Overview
How to make a powerful army by 7 to 9 minutes.
Ashigaru rush and other guidance.
Japan is capable of aging as fast as possible and spamming ashigaru, just like any other civ that has muskets. Personally, I think Japan is rather slow at this so it’s not a really good tactic. However, this is not what i’m going to be talking about in this guide. My “rush” is rather late for a rush, but is much more powerful. Often people rush at the expense of their economy, my rushes hardly set you back (at worst you get a market late).
With all the “rushes” i’m going to mention you will have to manage resources yourself, i’m not going to get into exact placement of workers because maps and starting stuff varies too much. Use your monks to get easy treasures and find the enemy base. These resources and xp could be vital in determining whether you succeed or fail in getting things done in time. When you go in for the attack you may want to consider sending the monks in with it, they aren’t the best combatants, but it’s more people to absorb shots.
If you are in an allied game look at the options for contributing resources and check to see what can be done faster or what mercenary cards can be sent. My rushes don’t have time to send more cards, so perhaps the mercenaries are best controlled by your ally.
I don’t consider anything after 8 minutes a rush, and I know that these attacks i’m sharing are kind’ve late to call “rushing”, but there are ways to make it faster. With all of these things you should practice and experiment. If there is other solid tactics that could give you victory before 10 minutes then let me know and i’ll try it, eventually add it to this guide.
As time goes on I will experiment with the more complicated mixtures of troops and add them to the list.
(As for the ashigaru rush. You will need the 2 shrine card and 5 ashigaru card. Send a shrine card in age 1, save your next card for age 2. Put all workers on food until you age then have 1/3 gold and rest on food. Age with 2 workers making the Torii Gates. As soon as you hit age 2 send 5 ashigaru cards, and again when you can. In the meantime get your freebarracks set up and start building ashigaru. You should have 20 of them and 1 samurai by 7:30, attack, by 8:10 you will have 5 more, attack. You should keep sending them over and over, because you may not win with 26 men. But another reason I say this plan sucks, this will ruin your future economy if your attack fails (could mess theirs up more though). When I did the ashigaru rush I lost the 25 guys to towers and an 8 crossbowmen card, so i sent 22 sohei and 15 more ashigaru (which isn’t normal, I was just seeing). I got victory by 14:30. Not all games will go that bad, but musket spam usually doesn’t win quickly.)
Samurai rush.
This is similar to the ashigaru rush, but uses samurai instead. This usually gives 12 samurai by 7 minutes, or 9 samurai by 6 minutes.
I just did a game where I sent 8 samurai and they took out 2 outposts and a garrisoned town center. That is the power of samurai.
However, there is a weakness for samurai, and it seems to be villagers. I seem to lose more fighting the villagers than I do the buildings and troops. Also samurai are pretty fragile if the enemy has ranged units. So I only use this rush in a multiplayer game, where you can have an ally send ranged units to support you and absorb fire. When you get to the base concentrate on buildings; buildings that shoot you and buildings that produce units. Only stop and fight when the enemy sends cav against you or it’s cost effective to stop to kill a few ranged guys before continuing. Let your ally take out the workers and majority of the ranged enemies.
You don’t need allies for this to work though. I’ve had people quit just because 11 samurai walked into their base. Vs a hard AI the samurai rush usually works. Also you might even have enough remaining to move onto the next base, assuming you bring in some ashigaru or something to take care of all the homeless villagers.
The problem with this “rush” is that it requires 2 cards that are both age 2. When you get your 1st age 1 card use it to send the 2 shrine wagons, samurai take alot of population and you don’t want to have to stop making workers. Save your next card until you age, then send the 3 samurai card immediately, and when you get another, send the other 3 samurai card. While aging you should use the Torii Gates (the one that gives you a military rickshaw and 1 samurai). The reason is you won’t have any wood to make buildings, so you need the rickshaw for a barracks, plus getting the 2nd card in time usually requires having the 50% bonus to xp. (The game I just did only had 8 samurai because I didn’t use my monks to get treasures, so I didn’t have the xp for the next card.)
Keep in mind that it takes 45 seconds to send a shipment and 45 seconds to train a batch of samurai (I think). You won’t have all the resources to train 5 samurai at once, but start one of them either immediately (to rush with 9 samurai) or as soon as you start the 2nd 3 samurai card (you don’t want to start it earlier because it might finish before you have the resources to make the batch of 5).
To samurai rush you will need at least 8-10 workers on food and all the rest on gold (usually). Each map is different, figure out the cost it will be for your troops (500 food, 500 gold) and adjust accordingly. Age as soon as you can using 2 workers taken from the berry pickers.
Ashigaru/Samurai rush.
This rush works just like my samurai rush, but instead use the barracks to make 10 ashigaru instead of the 5 samurai. This doesn’t slow you down because 2 batches of ashigaru will probably be done before your 2nd 3 samurai card is completely sent. For those bad at math, I will say that this will give you 10 ashgaru and 7 samurai.
Just like my samurai rush, keep the samurai on buildings for the most part, use ashigaru to hunt down villagers and/or help take out buildings (depending on circumstances). Like in that rush, send in ashigaru first to absorb ranged fire then send in samurai. This is more important than normal because 7 samurai isn’t much so you need as many alive as possible.
Usually when i’m rushing I don’t pay much attention to anything but the battle, but when I do a mixed rush like this I usually send in more of whatever unit is getting wiped out to followup or reinforce the attack. If all the samurai die and buildings are at full then fall back and use the ashigaru to form a perimeter ot keep the enemy from his resources (or keep him garrisoned and not working).
I suppose this rush could be done with archers (which I find harder to get resources for) or naginata riders (which i’ve never tried).
To ashigaru/samurai rush you will need at least 10 workers on food and less on gold. Each map is different, figure out the cost it will be for your troops (800 food, 400 gold) and adjust accordingly.
Ashigaru/Samurai/Sohei allies rush.
This rush is similar to the ashigaru/samurai rush but adds in the 500g 11 sohei allies card at the expense of one of the other units (usually the 2nd 3 samurai card). This rush gives you 10 ashigaru, 9 samurai and 11 sohei warriors by 8 minutes. It’s hard to add more to this rush because the 11 sohei takes up 11 population. So this rush might slow your economy a bit. In the game I screenshotted I killed Gall by 9 minutes and basically lost nothing, and he even had cav and archers. By the time i reached his base I could’ve sent the other 11 sohei card if I wanted.
I also just noticed I could’ve sent 5 more ashigaru, but they would’ve be out by i think 8:20. After 8 minutes even I can’t call it a rush, it would just be an early attack.
I use sohei because I don’t remember what the other cards are… so I just checked them. In age 2 you have the choice of 1 wokou junk and 2 ronin or the 11 sohei card…so yeah. Use the sohei as meat shields. This attack has so many guys that in order to lose significant amounts of samurai your enemy would have to specifically target them. But oh ho dear readers, sohei are not that bad at taking out buildings themselves (if the majority of them are still alive), so switch them from whatever they are doing to buildings if you need to. In this rush it really doens’t matter which unit enters the enemy base 1st, but i’d say don’t make it the samurai. Use sohei to kill enemy cav, fight workers or take out buildings, whatever you need.
To do this rush you will need (probably) 10 workers on food and all the rest on gold. You will be sending the 10 sohei card at about 7 minutes, so if you don’t have 500 gold by then you should’ve switched some food guys over to gold temporarily. It’s a bit trickier to do this than a with other units, because it’s all or nothing instead of training 1 and adding to the stack as you get the resources.
Ashigaru/Sohei allies rush.
I only tried this once. In theory it should work because 22 sohei should cost the same resources as 5 samurai.
I started out having everyone on food, aging asap with the Torii Gates. Age 1 I use the 2 shrine card and place as benefits me. Also I put 1 worker on wood just long enough to get the remaining wood for my 4th shrine. After having 800 food or so I move all but 4 workers to gold (the 4 stay on food). This will give you enough to continuous make villagers, but there will be a small pause where you don’t have any food.
As soon as you hit age 2 send the 11 sohei and set up your barracks. Start training 1 ashigaru pretty much immediately, add more as u get the resources. If done right, you should have 4 ashigaru, 1 samurai and 11 sohei by 6:30 or better. Attack immediately, using samurai and sohei to take out buildings. Hopefully you won’t have to use them to fight any troops. Use the ashigaru to start killing villagers, though it’s only 4 guys, so it doesn’t really matter what u do with them.
I only tested this twice. It’s not easy to do and i’m not sure if I like it. I was in the enemy base by 7 minutes and took out a stable, then went for the tc, ashigaru on settler killing duty. As soon as I had 500g I sent the other 11 sohei and had my shipment rally point for units near the enemy base. This let me concentrate on the fight and not have to move the units up there myself. By the time the 2nd wave reached the 1st wave only had like 6 guys left due to tc fire.
I could’ve sent more troops but instead went to age 3, because I thought i’d need the Buddha shrine to fine all the stray workers. By 10:02 Gall quit.
I think this is a fine tactic if you follow up with 15 ashigaru or 10 samurai. Though halving the enemy’s score and being age 3 by 11 minutes is basically a win anyways. The purpose of this guide is victory by 10 minutes, so this plan isn’t the best because you might have to send a 3rd wave of troops to finish things.
Ashigaru/Samurai/Yumi archer rush.
This plan will give you 5 ashigaru, 10 yumi archers and 6 samurai by 7 minutes. This is a more fragile attack force because of the few numbers of samurai, thus the less destructive you’ll be against buildings. However, this is a well rounded force and has a large number of troops.
Most people train muskets 1st, and this army should destroy them. I would use this against Ottomans or anyone you expect to have an army of heavy infantry.
Use the archers to take out villagers and troops. Use samurai for buildings, maybe deal with cav 1st if there is alot of them. Use ashigaru as needed.
To do this you will need to send the 2 shrine card in age 1, place as usual. Save your next card because you will need 2 of them for age 2. Have at least 8 workerso n food, then start putting extras on gold. When the number of gold miners nears 10 switch things around however you’ll need for your future (assuming you are like me and set up your eco just in case you attack fails). You will need 900 food and 700 gold to make 5 ashigaru and 5 samurai. You might also need to get a bit of wood to make sure you have 4 shrines.
Take 2 workers from food and use them to age up with the Torii Gates. Immediately send 5 yumi archer shipment. Setup your barracks and build 5 ashigaru or 5 samurai, then the other. When you can send again the 5 yumi archer shipment. Everything should be done about the same time. Go attack, sending ashigaru in 1st if you can, just not the samurai. There are far too few samurai in this rush to lose them 1st.
A variant of this rush would be 5 ashigaru, 5 yumi archers and 9 samurai. While this is perhaps the ideal mixed ratio you want, it requires having 2 troop cards in age 2. Age 2 troop cards are a waste because they are only good for rushing and being rushed, though opinions may vary.
I guess you could manage 3 resources to make yumi archers and ashigaru and send a 3 samurai card twice. This would give you 5 ashigaru, 5 yumi archers and 7 samurai, but I think your time would be more like 7:30 or 8:00. The samurai cards would take the longest, but you might be able to squeeze in more archers or ashigaru. Just figure what you want, know what you’ll need to do, practice, move workers around as soon as you have enough of a particular resource (you can fix it all later).
Daimyo/Samurai rush, then any unit spam
This is a great tactic because the daimyo acts as a forward base without the rickshaw travel time and barracks building time.
Once I had 10 workers on food and 1 on wood for a time, I put all rest on gold. I basically ignored workers after 18, because i knew it wouldn’t matter. I’d advise not doing that. What you have your workers do depends on what you want to spam after the samurai are made. I used ashigaru, no reason, just wanted ranged to kill villagers. As an afterthought, I think naginata riders would’ve been better (if the daimyo can build them, which I thought he could).
This plan involves sending the 2 shrine card in age 1 and getting enough wood so the monks can build at least 2 other shrines. I aged by making the Shogunate, but really it doesn’t matter what you age with this time. I think the Torii Gates would be nice, for the xp bonus, and so you can have a barracks back home for defense.
As soon as you hit age 2 send your daimyo card and next the 3 samurai card. Sent your daimyo to receive home shipments, so the samurai won’t have to travel. As soon as the 3 samurai appeared I built 5 more, but if there was some way to reach the enemy base and start them before the samurai card is done that would be better. I think on most maps you won’t have the option to start building them early, due to travel distance. After you send your samurai in bring the daimyo to wherever you want and start spamming any unit you feel like. Endgame.
I will explain what happened in the test game, just so you can see how good this worked even with opposition. It was vs Spain, they had 1 tower and a tc. Monks went in 1st to take shots, then 8 samurai to take out the tower. Spain sent the 9 holcan spearmen card (lolwut?), I destroyed them with samurai, not sure of my losses. Daimyo went worker hunting because I didn’t need his bonus on the samurai and I wanted to end it fastest. Next they send a 5 rodelero card, samurai killed them and some workers who were too close, not sure of losses. Then 7 pikemen (the 8th fought the daimyo), and at the end of that fight I had 3 samurai left to finish off the tc.
In the meantime I had 15 ashigaru built killing villagers. It all came to a conclusion at about the same time. 9 minutes.
Naginat riders/Samurai rush.
I did this vs portugal, so I had 2 tc’s to destroy and workers everywhere. This is when I noticed this tactic is great against them. However, the 2 tc’s and muskets I faced meant I didn’t get victory until 10:34. Close enough. 6 naginata riders and a monk survived the ordeal.
You will need to send the 2 shrine card in age 1. Save your next card for age 2. Have all workers on food until you have 10, then start on gold. Use 2 food workers to age using the Torii Gates, then put them back on food. You will need 1 worker to gather enough wood to build 1 shrine more than my other rushes call for, you will need 60 population.
As soon as you age send the 3 samurai card twice (or asap), giving you 7 samurai. Use the free military richshaw to make a stable and build 10 naginata riders (costing 1000f and 1000g). If you do it right you will have 7 samurai on way to the enemy by 7:15, and shortly after 10 naginata riders. Naginata riders should enter the base 1st in most cases. Riders are like ashigaru in that their siege damage is decent but nowhere near samurai. Riders excel at running down villagers though. When I get them to the enemy I just let them do whatever they want until I have to hunt down workers.
If the riders are taking tower fire then the samurai should be enough to take out at least 2 towers and a tc. You may have to use riders to help them. If the enemy brings out troops use the riders to kill them, unless it’s a horde of pikemen.
FAQ and to-do list
to-do list; more strategies
Frequently Asked Questions (which may or may not have been asked)
Q: “What level is your home city for Japan?” aka “How much experience do you have with them?”
A: Home city is 111, having worked it’s way up from 10. I played mostly Japan for my hundreds of hours of eso games and played tons of single player games to perfect tactics as well. So the single player home city was probably near the same, but I accidentally reset all the single player cities when I tried to add the American civ and failed. Currently single player just hit 25, because I took a year off. (Answered on 8/6/14.)
Q: Will you make other guides for Japan?
A: Probably not. Recently a new friend started playing Japan so I won’t be playing them as much. Even before I started only playing them when we needed the edge, as compared to just playing casually. But the main reason is that I never really practiced a certain style for late game, I just played how I needed to at the time.
Q: Will you make guides for civs other than Japan?
A: I’d like to eventually, but I haven’t actually practiced any strategies outside of a generic rush. I will start playing other civs more in the near future. I’m thinking something might be coming with Dutch (found here [link], India or Portugal.