whats your must have on the tech tree early on?

[Cryme Tyme]

so far for me is the redeployment discounts on the red path and the additional admin. position. I am able to bring out expensive characters with their original retinue cheap,

for example ma chao, he would of been 7.5k, with the 2x 20% discount, plus the 20% discount on ma teng and ma chao himself, i was able to bring him out at 1k ish right around the earliest possibility. not to mention redeploying troops around to just about ignoring replenish health(as mustering health is so much faster), the general's health come back full strength too! then there is the money you save without deploying standing armies nor disbanding retinues so that they get to keep their level.

the 1st admin. level is self explanatory as it gives my capital a free full retinue to protect and boost income.

[JuX]

It all depends on faction, but id say +1 additional trade agreement is pretty strong start of the game for quick cash injection along with the diplomatic benefits no matter what the faction.


I am currently doing legendary red and green with Cao Cao and it's amazing. Iv entered mid-game and i have -80% on redeployment costs and just noticed strange building unlock on Cao Caos unique farm structure which gives +15 replenishment faction-wide, thou i doesn't exist in the building branch. I assume devs noticed how broken that would be and removed it.

Also green reform is viable. While iv invested most in military so far, but my insane food yield in trading is absurd and could be used to do heavy diplomatic moves. Im basically a drug dealer, having my trade partners expand their cities and after 10 turns they crawl to me like drug addicts, willing to do ANYTHING to keep that food flowing to their insane food deficit.

[Kitten Food]

I agree with trade agreements, but I also invest early on the extra administrator. You want your characters to level up quickly, which means you want more assignment tasks, administrators and council positions asap. This also lets you banish characters you don't need. If they aren't a general or aren't performing a function, then they should be out.

[Aidanya]

Yup i usually go for the slave mobilization (-1 construction time) and the -2 mustering turns in the red area. But after that i usually finish most of the red area with the cost reductions.

[RCMidas]

Cao Cao's secondary unique building is for actual agricultural areas, not main settlements (which has the main one). Look to Farmlands and Rice Paddies for his faction-unique structure that provides up to +15% factionwide replenishment.

[alicerinz]

Depends on the starting faction and location

[Toaster Maximus]

Depends on who, where I am planning to expand to, and so on, like for more military chars and someone who is going to do a lot of fighting, find red is needed, some grey/purpple, some gold and you need some green for food benefits down the road has your army and pop grow.s but every faction has their needs.

[vortex]

Depends on the faction, but typically I like the benefits of the green and gold branches.

[VoiD]

I like the trade agreement one too, if you can get a partner.

Specially useful early on as the AI seems to trade ASAP, if you delay you might not be able to get any partners.

[BastardSword]

#1: +15% movement range

#2: +10% replenishment

#3: public order improvements

After that I do whatever I feel like. More trade agreements, more food and upgraded farm buildings, extra industrial/commerce income, etc.

[Gamer de esquerda]

The -8% recruitment cost of the red reform is great for the beginning when you're recruiting. The only others worth getting are the ones increasing campaign range (VERY GOOD for late game) and decreasing redeployment costs. The -10% retinue upkeep is nice, but you have to get so many reforms to get that one...

After that I normally invest a lot in purple + blue reforms to boost my income. When corruption starts being a thing, I pick the reforms that reduce corruption and also the ones that reduce character's salaries

The green reform is the one that I find the most lackluster, since it's mostly used to increase food production (something that wasn't an issue for me the whole game) and very little of peasantry.

[Ashantai]

I've started to make a bee-line for Silk Road Expeditions early on. Onyx Dragons are probably the best unit in the game for my mind, especially in sieges.

However, some of the red reforms are great early on.

[MarioFanaticXV]

I like to focus on economy, so lots of blue, purple, and yellow reforms. I try and get Onyx Dragons since that picks up a lot of good economy boosts along the way, and they're an amazing unit as well.

[lemurs2]

+10% replenish.

[Hawk™☆KevRockZ☆]

On food, so you can sell it to other factions. Food can be a big plus to your economy.
Trade is also really good.