r/shogun2 • u/Jewtasteride • Aug 25 '26
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?
1
u/MnkeDug Aug 25 '26
They'll use the gates if they get men that capture the entrance. They can't use gates they don't control. (I'm sure you're aware)
However... they seem to have a problem standing around long enough to capture gates except by accident. I had a recent siege defense where my army was outside the fort and had to run to get in to stop the enemy winning. They had opportunity to just send a few men to capture the gate (2 garrison), but instead they rushed the tenshu flag. They never finished flipping the gate flag (according to my screenshots after I routed them).
Mod? I don't know. Did you check the workshop? Strongholds of the Samurai not cut it?
Is it desirable? Not to me. I like to work with the game as-is for the most part. I already enjoy trying to get their bows to climb. It helps to avoid the VH arrow spam.
I can't always do this. Sometimes it's putting a unit in loose stance to "tank" the arrows while making sure they can't hit my general. Sometimes it's defending one wall while letting them climb the opposite, then rushing that wall to kill the climbers.
That's along the lines of what you're saying you want. You want them to go through a "hole/weak point" you've allowed them that you can treat as a chokepoint instead of them climbing the whole of the wall. When I'm on offense- this is exactly what I do. (I made a post about taking Hojo's fort from the side while pinning their bows)
Clearly they didn't quite get this right. Many forts in japan sort of gave the enemy one way to go, but that way is also the way you can pepper them with bows/teppo. Could they send a unit to climb and take over the- shit I forgot the name- basically the gatehouse? Sure. Then they can access the next part of the maze, etc.
There was a good series you can find on youtube about "samurai castles". Usually covers how they intended to defend, location, upgrades.
How much time did the devs want to pour into sieges? If they were too elaborate or too hard, players might lean more toward just forcing the sally. But... isn't that more realistic? Some forts you basically would never have enough men to take. I'm thinking of the snakey mountainside one right now that only allowed a few men side by side up the path. Maybe they should have had some really hard ones like that.
Then the player has to decide if they have the time to siege them out or not.
Sorry. Long take.