Top 10 Shogun 2 Provinces

Hello and welcome to my Top 10 Shogun 2 Provinces list! In this video I rank and analyze the ten best provinces in the Shogun 2 Campaign. These Provinces are vital to capture in order for your campaigns to succeed. If you disagree with my list, leave a comment on which provinces you would rank in your top 10 list!
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[@captainsternn7684]

I wish I could make cool armies like I used to but now all I know is, Capture province, Sake Den, Market, Yari Ashigaru, Bow Ashigaru. Repeat*∞

[@HungTran-gz5em]

Tried and true tactics right there :D

[@jostimantatarigan7657]

try radious mod and you won't win with this strat :D

[@availablehage]

And put a metsuke on the province

[@cmc_mccabe4787]

Lol this hits home

[@RocketHarry865]

Satsuma becomes obsolete for late game shimazu clan by that time you would have expanded far beyond Kyushu so it is too far away from the Frontlines

[@christosgian.8399]

The same though, goes for Iwate as well. And even if you start as Ikko Ikki, whose provinces are recruitment hubs, after a while, your borders will extend far away from your recruitment centers. So.. I guess the more easily defendable ones win here? :P Though, I prefer Echizen and Kaga combo. All units in one place, with the exception of horses.

[@Vincrand]

The provinces near Satsuma aren't really that big and your navy that you are bound to have can quickly transport them. When you have Iwate you typically don't have much of a navy and even then it takes a while to get to relative close provinces.

[@HungTran-gz5em]

@@Vincrand Still takes about about 7 turns for an unit without a general to walk to, for example, the Mori starting province. Too slow for my taste. And carrying them by ship with, say,... a competent fleet of medium bune (the best ship for auto resolving, aside from the bigger ships i think) is 100 koku per turn upkeep for each ship, plus their recruitment cost. So in cost-efficiency sense, I do think Satsuma gets worse in the late game. For me, Bizen is love, Bizen is life haha. Kaga and Sagami is a close second.

[@Vincrand]

@@HungTran-gz5em By the time you get to realm divide you don't really need new troops and only have to worry about 1 front. As Mori for example you want to clear the south-west first so you can more easily handle the late game, but you can trigger realm divide before getting both islands. So you'll need to bring over the army/armies from there to the frontline after capturing those islands. As Shimazu your troops are on the frontline as the realm divide starts. So when it matters most the clans near the far ends of the maps have a logistical advantage.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Perhaps, but you also have to remember that as the Shimazu you’re primarily going to be wanting to train up Katana Samurai, who only require a Tier 1 building to start recruiting, so you can pretty easily start recruiting in newly captured territory until you can eventually reach Kyoto.

[@oldrabbit8290]

tbh, the most valuable province in Shogun 2 is.. Kyushu. The entire southern island. It has everything you could ask for: money (3 of the richest province), smith, craft, horse, naval (so you can cover your entire military), access to 4 trade node (also the most important trade notes, since you can get horse and iron somewhere else), and extremely defensible (being in the corner), so you don't have to invest too much in garrison. And then, you have a lot of great options to expand. Just a few turn away is either the Western tip of Honshu (horse, temple, as well as another richest province in Iwami) or Shikoku island (wood and stone, extremely defensible), which you can then jump to the Kyoto region to grab the (very) fertile ninja and temple provinces, as well as the school province. Pound by pound, they may not be as good as some of the "top" province, but the fact that all the good-to-great provinces are so close to each other add a lot of hidden value that this video hasn't properly addressed.

[@TripleZHacker]

I mentioned Kyushu several times and talked extensively about how wealthy it was, so I don’t know why you say it wasn’t addressed? Satsuma is ranked #2 in game for a reason. Also Buzen is on this list too, but if I just included every province in Kyushu it’d make for a boring list and additionally there are other provinces that are just as wealthy in nice areas, they just don’t have the trade nodes. Again maybe I could’ve hyped up Kyushu more but I mentioned on several occasions how rich and valuable it was.

[@oldrabbit8290]

@@TripleZHacker sorry for not making it clearer, but what I mean by "properly addressed" is that proximity is very important - in terms of reducing "wasted" provinces. You can only have 22 provinces before 2/3 of Japan jump at you, so you have to make it count. For example, if you have 5 wasted provinces that don't really contribute anything (money or specialty), then you only operate at 75% of your full potential or lower. And that's Kyushu biggest strength - you can secure 3 of the richest provinces + 3 important military provinces at a cost of 2 wasted provinces (Hyuga, which is the worst in-game; and Osumi, which is just average) Compare that with, say, Bizen. Even if you are Mori (which is the closest clan), you still have to secure 2 wasted provinces (Bingo and Bitchu) before you reach your target. That's simply not worth it in my opinion and yeah, I think you haven't hyped up Kyushu enough, since you didn't even bother to include Hizen, Tsukushi and Higo in honorable mention, despite these should be on the top list of every Southern clan (or any migrating Central & Northern clan). Outside Omi and Echizen (and of Satsuma and Buzen), I could trade the rest of your top list (include the honorable mentioned) for these 3 and still consider it a good deal.

[@TripleZHacker]

@@oldrabbit8290 Ah yes I see what you mean and yeah that’s completely valid criticism, I should’ve put Higo on the list for sure, and the other two deserve to be honorable mention you’re right about that, those three provinces are an economic powerhouse. That’s for the feedback, I’ll definitely make a revised or updated list to this video at some point.

[@GeraltofRivia22]

Not a huge fan of Kyushu. It's a bitch to defend from naval invasions which is a huge problem once realm divide hits, especially in Fall of the Samurai where it lacks railways.

[@lightmarkal273]

Only nerf for Kyushu is that, at some point in the campaign, you have to ship everything you produce there for like 5 turns before it becomes relevant to your battles

[@Srrrgp]

Sado island is a must for me!

[@simonnachreiner8380]

For my Uesigi campaign I literally packed the whole clan into six bow ships minus 2 yari & two bow ashigaru and sailed straight for Buzen. The whole island is basically one big wet dream of a starting position with blacksmithing crafts horses, trade nodes and mostly fertile soil. On the whole island there's only two provinces that aren't instant must haves.

[@satanwithinternet2753]

U mean Kyushu?

[@simonnachreiner8380]

@@satanwithinternet2753 Both. Buzen is the specific province Kyushu is the island.

[@shipwrecker37]

I'm surprised the gold mining provinces didn't make it. Who cares if you have armor if your enemy can afford 2 samurai for each one you have?

[@barker505]

*laughs in 5+ armour ashigaru*

[@brainwasher9876]

I'd put Iwami on the list. It's the single richest province in the game, and it's close to a bunch of trade nodes.

[@TripleZHacker]

That’s fair I definitely overlooked that province

[@brunobaumler2829]

I would say that too, i love Iwami too!

[@jkofte]

Place a level 4 metsuke and watch it easily add +2000 extra koku per turn from taxes.

[@jeyysi]

We all have our own bias but for me it's the otomo provinces. You first rush your nanban quarter in the capital. Once it's done, you leave it defenseless so that the enemy can capture it and then you build another nanban quarter in your another province (the one with fletchers i forgot the name) then retake your original capital. From there you get to have 2 nanban ports, one used for making nanban trade ships with experience (upgraded pirate den) and another used to train matchlock ash with improved accuracy (fletchers).

[@jdawg7374]

Great video, I'd of had Higo on their somewhere instead of Iwate but aside from that I completely agree

[@TripleZHacker]

Ah that’s a good choice for sure, I just think the blacksmith is too good!

[@linuxman7777]

I don't play the game, But I am kinda impressed about how little has changed as far as the borders of prefectures go today. Many merged or split, but few borders moved. Like How today Satsuma and Osumi are 1 prefecture, Kagoshima, While places like Hizen were split into 2 prefectures Nagasaki and Saga.

[@crvptrvp]

As Hattori, I have to go with Omi, Settsu, Echizen, Kaga, Sado, Iwamj, Wakasa, at least for my current playthrough.

[@stever4128]

Ikko ikki have the best starting position in my opinion it's not hard to capture all trade nodes and defend them. I've done it on several occasions. I don't worry about insence until mid to late game. If you capture sado you have a base closer to the iron node and you can capture land closer to the western nodes for fast ship repairs. Not to mention the fertility and military buffs they provide.

[@milosnikolic6154]

I cannot agree with this choice, at least from the point of my game plan. While capturing provinces that allow recruitment of stronger units is certainly beneficial, what wins campaigns for me on legendary are agents. So, the most valuable ones are those that allow the recruitment of more experienced metsukes, then ninjas, then monks (assuming that I want to play as a Buddhist). Next in line are provinces rich in either gold or very fertile lands, then those with war horses resources (almost all clans are willing to trade with you when you possess this resource). Only when the economy is fine can I think about recruiting more powerful units. That means, depending on the clan I play, the most valuable provinces are either Tsukushi (the one left of Buzen) or some other closest province with a school specialty building. It also allows research boost with the library so simply cannot play a proper campaign without at least one of these. Kii is also a province I capture in most of my campaigns. Unlike Omi, which borders so many provinces and is threatened by many clans, Kii is positioned on the edges of central Japan and is rarely attacked by other clans. Its farm and ninja specialty building are also out of reach for any marauding army that can come and try to raid your buildings. So, this province is an economic giant (with very fertile soil and +1000 koku from the smuggling network) while at the same time perfect for defending. To sum up, in each one of my campaigns I capture at least one 1. province with school specialty building and 2. one of Kii/Omi for more powerful ninjas and huge economic boost. All other provinces are replaceable or irrelevant.

[@craigthebrute1043]

Great video.. Very original topic👍

[@TripleZHacker]

Thanks man!

[@clover_thorns]

Yay a shogun 2 KZbinr :) PogChamp

[@TripleZHacker]

Thank you!

[@xleftsidex1627]

I'd also consider the castle location type as one of the criteries. Kaga is better than Echizen because of its castle type as well, which is hands down the best one - the castle itself is very spacious, it's easy to hide your troops from enemy archers even when it's not upgraded and you have only one floor. As for the area around the castle - it has a sea behind, so you won't be fully surrounded by the enemy, but unlike Echizen it also has vast plains around where it's easy to maneuver with your cavalry when your enemy has overwhelming forces and you need to distract some of the units or kill their general or just sally out to destroy parts of the enemies forces.

[@magnus4945]

my problem with omi is that it's difficult to defend- when i take it early as the ikko ikki I ended up regretting it, because an entire army will have to babysit it for a long time.

[@enminghee2926]

I love all those in the middle, around Biwa lake, so rich and full of ninjas and shrines.

[@jasoncarto]

I always knew my boys in green had it all. Close to all of the trade centers. The ability to upgrade melee, archers, and charge. And the fact it's a whole ass island. My goal is always to secure the trade hubs and secure the island and play it like a fortress.

[@koelkastkkn]

I am very suprised by the absense of Sado on this list, well made video tho

[@ashtonrooks7899]

How is hizen not on this list? Port city with very fertile farmland, right next to all the trade nodes, and with the pirate colony upgrade you can recruit ships with level five experience

[@brendon3499]

i kind of think omi is quite important aki can help and owari is goated

[@kohtalainenalias]

Kiitos!

[@TripleZHacker]

Cheers thank you so much~ :))

[@kashawood1580]

why was higo not mentioned, it has very fertile, near all the west trade nodes, warhorses and it is easy to expand from due to it bieng in a large patch of very fetile soils, it is also near satsuma which was mentioned and buzen which was mentioned. higo has so many things going for it, why was it not even mentioned?

[@TripleZHacker]

It was mentioned as one of the rich provinces in Kyushu but yeah definitely one of the errors with this video it belongs on the list probably so valid criticism that I’m willing to accept.

[@seko1813]

I feel like Owari should be top 10 i may be biased due to me being an oda lover but its so easy to make trade routes and very fertile soil it also is the easiest place to just start expanding like crazy for example in my current playthrough im 20 turns in and im shitting on the hojo takeda and the ikko ikki is no longer a thing

[@TripleZHacker]

Noice and yeah it’s a great location for sure and lucrative enough so you make some excellent points :)

[@mkratos17]

Gold and metsuke building is the best provinces

[@Vincrand]

I rather have a school + market (upgraded) than gold + market (upgraded).

[@jonojjt6]

"Cavalry" Horse mounted soldiers. "Calvary" The place outside Jerusalem where Jesus was allegedly crucified.

[@TripleZHacker]

Thanks, yes I’m aware of the difference, just slight mispronunciation

[@Samsarahimsa]

That only applies to it in writing though. pronouncing it calvary is considered normal, and common, dialect variation. it's due to metathesis I think but it's been a while since I've looked at a linguistics book.

[@jonojjt6]

@@Samsarahimsa Its normal for people to say things like “Irregardless” and “all of the sudden” but it doesn’t make it any less grammatically incorrect.

[@Samsarahimsa]

@@jonojjt6 in english people also say wasp instead of waps in defiance of the rest of the germanic languages but is that wrong? it is the same change that makes people say calvary, only difference is it happened a very long time ago and has had time to spread. And when it comes to "irregardless" I think even most major dictionaries have relented and added it due to sheer volume of users, and dictionaries tend to be very slow in cataloguing the way people actually speak. I will agree neither is of the prestige dialects of any english I know however, and writing is of course another matter entirely with its own rules and norms. your advice is good for writing though

[@Villainousantos]

“Calgary” Beautiful city shit hockey team.

[@Talk3rs]

This video is kinda weird as it mixes several things together - Satsuma is great starting province (or to get early as you consolidate the west), but once you start expanding from there into mainland, it is kind of useless, especially if you are playing longer campaigns - it is just so far away from your targets and getting your units from there will take extremely long even using ships. Similarly Buzen is losing some value with expansion for the same reason. Maybe it would be better to focus on which regions are the best? Not the provinces individually, but regions based on the time of campaign. Because in late game it will be (from my perspective) the most valuable to own IkkoIkki provinces to fuel your armies than having any other province "at the edge of the world".

[@craigthebrute1043]

Honma must be here

[@dertobio8114]

Iron provinces should be higher on YOUR list because iron is a direct requirement for the highest tier of the Blacksmith building chain, which you say is your favourite.

[@matthewsanchez4391]

What about Hizen, Hitachi or Miyagi?

[@TripleZHacker]

Those are all good provinces, Miyagi does have iron, but the northern trade node is iron so I didn’t feel like it was as valuable due to that. Hitachi is fine, but I think Echizen and Buzen are better places with craftworks. Hizen is great too, but Satsuma and Buzen were more valuable in my opinion. But yeah those are great choices, definitely took me a while to determine my list

[@robertellwood8601]

What is calvary?

[@anonyme4881]

Just here to say..... Tokugawa were utterly defeted by Oda Nobunaga, so it seems legit that it lose turn one lol In fact Tokugawa Ieyasu isnt even a Tokugawa. He is a Matsudaira but he changed his name for fame. (And because Nobunaga hated his name) Complicated story short : Tokugawa clan has to become a vassal and win the game with Oda, which in history should destroy everything until a betrayal tear the faction appart

[@nicholaswest5718]

The Tokugawa weren't present at the battle Battle of Okehazama, in fact that was when Tokugawa, or Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu as he was called at the time, were already in secret negotiations with the Oda against the Tokugawa's then lord, Imagawa Yoshimoto. Ieyasu and Nobunaga never went to war with each other. Tokugawa went to war with Toyotomi Hideyoshi when he calimed the shogunate, but at that time was no longer a member of the Oda clan as a retainer. The Oda-Tokugawa alliance was the entire reason that Nobunaga got as far as he did without getting rolled over by someone else when he left Owari to go to war. And changing your name back then was part and parcel of being alive. Tokugawa did it for a variety of reasons, but I have never once seen 'Nobunaga didn't like his name' as a given reason. You could change your name to any cadet branch from the main three imperial clan succession lines (Fujiwari, Taira and Minamoto) with little issue. I've seen claims he did it because it gave him better ties to the Minamoto and thus more right to be daimyo of Mikawa and more legitimate reason to be shogun one day, which makes more sense then 'Nobunaga didn't like his name"

[@anonyme4881]

@@nicholaswest5718 The two were in war but "Tokugawa" were sieging a castle near Okehazama Its only after the defeat that "Tokugawa" started secret negociation

[@nicholaswest5718]

@@anonyme4881 yeah, Tokugawa's first battle, Siege of Terebe, against a defector to the Oda in his own lands. My point was, Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa never fought each other. Tokugawa was acting as vassal to the Imagawa when he attacked Marune stronghold. He had no choice but to do as he was told, his wife and heir were hostages at Sunpu. He never directly engaged Nobunaga, like I said. And stop putting his name in parentheses. He got permission from the Imperial Court to change his name. Like it or not, he was a Tokugawa

[@sukitron5415]

Dude Tokugawa was what he changed his name to because it linked him to the ruling clan of the first shogunate, the Minamoto. While he was a vassal under the Imagawa his name was Matsudaira Motoyasu with the Moto linking him to his lord Imagawa yoshimoto. After Yoshimoto died at Okehazama, Motoyasu changed his name to Ieyasu to separate himself from the Imagawa. He later got permission from the emperor to change his name to Tokugawa to link himself to the Minamoto clan. He attacked Marune due to Yoshimoto's orders. Stop spreading misinformation

[@nootnoot3846]

To add an example to Nicholas West’s fantastic comment, debunking this brain-dead take, the Oda would’ve most likely been wiped out by the Azai-Asakura at Anegawa, the Azai made multiple pushes towards the main camp of the Oda and with the extra forces of the Asakura helping them I believe that Nobunaga, could’ve died or been greatly weakened, leading to the decimation of the Oda. Also without Ieyasu, Mikawa would’ve become a massive pain in Nobunaga’s neck, after the battle of Okehazama and Ieyasu’s revolt against the Tokugawa. Many prominent samurai left the Ikko Ikki to join the forces of Mikawa’s “rightful ruler” including legendary warrior Tadakatsu Honda. If Ieyasu was simply defeated by Nobunaga, when his conflict with the Ikko Ikki flared up, the strong Ikko Ikki presence there would’ve forced him to further split up his forces and weaken his overall position. With the understanding that the Ikko Ikki were extremely adept at defensive sieges, they would act as a thorn in his side, and when the Takeda decided to March to the Capital, in this scenario, they could’ve aligned with the Ikko Ikki, allowing the Takeda to easily enter Nobunaga’s home province of Owari and a straight path to his Homebase at Kiyosu. So yeah the Matsudaira/Tokugawa were pretty important

[@antiverschwurbelteaktion]

THANKS YOU REDUCED THE ADDS, i deleted me angry comment. thanks for the advices! :)

[@TripleZHacker]

welcome and all good, yeah I just did like default KZbin ads and they completely went way too far, again sorry for the inconvenience glad you enjoyed the video!

[@siinuxxblume5123]

This tierlist is just wrong. 10 is sagami 9 is kyoto and 8-1 are all the kyushu provinces :D

[@jaquestrap]

Cavalry* Calvary is the name of a hill near Jerusalem. Otherwise good video.

[@alek4ever646]

Buzen is great. Does make sense it's not the top 3 though. Craftworks is definitely an amazing region specialty. Fun somewhat unrelated fact, if a ranged unit reaches 100 or greater accuracy, it becomes awful. In fact sitting at around 70 accuracy is the best number which gives the greatest amount of kills. Especially for matchlock units. At 100 accuracy, the unit becomes so accurate that the entire unit will hit the same soldier or couple of soldiers with each volley, causing absolutely no damage. I found this out almost a decade ago when my high veterancy superior accuracy bow samurai suddenly started performing horridly after a levelup.

[@pkthunder7008]

"Echizen" Where did "Ichizen" come from

[@Mysteryboy0007]

Basically u just want to conquer KYUSHU ASAP

[@johngojcevic8731]

Ok do top 10 minor clans

[@jrsdt2ndaccount30]

I bet Satsuma is here

[@jrsdt2ndaccount30]

9:15 Hell yeah. Shimazu master race.

[@lukebarber9511]

It's "cavalry", not "calvary"...

[@mevoki]

calvary

[@jasonmain6398]

It's cavalry not Calvary. It only bothers me because Calvary is its own word, it's a place not a thing.

[@scifitoilet]

man this list is pretty garbage. he smithy is not the best specialty building. I think thats why this list is wrong. you seem to favor micro elements, but as any tutorial will tell you you need to focus on macro elements. build your economy and manage your frontier. You left off some of the richest provinces (tsukushi, hizen ???). the geopgrahy of the province also seems to be a non factor in your ranking. Bizen makes list because it has a smithy? bro its part of the triple B passthrough states. it has some defensive geography, but because mimasaka exists armies can jsut go around and now you need to either retreat ALL the way around or chase them. total war is about economy, all war is. who cares if you have slightly better soldiers, i have 3 times as many.

[@TripleZHacker]

I mean those are great provinces but they have no special buildings aside from Hizen, and yeah they’re the richest in the game nice to Buzen and Satsuma, which is why those two are higher on the list. Owari is on this list and it has very fertile soil so it can be just a wealthy as any of the three you mentioned?? Also Omi is an honorable mention and it’s got very fertile soil, but if Tsukushi is the best province just because you make money from it and nothing else (has no speciality building) that wouldn’t be good in my opinion. Plus both Kaga and Echizen have good soil too and they’re on the list and make tons of money, so no I don’t ignore the macro elements in this video and that’s why satsuma is #2 because it’s next to Hizen, Tsukushi, and Higo. The promixity to all that wealth from farms plus the bonus of a blacksmith. Also Iwate has fertile soil too so it can be nearly as rich as the others. If a province doesn’t have a speciality building then I don’t think it would belong on this list, but yeah I ignore the macro sure...

[@somefilipino]

ok cringelord

[@h1r086]

I wouldn't call a 350% bonus to armor on a yari ashigaru a slight improvement especially considering the power of yari wall. I do agree that economics trumps combat bonuses but both is the ideal and blacksmiths tend to have decent farms. Growth is how you snowball economically and you get as much growth from a weak farm as a very fertile one. Growth is conceptually similar to compounding interest. I spam markets once my agents are covered.