So far UI is a great time, I also added some music and sound mods from fourstriders. very pleasant time and easy setup.

MoS was fun, but I liked UI more.

next campaign will be Radios. then DarthMod.

Saving the (so called) best for last. Darthmod for empire was very good so I expect alot.

What is UI?

My current top 5:

FourStrider's Japan - nice for a total change of pace in playstyle, made a personal mod to remove all the colored fx and nerfed the base morale a lil bit but the portraits, promotion/tech trees, retainers/agent system, agent missions and aesthetic changes are all top-tier. Unit limits are annoying but it does lend to a totally different type of campaign, every battle feels much more important and the AI is way scarier when neither side is able to just spam large stacks.

REM for the best base-game overhaul in 2024 - graphics, models, sashimonos, etc. Very customizeable and easy to integrate with other mods since it doesn't change the startpos or land_unit_stats db.

Darthmod: the OG mod that inspired them all, no explanation neccessary.

Korea/Ming/Expanded Japan Campaigns - modder is a beast for what he was able to do; Ming Campaign has some issues like invisible cities and some serious late-game lag issues, Expanded Japan and Korea are awesome but feel very grindy starting from just one province every time. Would be awesome to do a remake with far fewer factions/regions to reduce lag/grindiness. Also the 1351 mod by the same author is great, just sadly has an unfixable cannon-sound bug for me that nothing seems to work to correct.

Hayabusa Series - nice to to start out already blobbed sometimes, was weak that base game only had 1530 start date vs original STW had 3 start dates.. also really appreciate all the historical characters that have been added, the base-game is quite pathetic in that regard.

Honorable mentions:

MOS - excellent mod all around, love the new building trees and map models. Sadly quite hard to integrate most features or tweak given all the new units and systems added.

Radious Mod - another OG mod like Darthmod, author is a legend.

Sekigahara Campaign - models and new factions are awesome, ngl not a fan of the new Gempei-style formations and the campaign feels kinda weird - won a short one as Naoe whilst barely having to fight any battles and somehow I always seem to end up as like a medium-sized blob with no enemies to fight nearby.

DPFLH and his unit mods... they gen need to be nerfed unless you want a Samurai Warriors exp but the different sashimonos for different units are great and his cav sashimono's are something I integrate into basically every custom modset I ever use.

expanded japan. uanime is king.