General NA: Sphere of Influence FAQ *Please Read*

[Oðinn]

This is an FAQ about Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence, which aims to answer most common questions about the game and also help people new to NA to get a grasp of what NA actually is.
So please read this FAQ, before posting your questions about the game, as many might already be answered here.
Also I will probably add more answers to the FAQ, if I notice some more questions being asked frequently, or if someone makes a good suggestion.
By the way I would like to thank Soran for giving me the idea to do this FAQ and Motrini for helping me improve it (and actually writing a small part of it).

1. What is Nobunaga's Ambtion: Sphere of Influence ?
Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence is the 14th main entry in Koei's long running historical simulation series Nobunaga's Ambition.
Nobunaga's Ambition is set during the Sengoku period (ca. 1493 - 1603) and centres around the life of Oda Nobunaga (1534 - 1582), though some games in the series also cover the years after his death up to the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and the events following the battle.
Sphere of Influence also marks the 30th Anniversary of the series and the English already includes the major expansion called the "Power-Up Kit".

2. So what's this game about ?
In this game you take control over one of the many samurai clans across feudal Japan and lead your clan through turbulent times and maybe even to dominion over all of Japan.

3. So how do I do that ?
You build up your land, by developing your castle towns, constructing special buildings, searching for mines and resources, expanding your castle towns, improving roads and making your castle towns prosper, in order to attract more people to them.
Furthermore you engage in diplomacy with other clans and make them your allies, or your servants, or seek protection from a stronger clan. In addition you can also request ranks from the imperial court, both for yourself and for other clan leaders, which bring with them a great amount of prestige.
You can also use espionage and secret plots to learn of your enemy's secrets and to plant the seeds of rebellion in to the hearts of their retainers.
Also you will have to manage your own clan. Be aware of the personality and the political stance of an officer and keep them happy through marrying them into your clan, or bestowing gifts and ranks upon them, or they will not be loyal for long. Of course there is no future for your clan with out a suitable heir, so take good care of your clan members.
Should diplomacy fail you can of course always respond with force and subjugate your enemies through the strength of your armies as well as your mighty generals.

4. That sounds like Shogun 2, is this like that game ?
Shogun 2 and Sphere of Influence cover the same period of Japanese history and belong to the same genre, but aside from that they both very different games. Shogun 2 is very focused on Tactics and thus features very deep combat mechanics, but Sphere of Influence focuses on Strategy. Meaning that in SoI it is less about how you fight each individual battle and more about how you prepare and plan for each war, by developing your lands, creating the most favourable situation for yourself through diplomacy and planning your logistics properly.

5. So is this like a game by Paradox Interactive then ?
It is quite similar, but the Nobunaga's Ambition series has some unique features, which sets it apart from Paradox's games.
For one NA has officers, which are historical characters, who you order around to construct buildings, spy on the enemy, negotiate with another clan, lead your troops into battle and do pretty much everything you can do in the game. It is also important to pick the right officer for the right job as they all have different stats, which determine how good they are at certain tasks, one tactic, which will be used in battle, and various traits, which all give different benefits. Also officers can be trained to eventually become much better, sort of like in an RPG.

6. Do I have to play as the Oda, or are there also other clans I can play as ?
You can play as every single clan in the game, no exceptions.
Beware tough, because the strength of each clan reflects their historical power, so picking a weak clan can make the game very frustrating for beginners.

7. Is there trade ?
Yes you can trade for food, money, muskets and horses at a merchant and sometimes important merchants from around the country or even from Europe will visit your land and sell you rare treasures.
Also you gain trade income for every port you control.

8. Is there any sort of political system ?
Yes, every officer and clan can have one of three political views (Conservative, Moderate, Progressive). The political views of an officer will affect his loyalty and the view of the clan overall, while the view of the clan will determine which policies you can employ.
Policies are like technologies in other strategy games, but can be switched on and off every month depending on your needs and bring with them both benefits and disadvantages, as well as an upkeep cost.

9. Can I create my own characters ?
Yes you can create up to 1000 custom characters and you can even insert your own images into the game to use with your custom characters.
(Note: Only JPG, JPEG and BMP images can be imported.)

10. Can I create my own clan ?
Yes you can create your own clan, but be careful, because a custom clan will always begin rather weak.

11. Does the game have female characters ?
Yes the women of the Sengoku period can also be used as officers, though you can disable it.

12. Does the game have a lot of content ?
SoI has many different historical scenarios to choose from, each with a lot of different clans to play as, who start in different situations. Also there are four difficulty settings (Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme) and if those are not enough for you you can also create your own custom difficulty settings from a variety of options.
Should all of this still not be enough for you, then try and randomize the starting locations of the clans, in order to create a very different political landscape.

13. I played NA: Iron Triangle and in that game I could edit the historical officers, can I do that here as well ?
Yes you can edit every single historical officer in the game.

14. Will we get DLC ?
While nothing is confirmed yet, we do get Pre-Order DLC, so more DLC is almost certain.

15.Is this game going to be flooded by overpriced DLCs?
No, the Japanese edition only has 10 DLCs, each priced ¥308 ($2.5 according to the current change), adding 9 scenarios, which focus on specific characters and a set of 10 alternate portraits.
Three of these scenario DLCs will also be offered as a bonus for people buying the game in its first week since release.

16. Is this related to Romance of the Three Kingdoms ?
Yes Nobunaga's Ambition is the essentially the older brother of ROTK, so if you like ROTK you will almost certainly also like NA.

17. I have had bad experiences with Koei's PC ports before, will this be any good?
Do not worry, because the game was not ported to PC, but was originally developed for PC (the console ports just happen to come out at the same time as the original PC version). Also I own the Japanese version myself and have had no problems with it.

18. How is the AI ?
The AI in this game is quite competent. It is good at building up its own lands and fares well in battles, but it does have have problems with some of the finer mechanics of the game. Still the AI is quite good and certainly will not do stupid things like suicide charges with small armies, who have no chance of winning.

19. Is there religion in the game ?
No, religion plays no role in the game outside of some events and some characters designs.

20. Is my favourite Samurai Warriors character X in the game ?
Probably, since this game has over 1800 officers, many of whom are very obscure figures, it is indeed almost certain that your favourite Samurai Warriors character is in the game, unless they are fictional (Kunoichi).

21. What is the earliest starting year and what is the latest ?
The earliest is 1534 and the latest is 1600.

22. Is there any date where the game ends ?
Yes the game is over once you reach the year 1700.

23. Will there be a dual-language option ?
Yes both the English dub, as well as the original Japanese dub will be available in the game.
The Text will always be in English though.

24. Are there Achievements ?
There are in-game-achievements.

25. Do I have to know Japanese History, in order to enjoy the game ?
No you do not, it helps, but it is not necessary, because Sphere of Influence features the "Free-Quest-System", which allows you activate historical events, cutscenes and recreated historical battles, through completing various objectives.
So even if you have no knowledge of Japanese History you can enjoy the historic events ans learn about it. On the other hand should you just not care about all of these historical event, you can also ignore them, or turn them of completely.

26. Are there a lot of different types of troops in this game ?
Well technically there are four types of units (Infantry, Archers, Cavalry and Muskets), but they are not used in a fashion traditional for most strategy games. You don't build different types of units and then combine them, in order to form armies and there are also no better versions of any unit types. Instead you build up a standing army, which is bound to its home castle and is reinforced by a militia made up from a part of population of the castle town. troops, which are deployed, will then always consist of infantry and archers, though you can also give them horses and muskets, so they can use the "charge" and the "volley" tactic in battle.

27. So is there no troop variety then ?
On the surface that may seem so, but before deploying a troop you also select its leader as well as up to two adjutants.
While it may be that, aside from the choice of whether or not to outfit your troop with horses and muskets, every troop you deploy will have the exact same composition, but every officer will give a troop different stats as its leader, as well as one of many tactics to use in battle, in addition to his different traits, which might let him fight better in naval battles, or give him an advantage over an enemy with less intelligence, or might even slowly raise his troops power the longer the battle goes on. Also you can give a troop up to two adjutants, who can further influence a troops stats and give their own traits and tactics to the mix, which gives you a lot of combinations to set up your troops.

28. How does diplomacy work in this game ?
First you send one of your officers as an ambassador to another clan, in order to generate trust. How fast you generate these trust-points, depends on the abilities of your ambassador and how the other clan views you. The view a clan has of you is manly dependent on your actions in the game, meaning their view changes depending how aggressive you are, how often you request for reinforcement from other clans and even how powerful of a clan you are. A clan's view of you can be improved by heeding their requests for reinforcement, sending them presents, trough political marriages and by recommending their Daimyo for a new rank.
Once you have generated enough trust with a clan, you can start to negotiate with them. This gives you ability to request reinforcements from them, ally yourself with them, or arrange a political marriage, which automatically makes them your allies for the duration of the arranged couples live.
In addition you can also request a clan to step in as a mediator between you and another clan, in order to negotiate a ceasefire. Also you can step in as a mediator between two of your allies, who are fighting, in order to have them agree to a ceasefire.
Furthermore you can make another clan your vassal, if you are powerful enough, and you can also ask another clan to become their vassal.

29. How does the imperial court affect the game ?
You can send an officer as an ambassador to the imperial court, in order to generate influence within the imperial court. Once you have build up enough influence-points you can use them to either get your Daimyo a new rank, or recommend another Daimyo for a new rank. Ranks are a thing of prestige and make an officer better at diplomacy (aka. they generate trust and influence more quickly).
Also you request the imperial court to enforce a ceasefire between you and another clan, provided you have enough influence at the imperial court.

30. What do tribes do ?
Tribes are small factions, which you can bring under your influence, by sending your officers to negotiate with them. A tribe, whose support you have, will automatically send troops to help you in battle. In addition once you have a clan completely under your controll they provide you with a special bonus depending on which type of tribe they are. Also a tribe that is completely under your control can be integrated into a your main castle in a province, which raises its population and might even give you the tribe leader as a new officer.

31. Is there research in this game ?
No research is in this game replaced by the policy system.

32. What are the victory conditions ?
There are three ways to win the game:
1. By conquering every enemy clan (you can still have allies and vassals around at the end of the game).
2. Once you have the right combination of power, allies, vassals and control the capital you can enact the "Ban all Warfare" policy, which gives you a more diplomatic win.
3. The game counts as won, if you are a vassal and your lord unites the land.

33. I am a Fan of Nobunaga's Ambition and/or other Koei strategy games and want to talk about these games on steam, where can I do that ?
There is a steam group called "Koei Strategy Games", which is exactly what you are looking for.
Do come join us, we are always happy about more members.
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/KoeiSG

[Oðinn]

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[Ricochet]

Can you add unit composition in the FAQ? For example, does the game have heavy cavalry/light cavalry and such?

[Oðinn]

Publicado originalmente por Ricochet:

Can you add unit composition in the FAQ? For example, does the game have heavy cavalry/light cavalry and such?

That seems like a good idea. I'll work on it.

[Oðinn]

Updated the FAQ to answer two new questions:
26. Are there a lot of different types of troops in this game ?
27. So is there no troop variety then ?
Also I updated the question about custom officers with information on which image formats can be imported into the game.

[Hobbes]

As regards to the state of the PC version :

Does it have an arbitrary frame rate cap?
Are there any resolution caps that players with large monitors need to be aware of?
Are there any issues with DirectInput that may cause input issues (e.g. should owners of Razer Peripherals run a mile? Because Koei have been abysmal at this kind of thing)
What are the scalability options like? What graphics options are available?
What level of OS support is currently available, is Windows 10 currently supported?

Given the state of most Koei games, these questions seem pertinent.

[felinowottgald]

(Comment to keep the treat on the front page)

About windows 10, I have the japanese version and i have windows 10, it's run and i have not noticed anyting out of ordinary

[Ricochet]

Publicado originalmente por VladTepes1371:

Publicado originalmente por charleep:

Thanks for the response, very helpful. How is the diplomatic AI? One of the must frustrating things about the Total War games for me is how stupid the diplomatic AI acts. You can be completly crushing them down to their last province but they will refuse to peaece out at any cost. Furthermore on higher difficulties the AI has a tendency to solely target the player to frankly suicidal levels.

What kind of deals can you get the AI to agree to? I read about the coalition system which seems pretty cool if I understand it correctly, as well as marrying other clans to make them friendlier.

1. You can't get the AI to just agree with any proposition you want to make, because you have to send ambassdors to them, in order to gain their trust (how fast that process is depends on how their view of you, which you can improve by giving them items or recommending their Daimyo for a new rank).
2. Sometimes the relations between you and another clan can become so bad that they will refuse to even see any ambassadors, making negotiation impossible.
3. If a another clan is not seeing his chances and your clan is very powerfull, chances are good the clan will agree to become your vassal in order to gain your protection.
4. Ceasefires can be negotiated. A ceasefire can also be enforced by the imperial court actually, but a clan needs a certain amount of influence in the imperial court (aka. sending an ambassador there and monthly giving them money) to do that.
5. Should one of your allies attack another ally of yours, then you can actually step in as a mediator between them and get them to agree to a ceasefire. The Ai can do that as well and I have seen them do it.
6. I have never noticed that the AI targeted the player specifically and I always play on the highest AI settings. The AI will use openings in another clan's defence though as an incentive to attack.
7. When ever one clan becomes very powerfull very fast, then a coalition between nearby clans will often form, in order to bring the expansionist down.
8. There is a diplomatic victory, but I am not sure on its excat conditions. The only thing I am sure of is that you need to control the capital.

Edit: One thing to note about ceasefires in this game is that they do not happen a lot. While I think that overall this game's diplomacy is better than that of Tendou, this Tendou actually did better. In Tendou clans who where losing, would often try to negotiate ceasefires (even when the war has only just begun, but they know that they are a lot weaker than their enemy). At times the AI was so eager to negotiate a ceasefire in that game, that they would promise me money and valuable items just to get me to stop my attack.
Really hope that the AI will behave like that again (when it comes to ceasefires) in the next NA game.
That said the diplomacy in this game is still some of the best I have seen in a strategy game, despite this problem.

Can you add functionality of diplomatic options (someone asked this on another thread) and add how can you attain victory? You mentioned here that a diplo victory is achievable. Might as well add various victory and their conditions to trigger them.

I'm feeling your FAQ is turning into tutorial/wiki one by one. Since I haven't played the game, I don't even know what basics or interface the tutorial is discussing.

Thanks for the FAQ btw.

EDIT: To add, is the game moddable? What are the limitations/extent for modding the game? So far, the longevity of a community of a game relies on modding community.

[Blahto Blahtoto]

*bump

[ikyu828]

i'm just wondering does a famous clan like takeda, oda, date, etc, have a unique skill or tech or anything special

[Maxi]

Publicado originalmente por ikyu828:

i'm just wondering does a famous clan like takeda, oda, date, etc, have a unique skill or tech or anything special

No... but I think they can develop their skill tree faster than the others. (I only test the previous version of this game)

Example: There is a tree for cavalry units, Takeda might develop this technology faster than other clan.

[jnpoint]

Publicado originalmente por Maxi:

Publicado originalmente por ikyu828:

i'm just wondering does a famous clan like takeda, oda, date, etc, have a unique skill or tech or anything special

No... but I think they can develop their skill tree faster than the others. (I only test the previous version of this game)

Example: There is a tree for cavalry units, Takeda might develop this technology faster than other clan.

So there is a specific tech tree you can develop like in war games as HoI? and will those techs for example make your army stronger?

[Blahto Blahtoto]

I don't think this game have a tech...

[Oðinn]

anothe Update for the FAQ:
- added explanations about diplomacy, the imperial court, tribes and victory conditions
- also added an answer to the question "is there research in this game ?"

Do keep the sugeestions coming so we can all make this FAQ better and more expansive with time.

[jnpoint]

Policies: you don't research them, but get instant access to the advantages if you pay for it? can you get/use any of the policies or only some of them?

[Oðinn]

Publicado originalmente por jnpoint:

Policies: you don't research them, but get instant access to the advantages if you pay for it? can you get/use any of the policies or only some of them?

Yes you get acess to all effects of a policy as long as you can pay the monthly upkeep for it and no there is no limit on how many you can enact. Though you are limited in which you can enact, due to the political stance of your clan (For example a Progressive clan can not use conservative policies).
Also policies have both advantages as well as disadvantages. For example one policy increases the income you get from ports and foreign merchants will visit your lands more often, but it will also decrease the loyalty of all conservative officers.