By Gunstar_Hero
A large part of my early game strategy involves abandoning Shinano on turn 1 and letting an enemy daimyo capture it.
There are several strategical reasons and a few time saving reasons to do this:
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Both provinces are too weak to defend against stronger neighbors alone. Kai starts with 50 HDQ, 45 CAV, 35 RM, 37 AR, 40 LNC, and 45 INF. Shinano starts with 30 HDQ, 30 CAV, 20 RM, 25 AR, 25 LNC, and 30 INF. Almost every surrounding province outranks AND outtroops them, which is a deadly combination. By combining, you get over 50 in every troop type.
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There seems to be a troop threshold above which the CPU will almost never attack you. I don't know what it is (i usually go with 50 of everything), except that Shinano is definitely below that threshold at the beginning of the game. This saves time.
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Troop effectiveness increases with troop numbers in Manual Battles. 1 unit of 80 calvary will normally perform much better than 2 units of 40 calvary each on offense and defense.
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Rank travels when capturing territories.
Why bother ranking up two territories when you can rank up one and have it transfer over later? -
Shinano is one of the shortest field battles in the game, Kai is one of the longest. Kai's castle is also easier to defend. This makes Shinano easier to attack manually, and Kai easier to defend against an agressive neighbor that outmatches you (last 6 turns have them run)
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Murakami and Uesugi are more aggressive daimyos than Imagawa/Hojo. That being said, expect at least one attack from Hojo on Kai during the game.
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Kai has much better province stats than Shinano at start.
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The 3 neighbors of Shinano, when taking the territory, divide THEIR forces in such a way that they are hard pressed to defend against your attacks, allowing low risk EXP opportunities, especially via auto-battle. The neighbors of Kai typically have enough troops to properly defend it if they capture it.
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#6 and #8 provide an endless battleground on Shinano of weakened daimyos to feast on for EXP and spoils as they constantly trade the territory back and forth. Remember, there is a flat EXP gain per troop type eliminated, and defeating higher rank foes than you yields more spoils.
That's it!
Gunstar_Hero
