AGENTS - Tutorial Series - Total War: Shogun 2!

Get Shogun 2 here: tinyurl.com/y9mmcjey (use discount code "SmartDonkey" on checkout for an extra 10% off)
Welcome to my Tutorial Series on Total War: Shogun 2! In this video I go over the ins and outs of Agents in Shogun 2.
Leave comments telling me what you need help with on Total War: Shogun 2. The more questions the better, and the more detailed those questions, even better.
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Want more similar content, have a look at these series:
Shogun 2: Clan Overviews: • Clan Overviews - Total...
Shogun 2: Top X series: • Top X - Total War: Sho...
Shogun 2: Shimazu (Legendary): • Let's Play Total War: ...
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Keep in touch with MrSmartDonkey!
Patreon: / mrsmartdonkey
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Twitter: / mrsmartdonkeylp
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Total War: Shogun 2 Gameplay Information:
In the darkest age of Japan, endless war leaves a country divided. It is the middle of the 16th Century in Feudal Japan. The country, once ruled by a unified government, is now split into many warring clans. Ten legendary warlords strive for supremacy as conspiracies and conflicts wither the empire. Only one will rise above all to win the heart of a nation as the new shogun...The others will die by his sword.
Take on the role of one Daimyo, the clan leader, and use military engagements, economics and diplomacy to achieve the ultimate goal: re-unite Japan under his supreme command and become the new Shogun - the undisputed ruler of a pacified nation.
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Total War: Shogun 2 Features:
Total War: SHOGUN 2 features enhanced full 3D battles via land and sea, which made a name for the series, as well as the tactical campaign map that many refer to as the heart and soul of Total War. Featuring a brand new AI system inspired by the scriptures that influenced Japanese warfare, the millennia old Chinese “Art of War”, the Creative Assembly brings the wisdom of Master Sun Tsu to Total War: SHOGUN 2. Analysing this ancient text enabled the Creative Assembly to implement easy to understand yet deep strategical gameplay.
CONQUER the islands of Japan in the 16th century. Lead vast armies of samurai and fleets of giant warships into breathtaking real-time battles.
BUILD your kingdom on the inviting and turn-based campaign map. Wield economic, political, and military power to amass wealth, armies, and influence.
SCHEME according to the "Art of War" by Sun Tzu. Use fire and siege tactics, spies and assassins to adapt to the ever-changing conditions on the battlefield and throughout your kingdom.
BATTLE ONLINE and experience the main campaign in two-player mode. Then join epic online battles with up to 8 players and lead your online army to glory in special campaigns.
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For more information on Total War: Shogun 2, check out these links:
Total War: Shogun 2 Official Website: wiki.totalwar.com/w/Total_War_...
Download Total War: Shogun 2 on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/201...
Official Total War: Shogun 2 Trailer: • Total War: Shogun 2 - ...
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Total War: Shogun 2 is developed by Creative Assembly.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

*I forgot to mention which retainers to focus on for Ninjas. Sabotaging Armies retainers don't exist, so go for 'Assassination', 'Success Chance', and 'Lowered Chance of Being Assassinated or Getting Caught'.*

[@UDUDUD23]

Hey @MrSmartDonkey do you recommend one of your series as a tutorial type series in Shogun 2? I'm new to TW I started with WH trying to find a good video series to understand these more complex older games

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

The Shimazu campaign was my first and is generally seen as kind of a tutorial series because I often go over why I make the decisions that I make, it is a little outdated though, for example, I still use Yari Samurai (ewww) in that.

[@archaontheeverchosen8202]

MrSmartDonkeyLP hi will u be doing a date clan overview

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I will, in fact it's going up tonight.

[@archaontheeverchosen8202]

*****​ at what age does your character in shogun 2 dies

[@hedgehog3180]

I like how the rock paper scissor mechanic makes sense in the setting of the game as well. The Metsuke is a policeman or rather sheriff so he is specialized in catching criminals like the Ninja and is good at that by using legal networks in order to track them down and then being able to just legally arrest or execute the ninja without having to worry about being seen. However being a man of the law he will also listen to the monk when he makes arguments and because he himself is guided strongly by an internal moral code he can be convinced by religious moral arguments. The monk in turn though by being a pious and open man makes himself very vulnerable to the ninja who has no moral qualms about lying to the monk and exploiting his religious ideas and openness to strangers. And I guess the Geisha implies that the monks are not that good about sticking to their vows.

[@generationm2059]

In other words, the metsuke crushes underhanded crooks, the monk/missionary covers the lawman's sense of justice with moral doctrines and rhetoric, and the monk/geisha slices through unsuspecting clergymen.

[@steyn1775]

In other words the Monk is a simp lol

[@someorclad9738]

Not even the most pious of men can resist the power of good old, glorious hentai. Praise be them waifus!

[@yazui.i.9368]

@@someorclad9738cannot blame him

[@mk_gamíng0609]

In theory yes but in reality Metsuke often worked with the Yakuza and instead of arresting people would often kill them on the spot and just use there position to let it slide

[@MrPathorn]

Some tips: To level up Ninja easily you can bully Ashikaga Shogunate. They always have level 1 monk and Level 1 general that never go anywhere that keep spawning after the turn has ended. They are a perfect target for assassinations.

[@Thraim.]

The bloodbaths I have inflicted on the Ashikaga haunt my nightmares to this day.

[@hahaahaihate1084]

Lol i was abusing that

[@superspies32]

My first time idk about that and when I reached Kyoto that Monk was max level. He destroy 75% of my agents until I successfully assasinated him.

[@dovahkiin3379]

@@superspies32 I felt that, on my last campaign as Tokugawa that motherfucker kept slaying every type of agent I sent against him the asshole converted over 7 of my metsukes and every ninja died trying to assassinate him, he terrorised my clan for 12 turns until my veteran 6th rank ninja came back from the north after I finished conquest of the date and got rid of him, triggering RD before killing him is a mistake I won't make again

[@lolwalullalullol912]

@@superspies32 Ikr they have max level agents from sitting in Kyoto at all time.

[@aletaris]

I like arresting metsukes with metsukes

[@euromanijak]

*metsuke to metsuke* "you're under arrest" *metsuke to metsuke* "no u" *metsuke gets exectued my metsuke*

[@raddragon1373]

@@euromanijak Lie! Metsuke would have kicked metsukes ass!

[@Anonie324]

spidermanpointingatspiderman.jpg

[@midhon]

Me too ahahahaahhah

[@anonyme4881]

OBJECTION

[@benerdick_cumberbiatch]

I find inciting revolts useful when you want honour and experience. Step 1 take town step 2 make them a vassal step 3 incite revolt and let it destroy your vassal step 4 destroy rebels and repeat You'll have a top tier monk and general in no time and at least 6 honour.

[@benerdick_cumberbiatch]

@Jonathan Williams but then you don't get the honour bonus. And once you have enough you can keep inciting rebellions and crushing them in the same turn.

[@benerdick_cumberbiatch]

This can be a good thing. If you don't want to hit realm divide or you just want to build up your economy before you expand.

[@thewanderingdoomed4883]

Yes lol, i always use inciting revolt for take rich province, without make a war with they clan

[@TheFlyingZulu]

I do this to allies that I don't want to go to war with but it's risky on higher difficulties. If the monk fails you get a -50 "hostile agent" negative diplomatic relations status with that clan.

[@yassopicasso6375]

Or just crush their rebellions before they take over the towns, there is a chance they might retreat when they’re defeated once so that’s double xp

[@ofal5124]

Ninja age: 69 nice but imagine that old man trying to move and swing like real ninja

[@TheMAXIFOD]

according to the laws of anime, old people in Japan are extremely buff

[@xxXXRAPXXxx]

Well not all ninjas ware naruto running in the night towards their target. Many ware blending in as castle stuff and waiting weeks/months for good opportunity to poison a target.

[@avoidant560]

As a rule of thumb, the old men in war always be the most dangerous with wisdom of age and experiences on their side.

[@ofal5124]

@@avoidant560 Old men are dangerous especially in anime

[@avoidant560]

@@ofal5124 yeah, that's how Bleach describe them

[@kyletak702]

7:31 Off-note but thats one fucking old ninja.. "Age: 69"

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Haha, I'd noticed that during editing too. That was a late game campaign, don't think he would've lasted much longer.

[@3Faidonas3]

huehuehuhuehue "69"

[@-----Alcatraz------]

Nobody expects an old man to be a shinobi

[@johnpascua3351]

AzNKairu I had a 75 year old ninja in one of my playthroughs XD

[@lukewelsh7144]

i had one reach 97. i have no idea how the he still managed to kill people at that age but he did until he died when the ship he was on was attacked by pirates and destroyed. it was the saddest day for my clan.

[@QuangMinh-dm8gh]

1:29 he was too old for this job :)))

[@thongnguyenngoc5767]

Nice.

[@based_yeoman9138]

The "incite revolt" ability of the monks/missionaries is incredibly strong, imo, particularly when you're on the verge of RD and you need to find ways to weaken your enemies without it getting triggered. You can also create some room between you and your enemies by having a layer of rebellious provinces between you and them. Easily my favorite agent ability, though he's got a good point about the ninja's sabotage army ability.

[@danshakuimo]

Not to mention it's a way to get provinces from an ally (esp those required for victory) without breaking the alliance.

[@samxiang4669]

The only problem with rebels is that prolonged rebel-occupation of towns can tank that province's income as the devastation severely decreases the town's growth, which may be an obstacle but usually isn't

[@kaijuslayer3334]

Monks are pretty nice sometimes if you wanna indirectly take over a clan you want no business directly fighting with. Since you can start revolts in low guarded castles, let the rebels take it. And then quickly come in and take the castle. I’ve basically crippled entire much stronger clans using that technique.

[@dwmarch]

I specialize my ninjas differently. I go down the spy side of the tree with two points in the first skill for huge line of sight and then with each level up from there I add one point into each of the two furthest-left columns. When combined with the tech tree bonus to ninjas once you get to the bottom of the skill tree you have a free ninja - zero cost for all actions! And the skills on that side of the tree give them incredibly high bonuses to escape chance. So instead of being ~90% good at one single action they are ~70% good at everything for free and impossible for enemies to kill!

[@MrHarumakiSensei]

Me too. I always made assassin ninjas until I finally read everything on the left side of the skill tree. Ninja actions for free are is just too good to pass up. I notice Shinobi in Fall of the Samurai can't level up to be able to do that. Maybe it was considered OP.

[@chadnorris8257]

I feel like the left side is probably more practical. Assassinating generals is good, but the enemy never seems to run out of them, so it's better to go down the left side for free actions, and high chances of escape. Also makes him a better scout, which is very useful for knowing what the enemy is doing outside my lands.

[@AvengerAtIlipa]

Takeda Shingen + Monk demoralizing ashigaru armies + Naginata Warrior Monk Warcry = Fun times

[@ahmadtarek7763]

The uesugi has left the chat .

[@PrussianWarfare]

Great video, I just have one comment on editing. You took the Metsukes out of your 5 most profitable towns and put them back in, doubling your income. You used a red arrow and circled the next turn income, but since the attention is directed at the center of the screen with the characters moving on the map and opening up the province menus, it's hard to notice your emphasis on the income per turn change. In the future, I would ask if you could edit in a comparison screenshot of the income before and the income after putting the Metsukes in the towns. Or just in general for videos like this, a comparison slide can really help showcase information without the viewer getting distracted. I love your videos, keep up the good work :)

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Good point, this was actually something I was a little worried about, I'll keep that in mind for future reference. Thanks for the feedback sir!

[@gossamer999]

As someone with over 400 hours on Shogun 2, and only ever played casually and never on a hard difficulty, I feel much more confident playing on those harder difficulties with the knowledge you have bestowed upon me after discovering and binge watching your videos.

[@herman1francis]

Could we have a video on fall of the samurai agents?

[@ryanmaybee]

Textbook Tutorial - thanks so much! Covered everything in depth and the RPS comparison was really helpful :)

[@user-kt3uv7nf7i]

Monks are amazing, declaring war can get you caught up in interwoven alliances. Why not instead cause a rebellion to take over and then send your army in to secure the province. Boom, more land, no war.

[@GroovyIsGroovy]

A tutorial on city development an map expansion would be great!

[@machaiping]

It's one year late, but for city development it's very simple. For any given generic city, delete everything that's not Market or Sake Den. Then fill all building slots with Market and Sake den (on harder difficulty it will more likely to be Sake den because occupation penalty is quite high). And never, ever upgrade your castle, it's not worth it. upgrade farms whenever possible, starting with Fertile city first. But for city with blacksmith, craft workshop or horse breeder, it's different; get the highest level castle and fill all build slots with appropriate recruitment buildings: one Encampment for all types. Yari Drill Yard and Sword School for blacksmith city, Archer range for craft workshop city, you can add Temple if you want to use Warrior monks. For horse breeder city, get stable with Yari Drill Yard and Encampment for Yari Calvarly on steroid. If you, for some reason, want Nanban Trade port without revoking your faith in Buddha, then you need Temples in the city that has said port, plus two adjacent cities to counteract Christianity spread. Of course, this strategy will left you using Ashigaru for quite a while until you get Blacksmith and Craft workshop city. But considering Ashigaru in Yari Wall is the most overpowered unit in Shogun 2 (Oda's one even more so), that doesn't matter much at all.

[@kevinc.cucumber3697]

@@machaiping i know this is 3 years late but thank you. The main reason I can’t play total war campaigns for more than a few turns is because i get overwhelmed with management and i have no idea if i’m doing the right thing.

[@le_jiggy_garcon]

@@machaiping you a hero

[@Snoogen11]

Personally the M&M's are good for inciting rebellions, and these can be used for 3 different things: firstly, for distracting your enemy, if he has to send his army away to crush a rebellion, he's not standing in your path. Secondly, for starting a rebellion with a neutral clan, so that when you "liberate" the town, you don't suffer as much of a diplomatic hit. Thirdly, if you do a large number in quick succession this can tie up important resources for a clan, and also limit their income. I used this tactic against the takeda who owned pretty much half of japan, by the time my monks where done the rebels owned nearly half of the takeda provinces. As for demoralising armies, I've used that ability hundreds of times, it fails a few times, but I've only ever lost a monk once.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

What difficulty do you play on?

[@Snoogen11]

Mainly normal, but i've had quite some success on hard too. Although i will admit, when i tried it on my first (and only) legendary run, it didn't help much, and cost me too much money.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

That was indeed going to be my point, on Legendary it can still be an alright strategy but it does end up being very expensive and you end up fighting gigantic rebel stacks on top of the already many armies the other clans have, rather than being able to take empty provinces. I appreciate your honesty though, usually when I ask this question everyone claims they play on Legendary even though I can tell by what they're saying that they aren't. It's hard to do guides like this because people have vastly different experiences depending on what difficulty they play, for example, when I play on lower difficulties I love bribing enemy armies, but on Legendary that's just not viable, so I'm doing these guides mostly with Legendary in mind.

[@HeIsAnAli]

Played Otomo on Easy; Two stacks, a Missionary, and a Metsuke make for shenanigans. Step 1: Spread the *WORD OF THE LORD!* (read: incite a rebellion) Step 2: Capture province with one stack reinforced by the second. Step 3: Use Metsuke to "befriend" (read: bribe) Christian Rebels. -If- When the Lord is with you, you get the full stack. Step 4: _Now I have three stacks, Alleluia, Alleluia!_

[@JasonWolfGames]

For some reseason I cannot fathom, I feel like playing Shogun 2 now.

[@Lancerwan]

Big thanks! You're guides are super helpful

[@muhammadsaduddin308]

Shogun needs to cut the tech time. It takes too long to get geisha. I'm using radious tech mod, and damn now it feels so much better

[@HrHaakon]

I, a filthy casual, get approximately the set of provinces I can get away with, and turtle until I have the tech I want. I'll build a lot of religious buildings to get civic tech faster, get approx. all of it, and be so filthy rich my inferior samurai are still a match for the enemy. To do this properly, Jesus is important, because you can get cannons, arquebuses and ships from the gaijin that way. And defending castles with gunpowder is just as ludicrously OP as the book of five rings says it is.

[@kieranwalsh2058]

@@HrHaakon I got a couple mods that cut the time to get units and tech, as well as making guns the same range as archers. RP as the Oda has never been so fun

[@nataliakruschev5078]

This was hugely helpful to me. I knew metsukes were basically anti-ninja guys, but I never knew they could also be extremely useful for making me a ton more money. I was only ever making a max of 5k per turn on my Ikko playthrough, and while I learned that Ikko can't use metsuke, I always thought everyone else was just like this. I'll be definitely playing the Takeda and using a ton of Metsuke from here out to see how it works out.

[@TheFlyingZulu]

Metsuke - 1:53 Monk / Missionary - 3:47 I was looking up some advice on missionary builds... I'll just build them similar to a monk. Ninja - 6:02

[@jamesfelstead4096]

Great agent guide. Thankyou

[@Yarghvid]

Great video, almost all you need to know about agents in this game! I would, however, build the ninja for army scouting. Assassinations and sabotage are so expensive it's hard to justify it and the bonus map movement+vision lets you hit almost anywhere you want without risk. Can always have a geisha for dealing with pesky generals.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Perhaps on lower difficulties, but on Legendary you absolutely need your ninjas for sabotaging armies, and the assassinating isn't so much used for killing generals as it is other agents. Sabotaging armies is somewhat expensive but if it saves you hundreds of men because it lets you 2v1 armies, or stops a naval invasion from rampaging through your towns it's certainly worth it.

[@Vincrand]

I usually level my ninjas in various ways. One setup is full army sabotage + cost redution for ninja actions, another is going down the middle path with the last trait maxed (jack of all trades), the 3th is how you described it in the vid and the last one is army sabotage + build spy network. For a very long time I didn't think much of the spynetwork, but the amount of intell it gives is rather insane.

[@EcuadorianFlagShip]

Great video dude

[@dragonwolf7221]

great stuff its great to get help with games thanks !!!!

[@kahutuwhare1947]

Great vid ty!

[@bigbaba1111]

I like the little video sequences after deploying the Ninja.

[@chinaragarwal3104]

Once I reach a high enough level of "clan fame", just prior to the realm divide, I focus on inciting revolts in all my neighboring clans to decrease their towns and weaken their armies.

[@jcdias6951]

great video!

[@roberttaylor8906]

awesome video, smartdonkey! can you do one for the generals' skill tree?

[@swiftytheswift6036]

Hey man, i just recently came across your channel and i have to say you make some top notch quality content. I really like your style in making videos and i enjoy watching every single one of them. Just felt like i should drop off a positive message and let you know that you just keep doing what you are doing because you are damn good at it. - Swifty. :)

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Thanks man, that really means a lot. It's good to hear a kind word like this every now and then. Thanks :) - Donkey

[@swiftytheswift6036]

***** I'm glad it makes you happy. :D

[@IWubYooz]

Something that is talked little about, and perhaps for good reason, is the value of establishing spy networks with your ninjas. I only discovered this recently myself: The expansion of vision over a province's borders DOES stack with multiple ninjas. Sometimes it can be nice to throw a few into a castle for a turn to gain significant vision over the borders of a larger province, especially when you may not get much travel beyond that castle anyways. It can also be a nice way to net a few exp for ninjas that might've been doing nothing for that turn instead. Also tangentially related is the Stealthy general skill point that at rank 3 allows that general to perform night battles essentially doing in a general what sabotaging armies does for you. Granted, sabotage also prevents the unit from moving, but you're not often going to have a general running away if they have another unit nearby to support them. It's at least worth considering. The extra command during ambushes is kind of nice too.

[@TomisaLami]

i like that you end it with a ninja falling off the wall

[@redtsun67]

Monks are by far the strongest agent in the game IMO. I once took half the campaign map using only monks to start rebellions in undefended provinces, then I'd come in afterwards and "restore order" AKA take the town with my own army. No diplo hit from the faction, no war declaration necessary. Well, maybe they aren't the strongest agent overall, but you can do some wacky stuff with the max rank monk. I was so sad when that guy died of old age.

[@charliewhite578]

bribe is super useful endgame. Very often I send a few high level metsuke and monks in boats to start making revolts, I'd then bribe the rebels, take the province which pulls the attention away from your core fiefs, and, if the rebels survive you can beat the clan with them, then disband them once you're finished.

[@lippi2171]

Revolt incitements are OP. I train 2 or 3 agents just for this purpose. A well-trained agent almost never fails to incite. Before RD I use it to maintain balance of power, after RD it's destroy and take em all. Good thing the AI never uses incitement, cuz it almost feels like cheating

[@hui-an-xin]

Wow learned a lot! I guess I'm a lot more aggressive with my agents, performing simple assassinations and apprehensions and revolts. Then again I usually play on normal or hard difficulty so I'm not really clawing tooth and nail through legendary difficulty. My one Very Hard difficulty currently is with the Shimazu where I have the 12 turns a year mod, so I have plenty of time to camp in Kyushu and obtain excessive amounts of gold, agent experience, and mastery of the arts. Otherwise on my Takes a campaign I am really struggling with finance and management so these tips are really valuable.

[@hui-an-xin]

Hanasaku Iroha

[@hui-an-xin]

Oh, I wasn't expecting to give a recommendation here on a Shogun 2 video, but sure I'll a quick rundown. Not sure how familiar you are with anime and this kind of stuff, here goes. Hanasaku Iroha is a wildly fun and energy driven show that explores things from growing up, being independent, adapting to change, family values, and discovering personal emotions. It's a true Mari Okada melodrama, meaning there's going to be a lot of crying, a lot of yelling, a lot of emotions some people adore and others feel is forced. There's a lot of goofy segments which I admittedly don't love looking back, but at its heart the show is set in a traditional Japanese hot springs inn, and excels on the themes of peaceful countryside virtues. If you're willing to dig through the first three episodes of rapid character introductions and eccentric story arc, it gets really interesting and developed later on. The show is done by PA Works, one of my favorite studios, which means beautiful backgrounds and excellent animation. The people who worked on this project are passionate and communicated their intentions and feelings elegantly. The characters are buoyant and real, lovable and detestable, a true cast that compliments each other's faults and strengths. The music I fell in love with, and the whole show has the comfy nostalgic but somewhat melancholic vibe to it. It's a show I adore, and many others praise, but not universally loved. Try it, don't get too dissuaded by some jarring scenes, because it's worth it in the end. Ultimately it achieves the message it sets out to send, of the messy and bumpy road to finding your true desires and maturing and blossoming. Something to that effect, it's hard to not recommend a show you personally love. Well, give it a try. Ultimately it's up to you, but what I can say is it's not the average anime.

[@hui-an-xin]

Glad you liked it.

[@hui-an-xin]

I'm from China, in the United States right now.

[@hui-an-xin]

It's 1:25 am here, I'm studying physics for exams.

[@civishamburgum1234]

I would recommend to let you agents travel with an army for a while. Battles are plenty and give them much experience, without risking the agent. That strategy is especially good for Metsgues, since they have a hard time getting experience otherwise.

[@SpaceKnight105]

Emperor: what duh Ninja: yeeeet (Emperor ducks) Ninja: Nani

[@rizalalbar]

You mean shogun?

[@COMMANDandConquer199]

Inciting revolts is very powerful. If you don't want to declare a war on a faction, but still want their land, you can incite a revolt, wait until the rebels take the town, then move in and crush the rebels. This is also a good way to get rid of the vassals and allies that you will sometimes start the game with and will keep you from losing honor by just declaring war on them.

[@tribuicang9583]

In my Ninja case, i always go on defender of the people, on lv6 the success chance of all ninja is nearly the same, so reduce action cost would be useful in later part of the game. Also you need to get a ninja soon and train train alot by saboteur enemy army.

[@joeriandries]

i do like myself a couple ninjas with good skills for establishing spy networks though... to be able to put them in a town and see almost all movement from neighbouring towns is sooo usefull

[@mr.ortzknortz883]

about the monks you can really make use of them when you use them to demoralise enemy armies and boost your amry moral and when those armies clash your enemy will flee like chickens and attack them the 2nd time and they are dead .. i have to admit it works better when there is no general just and enemy captain but you dont have too either and i always thought that they are quite succefull and rank up fast when moved around and even convert metsuke that try to bride your army

[@ExileSparroW]

MrSmartDonkeyLP it's like you read my comment and made the video in one day O.o THANK YOU FOR THIS!

[@NerdExtrodinare]

I enjoy the Ninja "Free bribe to win!" and the Metsuke "All of this is for the clan." (Aka some 90% tax rate.)

[@deathb3rry]

Hey Mr Donkey, do you know if leaving agents out on the field increase the odds of counter-agent actions? For example a ninja has higher chance to assassinate a monk on the field than in a town/army

[@fangexploring]

You didn't mention the effects agents overseeing armies, or bribing. I read in the past that bribing an army can be very powerful, particularly if you took the reduce cost tech/upgrade. Great tutorial for the rest. Thanks!

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I didn't because I explained what in my opinion the best uses for agents are on Legendary, and Bribing and Overseeing Armies are nowhere near. There is only 1 effective use for Metsuke's, Overseeing Towns. There is nothing that comes anywhere near the usefulness of Overseeing Towns.

[@fangexploring]

I see. Thanks for clarifying.

[@markjerue9734]

Am I the only one who's wondering what this massive Otomo playthrough is that MrSmartDonkey has on stream? Because those big ol' European armies look like fun to watch....

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

What do you mean? The Gunpowder Only challenge? That's on KZbin too, never finished it though, will likely re-do it at some point.

[@PhilosophicallyAmerican]

What about metsuke's bribe army ability. I once had two full double-stack shogunate armies attacking my unprepared defenses. I sent in a metsuke and suddenly the 2v0 became a 1v1.

[@pbh9195]

Metsuke are my favorite agents in any total war game. The ability to bribe entire armies is useful when dividing and conquering

[@ltwinpwnhunterr7844]

They are great when on your side, but the amount of times I end a turn and find out that another factions Metsuke got my ninja and monk executed is so annoying, especially after said agent just got leveled up prior to the end turn. And I find that the ai cheese this with upgrading them with the minus to assassination, so I have to take out the faction so I can level and freely move my agents.

[@henryhamilton4087]

The best way to rank up Ninjas is to sabotage low level castle gates! This is cheap and have a very high chance of success even on a low level Ninja (unless there's a huge army or metsuke inside the castle)

[@brainwasher9876]

There are, nearly empirically, three ideal ways to make ninjas. The first is the saboteur, who maxes misdirection and then devotes the rest of the points into getting the two skills on the bottom left to make sabotaging completely free. He's not bad at assassinations either by rank 6, which he should easily obtain by sabotaging small armies over and over again, and they'll be completely free. Great if you have a tight purse. Second is jack of all trades, who puts one point in all the prerequisites of ninjutsu, then maxes out ninjutsu. This ninja is the _BEST_ at every single ninja thing--he's better at sabotaging than saboteurs, better at assassinating than assassins, etc. Problem is his actions can't be made free since he doesn't have the skill points to spare, and he's less likely to critical success than dedicated assassins. Also he's very average until he hits rank six which is a big ask unless you have a burakumin village/district combo. Finally there's what smartdonkey has described here, maxing out saboteur and assassination, which makes a less likely to succeed variant of the jack of all trades but has a more consistent time leveling up and being useful while he's doing so. I've given some thought of creating dedicated army scouts for ninjas, to maximize army movement range, but 9 times out of 10 with strategist and good roads it's entirely superfluous.

[@the0sanitydokutah967]

A clan is bigger and stronger than you and you can't attack them since they're your allied and you're forces are not ready yet? Then a monk is all you need! Inciting revolts and letting the rebels take over their stupidly undefended town while still being allied with them! Some gamer: WOW! This is pretty useful! Some fan: I always use the monk when I'm in a pinch Some guy: MONK RULES! They come in many colors and outfits too for only 500 gold pieces! And if you order now, you can also get its Christianity counterpart the Missionary. Missionary: Kami-sama da So order and get a Monk now! And you can rule Japan too! This tactic was only used in easy difficulty and not advisable with higher difficulty. Batteries not included

[@GidaHD]

Hey loved the video, any chance you can do a simillar video on FotS

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Perhaps in the distant future when I've played more campaigns on FotS, my knowledge of that game is much smaller than vanilla Shogun 2.

[@brainwasher9876]

FOTS has even less room for optimization than Shogun. Geisha should just put points in all skills that gives the "entertaining nobles" bonus since by far the most useful thing about geisha is the fact that they dramatically increase town wealth. Ishin Shishi and Shinsengumi should put one point in the prerequisites for the bottom three skills since these skills are super good, with clan-wide increase to happiness as well as clan-wide discount for all units recruited. The only exception of the rule is that shinsengumi have a skill early on that increases movement range which I concede is very useful, particularly in the early game, that you may want to grab instead of one of the final skills. Foreign veterans should put points into all the skills that increase training and accuracy, before putting a point in the final skill that reduces upkeep. Due to the way the hidden mechanics of the game works, increasing reload skill isn't useful for most end game units. Shinobi should do what they did best in Shogun 2 and put all points into army sabotage and prerequisites that improve army sabotage.

[@foramomentinspace]

Hi! I understand this video is a bit old, but could you explain to me why you checked then unchecked the “Exempt province from Tax” at 3:15? Is it some kind of game bug where it needs to be “reset” so you see the updated difference? Or is something I have to do each time I place a new Metsuke, so the game recognizes it? Thank you man. Apologies for finding this gem so late 😅

[@backinblack03]

Henceforth, monks and missionaries shall be known as M&Ms, that is all.

[@michaelr3583]

Metsukes for bribing and arresting Ninja for assasinating and sabotaging armies Monks for inciting revolts and converting agents

[@LionbugLP]

Actually, I believe the second point in exotic weapons gives +1 to assasination as well as other bonuses, so it´d be wiser to do those two and only put one point in the trait before

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

When you put 2 points in Exotic Weapons, you get +1 to assassination and +5 convalescence time for characters wounded by your ninja. Putting 2 points in Assassin will get you +2 to assassination. I value the extra +1 to assassination higher than the convalescence time personally. I'd rather just straight up assassinate someone than have them wounded for longer.

[@LionbugLP]

yes, but you HAVE to put the first point into exotic weapons, which gives +1 assassination and +3 wounded time, while the second point in the first skill only gives +1 assassinations. There´s still stuff to learn :D Watching all of your Shogun 2 LPs btw, and, without spoiling, if you could, do you reccomend Warhammer to fans of S2?

[@LionbugLP]

sorry, mistake in the first sentence, the first point gives only wounded time, the second point gives +1 ass and +3 time. overall point still stands though

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

You're right, but in the order I level up my ninjas, they would be much weaker at level 4 if I went 1 point in Assassin and 1 point in Exotic Weapons rather than just putting both points in Assassin. Being that much stronger during the 4th level to me is more valuable than the extra 3 turns of convalescence time you'd get in return for the late game. About Warhammer, I'm not sure what you want to hear from me, I enjoy it, not as much as Shogun 2 but it's alright. I'd recommend just watching some gameplay and making up your own mind about it.

[@LionbugLP]

Ah yes, totally reasonable, getting to lvl 5 takes super long. Anyway, you enjoying is basically all I need, after all you probably got thousands of hours in S2 which i adore, soooo... gonna buy it in the next sale.

[@TheManofthecross]

in my play thoughs for the agents in the clans I had played there is a success rate of them taking out there weakness and suriving in the defence when attacked by them etc. when it is the time to have them go after there weakness targets and when not to?

[@arnolddonaldson7129]

I wish you would do this for Fall of Samurai. Normally I choose Realm Divide so I don't have access to the man, but I wonder if it's worth using the giesha or older woman. I normally leave my army advisor in my main army building province to keep cost of recruiting low.

[@federicocoda7526]

I think you underestimated the otomo missionaries... Their cost reduction plus the technologies from the chi tree can make a living hell to everybody that wish you bad... You can turn the map to complete rebel settlements in 80 turns top

[@blazpretnar1111]

Great video, however i think you are missing some key elements of monk's abilities, like inspiring armies. If your can have 3 monks in your army with militant skill tree, your ashigaru can have a morale of 20 or even more, which is kinda big, when playing on legendary difficult since the AI can crank samurai very fast. Another thing you forgot to mention, is that monk conversion do not cost anything, which is really helpful in disposing enemy agents and saving your treasury.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

I only play on Legendary and have never found inspiring armies that useful. It's only really good in the early game, since Samurai and Warrior Monks don't need more morale. Ashigaru gain experience over time meaning they don't really need it either, never found it worth specializing in. I didn't really forget to mention that Monk conversion is free, either way, doesn't change anything. There's still a rock, paper, scissors system meaning you can specialize all you want in converting agents, you're still going to have a bad time against Ninja's.

[@alexmcd378]

Which clan would you recommend for a first very hard campaign? Oda? Anything sneaky the CPU will do at that difficulty?

[@Crysis051264]

How did you get that flying kick ninja fail to show up? xD Ive never seen that in all my years playing S2.

[@javierdariolopez]

One thing about monk is that you can train them to give you research bonuses for chi arts. I dont know if missionary or ikko monk can tough

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

You can, but I've never really valued that very highly to be honest, my campaigns don't tend to last very long, and even so I still tend to get all the mastery of the arts I want done. I never get to the arts super far down the tree, but none of them are needed to win the game.

[@HeIsAnAli]

The Missionary can, but Heterodoxy, which is part of the requirements for maxing the Chi Improvement Rate, nerfs Padre's province conversion rating; take it on a Missionary you're kitting for character hunting.

[@szarvaskoppany]

After I bought the game (now it was free because of the pandemic) I started a game as Chosokabe, and was of course quite rookie, so I have now 10 provinces, Oda has >30, and Takeda has the rest. Talking about agents: do you think it's sensible to try to kill every Oda daimyo and get rid of their house and grab what remains, or trying is a waste of time?

[@Renzuru21]

Sir! Can u review the Shinsengumi or Isshin Shishi/Ninja/Foreigner/Geisha agents? As well as the Junsatsushi/Monomi/Shirabyoshi? Thank u sir and God bless you!

[@YoungSnipes]

Personally I like using monks for their "inspire armies" buff to morale. I made my date yari ashigarus have 14+ melee attack, 10+ morale, and 5 charge bonus.. With a #s advantage and those stats I would usually win very quickly just by charging the enemy with hardly any other units in my army composition lol 😂

[@Fionn1014]

When he started the video I thought he said "Hey gents."

[@bobmussini]

Please.... help me. So... what exactly I need to do to pass by the annoying metsukes and monks on the campaign tutorial. I’m stucked when the game tell me to recruit a metsuke. Then, he is killed timed after time by enemies metsukes, and monks appears.... and all my campaign is getting down.... I just dont lnow how to stop the enemy’s monks and metsukes to show up and demoralise my army and kill any metsuke I try to spawn.

[@kasvoeten6224]

So i ussually have a public order problem and i often find myself keeping my armies in a certain province for far too lang, a monk would fix that right?

[@HeIsAnAli]

Metsuke are better, but a Missionary (I main Otomo, bite me) or Monk with the right retainers helps too.

[@chrischrisdaman]

Here is a tip for any of you geisha users. FARM THE ASHIKAGA. I got a geisha to max rank very quickly because i just kept killing the shoguns again and again and again and again.

[@nozy4457]

Noooooo you can't just win a campaign without losing even a 1000 soldiers Me,and intellectual:haha ikko ikki go brrr

[@teddys5775]

I liked to play oda and use my monks to inspire my armies for even higher moral

[@TheFlyingZulu]

I use my agents the very same way you do.

[@ahmadtarek7763]

I know this is late but can you consider doing the same video but for fots , I feel the agents there are different enough to warrant a video as I'm still confused with them , all I know is that foreign veterans give armies xp .

[@yudistiraliem135]

Agents strenght are reverse of your army since with less upkeep you will have more money and with more money your agents level snowball and increase their strenght. I believe in earliest version of the game agents are OP then they nerf it. The economy was also broken and building market actually decrease you economy in long run. Not to mention AI would never prepared to a maximized agent run back then you could win whole Japan with very little. All the army you faced would be leaderless, every city has open gate and enemies can’t manouver because of potential rebellions. Not to mention no doom stacks ever and you can wipe their armies one by one. Not sure about later versions since I stopped playing.

[@hr-gh5vi]

What does the counterspying skill mean? Also, any thoughts on the ninjutsu skill?

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Counterspying means enemy Ninja are more easily detected and have a lower chance of succeeding at actions. You mean the Ninjutsu Art? I don't tend to go for it, I never use Kisho Ninja, and Ninja agents are generally good enough without it, Geisha aren't really necessary either. It's nice to have 1, but 5 ninjas can do the job quite effectively themselves. That being said, if I were to max out the Arts for any of the agents, it probably would be the Ninja arts.

[@hr-gh5vi]

***** No i meant the ninja skill at the end of the tree that gives a bonus to all actions.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Ah, sorry, the skill itself is good, but it requires going through way too many useless things in order to get it, if you do that you miss out on all the assassination points, which isn't worth it.

[@thenut55555]

ninjutsu seem better than notorious killer right? however ninjutsu path seem got lower chance than sabotage and assassin path when not lvl 6.

[@henrylin6537]

thank god. I really need to know. google only have so much info. armor or attack. and what difference does one armor/attack. I've always rushed armor. logic is survivability against arrows

[@neophobia12]

"So make sure your geisha will be survive" Quick and load system: Haha

[@machaiping]

Donkey was talking about Legendary difficulty where there's no save/quick save function except for auto save at the end of your turn. In that situation, anything that requires RNGesus to work become a risky gamble when it's less than 70% chance of success. I don't know if Shogun 2 has it, but in Medieval 2, there's a hidden difficulty modifier for calculating agent's success chance too; the higher difficulty you play, the less chance your agent will succeed. But the game still show the unmodified chance so it screw people over.

[@henrylewis5166]

How did you get all that land as the HOJO?

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Honestly, every clan is equally strong. Clan bonuses really don't do a whole lot, assuming that's what you're referring too.

[@lmjesus2192]

I use monks to incite riots in enemy towns that are Superior to me in military power. Making the town revolt and my smaller army comes in mop up rebels and get an easy win without going to war.

[@maca_sapper5275]

That intro tho 😂😂😂😂

[@warvester]

TankBuster1945 that outro as well

[@ollis1270]

I usually get swamped by enemy high level agents and after a while I only have level 1 agents left

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

That’s why you recruit level 3 agents, not level 1.

[@ollis1270]

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP good point but same difference :-(

[@johnpascua3351]

Is there any way to get raw silk to get the Mizu-shobai district besides trading with the Chinese empire?

[@HrHaakon]

Trade with the clan that trades with the Chinese empire.

[@maxlenegociateurfou3733]

8:55 Can the author or someone else confirmed tell me what is a "critical success" ? Is that different for every agent and does it exist for each action ? What is the effect ? I don't understand well the difference between "succes" and "critical succes". Thank you

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

For example a Ninja Assassination can either end in critical failure, failure, success, or critical success. In this case success would be wounding the target and critical success would be killing the target.

[@casperko8311]

How should you use different agents against enemy agents?

[@Ghunter43]

Nice vid, but I have a question: I thought Ninjas were best suited for uses given by the player (so an assassin Ninja would only focus on Assassination and little else). Left me wondering if this thought process was too specific (since there's a limited number of Ninjas at all times) or if the RNG nature of the retainers don't allow such a specification.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Well, as shown in the video, the way I level up the Ninja's they end up being specialized in both Sabotaging Armies and Assassination since there's no Sabotaging Armies retainers you just focus on Assassination retainers, I seem to have missed that in the video.

[@Ghunter43]

Huh, never really noticed that there aren't many skills geared towards sabotaging armies. Goes to show how much time I spent in the actual game. Although, did you ever go towards town/army based ninjas? I would've figured that's good for a blitz technique on the armies, given that they can move farther.

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Blitz tactics aren't really viable in this game in the long run, because of unhappiness in towns you'd leave behind you, and even if it was, the movement speed you gain from it isn't really that amazing, and usually isn't necessary either.

[@xdenricoudx]

The M&M squad

[@michaelgodsonsirens]

Music on the credits?

[@Kaboom321]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXzRYYlrotV9m5Y

[@XSpamDragonX]

Yeah, I'm still gonna keep them disabled, the RNG just pisses me off.

[@markjerue9734]

Topic request: which of the agent action videos are the funniest? Which ones are the trolliest? Which ones should EA improve for Shogun 3?

[@BW-CZ]

The most trolliest must be the one when your ninja jumps over the target. I mean c'mon, how hard is it to jump down and not forward? And it happens all the time, lol. The funniest is that one when your ninja kicks the target out of the balcony (the failed one is maybe even funnier). That scream gets me every time!

[@Valkbg]

I love the one where your ninja sneaks around the camp and a soldier hugs his leg thinking its a woman

[@thabigfellah8635]

If it works like rock, paper, scissors then a missionary is cutting their hands off.

[@SOSLICK22]

How come you don't go for the skills(in the skill tree) that allow ninja's to sabotage for free?

[@MrSmartDonkeyLP]

Mostly because the other skills in that line aren't really worth anything, and generally money isn't an issue in the later game, so it's not really necessary to have free sabotages, I'd rather be able to assassinate enemy agents more easily.

[@andreacolella8711]

how i take the geisha ?