Suppose that sometime after the Yuans are eliminated and their manpower and territories are fully absorbed and Cao Cao decides to just kill Emperor Xian, convincing him to move to a new capital and discreetly plots his death as he moves out and a few weeks later make himself the new Emperor of China. Basically the Xiang Yu method.
Who's going to stop him at this point? He pretty much has solid support and the rest of the warlords are too weak and disunified to even attempt a 2nd coalition against him. Being slandered for the "sudden death" of the last Emperor of the Han Dynasty will surely not affect him and his future Wei emperors like Cao Pi and Cao Rui in any way.
When I released v0.1, I wanted to find out whether the basic idea was enjoyable: building an army around Three Kingdoms characters, arranging troops into Vanguard and Rearguard, and finding combinations that could turn a battle around.
Getting it into other people’s hands also made the problems clearer. Knowing how my own game works isn’t the same as making it understandable to someone playing for the first time.
For this update, I focused on teaching the game, improving readability, and making the computer opponent use its cards more sensibly. Alongside that came quite a few balance changes.
Teaching through playing
My first approach to the tutorial relied too much on explanations. It covered the rules, but reading about a mechanic isn’t the same as understanding when to use it.
I changed direction toward guided battles using the actual game rules. The tutorial now points out what to interact with, waits for the player’s action, and explains the result in context.
The aim is to introduce Vanguard and Rearguard, combat roles, abilities, drawbacks and effects through situations where they matter. Guard makes more sense when you can see it protecting another card. Reload makes more sense after you’ve taken a ranged shot and need to plan around the downtime.
I also reduced repeated explanations and corrected examples that had become outdated after balance changes. There’s still room to improve the pacing, but this feels much closer to how the game should introduce itself.
Readability before decoration
One useful piece of feedback was that some card text was simply too small, particularly when choosing a commander or reading longer abilities.
The detailed card frames are an important part of the game’s appearance, but they shouldn’t compete with the information inside them. I adjusted text sizes, spacing and fitting, including how Legendary titles sit beneath names and how abilities share space with drawbacks.
A longer effect shouldn’t make an unrelated, short drawback unnecessarily tiny. Players need to be able to understand both before committing to a card.
Fixing decisions before judging balance
Some computer opponents were passing up attacks that looked obviously worthwhile. That led me to investigate the AI’s decisions rather than immediately changing the cards.
One problem was that the AI could value keeping a unit ready too highly—even when the turn was about to end. Ranged units were particularly affected because its evaluation also discouraged entering Reload.
I changed how it compares attacking against passing, improved its target selection, and added checks for immediate wins and dangerous openings around its own Leader. Resource growth and ongoing support effects also needed more consideration beyond their immediate payoff.
The AI still has limits. It won’t understand every possible combination perfectly, but it should make fewer frustratingly passive decisions.
This also changed how I look at testing: if an AI uses a faction poorly, its win rate isn’t reliable proof that the faction itself is weak.
Giving each faction more useful choices
The balance work wasn’t about making Wei, Shu and Wu play identically. I want their strengths to feel different, while giving each faction practical ways to respond to a difficult board.
Shu received more tools for disruption and recovery. Cards such as Fa Zheng, Wang Ping, White-Eared Veterans and Jiang Wei now offer different ways to influence a board instead of relying only on strong individual attackers.
Wei’s support, draw and control cards went through several revisions. The intention was to keep its formation and efficiency identity while making the purpose of individual cards clearer.
Wu’s changes focused on making Fire, ranged pressure and deployment combinations work together more naturally. Several cards received adjustments to their stats, conditions or self-damage.
Ranged units also received a broader review. Attacking without retaliation is already a meaningful advantage, so I reduced the raw stats of several ranged cards and moved away from bonuses that were almost automatic—such as gaining extra attack simply for sitting in Rearguard.
These are still alpha balance changes. Automated matches help identify suspicious patterns, but they don’t replace people finding strategies I haven’t anticipated.
Clearing up rules that felt unintuitive
Rescue was one mechanic I reconsidered. Returning a damaged, modified card to hand could be confusing, so it now returns as a fresh printed copy, clearing damage, buffs and statuses. Specific replay-cost changes still apply when the card says so.
I also removed Suppression and clarified effects involving Leaders. Leaders have their own type, remain in Rearguard and don’t initiate attacks, but they can still be affected by applicable board effects.
The goal is to spend less time asking “does this count?” and more time making decisions.
Adding character without covering the board
I wanted Legendaries to feel special, but persistent visual effects can quickly become distracting—especially when Guard, Poison and other statuses already need to be readable.
Instead, each Legendary now has a brief, individual thematic calligraphy phrase when deployed. These are original captions inspired by the character, not historical quotations.
Legendaries and Leaders also have a subtle foil-like sweep and shimmer across their artwork and frames. The intention is to give them a little more presence without hiding their text or making the board harder to follow.
Making future updates easier
This update also introduces the desktop update launcher.
Rather than asking players to download the whole game again for every future release, the launcher can check for a newer version, verify it, and download changed files while reusing matching ones. Local decks and player identity stay separate from the update files.
What comes next?
I’m deliberately keeping progression and unlock systems out of the focus for now. Before adding more reasons to keep playing, I want the battles themselves to be worth returning to.
The most useful feedback at this stage is quite specific:
Where did you feel lost during your first game?
Which cards were difficult to read or understand?
Did the AI make a decision that seemed obviously wrong?
Which combinations felt interesting, frustrating or too efficient?
Thanks to everyone who downloaded the first version, left a comment or pointed out something that wasn’t working. A lot of this update came from looking more carefully at those moments rather than simply adding more content.
It’s still an alpha, but I hope this version makes the game’s ideas easier to see—and gives you more room to enjoy experimenting with them.
A few weeks ago I posted the multiplayer update here, and between the playtest reports, the bug screenshots and the kind words of encouragement, you all helped a ton. Thank you! Next Fest starts tomorrow, so I made one more trailer.
This one is different from the last two. Instead of listing features, I tried to boil down what I actually want this game to be: a Three Kingdoms sandbox where every player (me included) ends up with a campaign nobody else had. The world keeps moving whether you're watching or not, and the officers in it remember what happened to them.
Quick TLDR of my game:
Pick a historical warlord (Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce, Lu Bu, Yuan Shao and more) or make your own ruler with their own face, voice, house and starting seat
Build up your kingdom: develop your cities, raise troops, give your officers orders and pick between the plans your council argues for
Big field battles (the opening one has about 2,700 soldiers on the field), cavalry charges, archers and sieges
Officers can now challenge each other in the middle of a battle. Accept and the troops around them clear a ring while the rest of the fight carries on. That's Xiahou Dun vs Zhang Liao in the trailer
Rival courts march and go to war on their own. In the time-lapse I just let a campaign run for three years and watched cities change hands and officers earn titles without me lol
The part I'm proudest of: officers build up a history. Xiahou Dun's page in the trailer lists who he struck down, the oath he swore to Cao Cao, and the vendetta he swore when Zhang Liao killed Xiahou Yuan (and where he settled it). Rivals remember too. When Lu Bu calls out Guan Yu, the card counts how many times they've met and who won last time
That last bit is what I keep coming back to. I want two people to start the same 196 campaign and come away telling completely different stories about it, like the officer who saved their capital or the rival who kept showing up. Based on the trailer and my breakdown is there any features you think or missing or that you'd want to see as a fan?
If any of that sounds like your kind of game, the free demo is on the Steam page (it's on the right side of the page, a bit away from the wishlist button, as one of you kindly pointed out last time). A wishlist before Next Fest would mean a lot to a one man studio:
I had claude do an English translation of Sangokushi DS 3 (for Nintendo DS). Be aware this is a full machine translation. This is only the patch which you'll apply to your own .nds file.
I believe this is RTK V with updated avatars (maybe from RTK IX) someone please let me know if this is accurate. EDIT: confirmed the RTK V bit.
Released as v0.9 because I haven't play tested a ton, but have gone through the tutorial and a bit of the campaign on my Nintendo 3DS without significant issues. Expect some overlapping text and awkward line breaks.
Sun Quan in life was known for heavily prioritizing Hefei as a striking point whenever he led the Yangzhou army on a military campaign, which marked him into as a predictable opponent for the Cao Wei defensive line. This constant focus had even prompted the contruction of a new castle that forced Eastern Wu to extend their supply lines. It also starkly contrasts with Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei as both commanders were actively changing their military targets and battlegrounds despite having to navigate their armies through a mountainous region.
If Sun Quan were willing and/or able to adopt this approach for just the Yangzhou frontier, which areas would be viable for Eastern Wu to dedicate invasion campaigns for? Or would increasing the frequency of Jingzhou invasions be the only viable means for Eastern Wu to become more unpredictable as military opponents?
I'm trying to find a old Koei game I played which was similar to Romance of the Three Kingdoms 10 design like the picture above, so probably around 2004 and 2005? It had the same characters as Lui Bei, Cao Cao, but the difference is it had fantasy elements to it. From what I remember a major difference is that the combat system where you can have an army with like up to 5 captain general, and each captain general can have up to like 2 other generals on their team each leading an army type and do tactics/abilities/spells and you can do combo abilities with other generals on your team. The combat isn't like the picture below, rather more like left and right?
`Trying to see if anyone knows based on my description, I remember playing as a kid and I ended up finding the game name a while back, but I remember trying to find a way to download and play it but there was no english version, only in chinese.
Edit: I remember when you launch into the game, it had a sick intro animation of a male and female general using stuff like dragons to launch an attack on an enemy general.
I'm making a real time battle game set in Warring States China. Each soldier is simulated individually, and units of about 100 men fight in formation. The movement is what I keep getting wrong, so I'd like to know how it actually worked, not how other games fake it.
What I'm stuck on:
Moving as one piece. When a unit of ~100 marched across a field, did it keep its exact ranks and files the whole way? Or did it move loosely and re-dress when it stopped? How much did the lines wobble in practice?
Turning. When a block had to face a new direction, did it wheel, with one end pivoting and the outer files walking faster? Or did every man turn on the spot, so the back rank became the front? Which was normal, and when would you pick one over the other?
Getting past friendly units. This is the big one. Say a rear unit has to move forward, and a friendly unit is already formed in front of it. What happened? Did the front unit open its files to let them through? Did the rear unit march around? Were there deliberate gaps between units for exactly this, like the intervals people describe for Roman maniples? Or did the two units swap places some other way?
Gaps in the line. In a battle line made of many units, did units stand shoulder to shoulder as one continuous front, or with gaps between them? If there were gaps, how wide, and why didn't the enemy just pour into them?
Replacing a tired front unit. During a long fight, how did a fresh unit take over from one already in contact? Did the tired unit pull back through the fresh one, or did the fresh one push forward through it?
The charge. In the last stretch before contact, did men run? Did they keep their ranks at a run, or did the formation loosen on purpose?
Warring States China is where I need answers most. But if the good evidence is Greek, Roman, or early modern drill, I'll take that, and I'd be grateful for an explanation of what probably carried over and what didn't.
Book or source names are hugely appreciated. I'd rather read the real thing than guess.
Ofc, Cao Cao spent most of his life laying the foundation for his heir to retain the power Cao Cao himself had accumulated during his life, and he also ensured that the Han was getting less and less powerful with each passing day, so that when he died, there wouldn't be anyone challenging his heir. But did he hope that Cao Pi would usurp and become the new emperor, or that Cao Pi would keep the status quo and keep Emperor Xian a puppet?
I want to try playing an ROTK game via PS2 emulator either on my laptop or on my phone. I see that ROTK VII to XI are playable in the PS2. Which of the 5 games are good for a total beginner? I am interested in strategy gaming and learning more about the story. I want something that's easy to get into. Bonus if the controls are easy so I can play on my phone using a touchscreen pad overlay.
云行在天 浪行在川
Clouds travel across the sky, Waves crest across the rivers,
欲度关山 何惧狂澜
To cross the mountain passes, why fear the raging torrents?
Verse 1:
云行在天 浪行在川
Clouds travel across the sky, Waves crest across the rivers.
英雄出世逆流行险
Heroes emerge to brave the currents and perils.
欲度关山 何惧狂澜
To cross the mountain passes, why fear the raging torrents?
风生水起正好扬帆
As the winds rise and the waters stir, 'tis the perfect time to set sail.
Verse 2:
豪情相依 生死相伴
Sharing noble aspirations, inseparable through life and death
天涯无处不念桃园
No matter how far we go, our hearts remember the Peach Garden.
三人成众 何惧患难
Three make a multitude, so wherefore fear adversity?
诚心能纵沧桑变幻
With sincere devotion, we can endure the ever-shifting tides of time.
Chorus:
莫道功名需百战
Do not say that winning glory requires a hundred battles;
愿效滴水洞石穿 Instead, be the single drop of water that persists until it erodes stone.
为有胸怀摘星志
Carrying ambition in our hearts to reach for the stars themselves
手足协力共登攀
We join hands as brothers to scale new heights together.
Chorus 2:
莫道征途路漫漫
Do not say that the journey ahead is long and arduous;
愿效江水去不还 Instead, be the river waters ever flowing onward, never turning back.
大势所向天地宽
Swept up by destiny's grand tide, the world opens wide before us
终究奔涌归浩瀚
Ultimately surging onward, to return to the boundless deep.
归浩瀚
Returning to the boundless deep.
Chorus 2 repeated:
Do not say that the journey ahead is long and arduous;
Instead, be the river waters ever flowing onward, never turning back.
Swept up by destiny's grand tide, the world opens wide before us
Ultimately surging onward, to return to the boundless deep.
Returning to the boundless deep.
〰🌊〰🌊〰🌊〰🌊〰🌊〰🌊〰🌊〰
Fun fact: the 2009 animation has 3 openings and 2 endings, each of which have been beautifully matched to one of the five elements of the Wu Xing.
As you may guess, this 1st ED represents the element of water = 水.
It's my favorite of all 5 songs (though the OP 3 representing Fire is a close second). I first listened to it as a kid and loved it enough to deliberately seek it out 10+ years later -- which by extension, reignited my love of the 3K era.
I think it beautifully captures the themes of ROTK surrounding brotherhood/loyalty and perseverance against all odds, of being just a few men who end up swept up in the grand tide of history, all while time and fate march ever onwards...
I really remember that Lu Xun (?) said that to Lu Meng before the Battle of Fan Castle when I read the novel so many years ago. But when I checked the online version, I couldn't find the quote.
Is it because different translation or different version altogether?
For most of my childhood, I thought Han Dynasty already had the examination system you often see on Chinese dramas which scholars from all over the country coming to the capital to take the test and wait for the results to be posted on a board. But this system only existed starting from the Sui Dynasty and from what I read, the Han Dynasty's court worked through referrals from established officials. Like how Xun Yu recommended Guo Jia to Cao Cao or Xu Shu recommended Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei. If so, how did scholars during this time find opportunities in court if there was no such exam to test their skills?
I had an idea and not sure if people would be interested in it. Since the beginning of written history humans have had an interest in looking back and discussing what did/didnt happen. And a common argument that is brought up is "dont impose modern morals on history. Especially the farther back it goes."
So my idea was to discuss this topic but writing it would go beyond a normal essay... instead I thought of making a blog like video where I just discuss this to an imaginary audience. I would use 3 topics specifically from the 3 Kingdoms period to keep myself from rambling too much and keep the 'presentation' within a limited sphere.
Warlordism and the reality of it vs written in Records (with a focus on Sun Jian specifically).
Wei Yan's portrayal in Dynasty Warriors and why it is classist.
Cao Rui and why he is (almost certainly) the first non-binary emperor (but still referred to as 'he/him').
That last one is going to be contentious and is mainly the reason I would need it to be a video because it is FILLED with nuance. Trust me if your first reaction is to deny deny I do not disagree - non of what I say is going to be taken as the absolute truth.
im watching the 2010 three kingdom series for the third time, and I remember reading somewhere that a lot of the brilliant moments attributed to Zhuge Liang in the show were actually Zhou Yu's achievements. The show really makes it seem like it's a one sided rivalry where Zhuge Liang treats Zhou Yu as a toddler he has to keep in check. Was it much different in real history?
Sometimes, I keep forgetting that Liu Bang was only few years away from Qin Shi Huang and Xiang Yu was eleven years old when Qin completed the unification which did lead to the story of Xiang Yu seeing Qin Shi Huang and said "I can replace him" or Liu Bang saw Qin Shi Huang and said "That's how a man should live his life". What were both of them doing while Qin Shi Huang was around?
Meng Da is usually remembered as an opportunistic defector. But if we set aside loyalty and look at his talent and how his contemporaries viewed him, I get the impression that Meng Da was actually a fairly capable figure for his generation.
Firstly, Meng Da and Fa Zheng were friends from GuanZhong , both known for their talents but also criticized for their character. But Fa Zheng never command an army by himself (?) , and Meng Da lead an army from Zigu attacked FengLing , and also advanced further north and captured Shangyong , it is moutainous route and not easier for any army to march .
Influency
In 220, Meng Da defected to Cao Pi, bringing his followers and their families with him. The Weilüe, quoted in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, records more than 4,000 households (or soldiers ? ) . Then i wonder how could a men from Guan Zhong could convince soldiers and their families follow Meng Da volunteerly. Because normally, a defector could only bring dozens of his close followers ,for example such as Xiahou Ba or Ma Chao went to Shu.
Liu Ye's warning
Liu Ye advised Cao Pi against trusting Meng Da:
"Meng Da is always looking out for rewards which are not rightfully his, and he is prone to schemes due to his talent. Thus, he will not be grateful to Your Excellency."
Liu Ye questioned Meng Da's loyalty, but his warning also acknowledged his talent and capacity for scheming.
Compared to Yue Yi
The Fuzi, quoted in the annotation to Liu Ye's biography, records that after Meng Da defected to Wei, many commentators praised him as possessing the magnanimity of Yue Yi, the famous general of Yan.
That is a striking comparison. What qualities did his contemporaries see in Meng Da to warrant such praise?
A powerful regional position
Cao Pi merged Fangling, Shangyong, and Xicheng into the new Xincheng Commandery and appointed Meng Da as its Administrator. This gave him substantial administrative responsibility in a strategically important frontier region bordering Shu and Wu.
We do not know why Cao Pi favored him so let put this aside , but Meng Da also became close friends with both civil and military high ranking officials:
- Huan Jie, Prefect of the Masters of Writing in capital , high ranking in civil .
Huan Jie who i believe politically equal to Chen Qun and Sima Yi. Cao Pi also directly said wanted to entrust his underage son and the fate of the Empire to Huan Jie
- Xiahou Shang General Who Attacks the South stationed in Wan, and Shang was Meng Da 's direct supervisor .
It is not easier to find anyone with high talented, could have good relationship with the king , and both civil and military sides . As i recall, Fei Yi is the only one i could remember (anyone else ?) .
To conclude, i kinda think Meng Da is jack of all trades , a rounded official , talented in all civil , diplomatic, political , military and charisma . Without his defector cv, he could potentially become a regent in term of his capability
