AI AWB Lu Bu plays with the Greatest Warriors mechanic!

[Fried Noodles]

That's really quite cool... I did not know that!
I always assumed that Lu Bu and Sun Ce just played like any other highly aggressive basic AI faction without any unique mechanics when the player wasn't controlling them.
Lu Bu failed to be a major threat in every A World Betrayed campaign I've played so far either due to poor luck/timing on the AI's part... Or my own intervention.

Typically, I've abused the Turncoat mechanic and broke the Lu Bu chain by taking Lu Bu out of Liu Bei's faction for myself one or two turns before the big betrayal.

But I am currently playing as Yuan Shu this time around, and though I checked for turncoats every turn I was unable to snatch Lu Bu before he stabbed Liu Bei in the back. Possibly because Lu Bu has a built-in grudge against Yuan Shu he just flat out refuses to work for me even as a spy.

And now Lu Bu is absolutely thriving.

I managed to get Lu Bu into a coalition with me while he was still a bit weak... But as I took Yuan Shu's very stupid decision to announce his Imperial ambitions (that I regretted immediately but could not take back because Legendary and the game saved as soon as I made my choice :P), my relations with Lu Bu (and the rest of China!) is deteriorating rapidly.

I caught a glimpse of Lu Bu's army while he was mopping up Guangling and noticed something very interesting on his character card...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2108170229

He has Zhang Fei's Blazing Roar and he also has Fatigue Immunity from defeating Zhao Yun.
He's going to be quite terrifying to fight when he decides to betray our coalition.

On the plus side, because he destroyed Liu Bei's faction I managed to luck out!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2108170530
Not quite as impressive as Lu Bu with every character's strength and abilities glued to his face, but I'm still quite pleased to take Guan Yu into my ranks!

[Tipsy]

It's only Sun Ce who is immune to his mechanic's fail condition. Whilst still benefiting from the full bonuses of his reckless luck regardless of his faction's progress

[Fried Noodles]

Originally posted by Tipsy:

It's only Sun Ce who is immune to his mechanic's fail condition. Whilst still benefiting from the full bonuses of his reckless luck regardless of his faction's progress

Yeah, Sun Ce is the reason why I thought the AI factions didn't play with their player mechanics.
Sun Ce was struggling in my first AWB campaign and I kept expecting to see a message saying that he died and Sun Quan took over... Never happened.


Edit:
I was curious if Lu Bu would retain all of his new abilities if I got my hands on him in Yuan Shu's faction.
He went to war with me a few turns back and managed to beat him back enough that we was willing to become my vassal in the peace deal. Stole his weapon (though I lost Lu Fan in the war).

At the end of my turn I decided to annex his faction.
He did not keep Fatigue Immunity or Blazing Roar. What a shame.
So I exited the game without saving and will continue with Lu Bu as my vassal until he betrays me.

Cao Cao only stayed my vassal this game for one turn before declaring independence.
Lu Bu's been my vassal for at least three turns now. I'm impressed.

[Tipsy]

Originally posted by Fried Noodles:

Originally posted by Tipsy:

It's only Sun Ce who is immune to his mechanic's fail condition. Whilst still benefiting from the full bonuses of his reckless luck regardless of his faction's progress

Yeah, Sun Ce is the reason why I thought the AI factions didn't play with their player mechanics.
Sun Ce was struggling in my first AWB campaign and I kept expecting to see a message saying that he died and Sun Quan took over... Never happened.


Edit:
I was curious if Lu Bu would retain all of his new abilities if I got my hands on him in Yuan Shu's faction.
He went to war with me a few turns back and managed to beat him back enough that we was willing to become my vassal in the peace deal. Stole his weapon (though I lost Lu Fan in the war).

At the end of my turn I decided to annex his faction.
He did not keep Fatigue Immunity or Blazing Roar. What a shame.
So I exited the game without saving and will continue with Lu Bu as my vassal until he betrays me.

Cao Cao only stayed my vassal this game for one turn before declaring independence.
Lu Bu's been my vassal for at least three turns now. I'm impressed.

What's weird is that both non AWB campaigns has him (Ce) almost always die after a year or two after he takes over. Cao Cao has been consistent throughout as far as his behaviour goes and Lu Bu has never yielded to vassalage for me.

That is some damn fine luck that he got both Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun's rewards before you recruited him

[Poljanan]

Uh, that's not really that impressive considering both Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun are from the same faction. Lu Bu could have simply defeated them in battle since Liu Bei kept sending them against them. What I would be interested in is if Lu Bu's AI actually went around head hunting other generals.

[Fried Noodles]

Originally posted by Tipsy:

That is some damn fine luck that he got both Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun's rewards before you recruited him

Yeah it's pretty neat, except he doesn't keep those rewards when he joins Yuan Shu's faction.
I didn't let the annexation stand, I exited out before the game autosaved.
Took me like 45 turns to finally shed the Untrustworthiness I gained from annexing Sun Ce on Turn 2. And I guaranteed Lu Bu's autonomy. I don't wanna be treacherous again.

Originally posted by Poljanan:

Uh, that's not really that impressive considering both Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun are from the same faction. Lu Bu could have simply defeated them in battle since Liu Bei kept sending them against them. What I would be interested in is if Lu Bu's AI actually went around head hunting other generals.

Yeah not a super impressive feat on its own. I was more impressed that the AI faction would gain these rewards at all. Didn't think they played by the same rules especially considering how gimmicky and overpowered Lu Bu and Sun Ce's factions are.

[Siodog]

I like how your posts are always extensive and tell a short story xD

[Fried Noodles]

Originally posted by Siodog:

I like how your posts are always extensive and tell a short story xD

Haha. I tend to ramble on and on and go slightly off topic when talking about TW3K.
It's great fun and I always feel like there's tons to say about it when I get going.

You should see some of my reddit posts. They are quite up there in length sometimes.