This is my first time writing a guide, so if anything seems unclear or strange, please excuse me. Feel free to share any feedback!

This guide leans more towards Diplomacy. If you prefer a playstyle where you wage war against one clan after another and don’t mind having all of Japan declare war on you right away, then this guide may not be for you.

Additionally, this playstyle requires strong battlefield leadership—you must be able to win battles even when the odds are against you.

Lastly, English is not my primary language, so you may find some grammatical mistakes or awkward phrasing. Thank you for your understanding!

This guide was created due to the lack of available guides for ROTS on how to beat Legendary difficulty or guides for ROTS in general.

In this section, I’ll cover the basics of the game. If you’re already familiar with them, feel free to skip ahead to section 2.0.

To succeed in this game, you must first understand town management, as towns are one of your main sources of income. A well-managed town allows you to maintain and expand your armies efficiently.



1.1.1 Summary
Displays the towns influence and its specialty if exist.

For example, the Taira influence starts at 100%. Hovering over the "Taira" text will provide detailed information on the factors affecting influence in that province. Each province has a default allegiance, and maintaining a high influence for your faction is crucial. If your faction’s influence falls, it may cause unrest and negatively affect public order. The lower your influence is the greater is the public unrest.

1.1.2 Food
Displays the town’s food production and consumption.

If a town consumes more food than it produces and the Global Food Supply (GFS) is negative, public unrest will increase by 3 per turn, up to a total of -15 unhappiness from food shortages.

1.1.3 Public Order
Displays the town’s happiness, based on positive and negative factors. Hovering over the icons will provide more details.

There are many things that affect the happiness of a town, here are the following list that I can remember:

Positive Factors:
• + Garrison Level
  
• + Stationed Units (Each unit gives 1 public order and max out at 15)
  
• + Agents (Certain agents can improve public order)
  
• + Daimyo Honour (High honour increases happiness)
  
• + Art Masteries (Some arts boost public order)
  
• + Events (Temporary)
  Negative Factors:
  
• - Tax (Higher tax = more unrest)
  
• - Number of Provinces (More provinces = higher base unrest in new province, based on fame)
  
• - Daimyo Honour (Low honour decreases happiness)
  
• - Newly Conquered Town (Decreases by 1 per turn, up to a fixed limit based on territories)

Negative happiness will result in mounting unrest then rebel if the issue remains unsolved. Player usually has one turn to handle unrest before rebel.

1.1.4 Wealth
Displays the province's total wealth, tax rate, and income.

Farm and Commerce are base income and will always stay the same unless the player decided to demolish/upgrade the building in question. Commerce building are market and port while farm is of course the farm.

1.1.4.1 Town
This value changes each turn based on Town Growth. A Town with high number in "Town" will generate more income. Looting will damage a Town's "Town" greatly but provide a lot of Koku upfront.

1.1.4.2 Province Wealth
Displays the total accumulated wealth of the province.

1.1.4.3 Tax Rate
Displays the tax rate for that particular province. Hovering over the percentage will provides further details on factors affecting taxation.

1.1.4.4 Income
Displays how much money the town generates per turn.

1.1.5 Town Growth
Displays positive and negative factors that determine whether the town will grow or decline in the next turn. Certain events and unrest can greatly reduce growth.

1.1.6 Exempt Province From Tax:
Allows you to whether tax the province or exempt it from taxation.

The next essential step is understanding Finance, as it allows you to make critical decisions that can lead to either success or failure. Managing your economy effectively ensures you can maintain your armies, infrastructure, and overall stability.

1.2.1 Taxes


This tab provides an overview of your clan’s total income, expenses, tax levels, and the happiness of each province.

🟩 Green – Happiness is above 1.
🟨 Yellow – Happiness is at 0.
🟥 Red – Happiness is below 0, causing unrest and eventually rebellion if unresolved.
⬛ Black – The province is exempt from taxes.

1.2.2 Trade


1.2.2.1 Resources
Displays the resources your clan is producing, importing, and those you have yet to acquire.
Hovering over the resource icon shows how much of the product in question is being sold. A product with 100% export means all of it is being traded away, this is what you want to make the most money out of it. It also displays how much the product is worth.

1.2.2.2 Trade Partners
Displays your active trade partners, the trade route type, and the income generated from each trade agreement. A boat icon means trading by sea and a cart means trade by land. A stroke on the boat icon means that the port is blocked and neither you nor your trade partner are receive trading money from the trade.

Note that the longer a trade agreement lasts, the more income it generates over time. Maintaining long-term trade relations also improves diplomatic relation with that faction.

1.2.3 Summary


This section provides a detailed breakdown of your income and expenses, including:

• Current expected income & expenses
  
• Previous turn’s income & expenses

The next step is understanding Diplomacy and its importance in shaping your strategy. Managing diplomatic relations effectively can prevent unnecessary wars, secure valuable trade agreements, and strengthen alliances.



This tab provides an overview of your clan’s power, current diplomatic standing, and relations with other factions, including:

• Allies
  
• Trade partners
  
• Vassals
  
• Enemies
  
• Information on specific clans

Diplomatic Map Colors:
⚪ White – Your provinces
🟩 Green – Friendly clans (Darker green = Stronger relations)
🟥 Red – Hostile clans (Darker red = Greater hostility)

1.3.1 Power
Displays your clan’s military might, which plays a major role in determining whether other clans will declare war on you. More details on this will be covered later.

1.3.2 Attitude
Display your standing towards the clan in question, whether or not they like you or not or neutral.

1.3.3 Temperament
Indicates the playstyle of a clan, helping you predict their behavior:

• Defensive – Focuses on holding territory rather than expansion
  
• Aggressive – More likely to declare war and expand rapidly

1.3.4 Integrity
Represents a clan’s reputation and trustworthiness:

• High Integrity (Dependable) – More likely to honor alliances and assist in battle, though still influenced by their attitude toward you
  
• Low Integrity (Questionable/Treacherous) – More likely to break alliances and betray you when the opportunity arises

Before diving deeper into the guide, it's essential to understand how to manage your clan effectively.



1.4.1 Summary
This tab provides an overview of your clan’s traits, victory conditions, fame, diplomacy, missions, and other key elements.

1.4.1.1 Clans Trait
Displays your clan’s unique traits, each clan has one or two fixed trait/s and can be gained more through masteries.

1.4.1.2 Fame
Represents how renowned (or infamous) your clan is, this also determine your threat level perceived by other clans. Once reaching Legendary, most clan if not all will declare war on you unless you managed to keep them on the good side.

1.4.1.3 Details
Displays important details such as your capital (Stronghold), global food supply etc.

1.4.1.4 Victory Condition
Lists the objectives you need to complete to achieve victory in the campaign.

1.4.1.5 Diplomacy
Provides an overview of:

• Ally
  
• Vassals
  
• Trade partners
  
• Enemies

1.4.1.6 Current Mission
Displays special missions that can provide bonuses if completed within the time limit. These buffs can help make your campaign easier and give temporary advantages.

1.4.2 Family & Council
This tab shows an overview of your clan’s family tree and generals. Here you can monitor your Daimyo’s Honour and your generals' royalty. You can also dismiss generals if you so wish. Arrange marriages for your daughters. Adopting generals as son and etc.



The most important element in this section is the Commissions. There are only 4 Commissions, hovering over them will display further information. Also note that the higher the level of the general, the higher the bonus. These 4 Commissions can be given to any of your general exception is yourself (Daimyo and your Heir). Each position can only be held by 1 general at a time and by giving out these Commissions it always increases the general in question royalty by 1. If you at anytime strip away the Commission from your current general, that general will get a -2 loyalties penalty, 1 lost from the Commission itself and 1 from you remove them from that position.

When adopting generals your “elder” sons will be displeased (same is also true when you enlist new general), for each general you adopt will result in a royalty penalty by 1. The more you adopt the less royal your son are toward you and they might turn on you when they lead an army.

Now, we come to one of the most crucial aspects of your military—the General. A well-trained General is more than just a unit on the battlefield; he is the backbone of your army, influencing battles, morale, and even the fate of your entire campaign.



Opening the General's tab will displays an overview of the general in question. The upper part list general information about the general, such as age, rank (level), royalty (honour if Daimyo) and exp to next level.

Understanding how to develop and specialise your Generals can give you a significant advantage on the battlefield and in campaign management.

1.5.1 Skills & Traits
Usually General start with no skills and traits exception is in the case of them getting married or is the Daimyo. Here list the traits and skills of the general in question, both negative and positive traits and skills. Traits are earned by marriage or special events while skills are earned form levelling up and choosing skills for that general.

1.5.2 Retainers
The max level for a general is level 6 so every even level gives the general 1 retainer. These retainers usually give the general a nice buff such as bow unit has higher accuracy but there are also double-edged sword retainers. As for the Daimyo, there exist special retainers that can significantly alter the tide of battle but they are not easy to get since certain condition must be meet when levelling up.

1.5.3 Summary
Display all the effects the general have (skills, traits and retainers’ effects).

1.5.4 Skills
Every General follows the same skill tree, but how you choose to develop them depends on your strategy and playstyle. Max points for each general is 12, each level up gives the general 2 points exception is level 5 and 6 where it gives 3 points each.



Usually I divided them into 3 categories:

1.5.4.1 Battle-Specialised
This is a general who dives right into the battle and cause fear amongst the enemy troops. A beast during the battle. For this build go with the yellow path. This will increase the general’s survivability when sending into battle but also strike fears into the enemy inside his radius and thus easier to cause mass rout. Though this playstyle is risky imho as I prefer not to risk my general that I have painstakingly raise. Not to mention since this build is so wide you will only be able to invest 1 point in each skill so the stats benefits aren't that super great either.

For this build, put 1 point in each of the skill in the yellow tree. You can however leave out Instil Fear skill to free up points, thus you will be able to max out on all the skills on the right side which will give quite a nice boost to your generals bodyguard stats as well as your army.

1.5.4.2 Army-Specialised
This general specialised in his army. By allowing longer army march, cheaper upkeep and instil fear on enemies within his influence. I usually favour this build more as it allows me to march my army further, cheaper army upkeep as well as easier to cause mass rout and less risky for the general to die since most of the time the general will stand behind his army and fire arrows and only goes into melee battle when almost win or needed. For this go with the red tree.

For this build, put 1 point in every skills except the last skill to the left where it gives reduction to upkeep and longer movement, put 2 points into this skill.

1.5.4.3 Civil-Specialised
For this go with the blue tree, this will increase the general loyalty, speed up research, spreading influence, reduce unrest when taking a town by force. I usually go for this build on my vice General since I usually have 2 generals in one army where he usualy lead during siege battle.

For this build, put 2 points in all the skills to the left side of each level skill and the last skill. The only exception is the one skill on level 4 where you only invest 1 point. The rest of the skills put 1 point in them.

Note: Use this general only for seige battle if you're playing like me, move the army to the enemy town and before attacking it select all units except the main general and attack, the main general will enter as reinforcement and become a vice general. However if you are planning to loot that province and to let it revolt then use your main since you will get 10% bonus to looting.

Agents play a crucial role in a diplomatic playstyle, offering powerful tools to influence enemies, support armies, and control movement across the map. This section covers their capabilities, limitations, and best practices to maximize their effectiveness. The level up pointing system works the same for all characters, 2 points each level with the exception is level 5 and 6, which is 3 points per level.

Action Success & Failure:

• A failed action results in half the initial cost being deducted and may trigger a Diplomatic Penalty.
  
• A successful action deducts the full cost and may trigger a Diplomatic Penalty.

Stationing Limits and Agent Cap:

• A maximum of 3 agents can be stationed in a single town or army.
  
• If multiple Generals are in an army, only the first General benefits from an agent’s effects.
  
• You can recruit up to 5 agents of the same type with the exception of Monomi, were 3 is the limit.

When using agents, do not use agents against clans you have no plans to go to war with but only target those you intend to fight.

Agents are also very powerful to use to control the enemy’s movement and power.

Monomi is the only agent that’s hidden by default from enemy unless discovered.

Note: It's recommended to specialise in one Tree, however, it doesn't prevent one to do all the actions an Agent can do, specialise in a Tree increases the overall Stats/Chances.

To level up an agent effectively, it's recommended to find an army consist of only one unit or a town of lowest level to sabotage the building depending on type of agent, this is because it's the cheapest but will also result in the highest chance of success. A two consecutive successes will level up the agent to level 2 right away. Continue until desired level is reached.

Shirabyoshi are powerful agents specialising in distraction, seduction, town growth and public order as well as maintaining general's loyalty.

2.1.1 Shirabyoshi

• Distract Army: Prevents an enemy army from moving for one turn, run away if attacked or join as reinforcement.
  
• Seduction: Seduce an enemy's General or Agent to join your clan. Note that General who join your clan through this way will suffer -1 loyalty.
  
• Entertain Nobles: Add town growth each turn. Note that level 1 Shirabyoshi doesn't give any town growth. Each level increase the town growth by 2, exception is level 2 which gives 4 in town growth. Max town growth is at 12 at the agent's max level of 6.
  
• Entertain Generals: Increase General loyalty, thus decreasing the chance of them defecting (affects only the first General in an army).

2.1.2 The use of Shirabyoshi
There are two ways to specialise Shirabyoshi. One is Sabbotage/Seduction and the other is Entertain Nobels/Generals.

2.1.3 Distraction/Seduction
Useful to seduce high level General/Agent to join your cause, or to buy you enough time to mobilise an army to counter an invasion through distraction. This can also be used to control enemies’ movement and power, through distraction one will prevent the enemy to reinforce critical area/conquer new provinces by denying their army’s movement. For this, chose the Blue Tree in the picture bellow, this will increase her chances when Distract and Seducing.

2.1.4 Entertain Nobels/General/Distraction
Useful when a General has low loyalty or wanting a town to grown faster, thus generate more income as well as acting as the last line of defence through distraction. For this choose the Yellow Tree in the picture bellow. This will also increase happiness in a Town once certain skills are mastered.

2.1.5 Limitations and Strength
Shirabyoshi cannot seduce enemy's Shirabyoshi.
Cannot seduce enemy's Agent if the maximum amount of X agent has been reached.
Strong against Sou.



Personal note: I prefer the yellow tree, since I prefer to use her to grow a town's growth, thus generating more income overtime as well as the most important task of her is to act as my last line of defence in form of distraction since I detest naval battle. The AI usually sneak armies through sea behind your defence line. By having 2-3 of Shirabyoshi spread at strategic provinces they can easily be assemble within 1-2 turns depending on where the enemies are at. This will leave you enough time to mobilise your army or outright bribe the enemy with Junsatsushi.

Junsatsushi are diplomatic agents who excel in bribery, taxation, counter-espionage, and allegiance shifts. They can persuade entire armies to defect, increase tax revenue, or remove enemy agents from the field. If used strategically, they can help weaken enemy forces without direct conflict, making them one of the most powerful tools for political warfare.

2.2.1 Junsatsushi

• Bribery: Bribe an army to join your clan. If fully successful, the whole army will join your clan, if partly successful, some will remain royal to their clan.
  
• Overseeing: Increase Tax and Happiness if put in a Town and loyalty for the first General as well as decreasing the success rate of Monomi.
  
• Pay Off: Completely remove the targeted Agent if successful.
  
• Request Allegiance: Converts an enemy province to your control if the allegiance to your faction is above 50%. Note that when an army is inside the town, the success rate will decrease and the cost will increase. Successfully requesting Allegiance on Clans with two or more provinces will result in a Declaration of War. Successfully Request Allegiance when an army in town will count as a conquered town, thus will receive Diplomacy Penalty(Territory Expansion) and cause unrest.

2.2.2 The use of Junsatsushi
There are two ways of specialising Junsatsushi. One is Overseeing/Spreading Influence and the other is Counter Spying.

2.2.3 Overseeing/Spreading Influence
Useful if one needs money or keeping General royal.
Useful when playing politically and taking out small Clans without suffering Diplomatic Penalty. To do this, simply put him in a province (not inside the town, since you can't put your agent in an enemy's town) once the allegiance to your faction is above 50% perform "Request Allegiance". For this go for the Blue Tree in the pic below.

2.2.4 Counter Spying
Useful when wanting to find hidden Monomi and dealing with them. (Not recommended). For this go for the Yellow Tree in the pic below. If going for this build you will have 2 free points in which you can put them in spreading allegiance or overseeing town or both depending on your playstyle.

2.2.5 Limitations, Weakness and Strength

• Junsatshushi cannot Request Allegiance on a Great Clan's last province or the last province of a clan that once has more than 1 province.
  
• Cannot bribe an army that's lead by a Clan's Daimyo. Exception is if the Daimyo is of a minor Clan and is stationed inside their only province.
  
• Weak and strong against Sou.
  
• Strong against Monomi.

Personal note: I personally prefer Overseeing/Spreading Influence as this allows me to gain more provinces without the need to go to war as well as it allows me to generate more income when overseeing town. I usually have 1-2 Junsatsushi stationed inside the town to generate more income (Where they are stationed depends on how much money I have and where I'm at in the campaign as I also use them as a last line of defence) while 3-4 of them are use to spread influence.

This style is also very powerful as you can also bribe enemy's army, usually they will have small armies running around before merging into a big one, if you can catch and bribe a few deep into their line and then use them to take over and loot their provinces then leave it to revolt not only will you weaken your enemy but also gain alot of koku, this way when you're busy dealing with the enemy on the front line, they also suffer from the backline while you reap all the benefits, but do be aware as it's also a double edge sword since the rebel might come back and bite you later once you chew through your enemy's frontline.

Sou are powerful agents who influence morale, incite revolts, and counter enemy actions. They are excellent at weakening enemy forces without direct combat and managing public order in newly conquered provinces. If used correctly, they can cause entire clans to collapse without a single battle.

2.3.1 Sou

• Minister To Settlement: Increases happiness in a town and lowers enemy agent success rates.
  
• Indoctrinate: Causing an enemy Agent to retire, thus removing that Agent from the campaign.
  
• Incite Revolt: Causing Revolt.
  
• Inspire Army: Decreases the chance of success when enemy agents attempt to bribe your army to join their side.
  
• Demoralise Army: Lowers an enemy army’s morale for one turn, making them more likely to rout.

2.3.2 The use of Sou
There are two ways of specialising Sou. One is Demoralise/Increase Campaign movement/Bunka Art Mastery. For this go with the Yellow Tree. The other one is Inspiring Army/Minister Settlement/Indoctrinate/Revolt. For this go with the Blue Tree.

2.3.3 Minister To Settlement
Useful when a town is unhappy, example newly conquered town that can't afford to have an army stationed inside.

2.3.4 Demoralise
Useful when fighting against strong army, by decrease the moral of the enemy's army thus allow for easier rout during battle.

2.3.5 Incite Revolt
Useful when wanting to weaken an enemy without the need of going to war. Can even wipe out an entire Clan if do correctly.

I.E: A clan has five provinces, and their army is on your border trying to take over one of your provinces, send in Shirabyoshi to distract that army then incite revolt with monk, if everything goes well, at the end of that turn, that Clan is dead.

2.3.6 Indoctrinate
Useful to get rid of enemy's agent, but not recommended since it cost too much. Monomi is a better choice.

2.3.7 Strength and Weakness

• Weak against all Agents.
  
• Strong against Junsatshushi.

Personal note: I prefer the blue tree as it allows me to demoralise as well as incite revolt but also minister to settlement and while at it, also have a little bit of art masteries. I would max out on the skills to the right except for Militant since it's for indoctrine and indoctrine is costly. So 1 points in it is enough to unlock the other skills. With this you will have 5 points left. I would max out Worldly for a 40% escape if fail so the monk will be harder to kill when incite revolt. Left with 1 point I would either go with Scripture or Enlightened depends on if I want faster research or easier demoralise.

Monomi are your stealthy operatives, essential for gathering intelligence and disrupting your enemy’s plans. Their versatility ranges from extending your province’s vision to direct acts of sabotage and assassination. Depending on your strategic needs, you can tailor their abilities to scout, disrupt enemy movements, or eliminate key targets.

2.4.1 Monomi

• Establish Spy Network: Extends the line of sight in a province, increasing your chance to detect hidden armies or enemy agents, while also reducing the likelihood of successful revolt incitement.
  
• Scout Army: Extends an army’s line of sight and march distance, and helps prevent enemy demoralization attempts.
  
• Spy (Passive): Reveal unit type and amount in an Army if close enough.
  
• Sabotage: Sabotage a building or an Army. If building, disable it until it's repaired. If army, prevent the Army from moving 1 turn, run away if attacked or join as reinforcement.
  
• Assassination: Assassinate a General or Agent and remove them from the campaign.

2.4.2 The use of Monomi
There are three ways of specialising Monomi. The first one is Spy and Army Sabotage. For this go with the Yellow Tree. The second one is Building Sabotage/Semi-Spy/Semi-Full-Assassination. For this go with the Orange Tree. The third is Assassination. For this go with the Blue Tree.

2.4.3 Spy and Army/Building Sabotage
Useful to keep track and control enemies’ movements and power (Such as the ability to recruit unit by sabotage the town, Assassinate the enemies’ General and decreasing their chance of winning the battle or to prevent them from moving).

2.4.4 Assassination
Useful to get rid of high-level Generals that might give one a hard time on the battlefield. Or troublesome Agents.

2.4.5 Strength and Weakness

• Weak against Junsatshushi
  
• Strong against Sou

Personal note: How much I use Monomi is based on which clan I play, and I'll spec them differently depending on which clan I play and what I need in that particular campaign and might not reflect on the tree I recommended. Since you can have 3 Monomi, you can spec them differently depending on your need.

An example is if you're playing as the Fujiwara then you won't get them until late game (Past RD), by that time the game is already almost done, and if you're factoring into leveling up Monomi then by the time they reach higher level the game might already ended, so it might be useful but also useless, it all depends on your need. If we take the Taira as an example then you will get them quite the early on, in that case they will be a valuable asset to you. As for the Minamoto you will either get them mid or early game depends on which side you want to expand. So spec them accordingly and see them as a special addition to your ordinary agents.

Mastering the right arts is crucial because they provide significant bonuses to your clan. In the early game, you might want to focus on Bunka rather than Budo for economic advantages. The arts are divided into eight tiers from top to bottom, where Budo enhances military strength and Bunka improves economy, public order, and political relations.

• Blue Tree: This focus boost your economy. There is a darker blue and a lighter blue, the lighter blue is for mid-late game as it gives 10% discount on armies and navy upkeep.
  
• Yellow Tree: This focus unlock Warrior Monk or Bow Samurai depends on which you prefer you can either go with the darker yellow or the lighter yellow. The darker yellow unlocks Warrior Monk while the lighter yellow unlocks Bow Samurai.
  
• Green Tree: This focus gives your units a boost in their stats as well as your army and will make battle easier.
  
• Mix Tree: This focus is a mix of the remaining arts.
  
  • The Red Tree is very important as it unlocks encampment, a building that give you a boost to your unit stats based on your preference.
    
  • The Pink Tree(Branch within Green Tree) is also very important as it boost your archers stats such as accuracy and reload rate allows for a much deadlier archer.
    
  • The Orange Tree is for your specific agent as it boost their success rate and will make their mission easier.
    
  • The Purple Tree gives bonus to Warrior Monk and Bow Samurai so choose which one based on your preference.

The remaining arts that are not highlighted by any color are generally less critical for my playstyle but if you find them interesting go ahead and take a closer look. You won't be able to research all the arts that I have listed so choose wisely on which you want to focus on per your playstyle. The arts you see marked completed in the pic tooks about 100 turns that's also when you have conquer all of japan. Which is 16 masteries as a normal playthrough without any academy being build.

Now with that out of the way you might ask what to research first. As this playstyle focus on Diplomacy I'll focus on economy first and foremost but I'll also go for unlocking the Warrior Monk as my second priority.

This means I'll first focus on the bunka masteries of the darker blue, tier 1 and tier 2 which will grant me a 35% increase in trading on land, depending on which clan you play this can give a nice boost in economy in early game. After that I'll focus on unlocking Flaming Arrow (it gives 2x damage over ordinary arrow as far as I have tried using Warrior Monk on Naginata Attendants) which is also in line with our Warrior Monk and Bow Samurai masteries. This mean focusing on Budo Tier 1, 2 and 3(The first art tier in the Pink Tree ). Once done I'll switch back to Bunka and focus on the Yellow Tree to finish unlocking Warrior Monk. Once these are done I'll focus on masteries depending on how the game unfold but will most likely still focus on economy as primary focus.

Note: There are times when you want to focus on unlocking Warrior Monk/Bow Samurai as fast as possible, a possible scenario is that a major clan declare war on you very early on, especially the Minamoto with their Bow Samurai.

Each clan has their own speed in researching the arts. This is displayed when you first chose a clan to play, the one with fastest research rate is the Fukuhara Taira since they have a province that have a building that gives 20% research rate to all arts.

To have a stable Economy in the game is very important, this will allow you to make use of your Agents to the best of their abilities but also letting you build many armies. As well as keeping your allies happy. Money solves everything in this game.

Income
Steady income come in two forms: Taxation and Trade. The third form is Temporary Income.

Tax: The more wealth the town has the more money you will receive from the Tax.

Trade: The bigger the clan you are trading with (Number of provinces controlled by the clan) the higher the trade income.

Temporary Income:
Apart from getting money through Tax and Trade, you can use Junsatsushi to increase the Tax Rate from a town, selling Military Access to other clans, selling trade agreement, looting (will case unrest, destroying the town’s Growth and damage Daimyo's honour), demand repeat payment from another clan or vassalise a clan.

There are two type of town, a Military type of town and an Economy type of town. Military type of town focus on unit buildings and allow you to recruit high end units, while Economy type of town focus on providing you the money needed to cover your expenses.

To have a stable Economy, it's recommended to only build Military Town in “key provinces”. Key provinces here refer to town with special building that gives units bonus stats if they are recruited in that town.

4.1.1 Economy Town
To get stable and good economy, economy building is a must. The following guide will show you the pros and cons of different buildings and what to build to get the most money out of a town.

Build Barter Exchange in provinces that you don't plan on building military buildings, then either go for Food Storage or Market.
Market vs Food Storage(FS):
+ Gives 300 koku more in income compared to Food Storage(FS).
+ Cost less to build compare to FS.
- Give less Town Growth and Food compared to FS.

While Town Growth is very important in ROTS it still takes about 100 turns to FS to catch up with Market in term of profit generation at a 36% tax rate, and by that time the game has already ended. This is because Market gives a flat 300 koku for you to tax right away while FS gives growth and would take a long while for it to catch up with Market. Even if we take into consideration of right before RD which you will control about 17 provinces where 2 provinces are of minitary, leaving you with at best 15 provinces which at best gives 20 growth per turn for FS it still takes about 60 turns to tach up to Market, by this time it's usually around 30-40 and sure it generates money under this times as well but you get the drill, by the time it catch up the game has already ended. Thus build Market over Food Storage.

Build Dry Field Agriculture to get more base income and Global Food Supply (GFS), each surplus of GFS gives +1 to town growth. Don't build Pasture in Economy Town or to build it at all since this playstyle doesn’t rely on cavalry.

Upgrade port expecially the first 1-2 as this let you trade by sea, the first 1-2 ports will generate back it cost very fast since you will get money from trade as well as good town growth. After the first 1-2 ports it will take longer to break even but still worth it.

Then build Clan Estate, it increases the Tax Rate by 5% for each level up to a total of 20%. So consider upgrade a town to Stronghold for the maximum income. The last level of this building(Palace) which gives 20% to province and 20% admin reduction Clan wide is strongly recommend but you can only build once unless that province is lost or you captured another one that have it, this buff stacks. Although the game state 5% increase but it's not, the game will increase administration cost as soon as you finish this building. Depends on your territory and arts masteries it can gives as low as 2% and at max 4%. Even so, it's still worth it because it wil break even way before the game end, this taking into consideration of upgrade your town into stronghold to unlock the additional slot for it.

Consider station Junsatsushi or Shirabyoshi in the town for extra Tax Rate/Town Growth. For Shirabyoshi a lvl 1 doesn't gives town growth but a lvl 2 gives 4 and increases at 2 per level up to 12 growth at max level. As for Junsatsushi at max level with overseing town in focus he gives about 55% extra in tax rate but he will also increase administration cost. With 60% administration decrease he adds about 41% extra in tax. Consider using 3 Junsatsushi on a province with about 4000 koku in wealth and we will see a tax of 41 x 3 + 48 (base tax level of 48% if all arts are researched and Palace is bult on Nornam Tax rate) = 171%. Yes, you get more money than what the province has in tax, that strong are the Junsatsushi xD. With this 1 province you will get about 6800 ish koku and is enough to support about 3 stacks of end game army. That's also all you need to win the campain anyway.

Roads are expensive but very good for town growth and allow you to mobilise your army more efficiently (a double edge sword since this also allows enemy to march faster but pos outweigh the cons). Upgrade this only if you have koku to spare else leave it be since it wont break even after a long while. Not before the game ended.

Build Academy if you have alot of koku and GFS to spare, this building gives bonus to art masteries, it has 4 tier, the last tier gives 20% in art masteries, this cost a lot to invest as you will need to upgrade from stronghold to fort to unlock additonal building slot, not to mention you might need to upgrade your farm or go with FS to have enough Food to supply for this upgrade. This building gives nothing to economy but it will let you research arts faster, how much it impact the game I can't say since I don't build it as it cost alot to build.

An Economy Town can Look like this:


4.1.2 Military Town
When building Military Town, it's best to build it in a province that have Blacksmith, Artisans or Holy Site (I don’t recommend Holy Site since moral is not an issue and level can be earned). Combined with Encampment to get the most bonus out a unit as possible.

Artisans increases Accuracy of bow unit, so you might want to recruit bow unit from these provinces.

Blacksmith provides armour or melee attack, so you would like to recruit infantry and cavalry in these provinces. (Armour gives defence against bow unit while attack makes your units more deadly).

Holy Site gives experienced unit or unit with high moral, choose which ever you think is better.

When you open the tax window within the finance section, you’ll see an overview of your current income, expenses, and the public order in each province. Here, you can also adjust the clan-wide tax level (see section 1.2 for more details).



It is crucial to understand what each tax level entails. There are five tax tiers—with Tier 3 being the “Normal” tax rate. Each tier imposes specific penalties that generally increase with the number of provinces you control (simulating rising corruption). For simplicity we will count at base of 2 provinces for all our examples.
Tax Tiers Overview:

• Tier 1 - Minimal: 0 penalty in Growth (max out at -2). -1 in public order. Has 10% Tax Rate.
  
• Tier 2 - Low: -1 to Growth (max out at -5). -2 in public order. Has 20% Tax Rate.
  
• Tier 3 - Normal: -2 Growth (max out at -10). -4 in public order. Has 30% Tax Rate.
  
• Tier 4 - High: -8 Growth (max out at -24). -8 in public order. Has 40% Tax Rate.
  
• Tier 5 - Very High: -16 Growth (max out at -43). -10 in public order. Has 50% Tax Rate.

If a town becomes unhappy and unrest occurs expect an additional temporary penalty of 25 to growth for one turn.

The higher the tax tier the higher is the administration. Increasing from Normal to Very High tax rate gives about an increase of 16% instead of the expected 20%. This will keep decreasing as you gain more territories and can be counter with arts and building, at best at the end it's 15% increase if all arts and revelant building has been researched and built.

You also have the option to exempt a town from tax. This removes all penalties (and income) for that province, which can be useful for newly conquered territories when you cannot yet afford to station an army there. Unfortunately, tax levels cannot be set individually for each province.

4.2.1 Tax Rate
Now with that clear you might ask what is the best tax rate then? For me I like taxing at Normal tax rate as it gives a penalty that's easy to manage while still provide good income. There's also the Very High tax rate that you might want to consider so I'll break it down for you and compare it.

Tier 5 Very High Tax
We will compare this to tier 3 Normal tax rate. At the beginning a province usually has 2 growth.

• -14 in growth
  
• -6 to public order
  
• +16% in taxe rate

This scenario means you’d need to recruit approximately 6 extra units to offset the public order penalty (assuming each unit costs about 61 in upkeep, totaling roughly 366 koku). It is unlikely that the extra 16% tax bonus from one province would generate an additional 366 koku, especially with a –14 penalty to growth.

What about if you combined Normal and Very High tax rate? By this you alternate between Very High and Normal tax rates. For example, if you start with Very High tax one turn and then switch to Normal the next. Let's break it down then.

Tier 5 Very High + Tier 3 Normal Tax Rate
We will combine both the tax rate and then take the average value.

• -27 in growth (Remember the unrest penalty? It also applies right away and not the turn after)
  
• +210 ish koku
  
• 35% in tax rate

Now this looks better, as the only penalty is growth while you earn more koku! Not to mention growth can't go into the negativ so there will be no more penalty. This should be it, right? Well, remember that once growth hits 0 there's no extra tax from it. So let's take a look.

To illustrate, typically, a province has 200-400 growth in the beginning (around 600 total for two provinces), within around 10-15 turns, growth will deplete, reducing your taxable income from growth each turn until there's nothing left to tax. At Normal tax (26%), two provinces might produce 0.26 × 600 = 156 koku per turn from growth. In contrast, using the combined tax rate may eventually yield 0 koku from growth as it is exhausted, reducing long-term income. Usually 2 provinces gives about 1000 koku combine in taxable income so 36% of that will be at 360 koku at turn 10, compare that to Normal tax rate at 26% turn 15 you will get 260 plus the 156 koku from growth making it a total of 416. So by comparing this you actualy make less koku with higer tax rate in long term, not to mention 10 turns is not that long.

What if by turn 10 you have already build Barter Exchange? This will offset the lost in growth by 200 koku. Well it takes about 11 turns to break even not to mention another 3 turns to build. So even if you are to take buildings into consideration you will be at best chasing at the tax of what you made from the very beginning of the game. This means Game Over as you do not have the funds to upgrade buildings and maintain army upkeep.

So then the conclusion is best to leave it at Normal tax rate and not to look at it again? Well yes and no. Let's breaks it down.

The No
If you wish to go with the combined tax tier then you must at all time expand and be at war, that's where new koku comes from, more provinces means more income, but that is also not always the case as there are dismishing returns in form of administration, the more provinces you own the lower is the tax rate, the lower the tax rate the less money you get from a province. There will be a time when getting more provinces equals to less money. To make up for this you need to also loot to get that chunk of money. But as you know looting has its penalty in form of Daimyo Honour which translate into penalty to public order and diplomatic relation and if you're not careful your army and generals will defect, all your provins will rebell. Not to mention the territory expansion penalty in diplomacy and high unrest in looted provinces which in turns can lead to more rebelion. You will also hit a point where your income wont to able to support more than 1 stack of late game and 1 stack of early game and feels stagnated. Also the replenish rate is super low in this game so you will have to do every battle manually to reduce unit lost. This can work if you just keep going but it will becomes very dull as all you do is play one battle after another.

The Yes
If you use the combined tax rate until about turn 20-30, then switch back to Normal tax rate and focus on rebuilding your wealth, this approach can be powerful. The early extra income allows you to recruit units, expand, and construct buildings to offset growth loss. Around turn 20-30, your military might should deter wars declare by other clans, and by that time you should have also wipe one of the other two major clans of the campaign, leaving you with only one major left. At that point, transition to Normal tax rate and fully focus on wealth rebuilding.

• Upgrade any wealth building to tier 2 if you haven't.
  
• Ugrade any town remaining into stronghold to unlock additonal slot to build clan estage
  
• Build and upgrade clans estage to tier 2 if you haven't.
  
• Requesting allegiance through Jinsatsushi until you control around 17 provinces (since Realm Divide triggers at 18).
  
• Use Sou to incite revolt in the backline of your enemies to disrupt their power as well as provinces that border you to decrease the chance of war declaration from the other clans if you're surrounded by rebels. The AI usually don't like attacking rebels. This also means you can later take the province without the penalty of Territory Expansion.
  
• Support clans that has the same allegiance as you and is dependable in intergrity and share border with you. Use Sou to demoralise, use Shirabyoshi or Monomi to distract/sabotage the army, with this the clan you support will have an easier time to beat their enemy and expand. When the time comes you can just send in Jinsatsushi and request allegiance. This is called proxy war. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Just because everyone quote this xD.

We can't talk about economy if we don't talk about trade since trade is one of the main sources of income.



Under the trade window you can get an overview of who you're trading with, whether by sea or by land, what product your can are exporting and importing as well as how much is being exported by hovering over the resource icon and also how much money you earn from that trade.

Trade has a positive effect on Diplomacy, the longer you are in trade with the other clan, the more positive the other clan hold you in their opinion, another important thing to note is that the longer the trade agreement has been in place the more money it generates.

If there is a stroke on the boat icon that means the trade route is currently being blocked and neither you nor your trade partner receive the money from the trade. From the image the trades generates 4000 koku for me but I only recieve 700 koku since the other trade are being blocked.

Note: When striking a trade deal try to sell that trade deal instead of just simply accepting the trade, make the deal and try to make the other clan pay for that trade deal, sometime when the other clan really want an item you have, they will be willing to pay a very high price for it. The most I have gotten from a deal is 25k koku. Also aims for 100% export as that's the ideal trade you want to aim at.

5.1 Trade Nodes
I personally dislike Trade Nodes, sure, they give a lot of money through trade, but this means you need a strong enough navy to support your Trade Ship, once RD kicks in, trade nodes are not worth it, because of the upkeep and many naval battles. It can also be the cause of war, due to you having access to a product that the other clan want and aren't in trade with you, however, with trade nodes, you can sell Trade Right for a very high amount of koku, the highest I've gotten is 25k koku by selling trade right. If you are going for this, then do it early and don't bother after RD.

5.2 Naval
Pros:
+ Able to defend trade nodes and sea trade routes.
+ Ward of Invasion through Sea.

Cons:
- Upkeep
- Boring Battle
- Increase Campaign Length

Conclusion: They are not worth the troubles, same goes with trade nodes, unless you need a certain material for a certain building, but still not worth it, because if you do well enough on land, your economy will allow you to support 3-4 full stacks of High-End Unit by the time RD kicks in. Not to mention AI tend to have many full stacks of navy, and this is by each clan, so imagine 3-4 clans at RD. It is hell! But if you don't mind the endless Naval battles, then be my guess.

Diplomacy is very important to success in Legendary. Failure in Diplomacy can result and will most of the time lose you the campaign.

6.1 War or Peace
Whether it's war or peace depends on how much the other clan like or dislike you. Also your clan's military power play a major role, if you are weak or feeble, the chances of the other clan declaring war on you is high. Or you might have something or blocking their path to something, consider selling Military Access for 20 turns will decrease the chance of them attacking. Beware of Treacherous/Questionable clans.

6.1.1 Positive Factors
Daimyo's honour: +10 up to +60 (Having Daimyo with high honour)
Clan Commander Respect: Up to +40 (Not sure how to get this, maybe win many battles with Heroics Victory with the Daimyo)
Masteries of Art: Can be up to +40
Same Allegiance: +30
Trade Agreement: Start at +15 and cap at +60 (Increase with time)
Marriage: Start at +100 and decrease with time (Not sure the minimun though)
Alliance: Start at +100 and cap at +40 (Decrease with time)
Gift Appreciated: By offering something and doesn't demand anything in return. (Usually get through giving Koku, for 7.5k Koku will temporary give a +100. Decrease by 5 each turn. Always wait until it run out before giving another gift.)
An enemy of my enemy is my friend: Usually start at +15 but stacks (Decrease with time)

6.1.2 Negative Factors
Daimyo's honour: -10 up to -40 (Having Daimyo with low honour)
Clan is not respected: -35
Realm Divided: Start at -25 and cap at -200
Marriage with hostile clan: Start at -35 and decrease with time
Sabotage Attempt: -20 and decrease with time
Incite Revolt: -40 and decrease with time
Hostile Agent Action: -50 and decrease with time.
Dishonouring treaties: -25 to -50 depends on how severe.
Difference Allegiance: -60

And a lot more, these are only a few of them.

Also note that declare war on a clan with the same Allegiance will result in Diplomacy Penalty with the other clans that have the same Allegiance as you.

6.2 Stay on the Good Side
To stay on the other clans' good side, try not to take provinces by force, but through the use of Agents (Junsatsushi through request allegiance or Monk by incite revolt, capture revolt provinces will not result in Territory Expansion). Each province capture by brute force that's owned by another clan result in a -6 in diplomacy, this can stack up very fast. If does, expand slowly.

6.2.1 Agents
Don't use your agents on a clan that you have no intention of fighting. Because this will result in Diplomacy Penalty.

Monk and Junsatsushi are very powerful when playing Diplomatically due to the request Alleginace and Incite Revolt. Monomi and Shirabyoshi are very good to disrupt the Enemy's movements and control their power. Do this only on clans you aren't afraid of going to war with or want them to declare war on you or clans that you are at war with.

6.2.2 Key Provinces
Don't take too many key provinces else the chance your Sister Clan declaring war on you is very high. At least before RD. (Key provinces here refers to the provinces in the victory condition).

6.2.3 Marriage
Avoid marriage with another clan before Realm Divide if you can. Very useful after RD to keep Alliance Clan royal to you, especially your Sister Clan.

6.2.4 Vassal
Avoid making vassal before RD if they serve no purposes. The chance that they will declare war on you once Realm Divide kicks in is very high or even before RD kicks in. After Realm Divide, they will be very valuable, because trading with them give a lot more income than that one province if you were to capture it, as well as a bit of their income will be yours. Plus the chance of them attacking you is lower because they now have the whole Japan to go to fight with. However, always have one Junsatsushi close by if you suspect the vassal will revolt soon, the moment they move their army outside, you wipe them by request allegiance.

6.2.5 Realm Divide
Usually kicks in once you have around 18 provinces, that's when your fame reaches Legendary, beware of Heroic Victories or Victories that leaves a trophy, cause it count towards your fame. Also, before entering RD; Be sure you are ready for it. Once Realm Divide kicks in, try to stay in a good relationship with your Sister Clan as long as possible or until you no longer need them. They will usually keep the other clans busy and protect you while you are busy fighting with another enemy. (In my case, they ward of fleets and armies from the West and keep them occupied while I fought against the enemies in the East.) This means through Marriage, Gifting Koku, etc. Try to stay in the Friendly to Very Friendly Zone, preferably Very Friendly.

Note: This is not true with the Fujiwara, you might want to get rid of your Sister Clan as soon as possible, because they are useless and will drag you down.


Here you can see my standing towards other clans


And here you can see the factors towards my Sister Clan, as you can see RD is already at -150 and I'm still at +110 in Diplomacy towards my sister Clan. Also you might notice that Territory Expansion is at -51, so you see, taking provinces with brute force is very bad towards your diplomacy and sometimes result in you're being at war with everyone even before RD kicks in.

Having the right combination of unit might be hard, especially the pros and cons.

Note that this play style leans more towards Diplomacy.

Note: This playstyle requires you to be a good commander that can win even when the odds are against you. It will be tough in the beginning when it comes to battle if you are being attacked by a major clan such as the Minamoto with their Bow Samurai. Once you get enough army going, you can just steamroll everyone, around 2 armies.

7.1 Units
There are three type of units in the game, Infantry, Cavalry and Archers.

7.1.1 Naginata Levy(NL), Naginata Attendants(NA) and Sword Attendance(SA)
In the game, these are the three Low/Medium-end infantry units and will make up most of your army.

Pros and Cons of NL compared to NA and SA:
+ Doesn't require additional buildings.
+ Half the Upkeep cost.
+ Easy to replace/Replenish.
+ More Men.
+ Much better against Cavalry (Compared to SA).
+ Same Melee Defence and Armor (Compared to SA).
- Much worse Melee Attack, Melee Defence, Armor, Charge and Moral.

Pros and Cons of NA compared to SA
+ Slightly more Armour.
+ More than double in Melee Defence.
+ Much better against Cavalry.
- Worse in Melee attack and Charge.

Conclusion: NL is the best unit to be used as "Meat Shield" because they are easy to replenish and doesn’t requires additional buildings, as well as their Upkeep is the cheapest. NA is somewhat arguable, but only if the economy allows and you, as the commander, is somewhat lacking.

7.1.2 Naginata Warrior Monk (NWM)
Your strike force, capable of dealing devastating blows, together with their War Cry can gain you victories in most battle if not every battle.

7.1.3 Bow Units
For early game use Bow Attendants if the situation demands too, else skip them and go for Bow Warrior Monk or Bow Samurai. For Bow Levy, don't even bother, they're bad due to their low aim, moral and reload rate and is a waste of money.

7.1.3.1 Bow Warrior Monk(BWM) vs Bow Samurai(BS)
Pros and Cons of BWM compared to BS:
+ More Men.
+ Higher Moral
+ Requires same Masteries as NWM.
+ Increase Range Ability
- Much worse in Melee
- Much worse Reload Rate and Accuracy.
- Less Armour (Armour is the defence against Bow unit)
- No Decrease Attack, Reload Rate and Moral Ability.

Conclusion:
BS is a much better unit compared to BWM. Despite having 40 more men and Increase Range Ability, BWM still can't go against BS, the increased Range allows a 1-2 Volley to be fired before BS enter "fire range", this allows them to kill around 3-9 BS. Once BS enter their fire range, their Whistling Arrows is enough to destroy BWM before BWM can recover from it (Whistling Arrows decrease moral, reload rate and attack from unit/s that's effected).

Despite BS being Superior in Archery, I still favour them less than BWM, this is because they require a different building as well as masteries compared to Naginata Warrior Monk and besides, the main strike force is NWM.

7.1.4 Cavalry
They are just too expensive for their use, they are mainly use as flank or chasing down fleeing enemies or even to kill the General, the problem is their Upkeep, because they are so expensive, I find their use is not effective enough, hence, I won't even bother to go through them at all, because Generals are good enough to chase down broken enemies and occasionally flanking if needed.

7.2 Army Composition and Tactics
Because BS requires a different building and different Masteries, this playstyle revolved around Warrior Monks. Hence you won't be seeing any Bow Samurai or Cavalry unit (Except General).

A recommended composition is the following:
6 Bow Warrior Monk, 6 Naginata Levy, 6 Naginata Warrior Monk and 2 Generals.
Alternatively 6 Bow Samurai if you likes BS more.

This is the cheapest army composition and also most effective in my opinion.

The reason why there's no Cavalry is as I mentioned is due to their upkeep, they are simply too expensive for what they are worth. While they are good as "Flanking unit" and chasing down broken enemies, but their upkeep makes them not worth it. I find having 2 Generals is enough for chasing down broken enemies and occasionally flanking. Also, it allows split of troop if needed. Besides, not every battle is fought on open terrain, cavalries are horrible in forest.

Why Naginata Levy you ask? They are there to serve as a "meat shield", they are to take archers arrows and engaging the archers to prevent them from shooting. The main strike force is the NWM. The reason I chose NL over NA or SA is because SA require a different building and masteries as well as they cost more and have less men while their defensive stats is the same as NL. While NA requires higher level building, meaning you can't replace them as easy as NL as well as their upkeep is double as much as NL. The main point of NL is to be a "meat-shield", and they do well in this matter. Also note that they have low morale, so be sure to send in NWM as soon as NL have the archers' attention and eventually use rally to keep them from routing, however, if you are a decent commander, moral shouldn't be a problem.

When sending in NWM, take the left and right wing and flank the left and right wing of the enemy's, while having the other 4 NWM back up the NL and have your general stay behind your units and use rally if needed. Most of the time sending NWM and use War Cry is enough to break the enemy and cause a mass rout. Try to kill the General as soon as possible if allowed, preferably Assassinating him before the battle even begins and Demoralise his army to make it even easier (If assassination and demoralisation is successful, the battle is more or less won even before it's started). Once the Left and the Right wing rout, they will create a chain rout and the battle will mostly be over. If not keep sending in newly free unit and flank their crippled wings while sending some unit to take out the General.

As for their archers, they will most likely be shooting at your melee units, so use your archers to take out theirs before they deal too much damage or use your archers to focus on their General because if he dies the morale hit would be severe. Alternatively combine this with your General to disrupt their archer but be careful since there’s friendly fire in this game and BS is a beast.

Note: When fighting a difficult battle (failed in assassination and demoralisation and it's a very high level general) the fight will most likely be drag out, at these times your archers will most likely be out of arrows (because killing a high level general on the battlefield is hard since most of the time the AI is not stupid enough to charge the general into a wall of spear or just stand there to eat arrows), so don't be afraid of sending them in melee, sheer number can break exhausted enemies and reinforce your troops moral, and much better if it's a flank. However, engage them in melee only if absolutely needed.

If you think your archer is superior to theirs, you can sit back and let your archer take care of theirs archers, once their archers are dead they will mostly leave the hill and charge at you.

Here's my awesome draw.


Alternatively Army Composition:
6 Bow Warrior Monk, 4 Naginata Levy, 4 Naginata Warrior Monk, 4 Cavalry and 2 Generals.
Alternatively 6 Bow Samurai if you likes BS more.

For this playstyle, just play like above, but instead of using the right and left wing of NWM to flank, use the cavalry. This is a better way and easier way to cause mass rout, but since the Cavalry upkeep is too expensive, I find it less effective. Not to mention that not every battle is fought on open terrain. (Cavalry is not as effective in forest as in open terrain).