TOTAL WAR - SHOGUN 2

Maybe we should open separate threads for each TW game so we can highlight the differences, post links to mods and share opinions. That way one doesn't have to read through every single post - and we stay on topic.

I know that a lot of people don't like Steam (I do neither, but it has alway worked well for me and I'm also using WIndows Live which is more or less the same) and other TW games are also great/worse/whatever, but in this thread I want to talk about SHOGUN. So... Who, apart from Corsaire and me, has already played it and what do you think?
 
My old Steam account should still be active even though I haven't used it for a year or two, i'll try to use it to download and play the Shogun 2 demo
 
SHOGUN 2 DEMO

It took 2 hours to download and runs fine, I'm still feeling my way around and jumped into a battle (below) but I HATE 3D realtime brawls and exited straight back out-

Shog1.gif






Ah, this is better..:)
In my next attempt I somehow got to this strategic screen which is the level I like to play at. There are lots of surrounding territories just ripe for marching into and conquering.
Hopefully there's an option to disable the 3D animated brawls so I can play it permanently on this strategic map.

Shog2.gif
 
Well... you can always click on "Autoresolve", but that is bound to incur a hefty amount of casualties rather sooner or later. That game isn't meant to be played in strategic mode, so if that's what you're comfortable with - stay away.
 
@ Lighthorse: My Rome TW is already modded up to the ears... thks anyway for the links! :thumb:
 
This seems like as good a topic for a first post as any. I've played Shogun 2 through the short and long campaigns for 90 hours at this point. Not all that long really, but long enough to pretty fully appreciate most aspects of the game.

To the topic of RTS, which to be honest is the reason I never played TW games before this one, you can run this just strategic if you want and get away with it most of the time, just pick your engagements so you've got equal or superior numbers (qualitatively and quantitatively) and make liberal use of agents.

For me at least, the whole look and feel of the game is quite well done. Be happy to discuss it further with anyone currently playing it.

P.S. Just joined today, saw the requirement that you need to throw up your first post in 24 hours, so here I am, and hello. By way of short introductions, picked up CMBO around 2001, played all the cxm1's, then gave up on BFC when they went real time and abandoned ww2, with cmbn I'm back. Hello all!
 
oh my gawd, becky...look at her butt. must be some rap guys girlfriend.

I had soooo much fun with a few of the Total War games on the PC. One of them, I was the Vatican and kept declaring holy wars on different countries. Total War:Shogun was eye candy for me. I had alot of fun with it.

oh the memories of the huge battles...
 
Just for info, I started playing with mods. The ones I use are Darth Mod together with Toon's All in One version 2.6. Both are well known and experienced with previous TW games. (I use Toons All in One for NTW)
Darth Mod as before changes the AI behaviour both on the campaign ans battle layers, as Toons mod is a "get together" of mods for graphics, sound, loading screens, unit sizes, etc..
So far I find the cocktail to my taste.
 
So what does the Darth Mod actually do? Maing the AI extremely hard to beat even on "Easy"? I'm not really looking forward trying that one because I already have a hard time winning even on "Medium"... :biggrin1:
 
I rather find that it eliminates some AI "cheats" and some flaws of the original game, like armies bypassing zones of control...

List of mods for Toons All in One :

Alternative Loading Screens - JFC
Better Unit Card mod Version 1.01 - CocunutFred
Clan Recolour Mod (Pack 11) - Zane
Custom mini-map pips v1.1 - Dynamo11
Elvasat's Event Minimod v.02 - Elvasat (Version 3 Coming Soon!!)
Portrait Minimod v.04 - Elvasat (Version 5 Coming Soon!!)
General Horo Removal Mod - The Hedge Knight
Horse Clan Fix - FTMCH
Less Shiney Gloss units mod V4 - FTMCH
Loading Screens - ToonTotalWar
More pain sounds mod + Moaning and Melee sounds 1.2 - pisoiasul
No Camera Shake - ToonTotalWar
No General's visual influence radius v1.0 - Dynamo11
No projectile trails v1.1 (Arrows & Guns) – Zowrath
No Red Borders - The Hedge Knight
No dust + Blood Mod - skullman86
Retextured Bows V1 - ToonTotalWar
Retextured Battle UI - ToonTotalWar
Shogun 2 music mod V4 - Brigadier Graham
Unit Card Borders - JFC
Unit size Increase - ToonTotalWar
Weapon Fix for Yari Ashigaru and Great Guard - aion2006

And for Darth Mod :

The speed, accelerations and physics of the units are taken to realistic levels so not only the battles feel more realistic but now you must plan your tactics more carefully because the units do not rush like "Fast Forward Benny Hill" to cover your mistakes.
Various changes to morale and battle mechanics create more lasting battles which are not only an enjoyable experience, due to the fantastic combat animations but also they are very challenging, because the AI benefits from carefully made modding techniques.
Projectiles are not homing to the targets but more realistically spread and can miss. Their lethality and accuracy are not as high as in vanilla in a few words.
Increased unit sizes for epic battles, if the user wants them. Later the sizes will be changed by default without multiplier scripts, when the relevant file is unlocked for modding.
Removed all the insane cheats for the CAI, which provided a "fake" challenge and kept a moderate handicap system that reflects better the actual difficulty level.
Diplomacy and campaign AI have been improved significantly to cover the gap of the reduced handicaps. For example the AI invades with large armies consisted of more samurai than archers (vanilla problem), uses ships better, allies are more trustworthy, realm divide effect is reduced so that the clans do not berserk against you, and so on.
Autocalculation of battles works better.
Fortifications have more garrison troops, so now the major AI clans can survive and become very powerful opponents, like the Oda clan.
The economy system is slightly improved to encourage the recruitment of larger armies for both the AI and human player.
Upgrade points for characters are increased from 2 to 3 for a better and quicker character creation.
Several annoying things, for the majority of players, are removed like the projectile trails (laser trails) and the Horo (Balloon). The removal of laser trails in combination with the reduced speeds brings a significant FPS increase.
Increased army and navy control radius in the campaign map for a more strategic positioning system. An army cannot so easily pass by another army and has to fight it, or several small armies can trap other armies.
Better naval battles because now ships turn and accelerate not like motorships but like wooden vessels full of soldiers and also there are many other factors affecting the naval battles including the more realistic projectiles.
Ships have much more movement points that makes AI to launch powerful naval invasions.
Clans have more diversity for their special units, so the AI makes the right choice and builds characteristic armies, for example the Takeda raise powerful cavalry, the Date a lot of No-Dachi, Shimazu their deadly Katana, etc.
 
So what does the Darth Mod actually do? Maing the AI extremely hard to beat even on "Easy"? I'm not really looking forward trying that one because I already have a hard time winning even on "Medium"... :biggrin1:

The goal is not necessarely winning, it's to enjoy playing ! (Can't remember ever winning a long campaign in Medieval 2 with Stainless Steel 6.4 mod, but still trying and enjoying every hour !)
 
Not a mod for me - got not much time for gaming these days anyway and can't be bothere d to spend hours with just one Shogun battle... The mod fixes a few things that were flawed in the original system (like diplomacy), but the drawbacks in my case are too great - and the question is if it'd interfere with MP mode.
 
Great game! Been playing it using Darth Mod. To be honest, I havent played the vanilla much and started with Darth MOD nearly right away due to their awesome job with Medieval Total War 2.

I started playing on hard and the AI COMPLETELY kicked my butt. I'm starting to get the hang of it now and plan to play it again on hard once I unify Japan on normal. :)
 
I was great fun of first Shogun and now I wait to find some spare time to play second part - is it very time consuming ?
 
I was great fun of first Shogun and now I wait to find some spare time to play second part - is it very time consuming ?

Well, that depends MGK. Do you like conquering the world? Do you like micromanaging your cities, do you like to zoom down and view you troops fighting close-up? If so, then YES!!!!

The campaign map is HUGE, but I have to say that it's not as exciting and does not have as much re-playability as Medieval total war.

However, this is an AWESOME game made even more so if you have the computer hardware to support the "Ultra" graphic settings.

If you play the short campaign, it is MUCH quicker...made even more so by the fact that if you do auto battles where you outnumber your enemy, you will almost always win the battle.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you download the "DarthMod 2.5" full game mod though as it gives you a large selection of options to change the "vanilla" game.
 
thanks - I wonder if it is possible to play 30min-1hour a day and still enjoy it ?
 
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