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Romance of the Three Kingdoms X
A Guide by Greg Hartman
Contact: good_catholic_boy /at/ yahoo /dot/ com
aolim: goodcatholicboy9
Some caveats for contacting me:
-Please do not contact me if you are lame.
-If you are emailing me, please put something in the topic to indicate
that you are asking about this faq. I am very wary of emails from
people I don't know (you should be also). You may also feel free to
contact me via my im name, but I have found that I don't use instant
messanger nearly as much as I used to, so email is probably the surest way
to reach me.
-The only language I can speak with any degree of clarity is English.
Please, if you are contacting me, do so in English (although if you
require an answer that is only half-intelligible, German might work also).
Definitely do not bother emailing me in any other language; I won't even
respond.
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Version History
Version .5 (8/11/2005)
-first version - about halfway done with the 1st, unproofread version of
the guide.
-submitted to GameFAQs
Version .55 (8/13/05)
-finished the section on debates.
Version .75 (8/16/05)
-completed the section on the council
-added several frequent questions
Version .90 (8/25/05)
-completed the section on battles
-added an faq or two
Version 1.00 (8/30/05)
-completed the campaign section, only the appendices to go
-added some details in the officer interaction section
Version 1.01 (9/6/05)
-mostly a proofreading update, some minor additions
Version 1.02 (1/15/06)
-added a famous wives section
Version 1.03 (7/26/06)
-i reworked some writing at a critic's request.
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Table of Contents:
I. An Introductory Word
II. Starting a Game
III. Your Character
IV. The Town
V. Interacting with Other Officers
VI. The Council
VII. Battles and Units
VIII. Campaigns
IX. FAQs
X. Appendices
XI. Credits
XII. Legal
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I. Introduction
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 10, like many of the games before it in the
series, can be both frustrating and enjoyable to play. I say frustrating
mainly because the Romance series has a tendency to throw so many things
at a player at once, whether it be a huge amount of officer names, menus,
or cities. I intend this guide to be used as a means of becoming better
acquainted with the game without having to learn everything on the fly.
Unlike the game immediately preceding it, Romance 10 allows the player to
control a single officer throughout the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese
History. There are many new additions since this style of gameplay was
last attempted by KOEI (Romance 8), and many, although not all, of these
aspects were done really well. I'd recommend the game to anyone who has
really any interest at all in an rpg-styled strategy game.
Finally, I'd like to say a word about this guide in general. Although the
game is technically a strategy game, some of the information given here
could be considered a spoiler, so be warned if you are reading this before
even picking up the game. I don't plan on including any item, portrait,
etc lists in this guide in the near future, as these have already been
covered by other writers on this site. Any other suggestions for
additions will be warmly received.
This guide is based on the American PS2 version of Romance 10.
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II. Starting the Game
There are 9 different scenarios that are available to play. The 9th,
which is the usual "everybody is alive at the same time" fictional
scenario is unlocked by completing a game as an officer serving the force
that eventually unites China.
Unlike previous games in the series, however, there are a large amount of
historical events that take place throughout the game to make the
scenarios flow together. The scenarios are, in order:
1. February 184: "Revolt Awakens Heroric Ambitions" - The game opens with
the Yellow Turban rebellion breaking out and He Jin raising an army to
defeat them. Liu Bei's force starts out as a rogue army in Ji, while
Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo, Liu Yan, and Ma Teng all have their own cities. From
the standpoint of troop strength, however, no one comes close to matching
either the Yellow Turbans or He Jin.
2. September 189: "Dark Clouds over the Capital" - Here, Dong Zhuo has
seized the capital and rival lords have sprung up throughout the rest of
China in opposition. When playing on historical, this scenario is very
event heavy, but there are many different forces to serve or command, so
there can still be a lot of variety. This is generally my favorite
to play, although I think it is at its best with events turned off.
3. March 194: "Thunder Rolls from the Central Plains" - Relatively similar
to the prior scenario, the biggest single difference is that Dong Zhuo has
been murdered prior to this scenario and that Lu Bu and Sun Ce are rogue
armies. With events enabled and barring your own interference, both will
quickly seize cities and establish their forces. Both Cao Cao and Yuan
Shao are quite powerful, and Liu Bei is set to succeed Tao Quian. Again,
like the scenario before it, this time period sees a great deal of parity
between the rulers.
4. June 200: "Two Powers Collide at Guan Du" - This scenario really is the
turning point in the game from relatively many weak rulers to relatively
few powerfuls ones. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao both share a great deal of
power and are posed to strike at one another (to Yuan Shao's great
disadvantage, if you have events enabled), and Sun Ce has carved out a
little empire in Yangzhou. Although Liu Bei has a couple cities under
his control, they are both weak and won't last long against Cao Cao's
powerful army, especially with events enabled.
5. May 207: "A Dragon Rises as Chi Bi Burns" - Probably one of the best
scenarios if playing to see animated events, as several occur quite early
in the scenario. Cao Cao has conquered the entire north and has set his
eyes on Jingzhou. Liu Bei meanwhile searches for an advisor that will
be able to lead his army against such a force, while Sun Quan debates
whether to oppose Cao Cao's army or submit to it.
6. July 217: "Tremors of War Shake Han Zhong" - This is really the first
"Three Kingdoms" proper scenario. Liu Bei, having defeated Cao Cao at Chi
Bi, has since conquered Liu Zhang's territory and set his sights on the
north, while both Cao Cao and Sun Quan have their eye set on northern
Jing, defended by Guan Yu.
7. April 227: "A Struggle between Old Enemies" - The now obligatory
Zhuge Liang vs Sima Yi scenario. Having lost the Jing province to Wu,
Shu's warlord now turns to the north in an attempt to capture the central
plains. Sun Quan, although he has gained territory, is relatively equal
in power with where he was last scenario.
8. August 253: "The Lonely Legacy of the Dead" - The final historical
scenario sees Shu on the brink of disaster. Zhuge Liang's successor,
Jiang Wei, makes his final attempts to push north to seize the central
plains while Shu whithers from within due to Liu Shan's poor rule. Wei,
although strong militarily, also suffers from internal strife and is not
long for the world.
9. January 250: "Heroes Across Time" - The only fictional scenario in this
installment places every officer from the entire period into a single game
with unlimited lifespans. The only way an officer will die is if he is
beheaded by another ruler. A fun scenario, but also one that sees many
rulers unable to manage such large armies with little resources. Cao Cao
is also difficult to defeat.
There are several ways you can choose to select your character. The most
straightforward is to simply select the scenario you wish to play and then
pick an officer from that scenario. Alternatively, you can answer a
series of questions and the game will suggest a character for you based
on your own personality. Finally, the game has several important officers
prepackaged with scenarios from which you can select.
The final decisions to make are with regard to the games options. Almost
all of these are self explanatory, so I'll only mention the really
important ones:
Difficulty (advanced or beginner) - On advanced, the AI controlled empires
are more aggressive, build armies more quickly, and generally slaughter
prefects you control. The manual mentions that playing on advanced also
reduces revenue in your cities, but this is harder to notice. It also
hides the loyalty ratings of enemy officers, which I think is a very
cool option.
Mode (historic or fictional) - Historical allows officers to behave as
they did in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, whereas fictional
randomizes AI control. Playing with Historical mode on but events off
maintains historial relations between rulers and officers, but disables
events that would normally occur.
Events (on or off) - With this turned on, important events from the novel
that could not be duplicated with gameplay will occur if specific
conditions are met (for example, Tao Qian falling ill and leaving his
territory to Liu Bei). This cannot be set to "On" if the game mode is
in fictional. Leaving this enabled will result in Cao Cao dominating
many of the early scenarios (unless of course you interfere with the
events yourself).
? (Lifespan extensions on or off) - Enabling this command will lengthen
all the officers in the game's lifespans by a good amount. This can be
unlocked by completing scenario 9 as an officer or ruler of the force
that unites China.
After confirming options, the game will begin.
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III. Your character
Probably the most important part of the game is understanding your own
officer's abilities. All of this information can be accessed any time
during the game by pressing circle and picking "self." The information
is broken up into several different subcategories. The following
information, however, is always present:
1. Your officer's portrait
2. The force which you serve, and, below it, the district to which you
report. Every force is organized first into districts, ruled by
viceroys, and then into cities, ruled by prefects. The first district
is always ruled by the sovereign of the force, and subsequent districts
can have any officer of class 2 or higher appointed to govern as
viceroy. An individual officer reports first to his prefect, who
reports to the viceroy, who in turn reports to the ruler. Of course,
every officer owes his allegiance first to the ruler.
3. Your officer's rank. As I mentioned above, the ranks go in order from
vassal -> prefect -> viceroy -> ruler. If your officer is free, he
will have no rank.
4. Your officer's class. This is on a scale of 1-9, with 9 being the
lowest. Class affects seasonal salary, with class 1 officers obviously
earning the most. It also determines how many troops you can command in
the field, using the algorithm 11 - (class) = (number of units to
command). Officers with rank 5 or higher can be promoted to prefect,
and officers with rank 2 or higher can be promoted to viceroy.
5. Your officer's deeds. Deeds determine your class. Your officer gains
deeds by satisfactorily performing duties, regardless of whether he is
a vassal or a viceroy. The better you are at completing your duties,
the more deeds you will gain when you report your successes. The max
is 60000.
The following is listed when you select the corresponding box from the
top of the screen:
1. Abilities (all abilities are from 1-100, before the application of
any special items.)
A. LDR - How well an officer leads troops in the fields. Among
the most important of the stats, leadership primarily determines how
effective your troops are in the field, whether it be in a regular
battle or a campaign. It also affects the drill and order commands
in your city.
B. WAR - How well an officer can fight/how strong he is. Helps the most
in duels, but also effects how well you can repair the city gates.
The manual claims this also affects how often you are injured in
battle, but I haven't noticed a very strong correlation there. If
you can avoid duels (which is actually pretty difficult), this stat
is not as critical as you might expect.
c. INT - Arguably the most important stat. The higher your INT,
the more commands you get when debating, the less susceptible your
character is to tactics in battle, and the more often your own
tactics succeed. It also effects your action points in battle, as
well as how well you can use the diplomacy commands and improve
technology in your city.
d. POL - Probably the least important stat. Political ability affects
how well an officer develops the farmland or marketplace.
e. CHR - How well an officer interacts with other officers. This
ability affects many of the non-battle tactics, as well as the
diplomacy commands. It also affects your ability to debate and
improves your chances of building a friendship with another officer.
f. LDR exp - Your experience in Leadership. Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer. Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
g. WAR exp - Your experience in War. Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer. Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
h. INT exp - Your experience in Intelligence. Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer. Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
i. POL exp - Your experience in Politics. Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer. Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
j. CHR exp - Your experience in Charisma. Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer. Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
k. Health - Your officer's health. Decreases from Good -> Weakened ->
Struggling -> Dying -> (officer dies). As your health decreases,
your abilities lower. Unless your officer is very old, he will
eventually recover from injuries; otherwise he will die. Your
officer can treat injuries at a city with an Infirmary or with the
doctor skill.
2. Skills - Skills are divided into 6 Categories: Domestics, Battle,
Tactics, Duel, Debate, and Renown. A skill that is highlighted is
a skill your officer currently has; a skill that has its name outlined
in blue is a skill your officer has the ability to learn.
Since there are so many skills, I'll use the following format to
describe them:
NAME: (Name of the skill)
EFFECT: (What the skill allows you to do)
LEARNED: (How you learned the skill)
RATING: (is the skill worth learning)
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Domestic Skills
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NAME: Farm
EFFECT: Allows your character to work at the farms for up to 50 days at a
a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve farmland.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 farm experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time. Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Trade
EFFECT: Allows your character to trade for up to 50 days at a time,
theoretically increasing his ability to improve trade.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 trade experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time. Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Tech
EFFECT: Allows your character to work at the blacksmith for up to 50 days
at a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve the city's
tech rating.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 tech experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time. Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Repair
EFFECT: Allows your character to repair the gate for up to 50 days
at a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve the city's
defense rating.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 repair experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time. Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Order
EFFECT: Allows your character to raise the city's order for up to 50 days
at a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve the city's
order.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 order experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time. Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
*Note that although these skills are essentially worthless for your
character, if you are a prefect they are quite useful for your
subordinates. When the computer simulates how well an officer does a
task, having the correct domestic ability greatly improves his success.
NAME: Hire
EFFECT: Hired soldiers come with 50 experience and 50 morale, instead of
30.
LEARNED: Acquire 100 each of Foot, Horse, and Bow units experience,
befriend an officer who has the skill, ask him to teach you about
politics, and he may teach you the skill. Cai Yan, the poetess, also
teaches the Domestic skills if you build up your relation with her and
have the experience.
RATING: Pretty useful, especially if you need to supplement units with
high experience ratings but maintain a high skill level.
NAME: Drill
EFFECT: Training units raises morale and experience above 100.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 each of Foot, Horse, and Bow units experience,
befriend an officer who has the skill, ask him to teach you about
politics, and he may teach you the skill. Cai Yan, the poetess, also
teaches the Domestic skills if you build up your relation with her and
have the experience.
RATING: Well, it's the only way to raise experience and morale above 100
besides fighting in a battle, so it's pretty valuable.
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Battle Skills
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NAME: Charge
EFFECT: Allows your officer to use the charge tactic in battle. Charging
the enemy will sometimes push them back a square (common), sometimes
confuse them (rarely), and sometimes force a duel (almost never). It
always raises your unit's morale and lowers the morale of the target.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 Horse experience and ask a friend to teach you. Huang
Cheng Yan also teaches these skills.
RATING: Charge is somewhat useful, but really doesn't do much more damage
than a regular attack and takes more action points to use. Still, this
skill is worth learning.
NAME: Missle
EFFECT: Allows your unit to shoot fire arrows in battle. Fire arrows do
more damage than regular arrows and have a reasonable chance of setting
the target terrain on fire, causing additional damage.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 bow experience and learn it from another officer.
Huang Cheng Yan also teaches it.
RATING: Among the best skills in the game. Fire arrows are very powerful,
as are the flames they cause.
NAME: Unison
EFFECT: Allows your unit to bring other allied units when attacking an
enemy unit. The assisting unit will take no damage.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 foot experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Better than charge. Unison attacks are worth the action points
they require. This is one of the better battle skills.
NAME: Settle
EFFECT: Allows your unit to calm a unit that is confused or agitated.
In a campaign, it allows you to use "calm," which does the same thing.
LEARNED: Take part in 5 battles and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Useful in some situations, but hardly essential. Most units rally
themselves fairly quickly without going out of your way to rescue them with
this tactic. It's really easy to meet the learning requirements though, so
it's one you're likely to get just by playing anyway.
NAME: Surprise
EFFECT: Allows your unit to attack a unit anywhere on the battlefield,
but only during inclement weather. In a campaign, it allows you to use
"raid," which does essentially the same thing.
LEARNED: Win 20 battles and learn it from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Not really worth learning. In a regular battle, the tactic really
only works on a unit that is confused or agitated; otherwise you will
suffer some relatively high casualties. I've never seen it work in a
campaign.
NAME: Rally
EFFECT: Allows your unit to rally an adjacent unit and raise their morale.
In a campaign it allows you to use "encourage," which does essentially
the same thing.
LEARNED: Fight in 10 battles and learn it from another officer or Huang
Cheng Yan.
RATING: Effective and easy to learn. If you use it several times in a row
you can really have a big effect on your unit's morale.
NAME: Distract
EFFECT: Allows your unit to use the 'sneak' command in battle and the
'distract' command in a campaign. I've not had much experience with the
campaign tactic, as I've never seen it work. Sneak prevents your unit
from being ambushed and ignores zone of control rules.
LEARNED: 10 victories in battle.
RATING: Sneaking is only worth the huge points cost if you absolutely need
to be in a particular spot at a particular time. This situation rarely
arises. You won't use this tactic very much.
------------
Tactics
------------
NAME: Blunder
EFFECT: Use in battle to trick two adjacent enemy units to attack one
another.
LEARNED: Gain 200 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Among the best skills in the game, especially when defending.
Blunder does a huge amount of damage on both units and you can use it
several times per turn. It really is a must have skill.
NAME: Stun
EFFECT: Allows you to use the scare tactic in battle, which delays an
enemy unit's turn and lowers their morale. The "stun" battle skill does
the same thing in a campaign.
LEARNED: Gain 300 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Although the computer loves to use the scare tactic in battle, it
is not terribly effective. It uses many action points, so you are
essentially wasting half your turn for the chance to delay your opponents.
There are some instances where it is useful, but not too many.
NAME: Entice
EFFECT: In battle, entice agitates an enemy unit so the commander
disobeys all orders and beelines for the commander that taunted him. It
also makes his unit very vulnerable to the confuse tactic. A taunted
commander will usually accept an offer to duel. This skill also allows
the lure tactic in campaigns, which does essentially the same thing, but
works less often.
LEARNED: Gain 400 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: If you happen to be playing as an officer that has high WAR and
high INT, this skill is among the best. Entice, confuse, duel; or even
entice, duel - both are very effective, assuming of course you win the
duel. Even if you do not have a high war officer, it is useful to use
this tactic often because it makes the enemy unit vulnerable to other
tactics as well. This is one of the better skills.
NAME: Confuse
EFFECT: Allows you to confuse the enemy troop in battle, which prevents
them from moving or acting. The unit will remain that way until it is
either settled by another enemy unit or until the commander regains
control, which usually takes a few days. During this time the commander
will be very likely to accept a duel. It also lets you use 'discourage'
in a campaign, which, like all campaign commands, almost never works.
LEARNED: Gain 500 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: A pretty good tactic, but hardly an essential one. Unless you
have very high INT and the enemy unit is has pretty low INT, this will
rarely work unless his unit is already enticed. It also uses a lot of
action points to use. When it works though you are likely to crush the
enemy unit before he can pull it back together.
NAME: Aero
EFFECT: Allows your officer to control the weather and wind.
LEARNED: Gain 600 tactics experience and 400 tech experience and learn it
from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Fairly useful. If you don't mind exploiting the AI, change the
weather to fog and move a ram next to their gate and you can level it
quickly. You can also use it to set fires when defending, then change the
wind to point towards the enemy. This is also one of the few ways to
gain wizadry experience without performing a request at the tavern.
NAME: Geomancy
EFFECT: Allows your officer to use the terrain to his advantage in battle
(ie the "pit" and "boulder" commands). When carrying out search requests
at the tavern, this command reveals the location of the treasure, bandit,
etc for which you are searching when you move the cursor over it.
LEARNED: Gain 600 tactics experience and 400 inspect experience and learn
it from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Among the best tactics in the game. Pit and boulder are both
excellent tactics to use against enemies, and the ability to quickly find
your goal in searches will save you plenty of frustration and time.
NAME: Maze
EFFECT: Build mazes during campaigns or by marching to a base. Mazes
confuse enemy units that approach them.
LEARNED: Gain 700 tactics and 400 repair experience and learn it from
another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Not very good. I usually build camps, forts, etc instead of mazes.
-------------
Duel Commands
-------------
NAME: Recover
EFFECT: Use 3 evades to gain health in a duel.
LEARNED: Fight in 5 duels and learn from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Probably the worst duel skill. Evades are more useful for, well,
evading powerful attacks.
NAME: Shout
EFFECT: Use 3 slices to gain musou in a duel.
LEARNED: Fight in 15 duels and learn from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Pretty decent, but only because it trumps all other duel skills.
NAME: Scare
EFFECT: Use 3 slashes to gain musuo and deplete your opponent's in a duel.
LEARNED: Fight in 30 duels and learn from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Slightly better than shout.
NAME: Crush
EFFECT: Use three stabs to hit your opponent pretty hard.
LEARNED: Win 10 duels and learn from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Pretty good, but gets trumped by any other duel special besides
the generic skills.
NAME: Maul
EFFECT: Use 3 strikes to inflict a ton of damage on your opponent.
LEARNED: Win 30 duels and learn from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Better than Crush, but still trumped by almost anything.
NAME: Parry
EFFECT: Use 3 swings to counter your opponent's attacks for a round.
LEARNED: Win 10 duels in a row and learn from another officer or Huang
Cheng Yan.
RATING: The second best duel skill. Trumps everying besides the shout and
scare tactics, and will destroy someone that uses maul or crush on you.
NAME: Counter
EFFECT: Use 3 swipes to strongly counter your opponent's attacks for a
round.
LEARNED: Win 30 duels in a row and learn from another officer or Huang
Cheng Yan.
RATING: The best duel skill, but a hard one to learn. Will mutilate
anyone that thinks about using any attack special on you.
-------------
Debate Skills
-------------
NAME: Awe
EFFECT: Damages the enemy in a debate every turn it is on the board.
LEARNED: Take place in 15 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: A pretty decent debate skill, especially if you know your opponent
is likely to use incite, since even if he uses it and you won't be able to
act, you will still be doing some damage while you wait.
NAME: Plead
EFFECT: Prevents the enemy from using an attack command in a debate when
held in your hand. If you use it as a regular command it will disarm
your opponent's plead/refute cards.
LEARNED: Win 10 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Also good, especially if your opponent has a lot of attack
commands.
NAME: Fault
EFFECT: An attack command that trumps all regular commands.
LEARNED: Take place in 5 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Relatively useful, but hardly the best command in debates.
NAME: Argue
EFFECT: A stronger version of fault.
LEARNED: Take place in 30 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Slightly better than fault.
NAME: Refute
EFFECT: Counters an enemy's attack command in a debate when held in your
hand. Disarms the enemy's refute commands when used as a regular card.
LEARNED: Win 30 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: If it isn't the best debate skill, it is pretty close. If your
opponent uses a very strong attack skill and you're holding this card
you will likely defeat him immediately.
NAME: Incite
EFFECT: Trumps argue/fault and makes your opponent inactive for 2 turns.
LEARNED: Win 10 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Among the best debate skills, unless of course your opponent has
a refute card. Generally with 2 free hits on your opponent you can do
some serious damage.
NAME: Taunt
EFFECT: Trumps every other command, makes your opponent inactive for 2
turns, and inflicts strong damage in a debate.
LEARNED: Win 30 straight debates (no easy task) and then defeat either
Zuo Ci or Mi Heng in a debate (also not easy). Zuo Ci frequents the Ba-
Shu area, while Mi Heng tends to stick to the Qingzhou area.
RATING: The only card that comes close to matching it is refute, and
that's because refute could potentially turn an opponent's taunt right
back on them. Generally, one use of this bad boy will mean disaster for
your opponent, unless they refute it in your face.
-------------
Renown Skills
-------------
NAME: Warlord
EFFECT: Allows your officer to use the agitate and destroy tactics against
an enemy city, regardless of your rank and current orders. Allows you to
use the direct command in battle, which allows you to control another unit
out of turn. A subordinate who has this skill will offer you advice
during the council if you are a prefect.
LEARNED: Automatically learned if you have 70 Intelligence and 700 tactics
experience.
RATING: Well, most of the renown skills are good, and warlord is no
exception. The direct command is very powerful, and it's always nice to
be able to freely destroy a neighboring city.
NAME: Hero
EFFECT: Private units are free, since any peon would willingly die for
such a charismatic leader. As a vassal, you can freely recruit any free
officer you see, regardless of your orders. As a rogue army, you can
simply persuade a vacant city rather than besiege it. When entering a
hostile city, you can challenge the guard to a debate rather than dueling
him.
LEARNED: Earn 700 fame and then build up a relationship with Qiao Xuan or
Xu Shao and they will teach you the skill.
RATING: A must have skill, especially for an officer with very low war
ability, since it will save you plenty of money bribing guards who would
wipe the floor with you in a duel. It's also very useful not to have to
be ordered to recruit someone as a vassal. One of the best skills.
NAME: Admiral
EFFECT: Your officer is a better fighter on water, cannot be swept away by
the current, and has double mobility when commanding any naval unit.
LEARNED: Automatically learned when you achieve 500 naval experience.
RATING: Hardly the best renown skill, but very useful if you are fighting
in the south.
NAME: Spy
EFFECT: Your officer leaves a permanent spy in any city he surveys. Also
allows your officer to attempt to sneak into an enemy city or escape
capture from a bandit.
LEARNED: Automatically learned when you achieve 700 inspect experience.
RATING: Very good skill if you routinely are forced to investigate cities
yourself. If you are playing as a prefect, however, it is much easier
just to send a subordinate with the skill to do your surveying for you.
Interestingly, if you have the SPY command and a friend gives you
information about an enemy city the game assumes that you have planted a
spy there and the information will be permanent.
NAME: Host
EFFECT: Allows the use of the banquet command in the tavern. Banquets
raise friendship with all the officers who attend by a good deal, but cost
money and take 10 days.
LEARNED: Automatically learned when you achieve 200 drinking experience.
RATING: Not bad, but hardly an essential skill. It's not that hard to
build friendships just through talking, especially since officers don't
hang out at the tavern too much.
NAME: Doctor
EFFECT: Lets you use the heal command in battle, which heals some wounded
troops for a small use of action points. Allows you to heal injured
officers, and makes your own officer recover more quickly from illnesses.
LEARNED: Acquire 400 farm, trade, and order experience and talk to Hua
Tuo. Yu Ji can also give you a book that teaches the skill, but you must
meet the requirements first.
RATING: Healing soldiers in battle is pretty useful, but the other
abilities given by this skill rarely come in use. It's not essential, but
nice to have if you have met the requirements anyway.
NAME: Wizard
EFFECT: Allows you to baffle the guards of hostile cities with your
amazing magical abilities, allowing you to enter the city freely. In
battle, it allows you to use the lightning command, presupposing that you
have the Geo and Aero skills.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 Wizard experience and learn it from either Yu Ji or
Zuo Ci.
RATING: Overrated, although not if you have no other way to enter cities.
Lightning is good, but cheesy.
3. Individual
A. Gender/Age - relatively self explanatory.
B. Years served - the number of years you have served your ruler. This
has really no effect on your character, but when viewing other
officers, the longer they have served a ruler, the less likely they
are to betray him.
C. Loyalty - loyalty to current force. Obviously, this does not display
for the controlled character, since you decide how loyal he is. On
advanced, this also does not appear for enemy officers.
D. Fame - how famous your officer is on a scale of 1-1000. The higher
this is, the more likely an ruler is likely to employ you if you
apply. If this is high, there is also a higher chance of the
townspeople assisting you with any developmental task. It increases
as you complete requests for the townspeople at the tavern, capture
enemy cities, recruit officers for your lord, or go out of your way
and use your own money to improve your city.
E. Friendship - This also obviously only displays for other officers,
and it shows your current friendship level with the displayed
officer. Friendships go from nemesis -> stranger -> aware ->
acquainted -> friend -> trusted -> close -> oath. See the section
on interacting with other officers for more information.
F. Orders - Displays if you currently have any active orders. This is
much more efficiently displayed by pressing the L2 button.
G. Progress - Again, this info is better displayed by pressing L2.
If you are viewing another officer, it will say either "preparing"
or "active," depending on his progress.
H. Spouse - Lists the spouse of the officer. There is no way to marry
during the game, but if you create a new female officer, you can set
her as your wife and vice versa. If your wife is not an officer in
the game, she will be located at your house.
I. Oath - Lists the oath brothers of another officer or yourself. You
can have up to 3. An oath brother will always join you if he is not
currently employed and will declare anyone who kills you his nemesis.
If your character is to die, you can continue the game as one of
your oath brothers. Officers can ask to make an oath anytime you
are drinking with them.
4. Biography - Displays your character's biography from the Romance of the
Three Kingdoms novel.
5. Experience - Lists all your experience levels, which are used for
learning skills. This does not display for other officers.
6. Private Unit - Displays info on your private unit. Note that you can
only have a private unit as a free officer.
A. Type - The type of unit. See the section on battles for more info.
B. Exp. - The experience of your unit. Generally, the more the better.
This can be raised by training your unit at the barracks. Recruiting
will lower it.
C. Morale - The morale of your private unit.
D. Pay - An essentially boolean indicator that shows whether or not you
have to pay your private unit. A private unit costs 30 gold per
month unless you have the Hero skill.
-------------------------------------------
Some tips on having a succcessful character
-------------------------------------------
1. In most circumstances, stats are more important than skills. The
most notable exception to this, however, is in debates, where you can and
will get demolished even with 100 INT if you don't have any skills. This
is somewhat less of a problem in duels, but skills are still important.
2. Focus on learning skills that are worth the time and gold investments.
Most of the domestic skills, for example, are pretty much useless and not
worth actively pursuing unless you are attempting to learn all the skills
in one playthrough.
3. It is very, very time consuming to build stats in this game. If a
major part of your game is going to be devoted to character development,
I would recommend an officer with abilities relatively close to what you'd
be satisfied with, but relatively few skills.
4. Generally, I find it more fulfilling to play through the game with a
relatively balanced character and trying not to pick up too many skills
throughout the game, but that is personal preference.
5. If your officer has a very poor war but many debate skills, the HERO
skill is practically essential, because it will get you out of some sticky
situations when traveling through China. With the skill, you can debate
ruffians who would otherwise rob you blind. There is nothing worse than
losing 100,000 gold to a bandit because you were too cheap to offer him
more than 100 gold not to hurt you (it has happened to me).
6. Choose oath brothers whom you wouldn't mind controlling. It's not
unheard of for your officer to get beheaded by another ruler, especially
if you switch rulers often. This is especially true if your officer has
no relatives that are worth while.
7. Learning a debate or duel skill from another officer requires that you
can beat them in either of these tests. It is best to learn from an
officer you are fairly confident you can defeat, otherwise it will take
a very long time. If you are trying to defeat Mi Heng or Zuo Ci for the
taunt skill, there isn't much I can say but "good luck." REFUTE is
completely essential.
**********************************************************
IV. The Town
Regardless of your character's rank, he will spend the majority of his
time around his home city completing various tasks. The following are
the facilities present in the various cities in Romance 10:
(Facilities with a * before the name are present in every city. Those
without the * are only available in certain cities. See the apendix
section for a chart of facilities and in which cities they are present.
When listing commands, those in parentheses are commands that can only
be caried out by a vassal when he is ordered. Commands that are in
brackets can only be carried out by the city's prefect. Certain commands
can also only be used on an enemy city. In these circumstances, I will
indicate as such).
--------------------
Military Facilities
--------------------
*Barracks - Present in every city, the barracks are where soldiers
gather and train for combat. The following commands are selectable at
the barracks:
1. (Establish) - Draft soldiers to form a new unit. The cost to form
the unit is twice what it would be to supplement an existing unit
with new troops. Unless there are special facilities present in the
city, you will only be able create Foot, Horse, or Bow units. The
higher the acting officer's charisma and fame, the more troops will
gather at his command. A city of size S can hold 5 units, of
size M can hold 10, of size L can hold 15, and of size XL can
hold 20. (Takes 10 days)
2. (Drill) - Drill a unit at the barracks. Unless the acting officer
has the DRILL skill, the max morale and experience through training
is 100. If your officer has high fame, there is a chance that the
troops will be especially well motivated and the increase will be
larger. The higher your officer's leadership, the better the results.
(Takes 10 days).
3. (Recruit) - Supplement an existing unit's number of troops with new
"volunteers." If your officer has the HIRE skill, he will manage to
enlist better recruits. In any case, new soldiers require training
before they are effective on the battlefield. The higher your
officer's charisma, the more effective he will be at recruiting.
(Takes 10 days).
4. [Edit] - Merge or disband current units. Merging units will average
the morale and skill of the two units. Obviously, you can only
merge units of the same type. Disbanded units return to the city's
population. (Takes 1 day).
5. [Upgrade] - Upgrade a unit to the next higher type. Only certain
units can be upgraded, and require a minimum experience level to do so.
See the section on battles and units for more info. Upgrading costs
nothing and takes place instantly.
6. Interact - Speak with another officer who is at the barracks. See
the section on interactions for more info.
7. Observe - Listen to rumors that are circulating the facility. You
may learn about a city in the region's specialty, about the presence
of a free but undiscovered officer, or you may get a hint about
gameplay. If a hidden officer is present, you will uncover him and
be given the chance to hire him. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Foot) - A facility relatively common throughout China, the Foot
Garrison allows you to upgrade units from Foot to Infantry when they
reach 300 experience. There are only two commands present here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Bow) - A facility relatively common throughout China, the Bow
Garrison allows you to upgrade units from Bow to Crossbow when they reach
300 experience. There are only two commands present here:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Horse) - A facility relatively common throughout the land, the
Horse Garrison allows you to upgrade units from Horse to Cavalry when
they reach 300 experience. There are only two commands present here:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Horsebow) - A relatively rare facility, found only in the more
northern regions of China, the Horsebow Garrison allows you to establish
the powerful horsebow unit. Like all the Garrisons, your only options
are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Savage) - Another relatively rare facility found primarily in
the southwestern provinces of China, the Savage Garrison allows you to
establish Savage units. The two possible commands are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Elephant) - A quite rare facility found only in the extreme
southwestern cities of China, the Elephant Garrison allows you to
establish the powerful but unpredictable Elephant units. The two
possible commands here are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Armored) - Another rare facility found only in the southwestern
regions of China, the Armored Garrison allows the establishment of Armored
units (formerly called Nanman soldiers, or Rattan Armored soldiers). The
only two commands are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Machine Yard - Allows the construction of various war machines depending
on the cities tech level. There are quite a few cities that have this
facility. The higher the technology level of the city, the more weapons
that can be created. The following commands are present.
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day)
3. (Weapon) - Outfit a unit with a specific unit. The cost varies
depending on the weapon being build. (Takes 20 days).
Shipyard - Allows the construction of either ramships or warships, which
make units fight much more effectively on water. Relatively common in
the southeast area of China near the Yangtze River, but only in a few
cities elsewhere. The following commands are present there:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day)
3. (Ship) - Outfit a unit with either a ramship or a warship. (Takes
20 days).
Foundry - Improves the ability of other facilities to improve units or
build weapons. The following combinations exist:
Foundry + Foot Garrison = Sentinel upgrades at 500 unit experience.
Foundry + Horse Garrison = Tiger upgrades at 500 unit experience.
Foundry + Bow Garrison = Marksmen upgrades at 500 unit experience.
Foundry + Machine Yard = Juggernauts and wood oxen can be built.
Foundry + Shipyard = Warships can be built.
The following commands are available:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
--------------------
Civilian Facilities
--------------------
Home - Your officer's home. This obviously only appears in the city in
which your character lives. Visiting your home will occasionally cause
your friends to drop by for some conversation, a debate, drink, or a duel.
Also, forces hostile to your force will periodically send messengers to
your house in an attempt to recruit you or arrange for your betrayal.
The following commands are available in your house:
1. Wait - Stand by idle for anywhere between 1 and 90 days.
2. Resign - Abandon your current force and become a free officer.
3. Interact - Speak with your wife. Only characters set to have wives
will have anyone present here. If your character is married to a
fictional wife, she won't be at your home, as she is also an officer.
4. Organize - Form a rogue army in this city. This option is only
available if you are a free officer with a personal unit. You will
be given the option to invite any officers currently in the city
to join your army. From here, you will move to the rogue army
commands.
5. Relocate - This command is only available to free officers. It moves
your home city to any other city currently on the map.
*Tavern - The city's tavern, where the common people drink and the nobles
look for talent to complete tasks. The following commands are available
here:
1. Banquet - Hold a banquet. You can invite any officers that are
presently at the tavern. This command requires that your officer has
the HOST skill. Officers who attend the banquet will have their
friendship level rise dramatically. (takes 10 days)
2. Requests - Browse the current tasks for which the nobles are hiring.
Completing a task usually requires visiting another city or searching
an area on the map, possibly fighting a duel or winning an debate,
and returning to the original tavern. Your reward will usually be
gold and a fame bonus. After assuming a task, you can always view
the current requirements by pressing the L2 button.
3. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Tavern.
4. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
5. (Agitate) (enemy cities only) - Attempt to spread rumors in order to
lower the order rating of an enemy city. The higher your officer's
intelligence, the more damage this command will do to order. If
you have exceptional success, the townspeople may agree to revolt,
and you will be able to use the revolt tactic in the next battle.
(takes 10 days)
6. (Rumor) (enemy cities only) - Attempt to spread a malicious rumor
about a rival lord's officer in order to lower his loyalty. The
higher your officer's intelligence, the better success you will have
in spreading the rumor. (takes 10 days)
7. (Disrupt) (enemy cities only) - Attempt to spread rumors in order
to damage relations between two rival forces. The higher your
officer's intelligence, the better success you will have in spreading
the rumor. (takes 10 days)
8. Private Unit - These commands are available only to free officers;
there are several subcommands here:
A. Establish - Establish a private unit. You can only establish
units that could be established within the limitations of the
city's facilities. (takes 10 days)
B. Recruit - Add soldiers to your private unit. (takes 10 days)
C. Upgrade - Upgrade your private unit. You need the proper city
facility to be present in order to do this.
D. Drill - Drill your private unit. (takes 10 days)
E. Disband - Disband your private unit.
Infirmary - A relatively rare and of little use facility, the Infirmary
allows your officer to heal himself if he were to be wounded in battle.
It also tempers the effects of the plague. The following commands are
available here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Infirmary.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Heal - Heal any wounds your officer may have received. (takes 20
days).
Flood Control - Another not too useful facility, the Flood Control
upgrade tempers damage that might occur from a typhoon or flooding. There
isn't much to do here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Flood
Control improvement.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
Granary - Slightly more useful than the Flood Control improvement, the
Granary reduces potential damage from locust swarms. Again, there isn't
much to do here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Granary.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
Shelter - Perhaps the most useless of any improvement, the Shelter reduces
the order penalty that takes place when an earthquake (the rarest
disaster) occurs. The manual also indicates that it hastens population
growth, but I am unsure about this claim. There are only two commands
here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Shelter.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
School of POL, INT, WAR, LDR - These facilities allow your character to
train a specific stat for a period of time, increasing its experience, and,
ultimately, his abilities. The following commands are present at these
facilities:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the School.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Train (stat) - Train the stat in which the school specializes.
Training is more effective if the current city also has the Lecture
Hall improvement. (takes 20 days)
Lecture Hall - When coupled with a School of an ability, the Lecture Hall
increases the effectiveness of training as well as the maximum stat that
can be reach through training at the school. There are, however, only 2
commands present at the actual Lecture Hall facility:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Lecture
Hall.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
Exchange - One of the best non-military improvements for a city, the
Exchange allows an officer to wager 1000 gold in an attempt for greater
gain. The following commands are present here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Exchange.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Deal - Wager 1000 gold in a deal at the Exchange. There are three
basic outcomes:
A. The deal goes very well, and you win an item.
B. The deal goes well, and you return about 1.8 times your investment.
C. The deal goes poorly, and you return about .3 times your
investment.
The Exchange is an important improvement for two basic reasons.
First, it allows your character to win items relatively cheaply
compared with the high prices at the Bazaar. Secondly, there are
several items that can only be won at the Exchange and can not be
found elsewhere.
Bazaar - Another important facility, the Bazaar allows your character to
buy a variety of items from the merchants of the town. The following
commands are present here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Bazaar.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Buy - Buy an item from the merchant. (takes 1 day per item).
4. Sell - Sell an item to the merchant. Items are sold for 2/3 of the
price for which they are purchased. (takes 1 day per item).
Observatory - Essentially a novelty improvement, the Observatory allows
your character to gauge either his or another officer's lifespan, as well
as predict natural disasters. The only real use for this facility is to
earn wizardry experience, but, of course, there are better ways
(specifically requests) to do so. Anyway, the following commands are
present at the Observatory:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Observatory.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Fortune - Reveal how much time an officer has left to live. You can
pick any officer with whom you are acquainted. This costs 100 gold
and takes 1 day.
4. Forecast - Ask the observatory official the current forecast for
disasters. Am I the only one who finds it funny that they consider
the Han Emperor a disaster? Anyway, this almost useless command
costs 500 gold. The only way I could even imagine this feature of
the observatory being useful is if, for some reason, you wanted to
fight a battle in extremely inclement weather.
----------------------
Government Facilities
----------------------
*Castle - The administrative center of the city, and generally where a
prefect will spend the majority of his time (especially if he is
controlled by the computer). Note that you cannot enter the castle if
the city is controlled by a force but does not have a prefect currently
assigned to govern it. The following commands are available here:
1. [Vault] - Two choices here: withdraw or deposit. In Romance 10,
prefects have free reign with the city's money and can take as much
as they see fit as their personal gold. Just make sure not to rob
the city to the point it is no longer self-sufficient.
2. [Deliberate] - One of the most annoying parts about being a prefect
is having to constantly deal with your complaining population. Every
30 days or so, a new "petition" will appear in your city's queue.
Any time there are more than 10 petitions, the city will suffer a
substantial order penalty, which means, as a prefect, you need to
stay on top of your petitions. Any petition you agree to support
takes 10 days and (usually) some gold from the city. Refusing a
civilian's petition will cause your fame to decrease.
3. Council - Visit the Council Chamber. Note that if you are a vassal
and currently have a task, you will automatically be taken to the
Council if you enter the Castle.
4. Visit - Meet with an officer who is currently inside the castle. For
the most part, officers will refuse to meet with you when they are
in the castle unless any of the following apply:
A. You need to meet them for some task (most likely a request).
B. Your friendship with the officer is already "friend" or higher.
C. Your fame is very high. I would say the 600+ range or so.
If an officer agrees to meet you, you will interact with him as
though you met him at any other facility.
5. (Diplomacy) (other ruler's capital only) - Act as an envoy between
your force and the force that owns this city. All of the diplomatic
council commands are executed in this way. There is a high chance
that you will be offered a debate if the other ruler does not
wholeheartedly agree with your proposal.
*Farmland - The farms surrounding the city, and the area that produces the
food used to feed your armies. The max development for the farms
increases as the scale of the city grows. There are three commands here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Farms.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Farm - Work the farm land. This costs 100 gold and takes at least
10 days.
*Marketplace - The city's marketplace, where people come to trade various
goods. This area produces revenue for the city through taxes. The max
trade value of a city raises as the scale of the city grows. The
following commands are present here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Market.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Trade - Invest money to develop the commercial sector of the town.
This costs 100 gold and takes at least 10 days.
4. [Buy Food] - Use the city's gold to purchase food for the army.
(takes 1 day).
5. [Sell Food] - Sell some of the city's food in exchange for gold.
(takes 1 day).
*Blacksmith - The city's technological center, where artisans work to
develop new weapons for the city. Maxing out a city's technology level
also allows the city to be expanded. The following commands are available
at the Blacksmith:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Blacksmith.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Tech - Invest 100 gold to increase the town's technological
development. This takes at least 10 days.
*Walls - The walls of the city are used to keep undesirables (in this case,
enemy armies) away from the population of the city and its council
chamber. This facility also allows an officer to expand the city's scale.
The following commands are present:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Walls.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Repair - Spend 100 gold and at least 10 days to repair the walls
surrounding the city.
4. (Expand) - Expand the scale of the city. This costs anywhere between
5000 and 50000 gold, depending on the present size of the city. The
city must have maxed out its technology rating in order for it to
be eligible for expansion. (Takes 50 days).
5. (Destroy) (Rival cities only) - Attempt to damage the walls of a
rival city. The higher your officer's intelligence stat, the
greater your success will be. Each attempt costs 100 gold and takes
10 days.
*Guardhouse - The guardhouse is where the sentries are stationed to keep
bandits away from the city's population. The sentries are also in charge
of keeping enemy spies away from the city. The following commands are
here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer currently present at the Guardhouse.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day).
3. Order - Increase the order of the city by patrolling. This costs
100 gold and takes at least 10 days.
4. Survey/Spy (enemy cities only) - Attempt to uncover information about
an enemy city. The higher your character's intelligence, the more
likely you are to have greater success. A city investigated with
the survey command will display city info for 6 months. A city
investigated with the spy command will continue to report information
until the spy is uncovered, which can be a very long time. An
officer must have the SPY skill to plant a spy.
City Information - Pressing circle and viewing will display the following
information on your city. The information is broken down into several
different categories, but the following will always be present:
1. The City's name.
2. The Area in which the city is located. Areas are reguibs that can be
conquered using the campaign command, and are usually made up of
quite a few cities.
3. The province in which the city is located. Provinces are usually
made up of a few cities.
4. The force that currently controls the city.
5. The viceroy to which the city's prefect reports.
6. The number of officers currently located in the city, excluding
free officers.
7. The number of free officers currently located in the city.
The following information is sorted into sections:
---------
Strength
---------
1. Unit - The number of units currently present in the city. This does
not include units part of a troop that is currently marching.
2. Strength - the total number of soldiers in the city. Again, this
does not include any soldiers that are currently marching in a troop.
3. Population - The current population of the city. Drafting, the
plague, or other disasters will lower it. It increases over time
based on the order rating in the city. If the population decreases
to 20,000, no more soldiers will be available for drafting. The
higher the population, the more revenue collected from taxes.
4. Policy - The orders given the the city's prefect by the district's
viceroy.
5. Target - The target of the above policy.
6. Info - How much information your officer currently has with regard
to this city. The information goes from None -> Part -> Most ->
Full.
7. Months - How much longer you will have the current information
available. If this box currently has "Spy" in it, your force has a
spy in the city who will continue to report information until he is
discovered.
----------
Economics
----------
1. Current Gold - The amount of gold currently in the city's coffers.
2. Earn/Season - How much the city collects per quarter in revenue. The
higher the city's trade and population, the more money you will
collect.
3. Spend/Season - How much money the city spends per season paying the
salaries of the officers serving there. Higher rank officers cost
more money per quarter.
4. Current Rice - The amount of rice currently in storage.
5. Harvest/Year - The amount of rice harvested every year. Higher
Farm development and population will result in more food being
harvested every July.
6. Consume/Month - How much food your soldiers consume every month.
Obviously, larger armies require more food per month. Note that
food is subtracted every day. Units that are out of food will lose
morale every day until it hits 0, at which point the entire unit
will disband if not actively in battle. If in battle, the unit will
become routed and retreat.
---------
Domestics
---------
1. Farm - The current development rating of the city's farmland in
relationship to its maximum.
2. Trade - The current economic development rating of the city in
relationship to its maximum.
3. Tech - The current technological development of the city in relation
to its maximum. Cities are only eligible for expansion when this
number has reached its maximum.
4. Defense - The current strength of the city's walls in relation to
their maximum.
5. Scale - The size of the city from S -> M -> L -> XL. The scale of
a city determines the maximums of Farm, Trade, and Tech values, as
well as the number of specialty facilities present and the number
of units that can be stationed in the city at once.
6. Type - The type of the city. This determines the type of facilities
and requests that the city has. There are the following types:
Wild - The city has either a savage, elephant, or armored garrison.
Basic - The city has a generic mix of facilities.
Learn - The city has predominantly "school" facilities.
Port - The city has a shipyard.
Trade - The city has a bazaar and/or an exchange.
Farm - The city can recruit and establish horse units at half cost.
7. Specialty - The specialty good produced at this city, if any. This
only affects one or two requests at the tavern. You can learn of
a city's specialty by observing at a city in its region.
8. Order - The order in the city. The higher the order, the more
quickly the population will raise. Higher order also prevents enemy
tactics from succeeding. Low order makes your city susceptible to
bandit or foreign tribe attacks. Developing the city lowers order,
while patroling the city increases it.
9. Facilities - The facilities available at the city. Those in grey
are currently unavailable due to the city's scale.
-------------------------------------
Some tips for maximizing your city
-------------------------------------
1. In most cases, it is best to expand a city to size M or L as soon as
possible so as to raise the maximum amount of units past 5. This will
also raise the maximum trade and farm amounts to a level that will
produce a steady amount of income.
2. Unless you already have a very large army, it is better to prioritize
the market's development to that of the farmland. It is always possible
to purchase more food at the market relatively cheaply.
3. Do not overdraft the city! Once a city gets below 40,000 people, it
becomes very difficult for it to recover.
4. When deciding cities to conquer, try to prioritize cities that will
yield you useful facilities. Cities with a foundry are always useful, as
are those with machineyard. If you are looking for items, it is a good
idea to capture an exchange, since you can only use the deal command if
your force controls the city.
5. When leaving cities to your prefects to defend, by far the most
important stat to consider is defense. If a city's defense is maxed, your
prefects will have a relatively high chance of successfully defending the
city. If it is low, however, they will almost always lose the city when
attacked, even if they outnumber the enemy, due to the auto battle
algorithm.
6. Remember that a city need not be on the front lines to attack the
enemy. In fact, I have found that defending a border city yourself and
assigning prefects just behind the front lines with powerful armies to be
a very effective tactic, since computer prefects are much more aggressive
when they do not control cities on your force's front.
*****************************************************
V. Interacting with Other Officers.
Probably one of the most improved areas between Romance 8 and Romance 10
are the different ways in which your officer will interact with NPCs
throughout the course of the game. This section deals with the various
options related to the relationships between your character and others.
----------------------
Meeting other officers
----------------------
When you meet another officer, there will be a bar underneath his
portrait that displays your current relationship with the officer. The
closer the meter is to the right, the closer you are with the officer.
Remember that relationships range from the scale of: Nemesis -> Stranger
-> Aware -> Acquainted -> Friend -> Trusted -> Close -> Oath.
There are several different ways you can meet and officer and interact
with him/her:
1. Meet the officer at a facility and choose the Interact command -
Probably the most common way to meet with another officer, especially
if the two of you are stationed in the same city and serve the same
lord. You have the following commands:
A. Social
1. Talk - Ask the officer to chat with you in an attempt to build
your relationship with him or her. The more compatible you are
with the officer, the greater the increase in your relationship
will be. Officers chat about different things based on their
abilities and desires.
2. Gift - Give a gift to this officer. The higher the value of
the gift, the greater the increase in your relationship. The
increase is also based on the desires (if you give him an item
he likes, the increase will be larger), the other officer's
personality (greedy officers are more impressed by gifts), and
your compatibility with the officer (your polar opposite will
still be hard to win over). Officers who don't care for you or
those who are particularly selfless might not accept your gift.
3. Drink - Share a drink with this officer. The better the wine
you present to drink and the more this officer likes to drink,
the greater the increase in your friendship. If you are already
at the "Close" level of friendship, the other officer might offer
to swear an oath with you. If you agree, you will become oath
brothers with the officer, and he will treat you closer than he
would his own family.
B. Learn - Have this officer instruct you in either INT, LDR, POL, WAR
or CHR. You must have a "Trusted" level of friendship with the
officer to ask and the officer's respective ability must not be more
than 10 points higher than your own. You will gain some experience
in the ability following the 20 days of training. If the officer
can teach you a skill (i.e. you can learn a skill that he has) from
that particular category, there is a chance that you will learn it
from the training. If it is a duel or debate skill, however, you
must first defeat the officer in the relevant contest.
C. Instruct - Attempt to improve the other officer's skills by giving
him instruction. You must have a relationship of close or oath with
the officer. The training takes 20 days.
D. Information - Display information on the other officer.
E. Employ - Attempt to employ the officer to serve your lord. The
closer you are personally to the officer, the more likely to accept
the offer he will be. If the officer is not totally convinced, he
might offer a debate challenge. If you win the debate, he will
join your force, otherwise he will refuse. If the officer you are
speaking with refuses your officer and serves another force, he
may call the guards, whom you will be forced to duel. Obviously
you cannot choose this option if the officer already serves your
force.
F. Conspire - Attempt to arrange a betrayal of this officer the next
time you meet on the field of battle. This has a higher chance of
succeeding if your relationship with the officer is stronger and
the target officer's loyalty to his force is low. If the officer
refuses your offer, your relationship with him will decline and he
may call the guards to remove you from the city.
2. Meet the officer on the main map, while you both are moving between
Cities - a relatively rare way of meeting officers, it adds a little
variety to the regular commands:
A. Social - All the commands are the same as above, besides the fact
that you can't use the drink command.
B. Assault - Attack the other officer in an attempt to rob him of gold
or his rare items. If the officer is a weakling, you will suffer
a fame penalty. Assaulting the officer will cause you both to fall
very much apart and bring you to the duel screen. If you win, you
will seize a rare item from the officer (if he has one). Note that
if this officer is your nemesis, your fame will actually increase.
3. Meet the officer on the field of battle - pretty much the only option
you will have here is to move your unit next to his and challenge him
to a duel.
4. Judge the officer as a prisoner after capturing him in battle - again,
this is only an interaction in the strictest sense, but nevertheless
you will have the following options:
A. Employ - attempt to convince the officer to betray his own force
and join yours. You cannot offer a ruler this choice unless you
have destroyed his force in the current battle. Again, if you are
close to the officer or if the officer is particularly disloyal or
opportunistic, you will have a greater chance of success.
B. Release - release the officer to his force. If the force has been
destroyed in the current battle, the officer will become a free
officer. I have read elsewhere that continually releasing officers
will make them more likely to join you in the future, but I am yet
to see any reason to believe this.
C. Execute - have the officer beheaded. This kills the officer
immediately and makes any of his relations (be they familial or
oath brothers) consider you to be their nemesis.
5. Meet the officer when he drops by your house unexpectedly. There is
no interaction menu here, per se, but the officer might offer you a drink,
a duel, or a debate. If you win the duel or debate, your relationship
will greatly increase. The officer might also share some information on
a rival force's city, or just stop by for a chat. In some rare cases,
a friendly officer might leave some money at your house as a gift.
------
Duels
------
One of the most nicely done aspects of Romance 10, duels pit your officer
against another in either a friendly sparring match or a heated fight
where the loser becomes a prisoner of the enemy. In either case, however,
the duel is handled the same way. See the section on character info for
more detailed information on the specific duel tactics.
In a duel, each officer has two meters: a health meter, which begins the
duel at its maximum (unless the officer in question has fought several
duels in the same battle), and musuo, which starts at 50%. The fighting
takes place in rounds, with each officer selecting 3 attacks to use per
round. After each has made his selections, the choices go up against
one another and the higher tactic inflicts damage upon the officer who
used the lower tactic.
Basic tactics are divided into three groups: St-, Sl-, and Sw-. St-
tactics trump both Sl- and Sw- groups, but is defeated by the defensive
tactic "evade" and all special tactics. Sl- group tactics defeat the Sw-
group, but loses to St-, "evade," and all specials. Sw- group tactics
defeat evade, but lose to all other tactics. When both officers use the
same group of tactic for the same attack in the same round, the two
attacks cancel, and the damage is carried over to the next attack. The
winner of the next attack inflicts the total damage of both attacks.
Tactics groups are further divided into "high" and "low" attacks. "High"
attacks slightly diminish the attacker's musuo, but inflict more damage
than "low" attacks. "Low" tactics require no musuo, but inflict less
damage. When selecting a basic tactic, the number next to the tactic's
name indicates how many of that particular attack are currently available
for use. Every round, basic tactics replenish at random. Storing tactics
allows the use of duel specials.
Both officers recover musuo every round. All special attacks use up 50%
of the acting officer's total musuo. You cannot use a special (besides
SHOUT and SCARE) unless you have at least 50% of your total musuo. Using
either of the SHOUT or SCARE special tactics with full musuo will cause
your character to become excited, which gives him infinite musuo for three
battle rounds. All other specials used at full musuo inflict critical
hits, which do dramatic damage to the opposing officer. A critical MAUL
can defeat an opponent in a single blow.
Duels end when either officer loses all his health or escapes. If an
officer called for the duel in battle, the victorious general captures
the loser, removing his unit from the field.
The following are the tactics that any officer can choose:
1. Basic Tactics
A. Strike (St-, high); trumps all basic tactics, uses musuo for more
damage
B. Stab (St-, low); trumps all basic tactics, uses no musuo.
C. Slash (Sl-, high); trumps Sw- attacks, uses musuo for more damage
D. Slice (Sl-, low); trumps Sw- attacks, uses no musuo.
E. Sweep (Sw-, high); trumps "Evade," uses musuo for more damage.
F. Swing (Sw-, low); trumps "Evade," uses no musuo.
2. Defensive Tactics
A. Evade - Trumps St- and Sl- tactics, confusing the officer for the
next attack, negating his action, and increasing the damage he
receives. Beaten by Sw- attacks. Evade also trumps the attack
round of Maul, Crush, Pound, and Rush.
B. Guard - Block an enemy's attack. Regardless of the attack your
opponent uses, he will hit you (albeit for less damage). Useful in
a few limited situations.
C. Flee - Attempt to flee from the duel, which makes you the loser as
far as your dueling record is concerned. Of course, in some
situations it is better to cut your losses than to risk capture or
death by sticking around. If you fail to escape, however, your
officer will become confused for a round and vulnerable to attack.
3. Generic (Speed) Specials
A. Pound - use one Stab, Slice, and Swing attack to inflict one strong
attack in attack turn 2.
B. Rush - use one Strike, Slash, and Sweep attack to inflict one
strong attack in attack turn 2 that also lowers the enemy's musuo.
4. Skill Specials (see the character info section for more detailed info).
A. Maul - uses 3 Strikes, attack turn 1
B. Crush - uses 3 Stabs, attack turn 1
C. Scare - uses 3 Slashes, attack turn 3
D. Shout - uses 3 Slices, attack turn 3
E. Counter - uses 3 Sweeps, attack turn 1
F. Parry - uses 3 Swings, attack turn 1
G. Recover - uses 3 Evades, attack turn 3
Just reading this might be confusing, so here are some sample duel rounds
to better explain the system:
Round 1
--------
Your Officer Enemy Officer Outcome
Strike trumps slash and you
Turn 1 Strike Slash inflict some damage on the
enemy.
Turn 2 Strike Evade Evade trumps Strike, and the
enemy evades your attack.
Turn 3 (null) Swing Your attack is cancelled, as
you are confused, so any
attack the enemy uses works;
he hits you with a Swing.
Round 2
--------
Turn 1 Wait Strike Wait, which is part of a
special, trumps the basic
attack. No one attacks this
turn.
Turn 2 Pound Slash Pound trumps basic attacks,
and you hit the enemy for
big damage.
Turn 3 Wait Evade Neither Wait nor Evade are
attack commands, so nothing
happens.
Round 3
--------
Turn 1 Maul Wait Wait, when part of the
speed specials, is trumped
by Maul.
Turn 2 Wait Pound Since Maul trumps the speed
specials, the pound is
inactive.
Turn 3 Wait Wait Nothing happens.
Round 4
--------
Turn 1 Maul Evade Evade trumps the attack
turn of Maul. The attack
misses.
Turn 2 Wait(Null) Strike Although technically you
would be confused here, the
wait portion of maul still
trumps basic attacks.
Turn 3 Wait Swing Wait trumps Swing.
--------------------
Some Tips on Dueling
--------------------
1. Unless you have some to spare, save evades for times when your
opponent's musuo gauge is greater than 50% full. Evades are very useful
for dodging the damaging turn of the attack specials.
2. Know your opponent. If your opponent has no special moves, the only
turn you need to fear any more than another is the second, where the
attack portion of rush or pound would hit you. Use your evades here and
you will be relatively safe throughout the duel. Likewise, if the officer
has both MAUL and CRUSH you might want to use the evade in the first
turn.
3. Generally, it's not prudent to duel anyone with a WAR stat that is more
than 5 or so greater than yours. Unless you have good skills and a bit
of luck, you'll be in a tough spot to win a duel giving up any more points
than this.
4. Having a special horse guarantees your safe retreat from a duel.
5. It is certainly worthwhile to save your powerful attack commands for
when your musuo gauge is completely full. If you are attempting to
stockpile a specific command to use a special, consider using the guard
command to avoid using the needed command.
---------
Debating
---------
In essence, a debate is a duel of wits between two officers, and in this
sense it serves as a duel for officers with high intelligence and
charisma. Your character can engage in a debate when acting as a
diplomatic envoy, hiring an officer, or fufilling certain requests for
the nobles at the tavern. Sometimes when interacting with a friendly
officer of relatively equal ability and a propensity for debate, he will
offer to engage you in a friendly sparring match.
Debates are unlike duels, however, in that your number of debating skills
plays a more significant role in your chance for success than your stats.
Without any skills, you will likely have a hard time winning debates, even
with high debating abilities (INT and CHR).
The actual debate is represented by your character and the opposing
debater standing on opposites side of a bridge. Below the bridge is
a meter colored both red and blue. The blue portion of the meter
represents the strength of your argument. Any growth of your portion
reduces the portion of your opponent's. The debate ends when one side's
meter has taken the entire bridge.
At the start of the debate, each character begins with a set amount of
randomly selected commands based on the debating skills he has. The higher
the officer's INT, the more commands he receives. When the officer uses a
command, a new randomly selected command replaces it.
The action takes place in turns. Each turn each debater selects a
command and the two are compared. The winning command then takes effect,
and the meter adjusts accordingly. The greater the CHR of the officer,
the greater effect the command will have on the meter.
There are three different types of commands: regular, attack, and
plead/refute. A regular command, generally, is any command that places
a marker down on the debate board in the lower right. All regular
commands also come with a number that reflect their strength. At the
start of the debate, the higher the number, the stronger the command.
Attack commands do not put a marker down on the board, nor do they come
with a number to describe their strength, but they always trump regular
commands. Plead and refute are generally held in the officer's hand until
the opposing debater uses an attack command, at which time they disable
the command. Either debater can, however, also use either of these
commands as any other, at which point they will deactivate any similar
cards held by your opponent.
Regular Commands
----------------
There are seven different regular debate commands. Six of the seven can be
used by any officer, regardless of his skills; the seventh, Awe, can only
be used by an officer that has the AWE skill.
The most basic of the regular commands are Logic, Profit, and Virtue. Each
of these commands has a different color. When used, they beat any regular
command that is of a lower VALUED number (not necessarily a lower number,
however) and will then increase the meter of the officer who used the
command. Whether or not the command won the round, it puts down a colored
marker on the debate board on the space corresponding to the number on the
command. If both debaters use the same numbered command, the two commands
cancel, break, and no markers go on the board, nor does the meter move.
Awe and Focus are also regular commands. Neither directly affect the meter.
After being used, both commands place a colored marker on their
corresponding number on the board. Until either officer removes the marker
from the board by using an identically numbered command, the Awe or Focus
will continue to be in effect. Awe increases the meter to the favor of the
officer who placed it a small amount every round. Focus increases the
distance the meter moves when successfully winning a round. Both effects
stack when several of the same command are present at the same time on the
board.
The final two regular commands are Mire and Think. Mire randomly mixes the
markers on the board, whereas Think exchanges all your current commands for
a new set of randomly selected ones. Neither put a marker on the board.
The board itself is very important with regard to regular commands. As the
board fills, various combinations of markers begin to form. Any debater who
places the final piece to create a string of 3 identically colored markers
will have the meter moved substantially to his favor. Similarly, if an
officer places down the final piece to make a string of three markers of
three different colors, the meter will move substantially to his detriment.
In either case, after the meter moves, the value of all commands reverses,
meaning that the strength of regular commands changes from 9 (most powerful)
to 1 (most powerful). The arrow in the bottom right of the screen indicates
the current strength paradigm.
Attack Commands
---------------
Attack commands always trump regular commands, regardless of the number of
the regular command. Depending on the attack command, the regular command
may or may not put its marker on the board. All of these commands require
the associated skill. The following is a list of attack commands and their
effects:
1. Fault - Moves the bar in your favor; allows opponent's command to
board.
2. Argue - Moves the bar in your favor; breaks opponent's regular command.
3. Incite - Prevents your opponent from acting for 2 turns; breaks
opponent's regular command.
4. Taunt - Prevents your opponent from acting for 2 turns and moves the
bar in your favor; breaks opponent's regular command.
In the event both sides use attack commands, the higher command always
wins, breaking and disregarding the lower. The priority order is, from
strongest to weakest Taunt -> Incite -> Argue -> Fault.
Other Commands
--------------
The two remaining commands, Plead and Refute, counter attack commands while
held in your hand. Plead simply disarms the attack, whereas Refute
reverses it against your opponent. This makes refute a very powerful card.
You can also use these commands as you would any other. When used this
way, these cards disarm your opponent's Plead or Refute cards.
You need to have the PLEAD or REFUTE skills in order to use these cards.
Again, for the sake of clarity, below are some sample debate rounds:
Round 1
-------
You Opponent Outcome Board
Logic 9 Profit 8 Logic 9 wins, 7 P L
meter moves. 1 2 3
4 5 6
Round 2
-------
You Opponent Outcome Board
Fault Profit 5 Fault trumps 7 P L
the Profit. 1 2 3
4 P 6
Round 3
-------
You Opponent Outcome Board
Argue Argue Both Break; 7 P L
no meter change 1 2 3
4 P 6
Round 4
-------
You Opponent Outcome Board
Fault Argue Argue breaks 7 P L
Fault 1 2 3
4 P 6
Round 5
-------
You Opponent Outcome Board
Profit 2 Taunt Taunt breaks 7 P L
everything. 1 2 3
You lose 2 4 P 6
turns.
Round 6
-------
You Opponent Outcome Board
(taunted) Profit 2 Since you have 7 P L
lost your turn 1 P 3
the Profit takes 4 P 6
effect.
At this point, your opponent has made a string of three, and the number
order would reverse. You would also watch the meter move a great deal to
your detriment. In a real debate, you will probably lose the debate at this
point.
----------------------
Some Tips for Debates
----------------------
1. Use regular commands to actively create helpful strings. If there is
a square on the board that will obviously make a good combination, ALWAYS
play the number if you have it, regardless of the color of your piece (as
long as it wouldn't create a bad string). The reason you need to play the
number even if it wouldn't complete the combination is that the computer
will actively attempt to make strings as well and playing that number will
at least prevent your opponent from completing the string.
2. You can see your opponent's cards underneath his name. If he has a lot
of purple commands and the refute skill, definitely do not use any powerful
attack commands, as refute will throw them back in your face. Instead,
attempt to disarm his purple commands first by using some of your own.
3. I can't stress this enough: YOU NEED DEBATE SKILLS TO WIN DEBATES.
Although it is possible to beat some people using just regular commands,
without debate skills you are at a major disadvantage.
4. Unless the computer has an attack command, your opponent will always use
his highest normal command unless he can complete an advantageous string.
--------------------------------------------
Some tips on officer interactions in general
--------------------------------------------
1. Officers' compatibilities are based on the force that they serve in the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, unless you are playing on fictional,
in which case they are random. If your officer is very compatible with
another, your friendship will increase very quickly, sometimes a level
(or even two) every time you speak with him. On the other hand, if you
two don't naturally get along well, it can take several times speaking with
the officer before his friendship level with you improves.
2. Given enough patience, you can become close with an officer of
any compatibility. It might take a little longer, but if you really have
your heart set on forging an oath with a particular officer, I wouldn't
let the fact that the two of you might be incompatible deter you from
befriending him.
3. Officers with whom you share some kind of familial relation begin
with either "friend" or "trusted" relationships with your officer.
4. Know officers' personalities and use them to your advantage. Give
greedy officers cheap treasures, or drink with lush officers. This will
make it much easier to build your relationship with them and will thus
save you a great deal of time.
5. Although I haven't specifically documented this, I have a feeling that
officers, when not assigned to any task (or free), are more inclined to
visit facilities that mesh with their personalities. Officers that like
to drink will be at the Tavern, civil officers will be at the blacksmith,
etc. This certainly does not hold true all the time, and it is possible
that it is my imagination, but it is still worth considering if you are
looking for a particular officer in a very crowded city.
6. Regardless of number 5 (above), free officers definitely tend to rotate
between two or three facilities. Usually if you speak to an officer in
an attempt to improve your friendship, he will move to another facility
within the city. Many officers tend to alternate between the tavern and
another facility in the city. When attempting to build my friendship with
a free officer (in an attempt to recruit him), I'll usually find him at
a government facility, talk to him, and then check back at the tavern.
Many times, the officer will be there.
7. This might seem obvious, but officers are more likely to accept
something you request of him if the two of you share a close relationship.
This holds especially true for recruiting officers. Unless your target
officer has some kind of grudge against your ruler (for example, if he
considers your ruler his nemesis, or he has recently resigned), he will
almost always (and I mean 99.9% of the time) at least challenge you to a
debate if you try and recruit him with a friendship of "close." If you
win the debate, he'll enlist. Other times, he'll simply accept your offer
and enlist immediately.
8. The sages do not list their friendship level with you at the bottom of
their portrait like other officers. This is because your friendship with
a sage resets every time he does something for you (gives you an item,
teaches you a skill, etc). The only exception I can think of this is Sima
Hui, whose frienship does not go down if he gives you information on a
city.
9. While I'm thinking about it, here is a list of what each sage can teach
you. This is not a complete list, as it is only what I have personally
learned from each while in a game. The sage faq lists some other facts
about the sages, but I haven't been able to test them yet. I'm really
hesistant to say the sages really frequent any particular areas, as I
haven't really looked into it much. I do know, however, that they move
around fairly frequently, so it sometimes works to find them by just
leaving your city, selecting to move "free" and then looking around for
them on the map. Just follow them to a city and you'll be fine.
Sima Hui - Will tell you the location of any currently undiscovered
officers. Teaches no skills.
Mi Heng - Will insult you. If you can learn the TAUNT skill, he will
teach you if you can best him in a debate.
Cai Yan - Will teach you the debate and domestic skills, if you can learn
them. Will also give you the item "Zither." I think this is the only way
you can get the item? (It's the only way I've gotten it).
Huang Cheng Yan - Will teach you the duel, battle, and tactic skills, if
you can learn them.
Qiao Xuan - Will teach you HERO.
Xu Shao - Will teach you HERO.
Zuo Ci - Will teach you WIZARD or TAUNT.
Hua Tuo - Will teach you DOCTOR or give you an item that does the same
thing.
Yu Ji - Will teach you WIZARD or give you an item that teaches DOCTOR.
Guan Lu - Supposedly, will extend your lifespan. I've never had him do
this for my character. He also teaches the domestic skills.
*****************************************************
VI. The Council
The council chamber is the administrative center of the city, from where
the prefect assigns commands to his officers or prepares the soldiers for
a march. Although all city decisions ultimately come from the prefect, as
vassals, officers have the ability to make their own suggestions for
policies they wish to enact to the city's benefit. The prefect is more
likely to accept the advice of his subordinates if they have already
established a strong personal relationship with him.
Once a vassal has completed a task (or, alternatively, once he has decided
he no longer wishes to fufill a task), he returns to the Council to report
his success or failure to the prefect. Successes are rewarded with deeds,
and failures are subject to deed penalties. If an officer has produced
particularly impressive results, he might be given a reward of gold in
addition to deeds.
As a prefect, it is important to visit the Council quite frequently to
verify the results of your subordinates and assign them new tasks.
The following are the commands available at the Council; commands that are
in parentheses are those commands a vassal can suggest, whereas commands
that are in brackets are those that only a viceroy can request from the
ruler:
----------
Domestics
----------
1. (Farm) - Order an officer/suggest to the prefect that you will improve
the city's farmland. The officer carrying out the task receives 100
gold from the city's vaults and has 90 days to report his progress. As
the farm value of the city increases, the order of the city will
decrease. Computer controlled officers report their progress of this
command on the 30th day, unless they have the FARM skill, in which case
it usually takes a little longer.
2. (Trade) - Order an officer/suggest to the prefect that you will improve
the city's trade rating. The officer carrying out the task receives 100
gold from the city's vaults and has 90 days to report his progress. As
the trade value of the city increases, the order of the city will
decrease. Computer controlled officers report their progress of this
command on the 30th day, unless they have the TRADE skill, in which case
it usually takes a little longer.
3. (Tech) - Order an officer/suggest to the prefect that you will improve
the city's tech rating. The officer carrying out the task receives 100
gold from the city's vaults and has 90 days to report his progress. As
the tech value of the city increases, the order of the city will
decrease. Computer controlled officers report their progress of this
command on the 30th day, unless they have the TECH skill, in which case
it usually takes a little longer.
4. (Order) - Order an officer/suggest to the prefect that you will improve
the city's order rating. The officer carrying out the task receives 100
gold from the city's vaults and has 90 days to report his progress.
Computer controlled officers report their progress of this command on
the 30th day, unless they have the ORDER skill, in which case it usually
takes a little longer.
5. (Repair) - Order an officer/suggest to the prefect that you will improve
the city's defense. The officer carrying out the task receives 100
gold from the city's vaults and has 90 days to report his progress. As
the defense of the city increases, the order of the city will
decrease. Computer controlled officers report their progress of this
command on the 30th day, unless they have the REPAIR skill, in which
case it usually takes a little longer.
6. (Expand) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you will
expand the scale of the city. An officer can complete this task only
if the current tech value of the city has reached the max for its
current scale. The acting officer receives exactly as much money as it
costs to expand the city:
Size S -> Size M - 5,000 gold
Size M -> Size L - 10,000 gold
Size L -> Size XL - 50,000 gold
The acting officer must report his progress within 120 days. I am
pretty sure the computer officers report on the 50th.
---------
Military
---------
1. (Establish) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you
create a new unit. All cities can create the basic units (that is,
foot, horse, and bow). Establishing other units requires the
appropriate garrison. The officer assigned to the task has 90 days to
complete it and receives the exact amount of gold necessary to gather
the troops. Computer controlled officers report their results on the
30th day. Below is a list of the different unit costs:
Foot - 1000 gold
Horse - 1400 gold
Bow - 700 gold
Savage - 2000 gold
Armored - 1200 gold
Elephant - 3000 gold
Horsebow - 2000 gold
2. (Recruit) - Order an officer to/suggest that to the prefect that you
gather soldiers to supplement an existing unit. Adding draftees to
an establish unit greatly reduces their skill and morale. The officer
assigned to the task has 90 days to complete it and receives from the
city's vault exactly as much gold as it costs to hire the soldiers.
Computer controlled officers report their successes or failures on the
30th day. Below is a list of the different costs to supplement units:
Foot - 500 gold
Infantry - 900 gold
Sentinel - 1050 gold
Qing Elite - 1000 gold
Horse - 700 gold
Cavalry - 1200 gold
Tiger - 1350 gold
Horsebow - 1500 gold
Bow - 600 gold
Crossbow - 700 gold
Marksmen - 1200 gold
Armored - 900 gold
Savage - 1000 gold
Elephant - 2000 gold
3. (Drill) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you drill
a unit to improve its performance in battle. You can only drill a
unit if either its experience or morale is below 100. Units with
higher experience inflict more damage and move more frequently when in
battle. Officers have 90 days to report their progress when assigned
to train the soldiers; computer controlled officers report their
results on the 30th day.
4. (Weapon) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you build a
siege weapon for use by a particular unit. One unit can have any or
all possible weapons at any given time. Officers are given the exact
cost of the weapon when assigned a construction assignment. They must
report to the prefect within 90 days; computer officers return on the
30th day. The following are the prices for weapons:
Ram - 1000 gold
Tower - 1000 gold
Catapult - 3000 gold
Wood Ox - 1000 gold
Juggernaut - 5000 gold
5. (Ship) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you build a
ship for use by a particular unit. One unit can have both warships
and ramships, but will only use the most powerful available ship when
in battle. Officers receive the exact cost of the ship when assigned
a construction duty. They must report to the prefect within 90 days;
computer controlled officers report on the 30th day. The following
are costs for ships:
Ramship - 1500 gold
Warship - 3000 gold
------
March
------
1. (Battle) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you
command a troop to attack an enemy facility or troop. If you are the
prefect, you also have the option to control the force yourself. The
amount of units any officer can command is relative to their rank.
Any units that do not have a commander (ie a subunit of another
commander) will be lead by a generic lieutenant with 70% of the
orginal commander's abilities. Officers must be currently in the city
and not presently assigned to any other task in order to march with
the army.
Gold is used to build structures at vacant bases on the map. Food
(obviously) is used to feed the army in the field. Armies generally
march with a 60 day supply of food, unless the units are equipped with
wood oxen to store a larger supply. Running out of food, while not
a disaster, can cause a problem if there is a probability of a
prolonged return march.
2. (Build) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you lead a
troop with the express purpose of constructing a structure or maze at
a base. This follows the same rules as organizing a troop for a
battle, except that the target will obviously a base and not an
enemy troop or structure.
3. (Transport) - Order supplies and/or units to be transferred from one
city to another, or request that your prefect either send units or
request some from the district's viceroy. The goods/units transport
from one city to another immediately. A viceroy can move supplies
freely between cities in his district, whereas a ruler can freely
move goods between any city in his force.
4. [(Campaign)] - As a ruler, this command declares a campaign; as any
other officer, it puts the request into your ruler to declare such
an offensive. Only forces ruled by sovereigns with an imperial rank
above Grand General can call for a campaign, and the higher the
ruler's rank, the more units he can deploy after calling for the
invasion. A viceroy, prefect, or vassal can only recommend a
campaign for the area in which their present city is located. See the
campaign section for more info.
5. Rogue - Only the ruler of a force can use this command. It
immediately disbands the majority of his army, abandons all cities
under its control, and brings you to the rogue army commands. There
are relatively few ways this command can be useful. Really the only
suggestion I have for its use is when your force is about to be
invaded and crushed by someone you are sure will execute your officer.
It gives you a chance for a safe escape, but at a high fame penalty.
--------
Tactics
--------
1. (Inspect) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you
inspect another city in an attempt to gain information on it. When
accepting such a task, you will have 120 days to fulfill it and will
receive 100 gold. Computer officers take more time based on how far
away the target city is from their home city. For the most part,
officers with the SPY command are superior to those without it, since
planting a spy yields information indefinitely.
2. (Agitate) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you spread
rumors at an enemy city in order to lower its order. This command is
much more successful if your force has already inspected the city.
When accepting this task, you receive 100 gold and 120 days to
complete it. Computer officers take more time based on how far the
city is from their home. Occasionally an officer will do so well at
this task that the population of the city will agree to side with
your force should you attack. In this case, your commander will be
able to use the "riot" skill the next time you engage the city in
battle.
3. (Destroy) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you
lower an enemy city's defense by destroying the city walls. This
command is more successful if your force has already inspected the
target city and it has less than ideal order. When accepting this task,
you receive 100 gold and 120 days to complete it. Computer officers
take more time based on how far the city is from their home. A very
useful tactic, especially when used repeatedly on an enemy city that
would otherwise prove difficult to conquer.
4. (Rumor) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you spread
a rumor intended to cause a rift between a sovereign and one of his
subordinates. If successful, the target officer's loyalty will
decrease. This command is more successful if your force has already
inspected the target city and it has less than ideal order. When
accepting this task, you receive 100 gold and 120 days to complete it.
Computer officers take more time based on how far the city is from
their home. This is a relatively useful tactic (again, used best
by several officers en masse) and a good way to set up for ploting a
betrayal.
5. (Conspire) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you
convince another force's officer to switch to your side upon meeting
your force in battle. Best used against officers of low loyalty or
of low moral character, this command can really shift the tide of a
battle if successful. As an officer, the prefect gives you 120 days
to complete the task. The computer control characters take longer to
report their progress if the city is farther from their home city. A
betrayal plot lasts for 1 year.
6. (Disrupt) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you spread
rumors in an attempt to disrupt relations between two enemy forces. I
personally haven't had too much success with this command, but imagine
it being relatively useful if you send several officers simultaneously
to attempt it. Officers receive 100 gold and must report their
progress within 120 days to the prefect. Computer officers take
longer to fufill the task if they have long distances to travel.
---------
Personnel
---------
1. (Search) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you search
a specific city for free officers. If the vassal discovers a hidden
officer, he will make an attempt to recruit him to your force.
If he does not discover an officer, there is still a chance that he
will find a small amount of gold. This command is obviously more
useful if you know when and where to search for officers. This task
has a time limit of 90 days. Computer officers take more time if they
have a great distance to travel between the target city and their home
city.
2. (Employ) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you will
attempt to hire a free officer or an officer with whom you have in
some way become acquainted (this includes those officers you have
information on by virture of the "inspect" command). An officer must
report his progress within 90 days. A computer controlled officer
takes longer if he must travel a great distance to complete the task.
3. Return - Order an officer to stop any attempts to complete his current
task and return to his home city. If you are a vassal, you can
abandon your current duty by simply reporting to the council chamber,
meeting with the prefect, and telling him such. You will, however,
suffer a deeds penalty and have to return any money you received to
perform the task. If, by some chance, you have lost the money, the
prefect will seize your personal gold to make up for the failure.
----------
Discipline
----------
These commands can only be used by officers of rank Prefect and above.
1. Reward (gold) - reward an officer that currently serves below you with
100 gold. An officer can only use this command once per month. It
costs 100 gold per officer rewarded. The target officer's loyalty
will increase.
2. Award (Item) - reward an officer that currently serves below you with
a unique item. Obviously, you must have an item to present to the
officer. This will cause the officer's loyalty to your force to
increase, and it will also improve your personal relationship with
him. Giving an item that meshes well with the officer's interests
will increase the effect.
3. Confiscate (Item) - seize an item from an underling. You will
personally gain the item, but the officer will dislike you and his
loyalty to your force will decrease.
4. Banish (only for use by a sovereign) - fire an officer from your
force. He will depart immediately, but will be less likely to join
you in the future. This is not a terribly useful command unless you
have many high ranking officers of very low ability that are simply
draining your force's resources.
-------
Appoint
-------
1. Appoint Prefect - appoint a prefect within the district you command.
An officer must be of rank 5 or higher in order to be prefect.
Generally, the higher the target officer's rank the better, although
of course abilities are also important. The district's viceroy will
command cities that currently have no prefect. This is generally
inefficient, however, since the only officers able to work on the city
will have to travel from the district capital to the city and back
again for every task.
2. Order transfer - assign vassals from city to city.
3. [(Request transfer)] - Ask the officer to whom you report to be
transferred to either another city or district.
4. (Transfer Gov't) - Ask the viceroy or ruler of your district to
transfer your prefecture to another city, or, if you are acting as
disctrict commander, order such a change. All officers (but,
significantly, not units) will be swapped with the officers in the
target city.
5. City Policy - Set the policy for an individual city. The following
are the possible city policies:
Domestics - Order the prefect to focus on domestics. You will set
goals for individual city values, and the prefect will report upon
his attaining of these goals.
Capture City - Order the prefect to capture another city from a rival
force.
Auto - Leave all decisions to the prefect.
Wait - Order the prefect to stand by for further orders. To be
honest, I'm not sure what this command does.
--------
District
--------
For the most part, these commands are only for the ruler of a force.
1. Establish - Create a new district to be ruled by a viceroy you
appoint. An officer must be of rank 1 or 2 and hold the rank of
prefect in order to qualify for the position of viceroy.
2. [Edit] - Change the cities currently in a district. A viceroy can
only directly make changes to his own district. Of course, adding
cities to your own district will remove them from others and vice
versa.
3. Policy - Set or change the policy of a district. The following are
the possible policies for a district:
Conquer Area - Conquer the cities in one of the large areas of the
map.
Conquer Province - Focus on capturing the cities of a particular
province.
Territorial Defense - Defend a particular region from the enemy.
Territorial Development - Focus on domestics within the region.
Auto - Leave the decision up to the viceroy.
------------------------------
Some Tips for Council Commands
------------------------------
1. As a prefect, viceroy, or ruler, it is very important to periodically
visit your council to collect the reports of your vassals and to assign
them new tasks. Frequently, this will mean that your officer of rank
prefect or higher will be essentially tied to the city in his command.
Whenever possible, I have tried to indicate how long computer officers take
to complete tasks so that it is possible to know how long you have to
do other things around the city before you return to the council.
2. Assign officers to taks at which they are likely to excel. It is
pointless to have Yan Jun, for example, attempt to repair the city walls,
as he takes the same amount of money as Guan Yu but returns 1/100th of
the investment. Generally, if an officer has a particular domestic skill,
it is better to assign him to that task than others.
3. When attempting tactics on an enemy city, it is a good idea to bum rush
the city with plotting officers. For example, first send a spy to the
target city. After that officer returns, send a bunch of officers to
agitate the city and another bunch to destroy the city walls a day later.
The first bunch of officers will greatly lower the city's order, and the
second bunch will ruin the walls, as the city will be vulnerable due to its
lower order rating. Repeat several times, and you can have the walls
crumbling before you even lose a soldier.
4. A similar tactic works with betrayals. Just send the second group of
officers to spread rumors about an officer, watch his loyalty plummet, and
then send an officer to hire him.
5. Call campaigns only when you have a solid numerical advantage on the
enemy in a region. Campaigns are generally just slugfests between
soldiers, so if you have a strong advantage in numbers you can gain several
cities in very little time.
6. Once a unit has high experience, only use officers with the HIRE skill
to supplement their numbers. This will reduce the drop in experience and
morale that is inevitable when drafting soldiers to veteran units.
7. Unless you are playing in scenario 9, hiring officers is generally the
number one priority for your government. Always check to see if there are
free officers for hire when you are in the council, and, if there are,
send officers to hire them as soon as possible. Even officers of very
little skill can serve as backwater prefects, building a powerful reserve
army if you are to need it.
8. Don't be afraid to experiment a little with prefects. Some officers
simply don't do very well in the position; if one guy can't get the job
done, just replace him with someone else. The same goes with viceroys,
but given the rather strict rank requirements, you're probably going to
have less room with which to work here.
9. Build siege weapons for your units whenever possible. Catapults,
towers, and rams all make it much, much easier to invade enemy cities than
simply throwing lives away at the gates.
10. If you are fighting with an enemy force, send spies to every city he
controls. This will give you permanent warnings every time he sends a
troop into the field. This works even better if you have complete
information in the city, because you'll even know where the troops are
headed.
*****************************************************
VII. Battles and Units
Depending on your style of play, your character's rank, and your abilities,
the frequency of battles will vary greatly. Regardless of these factors,
however, battles will be where you either prove great worth to your force
or horribly embarrass both yourself and your leige.
Battles commence when two troops of rival forces meet either in the field
or at a city. There are three basic types of troop to troop fighting:
castle siege, townsquare siege, and field. Before I move to these topics,
however, a word or two about units is in order.
-----------
Unit Basics
-----------
Every army, be it in marching in the field, constructing an outpost, or
fighting in a battle, is divisible into smaller groups called units. Any
individual unit can have no more than 10,000 soliders and is led by a
single commander. Of course, this commander ultimately responds to the
overall commander of the troop, but his soldiers are immediately
responsible for following the orders given on the unit level.
If there are more units than commanders, individual commanders can lead
several units in battle at once. Since the commander can only be in one
place at one time, however, any further units under his command will
directly respond to a lieutenant with abilities that are 70% of the main
unit's commander. Such units are called "subunits" and are essentially a
requirement in larger troops, given the low officer maximum. Subunit
commanders cannot use any tactics besides extinguish. Below is a sample
troop:
Overall Troop Commander: Cao Ren (Rank 1)
Officer 1: Man Chong (Rank 4)
Officer 2: Pang De (Rank 7)
Officer 3: Sima Yi (Rank 2)
Officer 4: Dian Man (Rank 9)
Unit Breakdown:
Cao Ren
Main Unit: Crossbow, 10,000 Troops
Sub 1: Foot, 10,000 Troops (70% of Cao Ren's abilities)
Sub 2: Horse, 10,000 Troops (70% of Cao Ren's abilities)
Sub 3: Bow, 10,000 Troops (70% of Cao Ren's abilities)
Man Chong
Main Unit: Infantry, 10,000 Troops
Pang De
Main Unit: Cavalry, 10,000 Troops
Sima Yi
Main Unit: Crossbow, 10,000 Troops
Sub 1: Foot, 10,000 Troops (70% of Sima Yi's abilities)
Sub 2: Horse, 10,000 Troops (70% of Sima Yi's abilities)
Dian Man
Main Unit: Infantry, 10,000 Troops
Note that the entire troop's combined strength is 100,000 soldiers, which
is the largest possible total for a single group. Had Cao Ren been of a
lower rank, fewer units would be able to be under his command, and
therefore fewer could march at once. If either Sima Yi or Cao Ren were to
have their entire main unit defeated, there is a decent chance they would
escape to one of their subunits. In this case, the lieutenant would no
longer command the unit.
There are three general types of units: horse, foot, and bow. Each unit
variety is strong against one type but weak against the other:
Foot soldiers are strong against bow, but weak against Horse.
Horse soldiers are strong aginst foot, but weak against Bow.
Bow soldiers are strong against horse, but weak against Foot. If fighting
in melee with horse, the two are roughly equal.
Although it depends on the situation, it is generally better to have a mix
of all three types of units in any troop. It is almost never a good idea
to march with a single type of soldier as it makes your army very one
dimensional.
------
Units
------
The following are the units and weapons available for use in battle, along
with my commentary on their usefulness. For the attack and defense
ratings, I used the values given in the manual. These ratings are not
perfect. Keep in mind that your officer's abilities and the unit's
experience rating generally have more of an effect on overall performance
than these values.
Basic Units
-----------
NAME: Foot
REQUIREMENTS: Essentially none
ATTACK: C
DEFENSE: C
RATING: Of the generic units, foot are probably the most useful, especially
if they are armed with a tower. Excellent in castle sieges for their
ability to climb walls, foot soldiers generally form the backbone of any
army.
NAME: Infantry
REQUIREMENTS: A foot unit with 300 or more experience and a Foot Garrison
ATTACK: B
DEFENSE: C
RATING: A stronger and better version of foot soldiers. Again, a good
unit.
NAME: Sentinel
REQUIREMENTS: An infantry unit with 500 or more experience, a Foot Garrison,
and a Foundry.
ATTACK: B
DEFENSE: B
RATING: A very powerful cousin of the foot unit, Sentinels can do some
real damage to the enemy. A very good unit, but it can be tricky to
raise a unit's experience to this level and then find the correct
facilities.
NAME: Horse
REQUIREMENTS: Essentially none
ATTACK: B
DEFENSE: C
RATING: Of the three basic troops, these are probably the least useful.
Most battles are fought as sieges, and horses really excel at field
battles. They can't scale walls either, which make them easy targets for
bow soldiers stationed atop the city's walls.
NAME: Cavalry
REQUIREMENTS: A horse unit with 300 experience and a Horse Garrison
ATTACK: A
DEFENSE: C
RATING: Stronger than a regular horse unit, but still quite vulnerable to
archers.
NAME: Tiger
REQUIREMENTS: A cavalry unit with 500 or more experience, a Horse Garrison,
and a Foundry.
ATTACK: A
DEFENSE: B
RATING: Very powerful in the field, but, again, not as useful in a siege.
NAME: Bow
REQUIREMENTS: Essentially none.
ATTACK: C
DEFENSE: C
RATING: Great for siege defenses and still reasonably useful in the field,
bow units make mincemeat out of horse units and, unlike foot units, don't
need a tower to reach their maximum effectiveness. When coupled with a
commander with the MISSLE skill, bow units are very effective units.
NAME: Crossbow
REQUIREMENTS: A bow unit with 300 or more experience and a Bow Garrison.
ATTACK: B
DEFENSE: C
RATING: These units pack a little more punch than a regular bow group. It
is also slightly easier to upgrade bow unit types, since their long
distance attacks make them less vulnerable to enemy attacks.
NAME: Marksmen
REQUIREMENTS: A crossbow unit with 500 or more experience, a Bow Garrison,
and a Foundry.
ATTACK: B
DEFENSE: C
RATING: Definitely, without a doubt, the best unit in the game. Marksmen
units have a huge range and, when attacking a distant unit, will also hit
every enemy unit in between themselves and their target. This applies
even if the unit is assembled into a tower. If there are three units
between you and your target and you have 10 arrow attacks, you will
therefore have 40 attacks for the price of 10. When attacking, marksmen
can also damage a unit that is hiding behind a gate. An amazing unit.
Special Units
-------------
NAME: Savage
REQUIREMENTS: A Savage Garrison
ATTACK: B
DEFENSE: C
RATING: For the most part, savages are better versions of infantry. They
have roughly the same strength and can move quickly through swamps and
forests. The only potential problem is that they cannot be upgraded.
Still, these are good units, and they don't require any experience to
make.
NAME: Armored
REQUIREMENTS: An Armored Garrison
ATTACK: C
DEFENSE: A
RATING: Ehhh....I don't really like these guys too much. On the plus side,
they are ridiculously strong against arrow attacks, which makes them good
for sieges. On the other hand, they are laughably weak against fire
attacks, and the computer knows it. A single fire attack can do more than
1500 damage, and the computer will attempt to torch an armored unit 2 or
3 times a turn. In most cases, I feel more secure with savages.
NAME: Qing Elite
REQUIREMENTS: Play as Cao Cao. You will either start with some or you can
get some from the event where he defeats the yellow turban rebels in Pu
Yang.
ATTACK: A
DEFENSE: B
RATING: Very powerful, but very hard to get. In rare circumstances, you
can capture them from the enemy, but, for the most part, you won't be using
these guys very much unless you like playing as part of Cao Cao's force.
NAME: Horsebow
REQUIREMENTS: A Horsebow Garrison.
ATTACK: A
DEFENSE: C
RATING: A very good combination of both horse and bow units, although they
are still weak against arrows. That aside, these units can be amongst the
most powerful and useful.
NAME: Elephants
REQUIREMENTS: An Elephant Garrison
ATTACK: S (A+)
DEFENSE: C
RATING: Elephants really aren't that good. Like the horse units, elephants
are very weak against arrows. They are also weak against fire, and any
elephant unit that ends a day on fire will go crazy and attack at random
(even its allies). On top of this, the unit will be very vulnerable to
confusion tactics or duel requests. They are powerful against walls and
the council chamber, but so are siege weapons.
Siege Weapons
-------------
Assembling a weapon costs 10 mobility points.
NAME: Ram
REQUIREMENTS: A machine yard, and, of course, equipping a unit with it.
RATING: Nothing destroys a gate faster than a ram. The problem, however,
is that they are completely defenseless against units. This means that if
a unit is stationed in the gate, it will do a good deal of damage against
you if you are assembled in this formation. Of the three basic siege
weapons, I use rams the least.
NAME: Tower
REQUIREMENTS: A machine yard and a unit equipped with the tower.
RATING: Very useful, whether for attack or defense. Although towers are
relatively useful against gates, their forte really is attacking units.
When assembled in tower formation, any unit can launch bow attacks for a
meager 3 action points per attack. When coupled with marksmen units,
towers are extremely powerful. They are also very useful for defense, as
you can assemble them on the walls and rain arrows down on the attackers.
NAME: Catapult
REQUIREMENTS: A machine yard and a unit eqipped with the weapon.
RATING: Incredibly useful when attacking a city, catapults are much less
useful when defending or fighting in the field. These weapons allow you
to launch rocks from long distances to destroy enemy structures or units.
They allow many units to attack the same structure at once and are perhaps
most useful when attacking the enemy council chamber, as the defenders will
be hard pressed to keep your army out of catapult range.
NAME: Juggernaut
REQUIREMENTS: A machine yard, a foundry, and equipping a unit with the
weapon.
RATING: Not terribly useful for siege battles, but a viable option in the
field. Juggernauts shoot a straight line of fire that can pass through
several units at a time, but suffers from the fact that they can only be
constructed in Jiang Zhou. Obviously, these units are better against
units that are weak against flames (armored and elephant units).
Ships
-----
NAME: Ship
REQUIREMENTS: None. Every unit is automatically equipped with ships.
RATING: With low defense and low attack, you are much better off landing
before engaging the enemy. These generic ships don't hold up very well
against either ramships or warships.
NAME: Ramship
REQUIREMENTS: A shipyard and a properly equipped unit.
RATING: A stronger version of ship, ramships are still not terribly
powerful. Has a marginally lower chance of being swept away in the current.
NAME: Warship
REQUIREMENTS: A shipyard, a foundry, and a properly equipped unit.
RATING: A stronger version of a ramship that also allows any unit to fire
arrows while on the water. Warships are also noticeably less likely to
be taken away by the current.
-------------------
Your Unit in Battle
-------------------
When fighting in a battle, your rank determines how many units over which
you will have direct command. Regardless of this, however, you will
always control your own main unit, as well as any subunits that are under
your immediate command. If you are a prefect, you will command any vassals
that report directly to you as well. When a viceroy, you will command
your direct report vassals as well as any reinforcements sent to you from
a city within your own district. A ruler can command any unit in his
force.
Generally, your officer's abilities and skills determine which actions he
can use at any given time in battle. Progression moves by day, with every
unit involved in the battle gaining a certain amount of attack points per
day. When these points reach 1000, that unit will be able to act. The
amount of attack points a unit receives per day is an amalgamation of its
commander's INT and LDR, its experience, and its morale. Units lose attack
points when victim of the scare tactic. On screen, the next five units to
act are numbered 1-5. A unit that has its morale fall to 0 will not issue
any more commands until another unit uses the rally command on it to raise
its morale. Until this happens, the unit will beeline for the battlefield's
edge, ignoring orders until it retreats.
When it is a unit's turn to act, a list of commands will be displayed.
Any command given to the unit costs action points, of which the commanding
officer's INT and LDR also determine. The maximum action points any unit
can have at any given time is 40, a total that the commander can reach by
banking unused points from prior turns with the wait command. Any attack
commands that the commander has available (ie charge, unison, etc) are
immediately available from the main battle commands. Any multipliers
indicate how many times the unit can afford to carry out that attack based
on the number of action points it currently has.
Although many of the attack commands are self explanatory, some of the
tactics are not. Below I list the tactics that are available from the
tactics menu (listed alphabetically):
Bear in mind also that subunits can only use the extinguish command.
1. Ambush (6 points) - Hide your unit in a forest. You will
automatically attack any enemy unit that crosses your path, uncovering
your unit and dealing heavy damage. While hidden, you can move
normally and even taunt the enemy with the entice tactic, but if you
leave the woods or the enemy attacks you with arrow you will have to
abandon the ambush. Elephants cannot lay an ambush for obvious reasons.
2. Blunder (8 points, BLUNDER skill) - Trick an adjacent enemy unit to
attack an enemy unit adjacent to it. Best used when protected by the
castle, this tactic allows you to deal great damage on two enemy units
without taking any damage yourself. The higher your officer's INT is
in comparison to the target, the greater your chances of success. If
the target unit is either enticed or confused, you are almost
guaranteed success.
3. Boulder - (8 points, GEOMANCY skill) - Roll boulders towards an enemy
unit, in an attempt to crush their soldiers. A VERY risky command,
as it is very hard to tell which way the boulder will travel once
released. The farther the stones roll before they hit the target, the
more damage they will do (I've seen it kill or wound 5000 men in a
single hit...of course this was when I accidentally hit one of my own
units). You cannot use this tactic if adjacent to an enemy unit. It
also requires that you are on "rocky" terrain. Generally, boulders
roll downhill, but it is still hard to gauge where they will
ultimately come to rest. Be careful with this one.
4. Collude (12 points, commander only, requires an officer to trick the
population to have arranged for a citizen's revolt prior to the
invasion with the agitate ploy) - Ask the local people to uphold their
promise to support your invasion of the city. They will set fire to
all the gates and lower their defense. This can only be used once
per battle.
5. Confuse (12 points, CONFUSE skill) - Throw an enemy unit into
confusion, which prevents it from acting for several days. The higher
the acting officer's INT compared to the target, the greater the
chance for success. Units that have been enticed almost always fall
into confusion when targets of this command.
6. Defect (6 points, commander only) - Ask an officer with whom you
previously established a pact to betray his ruler to fufill his
promise and switch sides. This, of course, requires that you create
such a pact prior to the battle. Enemy commanders cannot switch
sides in this manner.
7. Entice (10 points, ENTICE skill) - Taunt an enemy officer to the point
where he loses control of his unit out of fury. The higher the
acting officer's INT in comparison to the target unit's commander, the
greater the chance this tactic has of meeting success. Commanders
that are also notoriously temperamental will be more likely to fall
victim to such a plot. A good command to use to set up either the
surprise or confuse tactics.
8. Fire (6 points) - Set a fire on an adjacent square. Fires spread
in the direction of the wind.
9. Lightning (18 points, AEROMANCY and WIZARD skills) - Command lightning
bolts to fall from the sky. The only catch is that you can't command
where they strike, and there is a chance they will hit your own units.
This command requires the weather to be "rain."
9. Pit (6 points, GEOMANCY skill, 200 gold) - Dig a pit on your current
position. Pits do not hurt friendly units. You will know where the
pit is by a yellow exclamation mark that denotes its location. Enemy
units that fall into the pit will suffer heavy casualties (about 15%
of their soldiers). There is also a chance that the unit will become
confused or that the commander will suffer an injury, lowering his
abilities.
10. Rally (6 points, RALLY skill) - Raise your the morale of your unit
as well as any adjacent friendly units.
11. Revive (6 points, DOCTOR skill) - Heal about 600 wounded soldiers
from either your unit or a friendly unit adjacent to yours.
Obviously, the target unit must have some injured men.
12. Scare (10 points, STUN skill) - Attempt to scare the commander of
an adjacent enemy unit. If successful, the target unit's attack
points will decline dramatically, delaying its turn. Officers who
are notoriously cowardly are more likely to be scared by your
threats. The acting officer's WAR ability likely also has an effect
upon the results, but I am less sure about this. Unless you are
reasonably confident in your success, this command is only useful
in a select few situations.
13. Settle (4 points, SETTLE skill) - Attempt to calm an adjacent
friendly unit that is either confused or enticed. The higher the
acting officer's INT the higher the chance of success.
14. Sneak (doubles points required for movement, DISTRACT skill) - To be
honest, I've never seen this skill used effectively. I am
reasonably certain, however, that it makes the acting unit immune to
ambushes. It is difficult to test this because the computer very,
very rarely uses the ambush tactic. Don't use this command.
15. Surprise (12 points, SURPRISE skill) - Detach a small unit to launch
a surprise raid on an enemy unit. The target can be pretty much
anywhere on the battlefield. The weather conditions must be either
rain, fog, or snow. It is generally only a good idea to use this
on units that are enticed or confused, because a failed raid will
mean heavy casualties for the acting unit.
16. Weather (10 points, AEROMANCY skill) - Attempt to change the weather.
Higher INT means a higher chance for success.
17. Wind (8 points, AEROMANCY skill) - Attempt to change the direction of
the wind. Higher INT means a higher chance for success. Useful when
using fire to attack the enemy.
Finally, and of particular note, the retreat command is only available
when a unit is stationed on the edge of the battlefield. The manual makes
the claim that if a commander's main unit retreats from the battle, his
sub unit is also routed. This isn't accurate. If a commander's main unit
retreats, he will be given the option to switch his command to one of his
subunits or to also have it retreat.
--------------
Battle Basics
--------------
As I mentioned earlier, there are three different types of battles in
Romance 10. I will outline the three types below and offer some general
commentary.
Field Battle
------------
In some ways, field battles are the most basic engagements in which you
can engage your officer. There are no structures that the attackers are
obligated to destroy, and really the only goal is to destroy the other
commander's troop. For the sake of technicality, however, there is still
an "attacker" and a "defender." In cases where the battle is fought at a
base, the defending army belongs to the force that owns the structure;
otherwise, the force that marched first is the attacker.
Because there is no obligation to destroy a particular structure to bind
the attacker, there is little use for rams or catapults in these types of
battles. Also, because there are no walls to check their advance, horse
type units are generally more valuable in the field, as are units equipped
with ram- or warships.
There really are only two ways to achieve victory in the field. The first,
and most common way, is to either rout or force into withdrawal every
enemy unit. The second, somewhat more difficult way, is to capture the
enemy commander, which will immediately rout the remaining soldiers. These
victory conditions apply to both the attacker and the defender.
The defender will also win if the 30 day limit expires. This seems stupid
to me, since in a field battle this is really an artificial distinction.
Castle Sieges
-------------
I would estimate that about 80% of all battles are castle sieges. This
type of engagement puts pressure on the attackers, because they have to
actively destroy the defense of the city.
The single biggest difference between a castle siege is (not surprisingly)
the large castle walls that prevent the attackers from reaching the main
gate of the city. Generally, cities have several other gates that prevent
movement towards the main gate of the city. The attacking army will have
to either destroy these subgates on their way to the main gate or attempt
to have their infantry and bow units scale the walls of the castle.
Horse units are at a substantial disadvantage in a siege battle, especially
for the attackers. As these units lack the ability to climb walls, horse
troops have a tendency to get bottlenecked in front of gates, where they
are easy pickings for the defending archers. Conversely, the value of
infantry and archer unit types is greater in a siege, as they have the
ability to scale walls and rush the main gate. Note that the attacking
army has a substantial chance of failing when attempting to climb walls,
whereas the defending army will always succeed.
Obviously, siege weapons are also valuable when attacking a castle. If
used correctly, rams can destroy gates within several turns. Catapults,
when used in tandem, can also quickly reduce the walls to rubble. Towers
are usually best used focusing on the defending archers in an attempt to
reduce casualties, but can also do some damage to gates.
When defending, archers or foot units equipped with towers are generally
the best defense. Powerful, high experienced horse units can also defend
a gate quite well, especially if the opposing army is using foot units to
attack the gate.
The attackers win the battle outright and gain control of the city if they
capture the city's prefect. If they breach the main gate or destroy all
of the prefect's directly commanded units, the battle proceeds to a
townsquare siege, unless the defending prefect desides to abandon the city.
The defenders win if the attackers cannot meet any of these conditions
within 30 days, if they capture the enemy's troop commander, or if they
destroy all of the attacker's troop commander's directly controlled units.
------------------------
Battle in the Townsquare
------------------------
Fighting inside the town is the last chance for the defending army to make
a stand against the attacking army. Unlike a castle siege, there are no
walls to impede the progress of the attacking army, only houses and other
civilian structures. For this reason, horse units once again become
valuable, to the detriment of any foot units.
The attacking army's main goal is to destroy the enemy council chamber.
There are no gates to protect it, so it is possible to simply bum rush it
with several units. The defenders must prevent this for 30 days or
destroy the opposing army.
When fighting in a town, nothing is more useful than a catapult. Capable
of destroying the council from a great distance, even a numerically
disadvantaged attacking force can win the day with relative ease if equipped
with these weapons. Rams are not terribly effective, since the defenders
will more than likely attempt to surround the council in an attempt to
prevent a bum rush. Towers are relatively effective against the council,
especially if the unit's commander has the MISSLE skill.
The attackers seize the city if they manage to destroy the council
chamber, capture the enemy prefect, or destroy all his directly commanded
units. The defenders will win if they capture the attacker's troop
commander or destroy all his units.
--------------------
Some tips on battles
--------------------
1. Be careful when moving on water near the edges of the map. If a unit
whose commander does not have the ADMIRAL skill moves while in a ship,
there is a reasonably high chance that the current will whisk his unit
away out of his control. If this happens in such a way that it removes him
from the battlefield, his unit will no longer be able to participate in the
engagement.
2. When attacking, it is often a good idea to soften the target city's
defenses by sending several officers to destroy the gates. Without siege
weapons it is difficult to destroy all the gates of a city in one shot.
3. Always, always, always bring a variety of units into battle. Any army
is at a severe disadvantage if they are one dimensional.
4. Abuse of the direct command can lead to easy victories. Bring several
officers with the WARLORD skill and have them all direct a unit that is
adjacent to the gate. This will quickly allow you to breach the city.
5. The computer AI does not function very well in fog. To take advantage
of this in a siege battle, use the AERO skill to change the weather to fog,
then have a foot unit climb the city's walls and move towards the main
gate. Assemble a ram, and go to town. The defending army will not notice
their gate being destroyed until the fog lifts. This is especially
effective (or lame, depending on your opinion) if you use number 4 above.
6. Whether you are attacking or defending, marksmen units equipped with
towers are your friend. The splash damage will literally rip the opposing
army to shreds.
7. Make good use of the entice command. It may use a lot of action points,
but it is very effective to disrupt an enemy unit and then confuse them.
8. Remember that when judging prisoners executing officers will make all
of his relations declare you a nemesis. If you are a powerful officer,
this is hardly a problem, but it could make your life very difficult as a
civil officer if enemy officers continue to try to duel you to death.
*****************************************************
VIII. Campaigns
My one significant gripe with Romance 10 is the campaign system. Simply
put, there really isn't that much to them. Gameplay in campaigns seems to
me to essentially mimic that of Romance 2, just on a larger scale and
without terrain effects.
Personal thoughts aside, campaigns are huge battles that are fought
for an entire region, rather than a single city. A campaign comes about
when one force declares their intention to seize an entire area. At this
point, every other force either agrees to support the declaring force or
to oppose it. Obviously, forces with whom the declaring force enjoys good
relations are more likely to support it.
The forces who side with the declaring force and the original army are
together called the "proponent" (a poor translation) forces, and
those opposed are called the "opposition."
A campaign ends when either the proponent forces conquer the region,
retreat, loses its commander's unit, or loses a city it orginally held at
the start of the campaign (which makes no sense). The only way the
proponent side wins is if they conquer all the cities in the region;
otherwise, they lose.
While in a campaign, non-city facilities become extremely important,
because they allow a unit to resupply. As units run out of food, their
morale begins to dramatically decrease, so it is important to keep an eye
on each troop's supply. If you have many different troops, it is a
reality that some will not always be supplied, as there are rarely enough
bases or cities to meet the demand.
When opposing troops meet in the field, they clash and both sides lose
some soldiers. When a troop runs out of soldiers, it is removed from the
battlefield.
--------
Tactics
--------
Each unit also has a set number of tactic points, which are used to
attempt different ploys against the enemy force. Every turn a unit spends
resting in a non-maze facility, it regains one point towards its maximum.
The following are the available tactics and their costs; if a skill is also
listed, one officer in the troop must have the skill for it to be
available:
1. Ambush (2 points) - Very similar to the ambush command in regular
battles, except that if your unit moves it will abandon the ambush.
Any unit that stumbles into the ambush will suffer heavy casualties
and has a chance of being confused. This command is infinitely more
useful if you are part of the opposition, since computer opposition
forces tend to remain in cities, where they can't use the command.
2. Calm (2 points, SETTLE skill) - Takes a unit out of confused status.
3. Discourage (3 points, CONFUSE skill) - Attempt to lower the morale of
an enemy unit. This is essentially useless; I don't notice much of
a difference between a troop fighting with 150 morale and one fighting
with 0. Also, morale increases every turn the unit is supplied
anyway.
4. Distract (4 points, DISTRACT skill) - Attempt to change the status of
the unit to "distract," which I can only assume is another
mistranslation. It prevents your unit from attacking or being
attacked. The only conceiveable way I can imagine this being useful
is if you need to sneak past an enemy troop to reach an undefended
city.
5. Encourage (2 points, RALLY skill) - Attempt to raise the morale of an
allied unit. Again, this is essentially useless.
6. Lure (5 points, ENTICE skill) - Attempt to lure an enemy troop into a
nearby unit or base. Again, not very useful, especially because the
effect wears off if the lured unit runs into an opposing army.
7. Maze (1 point, MAZE skill) - Build a maze on a base. A maze
confuses any enemy unit that moves through it.
8. Mislead (4 points) - Attempt to lower an enemy unit's attack power.
This is somewhat useful, in that you might actually notice a
difference when using it.
9. Raid (4 points, SURPRISE skill) - Essentially the same as the
surprise tactic in battle; I've never seen it work. It might be
practical against a confused unit.
10. Rouse (3 points) - The opposite of the mislead tactic, this raises
the attack ability of the acting unit. The effect is relatively
powerful, and this is probably one of the better campaign tactics.
11. Sabotage (3 points) - Attempt to lower a non adjacent enemy city's
defense. This seriously almost never works. I could only conceive
of it being useful if you are part of the opposition and really
need to seize a city to end the campaign.
12. Stun (4 points, STUN skill) - Attempt to reduce the movement of an
enemy troop. Not useful.
You might notice that many of these tactics are not very useful. Most
simply aren't. In every campaign I've seen, the side with the most
soldiers has won.
-----------------------------
Some Tips Regarding Campaigns
-----------------------------
1. Really, the only time I use a campaign is when I have a substantial
numerical advantage over my opponent and I need to quickly take an entire
region. Campaigns are not terribly useful if there are many forces in an
area, because it is sometimes difficult to judge with which side a third
party will fight.
2. It is a good idea to put officers with familial relations into the same
troops during campaigns. If two officers within the troop are related,
there is a reasonably high chance that the unit will score a critical hit
when it attacks. Sometimes, these critical hits will confuse the target
unit.
*****************************************************
IX. FAQs
Q: How do I unlock multiplayer?
A: There is no multiplayer. KOEI accidentally advertised the game as being
1-8 players, but this is a mistake. They have since issued an apology. I
do not know if the second wave of games still has the mistake on box, but
I bought the game the day it came out and my box has the 1-8 player claim
on it.
Q: I've heard you can select skills for your created characters, but how
do you unlock it?
A: You need to play end a game where your character has learned 30 skills.
Note that I say "learn" not "has." You need to actively learn the 30
skills in one playthrough then either die or unify China.
Q: What's a good way to learn the 30 skills?
A: Create a character with abilities all at 100 and 500 fame. Domestic
skills and tactics are ridiculously easy to learn. Attain the rank of
prefect, then withdraw a ton of money from your vault, continually work
at facilities with 500 gold for 10 days and you'll be able to learn the
skills within a few months. This works even better if you then resign as
prefect and get hired by another force as an officer, because you will gain
fame at the same time. Remember to get 400 experience in everything, as
other skills require higher amounts of experience.
For the tactic skills, repeatedly use the agitate command at an enemy city
until you have 700 tactics experience. You will auto learn WARLORD. You
will need to be assigned the task first.
For the duel skils, repeatedly duel the guards of enemy cities until you
win 30 in a row.
At this point, you should have more than 700 fame. If not, do requests
(preferably drinking contests) until you do. You will auto learn HOST.
Learn the HERO skill from either Qiao Xuan or Xu Shao.
Repeatedly debate enemy guards until you win 30 debates in a row. This is
a little trickier. I'd recommend you learn one tactic at a time so that
you have a higher chance of not breaking your streak. It is not
essential to learn TAUNT but every skill helps.
At this point, you will have learned about 26 tactics, depending on
whether or not you got every skill above. Simply fight in some
battles and learn the attack skills. You could then just finish the
game normally, or try to get your officer executed by getting captured by
a nemesis.
Q: How can I get my character married?
A: The short answer is, you can't. If you create a female character, you
can set her as your wife, but she won't stick around your house as she will
be another officer. Some chracters have NPC wives. These characters are:
Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Liu Bei, Lu Bu, Yuan Xi, Cao Pi and Sun Jian. There may
be more, but these are the only ones that I know off the top of my head.
Q: Why are my computer controlled prefects so bad? They always lose when
they get attacked!
A: Prefect AI in this game generally leaves something to be desired. Part
of the problem is that when simulating a battle, the computer puts a heavy
emphasis on the defense of the defending city. As the simulation
progresses, both troop numbers and the city's defense will decrease.
Nine times out of ten, however, the city's defense hits 0 well before
either side is out of troops. It's possible to lose cities with 200,000
troops this way.
There's no perfect solution. Whenever I take a city, I make sure to max
out its defense first. A city with max defense and an army relatively
equal to that of the attackers will usually sustain at least one attack
before you'd absolutely need to rescue it personally.
If I can't be at the city myself to improve its defense, I'll usually set
the prefect's orders to "Auto," as this seems to force him to improve the
city's defense the most quickly. I have also experimented with setting
the city policy to domestics and only selecting defense, but this really
doesn't work at all. Once the city's defense is maxed, then I'll switch
the policy to conquer another city.
Also, make sure that you have prefects of relatively high rank. Mediocre
officers like Yuan Xi can be better prefects than Guan Yu if their rank is
substantially higher. I try to keep officers I want to be prefects close
to my ruler or viceroy until they are to class 3, so that I can force them
to do tasks that reward a lot of deeds. Class 5 prefects are usually at
a disadvantage as they can only march with 6 units at a time.
Q: I just won 5 battles in a row! Why is the morale of my soldiers so low?
A: Every time your troop enters a battle, the troops become a little
fatigued. At first, there is no effect, but as subsequent battles come
and go, your men will become increasingly tired. The only solution to
this is to return to your base and give your men a rest. If their morale
dropped substantially, you will likely need to run some drills to restore
it.
Q: I captured the Han Emperor. What should I do with him?
A: Generally, it is better to protect the emperor than to depose him.
Supporting the emperor increases the loyalty of your followers and makes
the other forces more willing to support you through diplomacy.
Dethroning the emperor makes the loyalty of your officers go down and also
makes the forces more hostile towards you. For the most part, you should
only do this if you have some kind of grudge against the emperor or for
one reason or another you want the other rulers to attack you.
Q: How do I get X event?
A: Email me and I will try to help you. I have not gotten some of the
events. You could also try the Romance 10 gamefaqs message board.
Q: Which officers have wives?
A: See the Appendix below.
*****************************************************
X. Appendices
A. Famous Wife List
1. Liu Bei - Mistress Mi/Sun Shang Xiang
2. Cao Cao - Mistress Zhen
3. Zhang Fei - Mistress Xiahou
4. Zhuge Liang - Yue Ying
5. Zhang Ji - Mistress Zuo
6. Lu Bu - Diao Chan (with Dong Zhuo in some scenarios)
7. Sun Ce - Da Qiao
8. Zhou Yu - Xiao Qiao
9. Sun Jian - Wu Guo Tai
10. Meng Huo - Zhu Rong
*Note that the only playable famous wife is Zhu Rong.
**Also note that I looked these up in the "Heroes Across Time"
scenario, and that some of these are time sensitive.
*****************************************************
XI. Credits
Thanks to the following people:
KOEI, for releasing the game in the US.
Nicole Xhilone (pronounced X-Ill-On) for reading this guide throughout its
various permutations and being generally supportive (she's cute too).
Flamingllama32 for his guides on units/weapons and the sages. I consulted
both while writing this guide. They are also posted on GameFAQs.
Wendy "action" Jackson for reading this guide and reminding me how wishy
washy my writing (only my writing?) can be.
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide.
*****************************************************
XII. Legal
This guide is copyright 2005,2006 by Greg Hartman.
As of 7/26/06, the following sites may post this guide:
http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://www.cheatcc.com
http://www.supercheats.com
http://www.gameplayworld.com
If you are interested in posting this guide on your website, contact me
and I will entertain your request. It is illegal to post this guide
without the permission of the author, and only a jerk would do so.
