Legendary Co-op Campaign Guide (Shimazu & Otomo)

If you want to beat Legendary Mode on Coop and get the Against all odds achievement with the Shimazu and Otomo, then this is the guide for you. This guide is also for the curious. Time Required : 30-40 Hours.

Introduction

Version 1.0 on 2/24/2013 - Completed and double-checked.
Version 1.01 on 2/27/2013 - Mentioned Kill ratios in the siege section.
Version 1.02 on 3/12/2013 - Made a mention on preventing rebellions in the intro section. Gave some more minor information on the intro section.
Version 1.03 on 3/13/2013 - Added more info in the siege section.
Version 1.04 on 3/18/2013 - Added more info on stratagem 1 & 2.
Version 1.05 on 3/21/2013 - Added achievement percentage in intro.

Legendary mode is border-line impossible at first. The enemy is basically cheating. They use ant-like tactics to win. They will continually send wave after wave of grand armies (Zapp Brannigan). At first, they just throw grand armies full of shi-ttygaru units. Then they'll start sending in the katana samurais, monks, heroes, and a bunch of other stuff won't normally see on easier difficulties.

For this guide we used the Shimazu clan for their Katana expertise and the Otomo for their early access to superior gunpowder units/ships. The Otomo clan isn't normally available but it can be yours... for a low, low price of $4.99.

My buddy, Firemagzz (Otomo), and I have lost several times playing with different factions. We eventually started to realize that we needed to consolidate as close as possible. Which is why we chose these two nut-to-butt clans. Also, they compliment each other nicely when it comes to melee/ranged units.

Creative Assembly did not test the coop function properly and you WILL (95% of the time) experience desync problems which will be catastrophic and irreversible. The only way to combat this is to back up your multiplayer auto save every now and then at:

C:/YourUserName/AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Shogun2/save_games_multiplayer.

If you didn't do this, and you're having desync problems, you can switch your saves, so that you're both using either the host's save, or the client's save. This will buy you some time until the desync problems occur again.

This challenge is certainly for those with at least 30-40 hours of time, and this is the short campaign! Take note that at this time (3/21/2013) only 0.9% of all Shogun 2 players have this achievement.

With all the resistance, your advance will be slowed to a snail's pace. Patience and calculated risks are the key. My guide will lay down the foundations of the grand strategies you will use. You must employ these seven samurai stratagems. If all else fails, you must alt + F4 and reload the save.

These are the seven samurai stratagems:
1. The Siege Slaughter strategy
Forts/castles are essentially meat grinders. With one grand army in a fort, you can easily kill 2 grand armies in a siege battle and with minimal casualties. Against a force equal to my army's size (40% in my favor), I would normally get a kill ratio of 4-5. For every man the enemy killed, I would kill 4 of his.

The key to siege battles is to never attack the enemy and let them always attack you. This usually happens if you continue a siege for a while (offensive) or if the enemy army is more powerful (defensive). You can then counter-assault when they are vulnerable and you are not. If you need to directly siege a castle at full enemy strength (like Kyoto), you must have double their strength and a lot of katana samurais. Any less than this, and it will be suicidal. Once you take their city, you must occupy peacefully. Sacking causes a lot of problems and its short term gain is not worth it.

When you are being sieged, you will take some losses despite no fighting taking place. Also, remember this following equation. Gunners behind walls = death. Bullets don't care about unit quality or armor. Gunners will kill about a third of an entire unit before they reach the walls... that's IF they reach the walls. If by the off chance they do reach the walls, you must move your gunners back and let your katanas slaughter the enemy. In one siege, I was outnumbered 3 to 1 and took massive casualties (72%) but lost one unit card. The enemy was in shambles and lost 82% and several family members. Thanks to my upgraded encampments, it's like the losses never happened in the next turn.

After the battle, you should be replenished in 1-3 turns, thanks to the encampments, and you should have more veterancy, which is key. You must be careful and not let your super elite units be wiped out. Rarely will you be sieged to surrender.

Don't forget to use your Stronghold's guard tower's fire arrows ability.

Also, on an offnote, Bow Samurai are effective against samurai units while Bow Ashigaru are not very effective. If you are taking a lot of arrow fire from outside your castle, just move your units farther into the castle. Once you are out of the enemy archer's range, they will move closer to the castle and possibly climb the walls. Or you could just go out and kill them. Just try not to stand there and take archer fire.

2. Research Heaven and Earth
This is the most important Bushido art and overall art you will have. You need this to build encampments (improvemented replenishment rate). Replementment rate is almost nonexistant without encampments. You need to have these in order to be able to withstand the onslaught of shi-ttygaru armies. If you're going to be in realms divide, you better upgrade all encampments to barracks for further replenishment rate. To maximize your replement rate, you can also upgrade your forts and your roads.


3. Economics & Politics
Make sure your forces are stretched to the limit. At the end of the game, I had 5 grand armies with no garrisons in the rear. This will help you save a lot of money. Also, you need to have 10 trade ships in every trade port you can get. Normally, the computer won't attack the 10 trade ships. They'll attack 1 trade ship but not 10 normally. As for trading, link up with Otomo in land and try to trade with only people from far away, as they are less likely to attack you. Trading also helps improve relations in the long run. Also, you must make sure you don't get blockaded as it will destroy your income.


Research mainly economics like the farm upgrades, tax upgrades, market, sake den, etc. And when you upgrade farms, you have to upgrade the fertile soil first before the meager soil. The cost is the same but the results are vastly different. After this, you have to research happiness and repression to expand faster.

Repression forces you to slow your invasion down. As the Otomo, you have to build chapels to repress the religious rebellion. As the Shimazu, you have to build buddist temples in territories adjacent to the Otomo to prevent Christian uprisings. No taxation, monks/ missionaries, and yari ashigaru units will help prevent rebellions. Try to keep the predicted repression on at least 0. If you exempt a region from taxes, don't forget about it. A quick look at the happiness map at the end of every turn should prevent you from forgetting this.

There is no need to adjust the overall taxation rate and it is not recommended.

If you have no problems, try to build wealth buildings. Farms, markets (if you have enough food), and then everything else.

As the Shimazu, you must upgrade your blacksmith to the maximum melee capacity at your capital and you must produce katanas only here.

The enemy should be fractured east of Kyoto. So you don't need to worry that much about those clans. You should strive to maintain peace with as many people as possible, if profitable. If a warring faction asks for peace, you can counter-offer that they pay you thousands of koku. They normally will say that it's satisfactory before you click the accept button.

Try not to betray alliances. It soils your Daimyo's honor, and it hurts your diplomatic standing badly, which could be bad for peace, repression, and trading.

Introduction 2

4. Grand Armies/ Battles
You must never attack the enemy on the open battlefield if you are matched 1-to-1. They will do some BS where they go up on a hill and camp. It should be YOU on a hill and camping. Thus if you want the enemy to die, let them attack you.

Your armies should mainly consist of a lot of Katana samurais, 3-4 spears, 3-4 cavalry, 3-4 gunners. Make sure you always have a general for morale reasons and because the enemy will try to bribe you in the late stage of the game. The general must always have maxed out stand-and-fight for that sweet, sweet +3 melee bonus to all units. Also, you must use the stand and fight ability. It will add a lot of melee points for your units in combat.

Keep your spears to the side and center, gunners to the front and away from enemy melee, katanas behind the gunners, cavalry to the side, and your general in the center using stand and fight. To maximize your gunner's power, spread them out extremely thin.

Battles are not complex. Fight in forests to weaken their arrows and cavalry. Use Hammer and Anvil tactics when possible (Fight in the front and hit them in the flank). Always use the right amount of force. Use Katanas for melee, spears against horses, and horses for flanking maneuvers. Gunners should be placed on the side or on top of hills because they need a clear line of sight to fire. They will not fire if friendlies are between the gunners and the enemy.

Ambushes are not necessary or recommended.

5. Otomo Advantage/ Naval Battles
You need to build the Nanban Quarter as fast as humanily possible. You may need your ally to give you several massive economic stimulus packages. You will need to build Nanban Trade ships. Their cannons turn the enemy ships into swiss cheese. After a few cannon volleys, the enemy ships will end up looking like they were made on a Friday evening and the Japanese workers just wanted to go home.


This alien technology will allow you to kill all enemy grand fleets single handedly. This is true up until the point where the enemy get fire arrows. Then you will have to aim directly for their bow kobayas (fire arrows). If this isn't enough then you will need two or more depending on your needs. If your ship does catch on fire and surrender, the enemy won't be able to capture it, because it'll be dead. Auto-resolve is for the lazy. You can avoid a lot of casualties by doing the battle manually. The battle devolves into the enemy fruitlessly shooting their arrows at you and you spinning in a circle shooting at them with cannons and matchlocks. Boarding is impossible for them as you have 300 matchlocks, but they sure do try! At the end of the campaign, we had 10 nanban trade ships each in pairs. Their upkeep cost of 250 koku/turn makes them the most cost effective unit in the game. Two of them can even beat the black ship! Also, you will be able to capture many ships with these ships, heavy and cannon bunes included. Thus upgrading anything involving fleets is pointless unless you want more fleet movement.


Then you have to build the Otomo matchlock ashigaru with improved accuracy at Buzen. The fully upgraded Master Bowmaker will push up the shooters accuracy up to unprecedented levels. This will allow you to kill faster on defensive sieges.

6. The Black Ship
This is the most powerful naval unit in the game. They are owned by the portugese and they are neutral. In our game, the enemy attacked the black ship with THREE GRAND FLEETS. The fleets disappeared when it was their turn. The next turn, they moved their fleet into our territory and then we saw that they had the black ship. It was heavily damaged and had they repaired it, it would have made controlling the seas more complicated. So we took the opportunity and auto-resolved the battle to destroy it. Luckily, my buddy captured it and used it to destroy everything. When you attempt to fight any enemy fleet with this one ship, you will have a 99.99% chance of winning except when you have to fight a fleet of cannon bunes (late game) and it is still an easy battle.

The downside is that the upkeep cost is 1400+. This is a quick way to go bankrupt and you may need your buddy to supply you with koku. Also, don't forget about the fire arrow vulnerabilities. You may need some escorts.

FIREMAGZZ: BLACK SHIP! BLACK SHIP!
Humanvegetable: But we will need 2 more fleets to capture it!
FIREMAGZZ: I don't care. I'm going in. WE NEED THAT ALIEN TECHNOLOGY!!!


7. Teamwork
Don't forget to voice chat and gift units in battle. Since there are all these battle restrictions (no map, no pause and order, no slow motion), both of you have to work together to quickly identify the enemy army's location and capabilities during defensive sieges. By gifiting units, that's one less thing to micro and look at. This helps a lot. Gifting is not permanent unless done on the campaign map. Also, if you want to permanently gift one unit, take them out of the main force and then gift otherwise you will gift the whole force.

FIREMAGZZ: KLENDATHU FORMATION! KLENDATHU FORMATION!

Last Note: There does not appear to be a turn limit in co-op.

Phase 1 - Taking Shimazu/Otomo Island (Kyushu)

This is the hardest phase. Once you get past this phase, everything becomes a lot easier and you will get more wiggle room. Any loss of territory at this phase is catastrophic.

Shimazu Strategy

The first thing that the Shimazu should do is immediately take Osumi with all available forces. You should then proceed to place all units available in there. Start making 4 Katana samurai units at Satsuma and man them at Osumi. Priority one is building a trading port at Satsuma and massing enough trade ships (10) to take over the closest trading location at your direct south. Controlling that trading location gives you an immediate and extreme boost to your income which will help you and your ally fund your expeditions. You also need to build a grand fleet to protect it. The fleet should have some medium bunes and some bow kobayas.

You will hold out at Osumi with everything and at least 4 katana samurais until the repression is complete and you can move forward with Osumi ungarrisoned. You should be attacked once by your purple rival clan to the north from Hyuga. You don't need to worry about the guys at Higo, they are friendly... for now. Once you can move out of Osumi completely without any problems, immediately move out and capture Hyuga with everything you got before they start reproducing more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ units. Once you capture Hyuga, you should be able to physically and financially help your Otomo ally at Buzen.

Otomo Strategy

You must mass all of your forces at Buzen. Do not worry about anything else. You must hold the line at this fortress with gunners and katanas. If you do not hold the line from all sides until your ally gets there, Buzen will fall and you will fail. You will be attacked from the west and east. Once your ally reaches there, you can move to take Tsukushi once the enemy attacks you, and loses, at Buzen. From there on, you can take Hizen.

At this point, you will have to stage armies at Bungo and prepare for war from the last faction on your island. They will declare war on both of you so be ready to destroy them. Then you will let the Shimazu take their territory.

Now is the time to build the Nanban Quarter as soon as possible.

Phase 2 - Securing The Four Western Trade Locations

You must fortify Buzen as much as possible. Upgrade the forts, upgrade the encampment, and bring more katanas and gunners. You are now nearly invincible. If you are having problems, have the Shimazu stand next to Buzen.

(Late Game Buzen)

You will not advance one step further until you capture and secure all four western trade locations. The top half will be controlled by the Otomo. The bottom will be captured by the Shimazu. Declare war if necessary. Each trade location must have a fleet of 10 trade ships to maximize profits. And you will need lots of firepower to repel the enemy.


You need to mass several Nanban Trade Ships. One for each siginificant home port (to prevent devastating trade blockades) and one for each trade location, if possible. You must mass these things like hot cakes. You will need the Shimazu to help you with their economic stimulus packages.

After you secure the area, you will have to swat the mosquitoes that will come and raid your trading routes. They will siphon several hundreds of koku per turn and you must continually swat them away into the abyss where they will take attrition.

After these areas are secure, you'll need to mass even more Nanban Trade Ships to defend the area between Kyushu Islands (Your island) and the Shikoku Island (Chosokabe's Island).

Phase 3 - The 1 to 1 Northern Advance

Now you must each build 1 and a half grand armies. The half grand armies will consist of at least 4 katanas and 3-4 gunners. These two half armies will defend Buzen and Satsuma from invading landing forces. Of course, your super Nanban trade ships will be able to repel all problems, but if they are to fail, then you will have at least a back up plan.

Each grand army will consist of at least 6-7 Shimazu Katana Samurais, 3 gunners, 4 yari samurai, 2 light cavalry (so you can kill their deadly bow samurai in the rear), and at least one general (or 3). Keep in mind, that these armies will be with you until the end of the game. So if you have any shi-ttygaru units, I advise that you be prepared to get rid of them in the later stage of the game. Because even maximum veterancy shi-ttygaru cannot compare with mildly upgraded samurai units.

You will both advance simultaneously beyond Buzen. The Shimazu will take all the northern territories, and the Otomo will take all the southern territories. You will advance slowly, and at the same time to prevent any enemy flanking maneuvers. You must both move only when the front line town happiness is at minimal levels. Before you advance, you must ensure the forward enemy area is weak by using agents to scout. That way, you can auto-resolve your way in with minimal casualties. Then you must build an encampment if the fighting is non-stop.

You don't really need to build anything except clan-specific temples to prevent religious uprisings. You do not need to build additional units unless you have an emergency.

For the Otomo, you can use your missionary to start rebellions to act as buffers between you and the enemy. Missionaries are also essential for religion conversion.

You will both advance forward slowly until you get to the fork at Hoki. Mimasaka, should be ungarrisoned, but if it isn't, wait until the enemy attacks Hoki and then either capture it or bribe it (expensive and not always successful). Once you get Mimasaka, you will have access to iron. With iron, you can upgrade your blacksmith at Satsuma to its final level. Thus giving every new samurai and General created at Satsuma, an upgrade of +4 melee.

If the enemy slips through your lines and captures a territory during this advance, just take your entire army and move backwards.

An invading army landing in this northern area is unlikely.


Both will continue to advance until Satsuma takes Tajima, and Otomo takes Harima or anywhere close to that area. Fortify the area with encampments, upgrade the roads, and upgrade the forts.

If you are experiencing too much pressure, you can consider making one eastern territory your vassal. This is a temporary solution as your vassals will betray you.

Phase 4 - Chosokabe Island (Shikoku)

Before you advance any further toward Kyoto, you will have to take Shikoku Island.


Each clan should build another balanced grand army. Shimazu should be able to produce a lot of upgraded samurais for everyone. Otomo Matchlock Samurai with improved accuracy (Buzen Building Bonus) should not be available at this point so you better research it now. You will need it for siege defense during Realm's Divide.

Once you each have grand armies. Otomo should attack Iyo, if it's vulnerable, and Shimazu should attack Tosa, if it's vulnerable. Once this is done, hold out to slaughter the incoming resistance. Once the resistance is taken care of, use your agents to look forward. Otomo should attack Sanuki, when possible, and the Shimazu should take the remaining two territories.

You can now move your ships up to defend the eastern and south-eastern part of the island to stop the incoming wave of mosquitoes.

Phase 5 - Realm Divide

At this point, you should have tripped off the Realm Divide event. You must move all four grand armies, with two half armies still protecting the Satsuma and Buzen (or not, if you can), and move them to the front lines. You should both have an assload of nanban trade ships with escorts in key chokepoints and locations. Also, you should also have the central trading location controlled with 10 trading ships.


Otomo should attempt to advance and take Settsu. Shimazu will attempt to take Tamba and Wakasa. These areas must then be immediately fortified with encampements, roads, and castles. You will now hold out until the enemy brings all their best grand armies to bear.

The faction all the way at the end of Japan, Date for example, will take a while to get to where you're at.

Your agents must be used as forward scouts. The fourth grand Otomo Army will move around the front lines and stand next to friendly forts if they are damaged and need protection while they recover.

At the Wakasa Stronghold, I was able to destroy 2 and half grand Takeda armies which had 4 family members. The barracks at Wakasa (upgraded encampment) was too amazing for words.

Once they start sending one star Generals and crappy armies, then it is time to start the last phase.

Also, the Honma will try to land an enemy army on your homeland every few turns. You can avoid the land battle by sinking them.

Dumbest faction ever.

Phase 6 - The Siege of Kyoto

Kyoto is now a sitting duck with only one grand army. Move the Shimazu grand army out of Tamba, and with the fourth floating grand Otomo army, attack Kyoto. The armies have to be next to Kyoto. The armies don't need to be near each other. My buddy used 3 European cannons, thanks to his Nanban Quarter, to send half of their towers, gates, and bow Samurai to hell. Once all the cannon ammunition is exhausted, the Otomo must climb one side and the Shimazu must climb an adjacent side. We took the castle with minimal casualties.

Kyoto has a triple replenishment rate so you should replenish very quickly. My buddy sacked Kyoto and got 26,000 koku. He gave me half. Kyoto is the ONLY city you can get away with sacking thanks to its public order bonuses.

Phase 7 - Hold the Line

Now both of you are gods of war. Take Kawachi, Kil, Yamato, and Iga. They should be easy at this point. Consolidate all forces at Iga, Yamato, Kyoto, and Wakasa. Reinforce and fortify these areas.

Muster all the agents you can get and place them in the Kyoto area because you'll need them to take care of the enemy agents and start rebellions in the enemy front lines.

Hold the line for 1 year.

A GLORIOUS VICTORY TO LAST 10000000000000000000000 YEARS!!!!

Here are some endgame pictures featuring agents, armies, and fleets.
My Divine Power

I beat the Takeda's Daimyo in a 1 to 1 duel in golf. Won a solid gold statue.

Endgame Status

I hope you enjoyed the guide that My Co-Op partner, Firemagzz, and I wrote. Please leave a comment, some suggestions, a like, a favorite, and/or some results.

Thanks for reading!

[SteemIsALeftAndCensoredCommunity]

Very helpful

[Humanvegetable]

Thank you for the Golden Unicorn, people!

[haws3r]

Great guide, very detailed and fun to read. I'm well over a hundred hours and it was still educational. Thumbs up!

[xyesayz]

my longest campaign was 0 hours cause i never finish any

[Humanvegetable]

@Sorin - I don't want to do this anytime soon since it takes forever to complete. This campaign took 40+ hours to do. If you waiver even for a second, any progress you would have had will have gone to waste. Also, you have to fight the greatest enemy of them all. DESYNCS!

[xyesayz]

add me to do this co-op campaign otomo shimazu!?? i have otomo so you can be shimazu but if u have otomo i will prefer to be shimazu!!!!!!!!!!!! ok bye

[Humanvegetable]

Whenever it is someone's (anyone's) turn

[Space]

and the game will load progress? at what point do it?

[Humanvegetable]

It's on the first page of my guide :-/

But here...

C:/YourUserName/AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Shogun2/save_games_multiplayer

[Space]

Where?