Ashikaga Shogunate mod v1.01

[Saber Cherry]

Sacred mages have half upkeep, and should generally cost about 70% more than a similar non-sacred mage, IMO. Mages with higher levels in fewer paths should also cost more than mages with lower levels in many paths, for the same number of total levels. That's one reason I consider Celestial Masters overpriced, even though they are sacred; they are spread too thin to be useful in any path. If they had 2 linked randoms it might be OK.

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

Two things about the Japanese longbow and Armor threads:

1. The armor was much better than many are giving it credit for. It was mostly composite laminate--very lightweight and very very strong. This stuff was easily the equal of heavy chainmail--with less encumbrance. Definitely not the equal of plate or full plate though.

2. The world's longest bows also had the world's longest arrows. This means that a 42KG draw (~100 lbs) would propel the arrow for longer than an equivalent English Longbow--so it actually had higher velocities, could travel longer distances, and hit harder.

I'd also like to clear up the ideas people have as to the awkwardness of the bow--nope, not awkward. The asymmetrical location of the grip makes it easy to use, even when mounted. Additionally, the reason the bow rotates around the wrist is because the bow is slightly off kilter to counter bow-arrow torque and provide higher accuracy. A good release will rotate the bow around the wrist.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
Sacred mages have half upkeep, and should generally cost about 70% more than a similar non-sacred mage, IMO.

70%?!! Why? Sacred can be useful, but not so much so to almost double the cost of the unit. Also, a lot of players will use their mages primarily as researchers and this would severely hamper trying to build up a strong research base quickly. At 200/310 gold, the Ashikaga mages are already quite pricey. I'm not saying they aren't worth the 200/310, just that they aren't worth more than that. IMO.

You don't use your most expensive mages to research, you use your cheapest mages for research. The ninjas work just fine for research and can switch to battle duty when needed, you'll only build the mages when you need a battlefield or ritual presence.

Sacred is a large consideration. I don't know if 70% is the right number, but it is definitely a factor.

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

Japanese Monsters you might want to incorporate:

Oki--giant hill-troll types. They eat humans. Big and dumb.

Tengu--big nosed goblins. Very big egoes. Small, not powerful, but high morale.

Kappa--amphibious frog people, nature/water magicians. High culture.

Fox-Men--shape shifting nature spirits, tricksters, magicians. Powerful and dangerous.

Crazy Women--like bansidhees, crazy women had long hair, screamed and wailed, and were evil spirits of death and jealousy.

Shinto Spirits--wide and varied nature spirits. Mountains, stones, trees, rivers, kind've like elementals. Powerful but remote.

Lone Buddhist Magician--very powerful mages in stories. Wide variety of magics, but whatever they specialize in they are good at (3'rd or 4'th level random magic type?). Always alone, without other commanders or troops--don't know if this can be done.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Arryn:
70%?!! Why? Sacred can be useful, but not so much so to almost double the cost of the unit.

Yes, actually, it is that useful. How long do your mages Last? Mine tend to Last 20 turns or so, average, I estimate. Let's compare two 100 gold mages, with level-2 water magic. One scared, one non-sacred.

Normal: Total cost after 20 turns is 233 gold.
Sacred: Total cost after 20 turns is 166 gold.

So the sacred one is much cheaper, and gets whatever bless benefits you may have (possibly reinvigoration, air shield, life after death, quickness...). Much cheaper and potentially much better!

On the other hand, giving a 70% cost hike to sacred mages:

Sacred, 70% more expensive: 283 gold after 20 turns.

That makes the sacred mage only 22% more expensive after 20 turns. With automatic quickness, air shield + shock resistance, or reinvigoration + 4 protection, a sacred mage is worth far more than 22% extra.

For research, 70% is a bit overpriced, of course - the breakeven point is 70 turns, which is too long. A 60% premium gives a 45-turn breakeven point, which might be a little more fair, considering the normal game length. But generally, as Zen mentioned, it is the cheapest mages that are used for research.

Making mages sacred without increasing the price more than a trivial amount gives the nation a huge advantage, unless the mages are inherently worthless (like Celestial Masters).

[Osium]

If I gave the impression that the Yumi was inferior in any way shape or form to a european or middle eastern bow that was not my intention.

I also did not mean "akward" in the way most people think. Not ever firing one, but knowing a little bit about physics it is hard to believe that drawing this bow back did not put unequal pressures on the wrist.

The Yumi is probably the most versatile bow of the era, allowing the user to fire in many different stances and positions. Firing a long bow while crouched was certainly not an option, but was very possible with a Yumi.

Any discussion on armor would probably be futile. The fact is the armor the japanese used changed so dramatically, from iron, laminated scale, to bamboo and then back heavy iron/steel european style clam breast plates. The later functional japanese armor was bullet proof for the era (breast piece was), as matchlock arqubusiers were being used during the period by some armies.

I suppose this means, depending on the era, you could have them lightly armored, medium armored or moderate to heavily armored ;p