Which factions can you play as without getting absolutely annihilated?

[Zarkkill]

I swear, every damn faction I play as just gets ganged up on by almost every other faction at around mid game-late game and I never remember this ever happening when I played last. I haven't played since 2019 according to my last save files, but I have 4 of those where I've conquered huge amounts of the map and would likely be at critical mass yet now when I play, every faction I play as just gets obliterated because every faction near me decides to all gang up on me out of the blue.

What did they do to the game since then to ♥♥♥♥ it up this much where I can't just play as a faction to the end without worrying I'm just going to get unfairly spitroasted by almost every other faction I share a border with. It's not like I'm antagonizing them either.

I'm no stranger to a challenge or having to fight several foes at once but this is just absurd. Each time I have to fight like 6-8 factions at once, half of which are at least as strong as I am, how the hell do the devs expect me to win when the odds are so ridiculously stacked against you? It's just not fun to play anymore knowing I'm just going to get steamrolled after a certain point because suddenly I'm public enemy number one for no reason.

I've only played a few factions since coming back so I'm wondering if every faction is like this or if any are not complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, no stipulations for which campaign the lord is in or if it's DLC or anything I just want to know which are actually functionally playable.

Any help or feedback is much appreciated, thanks!

[Jaes]

Diplomacy with the major players, steam roll the minor factions to gain territory and secure your economy. Cities that have access to Rivers or the Oceans are generally reliable economic hubs since you can build commerce harbors etc.

Generally, allying with Shu and/or Wu early and cooperating with them helps a lot with managing other factions. Shu is usually the best bet in that Liu Bei will snag up a few factions that will help keep some of them off your back while you work over factions like Yuan Shao, Liu Bao (or whomever may still be left over).

I've found the best "teacher" for this is Cao Cao. I had to restart quite a few times before I figured out how to best "play" the map, especially since you're going to be sandwiched between all of the major powers as you get into the mid game. If you make a misstep in your diplomacy and scheming, you're doomed in the mid game, but if you manage a strong early game, and basically capture the center of the world map with effectively having the rivers as your territory borders, it's a lot easier to manage dealing with multiple factions, especially if you're taking advantage of the Redeployment mechanic.

[Sevrojin]

You dont want to fight and just learn diplomacy?
Kong Rong. with his trade menopolys he can get so insanely rich you can buy up all surrounding factions settlements till they only have their capitol left then you either vasselize and assimilate or just declare war and take it

[nullpo]

Without mod:
190 Sun Jian
190 Kong Rong
190 Gongsun Zan
190&194 Yan Baihu
That's all. If you play in central plains you're bound to fight cao cao, yuan shu, he yi, yuan shao, huang shao, and maybe liu biao. Play as Liu Yao and Shi Xie, prepare to face constant nanman invasion.

With mod you can look fairplay AI. Remove the player rush bias AI have.

[Zarkkill]

Originally posted by Sevrojin:

You dont want to fight and just learn diplomacy?
Kong Rong. with his trade menopolys he can get so insanely rich you can buy up all surrounding factions settlements till they only have their capitol left then you either vasselize and assimilate or just declare war and take it

It's not that I don't want to fight, I just don't want to fight everyone all at once, but thanks for the advice, I'll try out that faction

[CaoLex]

Gongsun Zan almost guaranteened to be ganged eventually.
Yan Baihu... Well, you can play passively, but then research will be very long...
Beside, he can turn whole map into constant Yellow Turban rebellions. Isn't it fun? No one fights you because they are constantly fight trying to put down rebellions that keep regenerating because of Yan Baihu's building.

Funilly enough, if you survive starting situation as Cao Cao (which sometimes very brutal) you can freely manipulate which enemy you fight.
Or you can play as Liu Bei in early campaign, immigrate on Taiwan and ignore all that losers like Tao Qian asking you for help.

[nullpo]

Originally posted by CaoLex:

Gongsun Zan almost guaranteened to be ganged eventually.
Yan Baihu... Well, you can play passively, but then research will be very long...
Beside, he can turn whole map into constant Yellow Turban rebellions. Isn't it fun? No one fights you because they are constantly fight trying to put down rebellions that keep regenerating because of Yan Baihu's building.

Funilly enough, if you survive starting situation as Cao Cao (which sometimes very brutal) you can freely manipulate which enemy you fight.
Or you can play as Liu Bei in early campaign, immigrate on Taiwan and ignore all that losers like Tao Qian asking you for help.

Once you beat liu yu sure, you might be attacked by han fu, yuan shao, maybe the heishan bandits if they're not busy fighting zheng jiang. But han fu is quite passive, and the bandits take time to reach you so you should be able to take care of yuan shao first, then han fu and heishan bandits.

Yan Baihu is free expansion on 190 and 194. All his neighbor are either weak, or even worse, han empire if you play 190 start. In 190 the majority of southland is even uninhabited, so just expand there. Playing passive as Yan Baihu is not really something that you should even think about.