Quantity or Quality? (Online Battle #137)

Hey, yo, what's up guys? This is Oakley and we're going to be in Shogun 2 doing a 1 vs 1 battle. This is going to be myself playing with a sort of a mixed army. I have a lot of these White Tiger Force guys sprinkled out in the front. Let's actually go ahead and look on the right side. So one White Tiger Force there, then another Spear Levy and White Tiger Force. So pretty crap units. Then backed up by Red Bear. These are kind of your most cost effective units you can get in Fall of the Samurai. And yeah, these guys are going to be all hidden here on this front. Meanwhile, I'm going to push forward with two Yari-Ki on the right side. Let's go ahead and get rid of this just so we can watch the cinematics. Over in the center, I'm then pushing forward with two more Yari-Ki, just probing the front. I have a White Tiger Force, again, kind of a crappy unit. Just fodder to start, you know, taking out some positions for myself and, you know, secure the opponent's focus. Spear Levy moving up here to contend this archery dojo. I'm going to form up like this just so he can't really shoot me. On this far left side, I then have Red Bear, Red Bear, and Red Bear. So pretty good force, backed up by Katana Kachi. And in the back, I still have yet more cavalry. Yari-Ki over here. You can see I now withdrew these and they're going to be hidden in the rear. And I have more guys in the center. Sticking with the pointy end is going to be Katana Kachi, Red Bear, Red Bear, and Red Bear. So I'm going to go ahead and put this on slow motion. You can see I just have kind of overwhelming numbers right now. And I am just spreading out. A lot of the things I like to do in Total War is kind of take positional advantage of my opponent. I like to spread out. I like to go more for numbers than quality. And you can see my opponent here on the other hand. Let's go ahead and look at his line. He has Red Bear, Red Bear, United States Marines, Royal Marines with a lot of veterancy on those guys. Red Bear, Red Bear, Infantry to Marine, White Tiger Force, General's Bodyguard, and then two Carbine Cav with themselves a lot of veterancy. So this is going to be a battle that kind of shows off quantity versus quality. And I am going to try and see if we can win with just quantity. A lot of the guys are held in reserve. I'm just up here probing with some of my cavalry. Looks like my Yari-Ki are... Yep, they're going to scoot on just out of range of his Carbine Cav. I actually know it looks like they got a volley off. Going to pick off nine of my men. So I'm going to be pulling his guys out of position at least. Just to start to probe his flanks. And it looks like, oh ----, he's just absolutely destroying my Yari-Ki. So I did not respond quick enough. It looks like I was maneuvering over on this side. So his guys are going to combine fire on my Spear Levees. Doing a tremendous amount of damage with his forces here. So it seems like right off the bat, he's starting to chip away at my quantity. Now I'm not just losing these units without need. Perhaps on the left flank I was. But what I was trying to do is entice him into this hidden unit right here. White Tiger Force. Pull him into the bait right there. Then over on this front, I kind of was trying to delay his capture of the Archery Dojo. And I tried to scoot out of his firing arcs. But he continued to fire on me. I allowed him to fire on me because it would allow me to contest the capture of that position for long enough. And it also allowed me to scoot around the side with my Yari-Ki. And very much threaten his flank. He's going to be moving back with his Carbine Cav on this side. Looks like he has four of those total. Let's go ahead and put this back on play. So now I'm going to be exchanging fire with him. I'm using the building over here to keep him at bay. And let's watch a little bit of these exchanges. I really love gunfire. Especially in this era. It just looks beautiful with the graphics. So yeah, my Red Bear is going to be trading relatively cost effectively with his Red Bear. And he got his Carbine Cav in the mix. However, he's going to be running into a problem right here. Being that his Carbine Cav are shooting elsewhere. And now we're going to come with a massive cavalry charge up through this side. Just running through his men. So I was able to sacrifice some of my numbers in quantity. To absolutely destroy his quality Red Bear. So these guys are going to be eating it. I even catch them with his Carbine Cav. And I'm going to be charging through with some mopping up Katana Kachi. And these guys, once you get them in the mix, are going to be very useful. Because they're going to start running up and down the line. Keeping the enemy force from engaging. So here you go, they're going to continue to charge into the next unit. This is going to cause all sorts of problems with his force. Because now, let's put this on pause. Let me explain what my thought process was. So I'm keeping all these hidden forces in various positions. So that my opponent doesn't know where to go. And then I'm going to push the flank. So I did this initial push on one side. Just to bring his Revolver Cav, Carbine Cav over to this right flank. He took the bait. Yes, I took some losses. But then I retreated back to the safety of my guys in the force. Had he pursued me, he would have been destroyed. But overall, you know, I lost a couple men. That's fine. It was to draw his guys. You know, see? Look at this. He has a lot of forces facing on this flank. Two Carbine Cav over here. I'm drawing his attention. Which allows me to put more numerical security on the left side. At this point, what I decided to do was throw forward some of my Spear Levy. And they've now returned to the fight. They soaked up a lot of this fire. Once he got some shots on. Then I pushed very heavily with Cavalry. Took some shots from his Revolver Cav. And then swept into this position. This is going to be disrupting the entirety of his line. You can see now he's forced to peel off some of his Red Bear. To face in this direction. And what that's going to do is now open up the center. Again, why I held these units in reserve in the force. As opposed to being out in the open. Is he may forget, you know, how many units I have in various positions. And look at all these Red Bear guys. And Katana Kachi. They're going to be ripe for pushing up the center. He does have more units coming over here. But I'm cleaning up his Elite Carbine Cav. So definitely trading cost effectively. And I'm continuing to put on the fire with my Red Bear. But now I'm in a very good position with my Katana Kachi. You know, tear through his guys. And look at the enemy forces in the distance. They can't really shoot into my men. If they were to do that. They would be shooting into their own troops. So he's going to try and reinforce with his lines of fire. Alright, here you go. Now that I saw his attention was drawn over here. Against some Red Bear infantry. I'm going to be pretty much destroyed by these Royal Marines. I'm doing some damage. But now here is the main crux of the damage dealers. Katana Kachi on the left. And then three units of Red Bear are going to be sweeping up into position in the center. So, attacking the flanks to draw all his attention here. He's going to fall back into these somewhat tenuous positions. And his quality troops are going to be picking apart my men. It's going to take a lot of forces to disrupt him. But now I have enveloped the center. As I start to envelop the center. I'm going to push the right side as well. Sweep around with my cavalry going on the back. My anticipation is to hit this flank as it tries to throw me back into the woods. I do have some more guys back here to hopefully fall back to. And now here are my guys. Lined up and ready. White Tiger Force. Destroying Red Bear actually. That should not be happening. But because of positional warfare. I am getting the advantage. And my Red Bear is still alive. So I'm forcing my opponent back. You can see him on the defensive. And now what I'm going to be doing is. Every time he has a little corner like this. I can exploit those corners. And get more of my guys shooting at his men. Meanwhile he's going to leave some reserve forces. Back here. To try and be sort of a rear guard action. He's going to focus on my Katana Kachi. But these guys are going to continue to charge forward. Force his guys back. In the rear I'm pulling his cavalry out of position. With some Yari Ki in the back. And these guys are going to be running towards this position. Just to try and bait him out. We're going to be moving up to try and engage in the center. I have my guys in deep formation. Probably not the best move. But they're just there to intercept enemy forces. Draw fire. And yeah they're going to get destroyed. Over on the right side. You can see me starting to return fire. There you go. A lot of my units returning fire against my opponent. It is kind of a bloodbath here. As he falls back. And forms another defensive line. Over here with his Carbine Cavalry in the rear. He's going to be doing a lot of damage to my guys. So this is not a position I want to be in for long. I do not have any reserves at this point. I can't stay in this fight too long. Now that we're fighting man for man. I don't have the numerical advantage anymore. And he's going to start to turn the tide against me. So you can see my guys are starting to break at this point. Once he's lined up in these long thin spaghetti formations. And my guys are trying to return fire. The quality of his troops is actually going to prove to be too powerful for my men. So I'm going to be pulling back. To the safety of the force. It seems like I overstretched my hand. Especially in these types of defensive formations. With all his guys. And now he's going to launch his cavalry in pursuit of my men. Revolver Cav is very good for these purposes. You can see they can get their shots off from a distance. From safety. And they're going to be dealing damage to my guys. However they're going to reform. Seeing that my guys were ready to fire some volleys at his guys. So I'm going to be able to fall back. And hold my own guys. However at this point. It seems like he's evened the odds in terms of numbers. If you look at the balance bar. It looks like he actually has the advantage. And so this is going to be a pretty hard battle for me to win. However take a look at this. In their last couple volleys my unit over here. Was able to sort of break this red bear. Some of his units are getting awfully thin. So despite having a lot of quality forces. The quantity actually is working against him. Somewhat in that he's running out of his good quality guys. In a straight up fight he will win. Which is why I now have to use my maneuverability. And just try and outmaneuver him. And use my guys to the best of my ability. You can see he's drawing back. And I'm going to try and spread my opponent thin. Allow my guys to reform. And I still have the core of my force. Which is the red bear. I think three red bear. One spear levy. And like a katana samurai here and there. One red bear over here. And thankfully I still have cavalry in the back. If I didn't have these cavalry. I wouldn't be able to pull my opponent out of position. And then I wouldn't also be able to. Keep these guys in check. Had I not had cavalry he could have swept these guys around the flank. Just continued to pull them off. Anytime I turn around to face him. He could have charged me with his infantry. And gotten the advantage. What I'm trying to do now is force my opponent forward. I have the ability to seize these dojos. So I'm going to try and do that. And force my opponent to come in. Let's go ahead and hide the radar here. So this is going to be very very close. I do still have my generals bodyguard in the back. Who can provide some overlapping fields of fire. Now you can see what I'm going to try and do. Look at these arcs of fire. I'm hiding behind this building. If he's going to try and swoop around this position. I want to cover that with my own red bear and generals bodyguard. If he tries to move up in this position. I have it covered already by red bear. Positioned right here. And then I'm going to try and seize this little farmhouse myself. So he's not going to have any of that. He's going to start to move forward. These units do not have that much. That they can do. There are only 33 of them. Out of a previous 150. It looks like he does have some extreme range royal marines. So that is actually going to be one of the key components. He has to crack my formation. It looks like I'm going to get the first volley against his guys. Completely destroy that. And all of a sudden his wing over here is exposed. He does still have some. He called them beasts. Some carbine cavalry. I have to be very wary of these guys. They can tear my units apart. But at the same time my opponent does not want to lose these guys. If he does he could lose the cavalry advantage. So he's going to start to pull back. I had threatened the rear with my own yari ki. He's going to be chasing after me. So I'm starting to get the numerical advantage. At least sort of in the cavalry department. Slowly forcing these guys back. Some of my own yari ki are going to be probing around the back. Waiting for the advantage to be mine. Holy crap. One volley and the beasts destroy my katana kachi. But I do get some return fire. Against his carbine cav. And then we're going to be pulling back some white tiger force. To try and deal damage with his guys. Over here I'm going to do a double assault. Against these carbine cav. I'm going to have to bite the bullet quite literally here. I'm going to take out some of my guys. But I know that once that volley is done for. There's not much he can do. So I'm going to catch one of them. And the other unit is going to take a lot of fire. But the cavalry advantage is now going to be mine. In melee I should be able to kill these revolver cav. This is going to threaten the whole rear of his line. And I'm going to continue to charge his guys. Deal death to his carbine cav. Like I said if I can get rid of his cavalry advantage. Then I will be able to finally close in on his guys. In the confusion. I was actually able to destroy his beast. Wrap around the flank and do a lot of damage. To his United States Marines. Guys he does not want to lose. And I have to take advantage of the fact. That I have to keep track of when these guys are firing or not. Because I know when he's not firing. That's my opportunity to charge. I'm going to do that. And I might actually break this. I have 11 guys left. And there we go I broke one of his guys. He does have one more carbine cav. But I'm going to continue to sweep up. So the Yari cavalry at this point. Is actually going to be the saving grace of my force. It looks like they were actually destroyed. By some returning enemy forces. The general and the carbine cav. But I think it successfully brought back the cavalry advantage. Well not really the cavalry advantage. I got rid of his cavalry threat. My cavalry is now gone. But look at his numbers now. That I was able to collapse on some of his forces. It looks like the balance bar. Is now more towards the middle. So I did recover a little bit. I cashed in all my cavalry. Except for my general. In exchange for his cavalry. And then also dealing damage to some of his guys up here. But these United States marines have extreme range. And they are going to break my red bear. So each of our units is now at the extremity of his. Their ability to withstand. Oh red bear even getting destroyed. So yeah every couple volley has the risk of. Eliminating one force from the field. So this is getting very very close. One two three four. Four infantry units. And one generals unit. Against five enemy infantry. And two cavalry. So it looks like the odds are in my opponents favor. Let's see what I do to try and rectify this. Let me go ahead and put this on fast forward. These guys are trying to get into position. I do have some guns. On my generals bodyguard. I'm going to try and bait him into position. I'm using this building. If it weren't here I would probably be steamrolled. But I can use it to attack on either. One side or the other. And try and keep my general alive. Key location here. He's going to push a lot of his forces over here. And that means he's neglecting that far side. So I'm going to try and push my guys over here. Oh and he actually broke another one of my forces. So the battle is turning against me. But I'm going to charge up here. With my spear levy. They're actually going to get shot up. And he's going to pull away. So at this point. Actually it looks like the balance bar is now more heavily favoring my opponent. Very close battle up to this point. Charging with some red bear. And he is going to return fire. I am doing a pretty good amount of damage. But 58 guys left. Next volley is 53, 52. And they are effectively broken. I only have red bear infantry left. And then my general is the only one left here. I figured I'd charge him gloriously into battle over here. Seeing as the battle was over. So pretty close battle at the end. Again my cavalry charge almost equalized that fight for me. But in the end it seems like. Quality over quantity has won the day. Very tactfully played by my opponent. A good army build. And I really really like some of his units. The upgrades he had on them. They performed admirably. Whereas my guys were more like I said. Low tier, low quality. But vast in number. So hope you guys enjoyed this. And let's actually go ahead and end this battle. And take a look at the stats real quick. I really do enjoy playing Shogun 2. Just the blend of sort of technologies is great. The close quarter combat. Mixed with all the samurai units. And more extreme range. Gunpowder units is really really fun. Let's go ahead and look at the unit stats. And organize this by kills. So my red bear actually doing a pretty good amount of kills. My cavalry themselves doing a pretty good amount of kills. Down here however. These are the guys who charged in the front lines. Meat shields you know 0 0 and 0. They basically got obliterated. My opponent here got a lot of kills. 439 on his Infantry De Marine. These guys are ridiculous when upgraded. You can see they got so many kills. These guys 132. So yeah he really didn't have that many troops. But any units that I threw up the front. Would immediately get thrown in the meat grinder. And if I had no follow up to kill him. After he had shot that volley. Then those guys were basically thrown away. So maybe in this game. It's better to go with quality than quantity. But again it comes down to who the opponents are. Facing each other and what their abilities are. Anyways well played to my opponent. Hope to see you guys in the next video. And yeah peace out. Thanks so much for watching.