************************************************* 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. ************************************************* Version History Version .5 (8/11/2005) -first version - about halfway done with the 1st, unproofread version of the guide. 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 ************************************************* 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 ************************************************* 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. ************************************************ 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. ************************************************** 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 viceroy's, 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 money as well as 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 build friendships with officers and recruit them and how well you can convince others in debates. 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) --------------- Domestic Skills --------------- 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. ------------- Battle Skills ------------- 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: Eh...somewhat useful. 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 that good. 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: Not bad 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. LEARNED: 10 victories in battle. RATING: Not very good. The game almost never uses ambushes, so sneaking isn't worth using. I've never seen distract work. ------------ 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 beseige 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 on water. 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. 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. 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 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 them. 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 are gathered and trained 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 with size S can hold 5 units, with size M can hold 10, with size L can hold 15, and with 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 charisma. (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 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 outside of that area. 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 arrage 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 taking on 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 earn such experience. 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, including yourself. 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 civilians 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. The city is also expanded from this facility. 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 areas 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 soldier's 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 can only be expanded in scale 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 not yet constructe due to the city's size. ------------------------------------- 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 of 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 are not stationed 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 either a duel or a debate. C. Instruct - Attempt to improve the other officer's stats 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 aspect 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 indicate how many of that particular attack are currently available for use. Basic tactics are refreshed every round. Storing tactics allows the use of duel specials. Musuo is recovered every round. All special attacks use up 50% of the officer's total musuo. You cannot use a special unless you have at least 50% of your total musuo (obviously). 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. Duels end when either officer loses all his health or escapes. If the duel was called in a battle, the losing general becomes captured by the victorious general, and his unit will be removed from battle. 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, leaving him vulnerable to any level attack for which he will take extra damage. Beaten by Sw- attacks. Evade also trumps the attack round of Maul, Crush, Pound, and Rush. B. Guard - Block an enemy's attack. No matter what the attack was, it will succeed, but it will do reduced 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 more than 5 or so WAR than you. 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 if necessary. --------- 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 to your character, the second character will also challenge you to a friendly debate. Debates are unlike duels, however, in that your chances for success are highly rooted in how many dueling skills your officer has. Without any skills, you will likely have a hard time winning debates, even if you have high debating abilities (ie 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 that is 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. As the debate begins, each character is given a set amount of random commands based on the debating skills he has. The higher the officer's INT, the more commands he receives. When the officer uses the command, it is replaced with another random command. 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. Both commands, however, can also be used as any other command, 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 that command is removed by either officer 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 commands are stackable. The final two regular commands are Mire and Think. Mire randomly mixes the numbers and 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 is reversed, meaning that number strength of commands moves 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, and the lower is broken and disregarded. 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. -------------------------------------------- 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. 2. Given enough patience, you can become close with really 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 whom your share some kind of familial relation with begin with either "friend" or "trusted" relationships. 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. ***************************************************** 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 a vassal, 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 he 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 deed. 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 - 1200 gold Elephant - 2000 gold 3. (Drill) - Order an officer to/suggest to the prefect that you drill a unit to improve it's 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 seige 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 liutenant 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 foces. 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 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 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 inevitible 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, so if one guy can't get the job done, just replace him with someone else. The same goes with viceroy's, but given the rather strict rank requirements, you're probably going to have less room with which to work here. 9. Build seige 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 send 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 Next update, I promise. ***************************************************** VIII. Campaigns Yup, next update... ***************************************************** 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. Atain 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 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, 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 it's 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 5 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. ***************************************************** X. Appendices Next update.... ***************************************************** 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. ***************************************************** XII. Legal This guide is copyright 2005 by Greg Hartman. As of 8/11/05, the following sites may post this guide: http://www.cheatcc.com http://www.gamefaqs.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.