Starting in many multiplayer games can be daunting. With first person shooters they are generally much more accessible. With strategy games it is much more intimidating as it requires more input from the user. to succeed. Thankfully Shogun 2 is not a terribly complicated game in multiplayer. It's far more skill based though than single player as the AI will never compare to a human opponent. I am by no means a great player nor claim to be. I'd say I'm average at best but I hope this helps out someone who maybe wants to try it out as it is alot of fun and can take up as many (if not more) hours than single player. It's very overlooked.

Basics

As you may or not be aware, Shogun 2 uses a rock/paper/scissor system. It works as follows...

Spear beats horse...

Sword beats spear and bow...

Bow beats melee cloth units (monks/nuns)...

Cav beats melee (non spear) units...

Start with low fund matches and low star players

When you start Shogun 2, you will be given some veteran units. The rest you will have to unlock. Alot of players will have unlocked and leveled up veteran units which will be superior to yours. The best starting point here is to play games with low funds. This is because veteran units cost more money than normal units. By doing this you are limiting everyone creating a fairer more skill based battlefield. So, my suggestion, start with low funds.

The game operates with stars, new players have less stars. Avoid playing against silver or gold players. Start a room or join a room specifically built for lower level players 1-4 stars max. Doing this along with playing with low funds will help ease you into the game better. As you progress in stars and start to unlock veteran units, you can start moving up.

Cheat

A common method in Shogun 2's multiplayer is to have two players help each other unlock and increase ranks of units by allowing units to spam each other on opposite ends of the map and taking turns to concede. By doing so units for both players level up and campaign map portions unlock. This can be laborious but if you are really desperate to unlock units and upgrade them, this is a great method This isn't a bannable offense of anything, so don't worry about getting in trouble.

Concentrate on one skill tree at a time

The avatar skill tree is separated into three main trees. Commanding, missile (bow) and melee (sword). You can use all of them at the same time however I would recommend sticking to one specifically as you can become extremely proficient in one aspect rather than a jack of all trades master of none. In shogun 2's multiplayer moral is an incredibly important mechanic. A game can be lost and indeed most are by routing rather than casualty loss. For this reason, I would recommend using command or bow rather than melee. As these operate at a distance rather than up close and personal reducing the chances of your avatar getting killed off. If your avatar dies, you will have an extremely difficult time winning. So, along with the skill tree, remember to keep your avatar alive and rally units whenever required.

Don't waste your time with stealth or siege units

Alot of new players try out the stealth units or waste money on siege weapons thinking they will do massive damage. This is not the case. Siege weapons barring fire-rockets are extremely inaccurate and costly. Do not waste your time with them. Likewise, in multiplayer, stealth units are all but useless. The only siege unit that is actually useful are fire-rockets (more on that later). Stealth units will be found out at a fair distance from the desired target and will inflict very little damage before being demolished.

Use loose formation and hide against artillery

With the introduction of fall of the samurai, shogun 2 players have to contend with artillery. Unlike siege weapons in Shogun 2, these are extremely accurate and will inflict lots of damage. Allot of players will try to camp and simply spam artillery for 15 minutes if possible. In situations such as this the best thing to do is to put your units in as thin a line as possible set at loose formation and place them in hidden tree spots so the opposing player can only guess your armies position. Your avatar cannot hide. Take this into account. Generally speaking, at the start of the match, if possible, place your army as far back as possible in order to be out of range.

Spear is your friend

Typical behavior for other players is to try flank with cavalry. The units targeted are usually bow, your avatar or melee units like Katana. To counter this, stick spear units directly behind them, as close as possible. As soon as a cavalry charged, simply move your melee of unit back and your spear unit forward. If your bow unit is set on skirmish, they will do this automatically. When a unit in Shogun 2 gets engaged in melee, it slows down and cannot instantly get away. cavalry use smaller units. Even very cheap units like "Yari ashigaru" can inflict massive proportionate unit loss to even the more stronger caverlry thanks to there "caverly bonus" stat.

Hit And Run

When fighting players that camp (and this will happen alot) a good way to bait or inflict damage is to send bow cav using a method called "hit and run".

By using the speed advantage you can hit melee units and move away from any danger because they can do anything about it. This is great for damaging melee cavalry units in particular. They have weaknesses though. Against masses foot archers, they will get beat. And if they get caught by melee caverly, they will get beat. So you need to keep a distance and outright run away if the melee cavaerly comes after you. Allot of the time the player will give up chase and run, at this point fire bow rounds. They will chase you, do the same again rinse and repeat.

The other advantage is the range of the bow unit. Most gun units, while they have superior fire power, have inferior range. Matchlock in particular route super easily and are prime targets for hit and run. It can be useful against Fall Of The Samurai units as well. But given the huge amounts of them, you wont route them or do massive damage to the unit size. Remember to set the unit on skirmish, avoid melee.

Fire-Rockets are your friend

This is a small but extremely powerful unit (see video at bottom of blog). While they do not have the range of other siege weapons, they have far higher accuracy and can move around as fast as bow units. For each game they will do about 4-5 shots and have a much higher range than bow units. The best way to use them I find, is to send them out with a cheap pike unit (to protect them from caverly) and specifically target grouped units. Even if they miss the specific unit you are targeting, they will hit other units in close proximity. For cavalry, they are devastating and can route them with only one or two strikes. If possible, don't waste your time hitting units split off from the rest of your opponents army. Especially if they are in a single line loose formation. This will most likely be a waste of ammunition.

Concentrate bow on melee and specifically cloth units

During most games you will have a big mash up. It's typical to put spear units in front followed by melee sword units at the back such as katana. Cloth units (monk/nuns) are also used, these units have the best melee in the game barring hero units. They are lethal at close range but have basically no armour of any kind. Keep your bow units at the back out of contact with the battle, ignore the pike units and specifically target cloth melee units first and foremost followed by melee samurai units such as Katana. Many players do not do this and simply waste bow on cheap spear units while the real threat demolished there army.

Hero units are complimentary not the end of all ends

Alot of people think just using hero units will win the game. While it's true they are extremely powerful, they are also usually very limited in number. This makes them extremely vurnirible to missile troops and masses of troops. When using a hero unit, do not send it own it's own. Use it with other units. They act as a distraction and disperse the damage your hero units take. and specifically ignore the pike units and concentrate all fire on the sword

Cover is your friend

If you use cover correctly, you can destroy superior forces. (see video at bottom of blog).

Unlike bow units, gun-power units do not have a huge arc. Therefor, they cannot simply shoot over hills or trees. On specific maps, provided you play correctly, you actually have a larger advantage than what the game perceives you to have. Whenever fighting Fall Of The samurai units, attempt to use high ground as cover, place units, slightly behind so, so the charge range they have is closer without being inflicted with a longer duration of missile attack. A typical method I like to use is placing two layers of Yari ashigaru in front (using retainers that increase moral) and placing cloth units at the back. This acts as a meat-shield with your cheap units taking most of the damage and your melee excelling units taking the least amount of damage. The other good news, if they attempt to intercept with cavery, your Yari ashigaru will destroy them while getting shot up with friendly fire.

This is a case by case thing mind, it will not work every game.

I'll revise and add more to this later as alot can still be added. Specifcally on units, leveling them and retainers This is just a starting point I put together out of bordem. Hopefully someone will find it useful for getting into multiplayer though.

Starting in many multiplayer games can be daunting. With first person shooters they are generally much more accessible. With strategy games it is much more intimidating as it requires more input from the user. to succeed. Thankfully Shogun 2 is not a terribly complicated game in multiplayer. It's far more skill based though than single player as the AI will never compare to a human opponent. I am by no means a great player nor claim to be. I'd say I'm average at best but I hope this helps out someone who maybe wants to try it out as it is alot of fun and can take up as many (if not more) hours than single player. It's very overlooked.

Basics

As you may or not be aware, Shogun 2 uses a rock/paper/scissor system. It works as follows...

Spear beats horse...

Sword beats spear and bow...

Bow beats melee cloth units (monks/nuns)...

Cav beats melee (non spear) units...

Start with low fund matches and low star players

When you start Shogun 2, you will be given some veteran units. The rest you will have to unlock. Alot of players will have unlocked and leveled up veteran units which will be superior to yours. The best starting point here is to play games with low funds. This is because veteran units cost more money than normal units. By doing this you are limiting everyone creating a fairer more skill based battlefield. So, my suggestion, start with low funds.

The game operates with stars, new players have less stars. Avoid playing against silver or gold players. Start a room or join a room specifically built for lower level players 1-4 stars max. Doing this along with playing with low funds will help ease you into the game better. As you progress in stars and start to unlock veteran units, you can start moving up.

Cheat

A common method in Shogun 2's multiplayer is to have two players help each other unlock and increase ranks of units by allowing units to spam each other on opposite ends of the map and taking turns to concede. By doing so units for both players level up and campaign map portions unlock. This can be laborious but if you are really desperate to unlock units and upgrade them, this is a great method This isn't a bannable offense of anything, so don't worry about getting in trouble.

Concentrate on one skill tree at a time

The avatar skill tree is separated into three main trees. Commanding, missile (bow) and melee (sword). You can use all of them at the same time however I would recommend sticking to one specifically as you can become extremely proficient in one aspect rather than a jack of all trades master of none. In shogun 2's multiplayer moral is an incredibly important mechanic. A game can be lost and indeed most are by routing rather than casualty loss. For this reason, I would recommend using command or bow rather than melee. As these operate at a distance rather than up close and personal reducing the chances of your avatar getting killed off. If your avatar dies, you will have an extremely difficult time winning. So, along with the skill tree, remember to keep your avatar alive and rally units whenever required.

Don't waste your time with stealth or siege units

Alot of new players try out the stealth units or waste money on siege weapons thinking they will do massive damage. This is not the case. Siege weapons barring fire-rockets are extremely inaccurate and costly. Do not waste your time with them. Likewise, in multiplayer, stealth units are all but useless. The only siege unit that is actually useful are fire-rockets (more on that later). Stealth units will be found out at a fair distance from the desired target and will inflict very little damage before being demolished.

Use loose formation and hide against artillery

With the introduction of fall of the samurai, shogun 2 players have to contend with artillery. Unlike siege weapons in Shogun 2, these are extremely accurate and will inflict lots of damage. Allot of players will try to camp and simply spam artillery for 15 minutes if possible. In situations such as this the best thing to do is to put your units in as thin a line as possible set at loose formation and place them in hidden tree spots so the opposing player can only guess your armies position. Your avatar cannot hide. Take this into account. Generally speaking, at the start of the match, if possible, place your army as far back as possible in order to be out of range.

Spear is your friend

Typical behavior for other players is to try flank with cavalry. The units targeted are usually bow, your avatar or melee units like Katana. To counter this, stick spear units directly behind them, as close as possible. As soon as a cavalry charged, simply move your melee of unit back and your spear unit forward. If your bow unit is set on skirmish, they will do this automatically. When a unit in Shogun 2 gets engaged in melee, it slows down and cannot instantly get away. cavalry use smaller units. Even very cheap units like "Yari ashigaru" can inflict massive proportionate unit loss to even the more stronger caverlry thanks to there "caverly bonus" stat.

Hit And Run

When fighting players that camp (and this will happen alot) a good way to bait or inflict damage is to send bow cav using a method called "hit and run".

By using the speed advantage you can hit melee units and move away from any danger because they can do anything about it. This is great for damaging melee cavalry units in particular. They have weaknesses though. Against masses foot archers, they will get beat. And if they get caught by melee caverly, they will get beat. So you need to keep a distance and outright run away if the melee cavaerly comes after you. Allot of the time the player will give up chase and run, at this point fire bow rounds. They will chase you, do the same again rinse and repeat.

The other advantage is the range of the bow unit. Most gun units, while they have superior fire power, have inferior range. Matchlock in particular route super easily and are prime targets for hit and run. It can be useful against Fall Of The Samurai units as well. But given the huge amounts of them, you wont route them or do massive damage to the unit size. Remember to set the unit on skirmish, avoid melee.

Fire-Rockets are your friend

This is a small but extremely powerful unit (see video at bottom of blog). While they do not have the range of other siege weapons, they have far higher accuracy and can move around as fast as bow units. For each game they will do about 4-5 shots and have a much higher range than bow units. The best way to use them I find, is to send them out with a cheap pike unit (to protect them from caverly) and specifically target grouped units. Even if they miss the specific unit you are targeting, they will hit other units in close proximity. For cavalry, they are devastating and can route them with only one or two strikes. If possible, don't waste your time hitting units split off from the rest of your opponents army. Especially if they are in a single line loose formation. This will most likely be a waste of ammunition.

Concentrate bow on melee and specifically cloth units

During most games you will have a big mash up. It's typical to put spear units in front followed by melee sword units at the back such as katana. Cloth units (monk/nuns) are also used, these units have the best melee in the game barring hero units. They are lethal at close range but have basically no armour of any kind. Keep your bow units at the back out of contact with the battle, ignore the pike units and specifically target cloth melee units first and foremost followed by melee samurai units such as Katana. Many players do not do this and simply waste bow on cheap spear units while the real threat demolished there army.

Hero units are complimentary not the end of all ends

Alot of people think just using hero units will win the game. While it's true they are extremely powerful, they are also usually very limited in number. This makes them extremely vurnirible to missile troops and masses of troops. When using a hero unit, do not send it own it's own. Use it with other units. They act as a distraction and disperse the damage your hero units take. and specifically ignore the pike units and concentrate all fire on the sword

Cover is your friend

If you use cover correctly, you can destroy superior forces. (see video at bottom of blog).

Unlike bow units, gun-power units do not have a huge arc. Therefor, they cannot simply shoot over hills or trees. On specific maps, provided you play correctly, you actually have a larger advantage than what the game perceives you to have. Whenever fighting Fall Of The samurai units, attempt to use high ground as cover, place units, slightly behind so, so the charge range they have is closer without being inflicted with a longer duration of missile attack. A typical method I like to use is placing two layers of Yari ashigaru in front (using retainers that increase moral) and placing cloth units at the back. This acts as a meat-shield with your cheap units taking most of the damage and your melee excelling units taking the least amount of damage. The other good news, if they attempt to intercept with cavery, your Yari ashigaru will destroy them while getting shot up with friendly fire.

This is a case by case thing mind, it will not work every game.

I'll revise and add more to this later as alot can still be added. Specifcally on units, leveling them and retainers This is just a starting point I put together out of bordem. Hopefully someone will find it useful for getting into multiplayer though.

Good looking looking out for noobs like me. Appreciated.