Trailers: Total War: Shogun 2 Battle Report

[Soviet Heavy]

Looks like it is still running off the Empire Total War engine. Meaning it is still broken.

 

[Double A]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

 

[WingedIncubus]

Kinda annoying how they can scale pretty much any wall with no equipment. Still, Hyrule ftw.

Samurai did climb walls without equipment in squads. It's historically accurate.

Remember, Japanese people at the times didn't have very developed siege warfare and had next to no specialized equipment to destroy walls. We smug, know-it-all bastards had catapults and bombards, they didn't. No tower, no ballist, no cannon. They had rams, which don't destroy walls and are very unwieldly to move in steep, mountainous terrain.

Besides, the problem with ladders is that they funnel the assaulting troops and slow down the assault, surrendering momemtum and giving time to the defender to organize resistance, concentrate on where the ladders laid and slaughter the climbing buggers one by one. So instead of waiting their turn to climb the ladder and be taken one by one, they would elicit to climb over the wall as fast as possible so that as many soldiers as possible would take over the wall.

 

[WingedIncubus]

So why bother building walls then?

Japanese didn't build castles as strongholds to wait it out in defence for years like in the West, they made castles as chokepoint wings to invite attackers in killing zones, ambush them, and murder them from the flanks and the higher ground. They WANTED to attackers to come in, so they could kill as many as possible and repeal them.

Knowning that, a player would put units onto the wall to wait for them to climb and kill them as they are vulnerable. For reasons unknown, Kieran didn't. He abandoned several wings of the castle to be taken and let them climb the wall unscathered.

 

[General Torg]

Looks fun.

 

[Jamous]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

I see your point, but he was outnumbered MASSIVELY. Which obviously didn't help. The main reason he lost is because he let them breach his first wall really easily, I think. As you said. Piss-poor Generalling. Also, yeah, Pause helps a lot.

 

[Athlumney]

Did anyone else notice the AI had a triforce on their banners.
Looks good never really played total war game before though.

 

[WingedIncubus]

Did anyone else notice the AI had a triforce on their banners.
Looks good never really played total war game before though.

It is the Go-Hôjô clan's historical crest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_H%C5%8Dj%C5%8D_clan

 

[Capt. Crankypants]

Is it just me, or is this bloke really not that good at planning a decent defence? =P

I get that he's trying to put on a little show for the demo, and show off a bit with the camera and scenery and stuff, but really, a little more effort sonny =P

(Archers on the wall line [the other bloke even MENTIONED this to him =P], melee troops NEARBY [which should have been massively re-organised as soon as he saw where the enemy troops deployed] to provide a buffer for the archers. Units climbing the walls needed to face a block of troops at the wall edge, or better still, wedged between two melee units as soon as they reached the top. Archers needing to retreat to the upper levels, guarded by at least two nearby units of infantry. Basically, too few units, spread too thin, poorly organised, and bad co-ordination on the part of the defender.)

 

[maninahat]

I'm pleased with the development of the AI. Instead of them all just massing at one side of the fort like in previous titles, they spread out and attack from different directions. Still looks very much like every other total war game, which might be a criticism, but I don't think you can have too much of a good thing.

 

[laserpants]

This game looks good, I will say that much. However, it does seems like the developers tried to put too much on their bowl at once.

 

[Double A]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

I see your point, but he was outnumbered MASSIVELY. Which obviously didn't help. The main reason he lost is because he let them breach his first wall really easily, I think. As you said. Piss-poor Generalling. Also, yeah, Pause helps a lot.

Yeah, and he could have sent his general out and attacked the "back attack" archers. That would have delayed them a bit.

I would have put my archers up next to the wall, but I'm not 100% sure if that's something you should do with archers in S2TW.

 

[Jamous]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

I see your point, but he was outnumbered MASSIVELY. Which obviously didn't help. The main reason he lost is because he let them breach his first wall really easily, I think. As you said. Piss-poor Generalling. Also, yeah, Pause helps a lot.

Yeah, and he could have sent his general out and attacked the "back attack" archers. That would have delayed them a bit.

I would have put my archers up next to the wall, but I'm not 100% sure if that's something you should do with archers in S2TW.

Yeah, I'd put my archers there, but replace them with swordsman when the opposing force got to where they could climb the walls. Oh, and definitely agreed on the generals point. He used his general AWFULLY.

 

[Double A]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

I see your point, but he was outnumbered MASSIVELY. Which obviously didn't help. The main reason he lost is because he let them breach his first wall really easily, I think. As you said. Piss-poor Generalling. Also, yeah, Pause helps a lot.

Yeah, and he could have sent his general out and attacked the "back attack" archers. That would have delayed them a bit.

I would have put my archers up next to the wall, but I'm not 100% sure if that's something you should do with archers in S2TW.

Yeah, I'd put my archers there, but replace them with swordsman when the opposing force got to where they could climb the walls. Oh, and definitely agreed on the generals point. He used his general AWFULLY.

DERP! CAVALRY WALK INTO MELEE!

This may sound crazy, but maybe CA should let people who have actually played a melee-focused Total War game do their demos for Shogun II.

Like me, for example!

 

[ManiacEskimo]

So why bother building walls then?

Japanese didn't build castles as strongholds to wait it out in defence for years like in the West, they made castles as chokepoint wings to invite attackers in killing zones, ambush them, and murder them from the flanks and the higher ground. They WANTED to attackers to come in, so they could kill as many as possible and repeal them.

Knowning that, a player would put units onto the wall to wait for them to climb and kill them as they are vulnerable. For reasons unknown, Kieran didn't. He abandoned several wings of the castle to be taken and let them climb the wall unscathered.

I see, and yeah Kieran did a HORRIBLE job of playing that battle.

 

[Jamous]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

I see your point, but he was outnumbered MASSIVELY. Which obviously didn't help. The main reason he lost is because he let them breach his first wall really easily, I think. As you said. Piss-poor Generalling. Also, yeah, Pause helps a lot.

Yeah, and he could have sent his general out and attacked the "back attack" archers. That would have delayed them a bit.

I would have put my archers up next to the wall, but I'm not 100% sure if that's something you should do with archers in S2TW.

Yeah, I'd put my archers there, but replace them with swordsman when the opposing force got to where they could climb the walls. Oh, and definitely agreed on the generals point. He used his general AWFULLY.

DERP! CAVALRY WALK INTO MELEE!

This may sound crazy, but maybe CA should let people who have actually played a melee-focused Total War game do their demos for Shogun II.

Like me, for example!

Why Double A! What an outrageous idea. I'm shocked at you. Shocked.
But yessssss... Doing the demos would be -most- fun, I'm sure. ;D I know I'd enjoy it.
On the note of the cavalry, yeah, either the 'charge' did sweet FA or the General's Bodyguard in this is now SHIT. Which would make things rather interesting. I'm playing my way through Medieval 2, English naturally. My girlfriend's playing her own campaign as the Holy Roman Empire. Things are going well for me. Not so for her. She now hates me.

 

[Double A]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

I see your point, but he was outnumbered MASSIVELY. Which obviously didn't help. The main reason he lost is because he let them breach his first wall really easily, I think. As you said. Piss-poor Generalling. Also, yeah, Pause helps a lot.

Yeah, and he could have sent his general out and attacked the "back attack" archers. That would have delayed them a bit.

I would have put my archers up next to the wall, but I'm not 100% sure if that's something you should do with archers in S2TW.

Yeah, I'd put my archers there, but replace them with swordsman when the opposing force got to where they could climb the walls. Oh, and definitely agreed on the generals point. He used his general AWFULLY.

DERP! CAVALRY WALK INTO MELEE!

This may sound crazy, but maybe CA should let people who have actually played a melee-focused Total War game do their demos for Shogun II.

Like me, for example!

Why Double A! What an outrageous idea. I'm shocked at you. Shocked.
But yessssss... Doing the demos would be -most- fun, I'm sure. ;D I know I'd enjoy it.
On the note of the cavalry, yeah, either the 'charge' did sweet FA or the General's Bodyguard in this is now SHIT. Which would make things rather interesting. I'm playing my way through Medieval 2, English naturally. My girlfriend's playing her own campaign as the Holy Roman Empire. Things are going well for me. Not so for her. She now hates me.

Well, judging by CA's introduction of them Hero Units, which can dominate the battlefield or some such, the generals are probably brought back up to the status of M2 and Rome. You know, when they weren't the size of an artillery crew just because you didn't expect them to get into combat. So, pretty much, this guy sucks. Or maybe the general just had really bad traits (like -5hp bad).

And lucky... having a girlfriend who hates you and plays M2 is better than having no girlfriend at all. Or even knowing a girl who plays M2.

 

[Jamous]

I -want- this game. It looks SO good. Did anyone else notice how horribly outnumbered the player was? D: That and pretty poor generalling. Aaaaaaand I'll stop criticising.

these guys are very entertaining

Very much agreed.

In castles, you don't need to outnumber the enemy. He was just using very poor tactics. Instead of anticipating the enemy, he just bunched up hid dudes in the same spot and said "Have at you!" Plus he should have paused and checked out the rest of the map...

All in all, though, the battle engine seems pretty good. I think I saw two guys attacking one (no more dueling units). However, that's only half the game. If the campaign sucks, I won't buy.

I see your point, but he was outnumbered MASSIVELY. Which obviously didn't help. The main reason he lost is because he let them breach his first wall really easily, I think. As you said. Piss-poor Generalling. Also, yeah, Pause helps a lot.

Yeah, and he could have sent his general out and attacked the "back attack" archers. That would have delayed them a bit.

I would have put my archers up next to the wall, but I'm not 100% sure if that's something you should do with archers in S2TW.

Yeah, I'd put my archers there, but replace them with swordsman when the opposing force got to where they could climb the walls. Oh, and definitely agreed on the generals point. He used his general AWFULLY.

DERP! CAVALRY WALK INTO MELEE!

This may sound crazy, but maybe CA should let people who have actually played a melee-focused Total War game do their demos for Shogun II.

Like me, for example!

Why Double A! What an outrageous idea. I'm shocked at you. Shocked.
But yessssss... Doing the demos would be -most- fun, I'm sure. ;D I know I'd enjoy it.
On the note of the cavalry, yeah, either the 'charge' did sweet FA or the General's Bodyguard in this is now SHIT. Which would make things rather interesting. I'm playing my way through Medieval 2, English naturally. My girlfriend's playing her own campaign as the Holy Roman Empire. Things are going well for me. Not so for her. She now hates me.

Well, judging by CA's introduction of them Hero Units, which can dominate the battlefield or some such, the generals are probably brought back up to the status of M2 and Rome. You know, when they weren't the size of an artillery crew just because you didn't expect them to get into combat. So, pretty much, this guy sucks. Or maybe the general just had really bad traits (like -5hp bad).

And lucky... having a girlfriend who hates you and plays M2 is better than having no girlfriend at all. Or even knowing a girl who plays M2.

Hate might be a strong word, but you get the idea. Thank you very much; I'm incredibly lucky to be with her, I didn't think it was ever going to happen.
I think I know what trait he might have.
Nervous: This general is so unsure of his horsemanship, and afeared of battle, that he faints on the impact of a charge. [This counts as a capture for the enemy.]

 

[John the Gamer]

It would have gone (slightly) better if he had put his archers on the second or third level of the castle. They would have lasted much longer. maybe he DID lose on purpose...

 

[WingedIncubus]

It would have gone (slightly) better if he had put his archers on the second or third level of the castle. They would have lasted much longer. maybe he DID lose on purpose...

Or perhaps he just sucks at being a general.

Not everyone gets to be an astronaut, you know...