TOP 6 FIREARM INFANTRY UNITS - Total War: Shogun 2! 

We Koreans have always favoured the bow above any other weapon, though due to nearly 200 years of relative peace, the Japanese invasion of the mainland pounced on a country with barely any military history in generations, not to mention extremely outdated infantry weapons and a lack of competent command. Our people were more invested in artillery then handguns, with technologies like the hwatcha and superior cannons due to constant raids from Woukou pirates on the coastline, where the mainland army had progressed little with the most of our troubles coming from Jurchin horsemen on the fringes of the homeland. Though it should be noted, Yi Sun-Shin, the hero of Korea, was very supportive of the general idea of handguns, despite traditionalists dismissing the weapon as sluggish and inflexible, and began to produce Korean handguns for his marines during the height of the war... Which was then completely disregarded and forgotten like most of what he did for us, because the king and the yangban class were so backwards thinking they refused to accept any sort of wisdom or progression that didn't inflate their own egos.

@@Nogu3 I always found it funny that the japanese had superior matchlocks but inferior cannons but the Koreans had superior cannons but inferior or no matchlocks until Admiral Sun-Yi. 70-80% of the Korean naval victories under Admiral Sun-Yi is just plain victory from korean ship artillery outranging the Japanese ones or the Japanese bunes lacking any artillery at all.

@@bravomike4734 bunes were pretty horrendous, any European or barbary galley, which were pretty standard vessels by the 16th century would've made mince meat of them.

A trained Korean archer can shoot 10 arrows before a charge from 200 meters

​@@HistoricalWeapons No during the Imjin wars they couldn't. At least not according to the people who actually wrote about their experiences back to the Korean court.

Otomo? More like Ottoman!

wouldn't say that as Katana units cant cut through infantry easily and even a thing, making this game is like your typical western weaboo on that part aka a letdown.

@@pz_faust6866 huh? Wanna try that again with complete sentences?

@@dac314 basically Shogun 2 is great but Katana units basically -1 for the historical. If it got remove it would be better for historcial value. It kinda ruin it especially how it excel on killing infantry with short swords.

@@pz_faust6866 oh okay gotcha.

If the shogunate had any ammo at all when fighting the imperialists the war actually wouldn't have been over so quickly.

Vietnamese of 15xx: let's sell these guns to the Chinese pirates cus we are one of the best in firearm

I dunno, the European knights were huge fans of cannons back in the 1400s, they just weren't big fans of small guns

@@alessandragonzales8190 probably because firearms SUCKED before the arquebus.

*Takeda Shingen*: “Oh, so you are putting your matchlocks in a straight line in some plains to have a better angle when shooting? WHAT DO YOU KNOW, THAT’S THE PERFECT PLACE TO DO A CAVALRY CHARGE AS WELL!

That would be great to have a pike and shot unit with alternating gun and spear.

@@anthonyioane4438 You mean like a chinese firelance? These were essentially polearms with a short barrel at the top, that could shoot short blasts of fire, not unlike a flamethrower, and blunderbuss-like scattershot made of porcelain shards. They did have a very short range though. Only about 3 meters, or 10 feet.

@@moriskurth628 no I mean a mixed unit of spears and guns so 75 spear units and 75 gub units of the unit size is 150 men.

Wonder why -historically anyway- that matchlock troops were never issued Tantō's as bayonets?

@@enigmaticchickenmcnobody Bayonets were only introduced in the 17th century, after the musket was adopted as the standard infantry weapon. Prior to that, matchlocks were used in pike and shot formation, with the pikes providing the close-range defense. Muskets did not become the standard infantry weapon in Japan during this time, and there were always yari units in combat, and when faced against cavalry, the muskets absolutely ripped through cavalry (see: Battle of Nagashino). During the Tokugawa era, Japan was closed off from the rest of the world. There was little development of military technology, so Japan missed out on the Napoleonic era of warfare until the Meiji restoration, after which the army was modernised. Essentially, Japanese warfare with the matchlock was actually ahead of its time, but it didn't develop past that point while Western powers did. There was no need for a bayonet because matchlock units were already well protected with barricades and yari.

I don't know, he looked like he was about to die any minute.

Việt Trung Trần People who have that dying animation are counted as recovered casualty models. He’ll live if his team wins.

@@retardcorpsman I didn't know that this was a thing, cool to know that not all who fall end up dying

I was wondering if he was going to get up or not, he was almost standing at times

@@retardcorpsman really?

@@retardcorpsman idk that was a thing

Have to agree with you. Single line is all well and good for optimal dps but battle lines arent infinite and spread out gunners are very vulnerable to flankers. Combined with the fact that gunners need a clear LoS and spreading out units will in practice reduce dps, not increase it.

Have to agree with you. Single line is all well and good for optimal dps but battle lines arent infinite and spread out gunners are very vulnerable to flankers. Combined with the fact that gunners need a clear LoS and spreading out units will in practice reduce dps, not increase it.

If you attack while using fire by rank the delay to start firing is much smaller

I use a mod that lets all rows fire at the same time, and it make guns insane. :D

@@shorewall mod name?

@@shorewall Mod name wheb?

@@canada842 just look up kneel fire mod on the shogun 2 workshop on steam

​@@canada842probably made his own mod

3.iwo jima

@@bcompany650 holy fuck you made me choke

@@bcompany650 Motorized divisions in Moscow

Any town with guns and/or unbreakable warrior monks

2. Peleliu

The animation lasted almost a full minute, it was ridiculous.

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP it's a samurai. Won't give up easily :)

Put Donderbus behind Portugese Tecos and all melee units will run away right after contact

I always look for a hill to set up on. Put my infantry around the base, and my matchlocks in rows going up the hill. They can shoot over your infantry and keep going.

Part of it is the AI outright refusing to damage gates over climbing walls. Matchlock fire applies a moral penalty that stacks with the penalty for wall climbing. The compounding nature of that penalty means that even units with superior melee like Katana Samurai or Superior wall climbing like Kisho Ninja will often not have moral to spare to loose units in the resulting melee. Hell even Wako Raiders with fast climb and decent melee attack will have around 4 moral left after the climb.

That sounds very similar to how European matchlock troops fought, like those in Tercios. Front rank fire, then march to the back to allow the next rank to fire..etc

They should have just redone the fire by rank animation that the gun units in medieval 2 sid

It was possible in Medieval 2, but glitchy as hell.

Absurdly good actually. Putting Matchlocks on the second level with the main level defended by yari can pretty much route anything the Ai can do except for a multistack attack composed of bow units.

@@simonnachreiner8380 also I think people have a propensity to waste their potential by enabling fire at will. If you have a unit of matchlocks at your front wall, wait until the full enemy unit is in range and then fire. It will demolish them. If you manage to get two volleys off, chances are the attacking unit will break before they reach the top of the wall. Otherwise just have some basic infantry ready to switch with the matchlocks

I use them on the offensive as a flanking force with some yari samurai

Because they have their own mounted category. You don't usually recruit units like that for the purpose of dismounting them, you recruit them for the purpose of being cavalry with the added side effect that they can be dismounted if the situation calls for it.

Yea 4 dubderbuss cav + garrison played well can hold a castle against all odds then at the end mount up and shoot/ melee the running bastards. It's fun all the way to the end.

datuputi777 if you have enough ammo....

I fought a battle where i was outnumbered 2.5 to 1 in a early siege, my Otome matchlocks and imported matchlocks did the Lords work... with some derping due to ~9 000 soldiers on the field at the same time.

If the bamboo wall works like it does in (rise of the samurai). it makes a wall that units cant pass through, I think cavalry can jump it but I'm not sure, but they can shoot over it. Amazing at making killing fields. In rise of the samurai you can only use the ability while on defence in the field. Aka on the map, not in a town and computer attacks you on their turn. Sorry if I seem like an asshole, coulnt think of a way to word this better.

Cavalry cannot jump over those fences

@@iceee420 I read your insightful comment and also I don't think you come off as rude. Cheers and best luck!

It does what it says. You get it after one turn of waiting and getting your army attacked. Its a wall that guns can shoot through. But you cant connect them. Its great for making kill boxes.

That's why you need spears units like yari ashigaru or even the long yari to finish the wall. Or spears on the flanks and swords in the middle. Just play the battle of Nagashino and you will find out

Yeah, poor dude, he just kept suffering, and suffering 😢

There's a mod on the workshop that adds this. They also add fucking Kisho ninja firerockets

I don't think Ninjas used firearms, ninjas aren't even real their called shinobis a shinobi was a sabotager or a spy not an assassin like Hollywood claim to be

long yari with gaps. matchlock fire between them without hitting friendlies. enemies caught up on the yari wall get shredded

Just watch his legendary campaigns, those are helpful to watch

I almost cry

Japão é nossa.

Me too

Eu também

Tercos are a poor cheap copy of spanish tercios. As always Portugal being a worst version of Spain.

I did a mod spotlight video a few months back, will probably pick that series up again at some point.

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Yes I remember and I enjoyed that one too. Looking forward to more content about mods, since Shogun 2 is such a well modded game imo ^^

Or was it really? Early firearms were in fact not that deadly. I think the bigger benefit of using guns is that you can teach almost any peasant to kill a samurai with a gun in just a few weeks. Using a bow effectively takes years of practise. This gives you a lot faster replenisment rate. Also the noise and smoke guns make have big psychological impact on troops not familiar with them. For these (among others maybe?) reasons we see archers dissappearing from battlefields pretty quickly after gunpowder became widespread. But if we compare who was more deadly during Sengoku Jidai period, I think I'd have to give the edge to a trained warrior with the bow over matchlock.

@@Sharnoy1 Especially when powder weapons were first introduced, they had pretty bad psychological effects on the enemy. Don't forget, if you did get a good hit, it could devastate an enemy. Probably didn't help people's minds watching their entire unit get destroyed.

@@killlog-kb3kd if

@@Sharnoy1 there is written documents from the Imijin war from the Koreans who mention Japanese armed with matchlock being able to fire and hit at ranges beyond the effective range of Korean archers who had superior bow technogly and skills to the Japanese. here are some exerpts from Choi Byonghyon’s translation of “The Book of Corrections”. The Book of Corrections was a collection of memoirs from a Korean minister, Yu Songnyong. p. 27 At last, our envoys left for Japan in April 1590 [March 1590 lunar] with Yoshitoshi and others. At the moment of their departure, Yoshitoshi presented His Majesty with two preasants, a spear, and a sword as a gift. His Majesty ordered the peaseants to be freed in the islands of the Bay of Namyang and the musket to be kept in the armory. This was the first time that Korea came to possess a musket.* *At first, King Sonjo and his officials and military commanders did not realize the importance of muskets, the major weapon of the Japanese army. That is why the king simply ordered the musket presented by the Japanese envoy to be put away in the state armory. A few years later, however, King Sonjo’s view of the new weapon radically changed. When Minister Kim Ungnam said that bows were superior to muskets in power, the king tried to correct him with this comment: ‘The power of muskets is five times greater than arrows’. p. 60 The officer rode on a horse, and two soldiers from the post station walked by him slowly, holding the bridle of the horse. Hiding in ambush under the bridge, Japanese soldiers with muskets shot down the officer from his horse and cut off his head and ran off with it. Upon seeing this, our soldiers lost all their fighting spirit. After a short while a number of enemy soldiers suddenly emerged and started attacking us with ten or more muskets. The ones hit by the bullets were killed instantly. Yi immediately ordered the archers to counterattack using their bows, but their arrows fell far short of their target. p. 88 Han Kukham, the provincial army commander of North Hamgyong province, led the soldiers of the Six Garrisons and met the enemy at the Haejongch’ang warehouse. Our soldiers of the northern province being skilled at archery and horsemanship, and its flat and wide ground good for riding horses, those who were on horseback discharged arrows at the enemy, attacking them by turn from the left and right. Unable to withstand our attack, the enemy retreated to the inside of the warehouse. By that time, it was already dark. The general opinion was that our troops should rest for the night and continue their attack on the following day, waiting for the enemy to come out. However, Han Kukham would not listen and commanded his army to surround the enemy. Using stacks of grain from the warehouse for their cover, the enemy defended themselves from flying arrows and rocks and simultaneously fired their muskets at our forces. Our troops surrounded the enemy standing close together like the teeth of a comb or stacks of firewood. Therefore, when the enemy muskets were fired, they never failed to hit their targets and, furthermore, knocked down three or four men at a time. So our army at last collapsed. p. 101 Six or seven of the enemy took their position at the edge of the river and discharged their muskets toward our fortress. The sound of their muskets was terribly loud and intimidating, and the bullets crossed the river to fall down in the fortress. Some of the longest shots, flying over a distance of more than a thousand paces, fell on the roof tiles of Taedonggwan Hall. Some of them even drove as deep as several inches into the wooden columns of the battlements. The enemy soldiers with red uniforms approached and saw a small group of our people sitting at Yon’gwangjong Pavilion. They mistook us for our military commanders and, crawling over a sand hill, fired their muskets, hitting two among us. However, because of the long distance, the two were not hurt seriously. I ordered Officer Kang Saik to retaliate with p’yongjon arrows*, protecting themselves with a shield. As his arrows flew all the way to the sandy beaches on the other side of the river, the enemy was surprised and eventually retreated.

@@RocketHarry865 thank you for the interesting read! My knowledge is mostly based on European history and I can see from your source that Korean-Japanese war is giving some new perspective on the matter. Do you mind sharing a link to your source? :)

Besides you probably not being able to spam nagi Sam and bow monk, the guns would tear through the naginata, guns are unfazed by armor unless it's a date bulletproof samurai Although against computer anything will work fine

While that is technically true, by the time you can recruit them you shouldn't really need garrison units like that anymore.

All matchlock ashigaru are usless. Even the oda ones.

@@stoyanb.1668 in early game it's op, for Oda Ashigaru troops. Especially the boosts that Oda gives to any Ashigaru unit.

@@stoyanb.1668 no for otomo

Personally I don't think so, they're great for castle defence but at the point you can recruit them you really shouldn't need units like that anymore.

Sword units

Heavy gunners are unique to Shimazu

Don't know from the top of my head, but I do know that Imported Matchlock Ashigaru have 40 less men in their unit. So even if they were exactly the same stat-wise, they'd still be a lot worse.

I was checking the encyclopedia. The Otomo matchlock ashigaru have 1 more morale, cost 250 compared to 450 koku, and their upkeep is 25 less. Also they have more men, obviously.

Depends. For example, if bows units are firing from behind something, they shoot in an arch, whereas matchlocks won't do nothing.

Basically for every clan I prefer bows except for the Otomo because they don't have access to Bow Warrior Monks but have the incredible Portuguese Tercos instead.

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP but...but...but the *SUPERIOR KATANAS WITH BLADES MADE OF SHEETS OF STEEL FOLDED THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF TIMES THAT CAN CUT THROUGH ATOMS?!?!*

I am interested, and you'll be seeing some Three Kingdoms on the channel in the not too distant future, I'm just not the kind of RU-vidr to make cheap "impressions" videos on games I haven't played yet. You missed this though: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iVx4bJptHmk.html

MrSmartDonkeyLP I know you aren’t that’s why we’re still watching you :P It’s just that I had an impression there’s been quite a couple of gameplay reveals and such and I haven’t been following them myself, thought it would’ve been more entertaining to watch if somebody like you had put it in a short concise form. Thanks for answering!

Unless you were an important person or a person in the backlines if you got shot with a matchlock/arrow you were left until the enemy was dead. at least that's the vibes im getting from this Totally very accurate Historical game

SamuraiGameZ Portuguese Terços

In our hearts and prenerf they deffinatly were

They are, but the Shimazu Heavy Gunners are part of the Sengoku Jidai Unit Pack DLC.

I'll split them up into melee and missile, which one would you like to see first? Not saying that's what I'll do, but I'd like to see people's opinions on the matter.

MrSmartDonkeyLP I would probably prefer melee first

I'm guessing you might be right.

Woah you still replied on a 1yr old video and Im a new sub 😄 I can see myself spending a ton of hours on this channel

I clearly mentioned all of the units included in this list in the beginning, and obviously it's not including FotS units or the list would be much longer. Also Shimazu Heavy Gunners aren't a FotS unit, they're from regular Shogun 2. I feel like you don't have enough of a grasp on which units are in which game to even begin saying which of them are OP. The Heavy Gunners used to be insanely good when they released, but they got nerfed pretty shortly after, they're still alright, but nothing compared to Portuguese Tercos.

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Oh my bad, i thought that shimazu heavy gunners werent in Shogun 2 main, as for me I cant find them oh wait they arent released, fuck me. Sorry for disturbing you my dude.

They're a DLC unit, part of the Sengoku Jidai Unit Pack DLC.

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Alright thank you.

I am.

@@MrSmartDonkeyLP Je Engels is fantastisch en ik denk dat een native speaker niet eens door zou hebben dat je Nederlands bent :)