Uesugi

Primary culture

Saigoku (Japanese)

Capital province

Kozuke (1843)

Government

Daimyo

State religion

Shinto

Technology group

Chinese

Uesugi ideas

Traditions:

+10% Production efficiency

−1% Yearly army tradition decay

Kanto Kanrei

+1 Diplomatic relation

Yamanouchi and Ogigayatsu Branches

+0.5 Yearly army tradition

Kamakura Office

−25% Reinforce cost

Dragon of Echigo

+10% Morale of armies

Nokizaru

+20% Spy network construction

Agakita-shu

+5% Discipline

Denoku no Ji

−10% Idea cost

Ambition:

+10% Infantry combat ability

Uesugi is a daimyo holding three provinces in Hokiruku, Japan. For a daimyo, the situation in central Japan is akin to an only the strongest survive situation.

Uesugi is one of the few strong daimyo in the 1444 start date and a regular player of the game shouldn't have any major problems growing in size. The player should look out for daimyos getting bigger and encroaching on Uesugi territory, however. The player should try to cut off the north from the south and make sure no daimyo is cutting the player off from the west and/or east in turn. The provinces held by Toki and Ogasawara have a high probability of building a fort within the first decade or two - the player does well to remember this; either use it as a buffer or capture the territories fast.

Missions[edit]

Main article: Japanese missions

Decisions[edit]

All daimyos are eligible to form Japan.

id

Unite Japan!

The time has come to unite Japan by force! The time for diplomacy is over and all these warring daimyo lords must be conquered.

Potential requirements

The country:

was never an end-game tag.
has enacted the ‘Shogunate’ government reform.
has at least 1 subject daimyo.

Allow

Japan does not exist.

The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not a nomad nation.
is not at war.
owns at least 25 cities.
owns Kyoto (1020) and Musashi (1028).

Effects

The country:

abolishes the ‘Shogunate’ government reform.

Japan

loses its cores on every province owned by the subject daimyos of the country.

All subject daimyos of the country:

become independent.
abolish the ‘Daimyo’ government reform.

The country:

changes to Japan.
becomes an empire.
obtains new missions (which are Japanese missions).

If Japan:

does not have custom ideas
- then Japan gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.

The AI will not take this decision with less than 30 cities.

id

Japan is united

The warring factions of Japan have finally been united under a strong emperor.

Potential requirements

The country:

has enacted the ‘Shogunate’ government reform.
was never an end-game tag

Allow

Japan does not exist.

The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
owns Kyoto (1020) and Musashi (1028).
is not at war.

There is no country that:

has enacted the ‘Daimyo’ or ‘Independent Daimyo’ government reform.

Effects

The country:

changes to Japan.
abolishes the ‘Shogunate’ government reform.
becomes an empire.
gains 100 legitimacy.
gains 100 administrative power.
gains 100 diplomatic power.
gains 100 military power.
obtains new missions (which are Japanese missions).

If Japan:

does not have custom ideas
- then Japan gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.

The AI will always take this decision.

id

Japan is united

The warring factions of Japan have finally been united under a strong emperor.

Potential requirements

The country:

was never an end-game tag.
has not enacted the ‘Shogunate’ government reform.
has not enacted the ‘Celestial Empire’ government reform.
has a Japanese culture.

Allow

Japan does not exist.

The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
owns Kyoto (1020) and Musashi (1028).
is not at war.

There is no other country that:

has enacted the ‘Daimyo’, ‘Independent Daimyo’ or ‘Shogunate’ government reform.

Effects

The country:

changes to Japan.
abolishes the ‘Daimyo’ or ‘Independent Daimyo’ government reform.
becomes an empire.
gains 100 legitimacy.
gains 100 administrative power.
gains 100 diplomatic power.
gains 100 military power.
obtains new missions (which are Japanese missions).

If Japan:

is a member of the Holy Roman Empire, but not the emperor or an elector
- then all its provinces are removed from the HRE.
does not have custom ideas
- then Japan gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.

The AI will always take this decision.

Strategy[edit]

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Uesugi. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Two tactics suffice to grow larger: one is outlined in Tokugawa and focuses on fast expansion; the other takes a slower pace and focuses on the Humiliate Casus Belli in order to acquire as many monarch power points as possible (100 of each type directly from a 100% war score followed by the ‘Show Strength’ option, and a further +1 per month once the player reaches 50+ in power projection).

Aggressive expansion[edit]

Uesugi's neighboring daimyos are smaller; six of them having just the one province each. Even so, the player can rival them in order to humiliate them, and depending on the alliances of chosen Rivals the player should usually be able to secure better alliances. Once the player has picked for example Ando, Shiba or perhaps Hatakeyama (author's note: although in 4 different starts they have always had Uesugi as a rival while having an alliance with Hosokawa).

Picking weak rivals early on is ideal, examples include Date and Takeda. Hosokawa always starts with Uesugi as a rival and they are allied to Hatakeyama. Counter-rivalling may be counterproductive however as Hosokawa start stronger than Uesugi, and are situated on the west side of Japan and are thus out of easy striking distance. Furthermore, Uesugi's navy will also struggle against the combined enemy navy of Hosokawa and Hatakeyama, making an invasion of the island(s) of west Japan very difficult.

Offering an alliance as Uesugi is mostly easy, depending on which daimyos end up rivaling the player, of course. The player can more or less pick whichever daimyo to add as a friend (i.e. which daimyo will be the last to get incorporated into the Uesugi territory). Stronger alliances are, as always, preferable to deter declarations of war from others, and to add both more army units as well as add points towards the total diplomatic score. Strong allies will be any daimyo with more than one province, such as Ando and Shiba who are close, and a few others to the west - being situated too far from Uesugi runs the risk of said daimyos declining to participate in your wars as it might be too far from them; too far away for them to bother to help at any rate. Seeing as Uesugi already is strong, and the difference in the early game is between 1 or 2 Infantry units, any other daimyos will do generally.

Uesugi starts with a force limit of 6 while the standing army only numbers 4. The player can choose to increase this number to the maximum without ending up with a deficit. The player can also increase the maximum force limit through buildings and technologies, but this is seldom applicable in the early game.

In December 1444, i.e. as soon as it is possible for the AI, daimyos all over Japan will start declaring war on each other. Uesugi is bound to end up in a handful, either as aggressor or defender. Having allies guarantees that the player must help Uesugi allies unless Uesugi is the instigator and declares war first. Whether the player seeks to expand by having enemies cede provinces (using the Sengoku casus belli), or if the player seeks to Show Superiority and gain monarch power, a war is still a war. Declaring a war on the 12th of December 1444 often means that the player gets to pick the war instead of having to support an ally in their war. Thus, Uesugi gets to set the terms of the peace deal in the end.

If the player is looking for short wars to be won quickly, a Sengoku Casus Belli is automatically given to all daimyos to be used against neighboring daimyos. The daimyos with the weakest alliances are usually Date, Takeda or Satake, particularly since they tend to ally each other. Declaring war with Casus Belli Humiliate Rival allows the player the possibility of gaining monarch power at the end of a successful war with a war score of 99-100%.

In any war, the player can interrupt the enemy armies before they gather into a single army stack. Attacking the weakest enemy army right away, then any other weaker armies is a viable strategy. Simply sieging down their provinces will allow the player to make peace and thus take that daimyo's army out of the war without even having a battle. However, if they siege down Uesugi territories the war exhaustion will increase quickly, which is not ideal if the end goal is to hoard monarch power.

The player needs to siege down the rival's allies' provinces too in order to get 100% war score and be able to choose option ‘Show Strength’. Making peace with them as soon as possible is a viable strategy. The player cannot demand Show Superiority in the peace deal with allies to the rival Uesugi has declared war on after all, only the leader of the defending side is applicable. Therefore, Humiliate is the best the Uesugi player can hope for,

Having 40% war score enables the player to Humiliate these allies if they are also Rivalled by the player. The player should be aware that demanding Humiliate from an ally to the Rival which war has been declared on invalidates said ally as Rival, and thus invalidates the Humiliate Rival casus belli that Uesugi otherwise have on said daimyo. This effectively makes Uesugi lose its Humiliate Rival casus belli, and thus means no 100 monarch power can be gained from said rivaled daimyo until rivaled once again. For example, if Uesugi has both Date and Satake as rivals and then declares war on Date, and Satake is allied to Date, then demanding a Humiliate peace deal from Satake means Satake is no longer a viable rival to Uesugi.

Hoarding monarch power[edit]

If the player wishes to be efficient in hoarding monarch power, there are two strategies to consider. Firstly, choosing a peace deal with the rival's ally would not demand Humiliate or cede province, as both invalidates the daimyo in question as either present rival or future rival (that is to say, if the daimyo is too weak or loses all its provinces, it is no longer a valid candidate to be rivalled). Secondly, seeing as the enemy's allies in the war also gets a truce with Uesugi once the war is over, the strategy mentioned before can on the other hand be a viable strategy in order to pick new Rivals, which the player can declare war on sooner, instead of waiting for the truce with the first Rival's to be over. As far as making peace with the target of the war declaration goes, once the player reaches 99-100% war score, if the player chooses option ‘Show Strength’ and the enemy accepts, the player will be awarded 100 monarch power points of administrative, diplomatic and military power respectively, as well as +30 power projection.

In order to hoard monarch points and stay ahead in the technological race, this strategy can be repeated until the other daimyos grow too strong. At such a point, the player may choose casus belli Sengoku in order to weaken neighbouring daimyos.

Once all the player's rivals have been humiliated, the player should see that Uesugi has reached 50+ in power projection, giving the player an additional +1 in each monarch power, and the player will see the territories of the rivals taken over by other daimyos. This need not be an issue unless the player allow said daimyos to do it over and over again. The player need simply attack them using any valid CB to take them down a peg, either to demand territory for Uesugi, or to demand a daimyo release nation.

As stated, this tactic is aimed at securing as many monarch power points as possible in order to get ahead of the competition. Being far from Europe also means Uesugi will take heavy penalties to institutions, increasing over time, so the player better use the available monarch power wisely if using this strategy. Later on, daimyos which declare Uesugi their rival will become larger, meaning that keeping the power projection over 50 becomes harder over time. Once there are only two other daimyos beside Uesugi, relying on monarch points from successfully carried out Humiliation wars becomes nearly impossible.

Acquiring territory on the side[edit]

In order to save on monarch power, the player should always make sure to fabricate claims on neighboring provinces in case of a war. Not having claims makes it costlier to create cores as well as increasing the player's aggressive expansion penalty.

The player's allies are Uesugi's prime reason for growing in size while the player declares war with the goal of hoarding monarch power. Anytime the allies are attacked and the player joins in their war, Uesugi may get to keep provinces which have been successfully occupied by Uesugi forces - even those belonging to enemies that Uesugi has a truce with. In order to have the enemy cede the province in question once the war is over, the player must move onto the province before the ally's forces do. Once the provinces Uesugi has claims on are occupied, they are eligible to be ceded to Uesugi if the war score allows it and if Uesugi's war ally feels so inclined.

If need be, the player can also make peace with the leader of the opposing side. If, for example, the player has managed to occupy Kyoto (1020) and/or Musashi (1028) it is in the interest of one who aspires to unite Japan to make certain said provinces are taken once the war is over.

A cautionary note. Be aware of what Ashikaga does once wars come to conclusions. Ashikaga will annex daimyos in order to grow larger and might end up cutting the player off. If the player keeps too good relations with the shogun, then Uesugi also runs the risk of being annexed. A successful annexation of Uesugi means game over, since the daimyo of Uesugi ceases to exist. Uesugi's War for the Emperor must happen on the player's terms, if declared simply to avoid annexation, the player is likely to face a strong opposition in the Shogun and many of Japan's daimyos. Also, if the Shogun attacks Uesugi allies in order to annex them, it might be better to Decline the Call to Arms, seeing as the Shogun is joined by every daimyo that is not allied with the defender. Early on that means too many for even two strong daimyos to hold off together.

From daimyo to great daimyo[edit]

A strong army[edit]

Key to expansion in central Japan is to have the best army. The player does well to focus on two aspects of Uesugi's power, one being the Uesugi army, and the other being allies (or rather, the armies of those allies). Firstly, The player can, in various ways throughout the game, increase the force limit. The force limit depends on province development among other things. Thus, the player must improve the Mikawa province. The player should be aware that newly conquered provinces will add near to nothing to the force limit due to their local autonomy levels of 75%, or worse, which reduces the added force limit. Secondly, the player can make use of the armies of Uesugi's allies. Any nation has access to as many allies as its diplomatic relations allows, and if the player unlocks Uesugi's second national idea, Kanto Kanrei, then +1 diplomatic relation will translate into one extra ally. However, while having many allies is valuable, unlocking this national idea costs 3 unlocked idea group in any group or combination of idea groups. Without a modifier to idea cost this means a cost of 400 monarch power per Idea; 1,200 monarch points in total in order to add just one ally. If the player uses the slow and steady strategy outlined above, this is not a valid investment early on. Investing in military technology is more valuable as it improves the Uesugi army directly.

A weak navy[edit]

There will be no need for a navy yet. It is recommended to mothball the navy for now in order to save money on navy maintenance. The navy will be needed later for the conquest of the Shikoku and Kyushu regions. The fleet can also be disbanded as it will be too weak to survive battles in the first few decades.

A strong province[edit]

To optimize the investment in province development, the player can enact the Encourage Development edict in the state of Eastern Chubu.

The player is advised to seldom invest in the development of conquered provinces due to their high level of autonomy which considerably reduces the return on investment. Moreover, the player should expect to be in a quasi-permanent state of war which removes the ‘At Peace’ modifier on all provinces, thus slowing or stalling the autonomy reduction. The conquered provinces will be useful some decades after their conquests.

An opportunistic diplomacy[edit]

Key to become a great daimyo is to exploit the other daimyo's war. The daimyos of Japan will almost constantly wage war in some part of the region, leaving the armies weakened after they make peace. This presents the player with easy pickings if the player is looking for such opportunities. The player can also ally with another great daimyo for a defensive alliance, as the largest daimyos may not always join in wars declared by Uesugi but will take a prestige penalty if declining a request to join war in defense of Uesugi. As the player unlocks ideas it will also unlock the second Uesugi national idea, Kanto Kanrei, which lets the player add another ally to Uesugi's buffer zone. The player needs to choose whether to ally with or try to cut off expanding great daimyos; two of the closest competitors to great daimyo are Hatakeyama and Shiba, but any daimyo could end up as a great daimyo depending on the circumstances. Uesugi is situated well to influence the development of the east and north region of Japan, whereas the west is much harder to influence. This also presents a danger to the player; even in an alliance, other allies may be besieged or in debt, and thus not eager to intervene in a defensive war. A daimyo (such as Uesugi) can then have no ally to call in for a defensive war. The player should regularly take a look at the Declare War tab on a target daimyo. Those who just lost a war are less likely to be defended by their allies.

From great daimyo to united Japan[edit]

Once the East side of Japan is secured under Uesugi's rule, the player has two main courses of action:

if the west side of Japan is fragmented in many small daimyos, the player can conquer them fast, piecemeal.
if there is a great daimyo in the west, then the player can play it safe and start reaping the benefits of conquered provinces after a decade or two to build a stronger army.

The player needs to reduce the number of daimyos in order to facilitate the conquest of Kyoto (1020), because daimyos will always help the Shogun in case of war against the Shogun. The final push will be against the Shogun who has spent most of his time annexing smaller daimyos. The player can use an affordable navy to blockade movement from/to the Shikoku and Kyushu regions so that their army can conquer central Japan then move on to the aforementioned regions.

Once most of Japan's core provinces are under control, the decision Unite Japan! is unlocked.