Strongest AI clan?

[Silver]

is there a clan that routinely dominates your map? Kind of like the Marathas were in Empire Total war?

Right now I'm on my first normal/normal playthrough of the main campaign and surprisingly, the non-playable Hatano expanded rapidly across central japan until their rate of expansion into the west was overtaken by the Shimazu who expanded into the east after controlling all of kyushu island and now control 19 provinces and are battling the now backpedaling Hatano and decently sized Tsutsui clans for control over the area south of Kyoto.

I personally am playing as the Tokugawa, having conquered the neighboring and lone Oda province at the start of the game, then flooded into Imagawa lands whose armies were busy clearing the Hojo, and after positioning my stacks carefully, renounced my vassalage and blitzed their poorly defended provinces, before fighting a war with the Takeda that ended in me accepting their peace offer.

Not being the belligerent type and instead wanting to take on clans who were not allied with any other clan yet, I requested military access through Hattori and Tsutsui lands and was on my way to the aforementioned embattled western regions when not only the Takeda declared war on me again, but the Hattori preemptively ended their military access, catapulting my general back to my own border.

Which made it easy for me to lead his stack east into Takeda lands. Eventually I wiped them out, then pushed north into the non-allied and isolated Uezugi, but before declaring war on them, I realized they were already at war with the Hatakeyama clan who were allied with several other eastern clans, so I first decided to offered them military access through my territories and into central Kyoto and offered to join "their" war against the Uezugi in exchange for an alliance, to which they agreed. Now that I had those guys off my back (as they are allied to all other eastern clans, in my playthrough that's the Date, Satomi and Satake, it's risky to expand eastward) and conquered the uezugi, I considered my eastern flank was secured now, I am thinking about shipping a few stacks to kyushu island and weakening the Shimazu from the backdoor while they are busy fighting the hattori, tsutsui and chosokabe in central japan, before they get too powerful.

[BastardSword]

Takeda and no other AI clan comes close.

[markeason]

The clan that dominates the map in my games is the one that I am playing :)

As Bastard staes, the Takeda are typically the one that dominates in the northern (right) side of the map.

On the southern side it is much more variable. The Shoni, the Amako, the Matsuda - any of these can do well, even the Shimazu and Otomo can be successful, if they survive the early game.

In the centre, the Hattori, the Hatano, the Ikko Ikki, the Hatakeyama and occasionally the Oda can do well.

This variety is a big part of what makes the game so re-playable.

I assume that you are playing a domination campaign (rather than short or long) because there would be no reason to go to Kyushu at all in the shorter campaigns. It is probably possible on Normal difficulty, and should provide a good challenge, however, on higher difficulties it would be a non-starter as a strategy. You need to minimise the fronts you are fighting on by either starting at one end of the map (play as Shimazu, Chosokabe or Date) and expand on one front only, with no threat from your rear. Or, if playing as a central clan, expand out to secure one end of the map before taking Kyoto so that when Realm Divide happens, you only have to fight on one front.

If you expand with little pockets here and there, when every clan on the map declares war on you, you will not be in a position to consolidate your forces and defeat each in detail. Instead you will find yourself in a war of attrition that you will likely lose.

As a game, it illustrates the benefits of a strategy of operating on interior line of communication extremely well.

You can get a good idea of whether a clan will attack you, if you know the provinces it is after. For a playable clan, these are the provinces that you would require for victory if playing that clan, for example, for the Takeda, this would be Kai, North and South Shinano, Echigo, Hida and, of course, Kyoto. If you occupy any of these provinces with another clan then, at some point, the Takeda will declare war on you. Similarly, if you do not leave an expansion route for a clan to expand by land towards Kyoto, they will eventually declare war on you.

In your example of leaving the Date, Hatakeyama and anyone else still in the north (right side) of Japan, whichever clan comes out on top there, will need to expand towards Kyoto and will attack you, so, be prepared.

Above all else, be aware that Realm Divide is brutal the first time you experience it and, if your campaign goes to hell in a hurry, don't get mad at the game. Sit back and laugh and try and figure what just happened and how you can prevent it happening next time.

Have fun.

[easytarget]

Originally posted by markeason:

This variety is a big part of what makes the game so re-playable.

QFT. Probably the single thing I like most about this game is the fact end game dominance is variable.

Most strategy games once you've played a couple campaigns you notice the same things happening almost as if scripted. Such fatalistic design makes player agency feel meaningless.

[kesa822000]

" is there a clan that routinely dominates your map? "

No.

It seems that with so many factions in a relatively small area it is conductive to a free - for - all and a toss - up for any given AI - controlled faction.

I routinely see factions on the other side of the map from me , so far away that my actions seem to have no significant impact on what is going on there , grow to ten or fifteen provinces , only to come apart at the seams.

Again , it seems that with so many factions in such a small area it can take as little as one miss - step for an AI faction to go from Easy Street to a bad day in Yugoslavia.

The only thing I CAN reliably and consistently predict is that some minor factions consistently under - perform.

I'm kinda sweet on Saito , Kikkawa , Anakeoji , and Ogieyiattsu , so I pay attention to what happens to them , and what ALWAYS happens to them is they don't last 30 turns.

Otherwise , even the minor clans seem as likely as the premier clans to rise , or to fail.

[markeason]

Originally posted by kesa822000:

" is there a clan that routinely dominates your map? "

. . .
I'm kinda sweet on Saito , Kikkawa , Anakeoji , and Ogieyiattsu , so I pay attention to what happens to them , and what ALWAYS happens to them is they don't last 30 turns.
. . .

Why these clans struggle:

Saito
Mino province is on the shopping list of the Oda, the Hattori and the Ikko Ikki clans, they start at war with the Oda and they are in the path of Takeda's natural expansion towards Kyoto. Their only friend is the Kiso in south Shinano, (a province on the Takeda's must have list). The Saito start with negative diplomacy modifers with many clans and will not accept trade, the only effective way to overcome those diplomatic penalties. Playing as the Oda, I have learned to leave them be, so that the Takeda (with whom I ally) can expand through there without engaging me.

Kikkawa
They have an ambitious Daimyo so they are going to try to expand early. They can go in one of three directions - against the Mori in Aki, through the forest against the Amako in Iwami, or against the Matsuda. They have a trade agreement and (IIRC) usually ally with the Matsuda ruling out that expansion route and usually wind up attacking the Mori. Even if they are successful (I have never watched how that plays out) they will then come up against the Ouchi (2 provinces) and the Amako (3 provinces) and they won't win that war. Occasionally they do prosper and I have seen them take the whole of that end (side?) of Honshu. Playing as Mori, it is possible to keep the Kikkawa alive. Ally with them and have them join your war against Amako. They cannot get to the Amako provinces before you, so gain no benefit, but your relationship can flourish and they will go to war with the Matsuda / Urakami and expand that way with your support.

Anegakoji
Hida province is on the list of Takeda provinces. Very unusual for them to prosper, even if they take Etchu from the Jinbo, they will run into the Uesugi and / or the Ikko Ikki. Say no more.

Ogigayatsu
Start at war with a 2 province clan (Hojo) and the Ogigayatsu's home province is on the Hojo's to do list. (It is also on the list of provinces required by the Uesugi, (which is part of the reason why they wind up at war with the Hojo so often), but the chances of the Ogigayatsu surviving the Hojo onslaught, long enough for the Uesugi to arrive are slim to nil.