DATE CLAN OVERVIEW - Total War: Shogun 2!

Welcome to my Clan Overview of the Date on Total War: Shogun 2! In this Clan Overview I cover the topics of; Clan Traits, Campaign, Clan Specific Units & Army Composition.

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Total War: Shogun 2 Gameplay Information:

In the darkest age of Japan, endless war leaves a country divided. It is the middle of the 16th Century in Feudal Japan. The country, once ruled by a unified government, is now split into many warring clans. Ten legendary warlords strive for supremacy as conspiracies and conflicts wither the empire. Only one will rise above all to win the heart of a nation as the new shogun...The others will die by his sword.
Take on the role of one Daimyo, the clan leader, and use military engagements, economics and diplomacy to achieve the ultimate goal: re-unite Japan under his supreme command and become the new Shogun – the undisputed ruler of a pacified nation.

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Total War: Shogun 2 Features:

Total War: SHOGUN 2 features enhanced full 3D battles via land and sea, which made a name for the series, as well as the tactical campaign map that many refer to as the heart and soul of Total War. Featuring a brand new AI system inspired by the scriptures that influenced Japanese warfare, the millennia old Chinese “Art of War”, the Creative Assembly brings the wisdom of Master Sun Tsu to Total War: SHOGUN 2. Analysing this ancient text enabled the Creative Assembly to implement easy to understand yet deep strategical gameplay.
CONQUER the islands of Japan in the 16th century. Lead vast armies of samurai and fleets of giant warships into breathtaking real-time battles.
BUILD your kingdom on the inviting and turn-based campaign map. Wield economic, political, and military power to amass wealth, armies, and influence.
SCHEME according to the "Art of War" by Sun Tzu. Use fire and siege tactics, spies and assassins to adapt to the ever-changing conditions on the battlefield and throughout your kingdom.
BATTLE ONLINE and experience the main campaign in two-player mode. Then join epic online battles with up to 8 players and lead your online army to glory in special campaigns.

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For more information on Total War: Shogun 2, check out these links:

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Total War: Shogun 2 is developed by Creative Assembly.

[JJ]

Date will always be special to me as they are the first clan I won with and the first clan I conquered Japan with

[YourFriendlyKebab]

So, Date was the first clan I used in my very first campaign and I have a story to tell. It all went well until I got to where the Uesugi/Takeda/Hojo start: once I captured those I wanted to capture the Honma island to the north for the gold, so I built a port in the Uesugi capital and moved my strongest army and general, the daimyo's brother, and another smaller army with no general on 2 ships and land them both safe. The next turn I attack the castle thinking I would surely win with an overwhelming army but when I look to the enemy army preview on the bottom right before the battle I see MY general's face backing up the enemy army and was like "WTF? How did this happen?". The bastard had betrayed me and I took a massive hit to my strenghy since I had no army anymore. This happened because I still didn't know how honour and loyalty worked being my first campaign, so it took a long time for me to build a new army, conquer the island and kill the traitor

[djdrgonzo]

you forgot to mention having to chase the rebels around the map for the first year or so... my army could never reach them and they just crossed the river to the south and went up the other side. turned into a not very funny benny hill sketch

[hafidlho]

dammit mrsmartdonkey, i'm tired of reinstalling shogun 2 every time i watch your videos

[TheChazz]

Playing the Date Campaign and after 50 turns I've expanded down to Echigo and Fukushima. Have crushed the Mogami and with the combined effort of our clan and the Hojo have defeated the Uesugi. Now the Hojo have broken their alliance with me and are caught up in a 3-way war with the Takada and Ikko ikki, the latter which is now at war with me.

For the Date, it's difficult to secure trade agreements with other clans for some reason. I've never been dishonorable and it was originally the Hojo who requested a military alliance with me but everyone finds my request for a trade agreement unacceptable, even though i have access to stone, iron and wood.

The fact that the Date have that +2 charge bonus is why I have yet to loss a battle. Ikki ikko's Ashigaru stacks are no match for a Date charge from any of my units and despite being 2-3 times outnumbered, the enemies thankfully don't bunch up and allow me to defeat them in detail with my smaller force before retreating back to the safety of a setttlement.

Having to only deal with one front is immensly huge for the Date which allows me to build markets and gambling halls back at Iwate while my settlements closest to the other clans are filled wirh training dojos. Despite having no trade, my economy is gradually building with every art branch I unlock and so long as I don't overspend on my army. I am currently fielding one professional army that consists of mainly no-dachi, bow sam and a couple yari and cavalry units for supports and chasing down archers. All in all, a great campaign so far.

[Ghunter]

Damn, these videos just make me want to jump into the Date clan right away, even though I'll probs watch another video of another clan and jump into that clan, w/o ever finishing a campaign. Nice video, MrSD! Gotta definitely try those out.

[omologo]

One good strategy for the first turns is to engage with the rebels and purposefully let them escape so that you can take them down again and get your general level-up, giving you more map movement from the get-go.

[vn]

where were you 5 years ago when they released the game! your reviews are just good

[kaijuslayer]

One thing that’s pretty satisfying to do is to set up a defensive army with mainly monk archers. Have Naginata samurai on the front lines, and Nodachi’s in the back along with maybe a few monks and/or cavalry. Let the enemy come hit your wall of Naginatas after being peppered by arrows, and then have them be insta broken by a Nodachi charge and Monk warcry. After that, just destroy all the other archers and other units the enemy have. They’re break quick. It’s basically the ultimate counter attack setup.

[JayNsilentBoom]

Kudos to you Donkey, I needed this video to decide on how I would start my channel's Shogun 2 series called "Life of a Daimyo". Very well done overview brother!

[totallyuseless]

It's hard to make friends as the Date :<

[dvid]

Hey I know this is an older video, but actually a very interesting thing happened to me with the date.


Im just finishing my legendary campaign with them and I have 5 bulletproof samurai!


What happened was that I had the 4 you can recruit normally and then I made a vassal and you know that one military unit they give you? Well, usually they give you a measly yari ashigaru, but this time I got my fifth date bulletproof samurai unit! Maybe because that settlement had the second largest type of castle. Every campaign I seem to learn something new about the game :)

[mickkwan]

Date No-Dachi Samurai and their bulletproof samurai are the best combo unit in the game. The third OP faction in Shogan 2 besides Shimazu and Oda.

[karlwittenburg]

Honestly I feel like the best strategy with this clan is
6 yari cav
4 bulletproof samurai
4 naginata warrior monks
And fill the rest with no-dachi samurai, maybe only get 2 monks so that you can field 7 no-dachis
Spread out the bulletproof samurai in front of the main infantry line and have them tank the arrows so you don’t have to worry about your no-dachi samurai being shredded before they even make it to charge. Slightly before you reach the enemy lines pull the bulletproof samurai back and let your no-dachi line charge, while pulling the bulletproofs to the side to act as anti-cav, if enemy cavalry threaten your line before they get there go ahead and use rapid advance
I’ve found this strategy to be pretty good against the takeda since even if your infantry win I’ve found their superior cav fights win the day more often than not.

[keizoxd]

Iwate was never Owned by The Date Historical. its the Nanbu Dominion. Yonezama was the Capital of the Date and later it was Sendai under the Rule of Masamune Date.

Why CA made this hard mistake? they did almost every Clan right, okay not Tokugawa, and then this.
I Loved the Date for their History but then this.

Thanks God we have the 1567 Mod and Expanded Japan Mod...

[SGProductions]

I have had major trouble trading with Date playing on VH or Legendary. For almost the whole game I couldn't get trade even if my relations were very friendly. It was only when I seized Kai and took the warhorses that I was able to trade with everyone.

So, pro tip, AI loves horses, get horses.

However, as Date, the nearest options are Kai and the trade node near Hoki. So you will probably have to war your way to horses.

[MrThreeTake]

Nice, Dates bonuses are great and I love their color scheme.

In my campaign I had enough time to conquer my southern neighbor before moving north, and by then the mogami and the uesugi were too busy with each other to notice me building my army.

[hevenlytemplar]

Love these videos, they really make my day. Thank you!

[marvinm]

One of the best campaigns I ever had in Shogun 2. I lost Harumune early in the game while fighting Takeda Shingen. Falling into regency was hard as most of my generals had dubious loyalty. It was a slugfest all throughout; against the Takeda, the Ikko-Ikki Shogunate and the Otomo. It was fun to use 6-7 Nodachi as your main battle line.

[johnbu]

My first clan and I won campaign with Date. Charge bonus allowed me to kill generals easily with light cavalry. Massive land provides money and food. No enemy in the north means my battle direction is linear, all way to south. And one of the craziest thing I ever done in all Total war games is that first battle I fought against the Oda who were stronger than me at the time, that one battle both sides had 2 armies of 20 and 1 army of 10. It was a mess, Total bloodbath. I won the battle with heavy casualties plus death of brother, but I did NOT lose a single non general unit. That one battle I killed Oda's entire elite armies and generals. I easily crushed Oda after that battle. I felt the power of the Date. Oda invaded me with their elite troops but they got nothing but death.