It's funny that in the Imjin war, Japanese used matchlocks because they OUTRANGED Korean bowmen, and they would just fire and charge anyway: The bowmen didn't get to shoot more than one round before combat was joined...
We Koreans have always favoured the bow above any other weapon, though due to nearly 200 years of relative peace, the Japanese invasion of the mainland pounced on a country with barely any military history in generations, not to mention extremely outdated infantry weapons and a lack of competent command. Our people were more invested in artillery then handguns, with technologies like the hwatcha and superior cannons due to constant raids from Woukou pirates on the coastline, where the mainland army had progressed little with the most of our troubles coming from Jurchin horsemen on the fringes of the homeland. Though it should be noted, Yi Sun-Shin, the hero of Korea, was very supportive of the general idea of handguns, despite traditionalists dismissing the weapon as sluggish and inflexible, and began to produce Korean handguns for his marines during the height of the war... Which was then completely disregarded and forgotten like most of what he did for us, because the king and the yangban class were so backwards thinking they refused to accept any sort of wisdom or progression that didn't inflate their own egos.
@@Tetsuza_3 I always found it funny that the japanese had superior matchlocks but inferior cannons but the Koreans had superior cannons but inferior or no matchlocks until Admiral Sun-Yi. 70-80% of the Korean naval victories under Admiral Sun-Yi is just plain victory from korean ship artillery outranging the Japanese ones or the Japanese bunes lacking any artillery at all.
@@bravomike4734 bunes were pretty horrendous, any European or barbary galley, which were pretty standard vessels by the 16th century would've made mince meat of them.
@@HistoricalWeapons No during the Imjin wars they couldn't. At least not according to the people who actually wrote about their experiences back to the Korean court.
I remember my Otomo campaign, all that gun powder! When I finally made the switch to Portuguese Tercos, suddenly nothing was difficult for me. I could cut through any army, and the Tercos barely took any damage, even in sustained combat. Also, the Heavy Gunners were badass as well. Man, Shogun 2 really was the best historical title ever.
wouldn't say that as Katana units cant cut through infantry easily and even a thing, making this game is like your typical western weaboo on that part aka a letdown.
@@dac314 basically Shogun 2 is great but Katana units basically -1 for the historical. If it got remove it would be better for historcial value. It kinda ruin it especially how it excel on killing infantry with short swords.
Historical note: It's fascinating how different the Japanese approach to firearms was. *European knight*: "This weapon is not noble! But we'll give it to the commoners." *Japanese samurai*: "This weapon is amazing! But only true warriors can use it." *Oda Nobunaga*: "Hold my yari."
*Takeda Shingen*: “Oh, so you are putting your matchlocks in a straight line in some plains to have a better angle when shooting? WHAT DO YOU KNOW, THAT’S THE PERFECT PLACE TO DO A CAVALRY CHARGE AS WELL!
@@anthonyioane4438 You mean like a chinese firelance? These were essentially polearms with a short barrel at the top, that could shoot short blasts of fire, not unlike a flamethrower, and blunderbuss-like scattershot made of porcelain shards. They did have a very short range though. Only about 3 meters, or 10 feet.
@@enigmaticchickenmcnobody Bayonets were only introduced in the 17th century, after the musket was adopted as the standard infantry weapon. Prior to that, matchlocks were used in pike and shot formation, with the pikes providing the close-range defense. Muskets did not become the standard infantry weapon in Japan during this time, and there were always yari units in combat, and when faced against cavalry, the muskets absolutely ripped through cavalry (see: Battle of Nagashino). During the Tokugawa era, Japan was closed off from the rest of the world. There was little development of military technology, so Japan missed out on the Napoleonic era of warfare until the Meiji restoration, after which the army was modernised. Essentially, Japanese warfare with the matchlock was actually ahead of its time, but it didn't develop past that point while Western powers did. There was no need for a bayonet because matchlock units were already well protected with barricades and yari.
It really sucks that "fire by rank" actually reduces your effectiveness. If for some reason it slows down reload speed because they all wait until they can shoot together, it should at least affect morale significantly harder. I mean, history proves that it was a nightmare for soldiers in the ranks if suddenly people dropped dead left right and center because a huge volley impacted.
Ranked fire is actually really strong, especially against charging enemies as you get more hits in from close range, if you put them in 3 ranks, they will also generally out-damage other gunpowder units. spreading your matchlocks out to their maximum width gives you very good damage potential per unit, but the fire density will be much lower than ranked fire units in three lines. spreading your unit will give you the best performance in a 1v1 matchlock gunfight (mainly because thin lines means more of the enemy's shots will miss), but in most other scenarios ranked fire performs better when used correctly.
Have to agree with you. Single line is all well and good for optimal dps but battle lines arent infinite and spread out gunners are very vulnerable to flankers. Combined with the fact that gunners need a clear LoS and spreading out units will in practice reduce dps, not increase it.
Have to agree with you. Single line is all well and good for optimal dps but battle lines arent infinite and spread out gunners are very vulnerable to flankers. Combined with the fact that gunners need a clear LoS and spreading out units will in practice reduce dps, not increase it.
Matchlock armies are micro heavy. The strategy I've used has generally been Ashigaru, since they are cheap and Yari Ashigaru get Yari Wall. With fire by rank, all of the Matchlock Ashigaru get to fire before being withdrawn behind the Yaris, which then slaughter what remains of the enemy units.
Don't forget Guard mode. And also putting matchlock behind your front matchlock while in guard mode means that any melee ramming into your front row will get heavily punished by point blank matchlock fire :D Love that kind of setup, even if you shoot a few of your own guys
I always look for a hill to set up on. Put my infantry around the base, and my matchlocks in rows going up the hill. They can shoot over your infantry and keep going.
Actually, I did manage to find Fire By Rank quite useful in a recent Oda campaign, although this was admittedly Very Hard rather than Legendary. I my experience matchlock units can be utterly devastating if used in small quantities on one flank, even Ashigaru, especially if the enemy is tied down by other units, In particular, if the AI is holding a position then Fire By Rank is actually useful for a number of reasons. For one, archers seem to prioritise other archers over matchlocks if both are in range (I'm not absolutely certain, but I do recall enemy archers preferring to go after Bow Samurai rather than either Matchlock Ashigaru or Samurai), so there is enough time to set up the Fire By Rank, which at larger unit sizes does seem to make a significant difference. Secondly, if the enemy's archers have been dealt with and you have some Yari cav to protect them, sending the matchlocks against the enemy's flank units lets them rack up kills like crazy, even Ashigaru. Also, what probably makes Fire By Rank more appealing in practice than in theory is that if the enemy are closing against you, realistically you can only get one or two volleys in anyway, so it would be advantageous to instead get a shot from all three ranks rather than one or two from the front, although admittedly that's mostly just my opinion.
I knew before even going in to the vid that the portguese would win it. nothing can stop those guys and with mods you can make a entire army of them melee infantry cav etc and artillery and go to town on who ever get's in there way.
add in the kneel fire unlock mod for these guys and its just firearm happiness. wish there was a way for them to implement the tactic that Nobunaga loved to do, which was have the 1st line fire, run back, start reloading, have the 2nd line fire, run back of the line and start reloading, 3rd line fire, etc. etc. creating a revolving line of fire, but kneel fire will do for that i guess. and yes im one of those hellbent on using firearm units in my armies, i tend to have a line of them up front, archers behind them, then the yari ashigaru wall of death behind them. pretty obvious from that formation that i let the matchlocks open up maybe 2 or 3 volleys before backing behind the yari wall, followed by the archers, then once the yari wall is engaged, i maneuver the matchlocks behind and just execute them all. during a siege battle if the AI is hellbent on keeping archers on the walls after i got up to their level, i just line up some matchlocks behind em and execute them as well, such beautiful sights....
That sounds very similar to how European matchlock troops fought, like those in Tercios. Front rank fire, then march to the back to allow the next rank to fire..etc
Why not including (dismounted) tokugawa mounted gunners and (dismounted) otomo donderbuss cavalry ? In some situations such as defensive siege, they are better used on foot
Because they have their own mounted category. You don't usually recruit units like that for the purpose of dismounting them, you recruit them for the purpose of being cavalry with the added side effect that they can be dismounted if the situation calls for it.
Yea 4 dubderbuss cav + garrison played well can hold a castle against all odds then at the end mount up and shoot/ melee the running bastards. It's fun all the way to the end.
i've had little success with matchlock ashigaru out on the field, but when defending settlements, they are just amazing, even a single unit struggles to breach a wall, while with bow ashigaru, multiple units tend to get through.
Part of it is the AI outright refusing to damage gates over climbing walls. Matchlock fire applies a moral penalty that stacks with the penalty for wall climbing. The compounding nature of that penalty means that even units with superior melee like Katana Samurai or Superior wall climbing like Kisho Ninja will often not have moral to spare to loose units in the resulting melee. Hell even Wako Raiders with fast climb and decent melee attack will have around 4 moral left after the climb.
I like using the Matchlocks hidden on a hill/forest behind the Yari line (as Otomo, particularly) and archers in front of the Yari. Start the battle with the archers in front to skirmish, and when the enemy starts charging, pull them behind the Yari Wall and let your matchlocks pelt everything in front of them with lead.
If the bamboo wall works like it does in (rise of the samurai). it makes a wall that units cant pass through, I think cavalry can jump it but I'm not sure, but they can shoot over it. Amazing at making killing fields. In rise of the samurai you can only use the ability while on defence in the field. Aka on the map, not in a town and computer attacks you on their turn. Sorry if I seem like an asshole, coulnt think of a way to word this better.
It does what it says. You get it after one turn of waiting and getting your army attacked. Its a wall that guns can shoot through. But you cant connect them. Its great for making kill boxes.
That's why you need spears units like yari ashigaru or even the long yari to finish the wall. Or spears on the flanks and swords in the middle. Just play the battle of Nagashino and you will find out
Otomo = Best gunpower faction due to getting Portugese tericois as well as cannon ships. I think my main army back when I played consisted of over half being Portugese tericois. Be best thing I did with them was win a siege with with the enemy out numbering me 4-1. The battle was going on for so long that the tericois ran out of ammo and had to go into melee.
I fought a battle where i was outnumbered 2.5 to 1 in a early siege, my Otome matchlocks and imported matchlocks did the Lords work... with some derping due to ~9 000 soldiers on the field at the same time.
Matchlock ashigaru are not useless in the campaign - they’re extremely effective at siege defence, and can be a good way to defend castles from full stack armies in the late game
Absurdly good actually. Putting Matchlocks on the second level with the main level defended by yari can pretty much route anything the Ai can do except for a multistack attack composed of bow units.
@@simonnachreiner8380 also I think people have a propensity to waste their potential by enabling fire at will. If you have a unit of matchlocks at your front wall, wait until the full enemy unit is in range and then fire. It will demolish them. If you manage to get two volleys off, chances are the attacking unit will break before they reach the top of the wall. Otherwise just have some basic infantry ready to switch with the matchlocks
Nice video as always, I appreciate the tips too, like not using fire by rank and the heavy gunners for sieges. These list videos are good, but I also hope you do more mod highlights and a long while back you mentioned starting a tutorial series.
There should have been ninja gunners. They could be just like the ninja bombers but with guns; remain hidden, vanguard deployment, maybe fire on the move or in all directions. They would probably have low numbers, but you could snipe generals with the right placement. However, they probably would not be good in melee, and would get stomped by a cav charge. I think that would have been really cool. Plus, as far as I know, ninjas used guns historically, so not that unrealistic!
I don't think Ninjas used firearms, ninjas aren't even real their called shinobis a shinobi was a sabotager or a spy not an assassin like Hollywood claim to be
6- Tokitaka's tanegashima 5-matchlock ashigaru 4-matchlock samurai 3-matchlock warrior monks 2-shimazu heavy gunners 1-portuguese tercos And I though that the hero unit is useless
Here's another tip: Put your matchlock units in guard mode. Sometimes when they're in melee some of the men in the unit will fire at the unit that's attacking them. This doesn't work if the matchlock unit is charging an enemy unit, though.
If playing as the Oda, matchlock units would be very useful if you deploy them behind the fenses like the battle of Nagashino. Long yari then matchlock, and another long yari.
I wanna say top 4 missle cav since in vanilla Shogun 2 there's only such four. Wheareas only 1-2 of those units are usuable in campaigns and the other two are rarely used, missile cav should still deserve some recognition as a category alone. I hate it when people say "The only best missle cav is dunderbuss" when in fact theres another 3 missle cav units that are failed to be appreciated and are usually overshadowed by the Otomo dunderbuss. A video like this well yes may be less exciting but it will show that missile cav have some merit in tactical use in vanilla Shogun 2 campaigns.
What is the point of Firearm units in comparison to say, Bow Warrior Monks or just having more Bow Ashigaru? Asking as I'm returning to Shogun 2 after honing my skills in WH2 and I want to understand more so I can diversify my units instead of just spamming Naginata Samurai+Bow Warrior Monks
Besides you probably not being able to spam nagi Sam and bow monk, the guns would tear through the naginata, guns are unfazed by armor unless it's a date bulletproof samurai Although against computer anything will work fine
Or was it really? Early firearms were in fact not that deadly. I think the bigger benefit of using guns is that you can teach almost any peasant to kill a samurai with a gun in just a few weeks. Using a bow effectively takes years of practise. This gives you a lot faster replenisment rate. Also the noise and smoke guns make have big psychological impact on troops not familiar with them. For these (among others maybe?) reasons we see archers dissappearing from battlefields pretty quickly after gunpowder became widespread. But if we compare who was more deadly during Sengoku Jidai period, I think I'd have to give the edge to a trained warrior with the bow over matchlock.
@@Sharnoy1 Especially when powder weapons were first introduced, they had pretty bad psychological effects on the enemy. Don't forget, if you did get a good hit, it could devastate an enemy. Probably didn't help people's minds watching their entire unit get destroyed.
@@Sharnoy1 there is written documents from the Imijin war from the Koreans who mention Japanese armed with matchlock being able to fire and hit at ranges beyond the effective range of Korean archers who had superior bow technogly and skills to the Japanese. here are some exerpts from Choi Byonghyon’s translation of “The Book of Corrections”. The Book of Corrections was a collection of memoirs from a Korean minister, Yu Songnyong. p. 27 At last, our envoys left for Japan in April 1590 [March 1590 lunar] with Yoshitoshi and others. At the moment of their departure, Yoshitoshi presented His Majesty with two preasants, a spear, and a sword as a gift. His Majesty ordered the peaseants to be freed in the islands of the Bay of Namyang and the musket to be kept in the armory. This was the first time that Korea came to possess a musket.* *At first, King Sonjo and his officials and military commanders did not realize the importance of muskets, the major weapon of the Japanese army. That is why the king simply ordered the musket presented by the Japanese envoy to be put away in the state armory. A few years later, however, King Sonjo’s view of the new weapon radically changed. When Minister Kim Ungnam said that bows were superior to muskets in power, the king tried to correct him with this comment: ‘The power of muskets is five times greater than arrows’. p. 60 The officer rode on a horse, and two soldiers from the post station walked by him slowly, holding the bridle of the horse. Hiding in ambush under the bridge, Japanese soldiers with muskets shot down the officer from his horse and cut off his head and ran off with it. Upon seeing this, our soldiers lost all their fighting spirit. After a short while a number of enemy soldiers suddenly emerged and started attacking us with ten or more muskets. The ones hit by the bullets were killed instantly. Yi immediately ordered the archers to counterattack using their bows, but their arrows fell far short of their target. p. 88 Han Kukham, the provincial army commander of North Hamgyong province, led the soldiers of the Six Garrisons and met the enemy at the Haejongch’ang warehouse. Our soldiers of the northern province being skilled at archery and horsemanship, and its flat and wide ground good for riding horses, those who were on horseback discharged arrows at the enemy, attacking them by turn from the left and right. Unable to withstand our attack, the enemy retreated to the inside of the warehouse. By that time, it was already dark. The general opinion was that our troops should rest for the night and continue their attack on the following day, waiting for the enemy to come out. However, Han Kukham would not listen and commanded his army to surround the enemy. Using stacks of grain from the warehouse for their cover, the enemy defended themselves from flying arrows and rocks and simultaneously fired their muskets at our forces. Our troops surrounded the enemy standing close together like the teeth of a comb or stacks of firewood. Therefore, when the enemy muskets were fired, they never failed to hit their targets and, furthermore, knocked down three or four men at a time. So our army at last collapsed. p. 101 Six or seven of the enemy took their position at the edge of the river and discharged their muskets toward our fortress. The sound of their muskets was terribly loud and intimidating, and the bullets crossed the river to fall down in the fortress. Some of the longest shots, flying over a distance of more than a thousand paces, fell on the roof tiles of Taedonggwan Hall. Some of them even drove as deep as several inches into the wooden columns of the battlements. The enemy soldiers with red uniforms approached and saw a small group of our people sitting at Yon’gwangjong Pavilion. They mistook us for our military commanders and, crawling over a sand hill, fired their muskets, hitting two among us. However, because of the long distance, the two were not hurt seriously. I ordered Officer Kang Saik to retaliate with p’yongjon arrows*, protecting themselves with a shield. As his arrows flew all the way to the sandy beaches on the other side of the river, the enemy was surprised and eventually retreated.
@@RocketHarry865 thank you for the interesting read! My knowledge is mostly based on European history and I can see from your source that Korean-Japanese war is giving some new perspective on the matter. Do you mind sharing a link to your source? :)
I don't think I've ever played with the vanilla matchlock units as the only way to play shogun2 IMO is with darthmod. So in my experience bringing matchlocks to a sword fight is not worth it. they are the absolute best at holding walls and other defensive positions tho
For campaign use I find matchlock ashigaru much better than matchlock samurai. it does take a while to unlock gunpowder mastery, but you can recruit matchlock ashigaru from anywhere and they are a very powerful unit for castle defence, which I generally find myself doing a lot in legendary campaigns since the AI loves to naval invade. Really useful for garrisons at least, while I never use matchlock samurai for anything.
So, are guns actually useful in campaign for anybody but the Otomo? Every time I've tried to use them in a field battle or offensive siege, I'm usually disappointing.
All the time i used fire by rank to quickly kill greats amounts of enemy melee units runinig to kill you in that way in general they lost the biggest amount of troops before they reach you but after it seems thats not truly the case
Thank you for another top quality video Donkey! After watching your previous Top X vids about Shogun 2 (many more times than I want to admit) there were really no surprises with this one. The Portuguese it is :) There are so many interesting mods for Shogun 2 out there. Are you probably going to do a video ranking or giving thoughts about them as well? Or do you want to keep it simple with the vanilla game? Cheers!
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Yes I remember and I enjoyed that one too. Looking forward to more content about mods, since Shogun 2 is such a well modded game imo ^^
I find it odd that the Shimazu don't have a unique firearm unit or any bonuses to firearm units. If I remember my history right, the Japanese were first introduced to guns when a Portuguese trade ship wrecked on the island of Tanegashima, which was controlled by the Shimizu at the time. There probably is a historical reason, but I just don't know what it is, lol.
Basically for every clan I prefer bows except for the Otomo because they don't have access to Bow Warrior Monks but have the incredible Portuguese Tercos instead.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP but...but...but the *SUPERIOR KATANAS WITH BLADES MADE OF SHEETS OF STEEL FOLDED THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF TIMES THAT CAN CUT THROUGH ATOMS?!?!*
Unless you were an important person or a person in the backlines if you got shot with a matchlock/arrow you were left until the enemy was dead. at least that's the vibes im getting from this Totally very accurate Historical game
Before I watch the video, I'm gonna say number 1 is Portuguese Tercos. Edit: Just finished the video, looks like I was right. To be completely honest was anything else going to be number 1?
Late question but is it really worth it to have an armory instead of a hunting lodge just to unlock Shimazu Heavy Gunners? They literally have the same stats as matchlock samurai.
@@steakdriven I’d suggest having a look at the video and judging for yourself. Stats aren’t always super accurate in this game, Shinazu Heavy Gunners are much more devastating than matchlock units because their guns have a knockback, as you can see in the video. Revolver cavalry in Fall of the Samurai have a similar issue where their stats make them look horrible, but they’re one of the best units in the whole game.
Don't know from the top of my head, but I do know that Imported Matchlock Ashigaru have 40 less men in their unit. So even if they were exactly the same stat-wise, they'd still be a lot worse.
I was checking the encyclopedia. The Otomo matchlock ashigaru have 1 more morale, cost 250 compared to 450 koku, and their upkeep is 25 less. Also they have more men, obviously.
I guess it’s sort of off-topic but I think there isn’t a video with your preliminary impressions on Three Kingdoms yet. Am I just missing something or do you think it isn’t worth covering this early? Or are you just not interested? :P
I am interested, and you'll be seeing some Three Kingdoms on the channel in the not too distant future, I'm just not the kind of TH-camr to make cheap "impressions" videos on games I haven't played yet. You missed this though: th-cam.com/video/iVx4bJptHmk/w-d-xo.html
MrSmartDonkeyLP I know you aren’t that’s why we’re still watching you :P It’s just that I had an impression there’s been quite a couple of gameplay reveals and such and I haven’t been following them myself, thought it would’ve been more entertaining to watch if somebody like you had put it in a short concise form. Thanks for answering!
It's a shame how utter garbage matchlocks are overall in the game considering the period in which it is set. In the late stages of the Sengoku Jidai, they changed how war was fought in Japan forever. Matchlocks were what destroyed the power of the Takeda clan's dreaded cavalry and exterminated the clan's most veteran samurai. When Hideyoshi invaded Korea, up to a third of his forces were armed with matchlocks and were a big factor in why Japan was so successful in its conquests initially. I agree with CA's decision to make them somewhat of a late-game addition, but the execution was terrible.
Good god, Ikko Ikki Matchlock Ashigaru are fucking pitiful. They'd be destroyed by any other unit in the game in melee, and any unit charging them would only face a single volley (with shit accuracy) before closing into melee. The only way I'd use them at all is if they're dirt-cheap to recruit and upkeep.
I clearly mentioned all of the units included in this list in the beginning, and obviously it's not including FotS units or the list would be much longer. Also Shimazu Heavy Gunners aren't a FotS unit, they're from regular Shogun 2. I feel like you don't have enough of a grasp on which units are in which game to even begin saying which of them are OP. The Heavy Gunners used to be insanely good when they released, but they got nerfed pretty shortly after, they're still alright, but nothing compared to Portuguese Tercos.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Oh my bad, i thought that shimazu heavy gunners werent in Shogun 2 main, as for me I cant find them oh wait they arent released, fuck me. Sorry for disturbing you my dude.
It's definitely either monks or the early nanban ashigaru that will be rank 1 or 2. Edit: nvm could be Portuguese terco. All Christian clans with nanban port can have imported matchlock. Btw firing a volley at dunderbus range deals more damage for matchlock just like bows just armor piercing.
I'll split them up into melee and missile, which one would you like to see first? Not saying that's what I'll do, but I'd like to see people's opinions on the matter.
It's funny that in the Imjin war, Japanese used matchlocks because they OUTRANGED Korean bowmen, and they would just fire and charge anyway: The bowmen didn't get to shoot more than one round before combat was joined...
We Koreans have always favoured the bow above any other weapon, though due to nearly 200 years of relative peace, the Japanese invasion of the mainland pounced on a country with barely any military history in generations, not to mention extremely outdated infantry weapons and a lack of competent command.
Our people were more invested in artillery then handguns, with technologies like the hwatcha and superior cannons due to constant raids from Woukou pirates on the coastline, where the mainland army had progressed little with the most of our troubles coming from Jurchin horsemen on the fringes of the homeland.
Though it should be noted, Yi Sun-Shin, the hero of Korea, was very supportive of the general idea of handguns, despite traditionalists dismissing the weapon as sluggish and inflexible, and began to produce Korean handguns for his marines during the height of the war...
Which was then completely disregarded and forgotten like most of what he did for us, because the king and the yangban class were so backwards thinking they refused to accept any sort of wisdom or progression that didn't inflate their own egos.
@@Tetsuza_3 I always found it funny that the japanese had superior matchlocks but inferior cannons but the Koreans had superior cannons but inferior or no matchlocks until Admiral Sun-Yi.
70-80% of the Korean naval victories under Admiral Sun-Yi is just plain victory from korean ship artillery outranging the Japanese ones or the Japanese bunes lacking any artillery at all.
@@bravomike4734 bunes were pretty horrendous, any European or barbary galley, which were pretty standard vessels by the 16th century would've made mince meat of them.
A trained Korean archer can shoot 10 arrows before a charge from 200 meters
@@HistoricalWeapons
No during the Imjin wars they couldn't. At least not according to the people who actually wrote about their experiences back to the Korean court.
I remember my Otomo campaign, all that gun powder! When I finally made the switch to Portuguese Tercos, suddenly nothing was difficult for me. I could cut through any army, and the Tercos barely took any damage, even in sustained combat.
Also, the Heavy Gunners were badass as well.
Man, Shogun 2 really was the best historical title ever.
Otomo? More like Ottoman!
wouldn't say that as Katana units cant cut through infantry easily and even a thing, making this game is like your typical western weaboo on that part aka a letdown.
@@pz_faust6866 huh? Wanna try that again with complete sentences?
@@dac314 basically Shogun 2 is great but Katana units basically -1 for the historical. If it got remove it would be better for historcial value. It kinda ruin it especially how it excel on killing infantry with short swords.
@@pz_faust6866 oh okay gotcha.
Historical note: It's fascinating how different the Japanese approach to firearms was.
*European knight*: "This weapon is not noble! But we'll give it to the commoners."
*Japanese samurai*: "This weapon is amazing! But only true warriors can use it."
*Oda Nobunaga*: "Hold my yari."
If the shogunate had any ammo at all when fighting the imperialists the war actually wouldn't have been over so quickly.
Vietnamese of 15xx: let's sell these guns to the Chinese pirates cus we are one of the best in firearm
I dunno, the European knights were huge fans of cannons back in the 1400s, they just weren't big fans of small guns
@@alessandragonzales8190 probably because firearms SUCKED before the arquebus.
*Takeda Shingen*: “Oh, so you are putting your matchlocks in a straight line in some plains to have a better angle when shooting? WHAT DO YOU KNOW, THAT’S THE PERFECT PLACE TO DO A CAVALRY CHARGE AS WELL!
Damn, feel pity for that one Date Samurai. The first to fall yet not the first to die. Had to live on for a minute of agony until he bleed to dead.
Việt Trung Trần
People who have that dying animation are counted as recovered casualty models. He’ll live if his team wins.
@@retardcorpsman I didn't know that this was a thing, cool to know that not all who fall end up dying
I was wondering if he was going to get up or not, he was almost standing at times
@@retardcorpsman really?
@@retardcorpsman idk that was a thing
Matchlock Yari Ashigaru
That would be great to have a pike and shot unit with alternating gun and spear.
@@anthonyioane4438
You mean like a chinese firelance? These were essentially polearms with a short barrel at the top, that could shoot short blasts of fire, not unlike a flamethrower, and blunderbuss-like scattershot made of porcelain shards.
They did have a very short range though. Only about 3 meters, or 10 feet.
@@moriskurth628 no I mean a mixed unit of spears and guns so 75 spear units and 75 gub units of the unit size is 150 men.
Wonder why -historically anyway- that matchlock troops were never issued Tantō's as bayonets?
@@enigmaticchickenmcnobody
Bayonets were only introduced in the 17th century, after the musket was adopted as the standard infantry weapon. Prior to that, matchlocks were used in pike and shot formation, with the pikes providing the close-range defense.
Muskets did not become the standard infantry weapon in Japan during this time, and there were always yari units in combat, and when faced against cavalry, the muskets absolutely ripped through cavalry (see: Battle of Nagashino).
During the Tokugawa era, Japan was closed off from the rest of the world. There was little development of military technology, so Japan missed out on the Napoleonic era of warfare until the Meiji restoration, after which the army was modernised.
Essentially, Japanese warfare with the matchlock was actually ahead of its time, but it didn't develop past that point while Western powers did. There was no need for a bayonet because matchlock units were already well protected with barricades and yari.
0:21 That poor guy who just refused to die.
I don't know, he looked like he was about to die any minute.
He refuses, sadly he is not Under the Tales of the MC
Matchlock ashigaru are op in holding forts. They end up saving lot of money when it comes to the defence.
Top 5 town used for defence
3.iwo jima
@@bcompany650 holy fuck you made me choke
@@bcompany650 Motorized divisions in Moscow
Any town with guns and/or unbreakable warrior monks
2. Peleliu
It really sucks that "fire by rank" actually reduces your effectiveness. If for some reason it slows down reload speed because they all wait until they can shoot together, it should at least affect morale significantly harder. I mean, history proves that it was a nightmare for soldiers in the ranks if suddenly people dropped dead left right and center because a huge volley impacted.
I use a mod that lets all rows fire at the same time, and it make guns insane. :D
@@shorewall mod name?
@@shorewall Mod name wheb?
@@canada842 just look up kneel fire mod on the shogun 2 workshop on steam
@@canada842probably made his own mod
Ranked fire is actually really strong, especially against charging enemies as you get more hits in from close range, if you put them in 3 ranks, they will also generally out-damage other gunpowder units.
spreading your matchlocks out to their maximum width gives you very good damage potential per unit, but the fire density will be much lower than ranked fire units in three lines.
spreading your unit will give you the best performance in a 1v1 matchlock gunfight (mainly because thin lines means more of the enemy's shots will miss), but in most other scenarios ranked fire performs better when used correctly.
Have to agree with you. Single line is all well and good for optimal dps but battle lines arent infinite and spread out gunners are very vulnerable to flankers. Combined with the fact that gunners need a clear LoS and spreading out units will in practice reduce dps, not increase it.
Have to agree with you. Single line is all well and good for optimal dps but battle lines arent infinite and spread out gunners are very vulnerable to flankers. Combined with the fact that gunners need a clear LoS and spreading out units will in practice reduce dps, not increase it.
If you attack while using fire by rank the delay to start firing is much smaller
Matchlock armies are micro heavy. The strategy I've used has generally been Ashigaru, since they are cheap and Yari Ashigaru get Yari Wall. With fire by rank, all of the Matchlock Ashigaru get to fire before being withdrawn behind the Yaris, which then slaughter what remains of the enemy units.
Don't forget Guard mode. And also putting matchlock behind your front matchlock while in guard mode means that any melee ramming into your front row will get heavily punished by point blank matchlock fire :D Love that kind of setup, even if you shoot a few of your own guys
Put Donderbus behind Portugese Tecos and all melee units will run away right after contact
I always look for a hill to set up on. Put my infantry around the base, and my matchlocks in rows going up the hill. They can shoot over your infantry and keep going.
That guy in the beginning just would't die xD
The animation lasted almost a full minute, it was ridiculous.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP it's a samurai. Won't give up easily :)
Actually, I did manage to find Fire By Rank quite useful in a recent Oda campaign, although this was admittedly Very Hard rather than Legendary. I my experience matchlock units can be utterly devastating if used in small quantities on one flank, even Ashigaru, especially if the enemy is tied down by other units, In particular, if the AI is holding a position then Fire By Rank is actually useful for a number of reasons. For one, archers seem to prioritise other archers over matchlocks if both are in range (I'm not absolutely certain, but I do recall enemy archers preferring to go after Bow Samurai rather than either Matchlock Ashigaru or Samurai), so there is enough time to set up the Fire By Rank, which at larger unit sizes does seem to make a significant difference. Secondly, if the enemy's archers have been dealt with and you have some Yari cav to protect them, sending the matchlocks against the enemy's flank units lets them rack up kills like crazy, even Ashigaru.
Also, what probably makes Fire By Rank more appealing in practice than in theory is that if the enemy are closing against you, realistically you can only get one or two volleys in anyway, so it would be advantageous to instead get a shot from all three ranks rather than one or two from the front, although admittedly that's mostly just my opinion.
Fire by rank is more effective when your unit is limited in space and is protected, the constant firing is more efficient some times
I knew before even going in to the vid that the portguese would win it. nothing can stop those guys and with mods you can make a entire army of them melee infantry cav etc and artillery and go to town on who ever get's in there way.
add in the kneel fire unlock mod for these guys and its just firearm happiness.
wish there was a way for them to implement the tactic that Nobunaga loved to do, which was have the 1st line fire, run back, start reloading, have the 2nd line fire, run back of the line and start reloading, 3rd line fire, etc. etc. creating a revolving line of fire, but kneel fire will do for that i guess.
and yes im one of those hellbent on using firearm units in my armies, i tend to have a line of them up front, archers behind them, then the yari ashigaru wall of death behind them. pretty obvious from that formation that i let the matchlocks open up maybe 2 or 3 volleys before backing behind the yari wall, followed by the archers, then once the yari wall is engaged, i maneuver the matchlocks behind and just execute them all. during a siege battle if the AI is hellbent on keeping archers on the walls after i got up to their level, i just line up some matchlocks behind em and execute them as well, such beautiful sights....
That sounds very similar to how European matchlock troops fought, like those in Tercios. Front rank fire, then march to the back to allow the next rank to fire..etc
They should have just redone the fire by rank animation that the gun units in medieval 2 sid
It was possible in Medieval 2, but glitchy as hell.
Nothing looks cooler than fully armored Samurai or Knights using firearms. That mix of old and new is visually pleasing.
Why not including (dismounted) tokugawa mounted gunners and (dismounted) otomo donderbuss cavalry ? In some situations such as defensive siege, they are better used on foot
Because they have their own mounted category. You don't usually recruit units like that for the purpose of dismounting them, you recruit them for the purpose of being cavalry with the added side effect that they can be dismounted if the situation calls for it.
Yea 4 dubderbuss cav + garrison played well can hold a castle against all odds then at the end mount up and shoot/ melee the running bastards. It's fun all the way to the end.
datuputi777 if you have enough ammo....
note: terços is pronounced ter-soos (means third in portuguese, it's the equivalent of the spanish tercios)
i've had little success with matchlock ashigaru out on the field, but when defending settlements, they are just amazing, even a single unit struggles to breach a wall, while with bow ashigaru, multiple units tend to get through.
Part of it is the AI outright refusing to damage gates over climbing walls. Matchlock fire applies a moral penalty that stacks with the penalty for wall climbing. The compounding nature of that penalty means that even units with superior melee like Katana Samurai or Superior wall climbing like Kisho Ninja will often not have moral to spare to loose units in the resulting melee. Hell even Wako Raiders with fast climb and decent melee attack will have around 4 moral left after the climb.
I like using the Matchlocks hidden on a hill/forest behind the Yari line (as Otomo, particularly) and archers in front of the Yari. Start the battle with the archers in front to skirmish, and when the enemy starts charging, pull them behind the Yari Wall and let your matchlocks pelt everything in front of them with lead.
0:15 that poor poor samurai :c
Yeah, poor dude, he just kept suffering, and suffering 😢
What about bamboo wall ability? Does it even work I've never had opportunity to use it during the campaign and I think it's disabled in custome battle
If the bamboo wall works like it does in (rise of the samurai). it makes a wall that units cant pass through, I think cavalry can jump it but I'm not sure, but they can shoot over it. Amazing at making killing fields.
In rise of the samurai you can only use the ability while on defence in the field. Aka on the map, not in a town and computer attacks you on their turn. Sorry if I seem like an asshole, coulnt think of a way to word this better.
Cavalry cannot jump over those fences
@@iceee420 I read your insightful comment and also I don't think you come off as rude. Cheers and best luck!
It does what it says. You get it after one turn of waiting and getting your army attacked. Its a wall that guns can shoot through. But you cant connect them. Its great for making kill boxes.
That's why you need spears units like yari ashigaru or even the long yari to finish the wall. Or spears on the flanks and swords in the middle. Just play the battle of Nagashino and you will find out
Otomo = Best gunpower faction due to getting Portugese tericois as well as cannon ships. I think my main army back when I played consisted of over half being Portugese tericois. Be best thing I did with them was win a siege with with the enemy out numbering me 4-1. The battle was going on for so long that the tericois ran out of ammo and had to go into melee.
I fought a battle where i was outnumbered 2.5 to 1 in a early siege, my Otome matchlocks and imported matchlocks did the Lords work... with some derping due to ~9 000 soldiers on the field at the same time.
Matchlock ashigaru are not useless in the campaign - they’re extremely effective at siege defence, and can be a good way to defend castles from full stack armies in the late game
Absurdly good actually. Putting Matchlocks on the second level with the main level defended by yari can pretty much route anything the Ai can do except for a multistack attack composed of bow units.
@@simonnachreiner8380 also I think people have a propensity to waste their potential by enabling fire at will. If you have a unit of matchlocks at your front wall, wait until the full enemy unit is in range and then fire. It will demolish them. If you manage to get two volleys off, chances are the attacking unit will break before they reach the top of the wall.
Otherwise just have some basic infantry ready to switch with the matchlocks
I use them on the offensive as a flanking force with some yari samurai
Have you tried the kneel fire mod for the sengoku jidai campaign? They make the heavy gunners op.
Nice video as always, I appreciate the tips too, like not using fire by rank and the heavy gunners for sieges. These list videos are good, but I also hope you do more mod highlights and a long while back you mentioned starting a tutorial series.
Me being Portuguese I approve this video
Japão é nossa.
Me too
Eu também
Tercos are a poor cheap copy of spanish tercios. As always Portugal being a worst version of Spain.
There should have been ninja gunners. They could be just like the ninja bombers but with guns; remain hidden, vanguard deployment, maybe fire on the move or in all directions. They would probably have low numbers, but you could snipe generals with the right placement. However, they probably would not be good in melee, and would get stomped by a cav charge. I think that would have been really cool. Plus, as far as I know, ninjas used guns historically, so not that unrealistic!
There's a mod on the workshop that adds this. They also add fucking Kisho ninja firerockets
I don't think Ninjas used firearms, ninjas aren't even real their called shinobis a shinobi was a sabotager or a spy not an assassin like Hollywood claim to be
0:24 Damn I've never seen an animation like that
I almost cry
6- Tokitaka's tanegashima
5-matchlock ashigaru
4-matchlock samurai
3-matchlock warrior monks
2-shimazu heavy gunners
1-portuguese tercos
And I though that the hero unit is useless
Here's another tip: Put your matchlock units in guard mode. Sometimes when they're in melee some of the men in the unit will fire at the unit that's attacking them. This doesn't work if the matchlock unit is charging an enemy unit, though.
it's so weird fire by rank should reduce the time in between volleys not increase it
If playing as the Oda, matchlock units would be very useful if you deploy them behind the fenses like the battle of Nagashino. Long yari then matchlock, and another long yari.
long yari with gaps. matchlock fire between them without hitting friendlies. enemies caught up on the yari wall get shredded
What about an army deployment tutorial?
Just watch his legendary campaigns, those are helpful to watch
That poor soldier at 0:21 lay there die while people ran over him and he still try to survive
I wanna say top 4 missle cav since in vanilla Shogun 2 there's only such four. Wheareas only 1-2 of those units are usuable in campaigns and the other two are rarely used, missile cav should still deserve some recognition as a category alone. I hate it when people say "The only best missle cav is dunderbuss" when in fact theres another 3 missle cav units that are failed to be appreciated and are usually overshadowed by the Otomo dunderbuss. A video like this well yes may be less exciting but it will show that missile cav have some merit in tactical use in vanilla Shogun 2 campaigns.
What is the point of Firearm units in comparison to say, Bow Warrior Monks or just having more Bow Ashigaru? Asking as I'm returning to Shogun 2 after honing my skills in WH2 and I want to understand more so I can diversify my units instead of just spamming Naginata Samurai+Bow Warrior Monks
Besides you probably not being able to spam nagi Sam and bow monk, the guns would tear through the naginata, guns are unfazed by armor unless it's a date bulletproof samurai
Although against computer anything will work fine
In shogun 2 firearm troops usually seem to be outclassed by bow armed infantry when in real life in a straight up fight it was the other way round
Or was it really? Early firearms were in fact not that deadly. I think the bigger benefit of using guns is that you can teach almost any peasant to kill a samurai with a gun in just a few weeks. Using a bow effectively takes years of practise. This gives you a lot faster replenisment rate. Also the noise and smoke guns make have big psychological impact on troops not familiar with them. For these (among others maybe?) reasons we see archers dissappearing from battlefields pretty quickly after gunpowder became widespread.
But if we compare who was more deadly during Sengoku Jidai period, I think I'd have to give the edge to a trained warrior with the bow over matchlock.
@@Sharnoy1 Especially when powder weapons were first introduced, they had pretty bad psychological effects on the enemy. Don't forget, if you did get a good hit, it could devastate an enemy. Probably didn't help people's minds watching their entire unit get destroyed.
@@killlog-kb3kd if
@@Sharnoy1 there is written documents from the Imijin war from the Koreans who mention Japanese armed with matchlock being able to fire and hit at ranges beyond the effective range of Korean archers who had superior bow technogly and skills to the Japanese.
here are some exerpts from Choi Byonghyon’s translation of “The Book of Corrections”. The Book of Corrections was a collection of memoirs from a Korean minister, Yu Songnyong.
p. 27
At last, our envoys left for Japan in April 1590 [March 1590 lunar] with Yoshitoshi and others. At the moment of their departure, Yoshitoshi presented His Majesty with two preasants, a spear, and a sword as a gift. His Majesty ordered the peaseants to be freed in the islands of the Bay of Namyang and the musket to be kept in the armory. This was the first time that Korea came to possess a musket.*
*At first, King Sonjo and his officials and military commanders did not realize the importance of muskets, the major weapon of the Japanese army. That is why the king simply ordered the musket presented by the Japanese envoy to be put away in the state armory. A few years later, however, King Sonjo’s view of the new weapon radically changed. When Minister Kim Ungnam said that bows were superior to muskets in power, the king tried to correct him with this comment: ‘The power of muskets is five times greater than arrows’.
p. 60
The officer rode on a horse, and two soldiers from the post station walked by him slowly, holding the bridle of the horse. Hiding in ambush under the bridge, Japanese soldiers with muskets shot down the officer from his horse and cut off his head and ran off with it. Upon seeing this, our soldiers lost all their fighting spirit.
After a short while a number of enemy soldiers suddenly emerged and started attacking us with ten or more muskets. The ones hit by the bullets were killed instantly. Yi immediately ordered the archers to counterattack using their bows, but their arrows fell far short of their target.
p. 88
Han Kukham, the provincial army commander of North Hamgyong province, led the soldiers of the Six Garrisons and met the enemy at the Haejongch’ang warehouse. Our soldiers of the northern province being skilled at archery and horsemanship, and its flat and wide ground good for riding horses, those who were on horseback discharged arrows at the enemy, attacking them by turn from the left and right. Unable to withstand our attack, the enemy retreated to the inside of the warehouse.
By that time, it was already dark. The general opinion was that our troops should rest for the night and continue their attack on the following day, waiting for the enemy to come out. However, Han Kukham would not listen and commanded his army to surround the enemy. Using stacks of grain from the warehouse for their cover, the enemy defended themselves from flying arrows and rocks and simultaneously fired their muskets at our forces. Our troops surrounded the enemy standing close together like the teeth of a comb or stacks of firewood. Therefore, when the enemy muskets were fired, they never failed to hit their targets and, furthermore, knocked down three or four men at a time. So our army at last collapsed.
p. 101
Six or seven of the enemy took their position at the edge of the river and discharged their muskets toward our fortress. The sound of their muskets was terribly loud and intimidating, and the bullets crossed the river to fall down in the fortress. Some of the longest shots, flying over a distance of more than a thousand paces, fell on the roof tiles of Taedonggwan Hall. Some of them even drove as deep as several inches into the wooden columns of the battlements.
The enemy soldiers with red uniforms approached and saw a small group of our people sitting at Yon’gwangjong Pavilion. They mistook us for our military commanders and, crawling over a sand hill, fired their muskets, hitting two among us. However, because of the long distance, the two were not hurt seriously. I ordered Officer Kang Saik to retaliate with p’yongjon arrows*, protecting themselves with a shield. As his arrows flew all the way to the sandy beaches on the other side of the river, the enemy was surprised and eventually retreated.
@@RocketHarry865 thank you for the interesting read! My knowledge is mostly based on European history and I can see from your source that Korean-Japanese war is giving some new perspective on the matter. Do you mind sharing a link to your source? :)
I learned a lot from this video, thank you sir!
Love the video, still my favorite total war. I can always play this one!
I don't think I've ever played with the vanilla matchlock units as the only way to play shogun2 IMO is with darthmod. So in my experience bringing matchlocks to a sword fight is not worth it. they are the absolute best at holding walls and other defensive positions tho
For campaign use I find matchlock ashigaru much better than matchlock samurai. it does take a while to unlock gunpowder mastery, but you can recruit matchlock ashigaru from anywhere and they are a very powerful unit for castle defence, which I generally find myself doing a lot in legendary campaigns since the AI loves to naval invade. Really useful for garrisons at least, while I never use matchlock samurai for anything.
One can be certain that the Japanese said these words to the Portuguese 'We want guns not Jesus'
Same range mod is essential if you wanna mass use guns outside of the Otomo.
So, are guns actually useful in campaign for anybody but the Otomo? Every time I've tried to use them in a field battle or offensive siege, I'm usually disappointing.
Personally I don't think so, they're great for castle defence but at the point you can recruit them you really shouldn't need units like that anymore.
All the time i used fire by rank to quickly kill greats amounts of enemy melee units runinig to kill you in that way in general they lost the biggest amount of troops before they reach you but after it seems thats not truly the case
10 trained blades are no match for 1 trained gun. Especially at a distance.
How to make the gun even better. One range mod increased and you're golden
No one:
That one guy at gym class: 0:22
I love the portuguese unit they look cool and olso for there cool beards!
Press F to pay respect for the dieing at the beginning
Thank you for another top quality video Donkey! After watching your previous Top X vids about Shogun 2 (many more times than I want to admit) there were really no surprises with this one. The Portuguese it is :)
There are so many interesting mods for Shogun 2 out there. Are you probably going to do a video ranking or giving thoughts about them as well? Or do you want to keep it simple with the vanilla game? Cheers!
I did a mod spotlight video a few months back, will probably pick that series up again at some point.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Yes I remember and I enjoyed that one too. Looking forward to more content about mods, since Shogun 2 is such a well modded game imo ^^
Gonna have to remember to defend my castles with heavy gunners the next time I play Shimazu.
Well matchlock ashigaru is good for garrison
While that is technically true, by the time you can recruit them you shouldn't really need garrison units like that anymore.
Does having a clan bonus, like the Oda for instance, flip Ashigaru and Samurai around, or does it stay the same?
All matchlock ashigaru are usless. Even the oda ones.
@@stoyanb.1668 in early game it's op, for Oda Ashigaru troops. Especially the boosts that Oda gives to any Ashigaru unit.
@@stoyanb.1668 no for otomo
I find it odd that the Shimazu don't have a unique firearm unit or any bonuses to firearm units. If I remember my history right, the Japanese were first introduced to guns when a Portuguese trade ship wrecked on the island of Tanegashima, which was controlled by the Shimizu at the time. There probably is a historical reason, but I just don't know what it is, lol.
Heavy gunners are unique to Shimazu
top 5 Katana units next
Sword units
dear mr smart donkey, would you say that gunpowder units are better than boys in shogun 2, or are bows simply just better regardless of units?
Depends. For example, if bows units are firing from behind something, they shoot in an arch, whereas matchlocks won't do nothing.
Basically for every clan I prefer bows except for the Otomo because they don't have access to Bow Warrior Monks but have the incredible Portuguese Tercos instead.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP but...but...but the *SUPERIOR KATANAS WITH BLADES MADE OF SHEETS OF STEEL FOLDED THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF TIMES THAT CAN CUT THROUGH ATOMS?!?!*
Now we need only top x naginata unit
Holy fuck... this video reminded me of how brutal and drawn out the dying animations were in this game.
Unless you were an important person or a person in the backlines if you got shot with a matchlock/arrow you were left until the enemy was dead. at least that's the vibes im getting from this Totally very accurate Historical game
Imagine firing a matchlock and inhaling that smoke(POV:no cigareetes needed now)
Before I watch the video, I'm gonna say number 1 is Portuguese Tercos.
Edit: Just finished the video, looks like I was right. To be completely honest was anything else going to be number 1?
you should make versus series
I think Heavy Gunners are little better than tercos in multiplayer,personal experience,but both are very good units.
enable guard mode when using firearm units
This video I call top 6 problem solving tools
Late question but is it really worth it to have an armory instead of a hunting lodge just to unlock Shimazu Heavy Gunners? They literally have the same stats as matchlock samurai.
@@steakdriven I’d suggest having a look at the video and judging for yourself. Stats aren’t always super accurate in this game, Shinazu Heavy Gunners are much more devastating than matchlock units because their guns have a knockback, as you can see in the video.
Revolver cavalry in Fall of the Samurai have a similar issue where their stats make them look horrible, but they’re one of the best units in the whole game.
Aren't imported and Otomo matchlock ashigaru the same stat wise?
I also strongly agree with the #1 choice as they're versatile.
Don't know from the top of my head, but I do know that Imported Matchlock Ashigaru have 40 less men in their unit. So even if they were exactly the same stat-wise, they'd still be a lot worse.
I was checking the encyclopedia. The Otomo matchlock ashigaru have 1 more morale, cost 250 compared to 450 koku, and their upkeep is 25 less. Also they have more men, obviously.
I guess it’s sort of off-topic but I think there isn’t a video with your preliminary impressions on Three Kingdoms yet. Am I just missing something or do you think it isn’t worth covering this early? Or are you just not interested? :P
I am interested, and you'll be seeing some Three Kingdoms on the channel in the not too distant future, I'm just not the kind of TH-camr to make cheap "impressions" videos on games I haven't played yet.
You missed this though: th-cam.com/video/iVx4bJptHmk/w-d-xo.html
MrSmartDonkeyLP I know you aren’t that’s why we’re still watching you :P It’s just that I had an impression there’s been quite a couple of gameplay reveals and such and I haven’t been following them myself, thought it would’ve been more entertaining to watch if somebody like you had put it in a short concise form. Thanks for answering!
Matchlock Ashigaru is fucking OP if auto-resolving
I know you hate shipbattles, but can you make one of these about ships?
I like matclock Ashigaru and Shimazu Heavy gunners
At #1 it will be Shimazu heavy gunners, I know it.
SamuraiGameZ Portuguese Terços
In our hearts and prenerf they deffinatly were
Number 1: dismounted donderbuss cavalry
Not everyone bad at siege castles like downsides for damaging place isn't
That bad
If know what your doing enemys lose siege before scale the wall
I'm sorry I only like your Shogun 2 videos, but that's why I'm here.
It's a shame how utter garbage matchlocks are overall in the game considering the period in which it is set. In the late stages of the Sengoku Jidai, they changed how war was fought in Japan forever. Matchlocks were what destroyed the power of the Takeda clan's dreaded cavalry and exterminated the clan's most veteran samurai. When Hideyoshi invaded Korea, up to a third of his forces were armed with matchlocks and were a big factor in why Japan was so successful in its conquests initially. I agree with CA's decision to make them somewhat of a late-game addition, but the execution was terrible.
Ashigaru gang represent!
Wait aren't the shimazu in the base game?
They are, but the Shimazu Heavy Gunners are part of the Sengoku Jidai Unit Pack DLC.
masters of KUNG-POW
best firearms in FOTS?
Top best towns in Shogun 2
YES i Love european impirialism ! Portugese are so great !
the only good part about marchlock samurai is for fort defend
*My dream came true.*
finaly shougun 2
0:22 - 0:45 Man
respectful dispray
Good god, Ikko Ikki Matchlock Ashigaru are fucking pitiful. They'd be destroyed by any other unit in the game in melee, and any unit charging them would only face a single volley (with shit accuracy) before closing into melee.
The only way I'd use them at all is if they're dirt-cheap to recruit and upkeep.
Yeah, seeing 4 1s in a row is pretty sad.
Hold up is this talking about FOTS or just shogun 2, because if its FOTS. Then im sorry shimazu heavy gunners op
I clearly mentioned all of the units included in this list in the beginning, and obviously it's not including FotS units or the list would be much longer. Also Shimazu Heavy Gunners aren't a FotS unit, they're from regular Shogun 2. I feel like you don't have enough of a grasp on which units are in which game to even begin saying which of them are OP. The Heavy Gunners used to be insanely good when they released, but they got nerfed pretty shortly after, they're still alright, but nothing compared to Portuguese Tercos.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Oh my bad, i thought that shimazu heavy gunners werent in Shogun 2 main, as for me I cant find them oh wait they arent released, fuck me. Sorry for disturbing you my dude.
They're a DLC unit, part of the Sengoku Jidai Unit Pack DLC.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Alright thank you.
I don't expect any suprises here
1. Portugese Tercios
2. Shimazu Heavy Gunners
3.Matchlock Warrior Monks
4.Matchlock Samurai
5.Matchlock Ashigaru
6.Tokitaka’s Tanegashima
Very close, but not quite.
is all of these units dlc
It's definitely either monks or the early nanban ashigaru that will be rank 1 or 2.
Edit: nvm could be Portuguese terco.
All Christian clans with nanban port can have imported matchlock.
Btw firing a volley at dunderbus range deals more damage for matchlock just like bows just armor piercing.
hi could u play game of thrones is a Amazing game
I havent even watched the vid but Im guessing the top 1 is portugese tercos
I'm guessing you might be right.
Woah you still replied on a 1yr old video and Im a new sub 😄 I can see myself spending a ton of hours on this channel
Tercos easily number one
non-yari infantary
Are you Dutch?
I am.
@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Je Engels is fantastisch en ik denk dat een native speaker niet eens door zou hebben dat je Nederlands bent :)
Top Calvary units now
Edit: Can’t believe MrSmartDonkey actually replied to this.
I'll split them up into melee and missile, which one would you like to see first? Not saying that's what I'll do, but I'd like to see people's opinions on the matter.
MrSmartDonkeyLP I would probably prefer melee first
Portuguese Terocos win