When playing Total War Shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai (FOTS), you are an ambitious Daimyo (Leader of your clan), and as such your goal is to conquer most of Japan as efficiently as possible. But for such a bold endeavour, you will need to lay down some carefully thought plans in order to succeed.

Firstly you need to know your own clan’s strength at the beginning of the game. That strength involves, your clan’s traits (what bonuses your clan has), your domain's or province's location on the map, your finances, your neighbors, your allies, your enemies, your generals, and of course your army strength and particular combat style and strong units. By taking all that into consideration, you can make some initial overall strategy on how to begin your domination of Japan.

Begin your journey by choosing what technology is better suited to your immediate needs and research it. The first technology level does not require a lot of thoughts as you have to complete all of them in order to advance, but just know you will also need to increase your modernization by building infrastructures and also by researching technologies in order to advance to the next level. Modernizing too quickly can hurt your public order, but again you start off with very few provinces so you can often deal with it. Then, check the status of your clan. If you have any teenage sons know that they may become generals soon, so think about building them a good army when the time comes. Know where and who to attack first? When is the right time? Who their allies are? Who is their enemy? Do you attack this or that province? What resources are available on that province? What is the allegiance/religion of their people? What buildings are already present there? These are just some thoughts and questions you must constantly ask yourself while playing the game. If you stick to it, your plans will succeed if not you will struggle and eventually failure will follow.

Laying plans also include thoughts about your finances. Depending on your province and clan think about how much more money you can make by going North first instead of South, going West instead of East? That depends of course on the buildings and resources available in those provinces and others you might acquire soon. Money is the most important resource to win a war. Therefore, do not be afraid of taking your time to build up a stable economy before moving forward. Sometimes you can take up to a year or even two just making sure you can fight the next five on your own. You must be able to fight a war against all other clans and not depend on any of them for trade to sustain your armies and navies. Just consider the westerns powers as your solid trade partners. But that can only be possible if you have a strong navy capable of defending your trade routes and western ports. Therefore it's better to think very early on on developing your internal wealth.


Laying plans has to include your major military focus or minor foci. Do you need a navy right away? Do you get military ports and Dry-docks as soon as possible? Or do you get artillery first? All of these last three questions are highly important. Personally I always recommend to get artillery as soon as possible because during that era, if you know how to use them well in battle, they will be well worth their high upkeep cost. Elite units also will greatly benefit you as long as you can afford them, they will be worth their price. In FOTS, a strong navy can save your life several times. More often than not, enemies will send ships or even just one ship with a full stack army waiting to land on your shores. If you're not lucky, they would hide their navy in the great sea while advancing towards your shores, without your knowledge. That is why it is important to keep an eye on where the big enemy fleets are or at least those transporting troops. Although, keeping a garrison naval force can help you crush a full stack army easily. A military port or drydock will slow their landing down and greatly damage their ships as well.


Finally laying plans should include thinking about alliances. Do not ally right away if you can avoid it. Wait until you see a clan’s worth and might before you propose or accept an alliance with them. Think about the allies of your ally and his enemies. Do not get too many allies if you can as they may drag you into worthless wars that do not serve your interests. Also declining an ally's offer to join their war will hurt your diplomatic reputation amongst other clans. Alliances are a long term commitment so think carefully and opportunistically about them. Think about using your allies to achieve your goals and not befriending them just to achieve the same goal. In simple terms, use your allies for your own benefit.

No domination conquest can succeed without a good leadership. Leaders can be worth a thousand men and can be more devastating than a whole army. Think about your leader as the key to your clan’s ambition. So make him become a key that can open many types of doors. Military, honour, diplomacy, influence and charisma are necessary tools that your leader needs to aim for in order to succeed in such a role. Make him (your daimyo) fight hard battles so that he can get battle experience quickly and winning heroic victories will increase his honour. But never forget to give him the best army with both quality and quantity units. Give him artillery as soon as possible but make sure he doesn't stay too long garrisoned in towns and cities without battles to fight. He will lose honour and get degrading traits from it such as less movement point for his army, etc.
When possible, always make sure he has two quality cavalry on his side and two yari samurai nearby him on the battlefield. If possible, never choose a retainer that has any negative traits to accompany him as such would be disgraceful for his role. Discipline is the best key to have for an army, so give him traits that increases the morale of his troops.
Make sure he always has the best navy when doing naval invasion. Do not risk him dying in a naval battle he can’t win. Never let him fight a battle with depleted forces as such is a risk for his life. He is the backbone of your ambitions thus he must always be victorious. Therefore have a second army ready to assist him if needed.

On another hand, your armies leadership also depends upon your generals and captains. It is highly important that they have absolute loyalty. And as such, make sure that you deserve their loyalty by having an honorable Daimyo. Doing so will ensure your rule will be free of any civil wars and betrayals. Give your generals good traits as well. Give the best among your generals quality troops and make the less experienced fight many battles to gain what they lack.

Fall of the Samurai has a plethora of unit types. Each unit has its own advantages and drawbacks, but knowing when and what unit to build is the key for having a good army. Units with better stats are of course better most of the time but they come at a higher recruitment and upkeep costs. If you keep building expensive units, you might end up worsening your finances quickly. Also some good units have less quantity though their good quality makes up for it. It's an important matter to pay attention to. Know your financial capabilities before getting any expensive units.


A good army in FOTS always need to have two or more artillery pieces, 5 or more elite infantry, 4 or more yari samurai, 2 cavalry, at least one ambush/special unit such as ninjas, 3 or more sword samurai and last but not least an experienced general.
Artillery Units range from wooden cannons to Armstrong guns. Though one may consider Gatling guns as artillery pieces. Wooden canons are not worth your time at all and you should avoid them. They are static, do very little damage and have no accuracy.


Parrot Guns are the way to go first when getting artillery. They have decent stats and will make a difference in battle.
But upgraded Armstrong guns are the way to go. That's why as soon as you can, you should make it a goal to get a province that has a Gunsmith. It's even better if you build a Firing Range in the same province. That way you can build all the way to an Army War College and an Arsenal for your infantry and artillery units respectively, to then get them maximum accuracy. Not to forget about adding a foreign veterans also to give them more experience.


Elite Infantry units such as Imperial, Shogunate and Republican Guard Infantry, or Foreign Regiments units are a must have at the end game. They have a very good marksmanship and very decent stats overall. But they can be even better with a Gunsmith and Firing Range buildings as stated above. Use them wisely though on the battlefield to give them advantage at all times. Avoid letting them engage cavalry as they will really be at a disadvantage. Nevertheless they can handle themselves quite well against elite swords units whenever your general is nearby.


Yari Kachis (Yari Samurais) are the most versatile unit in the game.They have decent melee stats and are very fit. They run fast, have an excellent charge bonus and fight well in almost all circumstances unless facing elite infantry. They can also manage well against other samurai units. Usually, it's a good idea to have them protecting your flanks against enemy cavalry charge. They are also useful behind your artillery and Gatling guns as they can quickly act as a barrage against charging cavalry. You can also use them in many ambush situations where you need to quickly charge the enemy. If there's one traditional unit you need to have, it's them. They are somewhat cheap and do their job well.




On another hand, there are two kinds of cavalry: melee cav and ranged cav. Depending on your needs, it's good to have more melee cavalries than ranged ones as their stats are overall better. But an advantage of the ranged cavalry, is their ability to shoot at the enemy while running as well as skirmish mode availability. Be aware though that Imperial Guard Cavalry units are good at everything even though they are classified as ranged cav. Use your cav wisely by always checking first which unit you're attacking and for what purpose. You can use them to charge and totally destroy, distract or harass a unit. Most of the time you are going to use them to destroy enemy artillery, or finish off routing units. Never engage them against spear units unless absolutely necessary. They have a big disadvantage against even the weakest spear units. Putting them in prolonged fights will also weaken their strength. A cavalry charge should be swift and effective. Also keep in mind that they can be very useful in protecting your general against huge enemy cavalry. If possible make one cavalry unit a skirmish one such as bow ki samurai as they can fire at a distance and over castle walls and can run from unmounted units.


Ambush and special units are an extra card you can play against the enemy. They have special abilities and weapons that are designed to terrify the enemy and reduce their morale. But their small number makes them vulnerable to prolonged engagements. Most of the time you should hide them in the woods or behind walls until the right time to use them, that way they can very effectively hide until an attacking enemy army moves forward to then take out their artillery. They also run fast and have very good melee stats despite their small number.


Sword units are the backbone of a solid melee attack during the early and mid game. They have strong morale and the best melee stats on the game. They also usually come at a decent cost. Use them to break the enemy infantry swiftly but don't expose them too long along the line of fire of elite infantry. Doing that will break them even though they have a good morale. Use their banzai ability or inspire them when they do their initial charge to give them more bonus. They often fight to the very end so they are worth their price.

Naval units also come in different sizes and usability. From the smaller gunboats to the Huge Ironclads, they all can have their needs. A small gunboat is very useful as a scout or even harassing tool against enemy ports and supply routes. Generally FOTS naval battles are boring. So you might not want to fight all of them, although it usually gives you way more advantage for fighting them yourself. That way you don't have the risk of losing very important ships because of RNG. Therefore build the biggest ships you can afford to upkeep with the biggest guns, or more guns in this case. When moving your fleets, make sure they are used efficiently on their way to their destinations. For example if you're close to no movements points, take your fleet to raid the closest supply route of the enemy. While waiting for the next turn, you can also do some naval bombardments on the enemy's infrastructure and buildings. Navy upkeep is very expensive so make sure to use your fleets to their maximum capability. Attacking a smaller fleet is always the best option. Never attack a Military port or Drydock without knocking it out first as they can do severe damage to your ships and waste you one turn. Also don't forget to disembark your agents on your ship as they're more useful on land. Ironclads are very strong but not invincible against a whole fleet or even one lucky torpedo boat. They give you a lot of firepower for Naval Bombardments though, and can often follow a great army marching towards an enemy provinces along the coast.

A general unit is always a cavalry, therefore the rules of cavalry apply to it. Nevertheless, you should never engage them against an enemy except for routing units. Unless making an important not risky tactical tasks that's really needed to change the direction of the battle.