Description
Nobunaga's Ambition II is the
Koei update to its older game,
Nobunaga's Ambition. The setting is feudal Japan of the 16th Century, a period when ruthless warlords -
daimyos - contended with each other for dominance. Ultimately, the winner in this struggle became Shogun, and held actual power in the islands, while being nominally subject to the Emperor.
The game casts you as one of those
daimyos and permits you to determine if you are the one who will shape the map by wresting control into your own hands. There are two scenarios. The first begins in 1560 AD as the most famous, or infamous, daimyos began to attract notice. There are 28 of them included in the scenario. The second scenario follows the rise of Nobunaga Kitsuboshi in 1582 to power and allows you to play either as Nobunaga or as one of his chief allies or rivals. Your objective is to unify Japan under your rule in either case. If you fail through death on the battlefield, at the hands of a ninja, or through natural causes, you can choose a successor and play on.
Functionally, your first job is to prosper the lands under your control through good agricultural management practices. Good luck will also help, since disasters will occur from time to time.
Samurai
Nobunaga's Ambition 2 improves on its predecessor by including some 400 historical samurai in the game, providing you with generals for your troops and governors for your conquered
fief (province).
Each samurai is characterized by statistics: Age, Rank, Body Points, War, Politics, Ambition, Charisma, and Loyalty. There are also additional attributes for specific military purposes: Skill, Arms Level, and Unit Type. Some of these attributes may be improved through training (i.e. war, politics, and skill), rewards (i.e. loyalty), or through merchants (i.e. arms level).
Strategy
Nobunaga's Ambition 2 is a turn-based game, with each turn representing one month. Certain events take place annually such as tax collecting (March) and rice harvest (September), while other events, such as invading neighbors, follows your time table.
The game uses an initiative system to determine what actions can be completed in a particular month. Each
daimyo and samurai has a stock of "Body Points" that represent the attention he can afford to spend on an action. Each action has a cost in Body Points for the character executing it, and if he does not have the point’s necessary, he may not perform it. Body Points are refreshed a little each month. The level of Body Points refreshed per month is depends on the level of his Political skill. Intensive operations will deplete Body Points and then require turns of inaction to stock up again, so timing actions to coincide with Body Point availability is an extra wrinkle to the management of resources.
Combat
Your samurai can lead your troops, which must be recruited, trained, and equipped for battle. The economy you created in your provinces provides you with the income to prepare your army.
The attack of an army results in a tactical play out of the resulting battle or siege. A hex-based map of the area of the battlefield will form the playing board for the movement to combat and actual fighting. Fortifications (castles) have a dramatic benefit for the defender. The attacker must defeat the defender within 30 days or must force a withdrawal. Additionally, both sides must pay attention to their food provisions as each day subtracts food supplies in accordance to their army size.
Nobunaga's Ambition 2 introduces 3 basic military unit types: Infantry (Inf), Cavalry (Cav) and Rifles (Rif). Each unit type has certain special abilities and tactical advantages/disadvantages in combat:
Infantry have the ability to ambush anywhere on the main fief map (explained later) and have 4 movement points. Cavalry have the ability to charge at an enemy (inflicting considerable damage on both sides) with the chance of breaking through the defending unit and emerging on the other side. Samurai leaders may often be killed (instead of captured) if their unit reaches zero. Cavalry have 6 movement points. Rifles may attack using rifles which have devastating offensive capabilities, which may also kill an enemy samurai unit if the opponent's unit reaches zero (thus, a standard non-rifle attack is also available for capturing an enemy samurai leader). Rifles have 3 movement points. Additionally, Infantry and Rifle units may move over walls or through water during the castle siege for a certain amount of movement points.
Tactical combat consists of 2 (two) different locations:
The first is the tactical map of the fief, where the attackers first arrive and the defenders surrounding the castle. In this setting, each days is divided into 3 (three) time periods: morning, afternoon and night, before the day ends. At night, armies may maneuver to surprise attack enemies in the dark, which does considerably more damage than an average attack. This may be done if the enemy is at least 2 squares away (not adjacent).
The second is the castle siege map, which occurs if the defender chooses to retreat to the castle from the previous map. Here, each turn represents one day, thus the time limit of the attack as well as the provisions of both sides, rapidly decrease with each turn. In this setting, the siege force must break down gates leading towards the castle for the final engagement. The defender is defeated, if the governor of the fief retreats, or if his unit is destroyed: resulting either in his capture or death.
The end outcome is either the fall of the fief to the attacking forces or victory for the defenders. Either way, captured samurai (if any) will require a prompt response for release, beheading, or recruitment to the winner's force.
Alternate Titles
- "信长之野望2" -- Chinese Title (Simplified)
- "信長の野望・戦国群雄伝" -- Japanese Spelling
- "Nobunaga no Yabō: Sengoku-gunyūden" -- Japanese Title
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