Been no-lifing Total War Three Kingdoms. Like I posted last week, I got a RX 9070 XT so I can run whatever I want now at 1440p. I haven’t played this one much since launch, but I’ve been doing non-stop Nanman campaigns. My first one with Zhurong ended quickly while I was just messing around and figuring out mechanics again.

I then tried to play King Mulu, but I made the mistake of attacking non-Nanman factions early on to consolidate a commandery. This pissed off the Han Empire, Liu Bei (who had taken over most of the Eastern part of the map), and just about everyone else. That’s expected eventually, but the problem is that Nanman get bonuses for every other Nanman faction they conquer or annex and can’t unlock parts of their tech tree until that’s done. So I was left with little tech, underdeveloped regions, and not enough money to fight 5 factions at once. It would have taken 3 times as long to continue this campaign than to just start over.

This time, I went with the classic Meng Huo, very aggressively expanded (battles every other turn) into the other Nanman regions with my OP starting elephants, made use of multiple smaller armies instead of a doom stack, and used ambush bait (one small army sitting in the open, a bigger one in ambush stance waiting for the enemy to attack them). All the Nanman factions are mine, I have 6 armies roaming around, and I have so much surplus food from my building trees that I bribe whoever I want to leave me alone for a bit by giving them 20 extra food per turn. I have 34 surplus when most other factions have 7.

My eldest sons are set to inherit my kingdom should I perish, but Meng Huo is still only like 36 and probably isn’t dying any time soon. They were born before he married Zhurong, so I might make my youngest son or daughter my heir when they come of age to roleplay being a father with a favorite. One of my sons married a Han vanguard character, so I’m starting to show them the ways of my people and expand the family tree.

Everything about the franchise is coming back to me, essentially. I’m on Normal battles and Very Hard campaign, since I found that to be the best balance in most other titles. I might actually try a Legendary campaign sometime soon though after I finish this one and get all the achievements possible for the Nanman. Hard battles and Very Hard campaign might be the best actual balance. It’s very easy to beat the AI by stacking spear/javelin infantry exclusively, along with whatever ranged unit, because the Han factions favor cavalry a lot more and they also counter other Nanman elephants. A single poison dart unit also destroys infantry morale if you can circle them behind. I won an almost impossible siege defense with just my garrison by circling them out the back and firing darts into everyone. Saved the day.

I think I prefer the older style of battles from games like Rome 2 that emphasize stuff like fatigue a lot more, because especially as the Nanman, I usually win by just making everyone flee 3 times, meaning they don’t recover and I can mow them down. Battles are over very very fast. Like 5 - 7 minutes fast. I could play Records mode instead that is supposed to be a little less Dynasty Warriors, but it disables pretty much all general skills and makes the rest of the game less interesting diplomacy and roleplaying wise.