Campaign map interface in Total War: Three Kingdoms
The Campaign is one of the core gameplay mechanics of the Total War: Three Kingdoms.
The campaign is where player can manage and expand the empire, conduct diplomacy, raise and move armies, upgrade settlements, manage economy and characters, etc. Campaign gameplay happens on the campaign map, built upon the history and storytelling of ancient China. Campaign is the turn-based strategy layer of the Total War franchise.
There are many elements at play in a Three Kingdoms campaign.
Turn[]
A Total War campaign is turn-based. When player have performed all the activities you want in a Turn, and there’s nothing left for player to do, click the large End Turn button in the lower-right of the campaign screen. All the other factions in play will then take their turns. The game then advances by one Season in time, and the next turn begins. Any armies player moved in the previous turn will have their action points refreshed, and may be moved again.[1]
Faction management[]
Faction progression[]
- Main article: Prestige (Total War: Three Kingdoms)
Faction rank is a measure of player factions's propgress and development, and as player advance through the factiuon ranks, new bonuses are unlocked. Player's objective is to reach the rank of emperor, and defeat any other emperors to become the sole ruler of China. To achieve higher faction ranks, player must gather prestige from gameplay.
Faction management[]
- Main article: Court (Total War: Three Kingdoms)
Court comprises of the faction leader, heir, administrators, and the most senior ministerial positions in player's faction. The court panel also displays all the characters currently employed by the faction, and presents a list of candidates who may be recruited into the faction, and offers a separate tab showing the family tree of faction leader.
Faction Specialisation[]
- Main article: Faction resource
Each playable faction has its own faction specialisation, a unique mechanic which heavily influences its playstyle. This is noted in the faction's description before a campaign begins, and in the faction summary panel duringa campaign.
If a faction leader dies and their heir assumes the title, the faction will change its name to reflect the new warlord, and the original warlord’s character specialisation will be lost, though their faction specialisation will remain in play.
Faction support[]
Faction support is a concept that represents the integration between player's faction and territory owned. When player captures a new commandery or county, faction support will become negative, as the settlement and its people come to terms with their conquerors. Negative faction support penalises public order and replenishment in the commandery, and will be shown in the public order tooltips both in the commandery panel and on the settlement’s information bar on the campaign map.
Faction support naturally improves over time until it reaches 100%. When a settlement is newly captured, it is therefore wise to keep an eye on its public order, and perhaps station an army there to boost public order for a few turns while faction support improves.
Public order[]
Public order is the measure of a commandery population’s contentment and, by extension, its lawfulness. Certain conditions will cause a commandery’s public order to fall, such as high taxation, low food reserves, negative faction support, and excessive population. Other factors will cause it to rise, such as specific buildings (particularly red military buildings), a strong garrison, an army stationed in the settlement, adequate food reserves and a population below the settlement’s population cap. Player can see the factors influencing a commandery’s public order by mousing over the public order icon in the commandery panel or in the commandery’s information bar on the campaign map.
Rebellion[]
When a commandery’s public order drops to -100, a rebellion will occur. A rebel army of malcontents will spawn in the commandery, and begin mustering fresh troops each turn. The quality of the characters and units in the army are defined by the overall development level of the commandery’s buildings. So a small, under-developed commandery will be reflected in a militia-heavy army, whereas a highly developed commandery will contribute to a rebel army with higher-level characters and more advanced unit types.
A rebel army begins at war with the player immediately, and will seek to conquer the commandery capital if it can. Defeating a rebel army will improve public order in the commandery temporarily, but will not address the root causes of its low public order.
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