Finished my first game

[ianliew]

Hi all, I just finished my first game (playing as an original officer under Yuan Shao in the 190 scenario). I spent a few different games experimenting with a few features (and getting thrashed in a 195 scenario I tried earlier) but I've finally finished my first campaign, and it was great fun. In the end after Cao Cao fell it was a mad rush between Sun Quan and Yuan Shao for Jing and Yi. We crucially took Qiang while Cao Cao was still struggling, and by the time Cao Cao fell Sun Quan had taken all of Wu and Northern Jing, while we had taken Qiang, Xu and had already started down to Yi. Sun Quan expanded across Southern Jing really quickly and we met at Hepu when our alliance ended, at which point all hell broke loose. It lasted longer than expected, because I spent a year defending the chokepoint at Hepu while Yuan Shao sat pretty watching. Then I realised what the yearly "privilege" was for, and it was all over in three years.

It was a really fun game, and I've already started a Patriot game in 184 (when I think a free officer Patriot would be most needed), and I'd like to thank everyone on this forum for your help, and for making my return to the RTK franchise such a rich and rewarding one.

My most memorable in-game moments:-
Recruiting Dong Bai (for some reason I really like that character design. It's the only squeaky-voiced character whose portrait I feel really suits the voice). I started under Dong Zhuo's banner, got dragged along to conquer Ma Teng, and just as I was maxing rapport with Dong Bai, Diao Chan arrives. Having spent time to recruit Wang Yi during the Ma Teng campaign, I just manage to recruit Dong Bai and resign before Dong Zhuo and his whole clan are exterminated - we were riding a horse past Luoyang towards Yuan Shao's territory as that happened. I can imagine the three of us riding through the roads, catching the news, looking back with Dong Bai in tears as we continue on towards Yuan Shao, knowing that fate was always going to catch up with Dong Zhuo.

Dong Min's liquorice. One of my first missions for Dong Zhuo was in Dong Min's city (Changan, I think). I finished his mission, and he rewarded me with liquorice. I laughed, and imagined if Dong Zhuo's men had a habit of giving their officers sweets as rewards. It never happened again, sadly.

Cao Cao's death. The Sun Quan/Yuan Shao alliance has just beaten the Liu Bei/Cao Cao alliance, and we have just taken Cao Cao's last city in Wan. We capture him and proceed to quickly recruit everyone we can before they escape and get recruited by Sun Quan. Cao Cao refuses to join (but we're sure a few years in prison will change his mind) and we recruit his whole family - Pi, Zhi, Zhang, Chong, Bian Shi, as well as Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan. We're looking really good now, and suddenly we get a message that "Cao Cao has been executed by Yuan Shao". All nine of them become sworn enemies of Yuan Shao and quit, eventually joining Sun Quan. My comrades and and I are just sitting there with our mouths wide open, and we know exactly how Tian Feng must have felt in the novel while serving Yuan Shao.

Xiahou Dun. After Cao Cao's death, I would continue to build my relationship with Xiahou Dun, and we'd become really good friends. He even offers me his foster daughter Shi Hui as my third wife, which I accept - she's really cool, pretty and has good stats after all. He still refuses to join me (although Shi Hui does in his place), and one day when I'm elsewhere he sends me a message via a messenger, having the courtesy to inform me that he has joined Sun Quan. In a sense it was sad, on the other hand it was touching to know that he cared enough (I guess I was his son-in-law) to inform me personally.

Mi Shi. While camping in Xiapi building up rapport with Guan Yu (in anticipation of Guandu, where I hoped to recruit him from Cao Cao to avoid the event) I saw that Mi Shi had just come of age. Her portrait in XI was beautiful, but here she was just tsundere-cute. It broke my heart to think of her dying near that well in Xinye, and so since was a free officer (surprisingly, I thought she'd just enter under Liu Bei's banner) I chatted her up and recruited her. Back in Ping Yuan I maxed her rapport and got her quest. It was the "personal quest against the bandits who were harrassing farmers" one, and it was just hilarious watching this girl, with a war stat lower than my axe's, strapping on armor and wanting to go beat up some bandits. I told myself I'm marrying her someday, once my usual wife (Fan Shi in XI) appears.

Mi Shi again. I play until 200 when Fan Shi finally shows up at the age of 23 or so. I wanted to marry Fan Shi as my first wife because if she was my second wife she'd always feel like this seductive vixen who would never get along with my first wife. She became my comrade fairly quickly, but it wasn't until a year or two later that I married her. Another few years later I realised I hadn't married Mi Shi, and I could marry her too. So there she was, one of my best friends for the last few years, and we're boon companions, and so I visit her with a Gift to trigger the marriage event. When I enter the room, she then proceeds to introduce me to her foster daughter.... perhaps I left it a bit late, Mi Shi, but it's you I want to marry. I did, of course. :)

I can really see myself losing much more sleep than is healthy over the next few weeks!

[raitoryuulk]

really fun stories, you managed to experience the roleplay quite well. is this your first ROTK game? if yes, this game won't leave your memories in a long time.
for me it was the rotk X, I can never get the same feeling I got with that game.

[erobotan]

you forgot to tell us which ending you got :D !

Your story about running away with Dong Bai before his father's empire crumbled is very epic! I like that!

I also love Dong Bai! In general I have a huge interest with people who has relation/involved in Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu. Maybe someday they'll add Dong Bai in their Musou series!

About Mi Shi and Gan Shi .. i have a feeling that their voice don't match? Like Gan Shi should have Mi Shi's voice and Mi Shi should have Gan Shi's voice.

[Ronin]

thanks :)

[ianliew]

There are different endings? I'm not sure which part can change, but I got the one where Yuan Shao writes new laws and ushers in a new era of prosperity, and then after the credits I end up writing a book, and talk with my wife (for some reason they chose Mi Shi, which made it really nice) about my reasons for writing the book, and how we named it "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" at the end.

XIII is my first RTK game centered around a character that I played for a decent amount of time (I tried VIII, but had trouble getting anywhere and stopped after a day or two). I've played II, III, IV, IX, and XI, but those are all pure strategy wargames, beautiful as they were. Until today I'd buy II in a heartbeat if it was in English.

I was also quite surprised at Gan Shi's voice - it completely ruins the character. It's basically Dong Bai's voice, minus all the cuteness in the character. She should have had Mi Shi's voice, but I don't think Mi Shi would have worked with that cutesy voice too - I can't think of anyone other than Dong Bai where it sounds nice (even Xiao Qiao sounds irritating). Mi Shi is pretty perfect where she is (and unfortunately she's married by default to Liu Bei in any scenario post 195.....).

[Losk Osmanthus 路渐秋凉]

I raised up the the highest rank under Dong Zhuo and then took allmoney in his coffer and run away.

[(deleted)]

There are endings for free officer as well which you don't need to conquer the entire China to proceed to ending.

You can start as a Merchant complete it then go to the Lonewolf route and pick strictly the Executioner route.
I believe you need someone with versatile stats 80WAR, 70LDR, 80GOV or INT to have a go at this type of gameplay and marry at least 1 wife with 80 Int or Gov (whichever is your character's weaker stats)
Yuan Shao/ Liu Bei is workable, anyone better is bonus. Playing as merchant Zhuge Liang took close to 3 years to get Merchant ending (I am hoarding all the specialty that 's+5-10 and not selling would have been shorter) when you amass 500k gold, Yueying is useful as a wife.

Executioner is when you have 10k notoriety from assasinating officers. You will want minimum 80 War because you are going to duel bodyguards even if you are assassinating weak officers. I tried to kill Guo Jia, Xiahou Dun came to his aid. Don't bother going after Liu Bei if Guan Yu/ Zhang Fei is around they have 110+ war.
So 80War + 10 from bond + 8 from specialty (make sure you keep these from merchant route)
You will have 98War for your main, just barely clear it because if the bodyguard has 'Dueling' chances of losing is high even with 98 War and they also have stats boost from title which you don't have. Estimate clear time as Zhao Yun took around 2 years.

It took me total 23 years to start off as Hansui from free>merchant>lonewolf >ruler
He died midway, his kid took over. I am playing on Normal difficulty.

You won't have much chance to recruit famous generals if you are playing mid-late scenarios because most of them are ministers or viceroy already. High chance you need bandits (also from Lonewolf route) to free city for you to raise flag. There's very good chance 1 of your companion will introduce generic wives with high stats, be sure to marry them as they are going to help you ALOT.
You will get to see your children grow up though they usually have pitiful stats and their growth is predetermined by RNG the moment you create a new game. I have better luck with generic wives.
It will be a long and rewarding campaign utilising alot on changing class... amassing specialty, assassinating your competition, grooming officer from scratch, forming coalition etc.

[erobotan]

i've get several ending so far:
1. Hermit ending, you live in a mountain while telling stories to kid. This is probably when you finish the game without accomplishing much and have no friends lol
2. I want more friends ending. This is when you have way too many friends. The game judge that befriending people is your fetish so he/she will leave the country and abandon his/her family, duty, and all of the current friends to make new ones.
3. Cute ending. I personally like this ending, you walk around the market with your best friend. Have fun and stuff. I think i only have one boon companion (and a spouse that i never visit lol) when i get this ending, too busy warring and conquering stuff lol

[Mitth'raw'nuruodo]

Yup. This is why I love this game.

The way the charcters and events are portrayed in this game, make it a lot more personal, compared to something like Crusader Kings where all characters seem like a generic set of numbers.

[Dweller Beyond the Threshold]

Originally posted by erobotan:

i've get several ending so far:
1. Hermit ending, you live in a mountain while telling stories to kid. This is probably when you finish the game without accomplishing much and have no friends lol
2. I want more friends ending. This is when you have way too many friends. The game judge that befriending people is your fetish so he/she will leave the country and abandon his/her family, duty, and all of the current friends to make new ones.
3. Cute ending. I personally like this ending, you walk around the market with your best friend. Have fun and stuff. I think i only have one boon companion (and a spouse that i never visit lol) when i get this ending, too busy warring and conquering stuff lol

Haha what about the 3 wives ending where each one want to hangout with you alone and making the other two jealous :D

[erobotan]

Originally posted by Pricefield:

Haha what about the 3 wives ending where each one want to hangout with you alone and making the other two jealous :D

I shall aim for that ending in my next playthrough!! (pervert laugh!)

[yezhanquan]

Strictly speaking, it's the wife and 2 concubines. The marriage system during this era is 1 wife + as many concubines as you can handle. E.g. Da Qiao was historically Sun Ce's concubine, and Lady Bu Sun Quan's.

[ianliew]

I got that ending yesterday when I failed to max my prestige and ended up as Eminent General. If I finish the game as Illustrious General then it's a different ending with me training troops. I found the three-wife ending really cute, though - Mi Shi asserting her position as my first wife was adorable, arguing with my second wife while Zhen Shi as my third wife kinds of played them against each other.

[_G]

Hey Ian, are you th Ian from spcnet?

[JAMilan]

Originally posted by raitoryuulk:

really fun stories, you managed to experience the roleplay quite well. is this your first ROTK game? if yes, this game won't leave your memories in a long time.
for me it was the rotk X, I can never get the same feeling I got with that game.

same. ROTK X is better for me.

[ianliew]

Originally posted by _G:

Hey Ian, are you th Ian from spcnet?

Yes I am! :) Are you a regular there too?