Shogun: Total War 2 Catch All thread

wow...so, Xeknos and I just tried the co-op campaign and it turned out to be really fun...they finally fixed things. We ended up playing 7 hours straight...we were gonna continue til we realized it was closing in on 5am, lol. Its awesome.

Thanks to all the positive press here and elsewhere, I picked this up off Steam yesterday. So far I am having a ton of fun. Things that stand out:

1. Art direction is fabulous.
2. Where are all the bugs? Is it possible a TW game without huge issues at release?
3. Tech/skill tree for Clan and Heroes are well done and a nice addition.
4. Economy, diplomacy and the overall campaign map seems simpler yet smarter if that makes sense.
5. The campaign map is smaller than previous games so it does not seem so over-whelming.
6. My first campaign is on hard and it has been a real challenge. I've reloaded a prior save a couple of times when I've made clear mistakes that I could have gotten away with in previous TW games.

Cayne wrote:

Has everyone figured out how to join the Gamers With Jobs Clan?

First you need to be a member of the GWJ steam group, then in Shogun you need to go to Avatar multi-player section and click on the clan section. It should be the button to the right of the map button in the top middle, there you should see all the steam groups you are a member of and select GWJ, and if I remember correctly there was a Join clan button or maybe it was just double clicking on the clan name. But then you should see the clan with some statistics on the right and list of all the members on the left, and your name should be there.

ZellbrigeN26 wrote:

wow...so, Xeknos and I just tried the co-op campaign and it turned out to be really fun...they finally fixed things. We ended up playing 7 hours straight...we were gonna continue til we realized it was closing in on 5am, lol. Its awesome.

Do you both have to be online at the same time, or is it like a play by e-mail system? Also, I'm guessing all battles are auto-resolve?

Huzsar wrote:
Cayne wrote:

Has everyone figured out how to join the Gamers With Jobs Clan?

First you need to be a member of the GWJ steam group, then in Shogun you need to go to Avatar multi-player section and click on the clan section. It should be the button to the right of the map button in the top middle, there you should see all the steam groups you are a member of and select GWJ, and if I remember correctly there was a Join clan button or maybe it was just double clicking on the clan name. But then you should see the clan with some statistics on the right and list of all the members on the left, and your name should be there.

how does one become a member of the steam group? I thought it was an invite only group...so can someone invite me..my steam name is Zellbrigen. Then I will join the clan

ZellbrigeN26 wrote:
Huzsar wrote:
Cayne wrote:

Has everyone figured out how to join the Gamers With Jobs Clan?

First you need to be a member of the GWJ steam group, then in Shogun you need to go to Avatar multi-player section and click on the clan section. It should be the button to the right of the map button in the top middle, there you should see all the steam groups you are a member of and select GWJ, and if I remember correctly there was a Join clan button or maybe it was just double clicking on the clan name. But then you should see the clan with some statistics on the right and list of all the members on the left, and your name should be there.

how does one become a member of the steam group? I thought it was an invite only group...so can someone invite me..my steam name is Zellbrigen. Then I will join the clan :)

Just send us a link to your steam profile page, and one of us will add you. I can't find you using just your steam name.

jdzappa wrote:
ZellbrigeN26 wrote:

wow...so, Xeknos and I just tried the co-op campaign and it turned out to be really fun...they finally fixed things. We ended up playing 7 hours straight...we were gonna continue til we realized it was closing in on 5am, lol. Its awesome.

Do you both have to be online at the same time, or is it like a play by e-mail system? Also, I'm guessing all battles are auto-resolve?

Yes you both have to be online at the same time, its nice to be able to talk, so we were on skype as well...but no to the auto resolve battles...When one person gets into a battle there are a few options...The player involved in the battle can autoresolve, fight it out, or retreat...autoresolve and retreat are kinda duh as what happens. IF they fight it out though, then the person not in the battle can either spectate the fight, fight as the AI, or the other player can "gift" part of his army for the fight so you have something to control...which is nice, We were operating to where I would control missile and siege units while xek operated melee and cav units. It really helps during castle battles...There was one fight where I he got into a fight and I had my own army in reinforce range, so it was awesome to watch my troops march out of the fog in a great place to pincer the AI, lol. I really like how they fixed everything.

I was all interested in buying this then I saw someone post a link proving that Tom Chick likes it. Never have I been more consistently opposed to the opinions of a game reviewer.

Now I look at all the cool screenshots and still want to buy, but feel nervous. I haven't agreed with Chick about a strategy game in as long as I can remember.

Maybe someday when it's on sale for $15.

Ugh, I suck at this game. I'm getting destroyed in multiplayer.

Edit: I will say, is there a time limit? I had the advantage in one instance, but I don't have the time for to wait for a hidden army for an hour while I have the advantage on the field. It sucks losing when you have to force an attack because you don't want to wait an hour.

Haven't gotten my toes wet yet on multiplayer but i can see how it would be easy for people in there to break the spirit of the game by taking a squad of ninja and hiding them in a corner till time runs out to force a draw when they have clearly lost or to make their opponent rage quit.

Hopefully that won't be the case too often, and all I can say Tuffalo is keep trying eventually you should turn it around!

Hrmph... I swore Creative Assembly will not con me out of another penny. But with your stories and reviews, and being pissed off at Rift at the moment, I pulled the trigger on this.

I only had time to play through the tutorials. So I have some questions. How do you make ninjas stealth? How long do they stay stealthed for and how effective is stealth? I ask because I tried to sneak up my ninjas to a castle tower. I clicked on the stealth skill, yet the moment I got in the range of tower/archers, they ripped me a new one.

MoonDragon wrote:

Hrmph... I swore Creative Assembly will not con me out of another penny. But with your stories and reviews, and being pissed off at Rift at the moment, I pulled the trigger on this.

I only had time to play through the tutorials. So I have some questions. How do you make ninjas stealth? How long do they stay stealthed for and how effective is stealth? I ask because I tried to sneak up my ninjas to a castle tower. I clicked on the stealth skill, yet the moment I got in the range of tower/archers, they ripped me a new one.

I haven't had a chance to get ninjas in a campaign yet and went through that part really quick in the tutorial (I don't think I got it working either). Stealth seems like it would be awesome if you can figure out how to work it right.

Edit: It looks like it lasts 40-45 seconds and running gives you away.

Edit 2: Actually, I'm not sure how the running part works. I'll have to try it myself.

Hmm... that second poster actually implied that you would use stealth to run. He says you should stop running before stealth expires in order to not be discovered. I'm assuming this means that running makes you more visible. It could also be that I'm thinking about stealth wrong. I'm thinking about it like a cloak of invisibility, where it's rather like a lowering of aggro radius. Running increases your aggro radius. Sitting in the bushes lowers it to 0. As does popping stealth skill. But if you already have aggro--as I did in my tutorial--then stealthing is useless. They already know you're there.

I did not play with battlefield ninjas that much myself but I'm thinking that it does make a unit invisible, much like when you don't see opponent units when they are hiding in the forest until you get closer or they start attacking you. I think ninjas would be used for moving behind the enemy army unseen until by the time the unit is detected either because of proximity to the enemy or because it attacks but by then it's hopefully to late. When I played the siege tutorial in the demo my ninja was not attacked until I tried to take over the gate that did not have any units near by. At least that was my impression of how stealth works.

I installed a larger font mod on my laptop for this game. Before, it was really hard to see because my laptop is so small. It's not perfect, but I think I'll keep using it on my laptop so I don't have to put my face a foot from the screen.

My multiplayer experience so far.

1. Start out optimistic, find out I have few units to choose from. Lose to a rank 7 player fielding monks.
2. Lose to a rank 6 player with monks, archery general, and better bowmen
3. Bugged naval game in setup room
4. 2vs2 team matchup where the game wisely pits me and another level 1 against a level 6 and 7. Luckily the game crashed on loading the map....
5. Play a rank 3 in siege where he proceeds to use back to back siege weapons in the tower with calvary. I lose within seconds as the siege weapons locate and snipe my running general from maximum range. 10 dead units later all of the basic units route from morale.
6. Ragequit (optional)

It should also be mentioned that the filler between these games is a matchmaker that spends more time searching and coming up empty than time playing.

Multiplayer is fantastic in this game. Played about twenty matches last night; CA actually appear to have made a large number of unique, balanced multiplayer maps this time. There also seem to be no ridiculous unit imbalances such as the mortars from Empire.

The avatar conquest mode, which sounded gimmicky, actually works extremely well. There are a few odd tricks to learn involving costs, and the underlying mechanics could do with streamlining, but it holds together very well.

Didn't try any navy or siege battles, stuck exclusively to land 1vs1. Hoping to try out the clan mode at some point if I can find a group to hook up with.

Question: I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong or if this is just part of the game. I've had this same issue with other TW games. Whenever I select my entire army and march the army forward, the cavalry always moves faster than the walking troops. As a result, if it is a long hike, the general will often pass the rest of the troops and end up well in front of everyone else. A few times this has caused my general or other cavalry to come under early attack.

Is there a way to march your troops in formation such that the cavalry march as the same pace as the foot soldiers?

Copingsaw wrote:

Is there a way to march your troops in formation such that the cavalry march as the same pace as the foot soldiers?

Get the collection of units in the overall formation you want, then select them all and add them to a single control group. Moving them around with the control group will both keep their formation intact and have them move at the speed of the slowest unit.

Hock, you seem to have had a bad run with multiplayer...keep at it though, its not typically that bad. Most players have a weakness in their army...you just have to find it and exploit it....try sticking to land battles though, sea battles are tough in this game if you dont have a good understanding of 16th century naval warfare, and siege battles are always skewed toward the defender. That said, I am still waiting on a invite to the steam group so i can join the GWJ clan. Who do i contact to get that taken care of?

Also, this might help anyone playing a campaign...its a map that details what each region has and does. Hope it helps

http://shogun.bitcrumbs.com/

ZellbrigeN26 wrote:

That said, I am still waiting on a invite to the steam group so i can join the GWJ clan. Who do i contact to get that taken care of?

We just need a link to your Steam ID. I wasn't able to find you doing a search.

Just started playing it. Loving it. Also, I suck at all sieges forever.

Hey guys, first game as the Chokogawa(sp?), loving it so far, playing on normal have finally taken control of my little island.

I am struggling to get any trade routes going however as apparently every other clan is full up with trade routes and I can't offer trade agreements. Is this normal?

How should I proceed from here? I need money to fund a much bigger army before setting my sights on Honshu.

MadGav wrote:

Hey guys, first game as the Chokogawa(sp?), loving it so far, playing on normal have finally taken control of my little island.

I am struggling to get any trade routes going however as apparently every other clan is full up with trade routes and I can't offer trade agreements. Is this normal?

How should I proceed from here? I need money to fund a much bigger army before setting my sights on Honshu.

Maybe build up your navy and take over few of the trade posts in the west? All of them are probably taken by now so that will cause you declaring a war on some one, but maybe then you can block some of that clans ports which will enable some other clans to open up their trade lanes assuming they are not mad at you for attacking their friend.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
ZellbrigeN26 wrote:

That said, I am still waiting on a invite to the steam group so i can join the GWJ clan. Who do i contact to get that taken care of?

We just need a link to your Steam ID. I wasn't able to find you doing a search.

my url is http://steamcommunity.com/id/zellbri...

that what you need?

ZellbrigeN26 wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
ZellbrigeN26 wrote:

That said, I am still waiting on a invite to the steam group so i can join the GWJ clan. Who do i contact to get that taken care of?

We just need a link to your Steam ID. I wasn't able to find you doing a search.

my url is http://steamcommunity.com/id/zellbri...

that what you need?

Sent!

I am now in the clan

Annoyances so far:

- Bugger all diplomacy. I mostly get told to get stuffed. Earlier incarnations handled it better.
- Can't tell archers to stop effing firing without turning off fire at will and then giving them another order, which can be the difference between a win or a loss when it's a siege battle and they're defending the ramparts.
- Retreating units in siege battles seem to move at warp 8
- Dismounted cavalry never attack in siege battles
- If there's a strategy to naval combat I haven't found it. I admit this may just be me sucking but there's a lot of trial and error in naval battles and most of it seems to pretty much rely on a lot of micro.
- There's no "stick them in a line" formation - everything is a variant on entire-army formations. I break my army down into specific troop types and command-group them that way.
- Still finding the battles a little samey and mostly about just smashing units into each other. It seems to lack the subtlety and manoeuvre of earlier versions.

I think what's bugging me most is a feature rather than a bug: Samurai combat focuses on marching in as a group and everyone engaging in single combat - there's little to no unit cohesion once battle is joined. This means there's not much room for tactical positioning apart from a broad rock-paper-scissors approach to unit matchups. I find that less interesting to play.

Just about to lay siege to Kyoto on my first campaign. I must admit I'm not sure I'll fire up a second one.

Maq wrote:

- Can't tell archers to stop effing firing without turning off fire at will and then giving them another order, which can be the difference between a win or a loss when it's a siege battle and they're defending the ramparts.

Don't know what's going on in your game, but I just tell my archers to "stop". The white hand icon around their portrait (I think second from the top). That turns off auto-attack automatically and makes them stop firing. I don't think I've ever had any problems with it. Maybe--maybe!--once did it not seem to work, but it could have easily been that I mis-selected something.

Naval combat is really driving me crazy. For all "the line" formations from Empire, the Japanese ships just stubbornly insist in forming the stupidest and most suicidal formations on water. On a positive note, I managed to defeat (albeit not capture) the Black Ship with Medium Bunes and 4 fire ships. The Black Ship is really sensitive to fire. But man does it rip my fleet to shreds. I can't board it, because a single broadside destroys a Medium Bune. So my bunes attach, pull themselves in, the first 2 guys jump on the Black Ship, and then BLAM! Everybody runs back to the bune and surrender. *sigh*