Daimyo as the ultimate assassin in Sengoku

[Heretix]

Hey everyone,

Don't underestimate the use of your Daimyo! The AI has this amazingly silly habit of not upgrading its Daimyo, and you can use this to your HUGE advantage.

For clans with capitals near the coast (all AI civs have their Daimyo's at the capital), load up one ship with your Daimyo and a few Samurais. If your Daimyo has gained the Assasin ability (Shogun Upgrade 8), your Daimyo has become the ultimate assasin. Just land your Daimyo as close to the capital as you can get, then target the rival clan Daimyo for a one-on-one fight. You'll win without any doubt (8/8 vs 2/2 anyone?), and in one turn, you've crushed the rival clan. Then just move in your hordes of settlers to expand your territory like a madman (don't forget some defence too).

This works too when you are able to access the enemy capital quickly even when its not on a coast (like when the enemy clan's capital is next to your border).

DO NOT FORGET TO UPGRADE YOUR DAIMYO! It seems that once you skip 2 "generations" of upgrades, you cannot upgrade your Daimyo any longer.

You can also use the Daimyo early on as a good rusher. I've taken quite a few civs in the early 1-2 city era with just my Daimyo and a few Ashigarus with great results. Getting your Daimyo fighting is also a good way to get Great Leaders. Don't keep him cooped up in the palace!

 

[Dogmeat]

Aren't those Yamabushi monks supposed to stop stealth attacks?
IIRC, the AI will place dozens of those in their capitals.

 

[Heretix]

Originally posted by Dogmeat
Aren't those Yamabushi monks supposed to stop stealth attacks?
IIRC, the AI will place dozens of those in their capitals.

Hm, quite true, but somehow i've encountered more than a few instances where the AI literally has no Yamabushi's in the capital. Or just one (which you can easily take out). Maybe just my luck then.

However, if you do have a need to draw the enemy Yamabushi monks out, you can leave one city that's close to the enemy capital completely undefended. Watch those greedy Yamabushis run out trying to cap it. Works for me anyways.

 

[Tony595]

you can get the same effect with 3-4 assassins per capital

 

[Zandrew]

Originally posted by Heretix
It seems that once you skip 2 "generations" of upgrades, you cannot upgrade your Daimyo any longer.

Are you sure about that? I think you can upgrade several levels at once but it's very expensive and you have to upgrade to the highest level you've learned. It will look like you can't upgrade if you don't have enough gold to cover it.

Also, the Yamabushis don't prevent stealth attacks but they can see them coming. Besides other ninjas and a high level Shogun only a Yami can see a ninja. The ninja still gets to choose who to attack in a stack even if it's full of Yamis.

 

[Roi du Culture]

it is very expensive if you skip too many upgrades, or at least it seems to empty your treasury.i never use my king units in battle; its way too risky for the likes of me. As we've found out thru the "modern armor versus spearmen" complaint, anything is possibly. regular assassin units suit me just fine.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

I like quickly teching up the top area, to get a lvl 4 and use blitz to quickly level the AI's capital and king.

 

[Tweedledum]

Originally posted by Zandrew
Also, the Yamabushis don't prevent stealth attacks but they can see them coming. Besides other ninjas and a high level Shogun only a Yami can see a ninja. The ninja still gets to choose who to attack in a stack even if it's full of Yamis.

I'm not sure this is true. I was having Ninja problems, and in several cases I had a city containing (amongst others) a Sam. Arquebusier and a Yamabushi, and the attacking Ninja always ended up going against the Yamabushi first. Normally the best defender goes up first, which would here be the Arquebusier (D=8 against the Yami D=5), so I suspect that you have kill all the Yamis first before stealth cuts in.

I might be wrong though... more tests required, I think

Also, I think that using your Daimyo as an attacker is too dangerous - we've all fallen victim to the vagaries of the RNG, and my Daimyo stays safely at home with a large bodyguard

 

[Zurai]

Ninja have Stealth Attack. Why would a unit that can pick its target pick the HARDEST target first? Sounds like it's working perfectly to me. Not only is the Yamabushi the softer target, it's also the unit that can see the ninja to counterattack.

 

[Zandrew]

Originally posted by Tweedledum
I'm not sure this is true. I was having Ninja problems, and in several cases I had a city containing (amongst others) a Sam. Arquebusier and a Yamabushi, and the attacking Ninja always ended up going against the Yamabushi first. Normally the best defender goes up first, which would here be the Arquebusier (D=8 against the Yami D=5), so I suspect that you have kill all the Yamis first before stealth cuts in.

I might be wrong though... more tests required, I think

Also, I think that using your Daimyo as an attacker is too dangerous - we've all fallen victim to the vagaries of the RNG, and my Daimyo stays safely at home with a large bodyguard

I think the Ninja went after the Yami instead of the Arquebusier because Ninjas and Yamis just don't like eachother. The Ninja probably considers the Yami a greater threat because of the Yami's ability to 'see' the Ninja, so he attacks him first even if he could have attacked a weaker unit in the stack. I've used Ninjas to attack another tribe's capital and was able to target the Daimyo even though Yamabushis were also there.

As far as using your Daimyo in combat, that's been much debated here. If you're the sort who can't bare reloading then don't use him. I hate reloading, but in this scenario I will just to keep the game going but I won't retry the same battle if he loses. Most posters here do use the Daimyo in combat 'cuz he's just so cool! I've had some very exciting situations where my Daimyo has saved the day, the great warrior leader loved and admired by his tribe! In one instance I'd red-lined the Mogami Daimyo with my Ninjas, but ran out of Ninjas before I could finish him. In charged my Shogun-11 (who'd been supervising my main force nearby) to finish him off quickly and efficiently. We all cheered as the Mogamis crumbled to rubble! Another time my Shogun-2 kept me alive in the early game by rushing from town to town shoring up defences against a determined assault by the Takede. My tribe was very impressed by his heroics.

 

[Tweedledum]

@Zandrew:

Ah. It seems you're right. I've just run a test and the presence of Yamis in the city didn't prevent me from stealth attacking the Daimyo. Bye-bye Tokugawa...

I did, however, get an indication the AI is capable of upgrading Daimyos, because it took about 10 Ninja to kill the bugger (admittedly, it was a size 16 city which won't have helped me...)


@Zurai:

Yeah, OK. I should have noticed that one. Sometimes I'm full of s**t