[Guide] Rise of The Samurai Legendary

Overview

This guide is for people who want to try their hands on legendary difficulty with a chance of winning.

Foreword

This guide is written with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Taira in mind and might not work very well with the other clans, one such is the Fujiwara, at least when it comes to Diplomacy. Also note that this is my first time making a guide, if anything looks weird please excuse me. Feel free to give me feedback if you want.

Please note that this playstyle leans more towards Diplomacy, if you prefer to wager war against clan after clan and do not mind the whole Japan declare war on you right of the bat then this guide is not for you. Also note that this playstyle requires you to be a good commander that can win even when the odds are against you. It will be tough in the beginning when it comes to battle if you are being attacked by a major clan such as the Minamoto with their Bow Samurai but once you get enough army going, you can just steamroll everyone, around 2 endgame armies.

Lastly, English is not my primary language, so you will most likely find a lot of gramma mistakes and weird English.

Purpose

The reason why this guide was created was due to the lack of guides for ROTS to beat Legendary difficulty or guides for ROTS in general.

1.0 The Basics

In this section I’ll go through the basics of the game. If you are already familiar with the game, then by all means skip this section as it just explains the very basics of the game and jump to section 2.0.

1.1 Town Overview

In order to have a chance of winning, first one need to have an understanding of the town as it’s one of the main sources of income to allow one to maintain one’s armies.

1.1.1 Summary
List the influence in the town and the town’s speciality if there’s any.

In this case, the influence of Taira is at 100%. Hovering over the text “Taira” will display further information about the factors concerning the influence of the Taira in that particular Province. Each province has their default allegiance, therefore, one must pay attention to keep the influence of one’s faction in positive or else there will be unrest/affect public order negatively.

1.1.2 Food
Shows how much food the town produce and consume.

If a town consume more than what it produces, there will be unrest if the Global Food Supply (GFS) is negative and will increase around 3 by each turn up to a total of -15 unhappiness from food shortage.

1.1.3 Public Order
Show happiness in a town (Positive factors and negative factors). Hovering over the icons will provide further details.

There are many things that affect the happiness of a town, here are the following list that I can remember:

• + Garrison Level
• + Having units stationed inside the town (The more units the higher the happiness)
• + Agents
• + Daimyo Honour (Having high Daimyo Honour)
• + Art Masteries
• + Events (Temporary)
• – Tax (The higher the tax-rate the higher the unhappiness)
• – Number of territories (The more territories the higher the base unrest on conquered town)
• – Daimyo Honour (Having low Daimyo Honour)
• – Newly conquered town (Decrease by 1 each turn to a fixed amount based on territories)

Negative happiness will result in mounting unrest then rebel if the issue remains unsolved. Player usually has one turn to handle unrest before Rebel.

1.1.4 Wealth
Shows how much wealth the province has, Tax Rate and the Income generate by that particular province.

Farm and Commerce are base income and will always stay the same unless the player decided to demolish/upgrade the building in question. Commerce building are market and port while farm is of course the farm.

1.1.4.1 Town
This value will increase or decrease each turn depends on the Town’s Growth. A Town with high number in “Town” will generate more income. Looting will damage a Town’s “Town” greatly but provide a lot of Koku.

1.1.4.2 Province Wealth
Display the total amount of Wealth the province has.

1.1.4.3 Tax Rate
Display the tax rate in that particular province. Hovering over the percentage will display further information on what is affecting the Tax Rate in the province.

1.1.4.4 Income
Shows how much money you will get from the town each turn.

1.1.5 Town Growth
Display the positive and negative factors to determine whether the town’s growth will grow or decrease in the next turn. Note that some events will greatly decrease the towns growth such as unrest or random events.

1.2 Finance

The next essence step is to understand Finance as this will allows you to make critical decision that either lead to success or failure.

1.2.1 Taxes

Here you will get an overview of your clan’s overall happiness by each province but also the tax level as well listing the income and expenses of your clan.
Green means happiness above 1.
Yellow means happiness at 0.
Red means Happiness is below 0 and will cause unrest then Rebel if the problem is unsolved.
Black means the province is exempt from taxes.

1.2.2 Trade

1.2.2.1 Resources
Display what your clan are producing, importing and have yet to acquire.
Hovering over the icon will shows how much of the product in question is being sold. A product with 100% export means all of it is being traded away, this is what you want to make the most money out of it. It also displays how much the product is worth.

1.2.2.2 Trade Partners
Display whom you are trading with, whether by sea or land and how much you make from the trade. A boat icon means trading by sea else a cart means trade by land. A stroke on the boat icon means that the port is blocked and neither you nor your trade partner receive trading money from the trade.

Note that the longer you’re in trade with the other party the more income it will generate and also has a positive effect in Diplomacy.

1.2.3 Summary

A more detailed version of your income and expense. This tab will display the current expected income and expense and the previous turn’s income and expense.

1.3 Diplomacy

For the next step we are going to look into the Diplomacy to get a better understanding of its important.

On this tab you will get an overview of your clan’s power, current standing amongst other clans, allies, trade partner, vassals and enemies and the information of the other clan in question.
White means your provinces.
Green means friendly (The darker the green the more they like you).
Red means hostile (The darker the red the more they hate you).

1.3.1 Power
This display your clan’s military power and will be playing an important part whether or not another clan will declare war on you or not. More will be explained later.

1.3.2 Attitude
Display your standing towards the clan in question, whether or not they like you or not or neutral.

1.3.3 Temperament
The playstyle of the clan in question, whether they play defensively or aggressively. By defensively they are more prone to defend their provinces than expand while aggressively are more likely to declare war on other clan to expand their territory.

1.3.4 Integrity
The reputation of that clan in question. The higher (Dependable) the reputation the more likely they will assist you in battle if ally and stand by your side in the event of some other clan declare war on you, though this is intertwined with their attitude toward you. The lower (Questionable/Treacherous) the more likely they will backstab you.

1.4 Clan Management

Before we dive deeper into the guide, it’s important to understand your clan and how to manage it effectively.

1.4.1 Summary
Here you will get an overview of your clan, such as its trait, victory condition, fame, diplomacy, mission etc.

1.4.1.1 Clans Trait
Here lists the current trait of your clan, each clan has one or two fixed trait/s and can be gained more through masteries.

1.4.1.2 Fame
How famous you are, this also determine what kind of threat the other clan sees you as. The higher the fame the higher are you as a threat to the other clan. Once reaching Legendary, most clan if not all will declare war on you unless you managed to keep them on the good side.

1.4.1.3 Details
Lists important information such as your capital (Stronghold), Global Food Supply etc.

1.4.1.4 Victory Condition
What you need to do to archive victory.

1.4.1.5 Diplomacy
An overview who you’re ally with, your vassal, trade partner and enemy.

1.4.1.6 Current Mission
These are special mission that usually help your gameplay easier if you complete them, usually give you some kind of buff for a set period of time if you can complete them. (They are time limited though).

1.4.2 Family & Council
Here lists an overview of your clan’s family tree and your generals. Your Daimyo’s Honour, your general’s royalty. Here you can also let go of a general if you wish and also arrange marriage for your daughter. Adopting etc.

The most important element in this section is the Commissions. There are only 4 Commissions, hovering over them will display further information. Also note that the higher the level of the general, the higher the bonus. These 4 Commissions can be given to any of your general exception is yourself (Daimyo and your Heir). Each position can only be held by 1 general at a time and by giving out these Commissions it always increases the general in question royalty by 1. If you at anytime strip away the Commission from your current general, that general will get a -2 loyalties penalty, 1 lost from the Commission itself and 1 from you remove them from that position.

When adopting generals your “elder” sons will be displeased, for each general you adopt will result in a royalty penalty by 1. The more you adopt the less royal your son are toward you and they might turn on you when they lead an army.

1.5 General

Now to the final basic part of the guide, we will be taking a look into one of the most import part of the army; The General that leads the army.

Opening the General window will list an overview of the general in question. The upper part list general information about the general, such as age, rank (level), royalty (honour if Daimyo) and exp to next level.

1.5.1 Skills & Traits
Usually General start with empty skills and traits exception is in the case of them getting married or Daimyo. Here list the traits and skills of the general in the question, both negative and positive traits and skills. Traits are earned by marriage or special events while skills are earned form levelling up and choosing skills for that general.

1.5.2 Retainers
The max level for a general is level 6 so each even level gives the general 1 retainer. These retainers usually give the general a nice buff such as bow unit has higher accuracy but there are also double-edged sword retainers. As for the Daimyo, there exist special retainers that will greatly affect the battle but they are not easy to get since certain condition must be meet when levelling up.

1.5.3 Summary
Display all the effects the general have (skills, traits and retainers’ effects).

1.5.4 Skills
Each and every general has the same skill tree, but how to specialise each and every general is up to your taste and playstyle.

Usually I divided them into 3 categories:
1.5.4.1 Battle-Specialised
This is a general who dives right into the battle and cause fear amongst the enemy troops. A beast during the battle. For this build go with the yellow path. This will increase the general’s survivability when sending into battle but also strike fears into the enemy inside his radius and thus easier to cause mass rout. Though this playstyle is risky imho as I prefer not to risk my general that I have painstakingly raise.

1.5.4.2 Army-Specialised
This general specialised in his army. By allowing longer army march and instil fear on enemy trop within his influence. I usually favour this build more as it allows me to march my army further, easier to cause mass rout and less risky for the general to die since most of the time the general will stand behind his army and only goes into battle when almost win or needed. For this go with the red tree.

1.5.4.2 Civil-Specialised
For this go with the blue tree, this will increase the general loyalty, speed up research, spreading influence, reduce unrest when taking a town by force but also increase the army’s marching distance. I usually go for this build on my vice General since I usually have 2 generals in one army.

2.0 Agents

The use of agents is very important when playing diplomatically. I’ll go through them and their specialities.

When performing actions; In case of a failure action, it will result in half of the initial cost being deduced and possibly of Diplomacy Penalty occurring. If the action was successful, the full amount will be deduced and a possibly of Diplomacy Penalty occurring.

Each town and army can have a maximum of 3 agents stationed within and if the town or army has more than 1 General then only the first one is affected.
You can only have a maximum of 5 agents of the same type with the exception of Monomi, were 3 is the limit.

When using agents, do not use them on enemies you have no intention to wage war with but only on those who you want, plan, or at war with.

Agents are also very powerful to use to control the enemy’s movement and power.

Monomi is the only agent that’s hidden by default from enemy unless discovered.

Note: It’s recommended to specialise in one Tree, however, it doesn’t prevent one to do all the actions an Agent can do, specialise in a Tree increases the overall Stats/Chances.

To level up an agent effectively, it’s recommended to find an army consist of only one unit or a town of lowest level to demolish building depending on type of agent, this is because it’s the cheapest but will also result in the highest chance of success. A two consecutive successes will level up the agent to level 2 right away. Continue until desired level is reached.

2.1 Shirabyoshi

2.1.1 Shirabyoshi

• Distract Army: Prevent the enemy’s army from moving the next turn, run away if attacked or join as reinforcement.
• Seduction: Seduce an enemy’s General or Agent to join your clan. Note that General who join your clan through this way will suffer -1 loyalty.
• Entertain Nobles: Add town growth each turn. Note that level 1 Shirabyoshi doesn’t give any town growth.
• Entertain Generals: Increase General royalty, thus decreasing the chance of them defecting. Note that only the first General in the army is affected.

2.1.2 The use of Shirabyoshi
There are two ways to specialise Shirabyoshi. One is Sabbotage/Seduction and the other is Entertain Nobels/Generals.

2.1.3 Distraction/Seduction
Useful to seduce high level General/Agent to join your cause, or to buy you enough time to mobilise an army to counter an invasion through distraction. This can also be used to control enemies’ movement and power, through distraction one will prevent the enemy to reinforce critical area/conquer new provinces by denying their army’s movement. For this, chose the Blue Tree in the picture bellow, this will increase her chances when Distract and Seducing.

2.1.4 Entertain Nobels/General
Useful when a General has low loyalty or wanting a town to grown faster, thus generate more income. For this choose the Yellow Tree in the picture bellow. This will also increase happiness in a Town once certain skills are mastered.

2.1.5 Limitations and Strength
Shirabyoshi cannot seduce enemy’s Shirabyoshi.
Cannot seduce enemy’s Agent if the maximum amount of X agent has been reached.
Strong against Sou.

2.2 Junsatsushi

2.2.1 Junsatsushi

• Bribery: Bribe an army to join your clan. If fully successful, the whole army will join your clan, if partly successful, some will remain royal to their clan.
• Overseeing: Increase Tax and Happiness if put in a Town and/or Royalty for the first General as well as decreasing the success rate of Monomi.
• Pay Off: Completely remove the targeted Agent if successful.
• Request Allegiance: Once the allegiance is over 50% this action can be performed. Note that when an army is inside the town, the success rate will decrease and the cost will increase. Successfully requesting Allegiance on Clans with two or more provinces will result in a Declaration of War. Successfully Request Allegiance when an army in town will count as a conquered town, thus will receive Diplomacy Penalty(Territory Expansion) and cause unrest.

2.2.2 The use of Junsatsushi
There are two ways of specialising Junsatsushi. One is Overseeing/Spreading Influence and the other is Counter Spying.

2.2.3 Overseeing/Spreading Influence
Useful if one needs money or keeping General royal.
Useful when playing politically and taking out small Clans without suffering Diplomatic Penalty. To do this, simply put him in a province (not inside the town, since you can’t put your agent in an enemy’s town). For this go for the Blue Tree in the pic below.

2.2.4 Counter Spying
Useful when wanting to find hidden Monomi and dealing with them. (Not recommended). For this go for the Yellow Tree in the pic below.

2.2.5 Limitations, Weakness and Strength

• Junsatshushi cannot Request Allegiance on a Great Clan’s last province.
• Cannot bribe an army that’s lead by a Clan’s Daimyo. Exception is if the Daimyo is of a minor Clan and is stationed inside their last/only province.
• Weak and strong against Sou.
• Strong against Monomi.

2.3 Sou

2.3.1 Sou

• Minister To Settlement: Increase Happiness in a town and decrease the chance of success when an action is performed by an enemy’s Agent.
• Indoctrinate: Causing an enemy Agent to retire, thus removing that Agent from the campaign.
• Incite Revolt: Causing Buddhism Revolt.
• Inspire Army: Increase an army’s Moral on the battlefield and reduce the chance of success of enemy Agent’s action.
• Demoralise Army: Demoralise an enemy’s army and decrease it’s moral on the battlefield for one turn.

2.3.2 The use of Sou
There are two ways of specialising Sou. One is Demoralise/Increase Campaign movement/Bunka Art Mastery. For this go with the Yellow Tree. The other one is Inspiring Army/Town/Indoctrinate/Revolt. For this go with the Blue Tree.

2.3.3 Minister To Settlement
Useful when a town is unhappy, example newly conquered town that can’t afford to have an army stationed inside.

2.3.4 Inspire/Demoralise
Useful when fighting against strong army, either through increase the moral of one own army or decrease the moral of the enemy’s army. Note: It’s better to Demoralise than Inspire, since the enemy will rout faster.

2.3.5 Incite Revolt
Useful when wanting to weaken an enemy without the need of going to war. Can even wipe out an entire Clan if do correctly.

I.E: A clan has five provinces, and their army is on your border trying to take over one of your provinces, send in Shirabyoshi to distract that army then incite revolt with monk, if everything goes well, at the end of that turn, that Clan is dead.

2.3.6 Indoctrinate
Useful to get rid of enemy’s agent, but not recommended since it cost too much. Monomi is a better choice.

2.3.7 Strength and Weakness

• Weak against all Agents.
• Strong against Junsatshushi.

2.4 Monomi

2.4.1 Monomi

• Establish Spy Network: Increase the province line of sight. Increase the chance to detect hidden armies or Agents and reduce the chance of successful revolt incitement.
• Scout Army: Increase the army’s line of sight and allow the army to march further.
• Spy (Passive): Reveal unit type and amount in an Army if close enough.
• Sabotage: Sabotage a building or an Army. If building, disable it until it’s repaired. If army, prevent the Army from moving 1 turn, run away if attacked or join as reinforcement.
• Assassination: Assassinate a General or Agent and remove them from the campaign.

2.4.2 The use of Monomi
There are three ways of specialising Monomi. The first one is Spy and Army Sabotage. For this go with the Yellow Tree. The second one is Building Sabotage/Semi-Spy/Semi-Full-Assassination. For this go with the Orange Tree. The third is Assassination. For this go with the Blue Tree.

2.4.3 Spy and Army/Building Sabotage
Useful to keep track and control enemies’ movements and power (Such as the ability to recruit unit by sabotage the town, Assassinate the enemies’ General and decreasing their chance of winning the battle or to prevent them from moving).

2.4.4 Assassination
Useful to get rid of high-level Generals that might give one a hard time on the battlefield. Or troublesome Agents.

2.4.5 Strength and Weakness

• Weak against Junsatshushi
• Strong against Sou

3.0 Mastery of Arts

It’s important to choose the right arts to master, because they provide a lot of bonuses to your clan.
In the early game, you might want to focus on Bunka instead of Budo.

3.1 Bunka
In early game, try to focus on the Blue Tree of Bunka Masteries. The Blue Tree focus on Economy and will give you the most income you can get out of a province.

The Yellow Tree allows you to recruit Warrior monks and increase your Diplomacy standing.

Consider the Orange Tree if you find your Junsatsushi and Shirabyoshi failing a lot or have Generals with low Royalty.

Note: Depend on the situation you might want to get Warrior Monks as soon as possible or Bow Samurai, in that case put your focus on both Bunka and Budo to get Warrior Monk/Bow Samurai, then after that you might want to shift your focus back to Bunka’s Blue Tree.

The other masteries that’s not circled in colour is more or less unnecessary in my opinion and the game will most likely end already before you can research all of them.

3.2 Budo
In mid game or even in some cases early game, put your focus on the Blue Tree in Budo, this will allow you to get high-end unit necessary for your army.

Go for the Yellow Bodu Tree if the situation allows to, these masteries give bonus to your units and will make battles easier.

4.0 Economy

To have a stable Economy in the game is very important, this will allow you to make use of your Agents to the best of their abilities but also letting you build many armies. As well as keeping your allies happy. Money solves everything in this game.

4.1 Income
Income come in two forms: Taxation and Trade.

4.1.1 Tax: The more wealth the town has the more money you will receive from the Tax.

4.1.2 Trade: The bigger the clan you are trading with (Number of provinces controlled by the clan) the higher the trade income.

4.2 Town
There are two type of town, a Military type of town and an Economy type of town. Military type of town focus on unit buildings and allow you to recruit high end units, while Economy type of town focus on providing you the money needed to cover your expenses.

To have a stable Economy, it’s recommended to only build Military Town in “key provinces”. Key provinces here refer to town with special building that gives units bonus stats if they are recruited in that town.
And it is also recommended to focus on the Bunka Tree early on, go for Budo Tree early only if necessary. Else focus on it in mid/late game.

4.2.1 Economy Town
To get stable and good economy, economy building is a must. The following guide will show you the pros and cons of different buildings and what to build to get the most money out of a town.

Build Barter Exchange in provinces that you don’t plan on building military buildings, then either go for Food Storage or Market.
Pros and Cons of Market:
+ Gives more income compared to Food Storage(FS).
+ Cost less to build compare to FS.
– Give less Town Growth and Food compared to FS.

In early and mid game, FS is a better option compared to Market, because Town Growth is very important in ROTS due to the fact that the base income of each town in ROTS is very low plus, with enough Town Growth, you can get a lot of money out from one single town, it can even support 3-4 stack of army consist of high end unit.

Example: A town with 6000 in wealth, combined with 3 lvl 6 Junsatsushi specialised in Overseeing (Giving a total of 120%+ Tax Rate), Palace (+20% Tax Rate), Bunka Art Masteries (+6% Tax Rate and Reduce Administration* to 12%) and a base Tax Rate of 18%.( Giving a total of 156% tax rate (9360 koku for just 1 town)

Administration scale with the number of provinces, the more provinces you have, the higher the Administration.

Build Dry Field Agriculture to get more base income and Global Food Supply (GFS), each surplus of GFS gives +1 to town growth. Don’t build Pasture in Economy Town or to build it at all since this playstyle doesn’t rely on cavalry.

Then build Clan Estate, it increases the Tax Rate by 5% for each level up to a total of 20%. So consider upgrade a town to Stronghold for the maximum income.
Note: Only 1 palace can be built, unless that province is lost. You won’t be able to build a new palace. also, Palace gives a -20% to Administration (Clan wide) and stacks if you have multiple Palaces.

Build Trading Port if allowed, this also gives Commerce income and town growth, also allows trading by sea.

Roads are expensive but very good for town growth and allow you to mobilise your army more efficiently (a double edge sword since this also allows enemy to march faster but pos outweigh the cons), it is recommended to build road to level 3 but only if your economy allows.

Consider station Junsatsushi or Shirabyoshi in the town for extra Tax Rate/Town Growth.

An Economy Town can Look like this:

4.2.2 Military Town
When building Military Town, it’s best to build it in a province that have Blacksmith, Artisans or Holy Site (I don’t recommend Holy Site since moral is not an issue and level can be earned). Combined with Encampment to get the most bonus out a unit as possible.

Artisans increases Accuracy of bow unit, so you might want to recruit bow unit from these provinces.

Blacksmith provides armour or melee attack, so you would like to recruit infantry and cavalry in these provinces. (Armour gives defence against bow unit while attack makes your units more deadly).

Holy Site gives experienced unit or unit with high moral, choose which ever you think is better.

4.3 Tax
Opening the tax window within the finance window will display an overall information of your current income and expense. Here you can adjust the clan wide tax level. I usually go with Normal since the higher the tax the higher the unrest and the higher the penalty towards the town’s growth (-25 per turn if the town become unhappy).

Another reason lies in the fact that when you increase the level of the tax, so does the penalty towards public order, what this means is that you will need to recruit more units to keep public order under control else there will be unrest and then rebel. By recruiting more unit that means more expense and so I find the extra money from the higher tax isn’t worth the consequences.

You can also temporary exempt a town from tax by going directly to that town and exempt it from tax, this is useful for newly conquered town that you can’t afford to have an army stationed within. Though doing so you won’t get any koku from that town.

4.4 Temporary Income
Apart from getting money through Tax and Trade, you can use Junsatsushi to increase the Tax Rate from a town, selling Military Access to other clans, selling trade agreement, looting (will case unrest, destroying the town’s “Town” and damage Daimyo’s honour), demand repeat payment from another clan or vassalise a clan.

4.5 Trade
We can’t talk about economy if we don’t talk about trade since trade is one of the main sources of income.

Under the trade window you can get an overview of who you’re trading with, whether by sea or by land, what product your can are exporting and importing as well as how much is being exported by hovering over the resource icon and also how much money you earn from that trade.

Trade has a positive effect on Diplomacy, the longer you are in trade with the other clan, the more positive the other clan hold you in their opinion, another important thing to note is that the longer the trade agreement has been in place the more money it generates.

If there are a stroke on the boat or land icon that means the trade route is currently being blocked and neither you nor your trade partner receive the money from the trade.

Note: When striking a trade deal try to sell that trade deal instead of just simply accepting the trade, make the deal and try to make the other clan pay for that trade deal, sometime when the other clan really want an item you have, they will be willing to pay a very high price for it. The most I have gotten from a deal is 25k koku.

5.0 Trade Nodes and Naval

5.1 Trade Nodes
I personally dislike Trade Nodes, sure, they give a lot of money through trade, but this means you need a strong enough navy to support your Trade Ship, once RD kicks in, trade nodes are not worth it, because of the upkeep and many naval battles. It can also be the cause of war, due to you having access to a product that the other clan want and aren’t in trade with you, however, with trade nodes, you can sell Trade Right for a very high amount of koku, the highest I’ve gotten is 25k koku by selling trade right. If you are going for this, then do it early and don’t bother after RD.

5.2 Naval
Pros:
+ Able to defend trade nodes and sea trade routes.
+ Ward of Invasion through Sea.

Cons:
– Upkeep
– Boring Battle
– Increase Campaign Length

Conclusion: They are not worth the troubles, same goes with trade nodes, unless you need a certain material for a certain building, but still not worth it, because if you do well enough on land, your economy will allow you to support 3-4 full stacks of High-End Unit by the time RD kicks in. Not to mention AI tend to have many full stacks of navy, and this is by each clan, so imagine 3-4 clans at RD. It is hell! But if you don’t mind the endless Naval battles, then be my guess.

6.0 Diplomacy

Diplomacy is very important to success in Legendary. Failure in Diplomacy can result and will most of the time lose you the campaign.

6.1 War or Peace
Whether it’s war or peace depends on how much the other clan like or dislike you. Also your clan’s military power play a major role, if you are weak or feeble, the chances of the other clan declaring war on you is high. Or you might have something or blocking their path to something, consider selling Military Access for 20 turns will decrease the chance of them attacking. Beware of Treacherous/Questionable clans.

6.1.1 Positive Factors
Daimyo’s honour: +10 up to +60 (Having Daimyo with high honour)
Clan Commander Respect: Up to +40 (Not sure how to get this, maybe win many battles with Heroics Victory with the Daimyo)
Masteries of Art: Can be up to +40
Same Allegiance: +30
Trade Agreement: Start at +15 and cap at +60 (Increase with time)
Marriage: Start at +100 and decrease with time (Not sure the minimun though)
Alliance: Start at +100 and cap at +40 (Decrease with time)
Gift Appreciated: By offering something and doesn’t demand anything in return. (Usually get through giving Koku, for 7.5k Koku will temporary give a +100. Decrease by 5 each turn. Always wait until it run out before giving another gift.)
An enemy of my enemy is my friend: Usually start at +15 but stacks (Decrease with time)

6.1.2 Negative Factors
Daimyo’s honour: -10 up to -40 (Having Daimyo with low honour)
Clan is not respected: -35
Realm Divided: Start at -25 and cap at -200
Marriage with hostile clan: Start at -35 and decrease with time
Sabotage Attempt: -20 and decrease with time
Incite Revolt: -40 and decrease with time
Hostile Agent Action: -50 and decrease with time.
Dishonouring treaties: -25 to -50 depends on how severe.
Difference Allegiance: -60

And a lot more, these are only a few of them.

Also note that declare war on a clan with the same Allegiance will result in Diplomacy Penalty with the other clans that have the same Allegiance as you.

6.2 Stay on the Good Side
To stay on the other clans’ good side, try not to take provinces by force, but through the use of Agents (Junsatsushi through request allegiance or Monk by incite revolt, capture revolt provinces will not result in Territory Expansion). Each province capture by brute force that’s owned by another clan result in a -6 in diplomacy, this can stack up very fast. If does, expand slowly.

6.2.1 Agents
Don’t use your agents on a clan that you have no intention of fighting. Because this will result in Diplomacy Penalty.

Monk and Junsatsushi are very powerful when playing Diplomatically due to the request Alleginace and Incite Revolt. Monomi and Shirabyoshi are very good to disrupt the Enemy’s movements and control their power. Do this only on clans you aren’t afraid of going to war with or want them to declare war on you or clans that you are at war with.

6.2.2 Key Provinces
Don’t take too many key provinces else the chance your Sister Clan declaring war on you is very high. At least before RD. (Key provinces here refers to the provinces in the victory condition).

6.2.3 Marriage
Avoid marriage with another clan before Realm Divide if you can. Very useful after RD to keep Alliance Clan royal to you, especially your Sister Clan.

6.2.4 Vassal
Avoid making vassal before RD if they serve no purposes. The chance that they will declare war on you once Realm Divide kicks in is very high or even before RD kicks in. After Realm Divide, they will be very valuable, because trading with them give a lot more income than that one province if you were to capture it, as well as a bit of their income will be yours. Plus the chance of them attacking you is lower because they now have the whole Japan to go to fight with. However, always have one Junsatsushi close by if you suspect the vassal will revolt soon, the moment they move their army outside, you wipe them by request allegiance.

6.2.5 Realm Divide
Usually kicks in once you have around 18 provinces, that’s when your fame reaches Legendary, beware of Heroic Victories or Victories that leaves a trophy, cause it count towards your fame. Also, before entering RD; Be sure you are ready for it. Once Realm Divide kicks in, try to stay in a good relationship with your Sister Clan as long as possible or until you no longer need them. They will usually keep the other clans busy and protect you while you are busy fighting with another enemy. (In my case, they ward of fleets and armies from the West and keep them occupied while I fought against the enemies in the East.) This means through Marriage, Gifting Koku, etc. Try to stay in the Friendly to Very Friendly Zone, preferably Very Friendly.

Note: This is not true with the Fujiwara, you might want to get rid of your Sister Clan as soon as possible, because they are useless and will drag you down.

Here you can see my standing towards other clans

And here you can see the factors towards my Sister Clan, as you can see RD is already at -150 and I’m still at +110 in Diplomacy towards my sister Clan. Also you might notice that Territory Expansion is at -51, so you see, taking provinces with brute force is very bad towards your diplomacy and sometimes result in you’re being at war with everyone even before RD kicks in.

7.0 Army and Battle

Having the right combination of unit might be hard, especially the pros and cons.

Note that this play style leans more towards Diplomacy.

Note: This playstyle requires you to be a good commander that can win even when the odds are against you. It will be tough in the beginning when it comes to battle if you are being attacked by a major clan such as the Minamoto with their Bow Samurai. Once you get enough army going, you can just steamroll everyone, around 2 armies.

7.1 Units
There are three type of units in the game, Infantry, Cavalry and Archers.

7.1.1 Naginata Levy(NL), Naginata Attendants(NA) and Sword Attendance(SA)
In the game, these are the three Low/Medium-end infantry units and will make up most of your army.

Pros and Cons of NL compared to NA and SA:
+ Doesn’t require additional buildings.
+ Half the Upkeep cost.
+ Easy to replace/Replenish.
+ More Men.
+ Much better against Cavalry (Compared to SA).
+ Same Melee Defence and Armor (Compared to SA).
– Much worse Melee Attack, Melee Defence, Armor, Charge and Moral.

Pros and Cons of NA compared to SA
+ Slightly more Armour.
+ More than double in Melee Defence.
+ Much better against Cavalry.
– Worse in Melee attack and Charge.

Conclusion: NL is the best unit to be used as “Meat Shield” because they are easy to replenish and doesn’t requires additional buildings, as well as their Upkeep is the cheapest. NA is somewhat arguable, but only if the economy allows and you, as the commander, is somewhat lacking.

7.1.2 Naginata Warrior Monk (NWM)
Your strike force, capable of dealing devastating blows, together with their War Cry can gain you victories in most battle if not every battle.

7.1.3 Bow Units
For early game use Bow Attendants if the situation demands too, else skip them and go for Bow Warrior Monk or Bow Samurai. For Bow Levy, don’t even bother, they’re bad due to their low aim, moral and reload rate and is a waste of money.

7.1.3.1 Bow Warrior Monk(BWM) vs Bow Samurai(BS)
Pros and Cons of BWM compared to BS:
+ More Men.
+ Higher Moral
+ Requires same Masteries as NWM.
+ Increase Range Ability
– Much worse in Melee
– Much worse Reload Rate and Accuracy.
– Less Armour (Armour is the defence against Bow unit)
– No Decrease Attack, Reload Rate and Moral Ability.

Conclusion:
BS is a much better unit compared to BWM. Despite having 40 more men and Increase Range Ability, BWM still can’t go against BS, the increased Range allows a 1-2 Volley to be fired before BS enter “fire range”, this allows them to kill around 3-9 BS. Once BS enter their fire range, their Whistling Arrows is enough to destroy BWM before BWM can recover from it (Whistling Arrows decrease moral, reload rate and attack from unit/s that’s effected).

Despite BS being Superior in Archery, I still favour them less than BWM, this is because they require a different building as well as masteries compared to Naginata Warrior Monk and besides, the main strike force is NWM.

7.1.4 Cavalry
They are just too expensive for their use, they are mainly use as flank or chasing down fleeing enemies or even to kill the General, the problem is their Upkeep, because they are so expensive, I find their use is not effective enough, hence, I won’t even bother to go through them at all, because Generals are good enough to chase down broken enemies and occasionally flanking if needed.

7.2 Army Composition and Tactics
Because BS requires a different building and different Masteries, this playstyle revolved around Warrior Monks. Hence you won’t be seeing any Bow Samurai or Cavalry unit (Except General).

A recommended composition is the following:
6 Bow Warrior Monk, 6 Naginata Levy, 6 Naginata Warrior Monk and 2 Generals.
Alternatively 6 Bow Samurai if you likes BS more.

This is the cheapest army composition and also most effective in my opinion.

The reason why there’s no Cavalry is as I mentioned is due to their upkeep, they are simply too expensive for what they are worth. While they are good as “Flanking unit” and chasing down broken enemies, but their upkeep makes them not worth it. I find having 2 Generals is enough for chasing down broken enemies and occasionally flanking. Also, it allows split of troop if needed. Besides, not every battle is fought on open terrain, cavalries are horrible in forest.

Why Naginata Levy you ask? They are there to serve as a “meat shield”, they are to take archers arrows and engaging the archers to prevent them from shooting. The main strike force is the NWM. The reason I chose NL over NA or SA is because SA require a different building and masteries as well as they cost more and have less men while their defensive stats is the same as NL. While NA requires higher level building, meaning you can’t replace them as easy as NL as well as their upkeep is double as much as NL. The main point of NL is to be a “meat-shield”, and they do well in this matter. Also note that they have low morale, so be sure to send in NWM as soon as NL have the archers’ attention and eventually use rally to keep them from routing, however, if you are a decent commander, moral shouldn’t be a problem.

When sending in NWM, take the left and right wing and flank the left and right wing of the enemy’s, while having the other 4 NWM back up the NL and have your general stay behind your units and use rally if needed. Most of the time sending NWM and use War Cry is enough to break the enemy and cause a mass rout. Try to kill the General as soon as possible if allowed, preferably Assassinating him before the battle even begins and Demoralise his army to make it even easier (If assassination and demoralisation is successful, the battle is more or less won even before it’s started). Once the Left and the Right wing rout, they will create a chain rout and the battle will mostly be over. If not keep sending in newly free unit and flank their crippled wings while sending some unit to take out the General.

As for their archers, they will most likely be shooting at your melee units, so use your archers to take out theirs before they deal too much damage or use your archers to focus on their General because if he dies the morale hit would be severe. Alternatively combine this with your General to disrupt their archer but be careful since there’s friendly fire in this game and BS is a beast.

Note: When fighting a difficult battle (failed in assassination and demoralisation and it’s a very high level general) the fight will most likely be drag out, at these times your archers will most likely be out of arrows (because killing a high level general on the battlefield is hard since most of the time the AI is not stupid enough to charge the general into a wall of spear or just stand there to eat arrows), so don’t be afraid of sending them in melee, sheer number can break exhausted enemies and reinforce your troops moral, and much better if it’s a flank. However, engage them in melee only if absolutely needed.

If you think your archer is superior to theirs, you can sit back and let your archer take care of theirs archers, once their archers are dead they will mostly leave the hill and charge at you.

Here’s my awesome draw.

Alternatively Army Composition:
6 Bow Warrior Monk, 4 Naginata Levy, 4 Naginata Warrior Monk, 4 Cavalry and 2 Generals.
Alternatively 6 Bow Samurai if you likes BS more.

For this playstyle, just play like above, but instead of using the right and left wing of NWM to flank, use the cavalry. This is a better way and easier way to cause mass rout, but since the Cavalry upkeep is too expensive, I find it less effective. Not to mention that not every battle is fought on open terrain. (Cavalry is not as effective in forest as in open terrain).