A little break

So I just realized I don't have quite enough gameplay done for a full post. I also have a few tests next week to prepare for, and sorting through both playing and writing would take too much time, so I decided to leave it until later. Unfortunately, those same tests will mess up my schedule yet further - I think Part 12 will come no sooner than Wednesday, and it might even have to wait until the weekend, so this is just a heads up for all the aerobic endotherms reading the blog: don't hold your breath waiting for new updates.

Part 11, in which woe is us

The old shogunate is out, and Takeda are the new masters of Japan. As I get ready to address the nation, bringing the good news that the mindless oppression is finally over and several horse-related laws are being relaxed even as we speak, I notice that nobody actually likes us for some reason.

Red means a whole lotta love, right?

What happened? Well, a few things. For one, territorial expansion carries a negative effect on foreign relations - each new province we capture makes all other clans hate us a slight bit more, although the effect withers in time. We conquered several towns in relatively quick succession, the last one being everybody's main objective, so it makes sense that the effect would stack up. And to be fair, we never did anything to improve the relations with our neighbors to the west, so it all goes straight into negative values.

Part 10, in which I am become shogun

We've finally reached Kyoto and assembled an army large enough to challenge it. It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and bubble gum has not been invented yet.

Not pictured: chance of victory.

Oh. So it appears that a citadel, such as Kyoto here, is nothing short of an enormous death trap. Moats just too wide for archers to shoot over. Long, narrow bridges with a projectile-armed tower at the end of each. A pair of concentric walls guarding the main objective. Another moat inside. With the help of some archers, it would be hard to even reach the walls; actually taking the castle would require a force several times larger than that which defends it. On second thoughts, maybe let's wait until the asses themselves come and ask to be kicked.