Was Yari wall nerfed sometime in the last few years?

[~Natural Lubricant~]

Ok so to preface this, I've been a long time shogun 2 player and as we know yari ashigaru are quite famous in this game for their "OP yari wall". I haven't played shogun 2 in about a year or 2 I reckon and I came back today to test a 1v1 of yari ashigaru against katana samurai. I'll be honest the yari ashigaru didn't do nearly as well as I expected. SO, were they nerfed? I know for sure that they have been changed in some way already seeing as we are now able to "run" when in the yari wall formation. They will now adopt a normal running stance and then reform their wall when they finish or if they are put back into walking speed (previously the unit wouldn't really increase in speed and just maintain the formation and shuffle along much the same way as it would in walking speed).

[Frank]

Hello. I played the game recently (after quite a long time). I am not aware of any patches but for me it felt "normal".

1. The yari wall is perfectly capable of defeating katana samurai. Maybe some moral bonuses did not apply in your fight (no adjacent units, no general nearby, bonus from experience etc.). In a 1v1 situation without any of these bonuses the wall always struggled a bit against samurai units if I remember correctly.
In a campaign these bonuses usually apply and make yari units "op" indeed (though the wall always lost badly against archers - so not that op).

2. In wall formation yari ashigaru were always able to run if you gave them the run order after the movement order by pressing "R".

[markeason]

I don't know whether there has been a change since I have never tried running a unit in yari wall formation.

That said, I would say that it is entirely possible that a change has been introduced with the latest patch.

The reason I think this is because there have been other changes noticed - like the starting location of the rebels in the Chosokabe, Uesugi and Date clan campaigns has changed.

Now, I can't think they have intentionally made changes to anything other than what the patch was intended for, but I wonder whether they were working off an earlier version of the game files when they created the patch and have re-introduced some game elements that were changed in previous patches.

Without going through the changelog history, which is probably not detailed enough to provide the information necessary, I cannot think of a way to check this.

It has not been one of the better managed game patches in my experience :)

[Björn]

run in yari wall?? Guess your game is different then mine because i can not run in yari wall

and it is normal for a yari wall to lose to a katana samurai. Everything depends on the xp the units have. Ashigaru get a lot better when they have experience

[capybaras are cool]

yari wall does seem weaker than i remember but maybe im just expecting too much from my ♥♥♥♥♥♥ little yari ashigaru.

[markeason]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Björn:

run in yari wall?? Guess your game is different then mine because i can not run in yari wall

Deploy two yari units side by side. Put one of them in yari wall. Select both units and double right click on a point for them to run towards. Both units will run and the unit in yari wall will be in formation when it arrives.

The yari wall button will remain lit for that unit throughout the move, but I don't know whether the act of running over-rides the defensive properties of being in yari wall formation.

[BastardSword]

You can also turn run on and off by pressing R for any unit, including yari ashigaru in spear wall mode.

[markeason]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von BastardSword:

You can also turn run on and off by pressing R for any unit, including yari ashigaru in spear wall mode.

Indeed you can.

Do you know whether the bonus for being in yari wall still applies to the unit while it is running?

I imagine it does as the button remains illuminated so, just because the unit icon in the game is shown as running and no longer with spears presented, I see no reason to think that they don't get the benefit.

Whether I think they should still get the benefit is another matter entirely.

[BastardSword]

No idea. I do try to turn off running when yari ashigaru are about to run into an enemy unit so they have their spears ready, but it also seems that it doesn't affect anything either way. As soon as they touch the enemy unit they stop running and put their spears out.

Unless they are going up against a much more experienced general, it seems like the main way for yari ashigaru in spear wall to rout or suffer big casualties is if they go up against another yari ashigaru unit in spear wall, if the enemy has a lot more troops, or if they get isolated especially away from their general. Even when they are attacked from the side or behind they still seem to be extremely powerful and have high defense when spear wall is activated.