Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII Survival Guide September 08, 2002 Version 0.1 Eric Lewis rotk@mirgar.com Table Of Contents ----------------- Section 1: The Basics Doing Through Not-Doing: Idle Questions New Officers What the Manual Didn't Tell You and the Hermit Doesn't Know: Skills Items (And a Word on Scenarios) Item Collection Section 2: Officer Type Liege Warlord Prefect Common Ronin Section 3: Combat Battle Tactics, Offense: Surround, Flank Left, Flank Right, Penetrate Battle Tactics, Defense: Field, Ambush, Siege Recruit, Release, Execute? Following the standard set in the Hermit's Teachings, peacetime actions are square-bracketed: [Spy], [Train]. Skills are curly-bracketed: {Invent}, {Oracle}. Wartime actions and ploys are angle-bracketed: , . Section 1: The Basics --------------------- The Romance of the Three Kingdoms series from KOEI plays out the interregnum between the Han and Jin dynasties of ancient China, from about 185 to 285 AD. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII for the PlayStation 2, they've expanded the possibilities, allowing you to play any officer, from an unaligned noble "Ronin" to a Liege with dozens of mighty vassals. The purpose of the game is to conquer the world -- all 54 prefectures of China flying your flag. Of course you (or the Liege you serve) aren't the only ones trying, and the fun is in maintaining the proper balance between military, economic, and diplomatic success. The game is sold as single-player, but has a multiplayer interface -- it has many failures, they were right not to market it as multiplayer, but it can be useful for cheating. I discovered this in my frustration; the interface is activated via the PS2 soft reset. L1, L2, R1, R2, select, start, all pressed at once. Doing Through Not-Doing ----------------------- A great way to learn about the game is to start it up as a Liege, acknowledge the box saying it's your turn, then go do something else entirely. Let the game sit idle, and stay in earshot -- every five minutes or so a tone will sound, and some person named by their social standing (Peasant, Merchant, Soldier) will make a comment. If you get back to your TV and there's nothing there, you probably haven't missed anything more important than a peasant complaining about the weather or a merchant wondering what's for dinner. On occasion (about one time in three, so every fifteen minutes) one of these people will accost you with a multiple-choice question. The questions will persist, so don't worry about missing them. The questions might be obvious, or might be horribly obscure. There's no apparent penalty for missing a question, and if you get it right you might get some small gift. It isn't much, but keep in mind you spent nothing to get it, in game terms -- no game time passed, and your available actions for that turn did not decrease. Whether right or wrong you've learned a little more about the game, and those questions set me off on research missions that garnered a lot of the information in this FAQ. New Officers ------------ The power of the officers you can create expands greatly when you collect all the items in the game and visit all the sites, as I learned when I visited the GameFAQs site of Codes and Secrets for ROTKVII: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/code/27744.html Visiting all the sites increases how high your stats can go, giving you a maximum of one hundred bonus points to spread around instead of the default eighty. Collecting all the items opens up the skills you can possibly roll. Officer Personalities --------------------- Officers can be of eight types, understood primarily as their specialization in each of the four skills: WAR, INT, POL, and CHA. For explanation of the skills, press Select --> Commands and Game Terms --> Game Terms --> Officer [Ability, Condition]. Scroll down a bit, they're at the bottom of the page. You can choose to specialize in only one of the skills, or: Generals specialize in WAR and CHA, Warlords in INT and POL, Balanced in everything, and Average in nothing. Average is useful before your item collection is complete because they roll skills that are quite rare. Specialization does not simply mean you get more of those kinds of points at the beginning of the game. The skills in which you specialize are easier for you to gain more experience in with the [Train] and [Tutor] commands. Example: a General (WAR, CHA) with a WAR of 95 and the skill {Study} will find it twice as easy to gain WAR or CHA experience through [Train] or [Tutor] than a Warlord (INT, POL) also with WAR 95 and {Study}. (And vice versa, Warlords get INT and POL faster.) Experience gained through performing an action is unaffected by officer personality. Your new officer's type will also affect how other officers treat him. For {Bless} to be any use, you have to go hunting, and before my item collection was complete I could only roll {Bless} on an officer specializing in CHA. No one would take him hunting, regardless of how high I [Tutor]ed his WAR. It was very frustrating! Generals and WAR officers go hunting frequently, Warlords surprisingly often. What the Manual Didn't Tell You and the Hermit Didn't Know: Skills ------------------------------------------------------------------ The manual's information on skills is very brief, for the online help's explanations press Select --> Commands and Game Terms --> Game Terms --> Officer [Skills]. Allow me to fill in the blanks: {Tame}: Allows you to tame elephants in Yong Chang. {Missile}: Allows you to shoot fire arrows, if you have Bows or Crossbows. {Volley}: Your unit will fire on the target unit and all units in squares adjoining it, excluding your own, but including any units allied to yours. Requires Bow or Crossbow. {Rumor}: This has nothing to do with the peacetime Plot [Rumor], it only allows the wartime Ploy . {Bless}: There are none who are born with this, unless you complete your item collection and create them. People may sometimes be rewarded this skill by the Southern Mystic of Life and the Northern Mystic of Death. If a blessed officer visits another officer, goes hunting with that officer, gets waylaid by a tiger, and defeats that tiger (whew!), the blessed officer *may* acquire one of the four legendary creatures. More in the next section. {Zeal}: It is difficult to overstate how important this skill is. Its only purpose is to increase the amount you can do each month -- your AP, or Action Points, regenerate at a higher rate. {Oracle}: This skill allows a Tactic that randomly mimics Ploys: it'll randomly change the weather and wind direction, even in a Field battle, a successful , a successful , if you're low on morale, or your own forces if you're high. It'll also lengthen or shorten an officer's lifespan. Too often shorten, especially of the oracle himself. Items (And a Word on Scenarios) ------------------------------- I personally play scenario one, The Yellow Turban Rebellion, because I set my new officers' birth dates to that scenario, and the big guy on the block (He Jin) has lousy stats. The items available for purchase present a good selection: Cao Cao's +10 WAR swords, one of his steeds, Liu Bei's steed, two +10 POL items, and all the treasures and +5 INT items you can eat. The Scrolls of Taigong, +8 INT, are out there for your Warlord -- one +10 INT item is in the possession of Zhang Jiao, and the other, Zuo Ci's Book of Illusions, apparently does not enter the game until he does. Scenario two certainly has something going for it: the Imperial Seal, the only item to increase CHA, is on the loose and you might find it when you're on [Patrol]. With every scenario thereafter, the good items tend to have found their way to their owners, and the less useful ones (lots of +5 POL items) are available for purchase. Of course the best items of all are the four legendary creatures -- see {Bless}, previous section. An officer who has a legendary creature will see the option available in battle under Tactics if that officer has 100 Tactic Points to spend on invoking the beast. Once used they leave, though you can get the same creature over again -- even if you've [Reward]ed it away to a vassal. Tricky no? The creatures: The Dragon is absolute attack, lightning strikes all enemy units within range, killing nine-tenths of their men. The Kirin is absolute healing, all friendly units within range return to the strength they were at when the battle was joined, the injured healed and the dead resurrected, their arms repaired and training unaffected. The Phoenix is healing with a bit of attack; all enemy units on the field (not just in range) are set on fire, while all friendly units have their injured healed. The dead are not resurrected, so for 100 TP you did a 40 TP plus set them all on fire, which doesn't hurt much. My least favorite creature, the one I [Reward]ed away as a test. The Roc afflicts all enemy units on the field with Confuse and Stop. Confuse prevents a unit from taking its turn and nullifies {Valor}, if the enemy general had it. Stop drains a unit's movement points but still allows it to act, redundant with Confuse. Can be fun, but unlikely to pull victory from defeat the way the Dragon and Kirin can. Item Collection --------------- These are the seventy-two items of the Item Collection. I cheated and used the multi-player trick to get all the items. Be aware the multi- player interface has issues making a Ronin a human-controlled character. I've noted if the first appearance of an item is in the hands of a Ronin. Scenario Codes: Scenario 1: YTR Scenario 2: DZT Scenario 3: LiC Scenario 4: RoW (unused) Scenario 5: SGD Scenario 6: TDA Scenario 7: BJP Scenario 8: DTK Scenario 9: ZLC Scenario 10: SSA (unused) If a merchant has it in YTR I mention it, otherwise merchants are ignored. Steeds, give {Dash}, always flee successfully: 1. Red Hare, Dong Zhuo, YTR 2. Hex Mark, merchant, YTR 3. Gray Lightning, merchant, YTR 4. Shadow Runner, Cao Cao, YTR 5. Firestar, Wang Shuang, DTK Weapons, increase WAR: 6. Seven Star Sword, +3 WAR, Wang Yun, YTR 7. Sword of Heaven, +10 WAR, merchant, YTR 8. Sword of Light, +10 WAR, merchant, YTR 9. Crescent Halberd, +8 WAR, Lu Bu, YTR 10. Black Dragon, +5 WAR, Guan Yu, YTR-Ronin 11. Viper Blade, +5 WAR, Zhang Fei, YTR-Ronin 12. Serpent Spear, +2 WAR, Cheng Pu, YTR 13. Swords of Fate, +7 WAR, Liu Bei, YTR-Ronin 14. Ancestral Sword, +2 WAR, Sun Jian, YTR 15. War Trident, +2 WAR, Ji Ling, YTR-Ronin 16. Twin Crescent, +2 WAR, Dian Wei, LiC 17. Great Axe, +2 WAR, Xu Huang, LiC 18. Steel Flail, +2 WAR, Huang Gai, YTR 19. Thorned Mace, +2 WAR, Sha Moke, TDA-Ronin 20. Shooting Star, +2 WAR, Wang Shuang, DTK 21. Throwing Blade, +1 WAR, Dian Wei, LiC 22. Flying Swords, +1 WAR, Zhu Rong, TDA-Ronin 23. Hand Spear, +1 WAR, Taishi Ci, DZT-Ronin 24. Sleeve Darts, +1 WAR, Zhuge Liang, SGD-Ronin Maps, give {Scout}: 25. Map of Western Shu, Zhang Song, LiC 26. Map of Nanman, Lu Kai, DTK Medical Texts, give {Doctor}: 27. Books of Healing, Yu Ji, YTR-Ronin 28. Hua Tuo's Journal, Hua Tuo, YTR-Ronin Mystic Scrolls, give +10 INT, {Mystic}: 29. Book of Illusions, Zuo Ci, TDA-Ronin 30. Way of Peace, Zhang Jiao, YTR War Manuals, give INT, skill: 31. Art of War, Sun Jian, +8 INT, {Flood}, YTR 32. The 24 War Manuals, Zhuge Liang, +8 INT, {Invent}, SGD-Ronin 33. Scrolls of Taigong, merchant, +8 INT, {Wile}, YTR 34. Meng De's War Manual, Cao Cao, +3 INT, {Reversal}, YTR Scriptures, give +5 INT: 35. Confucius, merchant, YTR 36. Lao Tzu, merchant, YTR 37. Zhuang Zi, merchant, YTR 38. Books of Poetry, merchant, YTR 39. Book of History, merchant, YTR 40. Book of Rites, merchant, YTR 41. Book of Changes, merchant, YTR History Books, give POL: 42. Chun Qiu Annals, merchant, +10 POL, YTR 43. The Grand Histories, merchant, +10 POL, YTR 44. History of the Han, merchant, +7 POL, YTR 45. Warring States, merchant, +7 POL, YTR Treatises, give +5 POL: 46. The Commentaries, He Yan, BJP 47. Treatise on Society, Cao Pi, TDA 48. Treatise on Chance, Wei Zhao, ZLC 49. Treatise on Times, Wang Ji, TDA-Ronin 50. Treatise on Policy, Wang Chang, DTK 51. Treatise on Magic, Cao Zhi, BJP 52. Treatise on Seasons, Kan Ze, TDA 53. Classic of Filial Piety, Yan Jun, SGD 54. Treatise on War, Qiao Zhou, DTK Imperial Might: 55. Imperial Seal, He Jin, CHA becomes 100, YTR 56. Awards of Valor, Cao Cao, DTK Treasures: 57. Bronze Pheasant, Cao Cao, TDA 58. Feather Fan, Zhuge Liang, SGD-Ronin 59. Kneeling Lady, merchant, YTR 60. Boshan Censer, merchant, YTR 61. Dragon Vase, merchant, YTR 62. Lacquered Kettle, merchant, YTR 63. Gold Vase, merchant, YTR 64. He's Jade, merchant, YTR 65. Bull Lantern, merchant, YTR 66. Faerie Stone, merchant, YTR 67. Dragon Ring, merchant, YTR 68. Lu's Mirror, merchant, YTR Legendary Creatures, see section "Items (And a Word on Scenarios)": 69. Dragon 70. Kirin 71. Phoenix 72. Roc Section 2: Officer Status ------------------------- One of the great innovations of this game is that it allows you to play an officer in any of five categories. The Hermit goes into the ways each of the five categories differ from one another. Again, allow me to fill in the blanks. Liege ----- The Liege has the greatest freedom of choice, and therefore takes the greatest risks. These commands are available to the Liege only, and are described under Commands and Game Terms --> Ruler Commands. [Wages]: This looks like the quick and easy way to gain loyalty, but be wary -- the maximum wage is 250 gold a quarter, once that's reached you're out of luck. Therefore using the [Wages] screen to monitor loyalty can be dangerous, officers at maximum wage no longer appear. If you're playing a [Rumor] game and vassals are switching rulers constantly, you might be paying too much, and you can't cut somebody's wages. Best: [Gift] to Bond 100 a high-wage officer *before* hiring. Good: Promotion with [Rank]. Fair: [Reward] of a treasure. Poor: Putting the officer somewhere that a resignation wouldn't do much harm. [Warlord]: Computer Lieges don't knee-jerk the highest INT vassal into the Warlord spot, they take into account Deeds as well. It's a good idea to show similar restraint, and keep as Warlord an officer who has proven himself. If you have to remove someone as Warlord, ease him off into a Prefect spot -- if your poor former Warlord is unfit for that too, you can always [Summon] him to another prefecture next month. [Prefect]: For whatever reason, if a Prefect's pink slip comes with orders to leave the prefecture, they don't take it poorly at all. So use it, [Summon] them out. [Release]: I use this frequently -- a small corps of extremely talented officers with well-trained, well-equipped troops will overcome a large, well-trained, well-equipped army led by the unskilled. And if you capture an officer you've fired, execute him. More on that in the "Recruit, Release, Execute?" section. [Reward]: Don't neglect this, it will give you the edge you need. I prefer the Sword of Light and Gray Lightning, Hex Mark makes me nervous, but not so nervous I won't find a vassal to ride him. [Council]: The six policies encourage and discourage the following: Auto: Nothing. Domestic encourages: [Safety], [Commerce], [Cultivate] Domestic discourages: [Drill], [Conscript], [March] Tech encourages: [Tech], [Safety] Tech discourages: [Drill], [Conscript], [March] Defense encourages: [Drill], [Conscript], [Fortify] Defense discourages: [March], [Commerce], [Cultivate] Offense encourages: [Drill], [Conscript], [March], [Destroy], [Mole], [Rumor], [Defection] Offense discourages: [Commerce], [Cultivate] Wait encourages: Nothing. Wait discourages: All Personnel, Diplomacy, Military, Domestic, and Plot commands. Note that Offense does not encourage [Spy], meaning the Prefect has to get around to spying on someone, since you can't Plot against a city you haven't spied on. As Liege, ordering your Prefect to spy gives the information to the Liege only, the Prefect is not therefore able to plot against the city he spied on. You have to wait for him to spy himself. On the other hand, an endless loop of spying would be pretty easy to get into, this was a good call on the game designers' part. [Rank]: Promoting an officer in rank increases his loyalty to you and increases the amount of Tactic Points he will have available in combat. I have listed below in the section on Imperial Negotiation what all the Titles are, which Ranks they allow the Liege to bestow, and how much it costs to get them. Good Policy ----------- The computer lieges use Offense as their policy constantly. I never use it. Border prefectures are Defense, and rear are Auto, unless the Prefect's track record is not to my liking, in which case I'll specify Domestic or Tech. I personally order all [March]es, and often lead them myself. I very rarely turn down an opportunity to take command of a battle. Liege Weaknesses ---------------- The Liege can neither [Recruit] nor [Explore], nor even order a vassal to do so. This means that Ronin in any city outside his own are beyond his reach. Any time you [Visit] somebody who informs you that great talent is hidden in Random_Prefecture, that information is useless to you unless you use the multi-player trick and have a vassal [Explore], build a bond, and [Recruit] for you. In my mind this is a great reason not to play a Liege. Imperial Negotiation -------------------- In this world, Titles aren't given for merit, they're for sale. Check the current listings by holding down the Square button and pressing Down on the direction pad. You can get in on it by sending him an emissary with a sack full of gold in tow. Select [Audience] under the Diplomacy menu. The Emperor will hand out Lieutenant Governorships and Governorships to as many people as can pay for them, but Royal Guard Captain through Prime Minister are unique titles. So, you can leapfrog -- if you're the Royal Guard Captain and the next three titles up are taken, you can go straight to Earl of the Right if you put together 100 Imperial Favor before somebody else beats you to it. You also have to agree to the request of his Envoy, more below. Above Prime Minister there can again be numerous Lieges with the same title: Archdukes, Kings, and Emperors. These will only be yours if your vassals request that you take them, either by strong-arming the Emperor (if you're the Protector) or simply going it alone. These requests are only made in January, and only if you have enough fame -- see below, Self-Declared Dynasties. The Emperor likes attention, an emissary bearing ten thousand gold will buy only twice the favor of an emissary bearing one thousand gold. Except under extreme, specific circumstances, there is never any reason to send the Emperor more than a thousand gold at a time. And he likes his Protector, if you own the prefecture he's currently in, your emissaries will receive double favor. Assuming you're not the Protector, and you send an emissary with a POL in the 80s, with a gift of one thousand gold, you'll get about eight points of favor. If your emissary has a POL in the low 90s, nine points. High 90s, ten points. Low 100s, eleven points. High 100s, twelve points. Max -- a POL of 110 -- and you'll get thirteen points. The Emperor will wait to send an Envoy until you have ten favor over its cost, and until you have sent one emissary since having an amount of favor equal to its cost. The Imperial Envoy will make a request, and your Warlord will tell you whether to accept it or not. Ignore your Warlord, he doesn't know anything you don't. To me, acceptable requests are to give the title back to the Court, raise the wages of a vassal, sign a peace treaty with someone I don't plan to attack immediately, and give the Emperor an item I don't care about. He will of course make many requests that fall out of bounds, especially if you're wealthy. He'll ask for a huge chunk of your gold or food, up to twenty thousand gold or one hundred and sixty thousand food -- Just Say No. He might also persistently ask for items that are important, at which point I buy a few pieces of pretty treasure and keep requesting [Audience]s until he asks for one of them, which he always does. Lu's Mirror? Of course, sir, right away, sir. After you're Prime Minister or higher you never have to sit through another [Audience] or see another Envoy. Hooray! And remember, if you need to quickly hide a lot of wealth from the Emperor, you can [Withdraw] ten thousand gold at 10 AP a pop, and [Donate] it back at leisure. If you and the Imperial Envoy reach an agreement, you'll be awarded the new Title, you'll be able to assign the ranks of that Title, your fame will increase, and your Imperial Favor will decrease by the amount listed here. See above under Liege the section on [Rank] for an idea of why they're so important. A Liege of any Title may assign the ranks of that Title and all below it, e.g. a Governor may still have a Horse General and a Foot General after his promotion from Lieutenant Governor, and a Royal Guard Captain may assign all six Governor and Lt. Governor ranks in addition to his two. Emperor Imperial Favor: does not decrease (vassals must request) Ranks: Supreme, Cavalier, Brigadier, Phalanx; 100 TP King Imperial Favor: does not decrease (vassals must request) Ranks: Dragon, Tiger; 90 TP Archduke Imperial Favor: does not decrease (vassals must request) Ranks: Peacock, Tortoise; 90 TP Prime Minister Imperial Favor: 190 Ranks: Fire, Water; 80 TP Lord Grand Marshal Imperial Favor: 180 Ranks: Wind, Earth; 80 TP Grand Commander Imperial Favor: 170 Ranks: 1st East, 1st South, 1st West, 1st North; 70 TP Minister of Interior Imperial Favor: 160 Ranks: 2nd East, 2nd South; 60 TP Minister of Exterior Imperial Favor: 150 Ranks: 2nd West, 2nd North; 60 TP Palace Minister Imperial Favor: 140 Ranks: Left, Right, Front, Rear; 50 TP Capital Minister Imperial Favor: 130 Ranks: Conquest, Pacifier; 40 TP Defense Minister Imperial Favor: 120 Ranks: Border, Relief; 40 TP Marquis Imperial Favor: 110 Ranks: 3rd East, 3rd South, 3rd West, 3rd North; 35 TP Earl of the Left Imperial Favor: 100 Ranks: 4th East, 4th South; 30 TP Earl of the Right Imperial Favor: 90 Ranks: 4th West, 4th North; 30 TP Earl of the South Imperial Favor: 80 Ranks: Vanguard, Warrior; 25 TP Earl of the North Imperial Favor: 70 Ranks: Scribe, Campaign; 25 TP Tiger Escort Captain Imperial Favor: 60 Ranks: Kingdom, River; 20 TP Royal Guard Captain Imperial Favor: 50 Ranks: Defense, Tactical; 20 TP Governor Imperial Favor: 40 Ranks: Catapult, Tower, Armor, Crossbow; 15 TP Lieutenant Governor Imperial Favor: 30 Ranks: Horse, Foot; 10 TP Self-Declared Dynasties ----------------------- Once you have acquired fifteen thousand fame, your vassals may request one January that you declare yourself King. This will give you all the ranks of an Imperial-sanctioned King, and reduce all other countries' relationship with you by twenty points. At twenty thousand fame, they may request that you declare yourself Emperor. This, too, will decrease your standing with other rulers. At the point of you declaring yourself King, or the Emperor naming you an Archduke, your dynasty will be given a name. This name is determined by the home prefecture of your liege. I prefer warrior lieges, so my dynasties are always called after whatever prefecture I just conquered. If you prefer a choice, pick the one you like best from the list below: Where applicable I use province names, under Select --> Commands and Game Terms --> Game Terms --> City Data --> City name the prefectures are listed by province. Ba: Jiang Zhou, Yong An Cai: Huai Nan Chen: Ru Nan Chu: Jing Nan, Xia Pi, Xiang Yang, Jiang Xia Han: He Nei, Han Zhong Jin: Bing Province Liang: Liang Province Liao: Yue Ling Lu: Cheng Yang, Xiao Pei Man: Yun Nan, Yong Chang Qi: Nan Pi, Bei Hai Qin: Yong Province, Wu Du Shu: Zi Tong, Cheng Du, Jian Ning, Shang Yong Song: Qiao Tang: Xin Ye, Wan Wei: Ye, Pu Yang, Xu Chang Wu: Jian Ye, Wu, Chai Sang Yan: You Province, Xiang Ping Yue: Jiao Province, Hui Ji, Jian An Zhao: Ping Yuan Zheng: Chen Liu Zhou: Luo Yang, Hong Nong Warlord ------- The immediate personal responsibility of a Warlord is to increase your INT as much as possible. Characters with high Deeds may be appointed Warlord even without the highest INT among your Liege's vassals, if there is one smarter than you [Tutor] until you can't any more. And acquire the best +INT item you can. [Train] if your post-item INT is still below 90 and no one can [Tutor] you. The main long-term consideration when one is Warlord is whether to be an "internal Warlord" or an "external Warlord". Internal Warlords always remain in the same prefecture as their Liege. These Warlords have initiative, they take their turns before the Liege. Ruling from afar, you survey the prefectures, making sure all vassals of your Liege are stationed where their skills are of use, that all prefectures are supplied according to their needs, that dangerous enemy nations are placated with [Envoy]s, and a [Treaty] signed if it meets your needs. You [Spy] plentifully, with accurate data on all China. Worthy vassals of other Lieges inevitably come to join you, their loyalty to other lieges softened with [Rumor]s. You often achieve victory without battle. Internal Warlords play an extremely important role in large or quickly growing nations. Lieges alone do not have all the AP necessary to handle all these functions, especially since they have wages and councils to deal with too. This type of Warlord is truly a right-hand man. External Warlords earn the title Warlord with demonstrations of skill on the battlefield. You are always stationed in a border prefecture, and you always have a plan -- your spies have told you where the enemy is weak, your [March]es never leave a prefecture defenseless, your [Rumor]s are always believed, your [Defection]s make their troops yours, your [Mole]s throw the enemy into confusion and anarchy. Your troops are well-[Drill]ed and have many weapons [Forge]d. You cross rivers only with ships, oceans only with barges, and never take the plank road. Your Ploys have perfect timing, your Tactics blunt the edge of enemy strikes, your victories are long-lasting. Whatever path you choose, remember to let people do their jobs. If the Liege has set the Councils of the western border as Offense, and those of the eastern border as Defense, plan an attack to the west and send diplomats to the east. If the budget of your staging ground forecasts a shortfall of gold or food, have it imported from another prefecture -- let Prefects worry about budgets unless there's nowhere to import it from. And, of course, if any of these guidelines stand in the way of a great victory, throw them away immediately. [Hire] vs. [Recruit] -------------------- Warlords are the only officers that have both these options available. A brief analysis: [Hire] costs 50 AP if you do it yourself, 10 AP if you order someone else to do it. [Recruit] costs 40 AP. [Hire] is your action for the turn, or the action of the person you ordered. [Recruit] is not. In other words, you personally may [Recruit] up to five times in one turn, but [Hire] only once. However you can theoretically do nothing but order other officers to [Hire], up to twenty of them a turn. [Hire] receives the benefit of analysis from the Warlord, meaning if you have high INT, you'll know if it will work before you spend the AP. [Recruit] does not. Hiring an enemy Prefect causes a betrayal, and that prefecture becomes yours, along with any other officers of poor loyalty in that prefecture. The troops of officers who choose to leave are dropped into the Reserve of your new prefecture. The Prefect [Hire]d remains a Prefect and cannot be [Summon]ed until next month, so unless you demote him and allow his loyalty to suffer, or tend to his loyalty immediately, he can just as easily be [Hire]d by someone else. Recruiting an enemy Prefect simply causes him to leave his former prefecture and join you. Both rely on your bond with the target and your CHA, or the bond and CHA of the person you've ordered to perform the [Hire]. Both need weak loyalties, and cause a drop in relations of five points, unless the officer was a Ronin. Both generally give the hiring/recruiting officer one hundred Fame and Deeds upon a success. Especially in the case of a Prefect with low loyalty, use these with a clear purpose. Civil Disobedience, or, The Liege Ain't Always Right ---------------------------------------------------- This holds true for Warlords, Prefects, and Common vassals, but for Warlords most of all -- do not agree to everything asked of you without considering it first! If it were meant to be an absolute order it would not be a request. For external Warlords this is especially critical, a plan of conquest should not be disrupted until all prefectures that can be safely delivered to your Liege have been. If you end a turn with 50 AP or more, your Liege or Prefect will invariably ask you to spend it on something or other. If you think you've got a better plan for those action points, say no. Prefect ------- The Prefect's job can be rather simple, especially if your Liege has given you a policy that leaves you with few options. (See [Council] under Liege for a description of the policies.) Most lieges will put you on Domestic if your budget is in the red, then switch you to Offense when you're in the black, if you're a border prefecture. If you're a bit weak for a border, or border on an ally, expect Defense. If you're internal, Domestic until you can't go any farther, and then Tech, most likely. If the Liege leaves you on Offense, see section below, Prefects and Marching. If you're lucky and the Liege trusts you, you get Auto. Another common pattern is for the Liege to set you on Auto, then to Offense until you've [Conscript]ed and [Drill]ed to maximum, and then back to Auto until some officers get switched out, leaving you with more troops to [Conscript] and [Drill]. On Auto, the important thing is to strike a good balance. Use the skills of the officers given you: [Fortify] with high WAR, [Tech] for high INT, and the rest check against POL. Or, be a glory-hound, and make all the officers work together with you on what you're very skilled at: your Fame and Deeds will go higher faster this way. Watch your budget, it can be easy to get kicked in the teeth by running out of supplies. It's also true though that you might be happily on Auto, running the government as you will, and as soon as your budget goes into the black the Liege slaps you with an impossible Offense policy. Losing under ten thousand food a year never killed anyone, and it can stave off bad policy. Be sure you've got over a hundred thousand in your granaries and rear prefectures to supply you. Hopefully you have {Zeal} and a high POL, because those increase the number of AP you get per turn, and as Prefect you need all you can get. [Train]ing your POL in order to learn {Zeal} is a very good idea, but only after you have [Patrol]ed. After your monthly action, [Patrol] to Trust 100, always, first thing. Then work on bonding with the officers working for you -- performing actions with officers of high bond often results in doubled results and a doubled increase in Fame and Deeds. Your bond with the officers under your command will increment by one each time you do an action with them. [Visit] them if bond is over 50, write a [Letter] if bond is under 50, and [Gift] if you're rich. Not to mention, should you die as Prefect, those officers with whom you have a bond of 100 will be your choices for someone to "carry on your dream". Hey! These Officers Suck! ------------------------- I have often been struck by the unfairness of officer distribution. I'll go to the trouble to seek out the best ronin, or rumormonger the best enemy vassals, and recruit them into my prefecture, only to have my liege transfer them elsewhere, leaving me with the dregs. Best not to begrudge an appointment of Warlord or Prefect, but why is Common over there better than Common over here? It is sometimes effective to transfer your less than useful officers into a prefecture full of the ones you want. Computer lieges have an awful habit of transferring the best officer out of an officer-laden prefecture to make up for weak points. So, make yourself a weak point, and hope the good officers fill it. This strategy has been known to backfire painfully, and I forswear any responsibility for such failure. >:) You've got all four legendary creatures, right? You're invincible, right? The less dangerous version of this strategy is, just before you believe an excellent officer is going to join up in your prefecture, transfer out the worst officer to the border province with the least men or the most pressure on it. Such clear thought might foretell a future post as Warlord, but does not have the tolerance for risk that befits a Liege. Prefects and Marching --------------------- Another common Prefect horror story is to be stuck in a border prefecture, a policy of Offense, and you border on two or more enemy prefectures that have a strength equal to or greater than yours. At best, you throw everything you have at one of them, win, and your former prefecture gets immediately taken from the other side, cutting you off from your Liege. At worst, well, you just lost your items and became someone else's vassal, or got very dead. What to do? Don't [March]! If you have a few officers with high INT, start with the Plots. [Rumor], [Defection], and [Recruit] your way to regional supremacy. No such luck? See if the Offense policy actually allows you anything to do. Draft even for that battle-useless politician. [Conscript], [Drill], and [Forge] yourself to bankruptcy, surely a rear prefecture can send you some gold. Your Liege might change the policy once his goal has been met, whatever that is. Last resort? [Move]. Resign your position, become Common again. As the Hermit says, if you made Prefect once, you'll likely make it again. In fact you'll probably have to anger your Liege refusing reappointment to that impossible situation. Send your Liege a [Letter] or two, once you've made a successful [Visit] or [Gift] to him, you'll know he's over it. Fame The Quick And Dirty Way ---------------------------- Not very fair, bit silly, but here it is anyway: Work your way up to Prefect. Pass a turn, so you have 200 AP. Have some lackey [Sell] all the city's food. [Revolt]. [Withdraw] all the city's cash, ten thousand gold at 10 AP each. [Resign]. Get appointed Prefect again, even from the same Liege -- computer Lieges aren't always that bright. [Donate] everything you withdrew before. Every ten gold you [Donate] is a point of fame, and you can [Donate] ten thousand gold for 10 AP. Once your pockets are empty, have some lackey [Sell] all the city's food. [Revolt]. [Withdraw]. [Resign]. Return to step 1. It was in this way that I found that the maximum fame is sixty thousand points. Common ------ A Common officer has a life even more circumscribed than a Prefect's, but in general a Common officer will receive about 50 more AP a month than a Ronin with the same POL. Monthly actions cost 50 AP. In other words, you might as well do whatever the Liege or Prefect asks you to do each month and draw that wage, you'll have the same AP left over for whatever you want to do. If you choose to select the officer you play at the beginning of a scenario by Status, the game points out that Common is a good way to learn the game, which I suppose is true. I often start as Common, but only because a new officer can't start as Prefect or Warlord, and if I don't want to play a Liege I have little other choice. Common officers should always: [Patrol] whatever prefecture they are stationed in to 100; Bond with Liege, Warlord, Prefects, and other important officers to 100; [Visit] frequently, to learn the locations of Ronin, then [Explore], Bond with them, and [Recruit] them; Bond with important vassals of other lieges, and if their loyalty ever drops (for Advanced players: if they are ever captured in battle and switch sides) hit the [Recruit] button as many times as you can for the next three months. If your Liege, Warlord, and Prefect actually leave you alone for a month, always suggest that your troops be [Drill]ed, or that new equipment be [Forge]d for you. Should neither of these apply, or your requests be refused, do whatever action best fits your skills and is allowed by policy. If your bond with your Prefect is low and he declines every request, don't sweat it, just put those 50 AP into a [Letter] and a [Visit] to your Prefect. Aside from that, if your stats are at all decent, and if you have a complete Sites list they will be, your Fame and Deeds will increase rapidly, putting you next in line for a Prefecture in short order. Ronin ----- I refer you to the first paragraph in the section on Common officers: you'll have just as many AP to play with employed as unemployed, so you might as well get a job for the wage, the fame, the poetry contests and dueling tournaments. You can [Resign] any time if wandering China enthralls you. You can wander the land, [Patrol] every city to Trust 100, [Train] until you have every skill available, Bond to 100 with all the great men, get them to [Tutor] you to 100s in every stat, and still the people of China will not rise up and declare you Emperor by acclamation. The nerve! In fact your fame will be quite small compared to what it might have been had you spent that lifetime building [Commerce] or on the battlefield. And as the manual notes, it doesn't matter how strong your Bond with other officers as a Ronin. When you die, as all men one day must, no one cares to "carry on your dream". Game over, man. Section 3: Combat ----------------- Unless you're absolutely sure your forces will win (or totally given over to losing), never allow the computer to take charge of a battle if you have any choice. You're more creative, less predictable, and have a better sense of which risks to take when. The important thing is always to take advantage of the opportunities offered to you. Northerners ride and southerners sail. A Horse, Cavalry, or Elephant unit will be able to , as if you had {Charge}. If you employ competent warriors, keep to roads and plains, officers with {Valor}, surround them with your improved speed, and when they've got nowhere to fall back to, their lines will crumble and yours will suffer very little damage. Water combat is trickier. Having a Ship will let you move faster on water, and improves morale if you have to attack over a river, but it does NOT simulate {Navy}. Know who your naval officers are, and keep everybody else off the water as much as possible -- losing a few hundred soldiers to a is preferable to the thousands who might die if they catch you off-guard. If you can, stay on the shore and attack them while they're in the water, a well-timed can cause the enemy to suicidally you from the water. Always play the morale game. Units of low morale lose troops much more quickly. Even if Lu Bu (WAR 108) has seventeen thousand mounted men arrayed against you, if he's d and their morale is low, his ability and their training will matter very little. And be perfectly clear on what the purpose of combat is. Almost never do I simply want to take or hold a prefecture: the goal of combat is to capture as many enemy officers as possible. Hell, there are battles where I would have rallied the enemy so I'd have ten more points of morale to take from them! (No! Don't run! *slice* I'm your friend! *stab* We come in peace! *slit*) Battle Tactics, Offense: Ploys ------------------------------ requires an officer with {Rally}, and raises your morale by five to fifteen points, normally ten. It can also cure unit afflictions, but don't count on it. Bring along enough s to get you to at least morale 90, expect outpost occupation and the capture of enemy officers to cover the spread. But if you've got the points to spend on s, going to morale 100 can't hurt. requires an officer with {Jeer}, and lowers enemy morale by five to fifteen points, normally ten. This is more effective the more units you have in physical proximity to theirs. is excellent fun, a great tool, my favorite non-Mystic ploy. As their morale drops their units will become easier and easier to annihilate, but watch out -- if morale drops to 0 in a Field battle and you fail to capture all the enemy officers, you get to start a Siege attack, your morale will be 100, theirs 70. It always pays to have a diverse force. If all your units are Horse, Cavalry, or Elephant, you'll sweep the field, but in a Siege you can't attack their men, only their walls. A pathetic reason to have to retreat. , requires an officer with {Dash} and {Mystic}, grants all friendly units exceptionally high movement points for one turn. On Offense, my favorite ploy of all -- your units in a few turns can have total command of the field. The right officer at the right place at the right time, always. , requires an officer with {Doctor} and {Mystic}, heals all injured troops in all friendly units. I'll bring one of these along, and use it when the first wave (defense forces forward deployed, and reinforcements) have been destroyed. Keeps us fresh for the assault on the Commander at the other end of the field. , available to all Tacticians, increases Tactic Points available to all friendly units. If I've got a Creature and I don't think I'll have the 100 TP I need to use it, or if the success of a certain tactic is necessary for my battle plan, I'll bring along one of these. Two is generally overkill. , requires {Rumor}, causes low INT officers to flee, high INT officers dispatch a few troops to check out the rumor. , available to all Tacticians, causes low WAR officers to become even lower WAR, high WAR officers fight it off. I pair these two because they make a nice set, right tool for the right job. I'll use these if I don't have anything better to put points in. Some of the other ploys -- , , , , -- might be fun once in a while. But don't plan a strategy around them, they're too unreliable. Battle Tactics, Offense: Strategies ----------------------------------- Depending on the strategy you choose, various outposts on the minimap of the battlefield will be highlighted. Watch which ones are highlighted after the selection is confirmed, sometimes they're not the ones you'd think they are. I'll look at each strategy and when to choose it below. But once you've made a choice, be aware: The choice of a strategy does not mean the other strategies no longer apply. Let me reiterate: The choice of a strategy does not mean the other strategies no longer apply. If you ordered a Penetrate, and the enemy Commander is very well defended in his castle, but the field is yours? everything else. You'll complete the Surround strategy, your morale will spike, theirs will plummet. Which strategy you pick matters because you only get a morale boost, and they only take a morale hit, when you an outpost necessary for your strategy. And of course computer-controlled units will follow the strategy without any consideration of other modes of victory. The fact that the owner of an outpost gets recon data from the surrounding area is less important than you might think, the computer doesn't follow the same recon rules we do. (Read how I know under the Ambush section.) In my experience completing a strategy other than the one chosen before the battle will not cause the enemy to lose all morale, just most of it. This is partly because they will not have taken so many little losses, the outposts you've taken don't hurt their morale. I also believe morale change for the strategies not chosen is calculated as if time had already run out. Battle Tactics, Offense: Surround --------------------------------- This is my favorite strategy, and one very rarely suggested by computer tacticians. Under most circumstances, Surround allows you to avoid fighting the Commander and whatever other units (such as his Tac) stationed at the end of the field. This leaves you a free hand to deal with the forward deployed defenders and the reinforcements. As it becomes obvious that the battle is going poorly for the defense, units will leave the side of the Commander one by one and come out to help in the field, often attempting to move back into outposts you've already occupied. I often leave a unit in the occupied outpost nearest to the enemy Commander, just for the enjoyment of seeing them blindly walk into me. Choose this strategy when you have enough advantages to rout the enemy whatever they do. Battle Tactics, Offense: Flank Left, Flank Right ------------------------------------------------ These strategies are highly specialized, I use them about as often as my tactician suggests them, which is rarely. If the terrain along one side or the other benefits your troops, or if you are heavily depending on reinforcements, these strategies makes sense. With these, watch especially carefully which outposts are highlighted as necessary to take, and remember they become highlighted after the selection has been confirmed. One or the other of these strategies might not require taking the forward outpost, if only two (the side you've chosen and the Commander's at the far end) are highlighted this might let you ignore entirely his forward deployed defenders. Granted I don't know why you'd want to, they're just more prospective vassals for you to capture. But should such things appeal to you, choose this strategy when coming in around the side allows an easier victory than coming straight in. Battle Tactics, Offense: Penetrate ---------------------------------- The bread and butter of computer tacticians. I'll use this when considerations of troop quality and terrain guide me to believe our forces are about equal. Attackers have an easier time massing their forces and presenting a united front, defenders have a lot of ground to worry about sometimes. But this strategy is often expected, so they won't bother to guard the outposts on the flanks. If everything on the field except the Commander or Commander and Tactician is right in front of you, and you're at the forward or center outpost, you can always the defender in the outpost or him out of it, take it while the enemy army looks on, then send units around the flanks to claim the side outposts, completing Surround. If you choose , be sure to take note of turn order, so you're positioned to move in before another defender can. So choose this strategy if you don't believe the others will give you any advantage. But switch if the opportunity presents itself. Battle Tactics, Defense: Ploys and Traps ---------------------------------------- No need to bother with the s on D. Aside from that, same ploys as an attack. The new variables are the traps. Traps are nice, the enemy unit's movement stops, a few men move into the injured or dead column, and they lose one point of morale. In places the enemy is sure to go, these are a good buy. But considering a pit is 15 Strategy Points and a is fifty, Jeers are going to do a lot more harm to morale. Who cares if their units move faster or have more men, when those men are scared witless, marching quickly to their deaths? True, poison confuses, I like that, and under the right circumstances well-placed fire traps are truly destructive. But compared against the SP cost of a good ploy, it just doesn't add up. Too many traps go unnoticed, the enemy never moving where I thought. When I'm tactician, I might put down three pits. The rest goes to the ploys outlined in the Offense section. Battle Tactics, Defense: Strategies ----------------------------------- Defenders win if the battle takes more than thirty days, so if you need to, stall tactics are effective. But that sort of win rarely does any good, unless you're expecting more generals to be moved to your prefecture next month. The enemy will simply attack again. Three choices for strategies: Field, Ambush, and Siege. For me to choose anything other that Field is exceptionally rare. I cannot recall ever having chosen Siege right from the beginning, it's best to start in the field and wear down the number of days your attackers have left. Battle Tactics, Defense: Field ------------------------------ I fight like I'm on attack -- token resistance in the "Commander's" 
castle, me and the rest of my army forward deployed.

Defenders have a real morale advantage: they start at least twenty 
points ahead, and retaking of an outpost "cuts enemy supply lines" and 
persists in lowering attacker morale. Five points of morale per turn 
per outpost retaken, that adds up fast. Too fast sometimes, I'll often 
pull out of the occupied outposts once their back is broken so I can 
capture enemy generals on mop-up.

Enemy generals can be quite dumb about this sort of thing. Forward 
deploy, then move off before the enemy notices you. They'll run in, 
occupy the outpost, and move on. Move your forces back, and now you're 
fighting the same battle you would have before, but they're losing five 
points of morale per turn! That evens out the morale they got for 
taking it in one turn. 

So use the defensive advantage: play the morale game fiercely. That'll 
make it easy to  and  them off the field. Again, I 
always have my eye on capturing enemy officers -- they can only flee if 
they reach the two-by-five area around their Attack Point, if their 
troop strength hits 0 through something other than a  attack or 
a , if they have a Steed, or if their morale hits 0. Prevent 
these from happening, and they're stuck there while you pummel them.


Battle Tactics, Defense: Ambush
-------------------------------

Ambush can be a lot of fun if you really do feel invincible, or if you 
just don't care which way the battle goes. One side goes to 100 morale, 
the other side gets confused and loses forty points from whatever their 
morale would have been. Most of the time, the defenders get the short 
end of the stick.

However the ambush goes, all notion of offensive strategy is off the 
table. Doesn't matter how many outposts they take, strategy is no 
longer an option for them.

I have begun a scenario as a Ronin, been unable to attract anyone to my 
cause when I [Claim]ed, and quickly been invaded by a neighboring 
liege, no Tactician to help me. I checked the weather, and saw it was 
cloudy -- ambushes succeed more easily in inclement weather. I decided 
to try it.

I failed, and was confused for the first turn of the battle, but held 
out for thirty days (and won) anyway. 

The manual states that Foot, Catapult, Tower, and Armored units may 
 -- I assume they mean Teng Jia by Armored, never use the stuff 
myself. In any event, once I was no longer confused, I ed until 
they couldn't reach me, and then I hid. The computer units uselessly 
milled about my last known location, totally unable to proceed to 
victory.

I also now know that the computer units have superhuman reconnaisance 
ability, because I came unhid accidentally halfway across the field 
from them, and outpost recon told me that they immediately began moving 
in my direction -- a human player would have had no way of knowing 
where I was. But I hid again, and once they again reached my last known 
location, they continued doing nothing until time ran out.


Battle Tactics, Defense: Siege
------------------------------

Defender in a siege is an unfortunate place to be. Never start a battle 
here, always go out in the field and waste some days. Defenders who win 
siege battles always do so because time runs out, not because the enemy 
army is crushed when your walls fall.

Defender in a siege can lose by running out of men or by running out of 
Defense points, signifying wall strength. , a Ploy, gets you 
new men, , a Tactic requiring {Repair}, increases your Defense 
points. Bring along an  or two if you're depending on 
, especially if only one defending vassal has {Repair}.

It is also possible to lose if your Commander is your Liege, and the 
enemy targets its attacks at your Liege, but in my experience they 
never do.

Keep in mind morale is reset when a field battle becomes a siege 
battle, attackers 100, defenders 70. If you expect the field battle to 
go poorly, maybe the s and s will matter in the siege.


Recruit, Release, Execute?
--------------------------

So the day is yours, the battle is won, the enemy's items have made 
their way to the Liege's residence. All that's left is for the Liege to 
decide on the fates of the captured officers.

In my mind the greatest danger is compression: a large number of 
officers and troops in a small space. Regardless of the quality of the 
officers, this makes for a volatile situation, that Liege is much more 
likely to order a march if half his forces can go away and he still 
matches all his neighbors. Compression also makes [Rumor] plots less 
effective, as the disloyalty is spread around more officers.

Releasing an officer creates compression, if you captured him on the 
attack. On defense, it does nothing to relieve it, and if that liege 
thought he had enough officers and men to attack you before, he'll 
build himself up and attack again.

It should also be noted that a released officer takes all his wounded 
or captured troops home to convalesce and rejoin the service of his 
Liege. The troops of recruited and executed officers join you.

Releasing an officer is therefore to be avoided. Recruiting can be a 
risky business, too; if I have captured this officer, he is unlikely to 
be one of the great men of China. On the off chance that I believe he 
could be useful to me, I will offer officers of superior quality the 
chance to join me.

For the lesser quality of officer, this leaves only one end: execution. 
I have never hesitated to tighten a noose around the neck of men such 
as Gongsun Gong, but someone with stats in their 60s might seem useful 
to you. I suggest you act less mercifully: I generally require at least 
one non-CHA stat to be 80 or over. A jack of all trades is a master of 
none, after all. If you're running low on officers, a man like Dong 
Cheng, all 60s and 70s, is not a total embarrassment, and may serve 
well in a rear prefecture.

This leaves the unfortunate case of an officer of great skill who 
declines to join you. Any Liege on the losing end of a fight with a 
Liege who follows my policy has just been greatly weakened. Release 
this officer, Bond with him, and watch him -- he'll end up serving 
someone else soon enough. And when he does, [Hire] him.

And finally, what to do with a Liege you've captured: unless you have a 
perverse need to make an example of the man, release him. His forces 
have just been decimated, he's no threat. If he's the type you'd 
execute for poor stats, he's useful as a Liege on your borders. If he's 
the type you'd recruit, Bond with him and watch, as above. He'll be a 
vassal himself soon if defeats like the one you just handed him keep 
piling up.


The Author
----------

This document copyright Eric Lewis, 2002.
Distribution prohibited without the consent of the author.

I've been playing this series since ROTK III on the SNES, and have 
enjoyed other titles from KOEI -- Genghis Khan II/SNES for the 
introduction of a family system, and Dynasty Warriors for PS1. I 
preferred to play Taishi Ci. Or as I'd transliterate it: DAAAAIIISHUUUU 
TSSSUUUUUUUU!

I own a copy of 31 with Cao Cao's commentary (I can believe 34 is as 
bad as Zhang Song said), a text of 36 that was 350 years old in his 
day, 37, and 41.