Gongsun Zan advice?

[Wilhelm]

Hello all,

I have played both Sun Jian & Cao Cao campaigns with plenty of success once I understood the mechanics of the game.

However I appear to be struggling with Gongsun's campaign. I tend to be declared on by all surrounding people within 15 turns, not to mention Yuan Shao and his eager vassals all coming for me around the same time.

Any advice?

[Loui_st]

hey man i am playing gongsun zan on hard/hard and i am doing pretty well ....if i remmeber correctly first you mustnt start a war with yan shao becouse he is op and by the time i start my war against him he was the second strongest in china so i sugest you take your time and clean that small clan to your right then focus on defense and money making sry for english ...btw i manage to destroy yuan shao in like 30 turn so .... enjoy your time :d

[11:11]

You first has to defeat quickly Gongsun Du and your old mentor Liu something :3 ( I can't remember his name ) . Then you got enough land to maintain 2 armies. Then you can start challenge Yuan Shao.

[ZEUS]

I am playing as Gongsun Zan and if you wanna be successful; diplomacy is not an option for you. Be a bastard with him. He drives the country like he drives an army. To be concise; act together with Liu Bei he is gonna be your wing, and Zhang Jiang for the west but get rid of Zhang yan. You should get rid of your traitor ambitious brother ( you reap what you sow Gongsun Du) or he will be your end but he is your second target, first get larger throug west until Zhang Jiang and you should be careful for any alliance between Yuan Shao and Kong Rong. kONG RONG is very practical guy so take him your side no matter the cost; a land a payment etc. He will be your vassal if you play your cards carefully and you should annex him after that happens. And to be empire in the end you have to clash with Liu Bei so dont feed him too much. My honest advise; get cao cao under your control (liu bei will likely help you on that) cao cao drives your forces to the south like a crazy angry stallion (he have the pro turkish- turkic horse archers( a fact from history) ) Han dynsty is easy target get rid of them first thing first and your neigbour ( i dont remember his name you know the guy on your west) and go through south freely they will be empty enough to annex (and money , a lot of money) and Yuan Shu is very good man to have with you but he is aggressive enough to act accordingly rather than that have him on coalition or close to you but the last move should be annexing him as your vassal (dont keep him as vassal he will create a lot of problem with his throne claim and ofcourse you should ignore his claim as well never accept it he is your last meal after all. If you follow my path you are a king by now and the rest on your shoulder. MAY YOUR REIGN LASTS LONGER THAN DONG ZHUO.

[Searry]

You have to be extremely aggressive, get industry and commerce reforms and be ruthless. Vanguard generals are the best here since cavalry is cheaper and better for this faction.

[Hexius Khan]

I had a very similar experience, though I started with Gongsun and am still playing as such, so had to learn the economy system as i played, however recently just became a duke of yan after my war with the yuans of ye.

my game started out much the same, took care of some han provinces, then I chose to go war with my mentor instead of Han Fu. My kinsman turn on me for zero reason we were best pals, put them all down and Yuan and I raced for the Bohai province.

ultimately yuan bet me to the punch stole it before i could, and then started to vassalise everyone. I had no where to expand except into the hills against zheng yan.

Then he offered me vassalage. And I took it.

And i recommend you try to seek it if you can get it. and if you can get autonomy too, even better. Gives you more diplomacy choices.

It will give you time to get your economy back in order, replenish your armies, and if you wait patiently, he and his vassals will look for war else where, leaving their provinces completely open to you with your concentrated stacks, and you can see where everyone is.

Its what I did, I bided my time, made good connections with the other vassals offering support for autonomy in exchange for food and cash (free money they never took me up on it sadly). If you play your cards right you can still expand, and support what he wants, he will like you, when you're finally match fit and his attention's elsewhere, if you can buy your freedom, i managed to get mine for 300, and 1 food for 10 turns because we were bros, or you can just revolt.

make a coalition, and for the love of all that's holy when you do put that war co-ordination target function to good use! what a difference it made to my war effort, after struggling against all the might of the yuans alone, a different target for each member of the coalition keep them in the field so you can use their armies as supports to your own, send them after enemy cities or armies, their success is irrelevant, but you want them for cover.

keep your armies together, they will come at you in a united front and you want to bug bite him down and his vassals, take their farms, take their mines, run away if you have to, rinse and repeat, and you'll whittle them down, try to attack the towns and cities when no one is there or when the enemy armies are trying to recover.

I found Zheng Jiang, Yuan Shu, and Dong Min/Zhuo to be quite willing accomplices in breaking Yuan Shao. Cao Cao however flipped and flopped between making war and seeking peace. So unsurprisingly he wasnt a very committed member.

Now however Sun Jian and Cao Cao have vassalised the remains of Yuan's dynasty the rump state that it is and his former vassals. and now they have become the new enemies in the south.

plan on using Liu Biao or his successor as leverage against Sun Jian the now Duke of Wu, and Yuan Shu against Cao Cao.

Hope this gives you and your white horse riders ideas.

[gachi is manly]

Your neighbor/old master Liu is easier to roll over than Gongsung Du at the start I feel. He already hates you and Gongsung Du will usually respect the non aggression pact you start with long enough to wipe Liu out.

When given a choice of dilemmas to choose from I'd go after Liu rather than following the story and attacking where Yuan Shao asks you to. It will lead to having to fight him early when he'll guaranteed be stronger. It will prevent you from being able to go up and secure Gongsung Du's territory above you early on, since Yuan Shao's armies will keep pestering you form the south while you're up there.

[Wilhelm]

Cheers guys, really appreciate the responses. Here we have the problem, I followed the story. You end up with enemies everywhere real early.

I look forward to starting to the new campaign!

[Lord Antharg]

You have to find Xin Zhao and with his help you can win every battle.

[Wilhelm]

Xin Zhao?

[SKY]

Originally posted by Bobby B:

Xin Zhao?

I think he means a character friend game “League of Legends”

[Wilhelm]

Originally posted by §kÿ:

Originally posted by Bobby B:

Xin Zhao?

I think he means a character friend game “League of Legends”

Ahh makes sense why it went over my head, I'm not a virgin.