Sun Jian or Liu Bei

[Super_]

Hello!

I’ve played this game for 175 hours all as Cao Cao.

I’m planning on finally playing another faction. I’m just not sure if I should play Sun Jian or Liu Bei first. I’m leaning towards Sun Jian and would like to get hyped for him.

Who should I play and why?

[The Mailman Thinks I Am Gay]

If you wanna get hype to turtle as Sun Jian then be my guest

[kangkang]

love who play who

[Wesu.]

Jeez, 175 hours only Cao Cao.. That's some dedication.

Play Liu Bei, his campaign is more turbulent and thus enjoyable. Sun Jian has quite a boring campaign imo because the southlands is just too harmless and a river to stall northern offenses.

[Remosu37]

Sun Jian is going to be pretty boring till they get around to adding the main early adversary of the Sun family--the barbarian hill tribes of Shanyue.

Historically speaking, prior to the "Realm Divide" into Shu (Liu Bei), Wei (Cao Cao) and Wu (Sun Jian), the Wu state under the Suns faced 2 major problems--1st, the Southlands were several underdeveloped, and it was only after 3 generations of Suns that the Southlands began to ecoomically flourish. This part is pretty well depicted, I think.

The 2nd issue is completely missing--the main military opponent of the Sun family While the Han warlords in the Southlands were swept aside by the time of Sun Ce, Sun Ce and the 1st half of Sun Qian's reigns were consumed by battles with the Shanyue--non-ethnic Han peoples who lived in the hills and regularly raided Han settlements/

It wasn't until around 240AD that the Wu finally managed to fully pacify the Shanyue (by adopting stick and carrot methods of encouraging Shanyue to assimilate into Han cities).

But since this enemy faction is just totally missing (and replaced by empty cities you can build just by paying money), the SOuthlands makes for a pretty boring place right now that's easily conquered and settled, then a matter of turtling until your cities are productive.

The next DLC is already the early Yellow Turbans, so anybody's guess as to when they finally get around to making the Shanyue--people have been clamorring for Nanman, so they might do that first? Although the West is already fairly interesting, so I'd rather they focused on the Southlands, personally.

I wouldn't say no to a 212AD start date (Liu Bei's flight from Cao Cao and entry into Shu) though.

[Cpt. Kid]

Most people like playing as Liu Bei?

I need to take a break.

What does everyone think of Gonsun Zan Kingdom?

[Super_]

I’ve decided I’ll play Liu Bei first since his story is related to Cao Cao. I’ll play Sun Jian third and then probably Gongsun Zan.

[Qwertykov]

Sun Jian is really boring. The more challenging it is, the more fun.

[Qwertykov]

Originally posted by Cpt. Kid:

Most people like playing as Liu Bei?

I need to take a break.

What does everyone think of Gonsun Zan Kingdom?

Gongsun Zan is tricky because it is a real challenge to break pass Yuan Shao. Supplies and food is also a real problem for Gongsun Zan.. His unique unit White Horse Fellows are also too expensive in early game. Pain

Which is why I quit and played Ma Teng instead. Ma Teng is tough but much more fun than Gongsun. His unique units are also wayy better..

[Haddon]

Originally posted by qwertykov:

Originally posted by Cpt. Kid:

Most people like playing as Liu Bei?

I need to take a break.

What does everyone think of Gonsun Zan Kingdom?

Gongsun Zan is tricky because it is a real challenge to break pass Yuan Shao. Supplies and food is also a real problem for Gongsun Zan.. His unique unit White Horse Fellows are also too expensive in early game. Pain

Which is why I quit and played Ma Teng instead. Ma Teng is tough but much more fun than Gongsun. His unique units are also wayy better..

Ma Teng is always my go-to in Romance games. Pang De, Ma Chao, Han Sui are ballers, and easy access to Shu so you can build up in Sichuan and have two really solid borders. From what I have seen of 3K, the same holds true.

[Fried Noodles]

Originally posted by Haddon:

Originally posted by qwertykov:

Gongsun Zan is tricky because it is a real challenge to break pass Yuan Shao. Supplies and food is also a real problem for Gongsun Zan.. His unique unit White Horse Fellows are also too expensive in early game. Pain

Which is why I quit and played Ma Teng instead. Ma Teng is tough but much more fun than Gongsun. His unique units are also wayy better..

Ma Teng is always my go-to in Romance games. Pang De, Ma Chao, Han Sui are ballers, and easy access to Shu so you can build up in Sichuan and have two really solid borders. From what I have seen of 3K, the same holds true.

It's quite difficult to get your hands on Han Sui in this game.
He starts off as a separate faction and is your oathsworn Military Alliance member... Also he is very fond of stabbing you in the back or getting you into trouble: constantly nagging you to go to war with the Han Empire (and Dong Zhuo) earlier than you want to... Or just outright leaving the alliance and declaring war on you and attacking your flanks while you're fighting Yellow Turbans or something.

I like Han Sui better when he's dead.
It's not impossible to get him to join your faction... If you capture and release him a few times he may develop enough of a fondness for your faction to show up looking for work in your court even if you destroy his faction (as long as he doesn't die).

[Haddon]

Originally posted by Fried Noodles:

Originally posted by Haddon:

Ma Teng is always my go-to in Romance games. Pang De, Ma Chao, Han Sui are ballers, and easy access to Shu so you can build up in Sichuan and have two really solid borders. From what I have seen of 3K, the same holds true.

It's quite difficult to get your hands on Han Sui in this game.
He starts off as a separate faction and is your oathsworn Military Alliance member... Also he is very fond of stabbing you in the back or getting you into trouble: constantly nagging you to go to war with the Han Empire (and Dong Zhuo) earlier than you want to... Or just outright leaving the alliance and declaring war on you and attacking your flanks while you're fighting Yellow Turbans or something.

I like Han Sui better when he's dead.
It's not impossible to get him to join your faction... If you capture and release him a few times he may develop enough of a fondness for your faction to show up looking for work in your court even if you destroy his faction (as long as he doesn't die).

Han Sui goes to war with Ma Teng? They were sworn brothers! God CA makes truly awful AI.

[Fried Noodles]

Originally posted by Haddon:

Han Sui goes to war with Ma Teng? They were sworn brothers! God CA makes truly awful AI.

Eh... Not really. In the 'historical' accounts and in the actual Romance, Ma Teng and Han Sui definitely have an on-again-off-again relationship. They went to war against each other for control of the Liang province before Cao Cao came trolling into the scene.
Then Cao Cao later turned Ma Chao and Han Sui against each other.

I'm not sure how their relationship is depicted in other Three Kingdoms titles, like Dynasty Warriors... But that game features Xu Chu as a rollie-pollie with a boulder on a stick, and Diaochan cutting down entire armies with a chain whip. So not sure!

[Qwertykov]

Not too sure why Gongsun Yan campaign difficulty is Normal, while Ma Teng is Very Hard.

On my current Ma Teng campaign, I managed to despatch Gongdu, Liu Yan and Jia Long. Now I'm done with those three, I have Han Sui and Big Dong in my sights.

Always had one eye on Han Sui so he doesn't get the chance to backstab me. And it helps having Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Lu Xun and Xu Huang aiding me.. Lol.. Playing on VH/VH.

[Super_]

Yeah and Cao Cao is easy when he’s actually normal or hard. While you’re fighting Tao Qian to the East, Yuan Shu or Liu Biao will attack you from the west. Then late game you’re sandwiches between Wu to the South, Song or Shu-Han to the North and still enemies west too.

[Super_]

I honestly think they should switch Cao Cao to normal and make Sun Jian the easy one. Then again Cao Cao gives people a good feel for the game while Sun Jian is a little different.