History VideoGame / ShogunTotalWar

** The Imagawas must be played in order to technically play as the Tokugawas/'Matsudairas. Apparently Matsudaira Hirotada does not exist in the game. The same issue goes for the Date Clan- Apparently Date Harumune and Date Terumune does not exist either. Not a problem with The Toyotomis, however.

** In the 1530 and base game's scenario, The Takeda clan controls Aki Province and nearby provinces in the latter scenario. While it's a different Takeda branch that has some contact with the Kai Takeda branch, they have little to no relations to the Kai Takeda clan that belongs to Takeda Shingen.
** The Imagawas/Tokugawas control Hizen Province for some odd reason.

** Several provinces, when under Rebel control, are not historically accurate. Such examples include Noto [[note]] Controlled by the Hatekeyama in reality, Hasebe in game[[/note]] and Kaga [[note]] Controlled by the Ikko Ikki, but Togashis ingame[[/note]] provinces.

An ExpansionPack called Mongol Invasion was released in 2001 which allowed players to control either side of the Mongol invasions of Japan.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Multiple. Fixed in Shogun 2.
** Clans often recruit notable generals they have in history with increased rank, such as Honda Tadakatsu, [[note]]Though this is [[AvertedTrope averted]] with Li Naomasa, who doesn't get a bonus in the 1580 scenario[[/note]] who appears for the Imagawa/Tokugawa clan. They sometimes recruit notable generals that they never recruited in history, such as Asakura Yoshikage[[note]]A daimyo who opposed Nobunaga in history[[/note]] for the Oda clan.
** Oda, Imagawa and Uesugi clans having Toyotomi, Tokugawa and Date in their heir list. Technically their clan was supposed to replace their names, but unfortunately, these strings cannot load due to missing or bugged triggers.
** Some clans having heirs who isn't related to them in the first place![[note]]The Mori has a heir named Mori Yoshinari, who is from a different Mori branch, the branch that belongs to Mori Ranmaru of the Oda clan.[[/note]]

** The Takeda clan seems to control the Aki area in the 1530 scenario and the base scenario. Technically, it's a different Takeda branch that has little to no relations with the Main Takeda branch that belongs to Takeda Shingen.

* DungeonBypass: You can invade any given province with a port in it, provided your own army is in port, too. Enemy clan having all its armies parked right next to border? Just land in their back.

* GameMod: It's possible to mod custom positions and setups in the campaign map. Want Mongol units in the other scenarios? You can. You just can't replenish them. Or earn new ones.
* GameBreakingBug: Until it was patched, ''The Mongol Invasion'' expansion caused the original campaign to treat the "Rebels and Ronin" garrisons that control the majority of the map at the beginning of the campaign to act like a full-on hostile faction. The resulting tsunami of rebel armies would quickly overwhelm all the playable sides in the first few turns. Amusingly enough it did not count as a faction for victory conditions, meaning the last side standing wins by default.

** You are given all of Japan to fend off the Mongol forces, who has better attack and charge ratings.

* HighlyVisibleNinja: Ninja, shinobi and geisha agents are visible on the map to everyone. You can see exactly who and in what quantity someone is sending an agent to destabilise your frontier, but it also means the AI "sees" them when you send an agent to kill them. There is however. a difference between just moving an agent and being caught red-handed in an assassination attempt.

* AlternateHistory The whole premise of ''Mongol Invasion'' is that the storm that destroyed the real-life invasion fleet never happened.

''Shogun: Total War'' is the first game in the Creator/CreativeAssembly's''VideoGame/TotalWar'' strategy franchise. The player takes control of a Japanese clan during the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod attempting to conquer the nation and claim the position of shogun. Despite being quite a rudimentary game from a modern perspective, the unique tactical battles combined with Risk-style map proved to be a game-changer for the entire industry, affecting strategy games ever since.

* BoringButPractical: Yari units, be it ashigaru, samurai or cavalry. They are nothing fancy, but will easily be the mainstay of your armies regardless of which clan you're playing as. They are cheap, reliable, can fend off cavalry and all you needed to train the infantry variant is merely by building the most basic Yari Dojo.
* BowAndSwordInAccord: Archer samurai, the only bow infantry in the game, are pretty capable in melee and can easily fight off against ashigaru units, assuming they manage to reach them.

* SurprisinglyEliteCannonFodder: Yari Samurai are virtually identical to their ashigaru variant and playing the same role - the main difference being their morale, which is higher than their ashigaru counterpart.
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Cavalry beats archers, archers beat ashigaru, ashigaru can overwhelm cavalry. Swords beat Yari, Yari beat cavalry, cavalry beats swords. Gunpowder units kill melee units at range, melee units slaughter Gunpowder units in close quarters.

** The optional tutorial has one scenario where you get a unit of archers perched on a hillside and are tasked with taking out a unit of spearmen marching up the hill. Supposedly, this was to demonstrate the importance of high ground... except the spearmen WILL reach your archers with minimal casualties. What you are ACTUALLY supposed to do, is to retreat to the nearby hilltop, shoot from there until the spearmen get close, then assume wedge formation and counter-charge them.

* WouldntHitAGirl: Ninja being caught on a failed assassination? Instant execution. Geisha being caught? ''Nothing'' happens; Geisha don't actually get caught, they just back away after failing to get close enough. And aside from deliberately sending a counter-assassin to deal with one, there is no way to remove a geisha from the game.
* ZergRush: Yari ashigaru main role after first 10-15 turns is to simply build large number of them and charge directly at enemy lines, occupying the other side with ''something'', while rest of your troops flak them or attack their rear. The Oda clan specializes in Ashigaru, making them particularly suitable for this tactic.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: The main reason to bother with firearms is the fact that they deal damage regardless of their target’s armour value.

** Clans often recruit notable generals they have in history with increased rank, such as Honda Tadakatsu, [[note]]Though this is AvertedTrope with Li Naomasa, who doesn't get a bonus in the 1580 scenario[[/note]] who appears for the Imagawa/Tokugawa clan. They sometimes recruit notable generals that they never recruited in history, such as Asakura Yoshikage[[note]]A daimyo who opposed Nobunaga in history[[/note]] for the Oda clan.
** Oda, Imagawa and Uesugi clans having Toyotomi, Tokugawa and Date in their heir list. Technically their clan was supposed to replace their names, but the trigger sometimes may or may not run.
** Some clans having heirs who isn't related to them in the first place![[note]]The Mori has a heir named Mori Yoshinari, who is from a different Mori branch- the branch that Mori Ranmaru of the Oda clan belongs to.[[/note]]
** There are no samurai units with guns (all are ashigaru), which is not historically accurate.

** The Ashikaga Shogunate is nowhere to be seen. Instead, you would see the Hosokawa clan in Kyoto. The only appearance of the Ashikaga clan would be a rebel clan/force in Mutsu Province.
** Mutsu and Dewa Provinces uses one castle to control the whole provinces, when in actually, it's ruled by multiple clans (likes the Date Clan)
** Several provinces[[note]]Settsu, Izumi, Tango, Awa(Chiba), Shima[[/note]] aren't seen. They are instead assimilated into other prominent provinces.
* ArtisticLicenseReligion: In one geisha assassination cutscene, a Catholic priest seems to be wearing a rosary as a necklace. Even today, most Catholics consider that a very inappropriate use for one, as doing so would give the impression that it is a mere beauty-piece.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Before you will get to Kensai and Geisha, the game might be over. Also, in case of Geisha, it means sacrificing buildings that could produce units for a late-game assassin gimmick, while you can simply use ninjas instead.
* BattleInTheRain: The bane of Arquebus Ashigaru, as it renders their weapon useless. Musketeers are thankfully immune to this.

* BoringButPractical: Yari units, be it ashigaru, samurai or cavalry. They are nothing fancy, but will be easily the mainstay of your armies regardless of which clan you're playing as. They are cheap, reliable, can fend off cavalry and all you need to train the infantry variant is most basic yari dojo.
* BowAndSwordInAccord: Archer samurai, the only bow infantry in the game, are pretty capable in melee and can easily fight off against ashigaru units, assuming they will charge them.
* CannonFodder: Ashigaru are fairly capable as cannon fodder goes. While weaker than the samurai and best used in [[ZergRush overwhelming numbers]], they are still definitely worth recruiting, especially since samurai units tend to be much more expensive and harder to recruit. Good tactics can also allow them to beat samurai units with relatively few casualties.
* ChurchMilitant: The militant Buddhist, and later Christian, samurai, who would rise up if upset at your daimyo's religious policy, be it conversion to Christianity or refusal to give up Shintoism if said daimyo conquers a territory that has been converted to Christianity.
* CombatPragmatist: Winning provinces by simply waiting sieges, in the process killing besieged army without facing it in the battlefield. Holding bridges with token forces against overwhelming odds that would otherwise just stamp over your units in an open field. Using large number of cheap and disposable aquebus ashigaru to murder with ease EliteArmy of your enemy before it can even get close. Simply letting the clock tick in defensive battles, rather than being proactive, since you win once the timer hits zero.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Various rules that player is under do not apply to AI, including such "minor" things like Buddhist monks not losing their edge when facing Christian armies of the human player.
* CrackDefeat: Attacking provinces with rivers can easily turn into this. All the defenders really need is unit of yari (can be even ashigaru) + bowmen combo for each bridge and simply HoldTheLine. Taken into absurdity if a kensai is deployed in such battle, since a single guy is going to cut into ribbons ''hundreds'' of people charging that bridge.

* DecapitatedArmy: Kill the general and all ashigaru troops will rout instantly, likely followed by samurai infantry if enough of them starts running away. Doesn't work so well against monks, who have far higher morale and can completely ignore death of their general.
* DiscOneNuke: Anyone starting with a province with iron and thus capable of getting armourer going faster will gain considerable edge early on.

** After your clan achieves victory, the final cutscene jumps forward into the far future. It shows your daimyo's statue being displayed in a public square in high-tec, CyberPunk style Tokyo, with the narrator saying how legends of your courage and cunning still lives on to this very day.
** In the ''Mongol Invasion'' expansion pack, if you fail to defeat the Mongolian invasion of Japan, the ending skips forward to the future. It shows [[spoiler:the same cutscene as mentioned above with the modern day Tokyo in the future, seemingly suggesting that history goes on same as before... [[WhamLine except then narrator reveals that you are looking at the province of Japan, which is now part of Mongolia]], with its cultural heritage and legends of the samurai being long since forgotten by history. The final shot of the ending is a giant statue of Kubla Khan standing proudly in a public park at the city center.]]
* TheDreaded: Gunpowder units cause morale drop to units they attack, due to combination of heavy casualties, armour-piercing attack and most importantly, all the smoke and noise the gunfire makes.

** Imagawa clan starts with one of it's provinces in Kyushu, and the only way they can access it is via port. They have to split their forces to maintain their possessions and defend at two different fronts. Neglect either their Kyushu or Honsiu holdings and you can end up being booted out entirely.
** Being the Samurai during Mongol Invasion. You are given almost all of Japan, but with piss poor units, only the basic Yari and ranged Ashigaru and Samurai units, and the the Yari and Bow cavalry units, which do piss poor damage to the Mongol units that isn't their thunder bombers.
* EliteMooks: Yari samurai. They are minimally better than ashigaru variant, ''but'' rather than being armed peasants, they represent a higher social class.

* GameBreakingBug: Until it was patched, ''The Mongol Invasion'' expansion caused the original campaign to treat the "Rebels and Ronin" garrisons that control the majority of the map at the beginning to act like a full hostile faction. The resulting tsunami of rebel armies would quickly overwhelm all the playable sides in the first few turns. Amusingly enough it did not count as a faction for victory conditions, meaning the last side standing wins by default.
* GangUpOnTheHuman: The AI is by default scripted to go against human player first and foremost. The only thing preventing certain clans from being hostile right from the start is lack of direct border and/or presence of rebel provinces.

** Unit losses can only be recovered through a manual process which requires the damaged unit to be sent to a province that is capable of training units, has the correct recruitment building (example: Yari Samurai requires a Yari Dojo), and then put directly into the training queue to be retrained to full strength. Needless to say, this is user-unfriendly and not explained (unlike unit merging).
* GunsAreUseless: If you don't know how to deploy them or [[WeaksauceWeakness it's raining]], aquebus and musketeer ashigaru are the worst units in the game- despite they are being absolute terror on the battlefield in real life.
* GunsVsSwords: If you don't have cavarly, your best bet dealing with enemy gunners is charging them with nodachi samurai, who are particularly effective in close quarters against unarmoured units.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: Ninja, shinobi and geisha tokens are visible on the map to everyone. You can see exactly who and in what quantity is sending shinobis to destabilise your frontier, but it also means AI "sees" when you send an assassin to kill them. There is however a difference between just moving an agent and being caught on assassination attempt.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Can happen with Arquebusiers and Musketeers when they are parked a few feet near the enemy. The AI will never engage melee combat against enemy units outside during siege, so see the accuracy of your gunpowder troops!
* ImplausibleDeniability: Directly related with above. Rebellion going in a province? No, that's totally not because there were 20 shinobis parked in it. A general or even daimyo being assassinated? Clearly that wasn't the ninja standing in that province. And it's taken up to eleven with geishas, because they can fail their assassination, ''but'' they can't be punished for it, meaning you literally can't do anything, even if you catch one red-handed.

* IslandBase: Done early enough, it is possible to turn both Kyushu and Shikoku into those, as other clans will simply lack ports to even try invading your home.

* LosingTheTeamSpirit: The big, revolutionary change introduced by the game was the extent to which morale mechanics affect battles and how it is possible to win them by ''other'' means than simply killing everyone from the other side. It is perfectly normal and even expected to rout army few times bigger than your own, while only causing minimal casualties to the enemy - but make sure among them there is the general and any killing happens rapidly, rather than gradually.

** Ninja assassinations are purely up to chance; having a higher rank gives the Ninja better odds.

* MasterOfNone: Yari samurai. For yari troops, either ashigaru or cavalry are better. For direct melee combat, nodachi samurai are superior. For defending, you want the heavily armoured naginata samurai. For protracted combat, superior morale and combat skills of monks units are better. Their main saving grace is the fact how early and easily they can be trained and having slightly better stats than ashigaru variant.

* NintendoHard: Being the Samurai faction during the Mongol Scenario, if you're not cheesing it using an exploit[[note]]The Mongol units are bribe-able. Just bribe away and fight Mongols with mongols units.[[/note]]

** You are given Yari units, The Archer units[[note]]The Ashigaru Crossbowmen is new to the expansion, but somehow only appears here likely due to a coding error[[/note]], and the two basic Yari Cavalry and Cavalry Archers. Good luck building your army and hopefully don't get overwhelmed before you can make better units!

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: The Portugese traders instantly set up Christian missions in your domain and will only trade better gear and set up further trade posts if you convert to Christianity. The Dutch, meanwhile, just want to earn some money, and couldn't care any less about religious affairs, allowing to recruit musketeer ashigaru right from the start and their trading port generates slightly more koku.
* PressStartToGameOver: Possibly in the Mongol Invasion as the mongols in harder difficulties. You don't have a province to start. You have to win, or lose before you can even move at the campaign map.
* QuantityVsQuality: Both sides of the axis can be played effectively, even against each other. A handful of high-tier, fully upgraded units can tear apart an army of ashigaru without even slowing down. An endless wave of freshly recruited yari ashigaru can simply ZergRush some elite army due to size disparity.
* ScaryImpracticalArmor: This is what your armour without Armourer upgrades really is: a display piece to look fearsome on the battlefield, but it's predominately paper, leather straps and lacquer.

* ShownTheirWork: Zig-Zagged. While nothing spectacular from modern perspective, when the game came out, it was considerably well-researched and based various gameplay elements on historical outcomes or traditional customs. However, there are several discrepancies and errors, see ArtisticLicenseHistory above.
* TheSiege: Generally advisable way of taking down enemy provinces. The alternative is a frontal attack on the fortress, which depending on how advanced it is, may simply rid you of your army without achieving anything.
* SoLastSeason: Once you have access to guns, archers are completely useless, since arquebuse ashigaru are ''far'' superior and can easily slaughter units that archers can't even dream about scratching. And you can further upgrade to muskets.

* SurprisinglyEliteCannonFodder: Yari samurai are virtually identical to ashigaru variant and playing the same role - the main difference being their morale.
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Cavalry beats archers, archers beat ashigaru, ashigaru can overwhelm cavalry. Swords beat yari, yari beat cavalry, cavalry beats swords. Guns kill melee units at range, melee units slaughter aquebus and musketeer ashigaru in close quarters.
* TakeItToTheBridge: The easiest province to defend is one that has river in it, as that means battle over the bridges. A skeleton force of few units can effectively repel and army consisting of three stacks of units, simply by holding out for long enough to make the invasion fail.

** The optional tutorial has one scenario where you get a unit of archers perched on a hillside and are tasked with taking out a unit of spearmen marching up the hill. Supposedly, this was to demonstrate the importance of high ground... except the spearmen WILL reach your archers with minimal casualties. What you are actually supposed to do is to retreat to the nearby hilltop, shoot from there until the spearmen get close, then assume wedge formation and counter-charge them.

* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: You can wait out for the last turn without completing your objectives, or have your daimyo with no heir fight a battle with no chance to escape.
* UnwinnableByDesign: You can make units have unlimited ammo in the options. Combine this with an AI who uses Cavalry Archers and you have no Yari Cavalry and you will be slowly grinded down, while being virtually unable to kill the horse archers[[note]]The game automatically makes range units pull out when enemy units comes close. The Cavalry Archers happen to have a higher speed than all but one unit. It will continuously pelt your units until it runs out of ammo unless you have unlimited ammo on.[[/note]].

** Cathedrals. They provide the owner income from all churches, not just yours- but the AI will never make churches enough to make a sizable profit. While it provides the creation of Musketeers, a Gun Factory is much more efficient, but...
** To a lesser extent, Christianity. While they provide gunpowder units earlier than the Dutch, the AI who doesn't like [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseChristian anyone who is a Christian, even if the Daimyo in question]] [[{{Irony}} is a Christian himself.]] You also have to deal with Buddhist rebellions, which may spawn [[DemonicSpiders Warrior Monks.]]

''Shogun: Total War'' is the first game in the Creator/CreativeAssembly's''VideoGame/TotalWar'' strategy franchise. The player takes control of a Japanese clan during the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod attempting to conquer the nation and claim the position of shogun. Despite being quite rudimentry game from modern perspective, the unique tactical battles combined with Risk-style map proved to be a game-changer for the entire industry, affecting strategy games ever since.

* AnnoyingArrows: Archers main role isn't about killing units, but to soften them up a bit before reaching your troops, so they by default deal miniscule damage, further compounded by the fact they have limited arrows in their quivers. Once armour starts being a factor, arrows go from "sometimes lethal" to "barely scratching".

* ArmorIsUseless: [[AvertedTrope Nope]]. Armour makes a ''massive'' difference when it comes to survivability of units and certain troops can't even be trained without Armourer.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: The main reason why to bother with firearms is the fact they deal damage regardless of armour.

** Clans often recruit notable generals they have in history with increased rank, such as Honda Tadakatsu, [[note]] Averted with Ii Naomasa, who doesn't get a bonus in the 1580 scenario[[/note]] who appears for the Imagawa/Tokugawa. They sometime recruit notable generals they never recruited in history, such as Asakura Yoshikage[[note]]A daimyo who opposed Nobunaga in history[[/note]] for the Oda.
** Oda, Imagawa, and Uesugi clans having Toyotomi, Tokugawa, and Date in their heir list. Technically their clan was supposed to replace their names, but the trigger sometimes may or may not run.

* ImplausibleDeniability: Directly related with above. Rebellion going in a province? No, that's totally not because there were 20 shinobis parked in it. A general or even daimyo being assassinated? Clearly that wasn't the ninja standing in that province. And it's taken UpToEleven with geishas, because they can fail their assassination, ''but'' they can't be punished for it, meaning you literally can't do anything, even if you catch one red-handed.

* DummiedOut: The game had text and sound files that remained unused, including:
** Material related to the Chosokabe clan, which was [[PromotedToPlayable used later in Shogun 2.]]
** Sound files mentioning the birth of a daughter, a concept which was later used in Medieval.
** Unused text lines stating Christian Excommunication, which was later used in Medieval.
** The Ashigaru Crossbowmen of the Mongol invasions are unavailable in the non-mongol games. You can add them into the main scenarios without any issues, however.

* EarlyGameHell: Imagawa clan starts with one of it's provinces in Kyushu, and the only way they can access it is via port. They have to split their forces to maintain their possessions and defend at two different fronts. Neglect either their Kyushu or Honsiu holdings and you can end up being booted out entirely.

* ShownTheirWork: While nothing spectacular from modern perspective, when the game came out, it was considerably well-researched and based various gameplay elements on historical outcomes or traditional customs.