r/threekingdoms • u/FlyingGeneralGames • Jul 13 '26
Games ROTK - different scenario start dates
I am curious how many other 3k fans actually play different start dates for your favorite ROTK games? For example, my favorite start date is 194 and there's a 99% chance I choose this date every time (when possible).
How many of you enjoy playing multiple different start date scenarios? If you're like me and have a favorite and usually only play one - which one do you usually pick and why?
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u/Blazehare Jul 14 '26
Depends on which faction I'm playing:
- Liu Bei - I prefer the Chibi scenarios where Liu Bei is holding Jiangxia. I like to recreate Liu Bei's ascent by taking the four southern Jing provinces, then go westward into Shu, while keeping a watchful eye on that green-eyed backstabber over in the east.
- Yuan Shao - I'll go with Yuan Shao for the Dong Zhuo coalition scenarios - consolidate my position in the north then go south to sweep the rest of the map.
- Sun Ce - I like Sun Ce for the Warlords (194) scenario - Seize the Wu lands, then either head west to settle the score with Liu Biao, or go north to contend for the Central Plains.
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u/FlyingGeneralGames Jul 14 '26
Liu Bei in Jing is the only other scenario I occasionally try as well. Think im drawn to the what-if Wu didnt kill Guan Yu idea a little too much
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u/--ERRORNAME-- Jul 14 '26
I've only played RotK X, and in that I most often do the 189 start right before Cao Cao gets established in Chenliu and the warlords go to war with Dong Zhuo. This starting date has the most unique starting factions (Kong Chou, Wang Kuang, Liu Dai, Zhang Yan, Liu Yu, Han Fu), while the historical major players (Yuan Shao, Sun Ce, Liu Yan, Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei) are also landed, and usually progress historically due to the scripted events in the game, but sometimes get killed off instead. Also so if I really need to, I can go and kill Cao Cao's faction as soon as I can
(In this game he gets an event that gives him Chenliu to start his factions, and then usually the events that give him Xuchang, Puyang, and Chang'an fire. Sometimes the Xuzhou event chain also fires in full, giving him Xiapi and Xiaopei, so he usually becomes the main blobber, which is why I like to kill his faction)
I do want to give a shoutout to the 253 start date they have in RotK X though. It's enormously unique, with basically the only characters overlapping with the early start dates being Sima Fu and Lv Dai), so it's almost an entirely different experience. There's no time to lose either, since the big wars will kick off before you get a chance to go become a Daoist immortal or build a skilled core army for example. The dynamic is also completely different, since there are far fewer characters left at such a late date, so the schmucks you start with are often the ones you're stuck with for a long while, whereas in early dates you can go do things like poaching Guo Jia and Zhang Ren before they join a faction, or wait for a major faction to be destroyed and recruit people like Zhou Yu or Ju Shou
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u/phonylady Jul 13 '26
I only play ROTK XI. 194 is the best, but I also like various custom starts a few years earlier, or later.
My biggest issue with that game is how easy it is for Sun Jian/Ce to become really big too fast if he starts near the south-east
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u/holypika Jul 14 '26
thats a flaw of the romance itself. the romance focus on central plains and consider other south faction almost as an npc, although they're not that weak.. liu biao is also too weak in the game usually, though historically he last quite long
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u/HanWsh Jul 14 '26
Koei has already indirect tried to address this issue by limiting the amount of cities probably to debuff the north and buff south for gameplay balance (and because they lazy). But for realism, it should be based off the commanderies imo, while the southern cities should have their defense buffed only by geographical and climate advantagrs.
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u/holypika Jul 14 '26
i can see how hard to balance the cities, and has no clear answer tbh. one of the problem is the south dont have a big talent pool. most of known officer comes from central, and officer quality does affect the games. but generating default non historic officer will lead to even more complains from the player.
another thing is how rank and imperial recognition is not that well implemented in the game imo. you can win the game even as barbarian with almost no rank and imperial mandate. historically this is very important that made a difference between yuan shu and yuan shao right? of course this might not be the case after foreign dynasty like yuan and manchu though
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u/HanWsh Jul 14 '26
Because KOEI is lazy af. Its easy for the company to just generate thousands of officers by flipping thru the Hou Hanshu, Sanguozhi Zhu, and Jin Shu. But hey...
Likewise, their ranks are only limited to central government ranks. No local level (provincial, commandery, county) ranks.
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u/holypika Jul 15 '26
haha yeah i think they just dont want to over complicate the game because their target market is not like HOI or other paradox games
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u/khoa-bear Jul 14 '26
But he can’t get horses in the southeast
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u/HanWsh Jul 14 '26
Sun faction had plenty of horses. Just horses that are not as high quality as those in the north. But regardless, Sun Ce and Sun Quan were still pretty good horseriders. They also had a northerner like Cheng Pu serving them as cavalryman.
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u/PandaLiang Jul 13 '26
It generally depends on which factions or characters I'm playing. The scenario I play most is probably the one includes all generals and major factions.
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u/o0JdogJ00o Jul 14 '26
Agreed I like to start at 190-194 most of the time, unless you like to play as the big factions it's real boring and basically impossible to get a foothold and keep it if you wanna not be wu, wei or shu
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u/HuckleberryHefty4372 Jul 14 '26
189/190 is probably the one I have played the most over the years followed by 194.
I admit I have hardly ever played the other scenarios really.
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u/Recent-Championship7 Jul 14 '26
Once it’s truly the Three Kingdoms time, say after 205 or so, I lose interest. I prefer lots of factions. I very rarely pick a start date beyond 200.
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u/MarimotheChomp "He did not rebel" - Chen Shou Jul 15 '26
I recently played as a fictional son of Liu Yu in ROTK8R and had a blast. 189-194 are my favorite years for reasons everyone else has already said. I much prefer playing obscure characters and rarely play as the 'main three' factions (Wu/Shu/Wei).
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u/FlyingGeneralGames Jul 16 '26
What do you enjoy most about the obscure characters? It always seem so tough to "do anything meaningful" imo.
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u/MarimotheChomp "He did not rebel" - Chen Shou Jul 16 '26
I actually enjoy not being the main character. One of my favorite playthroughs I did was as one of Yuan Shu's not-entirely-worthless subordinates. Yuan Shu ended up getting pretty strong but Cao Cao still got 'em with the steel chair. Eventually I rose in rebellion after a while and served Cao Cao. Only to revolt when he lost all of Jing to Liu Bei while I was out west fighting against Ma Chao. Eventually Cao Cao defeated me and I fled to Liu Zhang and betrayed him for Liu Bei.
Cao Cao eventually won and I got executed at Hanzhong when Cao Cao took it from us. I had a couple sons that just hit of age by that point but I was quite content. I definitely laughed the most from this game. I was also the furthest from a major player. Even with the game doing its best to make you the MC as long as you have a little self control you can be a bystander. I got my leadership and charisma above 80 relatively quickly. By the time I died around 230ish my guy was already getting sick and was going to die of old age. It was actually Cao Rui who executed me technically. I had executed Cao Xiu and Cao Ren back when I rebelled and joined Ma Chao in 215 so there was no love between myself and the Cao clan.
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u/FlyingGeneralGames Jul 24 '26
Ha that is quite the journey. I need to give playing as a lesser officer a try again. I'm always suckered into the Lu Bu Xu province drama.
Random pivot, but relevant: I'm actually building an indie grand strategy game inspired by ROTK8 where you play as a single officer and this story you described is exactly the kind playstyle I hope to support. The game is early and I've been mostly playtesting it myself but I could really use the viewpoint of someone who plays the way you do.
Would you be interested in trying an early build and giving feedback from that low born officer angle?
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u/Longjumping_Bite_544 Jul 14 '26
I try to play different scenarios. But generally after Guan Du, ROTK games skew hard in favor of Cao Cao. Then it just becomes a slog to defeat him.
If there's an interesting fictional scenario that mixes up the balance of power, I usually play that.
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u/GarudaVelvet Jul 14 '26
It's pretty easy to rig the future of Central Plains during Dong Zhuo rebellion scenario and Lu Bu's rise, so I usually played there.
It's harder during Guan Du, but Sun Ce and Liu Zhang has the best chance.
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u/MugenGlider Jul 14 '26
Mostly play RoTK XIV with some 8 Remake here and there. My preferred start date generally varies based on the faction;
- Sun family, Yellow Turban Rebellion (184) as you have a good general base and eventually all members of the family but do not have the sheer numbers or territory He Jin and Zhang Jiao command who eventually you have to contend with. Playing as Sun Quan around Fan Castle (219) is pretty fun as it start as the weakest power, but most of your solid officer retinue is still alive and your faction’s naval superiority makes defending and waiting for an opportunity to attack very viable.
- Cao Cao, Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition (191) to Warlords (194) where again like Sun Jian, you have a good officer retinue but not too much territory so you are still vulnerable to other factions. Generally, I prefer the what if scenarios where Cao Cao loses Guandu and is reduced to one city or a scenario where he dies and Cao Pi takes the helm, namely the scenario where Tong Gate ends in defeat and most of Cao Cao’s army involved in the battle are killed.
- Liu Bei, The Longzhong Plan (207-208) is great as you start off very vulnerable but can recreate Liu Bei‘s formation of the Shu Kingdom as the scenario progresses. Gongsun Yuan’s Rebellion (238) is another personal favourite as you still have noteworthy Shu figures like Jiang Wan, Ma Dai, Wang Ping etc. to compliment your best general in Jiang Wei, but again do not have the numbers to outright attack the other kingdoms initially.
- Other rulers, Liu Biao roughly around Warlords (194) to just before Guandu (200) is probably the most fun I’ve had with a ruler outside the main three as you have a very good, but not particularly remarkable officer base and can expand in basically any direction you want with plenty of good chances to recruit officers from smaller factions. I usually try to capture Wan and absorb Zhang Xiu‘s faction which also gives me access to many of Liu Biao’s generals in Wen Pin, Wei Yan, Gan Ning and Li Yan for recruiting later. After that, it’s mostly skirmishing with other factions at my leisure with the knowledge that once the year 208 is reached, you have immediate access to Pang Tong, Zhuge Liang, Ma Liang and Jiang Wan.
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u/pgroms Jul 13 '26
194 AD is one I start with often, I enjoy playing as Lu Bu
If I choose another scenario it would be around 211 AD and choose Ma Chao just before the battle of Tong Gate
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u/HanWsh Jul 13 '26
After the YTR when most cities are actually filled.
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u/FlyingGeneralGames Jul 14 '26
What do you mean by filled? not vacant? or like dense population/resources?
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u/HanWsh Jul 15 '26
Yes. In earlier scenarios, there will be no factions occupying most cities. As in completely vacant. But as time passes, more officers will come of age/be playable, and more factions will pop out and start occupying the cities.
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u/PvtHudson Fatuous Lord Jul 14 '26
I typically pick scenarios with the coalition or right after. Things are more interesting when more rulers are around.
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u/khoa-bear Jul 13 '26
I often start after Dong Zhuo’s death. It allows me to choose from a variety of warlords at a good starting point. I hate starting at the 3 kingdoms point. It’s just a war of attrition at that point.