Shogunate Infantry

Shogunate Infantry
Appears in	Fall of the Samurai
Belongs to	Factions with Shogunate Allegiance
Type	Line Infantry
Ammunition	20
Soldiers per unit	50/100/150/200
Attack skill	6
Charge bonus	15
Anti-cavalry skill	5
Armour	2
Defense skill	4
Range	125
Precision	45
Loading speed	55
Morale	8
Produced from	Military Academy
Special abilities	Kneel Fire Suppression Fire
Cost	1200 SP/960 MP
Upkeep	160
Turns to train	1
Unit cap	None

Shogunate Infantry are a type of line infantry in Fall of the Samurai.

Description

Shogunate infantry are trained to stand in line of battle and fire on approaching enemies.

These infantrymen carry European-pattern arms and equipment, and have been trained by European advisors. They are well-versed in modern tactics, and can deliver accurate, sustained, and damaging fire with their modern rifles. They are capable of reloading quickly, and have a good morale as a result of their training. They are reasonably useful for close combat work but, like all infantry, are vulnerable to being overrun by cavalry if left in a poor tactical position.

By the middle of the 19th Century, nearly all European armies had adopted the rifle-musket, a muzzle-loading update of the trusted Napoleonic-era smoothbore. Unfortunately, it took a while for tactics to take account of fact that every infantryman was now carrying a rifle, a much more accurate weapon than the smoothbore predecessor. The old “Napoleonic” tactics of marching to within a stone’s throw of the enemy before giving fire proved to be verging on the suicidal, when every bullet could be aimed with some assurance that it would hit the mark. Often, it was only the tendency of inexperienced troops to aim high that prevented worse slaughter being done. This was recognised in the oft-issued instruction to “aim at their bellies” when firing volleys.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Good accuracy and reload rate.
• Average in melee.
• Weak against cavalry.
• Good morale.

General Information

As their name suggests, shogunate infantry are available only for factions with Shogunate allegiance. Together with Imperial Infantry and Republican Infantry, shogunate infantry represent the best non-limited line infantry available to most factions where they are available. With few exceptions, they are inferior only to elite infantry, but such units are usually limited to only a few regiments. As superior line infantry, shogunate infantry have superb accuracy and reload skill, but their melee statistics remain relatively poor when compared to dedicated melee infantry or cavalry. Shogunate Infantry have a small advantage over their Republican and Imperial counterparts with their higher starting ammunition, though running out of ammo is generally a rare occurrence for line infantry in Fall of the Samurai.

Shogunate Infantry are available only to shogunate-aligned factions. They disband automatically if their faction switches allegiances. However, Imperial factions can obtain them by bribing them with Ishin Shishi.

Some other line infantry, such as Vermilion Bird Force and Kihetai, have nominally better accuracy and/or reload skill. However, Shogunate/Imperial/Republican infantry use breech loading rifles that have a much faster reload animation than the muzzle-loading rifles other line infantry use. In practice, this makes SIR infantry the deadliest line infantry at shooting than any other line infantry save SIR elite infantry and the foreign elite marines. With the investment of certain Shinsengumi skills, shogunate infantry can even be cheaper to recruit than other line infantry, making them the best line infantry in all ways in the mid to late game.