In Total War: Three Kingdoms, Armies are groups of units led by a commanding officer on the campaign map. Armies are used to protect the player's empire from military incursion by other factions, expand player faction by capturing new commanderies and counties, and defeat enemy armies in battle.[1]
Overview[]
- An army consists of up to 3 retinues. Each retinue can have 1 general or a captain unit commanding up to 6 additional units.
- In Total War: Three Kingdoms, the largest army composes three hero units and 18 retinue units.
- On the campaign map, an army is represented by the model of the commanding general.
- On the campaign map, when two armies meet, a battle begins.
- Action point decides how far player can move the army, as well as the ability to switch stances.
- Effective operation of an army is decided by the military supply.
- Low military supply means attrition, which results in lower morale, lower movement point and dangers of unit desertion.
- Nearby army within reinforcement range can become reinforcement force on battle.
- Normally, player can only recruit on owned territory.
- Normally, player can only replenish on owned territory.
- Replenishment rate is decided by the local population, especially the settlement population that army stationed on.
Army composition[]
Each army is composed of two components - Generals and Retinues. The former appears on the battlefield as heroes (or general bodyguard units) while the latter contains six regular units.
Generals[]
Characters may be recruited into an army as generals. An army may contain up to three generals, each of whom brings his or her own retinue of units. Generals may have up to six units in their personal retinue, and grant bonuses to those units according to their skills, abilities, traits and attributes.
Each army has an appointed commanding general, whose portrait is always placed at the far left of the army panel when the army is selected. The commanding general gains greater experience than other generals in the army and may grant bonuses to the entire army according to his skills, abilities, traits and attributes. A new commander may be assigned by selecting their portrait and clicking the 'assign commanding general' button in the army panel.
Generals can be moved out of the army, at which point they will form a new army with their retinue.
An army represents a close-proximity working environment, so character relations are important to consider when choosing characters for these positions.
In battle, Generals appear as hero units in Romance mode, or bodyguard units in Records mode.
Retinues[]
- Main article: Retinue (Total War: Three Kingdoms)
An army is composed of up to three retinues, each of which is led by a general, and may contain up to six units. To add a retinue to an army, player must first recruit a character to become its general. The character’s class defines which units he can recruit into his retinue. For example, only a Strategist may recruit artillery.
However, it should be noted the Army could still function even without any retinues as long as the Generals are presented. So disbanding all retinues in the Army could create literal one-man army, which could be useful as bait on the campiagn map.
Raise and recruit[]
Raise new army[]
New armies can be raised in player's own territory when the faction haven’t hit the army cap. Select a commandery or county, click the 'raise army' button in the commandery panel, then choose an individual from the list of characters to become the overall army commander.
The generals will immediately populate their retinue with at least two units of their own, defined by their character class.
Player can then recruit up to two more characters to lead further retinues in the army, and recruit units into those retinues.
Recruitment[]
With an army selected and the army panel visible, player will see a button marked 'recruit' to the left of the army panel. This enables player to hire new generals and troops into the selected, exisitng army. Units can be added to each retinue by then clicking the plus symbols to the right of existing retinues. Hiring a new general into the army creates a new retinue, and that general will immediately populate their retinue with at least two units of their own, defined by their character class.
When recruiting units into a retinue, player will choose from a roster that the general of that retinue has access to according to his character class. This shows each unit’s recruitment cost, their seasonal upkeep cost and their mustering time. Recruitment can only be performed in territory owned, with the exception of certain faction mechanics.
To see the available units for a specfic general, click the military tab in the character panel, which details key units the selected character is capable of recruiting, the current status and active effects on units in their retinue (replenishing, attrition etc), and any abilities they have in battle.
Mustering[]
When a unit is recruited to an army, it takes some turns to reach its full size, reflecting the time it takes to gather and train new warriors. The number of warriors in an individual unit is represented by the health bar on its unit card. This fills according to replenishment level in the commandery (which may be affected by the presence of certain characters, assignments, building effects and other factors), with a temporary bonus provided by the mustering effect.
Swapping Units[]
Introduced in Total War Three Kingdoms is the ability to swap out units for another without having to first disband the unit being replaced. The new unit will retain the soldiers of the replaced unit but will start at a fresh level. Swapping costs the normal amount of recruitment, but musters much faster than disband-and-recruit apporch.
Replenishment[]
Damaged units and characters in an army will replenish to full health over time when stationed in territory player own. However, newly-captured territory may suffer from low faction support, which can negatively impact replenishment.
Other factors can also influence replenishment, such as military supplies, characters and the commandery’s population. When a unit is replenishing, player will see green plus symbols marked on its unit card in the army panel. Moussing over these will reveal the factors that are contributing to – or hindering – their replenishment.
Replenishment is disabled in neutral and enemy territory.
Army cap[]
The number of armies player have in play at any time is limited. Player can view this limit by hovering cursor over the current rank in the faction summary panel. Player can increase the army cap by improving faction rank, assigning administrators to commanderies, and researching certain reforms. Some character traits also provide extra army cap.
Logistics and finance[]
Military Supplies[]
An army requires military supplies to function optimally. Its supply levels are indicated by the military supplies bar in the army panel. When an army has higher supplies, it gains morale and replenishment bonuses. When an army’s supplies fall, it begins to suffer increasingly punitive attrition and morale penalties.
When an army is in a friendly or allied commandery, it gathers supplies. The rate at which it gathers is principally determined by the reserves in the commandery itself, which in turn is dictated by food production across player's empire. Negative reserves means fewer supplies. There are other factors which can contribute to supplies, such as the number of characters in the army, character traits, certain ancillary effects and so forth.
When an army crosses into enemy territory, it begins to consume its supplies turn by turn. Long periods of time spent in enemy territory without resupply, such as during an extended siege, can cripple an army, so it is a critical factor to monitor.
Attrition[]
Attrition is a negative effect suffered by armies that causes damage over time to its units and reduces its unit morale should a battle ensue while the effect is active. The main factor that causes attrition is low military supplies. This can be remedied by returning the army to owned or allied territory where reserves are present, at which point it will automatically begin to resupply.
Attrition is visually indicated by the shadows of soldiers falling away from the army on the campaign map.
Upkeep[]
Every unit in an army costs income each turn. This represents wages, maintenance and logistics, and is known as their upkeep cost. More expensive and elite troops have a greater upkeep cost than cheaper, lower-tier units. Disbanding units from idle armies is a useful way to keep faction's running costs down. This can be done using the disband button which appears in the army panel when a unit card is selected.
Player can view a unit’s upkeep cost by hovering cursor over its unit card and scrutinising the unit information panel on the left of the screen. Player can view an army’s overall upkeep cost in the left-hand section of the army panel. Plaery can also view the factionwide army upkeep costs by hovering over the income symbol at the top-left of the main campaign screen.
Player can view a complete breakdown of faction incomings and outgoings by clicking the treasury button.
On the campiagn map[]
Action Points[]
Armies are granted action points at the beginning of each turn. Select an army and player will see its action points noted in the army panel. These action points are used to move across the map, attack enemy targets, and change stance. An army that has exhausted all its action points can do no more until the start of the next turn, when its action points will be replenished.
Movement speed[]
Armies move at different speeds across the campaign map according to their stance and the kind of terrain they traverse. Difficult terrain such as forests, deserts, mountains and river-crossings will cost more action points to traverse. Grasslands offers swifter movement, and roads swifter still.
There is a glitch where if you recruit another officer and then disband the original commanding officer, you gain movement again. This can be repeated indefinitely.
Stances[]
An army may adopt different stances to improve different aspects of its performance. Adopting different stances usually costs a higher percentage of the army's action points that turn. The stance button is just above the unit cards in the army panel of a selected army.
Stances of the army include:
Normal[]
The default army stance, offering no benefits or penalties. The army is free to move, attack, or be attacked as normal.
Ambush[]
Adopting the ambush stance costs 25% of the army's action points and puts the army into hiding. Adopting the ambush stance costs 25% of the army’s action points and puts the army into hiding. When an enemy army enters its zone of control, an ambush battle may be triggered. Different terrain greatly influences the army’s chances of successfully triggering an ambush battle; desert offers a low chance, grassland offers a medium chance, forests and mountains offer a high chance, and hilly forests offer the best chance.
Furthermore, character abilities, traits and ancillaries can affect the chance of either triggering an ambush battle, or detecting a nearby army that is in ambush stance. If an opposing army enters the zone of control of an army in ambush stance and the ambush fails to trigger, the ambushing army will become immediately revealed, and may be evaded or attacked as normal.
Encamp[]
Adopting the Encamp stance costs 50% of an army’s action points that turn. When encamped, the army cannot move and generates bonus military supplies each turn, making it a useful stance for replenishment. If an opposing army attacks an encamped army, an encampment battle will be triggered.
March[]
Adopting the march stance adds 50% to the army’s movement range. While marching, recruitment and replenishment are disabled and the army will not be able to initiate battles. If attacked while in march stance, all units and characters in the army will begin the battle with a fatigue level of tired.
Liberate[]
An army stance of Gong Du's faction.
Zone of control[]
All armies and settlements have a range at which they can engage with enemies militarily, known as the zone of control. This is indicated by the black-ink radius that appears around when they are moussed over or selected. An army or settlement's zone of control cannot be entered by a neutral or enemy army without attacking it directly.
Reinforcements[]
An army that is within the zone of control of a friendly army or settlement which is attacked will join the battle as reinforcements. Likewise, an army that attacks a target while a friendly army (or settlement) is within its zone of control will gain the friendly army (or settlement garrison) as reinforcements when the battle commences.
Reinforcements do not deploy at the start of the battle along with the chief belligerents. When battle commences, they will march onto the battlefield from the outfield area. The exception to this rule is when an army has been stationed in a settlement. When a battle over that settlement begins, the stationed army will begin the battle within the settlement, alongside any settlement garrison.
Reinforcements are not available in night battles.