, if they are hitting their own men as well. However, units that have been specifically ordered to fire at a particular enemy, will carry on regardless until you tell them to stop. While you probably want to avoid causing too many friendly casualties, it is quite a legitimate tactic to engage an enemy heavy cavalry unit with your ashigaru for the sole purpose of keeping them still while you pound them with arrows. Hastening the reincarnation of a few ashigaru is a small price to pay for the damage you will cause.
There are no special rules for shooting into or out woods, but many of your arrows will hit trees. Similarly there are no special rules for whether the target is in close or loose formation, simply that if you miss your intended target, you are more likely to hit someone else if the target is in close formation. One effect of this is that loose formation gives you more benefit when under fire at long range, since at close range an enemy is more likely to be able to hit the target he picked out. Actually there is a small extra adjustment for being in loose formation, as it give individual soldiers room to dodge around a little. This is modelled by adding one to the their armour value, and since you suffer diminishing returns for increased armour, it benefits lightly armoured units more.
One important factor affecting accuracy of fire, is how well the firing man can see the target. Those men in the first two ranks ( first three ranks if in loose formation ) are assumed to have a good view of the target, whereas those behind cannot really see, and fire at much reduced accuracy. Of course, if the view of the men in the front ranks is obscured by intervening units or terrain, they will also suffer the reduced accuracy penalty, and those behind will be further penalised. It follows from this that archers are most accurate when employed in shallow formations. If you are defending on flat or gently sloping ground, your missile units will do most damage if deployed in front of your other troops where they have a clear view of the advancing enemy. If defending on a steep slope, missile troops can be deployed behind the front ranks, and still have a clear view over the heads of the troops in front.
Missile units are the only units in the game allowed to employ skirmish mode, and automatically run away from enemy closing in. This can be frustrating if you don't have troops fast enough to catch them. One thing you can do, is to drive them towards some obstruction that will slow down their escape, such as a forest, or dense concentration of troops, or alternatively attack then with two units, one coming from either side of the enemy unit. Finally, take solace from the fact that if they are running, they are not shooting at you.
A final point about ammunition. Gunners fire very slowly, so don't run out, but archers run out pretty quickly. Cunning players can use up enemy ammo by sending out cheap units of ashigaru to invite enemy fire.
Weather
Weather in Shogun serves to enhance the atmosphere of the battlefield, but also has a number of gameplay effects. Rain stops gunners from firing ( it puts out there matches, and dampens their powder), It also reduces the lethality of archery as damp bow strings don't work as well. Rain also soaks into the laces used to tie up armour, making them very heavy, not to mention making eveyone cold and miserable. This is represented in the game by increasing the rate at which fatigue is accumulated.
Snow is similar to rain, but generally has less effect on shooting than the equivalent amount of rain. However, wearing armour in cold weather can drain the heat from the body, so when it's snowing, troops in heavy armour accumulate fatigue faster than those in lesst armour. Best lto eave the naginata at home during winter campaigns.
Fog has no effect on the mechanics of the game, but offers all sorts of opportunities for sneaking up on the enemy from unexpected directions. The A.I. can't see through the fog any better than you can, so you can make use of fog cover in single player games.
Fatigue
Walking around a battlefield in heavy armour is tiring business, so troops get progressively more tired as the battle goes on. How tired they get, depends on what they are doing. Walking on the flat is fairly easy, whereas walking up a steep hill is very tiring. Running is also very tiring, and fighting even more so. Troops that are heavily fatigued will recover somewhat if they are doing a light activity such as walking or standing, but recovery takes some time.
Troops that are described as "fresh" or "quite fresh" suffer no penalties for fatigue. Troops that are "slighty tired" suffer a small penalty to their attack factor, and after this there are increasingly severe penalties to attack, defence and morale factors. Totally exhausted units cannot run, or skirmish. Tired men are also reluctant to fire their weapons, or seek out new opponents in combat.
The two main causes of fatigue are fighting ( which is unavoidable ) and running long distances. It is usually best to walk until the you close with the enemy. Save running for real emergencies, or for seizing fleeting opportunities. Attacking should always be done at the run, as this gives a bonus on impact. Try not to march troops around needlessly. Fresh troops kept in reserve can have a big impact on tired enemy units, and defeat opponents that normally they could not. Ashigaru brought along to bolster the numbers, can be very useful in the later stages of a game. If you have very tired or exhausted troops, it's best to rest them before flinging them into combat again, as their performance will be poor, and they will rout easily.
Morale
Napoleon is reputed to have said that "the moral is to the physical, as ten is to one", and morale effects are very important in Shogun. Generally your battleplan should concentrate on persuading the enemy army to run away, rather than killing them. Once they are all running, killing them will be a great deal easier, and involve much less risk.
Units can have one of several morale levels, but only routing has a major effect, The effects of the other levels are as follows.. Impetuous units will chase after enemy routers, and may ignore orders to hold position. Men in uncertain, or wavering units may hesitate before seeking new opponents, but otherwise suffer no penalty. The main purpose of the morale levels is to inform the player about unit morale. Troops that are wavering, haven't run away yet, but are seriously considering it. Players are alerted to wavering units by the action icon in the panel at the bottom of the screen flashing with the routing icon. Troops actually routing, have a continuous routing icon. The morale level of a unit is dependent upon its unit type, its honour, and by a large number of situational factors.
Managing the morale of your troops is vitally important. The most important thing to realise is that panic is infectious. Once two or three of your units start routing, any nearby units are likely to conclude that something very bad is happening, and start running too. Once your whole army is running, you have lost the battle. If you have a large army, you can guard against this by keeping one or two good morale units well back out of the battle, so that even if the rest rout, you have not lost the battle. Their presence will also help the other troops to rally, and allow time for reinforcements to arrive if you have them. Similarly once the enemy start to run, be sure to pursue them, as the presence of enemy units makes it much harder to rally.
You can use the panic phenomenon to your advantage. If you can launch a devestating attack on a small part of your opponents battle line, and rout a couple of units, then the rest of the army may follow suit. Note that samurai units are much less worried by the sight of fleeing ashigaru, than by fleeing samurai. Ashigaru make no such distinction.
The other big factor that is likely to panic your men, is the death of your general. If units are under pressure, then the news that their general is dead, will likely cause them to rout, which may lead to mass panic. It's therefore advisable to be very careful with your general's unit. Leaving him at the back is one option, but having close by the fighting troops is useful, as he boosts the morale of close by units. If the general routs, then the units close to him no longer gain a bonus from his presence, but there is no further penalty.
The main situational affecting morale, are: the level of casualties sustained; how the unit doing in melee, the rate at which new casualties are occurring; their fatigue, and the presence of threatening enemy units. Historically soldiers were very unhappy when enemy could attack them in the flank or rear. Accordingly sending a unit behind the enemy army can reduce the morale of many units.
Conversely, players can boost the morale of their troops by keeping units close together. Units that have other units protecting their flanks, or in support behind receive a morale bonus. The presence of a nearby general also increases morale, and the higher his rank, the larger the effect. Units in close or wedge formation, have higher morale than units in loose formation.
Infantry units are always uneasy in the presence of enemy cavalry units, and infantry units that are charged by cavalry from behind, or while in a disorganised state, may well break and run before even the cavalry contact them.
Uses of Troop Types.
The key to success in Shogun is the correct use of the different unit types. By using them in combination, you can benefit from the strengths of each type, while minimising it's weaknesses.
Samurai Archers
Archers are one on the most useful troop types. The main thing to watch out for is being run down by enemy cavalry. Positioning a unit of yari samurai directly behind archers will protect them from this threat. Remember too that when their ammunition is gone, samurai archers are quite proficient in close combat. They should easily beat ashigaru, and can stand up to samurai spearmen if they have a small advantage such as less fatigue, or attacking downhill. Cavalry Archers
These can be very troublesome opponents to foot troops who aren't supported by missilemen. Cavalry archers don't fire as effectively as foot archers, but because they have the speed to get out of trouble quickly, they can move up and fire at close range. While putting them in skirmish mode will largely keep them out of trouble, its implementation is ( as a matter of game design ) fairly dumb, so don't rely on it entirely. Cavalry archers should never get into fire fights with foot troops. Horses are very easy targets to hit. However, they can defeat all the foot missile troops in hand to hand combat, so they should either charge or retreat.
Yari Samurai
These spearmen are the mainstay of the army. Reasonably tough in combat, well armoured, and highly effective against cavalry, they are the strong defensive nucleus. Missile units can withdraw behind them for protection, and unarmoured troops can shelter behind them while they absorb the enemy arrow storm. Their only major weakness, is that they become vulnerable to cavalry if caught while disordered, or while their spears are pointing the other way.
Yari Ashigaru
There are a multitude of uses for the humble yari ashigaru. They may be poor in combat, and not very brave, but their cheapness allows you have many of them, and if occasion demands to sacrifice the odd unit. They can be used to absorb enemy arrow fire and cause their ammunition to be depleted, be send on risky scouting missions, sacrificed in attacks designed to pin or draw the enemy out of position. However, their most straightforward use is to add mass to the army. Keep them at the back of your formation and they will increase everyone's morale. Towards the end of the battle when the enemy are tired, then the fresh ashigaru can be useful in combat. With their long spears, they are also quite effective against cavalry archers and yari cavalry.
Yari Cavalry
There are the mainstay of the cavalry arm. They fight well against other cavalry types, and have the speed to run down cavalry archers. They are effective too against the lighter infantry types. They are vulnerable to yari armed infantry, and to missile fire. Although they can run down archers and gunners in a frontal charge, they will suffer heavily as they charge in. A better way is to use their speed to get onto the flanks of the enemy, and launch a charge from there.
Heavy Cavalry.
These are the elite of the cavalry world. They can stand up to well to any troop types, although they may eventually be beaten by well formed yari samurai, or warrior monks. They are also vulnerable to missile fire, but less so than other cavalry types. As with other cavalry, keep them out of the woods.
NoDachi Samurai
With their high attack, and low defence, these troops kill fast and die fast. Since they are also vulnerable to arrow fire, they need to be used very carefully. Keep them at the back, out of danger until they are needed. They can be used to break a hole in an enemy line ( though don't expect to get many back ), or kept back to make opportunistic attacks. Since they have very high morale, they can operate on their own, and so be used for ambushes away from the main position.
Warrior Monks
With high morale, high attack, reasonable defence and good speed, the only weakness of these troops is their vulnerability to arrow fire. Hand to hand they will defeat all foes, and with their high morale they can keep going even after taking heavy losses. Naginata
These are the defensive troops par excellence. They are slow, and have a low attack factor. However, with their heavy armour and high defence value, they can resist attacks for a long time. They are particularly valuable to lead assaults across bridge or into castles, where any other troop type would be shot to pieces. Putting them in loose formation in front of the army is a good ploy for absorbing missile fire.
Musketeers / Arquebussiers
Some people may be disappointed with the effectiveness of gunners in the game, expecting them to outshoot archers. However, early guns were very crude affairs, and much inferior to a bow in the hands of a skilled archer. Guns were popular though, because any peasant could be taught to fire one in short time, whereas it took years of training to produce a skilled archer.
The key to the use of guns in the game is mass. They are cheap, so you can have lots of them. Then you must employ them with patience. Over time they will wear the enemy down. Because of their low accuracy, guns don't cause much damage at long range, but at very close range their volleys can be devastating. The effect of all these casualties at once, together with the morale penalty for being shot at by guns, may often cause enemy units to rout. Gunners fight very poorly, so it's usually safer to employ them in skirmish mode, but if don't, and they are charged by an enemy unit, they will hold last volley until the enemy are very close, so as to achieve maximum effect.
If you deploy gunners in three or more ranks, they will use a revolving firing system, where the front rank fires, then retires to the rear to reload. This means that their rate of fire is effectively three times what is would be if the whole unit shot at once, but only one rank fires in each volley. If deployed in one or two ranks, the whole unit will fire at once, but will then take a long time to reload. Armour is much less effective against bullets, than it is against arrows.