The Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 (PC VERSION) FAQ/Guide, ver. 1.63 by Douglas Lee (douglaswlee-at-netscape-dot-net) -- 19 January 2004 This document is a general overview of the eighth edition of Koei's famous strategy game series, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." ************************************************************************ * * * Please note: I am not able to answer any emailed questions about RTK * * so please do not email me with your questions. Sorry. * * * ************************************************************************ Dedication ---------- For Julie. Version history --------------- v1.63 - Small fixes. v1.62 - Fixes again for SSX. Thanks to Nanodemon from GameFAQS.com! v1.61 - Some fixes to SSX's marriage requirement, officer skills v1.6 - More changes to the Marriage requirements v1.54 - Made massive corrections to the marriage requirements. Please check each one carefully now! (Changes are marked with ***) v1.53 - Corrected a requirement for marrying Lin Zhi (you need only the farm popular support to be at 20); added a blurb about Infamy (s. 17) v1.52 - No additions made - I am not accepting any email questions, re: RTK games. Sorry, I simply don't have the time to give personal attention to email questions about this topic, so please use the message board. v1.51 - Some minor changes (added a bit to the Blue skills, added warning that Children are not part of the PS2 version) v1.5 - Many corrections (removed -zhou suffixes..."zhou" = province, fixed up the minimum amount of gold before Zuo Ci will offer to teach you a super skill, added more compatibility comments re: the Sages of China) v1.43 - Just made a correction: Sword of the Seven Stars gives red Confident skill (wanted to be consistent with the rest of the FAQ when I refer to that skill). I also renamed the scheme "Illusion" to "Magic" in order to clear up any confusion with the battle manoeuvre "Illusion" v1.42 - NO OFFICER CAN MARRY ANOTHER OFFICER! v1.41 - Gah, more spelling corrections. I guess I really should proofread this v1.4 - Corrected and made additions to the s. 7 on Sages of China (including corrections/additions to what each Sage can do for you and which city they start) v1.31 - Corrected Deeds requirements for officer classes, added alternate ways to get the Orange, Green, and Blue super skills v1.3 - Added Duelling section to "Warfare" v1.21 - Made some minor corrections to the wives/husbands section, relabelled Super Skills v1.2 - Added a little tidbit about the "Additional information" profile in s. 2 on Character Information v1.11 - Made some corrections to spelling mistakes v1.1 - Added children section, renamed "Marriage" to "Marriage and Children" v1.0 - Original draft Some legal technicalities ------------------------- "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series is (c) 2002-2003 Koei Games (http://www.koeigames.com). No copyright infringement intended. This document should be found exclusively on GameFAQs.com, at Sanguo ONline (http://www.sanguo-online.com), and at Kongming's Archives (http://www.kongming.net). You may use and/or print this document for PERSONAL USE ONLY. You may NOT put this on your site or use it to make a profit. I am NOT interested in having this or any other FAQ of mine published at any other website at this time. Do not distribute this document, or alter it in any shape or form. Thank you. This FAQ is copyright (c) 2003-2004 Douglas Lee. Also: I'm translating game terms from the original Chinese. Based on past experience with translated games, terms may differ when they are translated into English, so please bear with me. Acknowledgements ---------------- -Koei Games for developing the RTK series. -Kriel at GameFAQS.com for asking lots and lots of questions and for suggesting that I make this FAQ/Guide in the first place. -Liu Bei98 at Sanguo ONline for outlining the battle campaigns. -Steven Chin at Sanguo ONline. -Firebirdjim at Rtk Frontier Palace (http://www.3kingdoms.net) for the full list of special wives and husbands. -Threekingdoms.com, which has many useful references, including the map of China that lays out the provinces (http://www.threekingdoms.com/map2.htm) -Sanguogame.126.com for instructions on how to raise the child Onward! THE TABLE OF CONTENTS ===================== 1. Introduction 2. Character Information 3. Battle Strategies 4. Skills 5. Positions in the Empire 6. Character Development 7. The Sages of China 8. Interactions with the Han Emperor 9. The City and City Development 10. The Council Session 11. Warfare 12. Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy 13. Goals, Missions, and Objectives 14. Social Interactions and Relationships 15. Marriage 16. Items 17. A Word about Infamy 1. Introduction ================ For those of you who are already familiar with the Romance or "RTK" series, you might find things have changed a bit (or a lot) from previous editions. This FAQ/Guide is intended to illustrate the [new] features of this game. Background ---------- The second century is coming to a close and with it, the decline of the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty was one of the longest and most famous dynasties to have ever ruled China. Toward the end of the century, the imperial court was plagued by corruption and decadence at the highest levels. Eunuchs, trusted court attendants of the imperial family, wielded great influence and power over the royalty. Eventually, the self-serving nature of the eunuchs, complicated by widespread famine across the country, led to the rise of the Yellow Turbans Rebellion. Their leader, Zhang Jiao, and his brothers were said to be able to control Nature herself. The imperial government has fallen into shambles; some royal officers seek to restore the dynasty to its former glory while others seek to mold China into their own image. The goal is the same: unite China under a single flag. The question is "whose flag?" When RTK7 came out, it introduced a new way of playing an RTK game. Instead of playing as the liege (ruler) of a country, you were allowed to play as any character. That meant you could play as a liege, but now you could choose to play as a warlord, a prefect, a common officer, or a ronin. This style has carried over into RTK8--and now you may play as more than one character (in RTK7, this "multiplayer" feature was hidden as a secret code; in RTK8, this option is obvious and in the open as an option for players). Another significant feature in RTK8 that sets it apart from the previous editions is the ability to play in any year from 184 AD to 234 AD. Before, a player was allowed to start only at certain years/scenarios; this, however, has changed, and now the player has 50 years/scenarios to choose from. 2. Character Information ========================= Your information profile is divided into several sections: i. statistics ii. position in the empire (discussed in s. 5) iii. battle strategies (discussed in s. 3) iv. skills (discussed in s. 4) v. additional information (appearing as button-triggered pop-up windows) Statistics ---------- Your statistics are divided into four main areas: War -- this is your proficiency in fighting; best for developing the city security Int -- this is your intelligence; best for developing the city technology and city walls Pol -- this is your ability to get things done; best for developing the city economy Cha -- this is your ability to recruit soldiers and officers to join your empire; best for developing the city farmland Each statistic can be developed from its initial levels over time (see s. 6 on Character Development). Position in the empire ---------------------- There are several important pieces of information that describe you: (a) fame -- how well-known you are (b) gold -- how much money you have (c) health -- poor health means your War statistic will be low; it also affects the number of action points (AP) that you have (d) availability -- shows whether you have done an action (d) privileges -- applies only if you are a common officer; when you make a suggestion to your prefect, you have the option of using a privilege to make sure your suggestion is accepted by the prefect There are two ways to gain a privilege point: -exceeding 200% at city development (or if there are other common officers who have exceeded 200%, you must be the highest performer) will give you 1 privilege point -succeed in a military plot or diplomatic tactic; if the prefect chooses to honour you in the next council session, you will gain 1 privilege point (e) liege -- your supreme ruler (f) officer class -- having higher deeds means you will be promoted to a higher officer class; in turn, having a higher officer class opens the door to promotions as well as the ability to command more soldiers when you are on the battlefield (g) deeds -- a reflection of how much you have done in service to your empire (h) region -- the administrative area of the liege's empire in which you are located (i) position -- shows if you are a ronin, common officer, warlord, prefect, regional commander, or liege (j) service years -- how many years you have served under your current liege (k) city -- the city in which you are located (l) salary -- how much money you receive as wages every 3 months (m) loyalty -- how loyal the character is to his liege (NOTE: you do not see the loyalty rating of your liege because he can't be disloyal to himself nor do you see your own loyalty rating because you decide whether you want to leave your liege or stay) (See also s. 5 in Positions in the Empire for more information.) Additional information ---------------------- These buttons, when pressed, give you information about your officer. They information on your officer's biography, his proficiency with battle manoeuvres, the special items he owns, a list of the people he knows at the various levels of friendship (this includes your spouse, sworn brothers, sworn enemies), and the goals/missions that your officer is pursuing. 3. Battle manoeuvres ==================== Battle manoeuvres are military manoeuvres that you can carry out during battle. You can tell if the unit has successfully executed the manoeuvre if all FIVE of his soldier icons move in unison, causing substantial damage to the target. If one or more soldier icons are shadowed and do not move with the rest of the unit, then the manoeuvre failed to execute properly, and so it will cause less damage. The battle manoeuvres, as well as the relevant unit types, are: CHARGE (infantry and cavalry only) -a rush against the target enemy unit -best used if the target is on open land BESERK (infantry and cavalry only) -attacks several surrounding units -an allied unit can be attacked by accident too -best used if surrounded by many targets but you can also be up against a single enemy unit, and this manoeuvre will let you attack that same unit several times ATTACK + CHAOS (infantry and cavalry only) -attacks the target enemy unit -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack -best used if the target is in forests, swamps or mountains although it is marginally effective on open land SNEAK ATTACK (infantry and cavalry only) -attacks the target enemy unit in a surprise attack -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack -best used if the target is in forests, swamps or mountains although it is marginally effective on open land PHALANX CHARGE (infantry only) -a strong attack against the target enemy unit -may cause substantial damage -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack -this is the "super" attack for that particular unit type -best used if the target is on open land CAVALRY CHARGE (cavalry only, but not elephants) -a strong attack against the target enemy unit -may cause substantial damage -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack -this is the "super" attack for that particular unit type -best used if the target is on open land FIREBOLT (archers only) -attacks the target enemy unit with firebolts -may set the enemy unit on fire -best used if the target is on land and if the weather is sunny BURST OF ARROWS (archers only) -shoots the target enemy unit with a focused burst of arrows -best used if the target unit is on open land or in the mountains SHOOT ALL AROUND (archers only) -shoots multiple targets -an allied unit can be attacked by accident -best used if surrounded by many targets STORM OF ARROWS (archers only) -shoots the target enemy unit with a concentrated burst of arrows -may cause substantial damage -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack -this is the "super" attack for that particular unit type -best used if the target unit is on open land or in the mountains FLOOD (all units) -floods enemy ships (i.e. enemy units in water) within range -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack ARSON (all units) -sets a fire on target spot -cannot be used on swamps or water (duh) BOULDER (all units) -drops boulders on all enemy units within range -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack -can be used when enemies are in mountains only ILLUSION (all units) -casts an illusion on all enemy units within range -may also make the target unit fall into CHAOS, making it more vulnerable to attack -best used when the weather is cloudy POWER SIEGE (infantry only) -a powerful attack on the defenders' city walls -does not attack enemy soldiers nor do you suffer any losses Battle manoeuvres are rated at seven levels, from worst to best: (1) unknown (i.e. this manoeuvre is unavailable and cannot be executed yet) (2) novice (3) green (4) experienced (5) veteran (6) expert (7) master The higher your expertise, the more likely you can execute a battle manoeuvre successfully. To improve your expertise, you need to either train at the city barracks or execute the battle manoeuvre on the battlefield (see s. 6 on Character Development). Every time you do one of these two actions, you gain experience points that work toward the next level of expertise. Once you reach level 5 (veteran), the only way you can improve your expertise is through battlefield execution (i.e. you cannot train any more once you reach level 5). NOTE: You cannot improve upon a battle manoeuvre that you don't know (i.e. at level 1 unknown). See s. 6 on Character Development for info on how to acquire new battle manoeuvres. 4. Skills ========= Skills are your capabilities both on and off the battlefield. If you have certain skills, you can do certain tasks better or perform new tasks that you cannot do without them. You may be lucky and learn the skills from the Sages of China or from your spouse (i.e. wife/husband). THE "RED" SKILLS ---------------- These skills are the most difficult to learn, compared to the other skill sets. FIERCE -increases your WAR growth potential by 20 points from your starting WAR (as opposed to the usual 10) -you can learn this skill by maxing out your WAR and visiting the city walls INTELLECTUAL -increases your INT growth potential by 20 points from your starting INT (as opposed to the usual 10) -you can learn this skill by maxing out your INT and visiting the city weapons forge POLITICIAN -increases your POL growth potential by 20 points from your starting POL (as opposed to the usual 10) -you can learn this skill by maxing out your POL and visiting the city market KIND -increases your CHA growth potential by 20 points from your starting CHA (as opposed to the usual 10) -improves your chances at recruiting officers to join your empire -you can learn this skill by maxing out your CHA and visiting the city farmland CONFIDENT -allows you to use SHOUT during a battle -you can learn this skill by visiting the city barracks << STATS MAX AT 100 SUPER SKILL >> -if you have all 5 skills before this one and 2,000 gold, Zuo Ci will visit you and teach you this "skill" -it increases your statistics maximum POTENTIAL to 100 THE "ORANGE" SKILLS ------------------- Probably the easiest set of skills to learn. Cai Yan, the female poet who resides at the Chang'an inn, can teach you these skills if you build up a friendship level of 5 (trusted) with her. FARMER -improves your ability to develop the city farmland -you can learn this skill by visiting the farmland until popular support reaches 30, and then keep visiting (you will eventually get this skill) ECONOMIST -improves your ability to develop the city economy -you can learn this skill by visiting the market until popular support reaches 30, and then keep visiting (you will eventually get this skill) WALL BUILDER -improves your ability to develop the city walls -you can learn this skill by visiting the city walls until popular support reaches 30, and then keep visiting (you will eventually get this skill) SECURITY PATROLLER -improves your ability to develop the city security -you can learn this skill by visiting the security office until popular support reaches 30, and then keep visiting (you will eventually get this skill) INVENTOR -improves your ability to develop the city technology -you can learn this skill by visiting the forge until popular support reaches 30, and then keep visiting (you will eventually get this skill) << SUPER SCOUT SUPER SKILL >> -if you have all 5 skills before this one and 2,000 gold, Zuo Ci will visit you and teach you this "skill" -alternatively, if you get Zuo Ci's Shield Armour Book, you will get this super skill -it allows you to see the stats for all cities during the council session without having to use the SPY command -you may also use the ALERT CAMPAIGN, which allows your armies to successfully defuse all enemy traps when attacking THE "GREEN" SKILLS ------------------ Sima Hui, the Sage who wanders around the cities of the provinces of Jing, Yang, and Yi, will teach you these skills once you develop a friendship level of 5 (trusted) with him. DEBATE -use this against an enemy officer during the council session; if you were successful, that enemy officer will likely defect during a battle SUBVERT -use this against an enemy officer during the council session; if successful, that enemy officer's unit can lose soldiers and become disabled during a battle RUSE -lowers the enemy city's security development CHAOS -during a battle, you can use CHAOS against enemy unit, making it more vulnerable to attack RUMOUR -attempts to lower an enemy officer's loyalty << LIGHTNING SUPER SKILL >> -if you have all 5 skills before this one and 2,000 gold, Zuo Ci will visit you and teach you this "skill" -alternatively, if you get Zhuge Liang's 24 Manuals of War, you will get this super skill -if you have both this skill and ASTRONOMER, you can use the LIGHTNING BOLTS plot during a battle THE "BLUE" SKILLS ----------------- This is a difficult set of skills to learn. You have to repeatedly train your soldiers at barracks of various provinces of China. It is only through repeated training that you will gain the skill. Your spouse may also teach you this skill, if you are married. FOOT SOLDIER -you fight better during a battle when set as a foot soldier (i.e. light infantry, heavy infantry, rattan infantry) -when you are an infantry unit, you will move farther compared to those who don't have this skill -to get this skill, train in any city in Bing province (e.g. Puyang) CAVALRY -you fight better during a battle when set as a cavalry officer (i.e. light cavalry, heavy cavalry, Shanyue cavalry, elephants) -when you are a cavalry unit, you will move farther compared to those who don't have this skill -to get this skill, train in any city in Liang province (e.g. Xiliang) ARCHER -you fight better during a battle when set as an archer unit (i.e. archers, crossbow wagon) -when you are an archer unit, you will move farther compared to those who don't have this skill -to get this skill, train in any city in Ji province (e.g. Bohai) NAVY -you fight better when in the water (i.e. ships) -to get this skill, train in any city in Yang province (e.g. Moling/Jianye) SCOUT -when spying on the target city, you will also gain info on the surrounding cities -in battle, this officer will successfully detect and disarm any enemy traps -develop a friendship of level 5 (trusted) with Sima Hui, and he will teach you this skill (eventually) << CONFUSION SUPER SKILL >> -if you have all 5 skills before this one and 2,000 gold, Zuo Ci will visit you and teach you this "skill" -alternatively, if you get the Technique of Peace, then you will get this super skill -you can use the CONFUSION plot during a battle THE "YELLOW" SKILLS ------------------- ASTRONOMY -you can control the weather and wind -you can learn this skill by marrying Lin Zhi, Sima Hui's daughter (she will teach you this skill, eventually) or, if you are Sun Ce, by apologizing to Yu Ji, the Daoist priest -alternatively, if you have 2,000 gold, Zuo Ci may offer to teach you DOCTOR -you can heal the wounded soldiers in an allied unit -you can also heal wounded officers if you visit them immediately -you can learn this skill by building up a level 5 (trusted) friendship with Hua Tuo (who will give you his medical journal) -alternatively, if you have 2,000 gold, Zuo Ci may offer to teach you -you can also buy a book of healing from the merchants at Luoyang, at a cost of 3,000 gold 5. Positions in the Empire ========================== There are several positions within your liege's empire. To see what each position can do during a council session, see the chart at the end of this section. Ronin ----- This is a Japanese word that referred to a samurai warrior without a master, and so it applies quite nicely in this context. There are three kinds of ronin: THE NORMAL RONIN A ronin does not serve a liege, but instead is free to wander about from one city to another. He may meet and converse with other ronin as well as officers who serve under a liege, visit a city's buildings (e.g. farmland, economy, city walls, etc.) to build up popular support, etc. Eventually, he may decide to join an empire and serve a liege. Until he becomes part of an empire, the normal ronin does not attend any council sessions. THE EXILED LIEGE An exiled liege is a liege that doesn't own a city. He can move from one city to another, but sometimes an occupying liege's forces may prevent him from crossing the borders from one liege's territory to another, and so he must retreat to the first city. He might be able to cross the borders if he forces his way through, but that usually results in a reduction in the friendly relations with that other liege (i.e. you just invaded his land and broke though...not exactly a "nice" thing to do). The exiled liege may meet and converse with normal ronin and recruit him as one of his Followers. He can also meet and converse with officers who serve under a liege. He may also draft a small number of soldiers from the city, but the number is extremely limited given his few resources. The exiled liege may lead an attack on another liege's city if he has soldiers. If the exiled liege comes upon an unowned city, then he may choose to claim it and start his own empire. THE EXILED LIEGE'S FOLLOWER A follower is not quite a "ronin" in the strictest sense because he has a master, an exiled liege. A follower is just that--he follows his liege wherever the liege goes. He can offer suggestions for courses of action, like a common officer. He may also draft a few soldiers from the city, but again, the number is extremely limited given his few resources. Common Officer -------------- A common officer is a character who serves under a liege, but has no special privileges or position within the empire. During a council session, the common officer may make one suggestion to his prefect to take a certain course of action, but the prefect must give approval. He may, however, use a privilege to ensure that the prefect accepts the suggestion (i.e. no chance of refusal). A common officer is often assigned city development duties by the city prefect at the conclusion of the council session. Warlord ------- A warlord is the advisor to the city prefect, and he is appointed to this position by the prefect. He is one who decides whether an action is in the best interests of the city and the empire. The warlord's power often mirrors or mimics that of his prefect. In a sense, therefore, the warlord is a "second prefect" of the city, but ultimately the true prefect is the one who has the final say in the matter. During a council session, the warlord enjoys a special status of being able to make up to 6 suggestions to the prefect. While he is not obligated to advise the prefect when faced with ambassadors from other lieges, the prefect will often go along with the choice of his warlord. The warlord cannot order any subordinate officers outside the council session. Note: in RTK7, you had "Influence Points" or IP when you became warlord. This has been taken out of RTK8, so you can give your advice without any cost. City Prefect ------------ A city prefect is the governor of one of his liege's cities. He is appointed to this position by his liege or regional commander. Consequently, he is responsible for the carrying out the policy of his liege or regional commander. The prefect also has the power to appoint an officer in his city to be his warlord. Like the warlord, the city prefect has 6 suggestions (really suggestions to himself) to carry out actions during the council session. The city prefect convenes the council session to decide what to do over the next 3 months. At the conclusion of the council session, the prefect has the power to assign city development duties to the officers under his command in the city. Regional commanders and Lieges are prefects of their respective cities. The city prefect cannot order any subordinate officers outside the council session. Regional Commander ------------------ The regional commander is in charge of usually more than one city. He is appointed to this position by his liege to be responsible for the administration of a section of the empire. The regional commander answers to the liege and is supposed to carry out the regional policy set by the liege. The RC has the power to set city policy and appoint city prefects for all cities under his command. Being the prefect of his own city, the regional commander also has the power to appoint his city's warlord. The regional commander cannot order any subordinate officers outside the council session. Liege ----- This is the highest ranking position of a single empire. The liege is the head of the faction. He has the power to appoint regional commanders, city prefects, and his own city's warlord. The liege can divide his empire into sections, headed by regional commanders. Consequently, he can set regional policy to be carried out by his regional commanders. The liege is also able to set city policy for all the cities under his administrative command. The liege cannot order any subordinate officers outside the council session. Officer classes --------------- There are now nine classes of officers, where the 9th class is the lowest and the 1st class is the highest. An officer's class depends on the Deeds that he has performed in service to the empire: the more Deeds he has, the higher his officer class. The higher the officer class, the higher the salary and the more troops that the officer can command on the battlefield. Here is a list of the officer classes, maximum soldier assignment, minimum Deeds, and quarterly salary): Liege = 20,000 troops (no Deeds necessary, no salary paid) 1st class = 18,500 (33,000 minimum Deeds, 180 gold salary) 2nd class = 17,000 (24,200 minimum Deeds, 150 gold salary) 3rd class = 15,500 (17,600 minimum Deeds, 120 gold salary) 4th class = 14,000 (12,100 minimum Deeds, 100 gold salary) 5th class = 12,500 (7,700 minimum Deeds, 80 gold salary) 6th class = 11,000 (4,400 minimum Deeds, 60 gold salary) 7th class = 9,500 (2,200 minimum Deeds, 50 gold salary) 8th class = 8,000 (1,100 minimum Deeds, 40 gold salary) 9th class = 6,500 (0 Deeds, 20 gold salary) When an officer receives a promotion to the next officer class, his loyalty to his liege improves. If he is demoted to a lower officer class, however, his loyalty drops. 6. Character Development ======================== There are several aspects of your character that can be developed during the course of the game: your statistics, your battle strategies, and your skills. For each aspect, there are several ways of developing your character, but all of them involve gaining experience. Developing your statistics -------------------------- As mentioned above, you have four statistics: war, intelligence, politics, and charisma. Generally, you can improve each statistic by a maximum of 10 points from the starting position; in some situations, you can improve a stat by 20 points, but in order to have this added potential, you need to have the appropriate RED skill (see s. 4 on Skills). You can improve a statistic by visiting your house and training yourself. When training a stat, you gain EXPERIENCE points for that area (i.e. if you decide to improve your war statistic, you will gain experience in war). Once your stat's experience reaches 100, you have improved your stat by 1 point. Sometimes you will meet a fellow officer who happens to be training too, and both of you will benefit much more than if you were training alone. In another rare situation, your spouse will improve a stat for you. Usually the war stat improves in this case, and only if you are stationed in a city that is completely surrounded by enemy cities. You also gain experience, working towards a stat improvement, when you carry out tasks to develop your city. For example, if you continue to work hard at building the city walls, you will eventually gain enough experience in the INT stat such that you will improve that stat by 1 point. Similarly, you can gain experience for your WAR stat when you engage in battles. The more tasks you are involved in, the more experience you gain, and the faster your stats will improve. Developing your battle manoeuvres --------------------------------- Battle manoeuvres are the complex manoeuvres that you can carry out when in a fight. If properly executed, a battle manoeuvre can cause serious damage to the enemy, perhaps even turning the tide of war in your favour. The same applies to your enemies: if they pull off a well-executed manoeuvre, they can seriously cripple your forces. Battle manoeuvres are difficult to learn, but there are a few ways to learn them. 1. An enemy attempts on you a battle manoeuvre that you do not know. You may be able to "pick up" the manoeuvre from the attempt, but there's no guarantee that you will. This method is most unusual, but it does happen occasionally. 2. When you visit a friend who has a level 6 friendship (intimate) with you, and discuss military strategies with him/her, you may learn a new manoeuvre from your friend. This stands a greater chance of learning a new manoeuvre, compared to #1. 3. Your spouse will teach you a manoeuvre. Again, this is a rare occasion. For battle manoeuvres, there are several levels of expertise ranging from beginner to expert. The higher your expertise, the greater the chance your strategy will be carried out properly. The levels are: (1) unknown (i.e. this manoeuvre is unavailable and cannot be executed yet) (2) novice (3) green (4) experienced (5) veteran (6) expert (7) master Once you reach level 4 (experienced), you usually have 50/50 chance of succeeding. Obviously, once you reach level 5 (veteran) and higher, your chance of success improves dramatically. To improve your battle manoeuvres, you need to gain experience in carrying them out. You can gain experience by training in the city barracks or on the battlefield itself. Once your manoeuvre experience reaches 100, your manoeuvre will improve to the next level. A note: once your manoeuvre reaches level 5 (veteran), you cannot train that strategy at the barracks any more--you will have to use it in the battlefield to gain more experience. Also, even if you reach level 7 (master), it doesn't mean you will succeed 100% of the time. You can still fail, but the chance of that is much less than if you were at level 2 (novice). Developing your skills ---------------------- Skills determine your abilities both on and off the battlefield. Needless to say, if you do not have a certain skill, you are therefore "not good" at doing a certain task. Skills are somewhat more difficult to learn compared to improving your stats, but there are plenty of ways of acquiring new skills. There are no degrees of proficiency in skills as there are in battle manoeuvres. Unlike RTK7, one can have a 100 in a stat (e.g. War) and still learn a new skill. There is no need to have a deficiency in a statistic in order to gain a new skill since skills and stats are not linked in that way any more See s. 4 on Skills to learn more about each type of skill and where you can learn them. 7. The Sages of China ===================== There are Eight Sages of China, each of whom travel within a certain part of the country. When a Sage is in a city, he can be found at the inn where you can visit him. Sages cannot be recruited into service of a liege, but if you develop a trusted friendship with a Sage, he will teach you Skills or even get you married to their protege. While you can develop friendships with Sages, you cannot give them gifts nor can you swear brotherhood with any of them. They cannot be sworn enemies nor can you marry any of them. Certain Sages are compatible with certain kinds of officers--their compatibility is listed with each Sage's starting city in every scenario, and a brief description about them. Sima Hui / Xiangyang: The teacher of Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu. You can find him in the city of Hanzhong, and the provinces of Jing, Yi, and southwest Yang. If you develop a trusted friendship with him, he can teach you the green skills one by one or the blue Scout skill. He may also introduce you to his daughter, Lin Zhi, whom you can marry (if you're a guy). He is most compatible with Shu officers, and therefore any Shu officer will have an easier time building a friendship with Sima Hui than any other officer. Hua Tuo / Shouchun: A famous doctor. You can find him in the provinces of Yang, Xu, and Qing. If you develop a trusted friendship with him, he will teach you the Doctor skill or give you his Medical Journal (same effect). He is most compatible with Shu officers, and therefore any Shu officer will have an easier time building a friendship with Hua Tuo than any other officer. Xu Shao / Runan: A prophet. He is the man who called Cao Cao the most loyal in peacetime but the craftiest in wartime. You can find him in the provinces of Ji, Yan, Yu, Qing, and Bing--but he tends to stick around the city of Wan. He is most compatible with Wei officers, and therefore any Wei officer will have an easier time building a friendship with Xu Shao than any other officer. If you meet with him, he may appraise your character and talk about your private goals (similar to what he did for Cao Cao). Cai Yan / Chang'an: The poetess also known as Cai Wenji. Her father is Cai Yong, the royal historian of the Later Han dynasty. You can find her only at the inn at Chang'an (i.e. she doesn't move). If you develop a trusted friendship with her, she can teach you the orange skills one by one. She may also introduce you to Jiang Rong, whom you can marry (if you're a guy). She is most compatible with Wei officers, and therefore any Wei officer will have an easier time building a friendship with Cai Yan than any other officer. Yu Ji / Wu : A Daoist priest. You can find him almost anywhere in China, but he tends to stick around the provinces of Yang, Yu, and the eastern part of Jing. If you develop a trusted friendship with him, he may also teach you the Astronomy skill or the Doctor skill. He is most compatible with Liu Zhang's officers, although he will readily talk with Wei and Shu officers. Guan Lu / Pingyuan: A prophet. You can find him in the provinces of Ji, Bing, and Yan. If you develop a trusted friendship with him, he may introduce you to his protege, Zhou Xin, whom you can marry (if you're a girl) or he may extend your life span or teach you the Astronomy skill. He most compatible with Wei officers, and therefore any Wei officer will have an easier time building a friendship with Guan Lu than any other officer. Mi Heng / Beihai: He is most famous for "mooning" Cao Cao (Ch. 23 of the novel), which obviously didn't impress Cao Cao too much. You can find him around the provinces of Qing, Yan, Xu, and Yu. If you develop a trusted friendship with him, he may teach you the green skills one by one. He is most compatible with Liu Zhang's officers, although he may talk with Wei officers on occasion. Zuo Ci / reportedly Chaisang: A Daoist mystic. You don't find him--HE finds YOU whenever you have at least 3,000-4,000 gold, and he will come and offer to teach you any blue skill one by one. He will also teach you the last skill of each skill set, provided that you already have the first five. 8. Interactions with the Han Emperor ==================================== The Han emperor has been reduced to nothing more than a figurehead, and not everyone is interested in restoring the dynasty to its former glory. In RTK8, there are three Han emperors, one of which is on the throne at any time: Ling, Shao, and Xian. Emperor Ling is alive until about 188 AD, at which time he dies and Emperor Shao takes over, only to be ousted (usually by Dong Zhuo) in 189-190, at which time Emperor Xian ascends to the throne. Xian stays as the emperor until a new emperor appears (this is described below). Even though the government of the Han dynasty is in shambles, the dynasty in itself still holds great prestige as it had governed China for over 400 years. As a result, the titles and ranks of the imperial court still command great respect for those who hold such honours. In RTK8, the imperial ranks are given to those lieges who have captured provinces of the country and, later, a certain number of cities. Provinces are clearly demarcated with thick, black borders if you look at the game's map of China. If you have captured... then you will be given the rank of... 1 whole province imperial protector 10 cities duke 25 cities prince 40 cities emperor Provinces are distinguishable by thicker black lines when you read the map of China. Once you reach the title of duke, the Han emperor will grant you the title appropriate to your liege's command over a certain part of the country. For example, if your liege captures most of Northern China (e.g. the provinces of Ji and You), then the Han emperor will bestow you the rank of Duke of Yan (an ancient state that dominated those northern provinces). Once you reach the title of prince, the emperor will grant you the princely title that is based on your liege's historical background. For example, if your liege is Liu Bei and he has 25 cities, he will be given the title of Prince of Hanzhong. Similarly, if your liege is Cao Cao and he has 25 cities, he will be given the title of Prince of Wei. Alternatively, a liege may declare himself to have an imperial rank based on his fame and his control over a number of cities. This usually happens if the Han Emperor has been deposed. There are other imperial ranks that cannot be obtained as a promotion but are part of the scenario. These ranks are the Regent Marshal and the Prime Minister. He Jin in the Yellow Turbans scenario holds the rank of Regent Marshal. No one else holds this rank in later scenarios. By 189, Dong Zhuo holds the rank of Prime Minister, and by 194 Cao Cao takes this rank. The Han emperor may on occasion send an envoy to request 2,000 gold from a liege. The liege may agree to give the gold, and gain about 500 fame, or disagree and gain no benefit. When you capture the city in which the Han emperor resides and you have acquired the title of Duke, your liege will be asked whether he intends to help restore the Han dynasty, or sweep it aside and begin a new dynasty. Officers may on occasion be called into the presence of the Han emperor, who will bestow a gift of gold and increase that officer's fame. This is done usually because that officer has earned great merits for his liege, and so he is recognized and rewarded for his efforts. 9. The City and City Development ================================ The city is the principal part of gameplay. You are stationed in one city, and outside the council session you interact with the city's facilities and its people. There are several defined sections of the city: (a) The City Walls This is where you can build up and reinforce the city walls (officers with high Intelligence stats will do better here), pillage an adjacent city for money and food, visit another city, or patrol the local peasants to gain popular support. (b) The Farmland This is where you can develop the farmland to increase food production (officers with high Charm will do better here) or patrol the local peasants to gain popular support. (c) The Soldiers' Barracks This is where you can train yourself in battle strategies to improve your expertise or patrol the local peasants to gain popular support. (d) The Security Office This is where you can increase the city's security level (officers with high War stats will do better here), do battle with bandits (they appear only if the city's security status is below 60%), or patrol the local peasants to gain popular support. (e) The Marketplace This is where you can improve the city's economy to increase tax income (officers with high Politics stats will do better here), buy and sell items (if there's a merchant in the city), or patrol the local peasants to gain popular support. (f) The Weapons Forge This is where you can develop the city's technology to create new and better weapons to help you conquer China (officers with high Intelligence will do better here) or patrol the local peasants to gain popular support. (g) The Government Palace This is where you can visit an officer, spread slander against an officer, or give an item to an officer in the city. If you are the liege, you can also deposit or withdraw money from the city coffers. (h) The Ronin's Tavern This is available to ronin only (i.e. not to officers of an established empire). It acts in the many ways like the government office when you wish to interact with the Followers of an Exiled Liege or the Exiled Liege himself. Followers and Exiled Lieges draft soldiers here. (i) The Inn This is where wandering ronin and the Sages of China can be found. Here, you can interact, hire, or give an item to a ronin. The Sages cannot be hired but you can interact with them here. They may often give you some sound advice or even teach you a skill. (j) Your House This is your home in the city, if you are an officer of an established empire. You can improve your stats, hold a party, or resign from service to the liege here. If you are a ronin, this is where you can try to gather other officers in the city to follow you as a new liege. If you are married, your husband or wife will be out in front, tending to the house. If you have a fictitious child, he/she will be playing nearby. Your dog is also here, and may turn up some buried treasure if she happens to be digging up the front yard. She may also bark repeatedly if she sees a thief escaping from your house, presumably with stolen goods... Often, if you are not the prefect, you will be responsible for developing one of the city's facilities during a three month period. It is up to you to develop that facility to the satisfaction of your prefect. The more you work at it, the more recognition you will receive, and the sooner you will receive promotions and honours at a future council session. A city prefect (i.e. the liege, the regional commander, or the prefect) is not obliged to develop any specific part of the city, but he is free to make any contributions he sees fit. There are often dozens of people walking about the city, and you can interview them. They will sometimes give you little tidbits of information, rumours that they've heard, etc. Interviewing any of the city population isn't a necessity, but some players like to do that anyway. On occasion, however, there are some particular examples of people who show up every now and then. This includes the drunk who is lying outside the ronin's tavern, a group of people reading a public sign near your house, the fisherman who tries his luck at the river near the bridge, and a cute couple on the bridge who remark the state of affairs. 10. The Council Session ======================= Every three months, a council session is held at your city (presumably, the other cities of your empire will be holding similar sessions of their own). The first course of business is a report of the city's development for the past three months. High-achieving officers receive deed and fame points for their accomplishments. Under-achieving officers receive a stern scolding. Occasionally, if a prefect is impressed by an officer's success in carrying out a task, then he will honour that officer by awarding him some gold (about 100-500 gold). Once an officer has reached a certain level of deeds, the prefect will award a class promotion to that officer (e.g. from an 8th class officer to a 7th class officer). If, however, an officer consistently fails to accomplish the city development tasks assigned to him, he may be demoted to a lower officer class. If you are a common officer and have achieved a rating of 200 or higher during the course of your development OR if you have successfully carried out a strategic task (i.e. damaging the walls of an enemy city), then your prefect may honour you with a privilege point. A privilege point allows you, as a common officer, to make a suggestion for an action and force it through the prefect's approval. Normally, the prefect considers your idea before accepting or rejecting your proposal. Using a privilege point for your suggestion forces the prefect to accept your suggestion automatically. You can have a maximum of 3 privilege points. Other officers (e.g. prefects, warlords, ronin) do not get privilege points. The second course of business involves the solicitation of suggestions from the officers as to a course of action. In this part of the council session, the prefect and his subordinate officers can make a number of a suggestions, all of which are subject to the approval of the prefect. Common officers normally can make only one suggestion per session, unless they have at least one privilege point--which common officers can use to automatically approve a suggestion. Prefects have up to six suggestions (to themselves :) while the city warlords have up to six suggestions. It is not necessary to use up all available suggestions in a council session. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | CHART OF COUNCIL SESSION ABILITIES | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | |HIRE|MOVE| |FIRE|APPT|MOVE|ATTK|B/S |RECR| |USE |SPY |FRGN|SET | | |OFCR|OFCR|ITEM|OFCR|RANK|RSRC|CITY|FOOD|SLDR|REBL|PLOT|CITY|AFFR|PLCY| +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |RONI| N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |EXIL| Y | Y& | Y$ | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | Y@ | N | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |FOLW| Y* | Y* | N | N | N | N | Y* | N | N | N | N | Y* | N | N | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |OFCR| Y* | Y^ | N | N | N | N | Y* | Y* | Y* | Y | Y* | Y* | N | N | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |WARL| Y* | Y* | N | N | N | Y* | Y* | Y* | Y* | Y | Y* | Y* | Y*%| N | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |PREF| Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |REGC| Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y# | Y! | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ |LIEG| Y | Y | Y$ | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ LEGEND & = The exiled liege can "move" his entourage of officers from one city to another. Usually, if the exiled liege is in the territory of a liege, he can freely move about within that territory. He might be able to cross a border from one liege's territory to another liege's territory, but sometimes he is driven back by the border guards; other times, he can break through the sentry, but at a cost of friendly relations between lieges. $ = Only the liege or exiled liege can give or take away items. All the others can give items only. @ = The exiled liege's foreign affairs power is limited to sending gifts to lieges only. * = Suggest only--the prefect or liege must approve (unless, in the case of the common officer, you use a privilege, which makes it automatically approved). ^ = The common officer can suggest moving himself only, not others. % = The warlord's foreign affairs power depends on the power of his prefect, i.e. the foreign affairs power mirrors his prefect's power. # = The regional commander's foreign affairs power is limited to getting an enemy city's prefect to defect and demanding an enemy liege to surrender. ! = The regional commander can set policy for the cities under his regional command only, whereas the liege can set policies for entire regions as well as individual cities under his regional command (i.e. the liege cannot set individual policies for cities that he has delegated to his regional commanders). Finally, at the conclusion of the council session, the prefect solicits his subordinate officers to help develop the city's facilities. Often, several officers will volunteer to devleop a certain facility, depending on what part of the city needs work. The prefect then can assign up to 10 officers to develop the various parts of the city. Generally, it is better to assign officers that are proficient at certain tasks. For example, it would not be wise to assign Zhang Fei to work at the weapons forge when his intelligence is fairly low. He would be better working the security office detail. See s. 9 on the City and City Development to see which kinds of officers would do better at developing specific parts of the city. 11. Warfare =========== This is the singlemost important part of the game--war. Battles happen only during the council session months (i.e. you can fight in January, April, July, and October, but no other months). Battle preparation ------------------ There are a few preparatory steps before your armies engage in a battle with an enemy. 1. If you are a commanding officer (i.e. liege, regional commander, prefect, warlord, or exiled liege): a) you must select which city will launch the attack (if there is only one city available for you to select, then it will be automatically selected). You can also see a miniature map of the target battlefield. b) you must select the target city (again, this will be automatically selected if there is only one available city to attack). c) you can select any adjacent, allied cities to send reinforcements to help your army. d) you must select which officers in the attacking city will be sent on the expedition. e) you must assign soldiers to each officer in the expeditionary force and select what kind of unit type each officer will have for his troops. If you have met the requirements, you can equip your unit(s) with special weapons (battering ram, catapult, tower, or ship). You can also adjust who will be the expedition's commander and tactician (although this is normally preset by the computer). All of these 5 steps apply if you are launching attack, but steps C to E apply if you are defending against an attack. After these steps are complete, you will be taken to the battle council chamber screen. 2. If you are a common officer in the army, you won't be able to set these options. Instead, if you agreed to join the battle, you will be taken directly to the battle council chamber screen. ** Important note! In addition, if you are a liege, prefect, or regional commander and your warlord suggests launching attack, and you agree to the attack, the computer will automatically go through steps A to E _without_ your approval of each step. Battle council chamber screen ----------------------------- The battle council chamber screen features the battlefield map in the centre of the screen. If you are attacking, you will see red squares, one of which represents a single unit (i.e. one officer and his troops) in the offensive army. You will not see the defending army's deployment. Conversely, if you are the defending army, you will see blue squares (your defending units) on the battlefield map but you will not see the attacking army's forces. Yellow squares represent outposts that must be captured (if attacking) or provide soldier reinforcements (if defending). Your army's commander and tactician (if your army has at least two officers) will discuss preliminary strategies for the battle. If there is only one officer in the army, (i.e. no tactician available), that army will not be able to use schemes. If there is a tactician available, he will suggest what he thinks are the appropriate schemes and the appropriate battle campaign style to use in the upcoming battle. Further details at this stage depend on whether you are attacking or defending. Attacking --------- On the offensive side, the tactician will suggest a number of schemes as well as what he thinks is the best attacking campaign style. The commander has the last word on these choices, and is free to modify them as he sees fit. There are several attacking campaign styles available: 1. Fast campaign. All units' mobility multiplied by 1.5, morale increases by 20. If you don't win the battle within 10 turns, all units' morale drop by 40. 2. Lightning-quick campaign. Even greater mobility than Fast Campaign, morale increases by 20. 10 turns rule still applies. 3. Normal campaign. No special advantages or disadvantages. 4. Cautious campaign. You get a better view (less fog of war), and you won't be ambushed if you run into an enemy when moving. 5. Calm campaign. Higher chance to avoid enemies' tactics and schemes. 6. Tactical campaign. Higher success rate on tactics against the enemy. 7. Water dragon campaign. Greater mobility and defense on water. 8. Careful campaign. Higher chance to avoid traps, mobility decreases however. 9. Alert campaign. Deactivates all traps, mobility normal. The attacking army's tactician can also draw up a manifest of schemes to use in the upcoming battle. Again, the commander has the final authority to either accept or modify the tactician's plans. The possible offensive schemes are: 1. Slander: weakens the defending city's walls, making them vulnerable to attacks from the offensive army if they start battering down the walls. Slander lasts usually for no more than 5 days before it wears off. 2. Dig walls: makes the defending army's soldiers vulnerable to a direct attack from the offensive army. 3. False rumours: lowers the defending army's morale. 4. Incite peasant riots: the defending army's soldiers suffer an attack from own city's population. Defending --------- On the defensive side, the tactician will suggest a campaign, a number of schemes, and lay any traps as he sees fit, depending on the campaign he selects. The defending commander has the authority to revise some or all of the defending tactician's plans. There are several defensive campaigns: 1. The castle line. Units will line up in front of the castle, defense is up but morale decreases. 2. Fortify the walls. Higher defense than The Castle Line, morale still decreases. 3. Outpost campaign. Units will gather around the fortress on the frontline, no special advantages or disadvantages. 4. Calm campaign. Higher chance to avoid enemies' tactics and schemes. 5. Tactical campaign. Higher success rate on tactics against the enemy. 6. Water dragon campaign. Greater mobility and defense on water. 7. Shooting campaign. Archer units' arrow range increases. 8. Entrenched campaign. Units stay in the castle, morale drops 9. Fortified campaign. Units stay in the castle, morale drops, castle defense increases. There are also some defensive-exclusive schemes: 1. Conscription: the defending army adds emergency conscripts from the city's population. 2. Reinforce walls: the defending city's walls are made stronger against the offensive army's attacks on the walls, whose attacks would cause less damage to the city. It is possible that this strategy can last for the entire 30 days of the battle. 3. Rapid retreat: the defenders, who are deployed anywhere outside of the castle, will rush back to the castle walls, but at a cost of morale. 4. Internal strife: causes attackers who are within visual range of the city to attack one another. Usable only if the defending commander is in the city. Success depends on the tactician's Intelligence. Schemes applicable to both attacking and defending armies --------------------------------------------------------- 1. Chain: freezes enemy units who are in the water. 2. Rally: generally, raises the army's morale from 6-25%. Sometimes this scheme fails, and on occasion this can _hurt_ morale instead (because the enemy army will taunt you for being that pathetic!) 3. Astronomy: changes the weather conditions to either sunny, cloudy, light rain, thunderstorm, or snow. Requires the yellow Astronomy skill. 4. Wind control: changes the direction of the wind. Can also reduce all wind to a dead calm, which can cause the enemy army to fall into Chaos or Panic (they are frightened by this sudden lack of wind). Requires the yellow Astronomy skill. 5. Magic: casts a spell on one or more of the enemy units, which damages the troops and lowers the morale of those affected. It often sends the damaged units into Chaos or Panic. Works only if the weather is cloudy. 6. Lightning: summons at least one lightning bolt. Any unit struck by the lightning bolt suffers 80-90% casualties, 60-70% loss of morale, and injures the unit's officer. Any units adjacent to the struck unit also suffer 60-70% casualties, 50-60% loss of morale, but does not injure the unit's officer. Requires the yellow Astronomy skill and the green Lightning skill. Last words before a battle -------------------------- Before the battle begins, the commander can interview his expedition's officers one by one, soliciting opinions about the upcoming battle. With the exception of the alert campaign (attacking army only), interviewing officers before engaging in the fight can raise the morale of one expedition officer's unit by 1-5%. Only the commander can interview his officers. Interviewing allows the commander to re-examine the stats of each expeditionary officer, including what kind of unit, morale, number of soldiers, etc. A sharp-eyed commander should notice that if members of the same family or two or more members of a sworn brotherhood are in the same expedition, each member receives an automatic 5-10% morale bonus to start. Any member of the expedition can check with the tactician's report, which may include information on who is the enemy commander and enemy tactician, any news of reinforcements for either side, the campaigns of both armies, and the terrain of the battlefield. When finished, the battle can begin! Engaging in a battle -------------------- One of the first things you may notice is a blue dotted line that is on the battlefield. This indicates the offensive army's supply lines. If any offensive army unit goes past this line while it is still on the map, then that unit will suffer a loss of morale since its soldiers have gone past the attacking army's ability to supply that unit with food. The supply line disappears when the attacking army captures the defenders' outposts (i.e. no defenders are on the outposts and an attacker has landed upon one outpost). This supply line can play an important role in your decisions in engaging with the enemy. For attackers, it is absolutely critical to capture the outposts if that the army has to continue its advance to the castle walls. For the defenders, the outposts provide two advantages: soldier replenishment, defence bonuses from offensive army attacks, and extended range for archer units stationed on outposts. The map is divided into isometric squares, i.e. "flattened diamonds" to show 3D perspective. Each army unit and outpost takes up 9 squares, with its key position located in the middle square. For example: ______ /_/_/_/ This represents a unit. The X represents the centre of the unit. /_/X/_/ When moving, your destination point will be where the centre of /_/_/_/ the unit will be with the rest of the unit around that new point. Keep in mind that the unit takes up 9 squares because units can accidentally run into enemy units (and possibly suffer damage from the enemy) or have their mobility blocked by enemy units (mobility is not blocked by allied units, so one friendly unit can pass by another, hassle-free). Forests, mountains, roads, grassland, plains, and water often mark various parts of the map. In some cases, a certain kind of terrain offers advantages not given by other kinds (e.g. plains allow for freer movement compared to mountains, but mountains offer extended range for archers). You also keep in mind that certain types of terrain can make units vulnerable to certain kinds of attacks. For example, any unit situated in mountains, water, or on beaches will be extremely vulnerable to archer attacks, and any unit situated on flat plains will be very vulnerable to charges (both infantry and cavalry). Any unit situated in a forest will be quite vulnerable to firebolt attacks from enemy archers, especially in bright sunny days, as well as surprise attacks in any kind of weather. Castle sieges ------------- The defenders may choose to hole themselves up in the city walls, hoping to outlast the attackers by running them out of the 30 days. Both sides can attack each other by shooting arrows (the defenders naturally have archers, but the attackers must have archer units, towers, or catapults). Shooting at each other often results in few casualties to either side, but as the battle progresses in the later days, the defenders tend to be more vulnerable as a continued siege wears down the defence, and the defenders often face soldier desertions from their units. The attackers have the additional option of attacking the city walls. Attacking the walls is a very slow process, especially if the city walls are well developed. Infantry units tend to do well when attacking the walls, and they also have the option of using the POWER SIEGE battle manoeuvre (provided that the officer has that battle manoeuvre). This manoeuvre, if executed successfully, can seriously damage the city walls; if it does not succeed, then only minor damage ensues. Sieging armies would also do well to have a Slander scheme available to them since a successful execution of the Slander scheme weakens the walls with a 25 point hit, and it makes the walls more vulnerable with each regular attack from a sieging unit. As your empire's technology develops, you will obtain three new siege weapons: the battering ram, and later the catapult and the tower. The battering ram and the catapult are generally the most effective weapons since they can lop off many points off the city walls. The tower is generally not as effective since it is designed mainly as a weapon to be used against soldiers, not the city walls. See the section below on Unit Types for more information about siege weapons. Defensive outposts do not have "walls" like the city does, and so battering rams will have no effect on the outposts. Once the castle walls have been broken through, the battle is over, and the attacking side will be victorious, regardless of how many soldiers either side has. Defenders, if they plan on holing themselves up behind the castle walls, should have a Reinforce Walls scheme available to them so as to increase their chances of outlasting the attackers. Unit types ---------- There are various unit types, depending on your empire's level of technological development, as well as the provinces/cities that your empire has captured. Each kind of unit has certain advantages that make them useful, and so it is generally in your best interest to have a certain mix of unit types, depending on your campaign AND the skills of your officers. INFANTRY The most basic unit. There are three kinds of infantry: light infantry, heavy infantry, and rattan-armoured infantry (a.k.a. teng jia units). They have medium range of movement, but they have two certain advantages that make them worth having around in your expedition. 1. The phalanx charge: this special manoeuvre can seriously cripple an enemy unit almost as badly as the cavalry charge. If you know that your enemy has an officer with the phalanx charge, you would do well to avoid open land like plains and grassland. 2. Power Siege: infantry is the only unit type that has this manoeuvre available to them--no other unit can use this manoeuvre. Even without this manoeuvre, the infantry is very good at attacking city walls. Light infantry is a given, but heavy infantry requires technological development and the rattan-armoured infantry is available only to that empire that captured the city of Sanjiang (the southwestern-most city in China). CAVALRY Another fundamental unit. There are four kinds of cavalry: light cavalry, heavy cavalry, Shanyue cavalry, and elephants. Light and heavy cavalry have a long range of movement, but they have trouble travelling through both forests and mountains. Shanyue cavalry, however, has no trouble moving through mountains while elephants have no trouble moving through forests. Cavalry have certain advantages that make them worth having in your expedition: 1. Aside from your commander, they are often the first units in your expedition that get to move. This can be of importance when confronting your enemy. 2. Long range of movement: since your soldiers are mounted on animals, they have much longer range and can provide a first-strike against your enemies. 3. The cavalry charge: although elephants cannot use this manoeuvre, the cavalry charge is one of the most devastating attacks in the game. If you know that your enemy has an officer with the cavalry charge, you would do well to avoid open land like plains and grassland. 4. Elephants: these units generally suffer less damage than other units, however they do not have as long range of movement than the other kinds of cavalry. They make up for this by being able to move through forests with ease. 5. Shanyue cavalry: these units can move through mountains with ease whereas the other kinds of cavalry often have to move around this kind of terrain. Light cavalry is a given, but heavy cavalry requires technological development. Elephants are available only to the empire that has captured Sanjiang (the southwestern-most city in China). Shanyue cavalry is available only to those empires that have captured either Yong province (northwestern-most province, contains Xiliang) or You province (one of the northeastern-most provinces, contains Beiping). ARCHERS Archers are also a basic unit. There are two kinds of archer units: regular archers and the crossbow engine. They have the same range of movement as infantry units. They are not limited to shooting arrows (i.e. they could draw their swords and attack like infantry). They have certain advantages that make them worth having in your expedition: 1. Gust of Arrows and Storm of Arrows: these two manoeuvres are concentrated bursts of archer attacks and can deal out some serious damage, especially the Storm of Arrows manoeuvre. The Storm of Arrows manoeuvre is not available to the crossbow engine unit, however, but all other archer manoeuvres are. If you know that your enemy has an officer with these manoeuvres, especially the Storm manoeuvre, you would do well to avoid mountains, water, and beaches. 2. Extended attack range: because these are not contact-assault units (i.e. they do not have to be adjacent to enemies in order to attack them), you can often attack distant enemies. The attack range increases if the archers are situated on mountains or on defensive outposts (defenders only). 3. The crossbow engine: it is a powerful weapon since it shoots a massive number of arrows at the enemy. However, it has an extremely limited range of movement, and often cannot keep up with any expedition that has to travel long distances. It is much more suited to defence, although attackers often have one or two crossbow engines. Regular archers are a given, but the crossbow engine requires technological development. ADVANCED WEAPONS Advanced weapons are secondary attachments to the above units and are additional tools to help an army win battles, especially offensive battles. They are not primary units, e.g. a cavalry unit can change into a battering ram and an archer unit can change into a tower. They often have poor range of movement, and so it is to your advantage to move while in the simpler unit types and then change into the advanced weapons when you are close to your target. With the exception of the Ship, advanced weapons are not available to defenders, and also with that exception, they are also quite vulnerable to attacks from enemies. Battering ram: most effective only against city walls. They are not suited to attacking soldiers. Catapult: effective against city walls, but they can also wreak havoc on enemy soldiers too. They are perfect for bombardment of any enemy. Tower: least effective against city walls, but they are great for bombarding enemy soldiers on the open battlefield and in outposts. They can do a fair bit of damage to defenders who hole themselves up behind the city walls. Ship: No effectiveness against city walls. It merely extends the range of units in water as well as provide offensive and defensive advantages. The Ship is available only to that empire that has captured the province of Yang province (the southeastern-most cities of China). Duelling -------- On occasion, you can challenge (or be challenged) to a duel with an enemy officer. Usually a duel happens if your opponent believes he has a decent chance at beating you (i.e. his War stat is roughly equal to yours) or if he has nothing to lose (he has so few soldiers left in his unit that he would rather attempt to defeat one of your units by duelling you). Unlike RTK7, the Confuse-and-Duel trick will not work: the computer will not (or at least rarely will it) accept duels in that situation. In some cases, you may not choose to accept or decline a challenge because your officer is too impetuous and impatient to refuse (e.g. Zhang Fei is one example). Refusing to accept a challenge often results in a loss of soldiers on the refuser's side, or a morale increase for the opponent's army--either way, these are the results of (perceived) cowardice. When you are in a duel, you will find several pieces of information and actions at your disposal. You will see the combatants' health, War stats, and spirit meters. The spirit meter is measurement of how much ferocious strength the combatant has. Each combatant can use some spirit strength in order to increase the effectiveness of an action, and possibly cause more damage to his opponent. You will also see that you have 10 rounds of duelling. This is like a timer: if the duel is not finished at the end of 10 rounds, then the duel is called a draw and neither combatant wins. Here is the map of actions. Each round starts at the @ point. /--<------------<------------<--------------<---------\ / | V /---> ATTACK ----\ | | / |------> DEFENCE ------> RESULT --/ @--------> TACTIC ----/ | \ ^ \---> FLEE \ \ SUFFER \---> ESCAPE DAMAGE / \ / \-CAUGHT<-/ If you decide to flee, your opponent will chase after you. Sometimes he will catch up, and if he does, he gets two free shots at you. If you manage to escape, the duel ends in a draw. If you have a treasured horse (see s. 16 on Items), your escape is guaranteed. If you decide to attack, you have two options: A. Slash B. Jab For each Attack, you can decide to use extra spirit strength or to use regular strength. If you do use spirit strength, you will notice that your spirit meter will decrease one unit. If you decide to use a tactic, you have three options: i. Replenish your spirit meter ii. Irritate your enemy iii. Depress your enemy Replenishing your spirit meter will add four units of spirit strength. Irritating your enemy causes your enemy to be hot-tempered that he will concentrate on attacking with spirit strength, but in doing so, he is unable to defend himself effectively. Depressing your enemy will prevent your enemy from using his spirit strength, but he can still attack at regular strength and defend himself. If you have chosen to attack or use a tactic, you can then decide your defensive measures: a. Normal defence b. Aggressive defence Normal defence means that you will try to defend against your opponent's attacks as usual. Aggressive defence means that whenever your opponent tries to attack you, you will also poke at him (hopefully in an area made vulnerable when he lunges at you, and can cause some damage). Like attacks, you can use extra spirit strength for each defence, and using spirit strength reduces your meter by one unit. This means if you decide to attack and defend using spirit strength, you will be using two units of spirit (one for attack, one for defence). Note: simply using extra spirit strength does not guarantee that your move will be successful. It is entirely possible that your opponent can fend off your move, minimizing the damage to little or even none. Note: the only circumstances in which you can control your dueller are: 1. the duel involves a character you are playing as in the game 2. the duel involves an officer that is part of the expeditionary force of which YOU are the COMMANDER. E.g. suppose I play as Guan Yu only and he is the Commander of a battle. Zhang Fei (I do not play as him) is also in the fight as one of the officers in the expedition, but because I (Guan Yu) am the commander, I get to control his moves on the battlefield. I can move Zhang Fei to an enemy and offer a challenge. I will then control Zhang Fei in the duel, even though I'm not playing as Zhang Fei. Similarly, if an enemy challenges Zhang Fei, I can control Zhang Fei in the duel. You have no control in the duels involving any other officer (i.e. officers who are part of allied reinforcements). 12. Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy ================================= Inevitably, your empire has to deal with other empires, although not necessarily in a military fashion. You can set up treaties, send gifts, create, join, or leave coalitions, and there are also other means of diplomacy. SEND A GIFT Basically, it is giving food or gold to another liege in an attempt to improve relations. ALLY This involves, usually, sending gold or food in attempt to create a treaty with another liege. If your empire's relations with another liege are quite hostile, then a treaty proposal will often not succeed. Conversely, if relations are quite friendly, then the chances of success improve dramatically. Also, if your relations are not 100% friendly and the treaty succeeds, the relations improve by approximately 20%. Treaty lengths are counted in months. Allies cannot attack each other as long as a treaty exists. CANCEL Breaking a treaty has several strong negative impacts. Your relations with the other liege drop dramatically, and the loyalty of the officers also drops. This can present quite a problem... DEMAND SURRENDER Well, sometimes intimidation can be fun, especially when you have 500,000 troops outside that liege's last city... An interesting note about lieges who surrender: the defeated liege then becomes a vassal state. He cannot attack other cities on his own will (i.e. if you set his city policy to autonomous, he can do anything but attack), but if he is ordered to attack by his superiors, then he will attack. INTIMIDATE This involves threatening to attack an enemy city unless that city's prefect agrees to give up some food or gold. If that prefect agrees, then food/gold is sent in exchange for the promise that his city will not be attacked. This promise is binding until the next council session. COALITION This involves a two-year, multiple-liege alliance against a single enemy liege. When any coalition member attacks that common enemy, all other coalition members are expected to send reinforcements. Not sending reinforcements results in that liege being kicked out of the coalition (which has similarly negative effects as cancelling a treaty). Unless there is a separate treaty in existence before the coalition was created, no coalition member is obligated to send DEFENSIVE reinforcements to another coalition member if the latter is under attack. For example, suppose Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Yuan Shu are in a coalition against Dong Zhuo. Suppose that Dong Zhuo attacks one of Cao Cao's cities. Yuan Shu, if he has a city adjacent to Cao Cao's empire, is not obligated to send any defensive reinforcements unless Cao Cao and Yuan Shu already had a treaty before the coalition was created. Once a coalition is in place, coalition members cannot sign separate treaties until the coalition's two-year term expires. Only those coalition members with cities adjacent to the common enemy's cities can launch an attack. This means that while Liu Bei may be tucked away in the city of Pingyuan, he cannot attack Dong Zhuo and call for coalition members to join him. However, if Cao Cao has a city beside Dong Zhuo and attacks, then Liu Bei and all the other coalition members will be expected to send help. A liege can create, join, or quit coalitions. There can be only one coalition at any time. Vanquishing the common enemy results in the end of the coalition, and all the coalition lieges receive a +2,000 fame bonus. If a coalition's two-year term expires, then no fame bonus is awarded; usually, some other liege will create a new coalition against the same common enemy (although the members of the coalition may not necessarily be the same). Coalition members cannot attack each other. If the coalition's leader (i.e. the liege who created the coalition) has lost his last city, then one of the surviving coalition members will take over as the new leader and the coalition will dissolve normally (either by defeat of the common enemy or after the two years elapse). 13. Goals, Missions, and Objectives =================================== Sometimes you have a mission or objective to achieve. If you are not the liege, you may be ordered to recruit a specific ronin or even given some details about how to advance your career within your liege's empire. The liege's objectives are pretty mundane: capture a certain number of cities in order to reach the next imperial rank (see s. 8 for the chart of cities-to- rank), help vanquish a common enemy in a coalition. Prefects may be ordered to attack a specific city while regional commanders may be ordered to conquer a specific liege's entire territory or a particular province. Generally, there is no time limit to complete any given objective, although you should keep in mind that the faster you complete an objective, the sooner you will rise through the ranks and achieve greater glory for yourself and your empire. If you ever forget what objectives you have, check your personal profile and press the Goals/Objectives button. The only mission that carries a time limit is an officer's objective to recruit a specific ronin--normally, you have six months to locate and recruit that particular ronin. Other, more routine objectives include developing a part of the city to the satisfaction of the city prefect. If, however, you are ordered to find and recruit a specific ronin, you do not have to fulfil the city development objectives (this is because the liege is more interested in recruiting that ronin). 14. Social Interactions and Relationships ========================================= The social system has changed since RTK7. Instead of a 100-point system of degrees, there are now categories of friendship. They range progressively from: (1) unknown (i.e. you haven't heard of this person, so he/she will not show up in your list of friends) (2) acquaintance (3) colleague (4) good friend (5) trusted friend (6) intimate friend Family relationships typically start off at the trusted level, but they can degrade to lower levels if things turn sour. Sons and daughters who enter the game will always start with trusted level relationships with their family members. Your ability to improve relationships with other officers depends largely on your compatibility with them. Cao Cao, for example, won't easily become a friend to Liu Bei unless you spend a lot of time (and money) to develop the friendship. Improving relationships is important, especially since a good friend is more inclined to help you than a mere acquaintance. The main way of improving relationships is through simply visiting your friend. There may be a short conversation, a piece of information, or even a little friendly competition between friends. Normally, when you visit a friend, you have three choices of conversation topics: 1. talk about military affairs 2. talk about people 3. talk about work Choosing military affairs will result in advice about anything related to military tactics, skills, concepts, etc. If you talk to an intimate friend about military affairs, he may be inclined to teach you a new battle manoeuvre. On occasion, your friend may challenge you to a friendly duel. Choosing people will result in advice about how to improve relationships with other officers, as well as any rumours about where to find ronin in the country. Choosing work will usually result in one of two things. If you talk to your prefect about work, he will remind you of your city development task (if you are assigned to develop a part of the city). If you talk to anyone else, you may have an opportunity to ask that friend to help you develop your part of the city. It is up to your friend whether he will agree to help you, so developing a good friendship with that officer is key if you want to increase the likelihood that you will get help. You can also give gifts of items (e.g. a sword, a piece of artwork) to a friend and hope that it is accepted, and therefore will improve relations. You can, in addition, spread rumours and lies about an officer in the city, and make him less inclined to remain loyal to his current liege. This can be effective if you want an officer to quit without you having to fire him. Special relationships --------------------- There are special types of relationships outside of the six categories of friendships stated above. There are sworn brothers, sworn enemies, and rivals. SWORN BROTHERS Sworn brothers are the highest form of friendship possible. In order to create a sworn brotherhood with another officer, you need to develop the friendship level to the intimate level. This takes some doing because, once you swear a brotherhood, you are devoting each other to one another's personal welfare. Consider as the best example the Peach Garden Oath of the three brothers, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei. Sworn brothers have several advantages: they are always willing to help you, no matter what. On the battlefield, sworn brothers who are part of the same expedition enjoy a +10% morale bonus when starting a battle. Also, if one sworn brother is defeated in a battle (not killed, but just captured), the surviving sworn brother may receive a +25% morale boost to seek revenge. Sworn brothers typically refer to each other by their style names (e.g. Zhou Yu will always call Sun Ce, "Bofu" while Sun Ce will call Zhou Yu, "Gongjin") or by their proper title (e.g. "elder sworn brother", "younger sworn sister"). A major advantage to sworn brotherhood is that if you have a sworn brother in the same city as you, and a sworn enemy visits you to try to kill you, your sworn brother will ALWAYS be there to defend you. If any sworn brother is executed by an enemy liege, the surviving sworn brothers will immediately perceive that liege to be a sworn enemy (see below for more information about sworn enemies). These surviving sworn brothers, if they ever visit a sworn enemy, may choose to either forgive or try to kill their sworn enemy in vengeance of their fallen brother. Any character can have up to three sworn brothers. SWORN ENEMIES Sworn enemies are the lowest form of friendship possible, and unless they are forgiven, they remain at acquaintance-level relationships. A character will see another character as a sworn enemy if the latter had anything to do with the death of the former's family member or sworn brother. For example, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei will see Sun Quan as a sworn enemy in scenarios after 221 because they see Sun Quan as having a hand in the death of their sworn brother, Guan Yu. Another example: Sun Ce will see Liu Biao and Huang Zu as his sworn enemies because he sees the latter two as being responsible for the death of his father, Sun Jian. Usually since only a liege can order an execution of another officer, he will become the sworn enemy to any surviving family member or sworn brother of the dead officer. RIVALS These are generally very innocuous relationships and can occur between friends of any level. This happens between fellow officers serving under the same liege. A rival is really someone who challenges you to do your best in serving your liege. It really is a friendly kind of rivalry, and does not involve any kind of vengeance or retribution like sworn enemies would. A liege cannot have any rival. Recruiting officers ------------------- Recruiting officers to join your empire falls into three distinct categories: 1. recruiting discovered ronin from your within your city 2. searching for undiscovered ronin (once they become discovered, it then falls into category 1) 3. stealing an officer away from another liege Recruiting in categories 1 and 2 usually results in offering the ronin some gold to entice him to join your empire. The amount of gold is usually 100. You cannot offer special items to "sweeten" the deal of recruitment. Recruiting in category 3 allows you to offer a substantially larger amount of gold to entice the officer to leave his liege and join you. Offering a larger amount also includes giving the potential defector a higher officer class as an additional "reason" to leave his liege and join you. If you are offering... then you are also offering... 1st class 9,000 gold to join your empire 2nd class 7,000 gold 3rd class 5,000 gold 4th class 3,000 gold 5th class 1,500 gold 6th class 800 gold 7th class 400 gold 8th class 200 gold 9th class 100 gold Also in category 3 recruitment, you may decide to also include a special item (on top of the gold) to further sweeten the deal to entice that officer to join you. 15. Marriage (and Children, POWER-UP KIT VERSION ONLY) ====================================================== A new feature of RTK8 is the ability to get married! Marriage has many advantages, most of which have to do with acquiring new talents from your wife (or husband, if you are playing as a female character), who will be happy to teach you. You may learn Skills or Battle Manoeuvres from your spouse, and you may also get a 5 point boost in one of your stats. There are two categories of spouses: normal spouses and famous spouses. (POWER-UP KIT VERSION ONLY). NORMAL SPOUSES are introduced to you when you visit an intimate friend. (ALL VERSIONS) FAMOUS SPOUSES are very special characters who have some spectacular skills to teach you Note: *** NO OFFICER CAN MARRY ANOTHER OFFICER!!! *** So if you create a Zhen Ji custom character, she CANNOT ever marry Cao Pi. No officer can marry any of the Sages of China either. You cannot even attempt to marry Cai Yan, the girl who stays at the Chang'an inn. All marrying conditions assume that your character: 1. is younger than 60 years old. Old farts do not get to marry. 2. single. You can only marry one wife, even though polygamy is common practice in ancient China (go figure). 3. has Infamy below 500 (a hidden statistic, so try to avoid committing too many atrocities like executing officers or levelling high-performing cities). How to marry the famous wives (taken from my Events FAQ) -------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF DIAO CHAN START IN SCENARIO: 190 or before YOU CONTROL: Lu Bu OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your friendship with Wang Yun is good friend or higher, and Lu Bu is not married yet. RESULT: Wang Yun officers Diao Chan to Lu Bu in marriage. If Lu Bu accepts, then Diao Chan becomes Lu Bu's wife and Lu Bu's fame goes up by 100. If Lu Bu declines, then nothing happens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF THE TWO QIAOS START IN SCENARIO: 198 or before YOU CONTROL: Either a male liege or a male officer serving under him, but the two characters must be sworn brothers. OTHER REQUIREMENTS: BOTH CHARACTERS' fame is 8000 or higher and stats are 70 or higher, your faction controls the province of Yang and the city of Lujiang, neither sworn brother is married yet. RESULT: The liege marries Da Qiao, the officer marries Xiao Qiao, and the fame of both characters goes up by 100. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF SUN SHANG XIANG START IN SCENARIO: 209 or before YOU CONTROL: any male liege, but not Sun Quan OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your War and Charisma stats are 80 or higher, you control at least three provinces, your faction is neighbouring Sun Quan's faction, the factional relationship between Sun Quan and your faction is 60 or higher (perhaps allies too?), have popular support of at least 20 in each facility of your home city RESULT: Sun Quan offers his sister, Lady Sun, to you in marriage. If you accept, Sun Shang Xiang becomes your wife, your fame goes up by 500, and the factional relationship goes up by 20. If you refuse, the factional relationship drops by 5. SPECIAL THANKS: to Nanodemon from GameFAQS.com for this discovery ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF YUN LING START IN SCENARIO: any YOU CONTROL: any male OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your War stat is 70 or higher, you have participated in 10 or more winning battles, you must be the one to eliminate the last of the bandits who occasionally plague a city with low security, your fame is 5000 or higher. RESULT: You meet Yun Ling who is bent on seeking revenge for her father's death at the hands of the bandits. Since you have defeated the bandits, she offers herself to marry you. If you accept, Yun Ling becomes your wife and your fame goes up by 100. If you refuse, your fame goes up by 100 only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF LIN ZHI START IN SCENARIO: any YOU CONTROL: any male OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your Charisma is 70 or higher, your Intelligence -OR- your Politics is 70 or higher, your friendship with Sima Hui is trusted friend or higher, your popular support at the farmland of your city is 10 or higher, your fame is 5000 or higher. RESULT: Sima Hui visits you and offers his adopted daughter in marraige. If you accept, Lin Zhi becomes your wife and your fame goes up by 100. If you refuse, your fame goes up by 100 only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF JIANG RONG START IN SCENARIO: any YOU CONTROL: any male OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your Charisma is 70 or higher, you own the Ancient Lyre (which you can buy from the merchants at Luoyang for 3000 gold), your friendship with Cai Yan is at trusted friend or higher, your fame is 5000 or higher RESULT: Cai Yan visits you and asks you to give her the Ancient Lyre, which belongs to her friend. If you agree, Cai Yan takes the lyre from you and Jiang Rong is introduced to you for marriage. If you accept Jiang Rong, she becomes your wife, your fame goes up by 100, and you gain 2000 gold (call it a "reimbursement" for the gold you spent on buying the Lyre in the first place). If you do not give Cai Yan the Ancient Lyre at all, then your fame goes up by 100 only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF CUI LAN START IN SCENARIO: any YOU CONTROL: any male OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your War stat is 60 or higher, your fame is 5000 or higher, you have 6000 or more gold -OR- the yellow Doctor skill. RESULT: Cui Lan asks you to help heal her father. If you agree, Cui Lan's father offers her in marriage. If you accept, Cui Lan becomes your wife and your fame goes up by 100. If you refuse, your fame goes up by 100 only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF HU JI START IN SCENARIO: any YOU CONTROL: any male liege OTHER REQUIREMENTS: All of your stats are 70 or higher, your fame is 10000 or higher, you hold the title of Prince, you possess the Han Emperor and support him. RESULT: Emperor Xian offers Princess Hu in marriage. If you accept, then she becomes your wife and your fame goes up by 100. If you refuse, then your fame goes up by 100 only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF ZHAO YI START IN SCENARIO: any YOU CONTROL: any female OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your Charisma is 70 or higher, your Intelligence -OR- your Politics is 70 or higher, your friendship with Guan Lu is trusted friend or higher, your fame is 5000 or higher RESULT: Guan Lu introduces you to his protege, Zhao Yi, for marriage. If you accept, Zhao Yi becomes your husband and your fame goes up by 100. If you refuse, your fame goes up by 100 only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MARRIAGE OF XU JIAN START IN SCENARIO: any YOU CONTROL: any female OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Your fame is 5000 or higher, your Charisma is 60 or higher, in the city you are at, have popular support in all areas be above 10, you have the yellow Doctor skill -OR- have at least 6,000 gold RESULT: You capture Xu Jian who is a thief. He asks you for mercy because he is trying to heal his sick, old mother. If you grant him mercy, your fame goes up by 100 and you heal his mother. He then offers himself in marriage. If you accept, Xu Jian becomes you husband and your fame goes up by 100. If you refuse, your fame goes up by 50 only. Once you get married, you can visit your spouse, who will tell you some news or give you advice about the empire. On occasion, your spouse may give you a small gift of gold or a kiss (how cute!). If you manage to acquire the gold earrings, a lyre, and a bag of perfume, you can give these three items to your spouse, who will then give you The Sword of the Seven Stars, the most powerful weapon (+10 War) in the game. Children (POWER-UP KIT VERSION ONLY; NOT PART OF PS2 VERSION) ------------------------------------------------------------- Once you get married, you will get to raise a child from birth until he/she reaches the age of 15, at which time he/she will join your liege's empire as a regular officer. These children are fictional in that you do not get to raise the children who normally enter the game. For example, Cao Cao has many sons, including Cao Pi and Cao Zhi. You will not be able to raise them. You WILL, however, get a chance to raise Cao Man (I just came up with another name for a FICTIONAL son) from birth to maturity. In essence, you are creating an officer over the span of 15 years while you are working for your empire. In the month that your child is born, you will get to give him/her a name. Two months later and then every January after that, you will get to decide how to raise your child based on making certain choices. Each decision that you make will have an impact on your child's stats, skills, and other attributes for when he/she reaches the age of 15 and joins your empire. Once your child reaches 15, he/she will have a trusted relationship with you, like all other family members. An interesting part is that once your child is 15, you have the option of continuing to play as your original character, the parent, or switching over to play as the child. If you decide to play as the child, then all the parent's relationships built up with other officers do not carry over, i.e. the child will have to develop his/her own friendships with the same officers. Once you have raised a child, you cannot have any more children (aside from the ones who normally enter the game, i.e. Cao Cao will have Cao Zhi and Cao Zheng, but Cao Man will be the only child you will get to raise). RAISING YOUR CHILD You get to make decisions reflecting your child's development. At ages 4, 8, and 12, your spouse will make an evaluation of your child's development, and tell you how your child seems to be progressing (a "report card" of sorts). At the end of this section, there will be a chart of report card results. Here is the list of events/decisions that you get to make, and their effects on your child. Decision 1. Three months old, you miss your child and so you go home to visit: (a) study -> increases Intelligence and Politics stats (b) buy clothes -> increases Charisma (c) going out as a family -> increases War Decision 2. Two years old, you go to Japan: (a) buy a toy -> increases Intelligence (b) buy clothes -> increases Charisma (c) study -> increases Politics (d) family eats together -> increases War Decision 3. The family goes out together: (a) take a walk together -> increases Intelligence and Politics (b) go shopping -> increases Charisma (c) eat together -> increases War ---- From this point on, in February, May, August or November, your child may encounter an old man. This old man will be either: (a) an immortal god, who will give your child a skill (b) a wise man, who will teach your child (c) someone that your child runs into by accident, enraging the poor old man, and disappointing the parents The chances of your child learning a skill from (a) or (b) are about 10%, so if it fails, don't be that surprised... ---- Decision 4. Four years old, the child is playing outside: (a) study -> increases Intelligence (b) buy clothes -> increases Charisma (c) go out together -> increases Politics (d) practice with a sword -> increases War ---- In June of the year that your child is 4 years old, your spouse will make the first evaluation: this will be based primarily on the child's Intelligence, but the other three stats will be reported on, too. ---- Decision 5. Five years old, the child has an interest in life: (a) study -> increases Intelligence (b) change clothes -> increases Charisma (c) talk about biology -> increases Politics (d) catch a bird -> increases War Decision 6. Six years old, the child has an interest in horses: (a) instruct how to ride -> increases Intelligence (b) buy this horse -> increases Charisma (c) talk about horse's value -> increases Politics (d) test your child's riding ability -> increases War Decision 7. Seven years old, the child has an interest in tea: (a) talk about tea's strength -> increases Intelligence (b) return home with tea -> increases Charisma (c) talk about tea's history -> increases Politics (d) return home and make tea -> increases War Decision 8. Eight years old, your child's first love: (a) behave intelligently -> increases Intelligence (b) behave gracefully -> increases Charisma (c) behave with maturity -> increases Politics (d) play together -> increases War ---- In June of the year that your child is 8 years old, your spouse will make the second evaluation: this will be based primarily on the child's maximum potential. ---- Decision 9. Nine years old, your child broke something: (a) listen to child's explanation -> increases Intelligence (b) patiently teach your child -> increases Charisma (c) preach to your child -> increases politics (d) scold your child -> increases War ---- In December of the year that your child is 9 years old, your child will tell you his/her wish. This wish is based primarily on your child's abilities and stats as they have been developed so far. You do not make a decision here. (a) prefers studies -> values Intelligence the most (b) prefers socializing -> values Charisma the most (c) prefers ruling the country -> values Politics the most (d) prefers martial arts -> values War the most ---- Decision 10. Ten years old, a strange merchant visits, asking for a favour: (a) reject, and punish by sword -> increases Intelligence (b) simply reject -> increases Charisma (c) ask for details -> increases Politics (d) agree -> increases War Decision 11. Eleven years old, your child wonders about trees: (a) talk about trees -> increases Intelligence (b) talk about the future -> increases Charisma (c) talk about a tree's uses -> increases Politics (d) take a walk -> increases War Decision 12. Twelve years old, your child looks at the night sky: Go home: (a) chat with mother -> increases Charisma (b) practice with sword -> increases War Stay outside: (a) study the climate -> increases Intelligence (b) study the stars -> increases Politics ---- In June of the year that your child is 12 years old, your spouse will make the third evaluation: this evaluation will mention and potential deficiencies in the child's development. ---- Decision 13. Thirteen years old, your child is in your library: (a) study Sun Tzu's _Art_of_War_ -> increases Intelligence (b) amuse the child -> increases Charisma (c) study the _Annals_of_History_ -> increases Politics (d) practice with sword -> increases War Decision 14. Fourteen years old, your child will talk about the future: (a) focus on knowledge -> increases Intelligence (b) focus on kindness -> increases Charisma (c) focus on politics -> increases Politics (d) focus on military -> increases War ---- In December of the year your child is 14 years old, your child will tell you what he/she thinks is most important. You do not make a decision here. (a) knowledge is the road to survival -> values Intelligence the most (b) getting along with others is best -> values Charisma the most (c) government is most important -> values Politics the most (d) the military is the most important -> values War the most At this stage, you can decide to continue to play as the parent or switch over and play as the child instead. Evaluation table: WAR If your spouse says... then your child's stat is about... Unparalleled 95+ Wan Fu Mo's enemy 90+ Just 80+ Fierce 70+ Has studied martial arts 60+ Ordinary 40+ Not proficient Below 40 INTELLIGENCE Unrivalled 95+ Brain trust 90+ Virtuous 80+ Cognizant 70+ Has studied knowledge 60+ Ordinary 40+ Not proficient Below 40 POLITICS Enlightened emperor 95+ Benevolent governor 90+ Has political technique 80+ Strategist 70+ Has studied politics 60+ Ordinary 40+ Not proficient Below 40 CHARISMA Favoured by God 95+ Talented and kind 90+ Strong reputation 80+ Talented 70+ Has studied socializing 60+ Ordinary 40+ Not proficient Below 40 DEVELOPMENTAL POTENTIAL If your spouse says, for a stat... then your child's ability may... May place great expectations rise 20+ points Has great potential rise 10 to 20 points Can grow some more rise 1 to 10 points Has no more growth potential not develop any more 16. Items ========= Most of the items can be bought from the merchants, especially the permanent ones who are located in the large cities (Chang'an, Chengdu, Hanzhong, Luoyang, Moling, Shouchun, Xiapi, Xiangyang, Jiangling, Xuchang, Ye). For some of the items such as the Nine Awards, I suggest that you look up my Events FAQ for details as to how to acquire it. HORSES The Red Hare and the Shadow Runner are the only horses that are never up for sale at a merchant. You can buy the others. -Red Hare (Lu Bu and later Guan Yu) -Hex Mark (Liu Bei) -Shadow Runner (Cao Cao) -Grey Lightning (Cao Cao) -Firestar (Wang Shuang) All the horses allow you to escape from a duel successfully. WEAPONS Note: ** = there are more than one of this weapon, and you can buy the others from the merchants -Sword of the Seven Stars: +10 War (the only one in RTK8), red Confident skill, cannot be bought or sold. It comes with giving your husband/wife all three of the perfume, the earrings, and the lyre items. -Sword of Trust (usually with Cao Cao): +3 War -Blue Rainbow Sword (usually with Cao Cao, Xiahou En, or Zhao Yun): +3 War -Lunar Spear: +8 War, red Fierce skill (Lu Bu, there are also other lunar spears that give +2 War but do not give the red Fierce skill) -Blue Dragon Sabre (Guan Yu): +5 War, red Fierce skill -Snake Spear (Zhang Fei): +5 War, red Fierce skill -Hard Keel Snake Spear (Cheng Pu): +3 War -Swords of Fate (Liu Bei): +3 War -Ancestral Sword (Sun Jian/Sun Ce/Sun Quan): +3 War -Three Points Halberd (Ji Ling): +3 War -Double Iron Spear (Dian Wei): +3 War -Giant Axe (Xu Huang, **): +3 War -Iron Whip (Huang Gai, **): +3 War -Sleeve Arrows (Zhuge Liang): +1 War -Hard Thorn Mace (Shamoke): +3 War -Shooting Star (Wang Shuang, **): +2 War -Short Halberd (Dian Wei, **): +1 War -Flying Knives (Meng Huo, **): +1 War -One Handed Halberd (Taishi Ci, **): +1 War -Eyebrow Knife (**): +2 War -Copper Mallets (**): +2 War -Hard Lock (Gan Ning, **): +2 War BOOKS -Map of West Sichuan (Zhang Song): blue Scout skill -Map of the Southlands (Lu Kai): blue Scout skill -Way of Peace (Yu Ji): yellow Doctor skill -Medical Book of Hua Tuo (Hua Tuo): yellow Doctor skill -Books of Typhus: yellow Doctor skill -Shield Armour Book (Zuo Ci): +10 Intel, orange Super Scout skill -Technique of Peace (Zhang Jue): +10 Intel, blue Confusion skill -Sun Zi's Art of War (Sun Jian/Sun Ce/Sun Quan, **): +5 Intel, blue Navy skill -24 Manuals of War (Zhuge Liang/Jiang Wei): +8 Intel, green Lightning skill -Six Strategies (**): +5 Intel -Meng De's New Treatise (Cao Cao/Cao Pi/Cao Rui, etc.): +5 Intel, blue Infantry skill -Mo Zi (**): +5 Intel, orange Wall Builder skill -Confucian Analects, Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi, The Poems, Shu Jing, Rituals, Book of Changes (**): +5 Intel -Spring and Autumn Annals, Book of China (**): +10 Politics -Shi Ji, National War Policy (**): +7 Politics -Explanation of Confucian Analects (He Nan): +5 Politics -Standard Theory (Cao Pi): +5 Politics -Book of Chess (Wei Zhao): +5 Politics -Theory of Needing (Wang Ji): +5 Politics -Governing Theory (Wang Chang): +5 Politics -Opera Playing Theory (Cao Zhi): +5 Politics -Dried Impressions Calendar (Kan Ze): +5 Politics -Treatise on Filial Piety (Yan Jun): +5 Politics -Enemy State (Qiao Zhou): +5 Politics OTHER ITEMS -Imperial Jade Seal: Charm = 100, red Kind skill -Nine Awards: red Kind skill -Abacus: orange Merchant skill -Lyre, Perfume, Ear Rings: you need to give one of each to your spouse in order to get the Sword of the Seven Stars All the other items don't give any special abilities or increase stats. They are, however, perfect for increasing the loyalty and/or the friendship level of your fellow officers. 17. A Word about Infamy ======================= You will have noticed that some of my FAQs refer to a statistic known as Infamy. Infamy (i.e. "bad fame") occurs when your character commits evil actions. Having too high a measure of infamy can exclude you from getting certain events to happen, but also has the negative effect of having some characters refuse to ever talk to you. The following actions are known to raise infamy. Wartime Atrocities: -constantly attacking cities (especially heavily populated ones) using catapults and battering rams -executing captured prisoners of war Other Crimes and Misdemeanours (Infamy Increase) -pillaging cities for food and gold (40 points) -refusing to help any of the townspeople when they ask for help (e.g. not giving gold to the old beggar at the marketplace, refusing to help the scared woman who wants more security) -accepting bribes from merchants -failing when trying to complain about another officer (7 points) -cancelling a peace treaty or quitting a multi-liege coalition -failing in a coup -failing to successfully kill your sworn enemy The following actions are known to lower infamy (but not by much, so do not expect a lot of redemption for your evil, evil acts!). -helping out any townsperson who asks for your assistance -joining in the celebration when the farmers harvest their crops Ending remarks ============== I hope I covered as many bases possible. There are other aspects of the game which I may have missed either intentionally or unintentionally (because I forgot). If there are any mistakes or omissions that you feel are important, please drop me a line at douglaswlee-at-netscape-dot-net and let me know. Thanks! Douglas Lee 19 January 2004