I’m thinking about picking this up…it ships today (in theory) on Steam. Anyone else thinking about getting it or have already gotten it? If you have played it, what are your thoughts? It seems like more of the same to me…IOW, it’s different than the expansion for TW Shogun I from the look of it. It sounds like the same game (i.e. Shogun II) just set in a different period of time.
-XT
I’ve picked it up, although I’ve only spent a couple of hours on it. There are obvious differences as a consequence of the earlier timeframe: no nanban, no gunpowder, and no Christians. The buildings are different. You’ll have to decide, for example between pastures or rice paddies; the former lets you recruit cavalry, but you’ll not get the extra food that the latter gives you. The technology trees are different, though I’m not sure yet how much of an impact that makes. Combat feels different, mainly because you have no yari ashigaru. Formations are more open as a consequence.
Biggest difference I’ve found so far: The junsatsushi (the equivalent of the metsuke) lets you request allegiance from another province. This isn’t just inciting rebellion or converting religion. The whole province immediately flips to your side; it’s yours exactly as if you had conquered it, but without the mess.
I went ahead and bought the DLC yesterday but just downloaded it on Steam…haven’t tried to fire it up yet. Will probably be playing tonight. Does it have the same feel as the original game? One thing I ran into with Shogun II (and with Shogun I) is how cramped the game is, strategically. I don’t see that changing much as Japan isn’t going to get bigger or anything. 
Thanks for the post…appreciate it.
-XT
Yeah it’s the same map of Japan. To be honest, I haven’t actually done much fighting. I’m having too much fun running around converting the minor clans to my side. War will come soon, however. If a clan has multiple provinces, converting one of them is an act of war. I’m about to run into one of the other great clans, the Fujiwara.
One thing I forgot to mention is that diplomacy feels different now. There are three great clans, each with two branches, for a total of six. You start out automatically allied with your brother clan. Each minor clan is predisposed to like one of the three clans, which affects your diplomatic interactions with them. That may change if you send your guy out to convince them to your way of thinking, even if you don’t get them to swear allegiance.
I understand that there’s still a Realm Divide, although there’s no Shogun. It’s the Emperor himself that declares you an enemy of the state. Same difference; everyone, including your brother clan, will start to hate you.
I finally fired it up for a few hours last night. It’s pretty much more of the same, afaict. The graphic tiles for the units are a bit different, and you have a more limited unit selection (so far), with a few more building choices. One thing that came as a shock is that the basic fort is not very fortified and can easily be over-run by an army of equal size to your own. My general tactic in Shogun II was to put a few cheap spear and bow units in border forts, backed up by an army just outside of the province in question, and then let the computer attack, fail and get beat up, and swoop in the finish them off. That doesn’t work as well in this expansion, since for one thing armies seem to have more limited movement, and for another the computer pretty easily took the first tier border forts I had before I realized how weak they were. I ended up losing 2 provinces in fairly quick succession when the computer turned on me and attacked out of the blue.
The tech tree is also substantially different, with a lot of new choices that I still have to work through and figure out what the best path for me would be. Basically, if you liked Shogun II then you will probably like this expansion, but there is less difference here than, say, between Total War Empire and Total War Napoleon. I’m a bit let down…I thought it would be a lot more. Now I have to hope they are working on Total War Rome II for my next fix…
-XT