Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire FAQ Version 3.3 Written by YuFan(formerly ZhangZhao) yufan3@hotmail.com Last update: 5/21/2000 Summary As one of 32 rulers, you must conquer all 43 cities of China. You have an unlimited amount of time to do this. (Game ©1995 by Koei Corporation.) Why do you not provide a simple, complete walkthrough for the game? For a game of this genre, a walkthrough would be impossible. The rival rulers are completely unpredictable, and the game will turn out differently each time you play. Which ruler should I select? It is possible to conquer China as any ruler. However, some rulers seem to be easier to do this with than others. I have rated the rulers in four different categories-Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert. In the following section is a list of the rulers and their respective categories. Scenario 1 BEGINNER Cao Cao Dong Zhuo Sun Jian Yuan Shao Liu Yan INTERMEDIATE Liu Bei Liu Biao Tao Qian Yuan Shu ADVANCED Liu Yong Ma Teng Kong Rong Wang Lang Han Fu EXPERT Kong Zhou Qiao Mao Gongsun Zan Yan Baihu Scenario 2 BEGINNER Cao Cao Li Ju Yuan Shao Liu Zhang INTERMEDIATE Zhang Lu Liu Bei Liu Biao Sun Ce ADVANCED Lu Bu Ma Teng Yuan Shu Liu Yong EXPERT Wang Lang Yan Baihu Kong Rong Gongsun Zan Scenario 3 BEGINNER Cao Cao Sun Quan INTERMEDIATE Liu Bei Yuan Shao ADVANCED Liu Biao Liu Zhang EXPERT Zhang Lu Ma Teng Scenario 4 BEGINNER Cao Cao INTERMEDIATE Liu Bei Liu Zhang Sun Quan ADVANCED Ma Teng Zhang Lu Liu Du EXPERT Han Xuan Zhao Fan Jin Xuan Scenario 5 BEGINNER Cao Pi INTERMEDIATE Sun Quan Liu Bei Scenario 6 BEGINNER Cao Rui INTERMEDIATE Sun Quan ADVANCED Liu Chan The Steps to Victory You may not agree with me on these strategies, but this is but one example of the many possibilities in this marvelous game. FIRST MONTH 1. Run a draft in each city. If your Popular Support in any city dips below 60, give provisions to the people. A rebellion this early in the game could ruin your chances of winning. 2. Assign officers to develop Farmland, Dams, Economy, and Technology in each city.(Note: If you have at least eight officers in a city, work on each category. However, try not to put only officer on the development of a statistic, as this is basically wasting money.) 3. Send out officers with skills to recruit on search missions. You will be able to recruit officers and find weapons. 4. Recruit any free officers in your city. SECOND MONTH 1. Run another draft in each city. 2. Try to get the Popular Support to 80(the highest it will go by giving provisions.) This will prevent rebellion and increase your tax income. 3. Once again, recruit any free officers currently in your city. 4. You may be short on provisions after giving so much to the people. If your provisions ever go below 2000, buy some. I try to keep my stocks above 4000 at all times. THIRD MONTH 1. Assign top generals to train the soldiers for six months. (IMPORTANT: Leave one officer with skills to recruit available at all times!) 2. As always, recruit any free generals in the city. MONTHS FOUR THROUGH NINE Since most officers will be training at this time, you will probably not have much to do. Invest more gold in your developments if they run out. And, as always, recruit any officers who go through your city. TENTH MONTH Your troops will be finished training. (If the training level is still not high, train some more.) Send a general to spy in a territory. Check the Technology level in each city, and begin building advanced weapons if the Technology level is high enough. (The Tech level must be 60 to build Auto Crossbows, 80 to build battering rams, 100 to build catapults.) ELEVENTH MONTH View neighboring cities. If a city is obviously weaker than yours, begin unleashing plots to weaken them further. Spreading gossip can lower officers' loyalty or popular support.(Be careful about spreading gossip to the people; if you take over the city its popular support will be the same as it was under the previous ruler.) Arson can deplete their provisions or their weapons, or both. Hidden officers, if recruited, can switch to your side in a battle and bring some of the enemy's soldiers with them. (Note that an officer must have Loyalty above 95 to be hidden in the first place. Another of the many advantages of raising your followers' loyalty.) Bribing officers can cause them to switch sides in battle. You can also get them to betray the enemy ruler in the midst of the battle, but bribing them beforehand is generally more successful. TWELFTH MONTH Finish your war preparations. Move your battering rams and catapults to the attacking city.(Be careful when doing this; bandits may seize them.) Send gifts and/or form alliances with rulers neighboring the attacking city. FIRST MONTH, SECOND YEAR Go to war! Assign a loyal officer with high leadership capabilities to command the army. Add one or two vassal units to help out. WAR! War is certainly not the only thing to be concerned with, but it is important. There are three types of battles: Field battle: A battle in the field outside the city. Occurs when the defenders decide to send soldiers to the field. Castle battle: A battle on the outskirts of the city. Occurs when the defenders choose not to send soldiers to the field, or they flee a field battle. Final battle: Occurs when the attackers beat down the castle gate, and the defenders refuse to surrender the city. FIELD BATTLE At the field battle, the defenders usually do not have their full army at the battle. This is usually used by the defense as an attempt to weaken the attackers before finishing them off at the castle, or as a chance to defeat the attackers without damaging their city. If there are mountains, the defenders' best bet is to position themselves atop the mountains, as a unit atop a mountain will have an advantage against the attackers below. In addition, this permits them to toss boulders down the mountain, weakening the attackers. The attackers' options for positioning are more limited; they will probably have to place their units in the valleys. In addition, the defenders will be able to dig pitfalls, if an advisor is present. An advisor may also instruct the defenders to place bales of hay in an area, which will be set on fire when the attackers enter the area. The attackers, if they have an advisor at the battle, may be able to detect traps. The attackers should attack the defenders until they flee to the castle, as they are at a disadvantage in a field battle. CASTLE BATTLE Once the defenders flee the field battle, the action will switch to a castle battle. (This can also occur if the defenders opt not to fight a field battle in the first place.) Here, the defenders have two choices: place their troops on the city wall, or place their troops on the ground. The attackers, on the other hand, only have the option of placing their troops on the ground. The attackers, however, have multiple options as far as strategy. One is to climb the walls and fight the defenders there. Another is to beat the gates down. Or, the attackers may choose to use archers to attack the enemy from the ground. The defenders can try to throw boulders onto units climbing the wall or trying to storm the gates. If the attackers destroy the defending army, they take over the city and collect all gold and provisions remaining in the city. If the defenders retreat, though, they take their gold and provisions with them. In the case that the attackers retreat, they do not take their supplies. Instead, they drop everything and RUN. On the other hand, if gates fall, so does the city. The defenders can choose to flee, or use a final attempt to save the city. FINAL BATTLE In the case that the gates fall and the defense chooses not to flee, a final battle starts. The attackers choose to fight with troops, similar to a field or castle battle, or fight a duel, either 1-on-1, 3-on-3, or 5-on-5. The troop fight, as I mentioned earlier, is similar to the field or castle battle. On the other hand, the duel is not fought with troops, but with generals. Each side picks one, three, or five generals to fight in the duels. The one-on-one battle is simple: the one duel is for all the marbles. The three-on-three and five-on-five are, in essence, best-of-three and best-of- five. This means that if, in a three-on-three battle, the attackers win the first two duels, the final duel is not fought. SPOILS The victors of a war have either gained a new city, or retained one of their own. In addition, they may have received more supplies. An unaware victor may begin celebrating. Not so fast, though. They have things to deal with. A city that has just been through a war will have depleted statistics. A war really hurts a city's economy, especially an extended war. In addition, war, of course, lowers the number of soldiers in the city. The player must rebuild the city, and also, if he was the attacker, rebuild his army in his other city. In addition, a neighboring ruler may seize the chance to attack a city while you're rebuilding. Since your army will be small and/or untrained, this battle will be tough to fight. DIPLOMACY War isn't the only way to interact with other rulers. Alliances, gifts, and threats are just a handful of the things you can do with diplomacy. Gifts and alliances go hand-in-hand. Gifts are a great way to soften up a ruler before offering him an alliance. You can also give gifts to rulers of foreign tribes to make them less hostile toward you. After getting an alliance with a ruler, if you share a common neighbor, you can propose a joint attack on the city. On the other hand, there are also ways to show a ruler how much you despise him. If you threaten a ruler, he may submit to you, but it's not likely. Revoking an alliance gives you the freedom to attack him, but it will cause officers' loyalty and popular support to go down. Foreign tribes are strange. Gifts will lower their hostility toward you(if they are accepted), and they may launch an attack on an enemy city for you. If you are attacked, you can choose to fight them off(which weakens your army) or not(which lowers popular support.) If you fight off the Nanman tribe, you may be able to capture some generals. These generals are, for the most part, good warriors who aren't very bright. COMMANDS Army Move-Move generals between cities. The generals can take supplies and soldiers with them when they move. You can only move generals into adjacent cities, and they must be either your vassal cities or unclaimed cities. If you move generals into an unclaimed city, it becomes your vassal city. Send-Send supplies, soldiers, and weapons between cities. Bandits may steal your supplies during shipment; this is based on the leadership, power, political ability, and intellect of the officer executing the command. War-Attack a city. (See above.) Draft-Draft soldiers from the population. It costs 10 gold and 10 food to recruit 100 soldiers. (Note that on city display screens, numbers of soldiers are represented in groups of 100.) Train-Train the soldiers to prepare them for battle. Build-Build weapons. The Tech level must be high enough to build the weapons, you must have a sufficient amount of gold, and you must have an officer available with skills to build weapons. Spy-Gather information on other cities in a territory. The selected general must have the ability to spy. Staff Search-Search a territory for free officers. The officer must have skills to recruit. Recruit-Recruit free officers in your city and enemy officers in adjacent cities. The officer must have skills to recruit. Reward-Give generals gold(up to 100) or items to increase their loyalty. The success is based on the ruler1s charm and the amount of gold or type of item given. Give-Give food to the peasants. You can give up to 1000 food, and its success is based on the officer1s charm. City Farm-Invest money and assign generals to develop farmland. Dams-Invest money and assign generals to develop dams. Economy-Invest money and assign generals to develop the economy. Technology-Invest money and assign generals to develop the technology. Market Food Sell(F.Sell)-Sell food. Food Buy(F.Buy)-Buy food. X-Bow-Buy crossbows. Str X-Buy strong crossbows. Horses-Buy horses. Plot Hide-Hide an officer in an enemy city. He must have a Loyalty rating of 95 or higher. If recruited, the officer will send back information on the city. In battle, he may betray the enemy ruler. Bribe-Bribe an enemy officer to betray his ruler in battle. Your officer must have skills to bribe. The success is based on your officer1s intellect and charm and the enemy officer1s loyalty. Rebel-Persuade an enemy governor to rebel against his ruler. Your officer must have skills to rebel. Gossip-Spread gossip in an enemy city, either to the officers or the people. Your officer must have skills to gossip. Arson-Set fire to an enemy city1s granary, arms, or both. (Note that setting both on fire has half the effect.) Your officer must have skills to commit arson. Snoop-Attempt to increase your Farm, Dams, Economy, or Tech level at the expense of another city. Your officer must have skills to Snoop. Foreign (See above) Ally-Form an alliance. Joint-Launch a joint attack on a city. Gift-Offer gifts to a rival ruler or foreign tribe. Threat-Threaten another ruler into surrendering. Revoke-Revoke and alliance. Swap-Swap prisoners for other prisoners or cash. Invade-Ask a foreign tribe to invade a city. Ruler Delegate-Give command of a vassal city to its governor. Choose either Army or City control. Assign-Assign the ranks of Advisor, Civil Officer, Marshal, Governor, Chief Advisor, or Chief Civil Officer. Punish-Demote an officer, fire an officer, or confiscate(seize) an item. Exile-Abandon your cities and go into exile. City-Command your home city. Vassal-Command a vassal city. Information Officer-(See 3Officer1s Data2 below.) Vassal-View data for your vassal cities. City-(See 3City Data2 below.) Events-(See 3Disasters/Other Events2 below.) Report-Hear the latest reports from officers in charge of development, training, and building weapons. Advice Advice-Get advice from your advisor(in the case that you have no advisor, the officer with the highest Intellect rating) or your civil officer(same, except highest Political Ability.) In vassal cities, you can only get civil advice. Visit-Visit a traveler who is stopped in your city. Here is a list of travelers you may encounter: Sima Shi: May teach an officer a skill he does not have. Xu Zijiang Gan Ji: Has the Secret Books of Healing(I believe) Zuo Ci: Has the Supreme Book of Magic. Guan Lu Pu Jing: May increase the officer's life span. Ma Diao: May increase your city's Tech level. Hua Tuo: May heal sick or wounded officers. Also possesses the Medical Book of Hua Tuo. (I do not know what Xu Zijiang or Guan Lu do. In addition, if the traveler does not do one of these things, he will give you information on a city or tell you about officers or fake items.) Map-Scroll through the map of China. DATA Data is an important aspect of this game. Statistics are provided for officers and cities. Good officers and well-developed cities will help you win. OFFICER DATA Name: The officer1s name. Position: The officer1s rank. Possible positions are Ruler, Governor, Advisor(must have at least 90 Intellect and 80 Politic), Civil Officer(must have at least 85 Politic), Marshal(Leadership and Power must total at least 150), or General. City: The city in which the officer is located. Task: The task the officer is performing(such as Train, Build, Spy, etc.) If he has done a one-month task(i.e., Give), it will read 3Done2. If he has not completed a task, it will read 3Not Done2. Duty: The type of city duty the officer performs(Farm, Dam, Econ, Tech) Age: The officer1s age. Loyal: The officer1s loyalty. (Maximum-100)(N/A for rulers.) Tenure: The number of years the officer has served you. (N/A for rulers.) Leadership: The officer1s ability to lead soldiers in battle. Power: The officer1s strength. Affects the outcome of a duel. Charm: The officer1s ability to recruit and negotiate. Political Ability: The officer1s ability to develop cities and execute Foreign commands. Intellect: The officer1s knowledge and ability to execute strategies and plots. Health: The officer1s physical condition. Can read Good, Bad, or Hurt. SKILLS (NOTICE: Rulers are able to conduct all commands from Foreign to Snoop whether or not they have the corresponding skill.) Foreign: Allows officer to conduct diplomatic negotations. Spy: Allows officer to spy on enemy territory. Recruit: Allows officer to search for officers and recruit officers. Build: Allows officer to construct weapons. Bribe: Allows officer to bribe an enemy officer. Rebel: Allows officer to persuade an enemy governor to rebel against his ruler. Gossip: Allows officer to spread gossip about an enemy ruler. Arson: Allows officer to set enemy cities on fire. Snoop: Allows officer to execute 3Snoop2 command. Infantry: Gives officer advantage in battle when commanding an infantry unit. Cavalry: Gives officer advantage in battle when commanding a cavalry unit. Archery: Gives officer advantage in battle when commanding an archery unit. Naval: Gives officer advantage in a naval battle. Fire: Allows officer to set fires in battle. Boulder: Allows officer to drop boulders from mountains or the city wall. Provoke: Allows officer to provoke enemy units to attack each other. Weather: Allows officer to change the weather in battle. Wind: Allows officer to change the wind direction in battle. Chaos: Allows officer to confuse enemy units in battle. Chain: Enables officer to chain ships together in a naval battle. Bolt: Allows officer to use lightning bolt attacks in battle. Repair: Allows officer to repair the castle gate in battle. Taunt: Allows officer to taunt an enemy unit in battle. Lies: Allows officer to spread lies in battle. (This is a curious command. The soldiers tell a reinforcement unit that their city is being attacked by barbarians.) CITY DATA City Statistics screen Governor: The name of the city1s governor. Civil Officer: The name of the chief civil officer. Population: The number of people in the city. Farm: The level of developed farmland in the city. Dams: The level of dams in the city. Economy: The level of the economy in the city. Tech: The city's technology level. Support: The popular support in the city. Personnel Screen Advisor: The name of the chief advisor. Soldier: The number of soldiers(in units of 100.) Train: The soldiers' training level. Officer: The number of officers stationed in the city. P.O.W.: The number of prisoners-of-war in the city. Spirit: The morale of the soldiers. Free: The number of free officers in the city. Horses: The number of horses the city has. Possessions Screen Ruler: The city's ruler. Gold: The amount of gold the city possesses. Provisions: The amount of food the army has. Crossbows: The number of crossbows in the city. Strong Crossbows: The number of strong crossbows in the city. Auto Crossbows: The number of auto crossbows. Battering Ram: The number of battering rams. Catapult: The number of Catapults. Budget Screen Amount: Your current amounts of Gold and Provisions. Gain: The projected amount of income in January and July, respectively. Loss: The projected amount of expenses in January and July. Net: The projected amount of gold and provisions you will have after collecting taxes. EVENTS Taxes: Gold in January, Food in July. Locust(Spring, Summer, Fall): Swarms of locusts that attack your crops. A locust attack lowers the farming level, provisions, and popular support in affected cities. Plague(All seasons): Widespread illness spreading through the countryside. A plague lowers the population, number of soldiers, and popular support. Flood(Summer): The banks of a certain river flood. Floods lower farming, dam, economy, and technology levels, and the number of civilians and soldiers. High dam levels decrease the effects of flooding. Typhoon(Summer): Basically the same effects as a flood. Rich Harvest(Fall): Good weather causes a rich harvest for a city. If you get a rich harvest, your city1s food income may increase by as much as 50 percent. Scarce Harvest(Fall): Bad weather causes a poor harvest. Has the opposite effects as a rich harvest. Revolt(All seasons): Occurs when popular support is low. Popular support levels, population, and soldiers are lost in a revolt. SPECIAL ITEMS Books: Increase the intelligence and political ability of an officer. War Manual of Sun Tzu New Treatise of Meng De(+3 Intel, +5 Politic): Held by Cao Cao. Way of Peace Secret Books of Healing: Obtained from travelers. Can only be held by ruler. Medical Book of Hua Tuo: Obtained from travelers. Can only be held by ruler. Horses: Increase your chances of fleeing in a battle. Red Hare: Owned by Lu Bu. Stallion of Fierce Winds Grey Lightning: Owned by Cao Cao. Weapons: Increase your power. Luminous Sword(+9 Power): Owned by Cao Cao. Sword of Trust(+10 Power): Owned by Cao Cao. Sword of Seven Stars(+8 Power): Owned by Dong Zhuo. Black Dragon(+6 Power): Owned by Guan Yu. Cobra(+5 Power): Owned by Zhang Fei. Lunar Spear(+7 Power): Owned by Lu Bu. Giant Axe(+4 Power): Owned by Xu Huang. Ancestral Sword(+3 Power): Owned by Sun Jian. Serpent Spear(+3 Power): Owned by Cheng Pu. Spear of the Eclipse(+4 Power): Owned by Dian Wei. Spear of Evil(+3 Power): Owned by Ji Ling. Sword of Fate(+2 Power): Owned by Liu Bei. Spear of Mortal Thorns(+3 Power): Owned by Shamoke in later scenarios. Shooting Star(+3 Power): Owned by Wang Shuang in later scenarios. The Hereditary Seal(Increases Ruler1s Charm and Leadership to 100.) SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE Ever get stuck at a point when your ruler suddenly passes on? Nobody lives forever. On Romance 4, unlike previous games, rulers may only die once they've passed the age of 50. Before that, the only time a ruler will die is if he is killed. The main facet in selecting your successor is Charisma. A ruler with above 90 in Charisma may get special volunteer soldiers, but this is not the only reason to appoint a charismatic successor. Charismatic men have an advantage in negotiating and recruiting. Leadership is another important factor, for reasons that should be obvious. One of the reasons that Cao Cao is such a good ruler to select is that he second in both Leadership(to Guan Yu) and Charisma(to Liu Bei.) Intellect and Political Ability are also important. While Power is a good bonus, it is probably the least important statistic to consider when picking your successor. Once your ruler reaches the age of 50, you should begin thinking of who you want your successor to be. Get all the stats beforehand, as the only statistic displayed on the screen to select the successor is Charisma. Cao Cao has his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi as options for his succession. Sun Jian has Sun Ce and Sun Quan, and Liu Bei has Liu Chan(though if you ask me Liu Chan sucks.) But, what do you do if these men are not available yet(or in the case of Liu Chan, you don't want to make him your successor.) Cao Cao has the option of Sima Yi, who doesn't appear until around 197. If he isn't available yet, you will just have to choose somebody else. Xiahou Dun actually makes a good choice to be your successor. Though it is rare that Sun Jian does not have either of his sons(heck, Sun Ce practically joins you right away in the first scenario) or the more likely scenario that Sun Ce is killed before Sun Quan joins, you'll have to look at your lists. One hint: Zhou Yu is the second-best overall officer in the game(behind Cao Cao.) As for Liu Bei, you have Zhuge Liang as a backup option, or you can also choose Guan Yu(if he is still available.) OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Why won't this officer join me? If you try and try to recruit an officer, but he repeatedly turns you down, chances are your ruler is not very virtuous. If you are playing on Historical mode, it may be that this officer is not very compatible with your ruler(such as Zhang Fei joining Cao Cao.) Why do I get a "Poor" rating as ruler every time I beat the game? Honestly, I don't know what goes into the game's determination of how good of a ruler you are. If you've got great cities and everything, it could be possible that you're taking too long to beat the game. Do you have any other questions about this game? Send me an e-mail. My e-mail address is yufan3@hotmail.com. This FAQ is ©1997-2000 by ZhangZhao. This FAQ or parts of it may not be reproduced on other sites without permission of the author.