Zheng Jiang tips

[Krono]

I feel like I must be doing something wrong. From my understanding, having a faction pay you tribute is similar to having a vassal. It gets you more money than a vassal but their faction isn’t owned by you and doesn’t have to follow you into war and stuff.

My problem is establishing these tributaries. I’ll have a faction down to their last settlement with maybe 5 dudes and a cat defending against my siege, and they still refuse to give me tribute with a massive negative.

Do I need to have more infamy? In my campaign I’m close to the third level of infamy, which isn’t very high I know. But what would be the point of not being able to establish tributes until I’ve already basically finished the campaign?

[VoiD]

Originally posted by Krono:

I feel like I must be doing something wrong. From my understanding, having a faction pay you tribute is similar to having a vassal. It gets you more money than a vassal but their faction isn’t owned by you and doesn’t have to follow you into war and stuff.

My problem is establishing these tributaries. I’ll have a faction down to their last settlement with maybe 5 dudes and a cat defending against my siege, and they still refuse to give me tribute with a massive negative.

Do I need to have more infamy? In my campaign I’m close to the third level of infamy, which isn’t very high I know. But what would be the point of not being able to establish tributes until I’ve already basically finished the campaign?

I had issues getting them before I got to the last levels of prestige as well, but after that it was over 50k income on certain turns just from tributaries.

[Kitten Food]

I had problems with Zheng Jiang, but after a few restarts I got it down. You can't play thinking the old 'overlord' way. You have to think about total annihilation and domineering tyranny.

Go to war with a faction, pillage and burn their settlements to the ground. Cinders. Coffee Grinds. Dust.

You want to keep doing this over and over. You will become immensely rich and hated. Eventually the enemy will be so weak (settlement levels count as strength) that they have no choice but to beg you to live. You only want to invest in your capital region. Build up, make everyone else pay you. Have 1 or 2 god-tier armies. Identify targets,declare war and ambush them. Wipe out and execute everyone. It is all about pillage, nuking and murder.

You don't want to take too much land. Just the north (all horse pastures) and any farms you can get to support an Imperial Bandit City.

You give land to tributaries, this makes them like you more and give you more payment each turn. Avoid tributaries who have personalities that make them disloyal (like Cao Cao). If a tribute rebels, just nuke them into your baby boy again. Execute their ruler. They will obey. They must.

You just keep doing this all throughout China. It really is a whack-a-mole fest. You will never have totally loyal subjects. They will rebel here and there, but it is no big deal. You use your few space marine armies to execute a rebel dynasty, the new one will be more than happy to rebuild their cave man cities.

[Wraith]

Originally posted by Kitten Food:

I had problems with Zheng Jiang, but after a few restarts I got it down. You can't play thinking the old 'overlord' way. You have to think about total annihilation and domineering tyranny.

Go to war with a faction, pillage and burn their settlements to the ground. Cinders. Coffee Grinds. Dust.

You want to keep doing this over and over. You will become immensely rich and hated. Eventually the enemy will be so weak (settlement levels count as strength) that they have no choice but to beg you to live. You only want to invest in your capital region. Build up, make everyone else pay you. Have 1 or 2 god-tier armies. Identify targets,declare war and ambush them. Wipe out and execute everyone. It is all about pillage, nuking and murder.

You don't want to take too much land. Just the north (all horse pastures) and any farms you can get to support an Imperial Bandit City.

You give land to tributaries, this makes them like you more and give you more payment each turn. Avoid tributaries who have personalities that make them disloyal (like Cao Cao). If a tribute rebels, just nuke them into your baby boy again. Execute their ruler. They will obey. They must. :mailedfist:

You just keep doing this all throughout China. It really is a whack-a-mole fest. You will never have totally loyal subjects. They will rebel here and there, but it is no big deal. You use your few space marine armies to execute a rebel dynasty, the new one will be more than happy to rebuild their cave man cities.

^ this right here and another tip is with the sudden influx of vast wealth you can instabuild building and that will help you build up that bandit stronghold

[Kitten Food]

Also remember to use an administrator in your capital and NOT have them in an army. The only time you raise them is at first to give them your best unit types (think UBER expensive). After you have built that luxury army, disband the general and you have a no-maintenance SUPER garrison in your capital that can wipe out anyone stupid enough to siege your Bandit Olympus.

[Krono]

Oof, that’s so different from the way I’m used to playing lol. I like being nice, building up my economy in my territory and making friends.

I’m working through a Gongsun Zan campaign right now, I’ll try out Zheng Jiang again and keep those tips in mind

[Krono]

Originally posted by Kitten Food:

Also remember to use an administrator in your capital and NOT have them in an army. The only time you raise them is at first to give them your best unit types (think UBER expensive). After you have built that luxury army, disband the general and you have a no-maintenance SUPER garrison in your capital that can wipe out anyone stupid enough to siege your Bandit Olympus.

Wait. Wait wait wait.

So I can make a person a general, give them some units, disband them, make them administrator, and they’ll keep that retinue in siege defenses?

[Wraith]

Originally posted by Krono:

Originally posted by Kitten Food:

Also remember to use an administrator in your capital and NOT have them in an army. The only time you raise them is at first to give them your best unit types (think UBER expensive). After you have built that luxury army, disband the general and you have a no-maintenance SUPER garrison in your capital that can wipe out anyone stupid enough to siege your Bandit Olympus.

Wait. Wait wait wait.

So I can make a person a general, give them some units, disband them, make them administrator, and they’ll keep that retinue in siege defenses?

YEP

[GoBigRed]

Originally posted by Krono:

Originally posted by Kitten Food:

Also remember to use an administrator in your capital and NOT have them in an army. The only time you raise them is at first to give them your best unit types (think UBER expensive). After you have built that luxury army, disband the general and you have a no-maintenance SUPER garrison in your capital that can wipe out anyone stupid enough to siege your Bandit Olympus.

Wait. Wait wait wait.

So I can make a person a general, give them some units, disband them, make them administrator, and they’ll keep that retinue in siege defenses?

Mind blowing aint it? I was like WOW when I learned this one. My roommate restarted his campaigns over it lol.

[Krono]

Originally posted by Wraith:

YEP

Originally posted by GoBigRed:

Mind blowing aint it? I was like WOW when I learned this one. My roommate restarted his campaigns over it lol.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, that’s huge. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I can’t wait to make use of that lol

[GoBigRed]

Originally posted by Krono:

Originally posted by Wraith:

YEP

Originally posted by GoBigRed:

Mind blowing aint it? I was like WOW when I learned this one. My roommate restarted his campaigns over it lol.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, that’s huge. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I can’t wait to make use of that lol

One more hint: You don't even have to wait for them to muster/replenish. (Only 1 turn for recall) They instantly turn full when you put into garrison.

[Nylan]

Originally posted by Krono:

Oof, that’s so different from the way I’m used to playing lol. I like being nice, building up my economy in my territory and making friends.

I’m working through a Gongsun Zan campaign right now, I’ll try out Zheng Jiang again and keep those tips in mind

Amusingly this works too to get tributaries. As Zheng Jiang i like to go south and take that toolmaker, then north and take out the other bandit guy. After that grab the yellow turban rebellion farmland, then your starting provinces iron mine. Now either the city attached to your farm or the minor factions south of you. Build up these lands, the usual income setups to support an army or two without tribute. Eventually expand west to the river. As the cities level you get room for a tribute hall in each one, then drop a bandit lair into your two farming areas, their income sucks anyway, and you need replenishment more than a tiny bit more income out of these.

While doing this grab trade deals you can with folks you won't be attacking anyway. Yuan Shao makes a great coalition partner, provided you follow his lead on votes and invites. He gets grumpy otherwise. Remember, just because you join a war doesn't mean you have to actually fight in it, so long as their armies are not bothering your lands. Try and renew the deal with Yuan Shu every ten turns for as much gold per turn as you can milk from him. Might anger Yuan Shao and some others a bit, but who cares.

Every few turns check diplomacy quick deals, sometimes folks you have been at war with for a while will want peace, or even accept tribute. You might also grab some peace deals here and there for more gold per turn, and thanks to Yuan Shao you should have plenty more war declarations, which he is likely paying you to accept anyway. Any weak faction you see go into diplomacy and try for tribute, you want to get any before Yuan Shau makes them a vassal, as tributes keep coming in after being made a vassal, but once they become a vassal you cannot demand tribute from them.