which you can cash in during contact
with other warlords to essentially
bully them into saying yes. Writer
and narrative designer Pete Stewart
refers to this as the moment you slam
your sword on the table and ask them
to rethink their life choices.
FAMILY MATTERS
The brothers start in a very different
position. They have no territory, and
must scrape back some holdings from
the yellow turban rebellion – a vast
peasant uprising that was brutally
crushed at the time. Though they
lack land, their coalition is the most
powerful starting army in the game,
thanks to the three heroes that lead
it. Still, it’s tough to cling on to a
scrap of territory as warlords vie for
power around you. In both
campaigns civil unrest and enemy
attacks made it difficult to get a
foothold. It’s a symptom of the AI’s
proactive stance. Other warlords get
in touch to ask for favours, or to try to
bully you for goods or territory.
It was one of our main goals to make the AI a real
at to the player,” says Graber. “I wouldn’t say we made
AI much more aggressive, but it’s more active than
re. If you have bad relations with the AI you should
repared for a war. Once a war declaration happens,
o should be prepared for an actual attack and lots of
les. We wanted to make sure the AI follows through.
war declaration should be followed by battles.”
nd so I find myself facing Cao Cao to the south of my
ire. Though Lü Bu had ensured victory at the fishing
ge I’d taken losses. My army is at half strength and
down a strategist. In a fit of frankly terrible strategic
cision-making I decide to put Dong Zhou himself into
my army, partly to see the big man in battle alongside his
violent foster son Lü Bu, and partly because he can take a
couple more trebuchets in his retinue. Maybe I’ll select
the option to fling rotten horses at the enemy this time
instead, to fatigue Cao Cao into submission.
This does not work. As I try to take another settlement
to the south Cao Cao’s huge army attacks. The pre-battle
screen tells me it’s hopeless. My chances are zero. I retreat
my army, put them into marching stance, and instruct
them to run as fast as they can up the river.LEFT: Heroes can
eventually unlock
elite units.
BELOW: This would
be a picturesque
scene if it weren’t for
all the war.It’s too late. Cao Cao’s army runs
me down and defeats my army easily.
Then a series of messages pop up.
This is what it looks like when an
empire implodes in Total War:
Three Kingdoms.
One: my brutal ruler Dong Zhou is
captured by Cao Cao. Two: Cao Cao
executes my brutal ruler Dong Zhou.
Three: Lü Bu is the new brutal ruler43Total War: Three Kingdoms
COVER FEATURE
YOUR WARLORDS
AFFECT YOUR
APPROACH TO THE
ENTIRE CAMPAIGN