Hey, I'm really glad people like the way I'm doing this. I've never actually even read an LP before, but I'm skimming some of the stuff here to get an idea of how I can improve. I thought it would be fun to share a game that not a lot of people are familiar with. I'm trying to keep it fairly simple, at least for now, so people who haven't played can figure out all the different mechanics. I also want to present it in a way that people can understand why I do the things I do.
Chapter 7 - Expansion
The first thing I do is capture Hu Yang, Liu Biao's port south of my town of Xin Ye. I have other plans for now, so I'm not going to continue marching south, but you know who might be really useful to have around in the area?
Zhou Tai, the officer Xun Yu debated a month or so ago. He's the best naval general I have and if I plan on going south, I'll have to cross the Yangtze. His stats, although good, are a little underwhelming at the moment. He's still young, though, and as he matures his stats will also increase. That's a pretty neat feature about this game - officers stats can increase or decrease over time. Zhou Tai hasn't reached his peak potential yet, while characters like Xu Rong and Ma Teng, who are in their late 40s, are starting to lose stats. It's not much, but it's an interesting feature. I move Zhou Tai to Xin Ye in preparation for an attack.
Hou Cheng, Xun Yu and Yan Jun leave Lu Jiang with a small army and 2,000 gold. They're heading toward Chai Sang, the last of the unclaimed cities in southeast China. I thought about it and this is probably the best thing I can do right now. It will deny the city from Liu Biao and Sun Jian. It's also a real pain to conquer. I'd rather get it now while it's free than have to fight an awful battle for it later.
I'm starting to run low on officers, so Guo Jia searches Wan and finds Gan Ning. He's a great general and one of Wu's best, but he fails to hire him. I hope I'm able to get him before someone else does.
Yep. It looks like Gan Ning admires brawn more than brains. He'll be another great asset in the push south. He's a pretty great general all around - all of his skills are A-ranked or above and his leadership, intelligence and warfare, which are all high, will continue to grow as he matures.
Lu Bu, Xu Rong and Ji Ling head north from Shou Chun with an army of horsemen. They'll crush Sun Guan and take Tao Qian's Xiao Pei. I think Xiao Pei is the best city to attack now for a couple of reasons. First, Shou Chun isn't vulnerable to attack. Second, Xiao Pei borders Tao Qian's capital of Xia Pi, another very large city with good economic bonuses. Last, it's immediately east of Cao Cao. Right before he died, Han Fu broke his alliance with Cao Cao. I think Cao Cao will likely attack Pan Feng's city of Pu Yang soon. That is our time to strike.
Lu Bu attacks Sun Guan's with a charge tactic. Sun Guan is killed in the attack and his unit disperses. That kind of stinks, I was hoping to capture Sun Guan! He's a decent cavalry general.
Hua Xiong and Gao Shun captured the port of Hu Yang, cutting off Liu Dai's entrance to Xin Yi. He heads west, presumably to take the free port of Fang Ying.
Lu Bu's party draws closer to Xiao Pei, taking out a small army led by Cao Bao.
Gao Shun, Hua Xiong and newcomer Gan Ning all lead armies out towards Zhang Lu's Shang Yong. Shang Yong is a good city to attack because it requires the smallest investment out of all our potential targets. The masochist in me secretly wants Dong Zhuo to attack Wan again - the defense of Wan was one of the best battles I've ever fought.
Lu Bu's forces arrive in Xiao Pei and deal heavy damage to the city's troops.
Meanwhile, Hou Cheng's unit arrives in Chai Sang. It's adjacent to Sun Jian, but we still have friendly relations with him so we'll have plenty of time to develop.
Actually, it looks like Sun Jian had the same idea we did. We might have gotten here just in the nick of time.
Whoa, an envoy from Kong Zhou!
I thought he was going to tell me our alliance was over.
He wants us to attack Wu Gate and he's giving us 1,735 gold to do it. Wu Gate is a tiny gate to our northwest with only 4,000 soldiers. It's too far away for him to send reinforcements in time and we would have had to attack it sooner or later anyway. I accept. I send out Huang Zhong with a troop of 6,000 pikemen. He's controlled by the AI, but I know he'll win.
It looks like Liu Dai didn't abandon his attack on Xin Ye, he just decided to take an absurdly long route to get there. Hua Xiong meets up with him just outside of Shang Yong. I'm glad Liu Biao continued his attack - Liu Dai's army is about 15% of his total troop reserve.
Lu Bu continues his attack on Xiao Pei. He uses a simultaneous attack - all three units attack at the same time, which deals extra damage and minimizes the amount of damage we take.
I have too many cities and not enough AP to manage them all. I delegate authority of Lu Jiang to Li Feng. Once Lu Bu captures Xiao Pei, I'll also give him authority of Shou Chun.
Liu Dai gets beaten some more by Hua Xiong's party. I'm starting to feel really bad for him. He's like one of those entrepreneurs who starts a million businesses but fails every time. Lu Bu's group continues to assault Xiao Pei. The walls are at less than half strength now. We capture the city if the wall strength falls to 0, regardless of the remaining troops left.
An envoy from the emperor arrives, appointing Yuan Shu to the rank of general. Now we can raise the ranks of our officers even higher, allowing them to command more troops in battle.
Gan Ning captures Liu Dai and we throw him in prison. Sorry pal. Lu Bu's group continues to attack Xiao Pei, bringing down the walls even further.
Just west of Xiao Pei, Pan Feng attempts to attack Cao Cao's Chen Liu. Pan Feng sends out all of his worst officers - why would you use these guys when you have Pang De and Zhao Yun? He's going to get crushed badly. To the north, Liu Bei attacks Pan Feng's poorly guarded city of Ye. He'll be gone in a few months.
The attacks on Shang Yong and Xiao Pei are both going well. The same can't be said for Pan Feng, though. His troops near Chen Liu are getting destroyed.
Yi Ji successfully manages to recruit Liu Ye, a Wei strategist. This is especially good because we're starting to run low on officers - we'll need to recruit more soon if we want to continue our expansion.
Xiao Pei falls and Lu Bu moves in. He has several thousand gold and a number of domestic officers with him so rebuilding can begin immediately. We'll need to work fast if we want to capitalize off of the turmoil between Pan Feng and Cao Cao. Tao Qian can wait.
Hou Cheng recruits Lu Meng, another of Wu's most famous generals and the man who captured Guan Yu and the Jing province from Liu Bei. For a period of time, Lu Meng was actually Wu's head strategist. There's an event you can trigger that increases all of Lu's stats by lot, but I'm not sure how to trigger it so for now he'll have to remain a decent naval general.
Gan Ning captures Zhang Lu's Shang Yong. The only resistance we even faced in Shang Yong was Liu Biao. Zhang Lu is sandwiched in between Liu Yan, Dong Zhuo and me. I get the feeling we won't be seeing much more of Zhang Lu in the future.
Remember how I said Tao Qian can wait? I've changed my mind. Under Ma Teng's direction, Jian Ye has grown into my largest and most profitable city. I send out 20,000 troops from Jian Ye, led by Ma Teng, to capture Tao Qian's Wu. This will be the first combat action for Ma Chao and Ma Teng under Yuan Shu.
Even though Zhang Lu never did anything with Shang Yong - even develop any land - he's not happy about its loss. He sends out 11,000 men, leaving his city of Han Zhong open to attack from Dong Zhuo or Liu Yan.
Huang Zhong finally captures Wu Gate as per Kong Zhou's request. Although it's not major, it represents the first solid gain we've made against Dong Zhuo. Another nice thing is that gates and ports generate money and food monthly. If we ever start running low on either, we can send a unit to one of them bring some back.
We receive yet another title from Emperor Xian. Nobody even has enough deeds to receive the titles we've already been given.
Tao Qian brings out a small unit of 3,000 led by Lu Dai (not Liu Dai!) but Ma Chao and Ma Teng make quick work of him.
Li Yan captures him and throws him in prison. In the west, Zhang Lu sends yet another army to Shang Yong. This leaves his city of Han Zhong with only 8,000 defenders. I'm almost positive Dong Zhuo will attack him now.
We capture Zang Ba, Tao Qian's best military general, trying to spread rumors outside of Chai Sang. Hopefully this will make our conquest of Tao Qian even easier.
Ma Teng's group attacks Wu. I don't expect Tao Qian to send out anymore troops.
It also looks like Tao Qian is currently ill. There's a good chance he'll die soon and when he does, some of his officers may leave.
Hua Xiong and Gao Shun ride out to meet the first wave of Zhang Lu's army. Hua Xiong charges into Yang Ren, killing nearly 2,000 while Gao Shun and Guo Jia confuse Wu Ban.
Hua Xiong and Gao Shun continue to fight Zhang Lu's forces. Zhang Gu, the second wave of attacks, gets in range of attack.
Tao Qian sends Chen Deng with 7,000 troops towards our newly conquered city of Xiao Pei. Chen Deng is a good general and Xiao Pei only has 11,000 troops. However, the cities we delegated earlier are sending 6,000 reinforcements to Xiao Pei and Lu Bu is stationed there. This is a threat we can overcome.
It looks like this is it for Kong Zhou. Dong Zhuo sends 21,000 men, led by Xu Huang, to Kong Zhou's Ru Nan from Xu Chang. Xu Chang is still too heavily fortified to attack, but this might be the opportunity we need to take Ru Nan. After Dong Zhuo takes it from Kong Zhou, we could swoop in and grab it in its weakened state. I start reinforcing troops in neighboring Xin Ye.
We also hit the 200,000 troop mark. We now have only 10,000 less men than Dong Zhuo and that could very likely change after we take Ru Nan.
Dong Zhuo sends Zhang Liao to Wu Gate. I don't want to give it up so I send Huang Zhong, Xun You and Xu Zhu to deal with it. Maybe he'll want to settle this with a duel?
Liu Biao also sends up another unit from Xiang Yang. I send out Zhou Tai from Xin Ye to intercept him in the river.
Lu Bu and Du Ji leave Xiao Pei with a troop of 7,000 to counter Chen Deng. They deal tremendous damage. You can't see it in the picture, but Lei Bo's convoy unit is almost in Xiao Pei.
Gao Shun in Shang Yong captures Zhang Lu's brother, leaving Wu Ban's army of 1,700 units Zhang Lu's only remaining force left. Zhang Lu has left than 10,000 men in his only city.
Huang Zhong gets close enough to Zhang Liao to shoot fire arrows at him, dealing about 1,250 casualties.
Xun Yu hires Tao Qian's Zang Ba, the officer who was caught trying to incite a revolt in Chai Sang. Zang Ba is a pretty neat guy who spent most of his military career as a bandit. He joined Lu Bu for a brief period, but surrendered to Cao Cao after Lu Bu was defeated and remained largely autonomous for quite a while. He's a good cavalry general and fits well in our cavalry focus.
Xu Zhu challenges Zhang Liao to a duel and he accepts.
They start off trading blow for blow. Xu Zhu's war is 96 and Zhang Liao's is 93 - they're fairly evenly matched. Xun You is also in the unit and rides out to help. He'll get murdered if he stays for too long, but I'll let him take a few hits to build up spirit energy.
Shit! Zhang Liao immediately gains a full bar of spirit energy and does a second level spirit attack on Xun You, crippling him and greatly lowering his health. It's really hard to fight and take pictures at the same time!
Xu Zhu returns to the fight and stays in defense mode to build up spirit energy.
The fight goes pretty badly but Xu Zhu manages to build up 3 full spirit bars.
Instead of performing a musou attack, I unleash three mortal blows, one after the other. Each mortal blow only costs one spirit bar.
It doesn't defeat him and he immediately triggers a special attack.
Two of Zhang Liao's attacks miss but one hits. Xu Zhu immediately triggers his defense stance after Zhang Liao's flurry. He blocks two hits, which raises his spirit bar enough to perform a mortal blow.
The mortal blow hits! Xu Zhu is victorious!
But Zhang Liao wasn't captured after the duel. Lots of Zhang Liao's men desert and Huang Zhong follows up with an incineration attack.
In Shang Yong, Gao Shun finishes off Wu Ban and captures him. As long as Zhang Lu isn't defeated by Dong Zhuo, we probably won't face any troops from Han Zhong for a while now, giving us time to finish up development.
Lu Bu destroys Chen Deng's unit as he tries to flee back to Xia Pi. Development of Xiao Pei is nearly complete - we can begin drafting troops soon.
Huang Zhong shoots more fire arrows at Zhang Liao after Xun You and Xu Zhu confuse him. I also notice something about Xun You - all of his strategies only cost 1 willpower. That's crazy! If we combine him with an officer that has even higher intelligence, we might be able to make a strategist unit that can use tactics nonstop with a 100% success rate.
Huang Zhong shoots at Zhang Liao again and Xun You goes in for the kill, destroying the unit. Zhang Liao escapes once again. He must have a horse that prevents him from getting captured.
On the eastern front, Ma Chao finally captures Tao Qian's city of Wu. He takes Liu Yu, the warlord conquered by Yuan Shao in the opening months of the game, captive. This reduces Tao Qian to only 2 cities and about 50,000 troops, many of which are scattered all over an assortment of ports and bases he's captured. We'll really only be fighting half of that.
Tao Qian sends Ling Cao from Hui Ji to our newly conquered Wu in a desperate attempt to reclaim the city.
Zhou Tai and Qiao Rui shoot flaming arrows at Cai Mao south of Xin Ye. This is our first naval battle and Zhou Tai is doing very well.
Ma Chao and Ma Teng march out from Wu to deal with Ling Cao.
Liu Biao himself marches out from Xiang Yang to Xia Pi. He's a terrible military unit and he's making a big mistake. Cai Mao starts to retreat. Qiao Rui and Zhou Tai attack, but he has 100 units left and he'll probably make it back to Xiang Yang. In the east, Ma Teng and Ma Chao clash with Ling Cao, knocking him down to half strength before he can even attack.
My officers in Wan finally finish researching the horsebow cavalry tech, one of the best techs in the game. It allows cavalry units to fire bows at enemies from two hexes away and makes them that much more versatile. I also ransom back Zhang Gu to Zhang Lu for 1,600 gold.
The problems just keep adding up. Dong Zhuo sends troops out from Luo Yang to attack Wan Gate. Neither of them are good generals so they won't be too hard to deal with, but this seems like a good place to break for now.
Here's the current map of China. In the north, Yuan Shao is attacking Gongsun Zan's last city of Xiang Ping. The fighting is pretty brutal and there have been a lot of casualties on both sides, but Yuan Shao will probably win. Liu Bei and Pan Feng have fought to a stalemate, with neither side gaining anything. They've both lost tens of thousands of troops and made themselves vulnerable to Yuan Shao.
Dong Zhuo continues to attack Kong Zhou and he'll fall in a turn or two. I'd like to attack from Xin Ye if I can quickly finish off Liu Biao's attack.
Sun Jian has expanded to four cities, but we've blocked him off from taking anymore free cities. He'll start fighting Liu Biao soon. We'll need to take Xiang Yang, Liu Biao's biggest and most important city, soon or else Sun Jian will get it.
Tao Qian is on the verge of collapse, both in the north and the south. We will be able to beat him very easily. Jian Ye is a huge city with a lot of gold and troops and I'll need to start transferring them to Wu so I can take Hui Ji in the south quickly.
Also, for the first time we have more troops than Dong Zhuo, though it's only by a few thousand. We need to recruit more troops in Wan to push back at Wu Gate, but it's difficult because I'm running low on officers. I think the big goal for the next chapter will be to find more men.
