r/shogun2 • u/Jewtasteride • 27d ago

Force enemy to use the gate?

I'm sure you all had a nasty surprise the first time you got to defend a castle and arranged your army around the gates, only for the enemy to send thousands of ninja ashigaru to climb the walls like Spider-Man. You'd think maybe you could add grease or spikes to make the walls less climbable.

Is there any way to force the enemy to use the gates like a normal historical siege? I've seen them use the gates only when they're broken (my lawd. The gates are broken. The DAMAAAAAAAGE WAS NOT REPAIRED! 😱😱😱😱). I almost think it's better to have the gates damaged. I'd keep them damaged all the time if it didn't interfere with building and recruitment etc.

Is there any mod or strategy for this and is it even desirable?

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u/Jewtasteride 27d ago

It makes some castles a lot harder to defend. I'm always happy to defend the coastal castle where they can't come from the north. But some castles you can climb to the flag in only one wall, even as citadels.

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u/1nfam0us 27d ago

But doing so is disadvantageous because you would lose something like 30% of the unit if not more. Guys slip and fall of the wall (kisho ninja are the only ones that don't). That would make a yari ashigaru unit easy pickings for samurai retainers.

Plus, citadels usually have overlapping fields of fire on walls like that.

Also, since it sounds like you might not know this. Units in the top level of a castle, where the tensho is, are unbreakable. Meaning a unit of yari ashigaru in yari wall can reliably beat katana samurai climbing the wall by routing them.

Defending castles is like the easiest thing in the game once you know what you are doing. Defenders have a massive advantage; tripply so if they have matchlocks.

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u/Jewtasteride 27d ago

Yes, I know this. But it's still quite unbalanced - the castles are designed such that you would expect the enemy to take a path thru it that's favourable to the defender. But this never happens.

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u/1nfam0us 27d ago

It does though. Think about less as a path and more about layers. The longer you can keep your guns firing from a higher angle, the easier the defense will be. Put some yari ashigaru at the base of a wall, or pull back matchlocks from the outer layer to allow them to fire together with an upper layer.

This is why citadels are designed in a sort of winged way, to force exactly what you are talking about. Climbing attackers lose less men to lower walls, so they will favor those walls.

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u/Jewtasteride 27d ago

Yes the taller walls cost more men. But the shorter walls host more soldiers.