Does anyone still play this game?

[Accrsd]

I'm really curious about this. How many people still play sengoku and how many can say they enjoy it for what it is, A game about becoming the Shogun? I know that I enjoy it due to being able to play a period of history that we in the west don't hear alot about, but i've never been able to fully understand it as a game. Sure it's pdox standard with grand strategy large number v small number game and there's things that are easy to get, like if you loose a province then you loose the troops from there but all in all it's hard to tell exactly how well you're doing during a war. All you know is enemy that way, beat em up. Any tips from other players who might have a more insightful viewpoint out there?

 

[unmerged(524177)]

i play it from time to time, but after i beat the game a couple of times i just lost the motivation to go through the process again. after you reach a certain size - to me it's 10%-20% of japan - the rest of game becomes hopelessly repetitive. the start can be interesting as it's all about survival, then when you become strong enough you just fall into a cycle of spam honor, eat small guys, then spam more honor, then eat more small guys. toward the end i was usually so bored that i sent like 100k stack into rebel-held provinces and watch 2 monster stacks killing each other.

 

[Nyrael]

I play it from time to time, though the lack of features (due to the game getting no expansions) can make it a bit dull. I still like it more than HoI and MotE which I trued once.

 

[Grallis]

I'm really curious about this. How many people still play sengoku and how many can say they enjoy it for what it is, A game about becoming the Shogun? I know that I enjoy it due to being able to play a period of history that we in the west don't hear alot about, but i've never been able to fully understand it as a game. Sure it's pdox standard with grand strategy large number v small number game and there's things that are easy to get, like if you loose a province then you loose the troops from there but all in all it's hard to tell exactly how well you're doing during a war. All you know is enemy that way, beat em up. Any tips from other players who might have a more insightful viewpoint out there?

I still play Sengoku, and enjoy it for what it is. If youve played CKII(which I see you own), the basic functionality of the wars are very similar. If youre not too familiar with CKII, then Sengoku is the perfect game to get started. Its quite a bit simpler than CKII, but it has a lot of charm.

Yes, it can be difficult to tell what's going on during a war, especially when Daimyos start going about their own business and pulling off attacks you would not have authorized had you the option. The strength these games offer is the ability to pause. Any time a war is getting a bit too busy for me, I pause and take stock of which armies are where, and which enemy armies are moving where. I was not good at Paradox games, and am still not great as I dont play as much as Id like to, but my tactics were sound. If you also find your tactics to be good but youre still losing, you might have the same early problem I was having - I didnt know you could merge your armies! That changed everything as the battle is very much just a numbers game with the exception of a few small details.. As soon as I learned to merge armies, I won the second game after that point.

I'm also quite willing to play online if you would care to play.

 

[StepwisePilot]

I've been thinking of getting this, as it looks interesting, and it's nice to have a change of location.

 

[performer]

One of the best of the "smaller" games of Paradox (though a patch or DLC like "Vaer Victis" is lacking).

 

[PrinceCola]

I have it, but not tried it or installed it. I was going to give it a try, but i'm not sure if it is more like the EU games than CK2...i really liked CK2 but cannot stand EU4

 

[Nyrael]

I have it, but not tried it or installed it. I was going to give it a try, but i'm not sure if it is more like the EU games than CK2...i really liked CK2 but cannot stand EU4

Sengoku is CK's little brother and has nothing of EU in it.

 

[StepwisePilot]

Sengoku is CK's little brother and has nothing of EU in it.

Does this mean that the focus is on families rather than the country, as in CK2? What about CK2 features such as plots or assassinating people, are those in this?

 

[unmerged(524177)]

Does this mean that the focus is on families rather than the country, as in CK2? What about CK2 features such as plots or assassinating people, are those in this?

yep they are. although i rarely had success initiating my own plot, so i just watch if any invitation comes in or i just do it alone.

 

[Nyrael]

Does this mean that the focus is on families rather than the country, as in CK2? What about CK2 features such as plots or assassinating people, are those in this?

Yes, you play with characters from a dynasty. Since the inheritance law is elective (with preference for your heir), you can even fall from a Clan Leader to a Kokujin (Sengoku's Count)
Sengoku was the game which introduced the Plots feature. However, there is only one kind of plot: to invade a Clan larger than you (you collect allies and your target's vassals with target vassals becoming your subjects when you invade).
Assassination is also there, but you must wait for a Ninja Clan (whom you cat attract with one of your cancellors). Alongside assassinations, they can do kidnapping, dishonoring, etc.

There are some other differences from CK2:
- you can declare war on anyone and the moment you occupy a province, it immediately becomes yours
- your max demesne is always 5
- the game has a goal: you have to conquer 50% of Japan and then hold it for a certain amount f time (the AI will try to stop you from winning). If you survive that you become the Shogun and the game ends

In general, it is a much simpler game than CK2, more oriented on waging wars than diplomacy and intrigue. It makes a good break when you want to play a PI game but don't want anything complex or time consuming. It is unfortunate that PI never released any expansion which meant that much of the game's potential will be undeveloped (luckily, the game is very stable and bug-free (I don't even remember ever encountering a bug) so you won't miss patches)

 

[StepwisePilot]

Hmmmm.... I might just stick with EU4 and CK2. I'm not saying I wouldn't like the game, but it doesn't sound to be my cup of tea.

 

[performer]

Unfortunately, no one joins a plot so I lose all my games.
How do YOU win Sengoku?

 

[Olaus Petrus]

I play it from time to time. I think it's nice little CK2 Lite, but I find it bit dull that there's not much variety in the game. It doesn't matter which faction you play, because besides starting location there's not much difference between the gameplay of different factions (unlike in CK2 where playing as Egypt is quite different from playing as England). I think that some sort of expansion which would make the mechanics deeper could really improve the game.

 

[unmerged(486465)]

I still play the game occasionally. I still love it too.

 

[DarthJF]

Unfortunately, no one joins a plot so I lose all my games.
How do YOU win Sengoku?

Opportunistic conquering and having marriages with clans who are more powerful than me. I have almost never used plots in my campaigns.

I still play the game and do quite enjoy it. Especially with Chatnoir's mod it gets a lot more flavour in it and the game feels more being about Japan than just any random "take over the world" game which just happens to have a map shaped like Japan.

Sengoku isn't exactly as good as I was hoping for it to become, but it's still a very decent game and worth the occasional playthrough.

 

[Grallis]

Opportunistic conquering and having marriages with clans who are more powerful than me. I have almost never used plots in my campaigns.

I still play the game and do quite enjoy it. Especially with Chatnoir's mod it gets a lot more flavour in it and the game feels more being about Japan than just any random "take over the world" game which just happens to have a map shaped like Japan.

Sengoku isn't exactly as good as I was hoping for it to become, but it's still a very decent game and worth the occasional playthrough.

I have yet to play a game with Chatnoir's mod, but have been meaning to do so. I have to agree - the game is very enjoyable and has a lot of charm.

 

[unmerged(486465)]

The best thing about the mod is that it breaks up the 3 mammoth kanrei clans (Yamana, Hosokawa & Uesugi) into smaller entities. This way they don't get to steamroll everybody so quickly and the map becomes much more fluid and unpredictable. Definitely worth a shot.

 

[Grallis]

The best thing about the mod is that it breaks up the 3 mammoth kanrei clans (Yamana, Hosokawa & Uesugi) into smaller entities. This way they don't get to steamroll everybody so quickly and the map becomes much more fluid and unpredictable. Definitely worth a shot.

Thanks Brick Top! Ya, that'd be helpful as those clans are massive. I'll definitely give it a shot as soon as I have the time and feel like experimenting

 

[Powerslave]

I play it from time to time and I really enjoy the simplicity of Sengoku compared to CK2. Both is good in it's own rights. I really hope Paradox continue to do "smaller" games as well as their general grand Strategy games!