How To Use And Level a General - A Quick Guide - Total War: Shogun 2

[@totalmadnesman]

Also: The general can only die after his bodyguard looses 50% of its health So the general can only die if you have lost 20 of 40 men.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Awesome, I didn't know that, thanks for sharing!

[@nogisonoko5409]

So you can just cycle charge your generals without having to fear your generals might die in the process as long he have more than 20 bodyguards? that neat.

[@totalmadnesman]

@@nogisonoko5409 Basically :D

[@totalmadnesman]

@@TheVikingGeneral Glad I could help!

[@iceee420]

Fire arms and artillery can kill through the 50% protection. I'm not sure about all fire arms but dunderbus cav dont care about it.

[@sylamy7457]

I just have been getting into this game the past few months, I've watched so many of MrSmartDonkeys videos and yours too, glad the community is still making vids on it. You are helping me learn! Ashigaru FTW

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Glad you like them!

[@SGProductions87]

ashigaru gozaimasu

[@hawkgames8165]

Remember the good old days when generals were glass cannons in the early game and not a 120 man unit of spartan heroes or elephants... I used to like the early game now it’s not even fun ):

[@dabo5078]

Eh they still die fairly easily. Although luckily for the Spartans unlike other general is a hoplite so the general is deployed in the rear of the formation in the hoplite wall making them harder to kill.

[@Rynewulf]

I remember when you could infinitely spam recruitable generals in the field in Empire Total War, I conquered all north America in a few turns as the Ottomans with that

[@loowick4074]

Now the general IS the army

[@StonegazeSteam]

If I remember correctly, your general gets the "Brave/Courageus trait after gaining combat xp. This gives another morale boost to his troops.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Generals can get a whole host of traits and from my research it's still pretty unclear what does cause certain traits. So I didn't include the trait stuff, but the brave trait definitely helps with morale.

[@StonegazeSteam]

@@TheVikingGeneral During one campaign, I had one general sit in a settlement with a sake den for a lot of seasons, after which it got the trait "Enjoys the drink" or some other kinda trait.

[@Wisteria_9]

​@@StonegazeSteam usually it take 4 to 6 turn to get that but sometimes it less. Idk trait is just random things and that's were from my personal experience

[@five3379]

Woah just seen the date this was made. It's awesome people like you are keeping this game alive after all this time. When I saw it in my recommended I was like 'Damn, that looks like a pretty decent video why haven't I seen it yet'. I love these kind of tips videos advising how to use units in total war and you hit the nail on the head. Short and sweet, concise, to the point - love it. Will really be looking forward to any more you make.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Thank you for the support and kind words! I'm looking forward to keep up the supply of content as well ;)

[@ntluck1592]

I want to point out that you can't max the Inspiration skill since you have to unlock the skills before it to reach it. At most you will be able to invest one skill point in it. I do agree with the other choices in the skill tree though

[@TheVikingGeneral]

You have 6 points left after maxing strategist and infantry leader (both cost 3). Then you put 1 point in poet, honorable and religious to unlock inspriational and you have 3 points left to max out the inspirational skill. The last 2 rank ups grant 3 skill points instead of 2, so the total skill point pool is 12. ;)

[@ntluck1592]

@@TheVikingGeneral lol my bad I thought you meant Intimidation AND Inspirational.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

@@ntluck1592 No problem! I understand that I can be a bit confusing at times. ;)

[@Patelivision]

I'd like to point out there's a away to get unlimited generals. If an army without a general wins 2 (maybe 3) battles, the games gives a pop up saying something like "this army keeps winning and deserves a general, would you like to promote a general within ranks?" Works great if you can find small armies with just a few units and you go in with a full stack. Infinite generals!

[@hynguyen1422]

I do get popup saying the man lead those armies good should be a general

[@TheVikingGeneral]

The problem with a lot of generals is that it makes your other generals less loyal, because of the upstart general modifier. But if you can live with that, go for it! :)

[@unserkatzenland8884]

I pretty sure defending seiges doesnt give u generals tho. I have one army that won 3 heroic defensive seige battle in a row and no generals.

[@AzoiatheCobra]

a tier list of the clan with the best general would be great. i know i know, date general have more charge bonus thanks to the clan unique bonus AND all other generals are the same (except shimazu generals with more loyalty)... except they are not. we have to have in mind THE CAPITAL WHERE THEY SPAWN (if you dont use an army without generals in order to create one). Shimazu and Date generals will always have either more mellee attack or armor (i dont recall which province is the capital of the Hojo, so they could be here too), Tokogawa and Takeda generals will always have more charge thanks to the pastures, Mori can have more moral, etc. For me this leave Date to continue to have the best ones and Shimazu second thanks to the loyalty, but what about the rest?

[@jlima5509]

hey i did some test on general combat on small unit scale, apparently, he actually wins against yari ashigaru there

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Oh, that's interesting to know!

[@Melkor7]

Really really great videos General! In the future could you you do some on FotS?

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Thanks! Well, for now I want to explore Shogun 2 first, and I only have very limited experience with FotS. So I might need to find some people help me with those vids.

[@SGProductions87]

@@TheVikingGeneral Hi. FOTS legendary player here. Ask me anything :D

[@maxmustermann-zx9yq]

unlocking speartip formation for cavalry turns your non charge reliant katana cav into anti cav that can beat a unit of yari cav with half the unit remaining yari cav requires more micro management and will struggle to cleave through bow samurai spam in the mid and late game

[@ryuhanja3415]

You can tell the age of your sons etc via the family tree if they’re 1 year old it’ll take 17 in game years for them to become old enough (it works weird with 12 turns per year)

[@runnchillout]

Great content man,Thanks. ❤👍

[@MiriBenii]

Thank you for sharing.

[@MasaMasa-hv9fl]

I like the balloons on the back

[@StaleDoritoCrumb]

horo

[@marcoaraiza9381]

I didn't realize how completely useless generals were in combat. Always sent them to flank, didn't know they lose to every unit 1v1

[@antiverschwurbelteaktion]

how can they loose stars?

[@nucnadthor7179]

Does anyone know what "command" means for the pips? "+1 to command when attacking" etc. - what does that actually mean on the battlefield?

[@IDONTGETTHEPOINT]

They matter the most when you're autoresolving battles. These pips add to the likelihood of a victory. When you're actually fighting yourself, the more pips you've got for that particular battle situation, the more morale your men have.

[@SGProductions87]

Improves autoresolve strength and also improves bonus to morale within the blue circle I believe, whereas retainers or traits that buff +1 morale to all units apply the bonus to all units in the army even outside the circle. So if you get the choice between +1 command and +1 morale, I think +1 morale is slightly better unless you autoresolve a lot. If you focus on buffing command then it will be beneficial to get retainers, tech and skills that improve the general's area of influence radius.

[@matiasmattera6650]

Small units in shogun 2 are always a glass cannon, unlike games like Warhammer, Troy or Three Kingdoms, our "heroes" are mere mortals and will die from a bullet or an arrow really easily. Anyway, I always wonder how further could go a General with max combat skill and the best retainers orienteinted to combat in battle, how many units they could kill in melee.

[@YM-zf8mt]

i just did that with the Takeda daimyo base Atck 14 + 5(XP) + 4 (swordmaster skill) = 23 Atck base Def 6 + 5(XP) + 4 (warrior skill) = 15 Def base Armor 8 + 2(skill) = 10 Armor it's not THAT strong but it definetly doesn't die to ashigaru nor samurai yari when dismounted even if i usualy send him in with another dismounted cavalry unit he racks up 100+ kills each battle on average so the right tree definetly isn't useless as your cheap general can pull his weight reliably just don't send him in a fight he cannot win against katana or get charged by date or spear while on horse i'm pretty sure he is better than a basic (no veterancy) hero katana but he has a horse for mobility or shock charge damage when he is not fighting dismounted (which is usualy the case because AI loves its spears)

[@matiasmattera6650]

@@YM-zf8mt I see, basically in the same tier as the Special Hero Units. Regardless, risking your general like that is definitly not worth it, dosen't matter how many bonuses does he get. Losing an entire unit? Well, it sucks but you can recruit them. Losing a 6 stars General? FUCKING HELL. Yeah.

[@YM-zf8mt]

@@matiasmattera6650 your general also doesn't die while there are more than 20 bodyguards ! :p comoooon risk it for the biscuit !

[@odayaka9697]

So many voice cracks

[@CiderMan_UA]

how to remove the balls behind their back? it's terrible

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Their's probably a mod for that ;)

[@SGProductions87]

there's a mod for it but this is supposed to help with arrow fire. the arrow pierces or bounces off the ball, which is empty and is basically made of paper, so it protects the wearer to an extent.

[@SGProductions87]

@@wafflesaurus_supreme Silk. Not paper. My bad. I was thinking of Chinese lanterns

[@C-Hirsuta]

Your channel is a gold mine. There are so many mechanics that I never understood, and the brevity of your videos makes your channel a superb resource both for myself and for the newbies that I rope into playing with me. Thank you so much for making these.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Haha, glad to help!

[@ltmatthewakj2466]

So, you basically Spirit of the Law in Shogun 2, very informative and detail ❤️❤️👍👍

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Thank you!

[@akkeut1324]

I think loyalty is quite important. I once have a half of my army bribed by enemy metsuke.

[@trevalyan006]

Good video! Some players may be tempted to make their Date generals into combat spec, though. And why wouldn't they? Given the +2 bonus to Date generals, plus the +10 you can get from the tree, and they can have very good charge combined with great armor and melee staying power. Not a good choice when you have only two generals, but what about when you have many more?

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Thanks for the compliment! :) You will still always run the risk of losing your general in combat. Generally (no pun intended), it doesn't happen, but when it does, it hurts. But, let's be honest. It is a whole lot of fun to have your general turn into a strong hero unit to save the day on a perfect charge.

[@calamitoso0066]

The only way I could think of a mele focused general it would be if the army Is mainly composed of cavaliery.

[@SGProductions87]

You might consider going for melee skills for the general if he is your Daimyo because you obviously want to improve his survivability for your clan's stability. Some of the melee skills are better than others - armour and defence are more valuable than morale for example because you want to plug the bodyguard's weaknesses and improve the unit's survivability if this is the line you want to go down. I favour levelling up my secondary general first because my first four generals that are not my daimyo will be commissioners. The higher their level, the better their commision's bonuses, and the second general you start with will typically be the commissioner for finance. A maxed out commissioner for finance provides a 6% bonus to tax rate I believe - and a 12% reduction to upkeep for the army he leads. Very good incentive to focus on that rather than making your daimyo your "infantry leader". For my daimyo, in most cases I will take the melee line and then later move to improve his honour and bushido research rate. My other generals will be in charge of my armies, the daimyo usually in support.

[@arnijulian6241]

when you rush the warrior tree & had the general start in a +5 armorer & blacksmith;) +30% general unit size & 14 armour is nice;) never mind 9 chevrons on campaign. Dumb choice but fun!

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Oh yeah, you can really turn a general into a beast of a unit and have a lot of fun with it!

[@cynfaelalek-walker7003]

You've saved the lives of many shogun 2 generals

[@dosmastrify]

But he didn't explain how to level it

[@vinslungur]

Why are your videos so fucking good?? Earned a sub instantly.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Thank you :)

[@kolpere1625]

Idk why but i see the general having some sort of unique splash attack that affects everybody. Compared to other cavalry, the general can be awesome in bottlenecks like a bridge. i ve recently got 300 kills in a single charge for no reason lol.

[@pgimacahilasadrianjude5699]

I don’t understand, is it an error on the developers’ part? The general has high stats but is easily defeated.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

The bodyguard has decent stats, but the biggest downfall is their small unit size, and spears being extremely deadly against other cavalry units.

[@pgimacahilasadrianjude5699]

@@TheVikingGeneral i see, because i tried to fight my general’s bodyguard (dismounted ) vs an ikko ikki yari ashigaru, and yet he was killed.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

@@pgimacahilasadrianjude5699 Yeah, that's just the numbers advantage the yari ashigaru have, especially the ikko ikki ones, since they have more troops and higher morale.

[@pgimacahilasadrianjude5699]

@@TheVikingGeneral i really appreciate your reaponses! Thank you!

[@TheVikingGeneral]

@@pgimacahilasadrianjude5699 Glad you think so. I like to help ;)

[@stoutgut]

Generals in Fall of samurai I think are a bit better at combat since they can get revolvers

[@TheVikingGeneral]

I have to admit I haven't played much of Fall of the Samurai, although I'm planning to rectify that shortly!

[@nursery6269]

They get guns but at the cost of a smaller unit size so your general has a much higher chance of dying in any form of combat

[@TheVikingGeneral]

@@nursery6269 Cool! I still have to properly get into FotS sometime. But blowing units up with cannons is great. (sad empire noises)

[@nursery6269]

@@TheVikingGeneral Fots is really fun and it's really just like napoleon total. I would also recommend watching Volound's impossible battles on fots.

[@ythandlename]

Only reason why you would ever want to go on the right side of the skill tree is because of mods. Get a mod that allows you to recruit generals in provinces instead of hoping for one to pop up. Then being able to recruit generals means you have a few that are expendable so you can utilize the warrior tree and make a hero general instead of the usual commanding general or your daimyo general (left side of the tree). It's not practical but it's fun because you now have a general that fights with their men. I also recommend a mod that buffs the warrior tree so your general becomes even more stronger and have more men.

[@dac314]

Or mods that increase skill points per level-up, meaning you end up with like, 24 points instead of 12. Huehuehuehuehue

[@jonbaxter2254]

These vids of yours are amazing.

[@zalop.]

How can I fix upstart generals??

[@alim3576]

Hello your video is so helpful to me but can I ask where you settle your battles ? Which battlefield is used and what's its name ? Because I want to use it but I don't know what is its name ? The map with lowlands and Mountains covering it

[@machaiping]

IMO, heir of the Daimyo may need to get the skill that increase honor in case the Daimyo is very old at the start of the campaign in lower difficulties. As it's harder to get Heroic victories to increase their honor by the time they become one compared to at the start of the campaign in vanilla Shogun 2. As 6 Honor Daimyo gives +2 public order to every province you control so it's easier on the occupation of new territory, or countering backlash for turning to Christian. And on the subject of Christendom, I'd say Otomo Daimyo almost always needs this honor increase skill on high difficulty, as they start with low honor to the point to incur public order penalty! Fall of the Samurai doesn't have this problem because you can simply field only traditional units in your Daimyo / Heir army and go around beating enemies that field gun units - Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai style. As unit Auto Resolve strength rating is what the game used as condition of Heroic Victory, and gun units has extremely high rating compared to traditional units which means your Daimyo/Heir army will almost always get Heroic Victory fighting that way.

[@juanpablotorrescazarez306]

Generals are a hell of a lot more usefull in Rise of the Samurai DLC. Since they are actually mounted samurai they are highly valuable in early and late game

[@ryuhanja3415]

Tbh I really wish units could be upgraded the same as generals. And you could just make presets to slap them down.

[@MarvinT0606]

Then you have Ikko generals who sit and convert entire provinces- but when they die you lose a battle from the morale shock

[@christopherh2729]

I was playing the video at 1.5 speed and at 1:18 I thought you said "let's go over the abilities that you're not going to use" lol

[@egm01egm]

Also dismounted bodyguards are very funny when dismounted with their balls

[@KetsaKunta]

I swear I clinch out the most legendary victories without a general and I never get a new general its annoying

[@SabaqnoGaara]

lovely video, thanks again

[@David-ke5nm]

What is up with the hot aid balloons on their back?

[@ghnanrohit3029]

Is it better to 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 genrals per army

[@Rebelcommander6]

You'd think with all the Badasses that the Sengoku Jidai saw that there would be a few different General types. Kind of like what they did for Total War 3 Kingdoms

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Yeah, RTK really did characters well. But considering there's basically a 9 year difference between the games, I can hardly fault CA for not putting it in shogun 2.

[@Rebelcommander6]

@@TheVikingGeneral I suppose.... Maybe the Modding Community? I still need to see if I can get a few to cooperate so I can do a Mori all Wako run

[@TheVikingGeneral]

@@Rebelcommander6 Maybe, but I'm not really in touch with mods for Total War games. The Mori all Wako run seems fun though!

[@hynguyen1422]

In the FoTS, generals change their bodyguards based on Industrialisation. So if you reach stage 4 industrialisation, your generals change to revolver cav. Imagine if vanilla Shogun2 have Uesugi/Ikko Ikki general monk with their bodyguards are legendary hero units

[@TriggeringOpinionsandFacts]

Very interesting, gonna start a new campaign (just won the oda campaign for the first time) and I’ll emphasize usage of generals more this time.

[@TheVikingGeneral]

Congrats on your win and good luck with the new campaign!

[@TheAzCorner]

Congrats but you missed out Oda make excellent use of generals due to fielding large numbers of cheap stick bois