NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION: SPHERE OF INFLUENCE - FORTRESS BUILDING & LOCATIONS GUIDE CONRAD THE MAD - OCTOBER 13, 2018 -------------------- -TABLE OF CONTENTS- -------------------- -AUTHOR- -INTRODUCTION- -TIPS- -EXAMPLE- -COUNTRIES- -FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS- --------- -AUTHOR- --------- ::::Conrad the Mad:::: Play style: Maximum aggression Hours Logged: An embarrassingly excessive number Difficulty: Extreme Settings: Created Officers: Off Lifespan: Historical Battle Deaths: On Fictional Maidens: Off Maiden Officers: Off In-Game Edit: Off *I have yet to complete the tutorial. I couldn't stand the day's worth of cutesy, cringey, "caters to pre-teens" dialogue, only to get a couple hours worth of information that I could figure out on my own. If you've noticed relevant omissions that may be a result of this, let me know. --------------- -INTRODUCTION- --------------- Most often I believe that fortress building is a waste of time. The best way to get more bases is to conquer them. However, after a recent play through of Ryuzoji in the "Like A Dream: scenario, I found myself wanting to build fortresses. Oda split up soon after starting, & by the time I had conquered Kyushu, parts of Shikoku, & western Chugoku, there were only two other factions left. The most immediate threat was the Hashiba: possessing much of Shikoku, Chugoku, & Chubu, & all of Kansai. Lastly, the Hojo possessed Kanto, most of Chubu, & all of Kanto,Tohoku, & Ezo. My territories in southern Kyushu required a lot of food to field armies all the way up to Hashiba territory, and western Chugoku had a very low density of fortresses per territory. I wanted to build as many viable fortresses in Chugoku as I could, but when constructing, advisors only indicate whether your settlement will have no district, or it will have districts. It doesn't give any clue as to the number of districts. Furthermore, constructed bases block others from being built. I wanted as many fortresses with as many districts as possible. So I made this guide for myself. This guide was created using the PC version of this game. Unless I am mistaken it should work fine for other platforms. This guide is a simple list intended to provide the best possible building sites for fortresses in each country. This list is based upon existing fortresses after conquering all but one fortress in Hyuga (doesn't interfere) in the "Struggle for Power" scenario. This guide does NOT include building sites that would be available after dismantling fortresses already present. This guide does NOT account for fortresses that may have been built or dismantled by the AI, though I don't think the AI does much of that outside of relatively few relevant historical events. This guide does NOT account for later scenarios where some bases have been dismantled or constructed--that differ from the set up of "Struggle for Power" scenario. If a building site (sites) is possible, but does not appear in this list, it is because it blocks a much better fortress (fortresses). If it is a close decision, there will be added notation about blocking, etc. to clarify your options. I have been thorough, & this list is extensive, however I am willing to admit the possibility of incorrect/incomplete information due to human error. This list was written giving district quantity significant priority over castle upgrade space & road development. The base value of castle upgrades is ONLY either 7 or 9 slot. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: A general with the "Expert Fortifier" trait adds 4 castle upgrade slots to the base value when constructing a fortress. Note: "Fortifier," & "Master Fortifier" traits have NOTHING to do with "Expert Fortifier" trait, or fortress construction. Finally, this list was also written giving district quantity priority over district quality. I had initially intended to list & factor in the base values for each individual district, but after exploring a few countries I found ultimately that base values would most probably always be higher with more districts. Even in the rare event that they may not, the difference would be negligible, & additional districts would have the added benefit of versality over all. Going into this extra & apparently unnecessary detail would have multiplied time spent on this guide by four or more. ------- -TIPS- ------- - First & foremost, depending on your skill level/difficulty setting, building fortresses early in the game is most often a really bad idea. - Identical building site names occur between countries. When using Ctrl + F be sure you're looking in the right country. - To maximize Ctrl + F no vowel accenting has been used, again: be very sure you're looking at the right country. - I have seen, for example, many fortress sites named Oda (unaccented) & many fortress sites named Oda (with accenting) throughout Japan's many countries. I have, however, never been conscious of seeing identical settlement names (excluding accenting) occur in the same country. Be aware of the possibility, though. - To Ctrl + F country names, simply precede the name with a colon to avoid finding fortresses with identical names as countries. - There are two unrelated & distinct Awa countries. Each are followed in parenthesis with clarifying information. - Your advisor will indicate whether or not a fortress is worth building at the top of the final confirmation page of the building menu. - If your advisor says something negative about time or "too many days," they are not saying it is an unviable settlement, they are saying it will take a long time to build because you selected a general with a poor political rating. - If a fortress is NOT viable (will have 0 districts,) the advisor will say something like "This settlement won't prosper..." - Note that castle upgrade slots are declared in base values. Again, the "Expert Fortifier" trait adds a permanent bonus of 4 upgrade slots. - Again, the "Fortifier" & "Master Fortifier" traits have nothing to do with "Expert Fortifier" or settlement construction. - Tribe settlements block building sites in the same way as fortresses. Assimilate them to clear site. If losing the tribe is undesireable, build all settlements on this list that aren't interfered with, and check to see if any viable building sites still exist. - It is rarely the case that a fortress will not have the same name as its building site. I am pretty sure this has been noted wherever it occurs, but errancy here is possible. Be aware of it. - Much info for this guide was written on paper first, then copied to notepad. When writing hastily (all upper case,) my "i" & "z" look similar as do my "k" & "r" I have been very careful with settlement spelling, but if any typos exist, these letters will likely be the problem. "ii" = "iz" = "zi" = "zz" "kara" = "raka" = "rara" = "kaka" Now. Onto the actual guide: ---------- -EXAMPLE- ---------- I will use the country of Aki as an example of how this guide's info is laid out: ::::Aki:::: Kamei 3/7 Miya 3/9 Miyajimaguchi 6/9 (Blocks Miya & Kamei) *Same total # of districts. Do you want one faster to prosper settlement, or two slower to develop settlements? What the info means: ::::Country Name:::: Site Name #of Districts/#of Castle Upgrade Slots Site Name #of Districts/#of Castle Upgrade Slots Site Name #of Districts/#of Castle Upgrade Slots (Clarifying notation regarding building sites blocking each other, geographical info, etc.) *In complex situations, further notation to help weigh your options is provided here. ------------ -COUNTRIES- ------------ ::::Aki:::: Kamei 3/7 Miya 3/9 Miyajimaguchi 6/9 (Blocks Miya & Kamei) *You can either have Kamei & Miya or just Miyajimaguchi by itself. Same total # of districts. Do you want one faster to prosper settlement, or two slower to develop settlements? Given the sparsity of settlements in Chugoku, I favor the Kamei/Miya option. ::::Awa:::: (South Kanto: Occupied by Satomi & others later. South east of initial Hojo territory) Asashina 4/7 ::::Awa:::: (South East Shikoku: Occupied by Hosokawa/Miyoshi & others later) Izu 3/9 Ushiki 4/9 Yanagisawa 3/9 (On smaller island just east of Awa, Shikoku) ::::Bicchu:::: Bicchu Kamo 8/7 Kamezako 10/7 ::::Bingo:::: Hagura 8/7 Matsunaga 10/9 Mihara 8/9 Shobara 3/7 Suzume 9/7 ::::Bizen:::: Amaki 8/9 Kanagawa 3/7 ::::Buzen:::: Kawaradake 5/7 Kutsu Ozaki 8/9 Ryuo 4/7 Takei 7/7 ::::Bungo:::: Bungo Tanaka 9/7 Kono 4/7 Nanzan 6/7 Saiki 4/9 Takita 3/9 Tenmenzan 7/9 Tomiku 4/9 ::::Chikuzen:::: Amagi 6/7 Kurosaki 5/9 Takasuyama 3/7 ::::Chikugo:::: Kumanokawa 10/7 Yamashita 7/9 ::::Ecchu:::: Busshoji 3/9 Hikatae 6/9 Himi 3/9 Namarikawa 3/9 Wakaguri 3/7 ::::Echigo North:::: Hirabayashi 3/7 Massaki 5/9 Mitsuneyama 10/9 Murakami 5/9 Sanjo 10/9 ::::Echigo South:::: Kakizaki 5/9 Kawaguchi 6/7 Mushigawa 3/7 Nagaoka 8/9 Sawada 3/7 ::::Echizen:::: Hosorogi 6/9 Oda 4/7 ::::Ezo:::: Haraguci 4/7 Usukeshi 9/9 Wakimoto 9/7 Yunotai 4/7 ::::Harima:::: Kawai 10/9 ::::Hida:::: Kaerikumo 3/7 ::::Higo North:::: Kikuchi 8/9 Takase 10/9 Yatsushiro 4/9 ::::Higo South:::: Hondo 3/7 (On island Northwest of South Higo) ::::Hitachi:::: Arakawa 4/9 Kashima 6/9 Kihara 7/7 Motegi 9/7 Nakaminato 7/9 Namekata 7/7 ::::Hizen:::: Hiroda 5/7 Karatsu 6/7 Oura 3/7 Sakurababa 6/9 Yunoda 5/9 ::::Hoki:::: Hoshoji 8/7 Yodoe 5/7 Yunozaki 3/7 ::::Hyuga:::: Ichinomizu 3/7 Kadokawa 6/7 Kobayashi 4/9 Kiyotake 10/9 Kizakibaru 3/7 (Site is named Kizakibaru, fortress built at this site becomes Kakuto) Kushima 3/9 Shiwachi 9/9 Yoshinomoto 3/7 ::::Iga:::: Masugi 3/9 ::::Inaba:::: NONE ::::Ise:::: Anotsu 3/9 Chikusa 3/7 Fujiwara 3/7 Hisai 3/9 Hakusan 4/9 Kuwana 4/9 Miyamachi 6/9 Saiku 5/9 Shono 8/9 Taki 4/7 ::::Iwaki:::: Gongendo 6/7 Hanawa 3/7 Shiroishi 6/9 Tanagura 7/9 Yumoto 8/9 ::::Iwami:::: Homada 4/7 Kakoya 7/7 (Blocked by Kawado & Watazu) Kawado 9/9 (Blocked by Kakoya & Watazu) Nukuyu 3/9 (Blocked by Kawado) Oshihara 7/7 Oda 6/9 Watazu 4/7 (Blocked by Kakoya & Kawado) *Watazu & Nukuyu is a poor choice because Watazu is garbage. So your choices here are limited to Kawado by itself (9 districts,) or a combination of Nukuyu & Kakoya (10 districts total.) I tend to favor the latter because Iwami has so few bases. ::::Iwashiro:::: NONE ::::Iyo:::: Kanekoyama 3/9 Uwajima 3/7 *You may be tempted to destroy Noshima to see if Imaharu has more districts. It doesn't. It has fewer. ::::Izu:::: Shimoda 3/9 ::::Izumi:::: NONE ::::Izumo:::: Fube 4/7 Izumo 3/9 Sase 4/9 Shobara 5/7 ::::Kaga:::: Matsuto 5/9 Tsurugi 3/7 Uchikoshi 7/9 ::::Kai:::: Minobu 3/7 Wakamiko 3/9 ::::Kawachi:::: NONE ::::Kazusa:::: Mifuneyama 4/7 Naruto 10/9 Oyumi 10/9 Otaki 5/9 Sakata 9/9 Shiizu 9/9 Toke 9/9 ::::Kii:::: Koyaguchi 3/9 Miyago 4/7 Tanabe 5/7 ::::Kozuke:::: Honjo 8/9 Iwabitsu 3/7 Koizumi 10/9 Umayabashi 9/9 Yamagami 8/7 ::::Mikawa:::: Kamagata 9/9 Kibi 3/9 Tahara 3/9 ::::Mimasaka:::: Odakusa 3/7 ::::Mino:::: Ena 8/9 Mino Ota 10/9 Seki 8/9 Sekigahara 4/9 Sunomata 8/9 Tajimi 9/9 ::::Musashi:::: Chichibu 7/7 Hachigata 8/7 Kashiwabara 10/7 Katsunuma 10/7 Konosu 10/9 Kozokue 8/9 Musashi Mats.* 10/9 Onoji 10/9 Shakujii 7/9 Warabi 8/9 *Musashi Matsuyama has been abbreviated here. I didn't want to add another tab. ::::Mutsu East:::: Hachinohe 10/9 Karumai 9/7 Kemenai 4/7 Kominato 3/7 Oyu 3/7 Shikonohe 10/7 (Blocks Kuji 8/9 in Rikuchu Country) Shimokita Ka.* 3/7 Sonbongi 10/9 Tanabu 9/9 Ushinosawa 9/7 *Shimokita Kawauchi has been abbreviated here. *Shikonohe does block a settlement in Rikuchu, but I consider it to be significantly superior. I would build Shikonohe. ::::Mutsu West:::: Aburakawa 10/9 Ezogadate 10/9 Iizume 9/9 Kanita 6/7 Moya 4/7 Mutsu Oguni 4/7 Nakasato 9/9 ::::Nagato:::: Asa 9/9 Chosoji 6/7 Heki 3/7 Marudakeyama 3/7 ::::Noto:::: Anamizu 3/7 Noto Iida 4/7 Otachi 3/9 Ushitsu 9/7 ::::Osumi:::: Hosoyamada 7/9 Kirishima 4/7 Kurino 6/9 Meguri 4/7 Takarabe 4/9 ::::Oumi North:::: NONE ::::Oumi South:::: Kusatsu 3/9 (Blocked by Moriyama) Minakuchi 3/9 Moriyama 4/9 (Blocked by Kusatsu) Sawayama 3/7 ::::Owari:::: Kanie 6/9 Okehazama 4/9 Shobata 5/9 Tokoname 4/7 ::::Rikuchu:::: Dendo 6/9 Kuji 8/9 (Blocked by Shikonohe in East Mutsu Country) Ichinohe 3/7 Ichinoseki 10/9 Iwasaki 9/9 Miyako 3/7 Morioka 7/7 Numakunai 10/9 Obonai 3/7 Senmaya 3/7 Takizawa 5/7 *I discourage you from building Kuji as it blocks Shikonohe, East Mutsu which has 10/7 ::::Rikuzen:::: Ishinomaki 10/9 Iwadeyama 4/9 Maiya 10/9 Matsushima 9/9 Murata 7/9 Takashimizu 10/9 Tsuya 8/7 ::::Sagami:::: Fukami 6/9 Gumyoji 4/9 Mimasetoge 5/7 Nanasawa 3/7 ::::Sanuki:::: Sanuki Ichi.* 8/9 Takamatsu 4/9 *Sanuki Ichinomiya has been abbreviated here. Note that the other 2 settlements available in this immediate neighborhood all block eachother--You can only choose one, & Sanuki Ichinomiya is significantly superior to either. ::::Satsuma:::: Bonotsu 7/7 Kimure 3/9 Taniyama 3/7 Tsurada 8/9 ::::Settsu:::: Ikeda 3/9 Takatsuki 6/7 ::::Shima:::: Gokasho 3/7 ::::Shimosa:::: Funabashi 10/9 Kananoi 7/9 Kogane 10/9 Sekiyado 8/9 Teradai 8/9 ::::Shimotsuke:::: Imaichi 3/7 Ujiie 8/7 Yaita 9/7 ::::Shinano North:::: Hodaka 5/9 Kaesa 3/7 Kaizu 3/7 Omae 5/7 Toyono 4/7 ::::Shinano South:::: Kanazawa 3/9 Serigasawa 3/7 (Blocked by Suwa) Suwa 3/7 (Blocked by Serigasawa. The site is called Suwa, but the fortress built is named Uehara) Yoshioka 3/7 ::::Suo:::: Kotoishiyama 3/7 Shikiyama 5/9 Suo Shimada 3/9 ::::Suruga:::: Fujieda 4/9 Gotenba 5/9 ::::Tajima:::: Kasumi 3/7 ::::Tanba:::: Fukuchiyama 3/7 ::::Tango:::: Takano 3/9 ::::Tosa East:::: Suzaki 3/7 ::::Tosa West:::: Kure 3/7 Shioyotani 3/7 ::::Totomi:::: Suwahara 3/7 Taketenjin 3/9 ::::Ugo:::: Asaminai 8/9 Fukuda 9/7 Hondo 6/9 Kakumagawa 10/9 Kameda 6/9 Kariwano 8/9 Momosada 3/9 Minato 6/9 Nakatsumata 3/7 Nikaho 3/9 Oikata 8/7 Somekawa 5/9 Todoroki 5/9 Tomai 3/7 Tsuzoreko 6/7 Ugo Hamada 7/9 Ugo Wada 8/7 Yonoizawa 4/7 ::::Uzen North:::: Fukiura 3/9 (Blocked by Wakidate) Haguroyama 8/7 Nagasawa 6/9 Obanazawa 8/9 Ora 3/9 Sakata 6/9 (Blocked by Wakidate) Shinjo 10/9 Uzen Nishikawa 3/7 Wakidate 9/7 (Blocked by Fukiura & Sakata) *Blocking problem: Fukiura, Sakata, Wakidate. You can either have Fukiura & Sakata, or just Wakidate by itself. Wakidate will grow faster, however, Sakata & Fukiura have superior castle slots. With an "Expert Fortifier" builder, Sakata can potentially grow nearly as fast as Wakidate, & you will have two settlements with the same total number of districts combined instead of just one. Despite all this, & given North Uzen's tremendous number of available fortresses, I tend to favor the Wakidate option. But it would depend on the situation as well. If Hojo has managed to become huge as it often does, I would probably select the option with the greater number of settlements. ::::Uzen South:::: Imaizumi 7/9 ::::Wakasa:::: NONE ::::Yamashiro:::: Joyo 4/7 Yamazaki 3/7 ::::Yamato:::: Kofokuji 4/9 Ochi 3/9 Ryuozan 3/7 ----------------------------- -FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS- ----------------------------- Note: These questions are just made up as I have anticipated. They only indicate potential issues, not ones that have actually been encountered. Q: Why haven't you included all possible building site stats? A: Take into account that some building sites block another site(s). I have checked every available site & have chosen to include only sites which do not block/are not blocked by others, or if they do block, that they are significantly superior to the settlements that they block. If the choice is a close call, alternatives are listed with clarifying notation. Initially I actually was including all possible building sites, but after a short while I saw a problem with it. With some countries each of 90% of the building site entries were followed by "blocked by 1, 2, or even 3 settlements" notations. Even with additional clarification it struck me as extremely confusing. Since the omitted fortresses are clearly inferior & blocked the better included fortresses, why bother? ---- Q: Why haven't you included this building site on your list? It is buildable, my advisor indicates it's a good site, & isn't blocked. A: It is possible that the settlement in question is blocked by a better combination that exists partially or fully in an adjacent country and no notation was included to that effect because it was vastly superior. Further it is possible that the AI constructed a fortress I was unaware of which blocked a perfectly viable choice. Finally, it is entirely possible it occured because of my own human error. I have been very thorough & diligent with this guide, so such situations will be very rare if present at all, but are still possible. ---- Q: Why do the number of districts in my fortress differ from yours. I followed your guide exactly. A: I would say this is most likely human error, but I think this should be very rare if it even occurs at all. Alternatively there may be another variable I am unaware of, but I think this is unlikely. I have found no in game conditions which alter the number of districts. The figure does very much seem to be absolute. ---- Q: Why do the number of castle upgrade slots in my fortress differ from yours? A: Again, this could be human error, or a variable I am not aware of. However, if the number of your castle upgrade slots minus four is equal to mine, then it is likely that you have unwittingly had a general with the "Expert Fortifier" trait build your fortress which adds a bonus of four castle upgrade slots. ---- Q: Why don't you take strategic location into account? I want to build a fortress my advisor indicates is viable, & I believe it is strategically very important, but it is not listed. A: I am a veteran of this title, series, genre, & similar genres--these are my favorite sort of games. I have logged an embarrassing number of hours on this title. I play on extreme difficulty--lifespan: historical, fictional maidens: off, maiden officers: off, battle deaths: on. In that context, for myself, I am absolutely certain that quantity of districts & quantity of prosperous settlements are far more important than any strategic location. So building at your desired site means that you will be unable to build a superior fortress nearby. If you disagree, feel free to build the fortress, & use my guide to fill in the blanks as best it can accomodate. Be aware though that some blocking chains can span nearly an entire country, so your one build may force you into a combination that will lose you several awesome fortresses in favor of significantly poorer fortresses. ---- Q: Does road building prior to fortress construction benefit the base? A: If you're wondering if it increases districts, castle upgrades, or development the answer is no. It does SEEM that it MAY very slightly add to its initial population. Eg: I built Ichinomizu, Hyuga Country with its two roads at 2 & the population was 5022. I then destroyed it, developed its two roads to 5, constructed it again, & the population was 5069. However, this could simply be a slight deviation that occurs regardless of road development. Regardless, the bonus is so insignificant in the larger scheme. You would be wasting your time & hating yourself the entire time you're doing it. ----------- -FINISHED- -----------