Realm divide makes me want to stop playing...

[Sentinarian]

How the hell am I to defend against realm divide??? I'm playing a Date campaign and have control of the entire east of Japan. When realm divide came, I at first was feeling confident. I was able to keep an ally who protected my entire western border and was doing a great job too. I was moving my armies towards Kyoto and had defeated several full stacks. Now, all of a sudden, a navy lands TWO full stack armies in one of my most eastern provinces. They're just rampaging through my provinces and I can't do anything to stop them. How the hell are you supposed to keep this in account??? I can't afford to place a 10+ garrison in each of my provinces AND keep an offensive force with re-enforcements on the go.
All I'm hoping is that I can whittle done his armies as he progresses and mount a viable counterattack before I get into too much financial trouble.

Do the more experienced players think that I can get out of this this way? Or should I not waste time on trying to do the impossible and just forfeit the campaign? Cause right now for every province I capture, I lose two of my own. And I worked really hard to get a selfsustaining economy for RD...

[eXistenZ]

Good preparation makes realm divide more manageable. Just watch out for the yellow bar, and stop when its almost full. then start to prepare. And its basicly mandatory to keep a fleet on both sides of japan to intercept naval invasions

Also, you can download mods to realm divide

[Della]

just use mods

[Red Shift]

You dont need a 10+ garrison in every city, you could have wiped out their entire invasion force with one fleet before it landed. Its up to you to keep an eye on everything.
Failing this, why are you allowing his armies to move unchecked? Why not get your ninjas back there and keep the armies pinned untill you can mount a proper counter-strike?

If this is your first time dealing with this stage of the game, then don't stress, just learn from the experience. If you've been through this before, and you havn';t learned anything, then blame yourself, not the game.

[Sentinarian]

It's my first time into RD. The problem is that all my ninjas are caught up in the front lines, paving the way to Kyoto. I don't have any in that area. And by the time they'll get there, I'll have lost 10 provinces.
And as for fleet, I don't have any left. The turn after RD hit me, my fleets were hunted down and destroyed by the combined navies of pretty much every clan that was left. They all attacked at the same time so there was nothing I could do but watch my ships burn.

[Pumis]

I'll give you few tips.
1. Use all agents you have. Specially ninjas, you want to sabotage their armies in order to slow them down.
2. When real divide has been triggered, make vassals. They are good meatshield and are loyal to you after real divide has been triggered. Of course if you conquest too fast they will turn on you like normally.
3. Have small amount of troops behind their lines. A.I tends to have his whole army at his front. So conquest his provinces behind front lines and make them to your vassals if possible.
4. If you have ally, then make marriage between your and their clan. If you can't. Pay 7000 koku and you will have 100+ disposition for few turns. After bribe effect is gone, then repeat it.
5. Fleet to secure your shores, you only need 2 big fleets most of the time. Or just 2-4 namba trade ships.

Realm divide is always hell for new players. However after you win your first one, then rest of them will be pretty easy.

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

Easy way for RD is this. Give each city 5 bow and 5 yari Ashugaru (spelling?). Its cheap enough and it means you can turn your taxes up a good bit to keep funding your armies. Even if your enemy takes a city, keep just one army back and siege them in the city you just lost. This kills them all off and then you retake the city. Don't think of RD as a sudden pace up but rather that you just have to slow down. Always keep an army in your homeland and expect to lose a city from time to time.

[Sentinarian]

I've been playing the RD for a couple of hours now and think I have retaken the initiative. My towns are garissoned by Yari and Bow Ashigaru as Dirty Vader Daddy suggested. They are not nearly enough to win the battle but they are slowly but surely killing off the enemies infantry and cavalry units.
I have an army of my own moving up from behind to start reclaiming my cities and the enemy's main force is heading (at least I hope he is) into an ambush that is meant to kill off his offensive capabilities. My frontline army is 2 provinces away from Kyoto and my matchlock units have finally caught up. I hope to end the game in +- 15 to 20 turns.

Thanks for the good advice! I decided to bite the bullet and am finding RD an interesting game mechanic to cope with.

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

The key is that when you defend, you have to put your Yari in spearwall formation just below the wall that your archers are stationed at. This will allow your archers too shoot anyone trying to shoot your yari, but also that now anyone charging your yari are instantly under arrow fire. Trading a Yari for a Matchlock will help nicely with those high armor units that arrows have trouble with. You will often see a lucky volley rout an enemy unit.

[eXistenZ]

I wouldnt do it that way. Keep one army back, and have two full fleets on either side of the island to intercept ships that carry armies (those naval invasions usually consist of one ship). No need to turn up taxes which will cripple your economy in the long run and make conquered regions even more unhappy.

Again: prepation is the key. Know when RD will hit, prepare yourself by improving infrastructure and recruiting specialised troops, saving money and good positioning. If you do this right, you can snap 4-5 provinces in one go after realm divide and steamroll your way to kyoto before your opponents have gathered together properly

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

I've never once seen a late game invasion of one ship. Turning up taxes a bit doesn't hurt you as much as spending thousands a turn on fleets that may or may not even see use. Short of cheating or playing only on easy, a steam roll won't do anything but drain troops and start revolts which end up giving your enemies more troops for free. Its a pretty stupid move.

[eXistenZ]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Dirty Vader Daddy:

I've never once seen a late game invasion of one ship.

No wonder if you have only completed a campaign on easy...So you might reconsider who you call stupid. Crank up the difficulty a bit, and you will see how the AI will swarm you with fleets, obligating you to play 3-4 naval battles every 2 turns (cause auto-resolve sucks)

As for a steam roll, i mean posting troops on the border, and when realm divide hits, you can capture 4-5 provinces in one turn. (with 4 different armies offcourse, duh)

[Strategos]

OK, here's how to survive a realm divide
1. During the early game, don't try to build huge armies, but rather strengthen your home economy so you don't have to rely on trade. build armies based on need, not just because you want to swarm your enemy with 9,000 elite samuri.
2. Date is kinda far away, but if you can, capture Kyto if you think a realm divide is imminent, you will become Shogun if you hold it for a year.
3. If you start realm divide early by fighting Shogun, you'll be able to premptively invade (or prepare to defend against) you're allies.
5. Every other turn, alternate between very high taxes and normal taxes to give you the cash you desperatley need to keep you're armies running. Since the low public order doesn't continue for more than 1 turn, you won't have to worry about revolts.
6. Go on the offensive. To defend against the swarms of enemies, premptively raid/weaken them BEFORE the big divide.
7. build big-assed castles in provinces you want to protect while you still have the money to do it, therefore, if you feel like you can't beat the enemy armies on the field, just retreat into you're castle, even on Legendary the AI is stupid enough to attack you.
8.Don't worry about the attacking fleets/try to dominate the seas. Nobody wants to trade with you anyway so there's nothing to protect. I would, however, suggest keeping a good-sized task force in a protected port so you can try to sink enemies who try to get behind your front lines.
9.Don't expand at a rediculous rate. O course it's always a good tactic to Blitz during a war, but pause between conquests to consolidate you're gains and repair relations with the populace's new masters, otherwise, when the Big Divde hits, you're screwed.
10. If a divide is imminent and you need/want allies and/or people not to attack you, work out a deal where you demand hostages (preferably their heir) from them. They'll hesitate to betray you for the 8 or so turns you have the hostage, giving you valuable time to prepare.
Good luck, Kimosabe, and may you bathe in the blood of you're enemies!

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez eXistenZ:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Dirty Vader Daddy:

I've never once seen a late game invasion of one ship.

No wonder if you have only completed a campaign on easy...So you might reconsider who you call stupid. Crank up the difficulty a bit, and you will see how the AI will swarm you with fleets, obligating you to play 3-4 naval battles every 2 turns (cause auto-resolve sucks)

As for a steam roll, i mean posting troops on the border, and when realm divide hits, you can capture 4-5 provinces in one turn. (with 4 different armies offcourse, duh)

Dude, I just pointed out that I never see small fleets. Go troll elsewhere.

[Marxus Maximus]

I keep 1 or 2 armies to defend my land in case ships sneak by me. Use agent and generals with increased movement and you should be able to quickly defend or retake your land.

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

That and the retake plan of action means getting to kill off their leadership and large army groups. After that mounting an offensive becomes very easy since the enemy just blew its forces in your lands.