Koei Presents A Kou Shibusawa Production Licensed by Nintendo of America, Inc. Nobunaga's Ambition II All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |Table of Contents| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ I. Copyright Notice II. Version Notes III. Game Introduction IV. Basic Game Controls V. Starting a New Game i. Scenario ii. Players iii. Daimyo iv. Difficulty v. Watch Other Fiefs' Wars VI. This is Your Fief i. The Status Screen ii. The Statistics iii. The Commands VII. Events and the Passage of Time i. Regular Events ii. Outbreak Events VIII. The Art of War i. The Screen ii. Commands iii. Movement iv. Miscellanea IX. Starting Hints and Tips i. General Tips and Advice ii. Single-Fief Strategy iii. Multi-Fief Strategy X. Frequently Asked Questions XI. Credits XII. Contact Information +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |I. COPYRIGHT NOTICE| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Copyright 2008 Candice B. "otaku_luna" email: otakuluna(at)gmail.com This may not be reproduced (in part or in its entirety) under ANY circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on ANY web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. Writers who wish to use a portion of my material in their own work must email me beforehand and obtain permission to do so. So long as any website your guide will be hosted on fits within the guidelines listed below (and you give full and proper credit for anything you copy or reference), I am more likely than not to approve your request. Any websites that wish to display this guide may email me. However, only sites that would provide access to this guide free-of-charge and without an account on their site required will have their requests considered. Currently, the only sites allowed to host this guide are GameFAQs(dot)com and Neoseeker(dot)com. If you find this guide on any other website, know that it is there without my knowledge or consent, and please notify me by email immediately. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |II. Version Notes| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ 1.00: July 2008 - My first release. All sections should be complete, though some additional fleshing-out and rewording may be required at a later date. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |III. Game Introduction| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ “In Nobunaga’s Ambition II, you embark on an epic quest to unify Japan. As a Daimyo (warlord) vying for power and territory, you’ll command vast armies of Samurai (warriors); defend yourself against ninja assassins; lay siege against mighty fortresses; negotiate alliances; and confront your enemies in deadly combat. But in order to conquer Japan, you must be vigilant with internal affairs as well as in war. To keep your vassals content, and thus avoid being overthrown, you’ll reclaim farmland, build water works, expand towns and attract merchants. And when emergencies such as typhoons, epidemics or famine arise, you’ll have to react quickly to rescue your people, or lace their rebellion!” {1} A note about names: being an historically-based strategy game, the names of daimyo and samurai are in the traditional Japanese format of family name then given name. Instead of John Doe, which is in the western format of first (given) name then last (family) name, the name is Doe John. This format is why you will see many names that “begin” the same – many daimyos have family members (sons, brothers, uncles, etc.) under their command. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |IV. Basic Game Controls| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ A Button - Select an option or unit B Button - Cancels a selection or goes back one menu (not all choices can be backed out of, so save often and choose wisely), from the main fief menu it will pull up the map Select - No effect in menu Start - No effect in menu D-Pad - Select some options (Y/N); move through menus and around the map +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |V. Starting a New Game| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ +--------+ |Scenario| +--------+ Warlord Rivalry - Starts in March 1560. You are one of 28, with no one having more than 4 fiefs under his control at the start of the game. The balance of power is more evenly distributed than in the later scenario, though there are distinctly stronger and weaker starting positions. Nobunaga's Ambition - Starts in March 1582. By this time, Oda has conquered a good portion of the map, and many (but not all) of the weaker daimyos/fiefs have been overtaken by stronger family clans. +-------+ |Players| +-------+ I couldn’t really tell you the point of starting a game with 0 players, unless you wanted to sit back and just watch how the computer does things with no human interference, only random events. Otherwise, this is pretty self- explanatory. +------+ |Daimyo| +------+ Pick who you want to be, and where you want to start. Personally, despite his mediocre resources, I prefer to start as Satomi of Awakazu. He has the singular luxury of having but a single border to defend, which makes initial defense, fief-building, and expansion much more straightforward. The more borders you have, the more complicated and involved your defenses must become. Warlord Rivalry FIEF DAIMYO 1,2 Uesugi Kenshin 3,7,8 Hojo Ujiyasu 4 Satomi Yoshitaka 5,6 Takeda Shingen 9,10 Imagawa Yoshimoto 11 Hatakeyama Yoshitsuna 12 Jinbo Nagamoto 13 Anegakoji Yoshiyori 14 Honganji Kosa 15 Asakura Yoshikage 16 Saito Yoshitatsu 17 Oda Nobunaga 18 Tokugawa Ieyasu 19 Asai Nagamasa 20 Rokkaku Yoshikata 21 Kitatake Tomonori 22 Ashikaga Yoshiteru 23,25,35,36 Miyoshi Nagayoshi 24 Suzuki Sadayu 26 Hatano Hideharu 27 Isshiki Yoshimichi 28 Yamana Toyokuni 29 Akamatsu Yoshisuke 30 Amago Haruhisa 31 Ukita Naoie 32-34 Mori Motonari 37 Kono Michinobu 38 Chosokabe Motochika Nobunaga's Ambition FIEF DAIMYO 1 Uesugi Kagekatsu* 2,3,7,8 Hojo Ujimasa* 4 Satomi Yoshiyori* 5,6,9 Takeda Katsuyori* 10,18 Tokugawa Ieyasu 11-17,19-23,25-29,35,36,38 Oda Nobunaga 24 Suzuki Sadayu 30-34 Mori Terumoto* 37 Kono Michinao* 38 Chosokabe Motochika * Successor to previous daimyo +----------+ |Difficulty| +----------+ Easiest is level 1, most difficult is level 5. I strongly suggest playing the game through at level 1 and becoming familiar and comfortable with the game mechanics and strategies before attempting a higher level. Also worth noting is that which daimyo you choose to control will have an effect on the difficulty of your game, especially at startup. I would rather choose a more difficult (weaker) daimyo to play as than increase the difficulty through the manipulation of AI...though I will confess that I’ve yet to play the game at a higher difficulty level to observe and notate the specific differences. It’s on my to-do list. +-----------------------+ |Watch Other Fiefs' Wars| +-----------------------+ I find this to be entirely unnecessary. It lets you watch the hex battles between other fiefs and their samurai, which might be marginally instructional for those who wish to see what the in-game warfare looks like without having to go out and pick a fight with a neighbor. However, I don’t find the interface to be complicated enough to necessitate the use of this option as a sort of tutorial, nor am I so interested in the (exceedingly time-consuming) details of each battle to bother with this option. It’s up to you, though, and you can always turn it off in the options menu later. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |VI. This is Your Fief| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ +----------+-----------------------+-------------+ | +~~~~~~+ | +~+ xx x | | | | | | +~+ Daimyo: | Mar 1560 | | | | | x | Spring | | | | | Governor: | | | | | | x | Price x.x | | +~~~~~~+ | x | | +----------------------------------+-------------+ | Gold: xxx Happiness: xx | 1.Move | | | 2.Build | | Food: xxx Population: xxxx | 3.Trade | | | 4.View | | Land: xxx Castle Def: xxx | 5.Samurai | | | 6.Diplomacy | | Flood: xx Men: xxx | 7.Spy | | | 8.War | | Trade: xxx Samurai: x | 9.Other | | | 0.Rest | | Culture: xxx Debt: 0 | | +------------------------------------------------+ | Lord x, | | your command ? | +------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------+ |The Status Screen| +-----------------+ Let's start at the top, though this part is pretty self-explanatory. On the right, you see the current month, year, season, and the current market price for food. Your career as daimyo will revolve heavily around this number, so get used to looking here at the beginning of every month. In the middle you have a picture of your daimyo's flag, the number and name of the fief, your daimyo's family name, and the governor's full name. On the left is a picture of the governor. > Notes on Price: The game (through the voices of advisor-quality samurai, > should you be fortunate enough to have one or more in your service) will > tell you that buying food at 1.3 or less is wise, as is selling for 1.4 > or more. I will agree with the minimum suggested selling price, but I > have to disagree with the buying price. Unless I am desperate (and I try > very hard to never be in such a situation), I WILL NOT buy food for more > than even- money (1.0). Also something to keep in mind when buying or > selling - try to buy or sell enough to total a nice, round number. I > don't trust the computer to round decimals in my favor, so I remove that > variable. The mid-left of the screen is where you find the specifics of your fief's current status. Let's go into what each of those little pictures and the numbers with them mean. I've listed each item by the title for each value followed by [] surrounding my attempts to describe the pictures. Gold: [The shiny gold coin with the $ in the middle.] This is the amount of money in the treasury. You gain more gold every March from taxes (less annual stipends for each samurai). Gold is required for many actions. Maximum of 999. Food: [The 3 bundles of rice.] This is the amount of rice you have saved. September taxes bring in more, less stipends. Food at least equal to the number of men you have is necessary for properly provisioning for war. If you run out of food, you automatically lose. Always try to have more food than men. Maximum of 999. Land: [The green stalk of growing rice.] This is the level of development of your rice paddies. Improving this (2,1 - Build -> Clear land) increases the potential yield of your fall harvest. Typhoons or famines can reduce this value. Maximum of 999. Flood: [The ripples of water.] The level of preventative measures taken against floods. This level impacts the damage done by typhoons and famines, and the amount of the fall harvest. Improving this (2,2 - Build -> Flood control) helps keep your fief from being the next Atlantis, though the value will be reduced by disasters. Maximum of 100. Trade: [The abacus.] The level of prosperity. Increasing this (2,3 –> Build, Expand town) will increase the revenue from March taxation and improve the likelihood of merchant visits. Disasters and war will decrease this value. Maximum of 999. Culture: [The fan with the Japanese flag (rising sun).] “The level of advancement or civilization in a Fief. Culture relates directly to Trade. Samurai training works most efficiently in Fiefs where Culture is high.” {2} Maximum of 999. Happiness: [The farmer with the hoe.] The level of popular support you have. The lower this is, the less tax you gather in the spring and fall, and the more likely an uprising becomes. Your people will become unhappy when you draft men into your armies (8,1 – War -> Hire soldiers) and when you tax their labors too heavily. You can improve their disposition by lowering taxes and improving their fief (any Build command other than Fortify castle). Maximum of 100. Population: [The family of three huddled together.] How many residents there are. This affects how many soldiers you can hire at one time. Population increases every March, but will decrease after every draft and epidemic. Maximum of 9999. Castle: [The castle.] How well fortified your castle's defenses are. Increasing this (2,4 -> Build, Fortify castle) is the only Build command that does not make your people happier. Men: [The soldier with the sword and red outfit.] This is the total number of soldiers available to defend the fief or go to war, under the command of your daimyo and/or samurai. You can have a maximum of 100 men per samurai. Samurai: [The samurai in purple armor.] How many samurai are in your fief. This number includes your daimyo. Debt: [The red bag with -$ on the front.] How much money you owe to the moneylender, to be automatically repaid in March. This will only show in the home fief of your daimyo, as only he can borrow money. All other fiefs will show ---. +--------------+ |The Statistics| +--------------+ NOTE: This section is necessarily a bit out-of-place. I would put it later, after I’ve explained the commands used to find the screens with this information, but you need to understand some of it now or some of the commands, and how you “pay” for them, won’t make proper sense. For reference, the commands to find these screens are 4,1,2/3 (View, Other Fiefs, Samurai/Daimyo). FOR DAIMYO: +----------+-----------------------+-------------+ | +~~~~~~+ | +~+ xx x | | | | | | +~+ Daimyo: | Mar 1560 | | | | | x | Spring | | | | | Governor: | | | | | | x | Price x.x | | +~~~~~~+ | x | | +----------------------------------+-------------+ | Age xx Loy --- | | | | Fiefs xx | | Pol xxx Men xxx | | | | Frnd --- | | War xxx Skil xxx | | | | Marr --- | | Char xxx Arms xxx | | | | Ally --- | | Amb xxx Unit Cav/Inf/Rif | | | | | | | | +------------------------------------------------+ | HIT ANY BUTTON | | | +------------------------------------------------+ FOR SAMURAI: +----------+-----------------------+-------------+ | +~~~~~~+ | +~+ xx x | | | | | | +~+ Daimyo: | Mar 1560 | | | | | x | Spring | | | | | Governor: | | | | | | x | Price x.x | | +~~~~~~+ | x | | +----------------------------------+-------------+ | Age xx Loy xxx | | | | | | Pol xxx Men xxx | | | | | | War xxx Skil xxx | | | | | | Char xxx Arms xxx | | | | | | Amb xxx Unit Cav/Inf/Rif | | | | | | | | +------------------------------------------------+ | HIT ANY BUTTON | | | +------------------------------------------------+ The top of the screen is basically the same as it would be for the status screen in your home fief, with a couple of obvious differences, and one in-game programming error. The fief number and name are for the fief you are viewing, not yourself (unless you happen to be using this to more closely examine your own men – something I’ve been known to do). This is also where the error is located – the fief number will incorrectly be one number lower than it should be for the view samurai option ONLY; it shows properly for the view daimyo option. If you use the view samurai option to look at a daimyo, it will show the same screen as you would get for any other samurai, number-error and all; you will NOT get the more detailed screen. The fief name will still be accurate, but if you are viewing a samurai from fief 2 Kozuke, it will show as 1 Kozuke, and 1 Echigo will show as 0 Echigo. A minor error, but it can cause a little confusion if you don’t know it’s there. The names for daimyo and governors will also be for the fief you are viewing. The price of food will not change. All Samurai and Daimyo - Age: Starting ages are based on historical fact, and natural lifespans will be similar – meaning if a daimyo died of illness or “old” age at 47, he is likely to do the same in the game. Conversely, daimyo and samurai who died young in battle historically may live to a ripe old age in your game. Increases automatically every March. Maximum of 99. Political Influence: Skill with internal affairs and diplomatic missions. Can be increased through training. Maximum of 100. > Body Points: A derived statistic from Political Influence that represents > a daimyo or samurai’s ability to act. At the start of the game, each > daimyo and samurai will have a number of BP equal to their Political > Influence, and will gain more at the beginning of each month at a rate > of 30% of their Political Influence score, up to the maximum of 200. War Ability: Skill with combat and strategy. Can be increased through training. Maximum of 100. Charisma: The ability to charm and influence others. Aids in recruiting samurai and diplomacy. Maximum of 100. Ambition: Desire for expansion. A daimyo with a high ambition will be more likely to attack others, while a samurai with a high ambition will be more likely to start a civil war. Every fief won will increase Ambition, every fief lost will cause it to drop. Maximum of 100. Loyalty: The loyalty of a samurai to his daimyo. Daimyo lack a number for obvious reasons. Samurai with little loyalty to their lord will be more likely to join another lord if asked, rise up against you in civil war, or swap to the enemy’s side in battle. This can be increased through rewards. Maximum of 100. Number of Men: Soldiers under a samurai’s command. They can be hired and reassigned. Maximum of 100. Soldiers’ Skill Level: The training level of the soldiers – well-trained men are more effective in combat. As new men are hired, the training level will decrease, and reassigning men from another samurai will raise or lower the training level depending on the skill of the men being merged. Maximum of 100. Soldiers’ Arms Level: How well armed your soldiers are – well-armed men are more effective in combat. Arms are bought from traveling merchants. Freshly hired men will decrease the arms level, as more men will be sharing fewer weapons. Maximum of 100. Unit Type: Cavalry, Infantry, or Rifle. This is pre-determined by history. > On Advisors: Advisors are quality samurai who will comment on the wisdom > of your actions throughout the course of the game, should you have any > in your service. They are samurai who have a combined Political Influence > and War Ability of 150 or greater. If you have more than one advisor in > any given fief, only the one with the highest total will comment on your > actions. Some comments are very helpful, some are benign (relatively > useless and so can be safely ignored), and some are misguided but well- > meaning attempts to help you with less-than-perfect advice. The higher > their ratings, the better their advice, at least in theory. Daimyo Only – Number of Fiefs: How many fiefs are under the command of the daimyo being viewed. Since there are 38 fiefs, this will range from 1-37, realistically. If it were 38, the game would be over. Friendship: The friendship level between yourself and the daimyo being viewed. Marriage: Whether or not there are any marriages between your family clan and that of the daimyo being viewed. Alliance: How many months remain in the alliance between yourself and the daimyo being viewed, if any. Alliances last for one year. +------------+ |The Commands| +------------+ On the right side of the screen is where all of the in-game actions take place, save for combat-specific decisions. Let's try to get you through peacetime intact before we send you off to war. All costs for actions will be in Gold (G) and/or Body Points (BP). Sometimes, the effectiveness of an action is statistic-dependent, and this is notated where applicable as Political Influence (POL), War Ability (WAR), or Charisma (CHA). 1. Move 1. Samurai: 20BP from each samurai moved. Move one or more samurai in the current fief to any neighboring fief under your command. Samurai can bring food and/or gold with them when they move. 2. Gold or food: 20BP for samurai in charge. Move gold and/or food from the current fief to any neighboring fief under your command. 2. Build 1. Clear land: 50BP, variable G, 50+ POL for samurai in charge. The amount of gold you are able to invest depends on the current Land value – the higher the starting Land value, the more you can spend to increase it further. This applies to all 4 fief-building actions. Increases Land value as well as Happiness. This action has a side-effect of decreasing your Flood control level. 2. Flood control: 50 BP, variable G, 50+ POL for samurai in charge. Increases Flood value and Happiness. 3. Expand town: 50 BP, variable G, 50+ POL for samurai in charge. Increases Trade, Culture (indirectly), and Happiness. 4. Fortify castle: 50 BP, variable G, 50+ POL for samurai in charge. It will increase the defense of the Castle gates, but there isn’t really ever a reason to do this, as it only has ANY relevance if you are under siege. If you’re going to spend money and body points to increase your defensive abilities, just build up your army by buying men. This is the only fief- building activity that doesn’t make your people happier, which only compounds the relative uselessness of the action. 3. Trade 1. Sell food: 40BP. You can gain gold by selling off excess food stores. 2. Buy food: 40BP, variable G. If you are dangerously low on food supplies, or if food is at a low price and can be resold later for a profit, buy food. 3. Buy arms: 40BP, variable G. Increase the arms level of all soldiers in the fief. One arms purchase will raise the arms level of 100 men 1 point. As the arms are distributed as an average, arms purchases are only truly effective when each of your samurai have the same arms level (and number of men). > Example: You have 3 samurai in your fief, each with 100 men but different > arms levels. Samurai A has an arms level of 90, B has 83, and C has 70. > If you buy 57 arms, they will not all reach 100 – as simple math and > logic would suggest. They will all receive 19, meaning A and B are fine, > but C falls short by 11. It’s very hard to get a decent price for arms purchases, so they should be a lower priority, but DO impact your efficiency in battle, so should not be forgotten. 4. Borrow gold: 40BP. You can borrow money, if you are truly desperate, but it must be repaid with interest. The amount you are able to borrow is determined by your Trade level. Only your daimyo can borrow money. Debts come due in Spring, and are automatically deducted from your tax income. The same amount of interest will be charged regardless of the “length” of your loan, so if you’re short on money in February, you’re better off waiting, as you’ll have to pay the money right back with interest the next month. 5. Settle debts: No BP are expended to pay back the moneylender, just the gold owed plus the accumulated interest. There is no real advantage to repaying early. 4. View 1. Other fiefs: no charge to view your own fiefs in this manner, adjacent fiefs of other lords require 20BP and 5G to view, distant fiefs of other lords require 30BP and 5G to view. Your ninja can fail (by being captured), though POL score of the samurai in charge is not the only determining factor. The competency of the opposing daimyo/governor is likely relevant. 1. Fief: shows the data screen for the selected fief. 2. Samurai: shows a list of the samurai in the selected fief, from which you choose whose data screen to view. 3. Daimyo: shows the data screen for the daimyo of the fief selected. 4. List of samurai: lists the samurai in the fief selected in order of combined POL + WAR ability, with the daimyo or governor on top regardless of skill level. 2. Your samurai: no charge. Shows a listing of the samurai in the active fief, with a brief summary for each, including Political Influence, War Ability, Men, and Loyalty. 3. Your land: no charge. Shows a listing of fiefs under your command, with the Gold, Food, Samurai, and Men in each. 4. Friends: no charge. Displays a list of each daimyo, and your diplomatic status with each, indicated by length of alliance (in months, if any), presence of a marriage between your family clans, and friendship level (100 is friendly, 50 is neutral, 0 is a desire to destroy you at the earliest possible opportunity). 5. Samurai 1. Recruit ronin: 70BP. Searches the active fief for ronin (lordless samurai). A high culture level may encourage ronin to come to your fief, and conquests of neighboring fiefs may cause displaced samurai fleeing their new lord to take refuge in your territory. 2. Recruit samurai: 70BP, variable G. Through this option, you can attempt to entice a samurai away from his current lord into your service. The higher POL the better, as an incompetent scout will be unconvincing and may be captured. Using 4,1,2 (View -> Other fief -> Samurai) to check the loyalty of your potential recruit is important – a loyal servant will be less likely to defect, and would cost more to sway to your side. This order can only be given by your daimyo from his home fief, but the BP cost is only for the messenger chosen. 3. Dismiss samurai: 20BP of daimyo. If you have someone with low scores, and really want to be rid of him, you can dismiss him from your service. I don’t bother, seeing as he will just end up in the service of another lord. I prefer to just use them as errand boys, performing tasks that aren’t skill-dependant (like buying/selling food, recruiting men, moving food and gold, and other menial chores). > If you really want to be rid of someone, but don’t want to just give a > samurai to another lord, you can put a single soldier under his command > and send him off to die honorably in war. Make sure he uses the Charge > attack so that he dies, rather than being captured (more on that when we > get to the Art of War). This can only be done by your daimyo in his home fief, so if you want to dismiss someone, you have to move him to the proper fief first. 4. Give rewards: 20BP of your governor, variable G. It really is as simple as buying someone’s loyalty. I prefer to raise the loyalty of new recruits to a minimum of 80, though that can be expensive. 5. Train samurai: 90BP, 30G. Raise the Political Influence or War Ability of one of your samurai. High culture, and the presence of someone with a higher score than the one being raised to be a “tutor”, are important. Skills cannot be raised more than 5 points through training. I tend to not spend the effort. 1. Politics: If you have a samurai who is just short of being useful for fief development (i.e. a Political Influence of 47-49), the cost may be worth the benefit, as his usefulness would increase significantly. 2. War Strategy: I can’t really see any scenarios where raising this would be of any significant use, unless you have someone who is only a few points from being advisor-class, and want to get him to that 150 combined total by raising his War Ability rather than his Political Influence. 6. Change governors: no cost. Use this to change the governor in charge of one of your fiefs, and to give/remove the authority for him to rule by himself. I don’t trust the AI to run things properly, so I never allow a governor to rule on his own. This can only be done by your daimyo. 6. Diplomacy: Refusing offers of diplomacy from other lords causes their friendship level to drop by 5 points. Capturing the messenger (to kill or recruit) will also drop the friendship level by 5. A high POL score would be beneficial for all of these actions. 1. Marriage: 130BP, 50G. You offer to marry a princess from another daimyo’s family. You may marry into as many family clans as will have you. This will raise your friendship level with that daimyo by 20. 2. Alliance: 100BP. Begins a 12-month non-binding treaty with another daimyo that raises your friendship level by 10. An alliance is not a guarantee that you will not be attacked, nor does it prevent you from attacking, but breaking an alliance will cause you to lose the trust and respect of other lords, and your friendship levels will drop accordingly. 3. Threaten: 130BP. This is an interesting option, one that allows for bloodless conquest. Threatening another daimyo, if you are strong enough to intimidate him, may cause him to try to appease you with Tribute (buy your friendship) or even a princess. If you are convincingly superior, and have the military might to wipe him off the map, he may submit to your rule completely, and you will gain control of all of his fiefs and samurai (who may or may not be pleased with the new arrangements). 4. Tribute: BP 80, variable G. Use this to try to buy a daimyo’s friendship. The amount of the increase in friendship level depends upon the size of the monetary gift. 7. Spy: I don’t use these options personally, though I have seen their effects in my own fiefs as well as across the map. A high POL score would be beneficial for all of these actions, to increase the success rate of your ninja and help prevent his capture. 1. Spread war rumors: 100BP, 10G. The goal here is to try to convince one rival daimyo that another daimyo intends to attack him. “Even if spreading war rumors does not cause the two Fiefs to wage war, it will undoubtedly strain their diplomatic ties.” {3} 2. Incite uprising: 90BP, 10G. Spread nasty rumors amongst another daimyo’s populace to lower their Happiness. If it drops low enough, he’ll have an uprising to quell, which may weaken him and make him more vulnerable to attack. 3. Send assassin: 100BP, 20G. You try to bump-off another daimyo, which will cause a successor to be chosen and stir up a little turmoil. This has an expectedly-high failure rate, and when it does fail your friendship level with that daimyo is bound to drop considerably. One sure way to know when another daimyo has been assassinated is if he dies (outside of battle) in a month other than March, when everyone ages and any deaths from NATURAL causes would occur. 8. War 1. Hire soldiers: 50BP, variable G. You spend one Gold per “unit” drafted, and the number of men available depends upon the population of your fief (and possibly their Happiness and your daimyo’s Charisma). Recruiting soldiers will decrease the Happiness and size of your population, but only if more than 9 are hired at one time. 2. Reassign men: 20BP from governor. As it implies, you adjust how many soldiers are under the command of each samurai. This will cause the training and arms levels of the soldiers reassigned to pool and average out. 3. Train men: 40BP per samurai. “More than one Samurai can train his army at the same time. Training Men improves the War Ability of the Samurai as well as the Skill of his Men.” {4} Despite that claim, I have never seen any increase in War Ability from samurai training their soldiers. > There is, however, a benefit of the samurai training their soldiers in > groups, rather than individually, as the increases in skill level are > dependent upon the War Ability of the samurai. Samurai with low ability, > therefore, are best served by training their men alongside samurai of > higher ability. The skill improvements, individually, are about 10% of > the samurai’s War Ability (meaning if he has a 73, his men’s skill levels > would improve by 7 through training). The ratio is slightly lower when > samurai train in groups (I’ve trained groups that included a daimyo > with 100 in War Ability, and the skill levels only increased by 8 or 9, > but still far better overall than individual training). 4. War: 40BP. Invade a neighbor. You choose which samurai will go to war, who will lead (if your daimyo is not amongst those going to battle), and how much Gold and Food you will bring. You should ALWAYS bring the maximum amount of food, otherwise you run the risk of losing a battle because you run out of food before the month (the maximum timeframe for battle) is over and must retreat. 9. Other 1. Quit: You’re given 3 Y/N questions – if you want to save your game, if you want to quit, and if you’re sure you want to quit. If you quit, the screen locks with the message “Until next time...” and your system is ready to be turned off. You can only have one save file at a time. If you emulate, this option is completely pointless. 2. Time: Change your message display speed. The default is 5, which is slow enough that you can read the messages, but not so slow that they linger well after you’ve read them. 3. Music: Turn the game music on or off. The default is on. 4. Animation: Turn the small game animations (like the practicing soldiers when you use the Train men command) on or off. The default is on. 5. Sound: Turn the sound (beeps and other sound effects, not the music) on or off. The default is on. 6. HEX: Turn HEX war on or off. This is the place to go if you’ve changed your mind about your choice for the “Watch other fiefs’ wars” option when you started your game. 7. Level: Change the difficulty of your game. If you started out on a higher difficulty and want to make the game easier, or started out lower and want more of a challenge, you can change the level without having to start a new game. 0. Rest: Use this option to end your turn and wait for next month. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |VII. Events and the Passage of Time| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Each turn in the game is one month, and both scenarios begin in March – the beginning of Spring. Some events occur every month or year, while others have a chance to occur during certain months or seasons, and other events are independent of the month or season. Time also passes a little differently during warfare. Combat can last no longer than a month (30 days); during siege warfare, you have one turn to give commands to each of your samurai per day, while in field warfare you have three – one turn each for morning, afternoon, and nighttime. More on the combat modes and battle commands later. +--------------+ |Regular Events| +--------------+ These events happen every month or year. Yearly Occurrences: - All Samurai age in March. Any samurai or daimyo who has reached the end of their lifespan will die in March. If you know ahead of time that your daimyo or one of your samurai is likely to die of old age, you may want to transfer the men under his command to someone else, as they are lost otherwise. - Samurai receive stipends in March (tax revenue) and September (food). “In proportion to the number of Soldiers he maintains, a Samurai is paid Gold in the Spring and given Food in the Fall. The payment amount equals approximately 20-30% of the number of Soldiers. If the stipend is paid, the Loyalty of all that Fiefs Samurai will increase, but if there is not enough Gold or Food to make the proper payment, the Samurai’s Loyalty will decrease.”{5} I’ve never fallen short, so I’ve always just counted the Loyalty increase as a regular event. - The population grows by 2% in March. - Gold from taxes and Food from tribute are collected in March and September, respectively. Before you take your turn for both months, you must set a tax rate percentage, anywhere from 0% to 100%. > If you set it too low, you may not be able to support your fief (or be > able to afford to improve it), and if you set it too high, you will anger > your people. If you keep your tax rate at less than half of your popular > support (or 39-40%, if your support is below 80) the people will be > neutral or better. I've temporarily had support levels in the 60's, and > could still maintain a tax rate of 39-40%, as that seems to be the > "expected norm". > If you intend on making improvements to your fief that raise the > happiness of your people, you have some leeway for taxing your people > more heavily, and should similarly be more lenient when you plan on > drafting soldiers from the populace. - The moneylender comes to collect on debts in March. Any money you owe is automatically collected. Monthly Occurrences: - Body Points increase by 30% of the Political Influence score, up to 200. - The prices for food and arms fluctuate, as does the interest rate from the moneylender. - Every fief (human or computer run) has a turn. The order in which fiefs act is random, and a fief that acted first one month may be last to act in another month. +---------------+ |Outbreak Events| +---------------+ These are events that are sometimes random, unplanned, and generally unwelcomed. Independent of Season: - Ronin travel between fiefs and may approach Daimyo asking to be recruited into an army at any time during the year. - Uprisings may occur during any month of the year. Uprisings are caused either by ninja sent by enemy Daimyo or by unhappy peasants. You can try to quell the uprising, which may fail. If you don't attempt to quell the uprising, or your attempt fails, then popular support, land, and trade will drop. Whether or not your effort is successful, you must give half of your gold and food to your peasants. - Civil war may break out at any time of year. Unhappy Samurai may rise up against you and try to overthrow your Daimyo. You immediately enter war mode and defend against the turncoat with the remainder of your loyal Samurai. Rebels seize half of your gold and food, which cannot be recovered even if you defeat the traitors. If your Governor is the turncoat, all of the Samurai in that fief will join him and you automatically lose that fief to the new rebel army. - Epidemics also spread at any time. Keeping your flood control rating high helps control, but cannot prevent, epidemics. Epidemics kill off some of your population and soldiers. Specific Season: - Typhoons can strike in the summer. Flood control minimizes the damage caused by typhoons, which may include your land, flood control, and even your castle. - Poor or abundant harvests occur at harvest-time in September. Again, flood control can help or hinder you here. If your flood control is low, a bad harvest (which could be less than half of a regular harvest) is more likely to strike, while high flood control makes an abundant harvest (40% more food) more likely. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |VIII. The Art of War| +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Before you get to the actual war screens and maps, you have to assemble your army and send them off to battle. This is done through 4,4 (War, War). You want to be sure to leave enough samurai and men to defend the fief you're leaving, unless it has no other contested borders. You should always leave one samurai behind to maintain and govern uncontested fiefs; if you leave them empty, they may decide they want nothing more to do with you and you'd have to send troops back in to reclaim them. Nothing like having your supply lines severed to stall your expansion. Bring as much food as the game will allow, and as much gold as you can spare towards building/rebuilding the fief you intend to overtake, and buying the loyalty of any new samurai you may acquire. Turns are taken in this order: Attacking commander -> attacking samurai in order of deployment (order you chose them in to include them in battle) -> defending commander -> defending samurai in order of deployment (only really relevant in player vs. player encounters). Keep this order in mind when choosing starting positions on the field or in siege. Available starting positions are marked on the map, and field starting positions are based on the direction from which a fief is attacked. +----------+ |The Screen| +----------+ The combat screen is a combination of a hex map and a status summary/menu. The map has different terrain types, and shows the positions of friendly and enemy samurai. The sidebar summary/menu will look something like this: +------------+ |Month ## ToD| Month, Day, and Time of Day (Morning, Afternoon, or Night) |Attacker: | |Daimyo Name | Name of the attacking Daimyo |Men ###| How many men the attacking army has |Gold ###| How much gold the attacking army has |Rice ###| How much food the attacking army has left | | |Defender: | |Daimyo Name | Name of the defending Daimyo |Men ###| How many men the defending army has |Gold ###| How much gold the defending army has |Rice ###| How much food the defending army has left | | | 1.Move | The command options - select with the D-Pad and the A button | 2.Attack | | 3.Wait | | 4.Flee | | 5.View | | 6.Spy | | ========== | |Orders for | |Samurai LN | The family (last) name of the active samurai (flashing unit) |Samurai FN | The first name of the active samurai +------------+ In the field view, your day is broken into morning, afternoon, and evening actions. During the day and afternoon, you have full view of the screen and any movements. During the evening, you can only view a 1-hex radius around each of your units. +--------+ |Commands| +--------+ The battle commands are all fairly straight-forward. You can only perform one action (move, attack, wait, or flee) in each turn. 1. Move: Move the selected unit. How far they can move depends on the terrain and unit type. During the evening, you can launch a surprise attack, similar to that of an infantry unit in ambush mode, by moving adjacent to an enemy unit previously hidden in shadow then moving into their square. This is the only time a unit can move and attack in the same turn. 2. Attack: Attack an adjacent square's samurai and men. 1. Normal: A standard attack. Less dangerous, but less destructive. If you defeat your opponent, you capture the samurai. If not, the remainder of your army holds its position and waits for retaliation or to attack again. 2. Rifle: Only useable by rifle units, this is a highly effective attack, inflicting much more harm than you receive. Rifles must be re-loaded and so cannot be used in consecutive turns. 3. Charge: A riskier form of combat. If you charge and lose, your samurai dies (instead of being captured). If you charge and win, the opposing samurai dies. If neither party wins, and there is an open square of terrain behind your opponent, the remainder of your army may end it's turn there, having charged through the enemy army and ended up on the other side. Knowing that can be helpful in considering how to position yourself around an enemy. 4. Ambush: The samurai and his men hide themselves in their terrain, and attack any enemy units that try to enter their square with the element of surprise. Only useable in the field by infantry units. This leads to a surprise attack option, which is stronger than a regular attack. 4. Gate: When in siege combat, and adjacent to a gate, you can attack the gate and attempt to break it down. The difficulty of this depends on the defense rating of the castle and how competent your men are. 3. Wait: Hold your position, and increase your mobility points by one (up to a maximum of ten, regardless of unit type). 4. Flee 1. Other Fief: Attempt to flee to a neighboring fief in your possession. 2. Castle: Withdraw into your castle to begin siege warfare. 5. View: Similar to the view options in the main menu, you can use this to try to examine the opposing samurai or daimyo. The screen will show you the name of the samurai selected, his Political Influence, War Ability, Loyalty, Men, Skill, and Arms level. Costs 2 gold and does not expend your turn. 6. Spy 1. Spy: Attempt to bribe an enemy unit into switching sides. 2. Add men: If you brought samurai but did not choose to place them on the map when you first had the option, you can add them to reinforce your army through this option. 3. Open gate: If you are defending, you can open your own castle's gates from the inside. There's no good reason to do this, though, as it just makes things easier for your attacker. +--------+ |Movement| +--------+ Each unit has a different level of mobility, and each type of terrain square uses up a different amount of that mobility. Waiting will store and accumulate mobility points, up to a maximum of 10. They do not roll over, meaning if you have points left over after you've moved your unit where you want it, they don't carry over to your next turn, that unit starts fresh with it's default amount of movement. Units: Cavalry - Starts with 6 mobility points (MP). Infantry - Starts with 4 MP. Riflemen - Starts with 3 MP. Open Terrain: Plains - Grassy plains offer poor protection. Uses 2 MP to pass through. Rice Fields - Farmland offers more protection than plains. Uses 2 MP. Forest - Better defense than plains or fields. Uses 3 MP. Hills - Hills offer the best defense. Uses 3 MP. Mountains - White-peaked mountains. Impassable. Water - Blue. Impassable. Town - Your soldiers can occupy the town. Causes chaos, damaging culture and trade. Uses 2 MP. Castle - Your soldiers can occupy the castle if the daimyo or governor has fled his position. Demoralizes the enemy troops. If defending, the commanding unit can withdraw into the castle to begin siege warfare. Uses 2 MP. Siege Terrain: Gate - Once the barricade is broken, you can pass through the gates. Uses 2 MP. Castle Land - The land inside the castle is the same as plains. Uses 2 MP. Tower - If the castle defense is high, this is a well-protected position. Uses 2 MP. Fence - Fences help control the movement of troops in the castle. Uses 7 MP. Moat - Cavalry cannot use this defenseless shortcut. Uses 7 MP. Castle Wall - Scaling the wall is dangerous (men are lost in the attempt) and cavalry cannot climb. Uses 7 MP. Fortress - The inner fortress is like the castle on the field. Uses 2 MP. +-----------+ |Miscellanea| +-----------+ Once you've won a battle, you are given the option to behead, recruit, or release each samurai you've captured. Releasing them is pointless, as they'd just go off to be recruited by another daimyo. Beheading them is only a reasonable option if they are so unskilled as to be virtually useless as
anything but an errand-boy. Any samurai you recruit should be stripped of any
men under his command until his loyalty has been...fortified. Civil wars can be
a messy business.

After you've won, you're also finally presented with the options for who to
place in charge as governor of the fief you just left, unless you left the
existing governor or daimyo behind. Whomever you chose to lead your army into
battle, unless you brought your daimyo along, will be governor of your new
fief.


+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
|IX. Starting Hints and Tips|
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
+-----------------------+
|General Tips and Advice|
+-----------------------+
- Fief-building comes first! If you have a populace with no loyalty and no
  resources to tax, you have nothing. Without resources, you cannot support an
  army of any respectable size.

- In Spring and Summer, cultivate your land and maintain your flood control.
  In Fall and Winter, expand your town. Build up the resources for whichever
  tax season is upcoming, so you see a more immediate reward for your efforts.

- I find a good first goal is for your land and trade values to reach 200+. At
  that level, you generally have enough income from taxes to sustain a 
  reasonable rate of growth for your army and keep up the fief-building part-
  time. I generally stop any concentrated efforts at improvement beyond 300,
  but have been known to go higher in very highly populated fiefs.

- The first thing I always do is to take a good look at my samurai, to figure
  out which ones are valuable assets, and which ones are errand-boys. Remember
  that samurai with POL under 50, along with regenerating BP very slowly, are
  not qualified to supervise any fief-building activities. Similarly, samurai
  with WAR under 50 shouldn’t train their men alone, only alongside more
  capable units.

- Try to build up your army slowly, interspersed with fief-building. Since the
  fief-building increases your peoples' happiness (save for fortifying your
  castle), it counterbalances the negative impact of drafting soldiers.

- Until your fiefs are built-up to the point where your economy is strong
  enough to sustain your activities, buying and selling food can be a good
  source of income. If you've been sitting idle (probably waiting for tax
  season to roll around so you have more funds) and have grain and an errand-
  boy, you have a way to make money. Even at a bad price, you can make money by
  repeatedly selling and buying grain.

 >    You do this by...exploiting...the way the price of food changes. When you
 >    sell food (so long as it isn't a very small amount), the price of food
 >    drops by 0.1, and when you buy food, it will go up by 0.1. Therefore, if
 >    you sell all of the food in your fief (rounded to remove the issue with
 >    fractions being rounded not in your favor), the price will then drop and
 >    you can rebuy it (and more) for the same amount you just earned by it's
 >    sale. If you have a lot of accumulated BP, you can do this repeatedly,
 >    gathering more and more food, eventually just selling off what you don't
 >    need for profit.

  I find it to be a helpful way to kill time and make a profit during slow
  months when I can't accomplish much else.

- Since samurai stipends are based (at least theoretically) on how many men are
  under their command, redistributing men so that most-to-all of them are under
  the command of your daimyo or governor should save you some gold and food
  early on when your resources are most limited.


+--------------------+
|Single-Fief Strategy|
+--------------------+
- Things are a bit more straightforward for a single-fief daimyo. You may have
  multiple borders to defend (unless you're Satomi), but you don't have to
  share your resources. This can be both a good and a bad thing, depending on
  your fief and the samurai available to you. Focus on developing self-
  sustaining resources and growing your army to at least 200 trained (80+ skill
  and 50+ arms) men to deter your neighbors from encroaching on your space.

- If you have fewer than 2 productive samurai (50+ POL), try to "acquire" one,
  either through capturing messengers (probably the easiest and cheapest route)
  or as ronin. Recruiting samurai from other fiefs is very expensive and
  minimally successful, so isn't worth the effort and resources. Captured
  samurai won't be very loyal, so will cost gold to buy their happiness, but
  ronin are generally few and far between, so cannot be relied upon as a source
  of manpower.


+-------------------+
|Multi-Fief Strategy|
+-------------------+
- With multiple fiefs, you're going to need to keep your resources, including
  competent samurai and men, balanced between them. Recruit men in your fief
  with the highest population, since you'll be able to acquire more per draft,
  and work to make each fief productive. If one fief is well-developed, this
  becomes easier, but it can be a hard balance to strike if you're new to the
  game or genre. Starting with a single fief may be easier if you find yourself
  having difficulty keeping all of your fiefs defended and growing.

- Having friends may prove to be helpful, moreso than for a single fief, as you
  are going to have many more borders (and potentially many more neighbors).
  Accept offers of friendship and marriage and try to avoid capturing any
  messengers (unless they bring threats from a hostile and greedy daimyo), as
  this will alienate potential neighbors/alternate targets for your enemies.
  Yes, eventually, you will need to conquer them all, but it's best to not have
  them all against you at the same time. Don't waste resources making
  diplomatic gestures of your own, unless you're very weak and very desperate,
  but welcome all the friends and monetary aid you can get.


+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
|X. Frequently Asked Questions |
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
Okay, so these questions haven't been asked frequently, but they were asked of
me, and I couldn't think of another section where they would fit better.

Q. How many borders are there for each province? (AuFox80)
   A. This is a list of each fief and the bordering fiefs for each. This answer
      can also be found by viewing these maps, by scenario:
    Warlord Rivalry - http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/file/587495/52123
    Nobunaga's Ambition - http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/file/587495/52124

  +--------------+--------------------------+-------+
  |Fief# and Name|   Bordering Fiefs by #   |Total #|
  +--------------+--------------------------+-------+
  |  1 Echigo    | 2, 5, 12                 |   3   |
  |  2 Kozuke    | 1, 3, 5                  |   3   |
  |  3 Musashi   | 2, 4, 6, 7               |   4   |
  |  4 Awakazu   | 3                        |   1   |
  |  5 Shinano   | 1, 2, 6, 10, 13, 16, 18  |   7   |
  |  6 Kai       | 3, 5, 7                  |   3   |
  |  7 Sagami    | 3, 6, 8, 9               |   4   |
  |  8 Izu       | 7                        |   1   |
  |  9 Suruga    | 7, 10                    |   2   |
  | 10 Totomi    | 5, 9, 18                 |   3   |
  | 11 Noto      | 12, 14                   |   2   |
  | 12 Etchuu    | 1, 11, 13, 14            |   4   |
  | 13 Hida      | 5, 12, 16                |   3   |
  | 14 Kaga      | 11, 12, 15               |   3   |
  | 15 Echizen   | 14, 16, 19, 27           |   4   |
  | 16 Mino      | 5, 13, 15, 17, 19        |   5   |
  | 17 Owari     | 16, 18, 21               |   3   |
  | 18 Mikawa    | 5, 10, 17                |   3   |
  | 19 Omi       | 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 27   |   6   |
  | 20 Iga       | 19, 21, 22               |   3   |
  | 21 Ise       | 17, 19, 20, 24           |   4   |
  | 22 Yamashi   | 19, 20, 23, 25, 26       |   5   |
  | 23 Yamato    | 21, 22, 25               |   3   |
  | 24 Kii       | 21, 25, 35, 36           |   4   |
  | 25 Settsu    | 22, 23, 26, 29, 35, 36   |   6   |
  | 26 Tamba     | 22, 25, 27, 28           |   4   |
  | 27 Tango     | 15, 19, 26, 28           |   4   |
  | 28 Inaba     | 26, 27, 29, 30           |   4   |
  | 29 Harima    | 25, 28, 31, 35, 36       |   5   |
  | 30 Izumo     | 28, 31, 32               |   3   |
  | 31 Sanbi     | 29, 30, 33, 35           |   4   |
  | 32 Iwami     | 30, 34                   |   2   |
  | 33 Aki       | 31, 34, 37               |   3   |
  | 34 Suo       | 32, 33                   |   2   |
  | 35 Sanuki    | 24, 25, 29, 31, 36, 37   |   6   |
  | 36 Awa       | 24, 25, 29, 35, 38       |   5   |
  | 37 Iyo       | 33, 35, 38               |   3   |
  | 38 Tosa      | 36, 37                   |   2   |
  +--------------+--------------------------+-------+

Q. Which samurai and daimyo have peculiarly short lifespans? (AuFox80)
   A. I can't answer the samurai portion of the question accurately, as a
      samurai has to be under your command for you to be told of his death. For
      daimyo, everyone is notified of his death and his chosen successor. These
      are daimyo I have seen die very early on in the game, when they died
      (which is slightly variable, not fixed), and who they chose as their
      successor. When their primary choice isn't available (captured or killed)
      their secondary choice is chosen. I am considering anything within the
      first 5 game years for each scenario "peculiarly short".

      I haven't yet discovered any daimyo that die within the first 5 years of
      the Nobunaga's Ambition scenario, and only the following three for the
      Warlord Rivalry scenario.

  +-------------------+--------------+--------------------------------------+
  |       Daimyo      | Year(s) died |             Successor(s)             |
  +-------------------+--------------+--------------------------------------+
  | Saito Yoshitatsu  |   1561/2/3   | Saito Tatsuoki                       |
  | Amago Haruhisa    | 1562/3/(4)/5 | Amago Yoshihisa, Yamanaka Shikano    |
  | Miyoshi Nagayoshi |    1564/5    | Miyoshi Yoshioki, Matsunaga Hisahide |
  +-------------------+--------------+--------------------------------------+


+~~~~~~~~~~~~+
|XI. Credits |
+~~~~~~~~~~~~+
{1} – Source: Koei, quoted without modification from the manual for the DOS
      version of Nobunaga’s Ambition II. While the gameplay and interface may
      be somewhat different (from what I can see in the manual), the general
      purpose of both versions of the game is identical, and who better to
      explain the purpose of a game than its creators? I couldn’t summarize it
      much better than they have.
{2} – Source: Koei again. While I could see the impact of improving trade on
      this value, it is not something over which you have direct control, so I
      felt ill-equipped to speak to its true purpose.
{3} - Source: Koei again. I didn’t have any good way to confirm this
      information independently, as the game will not provide details on the
      diplomatic status between other daimyo.
{4} – Source: Koei. I've never seen any evidence of this claim, but I also
      haven't really made an effort to prove or disprove it.
{5} – Source: Koei. As all of the accounting is done behind-the-scenes, I
      didn’t have any good way to determine the specifics.
Thanks to GameFAQs for hosting this guide, providing a place to read/write/talk
about video games, and providing some of the trademark and copyright notice
language.

Thanks to AuFox80, a volunteer proofreader and critic, who made a few good
formatting suggestions and asked a couple of good questions that are the
starting material for the FAQ section.


+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
|XII. Contact Information |
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
A few comments for anyone considering emailing me:
- I haven’t played the PC version of this game (yet), so if you’re looking for
  help with something that is different from the information featured here, I
  may not be able to help you. I DO intend on playing the PC version of
  Nobunaga’s Ambition II, and will submit a modified version of this guide
  appropriate for PC gamers when I can. I’m going to be a college student soon,
  so “when I can” should be interpreted loosely and generously.
- This is my first guide, so I will welcome CONSTRUCTIVE feedback. If you just
  want to insult me, you’ll be blocked as spam.
- I’m a bit of a stickler for spelling and grammar, but spellchecking hundreds
  of Japanese names made even my eyes glaze over. If you find an error, please
  let me know.
- I realize that people approach strategy games in very different ways, and
  that my personal style may not suit everyone. With that in mind, please don’t
  email me just to tell me how much you dislike my approach, or how your method
  is superior to mine. That’s just impolite. Again, constructive feedback is
  welcomed.
- I didn't write this in one sitting. I worked on different sections at very
  different times, sometimes different months, so there may be some hiccups in
  the continuity of things that escape proofreading.

Now, if you:
- have a question about the game that has not been addressed clearly or
  thoroughly enough by this guide,
- have constructive feedback on how I could make the guide more informative
  and/or easier to navigate,
- have found an error and would like to let me know,
- have found information that I haven't, or haven't gotten to, and would like
  me to include it in my next update (giving you full and prominent
  acknowledgement, of course!),
- have some strategies that differ from my own, and feel other people could
  benefit from their inclusion here (as above, with full credit given),
OR
- would like to use some of my material in a guide of your own/on your website
  (assuming you meet the criteria included in the Copyright Notice)

then just email me with Nobunaga's Ambition II in the subject line. I'll try to
respond in a timely fashion, but don't expect an immediate response, or get
impatient and send the same question over and over until you get a response.
Nagging is liable to result in your emails being handled as spam.

email: otakuluna(at)gmail.com
Copyright 2008 Candice B. "otaku_luna"