Earlier Matchlock Recruitment
This mod is included in Shogun 2 Enhanced – Units Module.
Mass deployment of matchlocks was arguably the most important development in the Sengoku warfare, yet they’re barely present in the game. This mod allows earlier recruitment of matchlock units.
Changes:
Matchlock Ashigaru is unlocked with Attack by Fire (one tier, two techs & 22 turns earlier).
Matchlock Samurai (and other elite matchlock units like Heavy Gunners) recruitment also starts earlier with Powder Maker (Siege Tier 2). Gunsmith (Siege Tier 3) provides -1 recruitment time and +1 experience.
All matchlock units gain +1 experience and ranked fire ability with Gunpowder Mastery.
Ikko Ikki Matchlock Ashigaru accuracy increased to 25 (was 10 before, totally useless).
Otomo Matchlock Ashigaru is also recruited through Forts. (these two may seem out of scope, but they’re essentially bugfixes)
Imported matchlocks can be recruited starting with Trading Port, have slightly less recruitment time (3 turns) but are capped to just two units. Nanban Port and Nanban Quarter each provide +2 cap, -1 recruitment time and +1 experience. Otomo has additional two caps.
All matchlock ashigaru deploy in 3 ranks. AI uses it better this way, shooting more volleys before engagement.
Ranged unit composition of AI armies should evolve from bow-heavy with few matchlocks in the early game to slightly more matchlocks to bows in the late-game. I strongly recommend you to use UAI for better AI armies.
Reloading speed is increased by %10 in ranked fire to make it actually feel like an upgrade.
I’d say this mod is more lightweight than others with the same stated goal, most I’ve seen included undocument changes to irrelevalant stuff, though I still had to make some changes to preserve overall balance. If you don’t want them, you can get the absolutely no frills version that just moves matchlock ashigaru to Attack by Fire here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2240650001
If you enjoy this mod, rate it! Rating brings more subscribers and (hopefully) more feedback, which’ll lead to better mods. Check my workshop for similar mods that enhance the vanilla game.
Mandatory Notice
The "arrows sounding like muskets/cannons" issue is a general problem with modding Shogun 2, i.e. it is not related to this mod and the CA should’ve fixed that a long, long time ago. You can try the fix here, worked for me so far
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=1415849119
