Field Command: Sengoku

From the creator of Field Command: Napoleon, Field Command: Sengoku (FCS) is a light-touch hardcore overhaul of existing Shogun 2 systems with the aim of creating a more historically accurate, realistic, challenging and immersive experience for veterans of the Total War series. Having played Shogun 2 since its release more than a decade ago, I have used my experience of what works well and what doesn’t to bring the game back to Total War’s roots. What was it about Medieval 2 that made it an all-time classic? What was it about the original Shogun that got us hooked to the series? FCS strives to capture this essence within the Shogun 2 framework.

• FCS is not a total overhaul – the mod includes hundreds of changes/tweaks but it does not change everything, as there some vanilla features that actually work well. It is, however, a complete de-arcadification of the base game with a keen eye for realism
• FCS is not a reskin mod – feel free to use whatever else reskins on the workshop. It is compatible with them all
• FCS does not introduce extra units – armies of the Sengoku Jidai weren’t diverse, period. You have the yari, the katana, the yumi/daikyu (bow), the teppo (arquebus) and sometimes the naginata. No-dachi are borderline fictional and were practically unused in battle. With that in mind, FCS, if anything, limits the scope of troops available in the game. Unit diversity is not where this game shines, nor does it need to
• FCS is not a mod for RotS or FotS – Sengoku campaign only

• The Age of the Arquebus – Teppo were prevalent in practically all armies that could get their hands on them. Using this so-called "dishonourable" weapon to slay one’s enemies did not matter to the samurai as long as they were victorious. FCS does its best to simulate this by incentivising both the player and AI to adorn their armies with these awesome weapons. I like to refer to this period of Japanese history as "Pike & Shot Banzai"
• Truly Terrifying Samurai – Samurai were a full time professional warrior class. In FCS, this rings truer than ever before. Watch as your hatamoto and samurai cut through ashigaru like a hot knife through butter
• Hyper-realistic Combat – unit movement speed, terrain modifiers, fatigue modelling, morale modelling, mass, height and projectile behaviour have all been relentlessly tweaked for the most realistic possible combat within the confines of the Warscape Engine. I don’t say this lightly – you will have to adapt your strategies. Ashigaru units will rout often. Samurai will rack up lots of kills. Checks and balances on campaign mechanics will ensure this is balanced – e.g. dynamic unit caps.
• Fewer APMs, More Strategy – Total War isn’t Starcraft. It should not be about actions per minute. It should be about great minds, gambits, risk taking, cunning, and ultimately good tactics. Think more, click less
• Immersive Sound Effects – the symphony of combat cannot be underestimated in games like Total War. FCS introduces brand new arquebus/cannon sound effects that will send tingles down your spine
• Better Special Effects – FCS introduces better smoke, blood and battle fx to make your battlefields utterly captivating
• Enhanced BAI – while there is nothing modders can do to re-code BAI behaviour, we are able to modify a small share of values that encourage the AI to behave in a more sensible manner. FCS does its utmost best to make the AI feel like a human player
• Enhanced CAI – as with the BAI, the CAI is a black box. But there are a handful of values modders can tweak to make the CAI less clumsy. Great Clans feel like Great Clans, for example, and will expand rapidly. This, along with many other improvements, such as balanced AI armies. Veterans of the series should relish this challenge
• More historicity – CA did not do a terrible job in Shogun 2 with regards to high level historical accuracy. And as with any game, some compromise must be made in order to make the experience enjoyable. But CA did not go far enough, in my opinion. FCS seeks to fix this by adjusting features such as clan and government names (e.g. Hattori to Iga Ikki, and Shogunate to "Bakufu" or "Kampaku" depending on the clan), right the way down to unit functionality changes (e.g. replacing fictional Katana cavalry with historical Chu Kiba-Tai). FCS should feel like a more genuine account of the Sengoku period
• Accessibility – some mods for Shogun 2 go into fine detail with intricate weapon models, ammunition types, hidden morale mechanics, and so on. We are not concerned with these subtle details – you are the Sodaisho of a Sengoku army. Your job is to seize the field and beat the enemy. You are not concerned with the model of arquebus or length of yari ~200 men in your 5,000-man division are using. All that matters is understanding the fighting capacity of your troops, where they need to be, and what needs to be done. The deliberate intent of FCS to set the "level of abstraction" to the point-of-view of an actual General means players need not wade through intricate 5 page manuals to understand the details of the mod, but simply hop into a campaign or MP game.

1. COPY PASTE INTO BROWSER>>https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ieuypsg3m2qilf2uozq42/FCS_unit-cap-building-effects_20240602.xlsx?rlkey=4llu1asvobt4au52dl8ntstqi&st=jzwwurt6&dl=0
2. COPY PASTE INTO BROWSER>>https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7epg8cvyqfxn1c1sa0t2i/FCS_unit-caps_20240601.xlsx?rlkey=5j764oc08oyt0f4g7olr61xgj&st=r4bzjke0&dl=0

*This list is organized by load order. Ensure FCS is loaded FIRST. This mod’s screenshots were taken with the list of mods below activated

1. Field Command: Sengoku
2. Unofficial Shogun 2 Patch 1.7
3. BullGod’s Daimyos
4. Improved armor visuals
5. Less uniform colors
6. More accurate armor reskin
7. Marco’s Bit Better Map
8. Old 10th Anniversary Weather Tweaked

• Turnbull, Stephen. Samurai Vs Ashigaru: Japan 1543–1582. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2022.
• The Shogunate. "The Shogunate." YouTube Channel
• Gunbai – Military History. "Gunbai – Military History."[gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.com]
• Walker, Brett L., William Wayne Farris, and David L. Howell, eds. Japan Before Tokugawa: Political Consolidation and Economic Growth, 1500 to 1650. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
• Cryns, Frederik. In the Service of the Shogun. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2022.