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Sanguo’s Ambition 4: Three Kingdoms beginner’s guide

1K View2023-10-18

Sanguo’s Ambition 4: Three Kingdoms is a relatively hardcore real-time war strategy game. The overall pace of the game is much faster than that of general single-player strategy games. Many friends will inevitably encounter difficulties when they first come into contact with the game. This article is mainly to give a comprehensive and detailed introduction to friends who are new to this game, so let’s get started.

1. About game mode

The game mode in Sanguo’s Ambition 4: Three Kingdoms mainly involves matching with other players to compete, ultimately determining the power attribution that can unify the world. Each game has 8 players participating, and each will randomly assign their identity from the eight monarchs of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo, Liu Bei, Ma Teng, Meng Huo, Liu Yan, and Sun Jian.

After that, there is a 30-second preparation time to wait for the game to start.

Unlike conventional strategy games, we need to quickly determine strategic goals, recruit generals, recruit soldiers, and start external expansion as early as possible at the beginning of the game.

The current scenario of the game starts from January 189. Every 30 seconds is equivalent to one month. Before January 191, the player forces are in a state of peace and cannot attack each other. That is to say, between 189 and 191 years, it is a period of early player development and expansion without encountering strong resistance. Therefore, during this time, you should quickly develop your strategy and try to win a good start before 191 arrives.

2. About game resources

The game has five main types of resources, namely labor, copper coins, grain, technology points, and monarch level. The development of each item will bring different changes to the situation, so understanding the basic definition of resources will make you more powerful in the game.

Labor: Used for building construction, city commissioning, and recruiting generals, all of which will occupy labor. When the construction or recruitment is completed, the occupied labor will be returned. Labor mainly grows through the number of cities.

Grain: Used for troop expedition, combat consumption, strategic materials, when the grain is insufficient, the attributes of the troops in the battle will be greatly reduced, and the troops will not be able to expedition. Mainly obtained by building villages, automatically harvested once on the 1st of each month.

Technology points: Used for researching technology. Unlike labor, researching technology requires consuming technology points, which can be increased by building or upgrading government buildings. If the player loses the government, the corresponding technology points will be reduced. When the player’s technology points decrease, the technology points may become negative.

Monarch level: You can choose a policy to issue every time you level up. Building buildings in the city can gain monarch experience. The level cap is 33.

3. Regarding when to declare war on other powers.

In the game “Sanguo’s Ambition 4: Three Kingdoms”, attacking other powers is a decision that requires careful consideration. Declaring war too early can mean losing valuable development time and being dragged into an endless war by an opponent who will fight back fiercely. This can delay the economic and military development of your own power. However, if you can quickly eliminate your enemy, you will gain control of their cities and generals, which can significantly increase your early advantage and reduce potential threats from one direction.

Similarly, if you join the expansion competition too late, you may find that a behemoth has appeared next to you while you are carefully developing your territory. Perhaps you can rely on stronger technology and military to defeat your opponent, but it is more likely that you will be directly swallowed by the opponent’s army.

Strive to see the situation clearly and make the most advantageous choice for yourself. Forming an alliance to resist CaoCao is also an option.

4.About Policy Choices

The choice of policy accompanies a game throughout, from the initial policy choice at the start of the game to the major battles in the middle and late stages, policy is an indispensable factor for victory.

If you focus on speed push, you can choose policies such as increasing the reserve in the early stage and increasing the attack damage to the city wall to increase the pace of advancement.

If you focus on development, you can choose policies that increase labor, reduce delegation consumption, and increase the output of copper coins and grain, to enhance the advantages of city construction and economic development.

If you focus on the overall strategy, you can choose battle policies such as +1 decisive battle effect and increased troop damage. Layout the early, middle, and late stages to aim for a fatal blow to the opponent.

If you are a tech-focused player, you can choose policies such as halving the requirements for technology research, which can easily put you an era ahead of your opponents.

5.About the Choice of Technology Path

Many friends often forget about the development of technology during intense battles, but don’t forget that technology is the foundation of a strong country. Without the blessing of technology, even Guan Yu and Zhang Fei may not be able to shake the powerful troops of the enemy.

The choice of technology basically follows the same principle as policy. Pay attention to the troop type of your initial generals, choose a technology path that can exert force first, or focus on the economy and prioritize the technology that can harvest 5 times the money and grain, which can bring a qualitative leap in the early stage.

Because each game has different starting points, different generals, different opponents, and different tactics, the specific choice is still up to you. But always remember that technological development must keep up. Don’t forget to develop the rear while fighting.

6.About the Treatment of Prisoners

In the game “Romance of the Three Kingdoms 4”, prisoners are a key feature. They can not only harvest generals, but also become a weapon to hit the enemy’s confidence. As for how to choose, it can be said that there are pros and cons.

If the opponent has not been annihilated: At this time, prisoners can only choose to be beheaded or released. If they are beheaded, the general will die and will not appear in the current game. If they are released, the general will escape back to the opponent’s forces.

If it’s during the late-stage decisive battle, don’t hesitate to hit the opponent’s confidence. However, if it’s in the early or middle stages, and you’re sure you’re going to win, releasing high-quality generals back to the opponent and then recruiting them when the opponent is annihilated can also be a good strategy.

If the opponent has been annihilated: At this time, prisoners can be persuaded to surrender, but there will always be ‘loyal and righteous men’ who are unwilling to surrender. At this point, you will still face the problem of whether to release or execute them. If you release the prisoners, this general will appear in a certain city as a wild general in January of the second year. It may be your territory, or it may not be. If you execute them, this general will also disappear into the long river of history.

7.About the Planning of Troop Deployment and Formation

“Sanguo’s Ambition 4: Three Kingdoms” is a real-time strategy game. Battles only occur when troops reach the target city, and there will be no field battles when two armies meet. Therefore, if you simply group and march with one click, you may be kited by the opponent, turning it into a game of swapping cities until one side runs out of troops or food.

Before setting out, reserve enough troops for defense. The rear army serves as the front army, and the front army serves as the city defense army. This is the best strategy. The front army is stationed in the frontline city to prevent enemy raids, and the rear army is in a city adjacent to the frontline, directly sending troops to the enemy’s target city. This way, you can ensure that you won’t be kited and can advance steadily. Even if the rear army cannot break through the city, you have the initiative at this time. Whether you continue to send reinforcements to attack or stand still, you have already taken the upper hand. This tactic is called: Checkers Tactic.

In addition to this, there are many other corresponding tactics that you need to create in the game yourself~

8.About the Conditions for Proclaiming Oneself Emperor

In the game “Sanguo’s Ambition 4: Three Kingdoms”, there is an event of proclaiming oneself emperor. When the time reaches 200 years and the number of cities you own is greater than or equal to 30, the event of proclaiming oneself emperor will be triggered. After proclaiming oneself emperor, all cities will increase the reserve limit by 10,000. Moreover, when you initiate an attack, it comes with a decisive battle 1 effect. For each city you conquer, all cities adjacent to this city within 1 grid will actively surrender, including the defending generals in the city.

However, proclaiming oneself emperor is not without risk. If your capital falls after you proclaim yourself emperor, you will directly lose the game. Remember to defend your imperial capital well.

9.About When to Initiate a Decisive Battle

After the time comes to 196 AD, every 2 years in January, cities on the player’s border on the map will randomly refresh with cities in a decisive battle state.

Decisive Battle LV1: After a LV1 decisive battle city is taken down, all the cities and generals of that force within 1 grid distance connected to that city will surrender, excluding the generals in the decisive battle city.
Decisive Battle LV2: After a LV2 decisive battle city is taken down, all the cities and generals of that force within 2 grid distances connected to that city will surrender, excluding the generals in the decisive battle city.
Decisive Battle LV3: After a LV3 decisive battle city is taken down, all the cities and generals of that force within 3 grid distances connected to that city will surrender, excluding the generals in the decisive battle city.

The duration of the decisive battle city is 1 year. If it is taken down within 1 year, the effect of winning the decisive battle will be triggered. If it exceeds 1 year, the decisive battle state will be automatically cleared.

10.About the Choice of Whether to Delegate Cities

Many friends in the game have doubts about whether cities need to be delegated. Finally, let’s talk about this content. When a city is full of buildings, as long as there are generals stationed in the city, you can delegate this general to build the city, which requires 2 points of labor.

In the early stage when labor is insufficient, you need to leave 3 to 4 points of labor for construction and recruitment. My view is that the surplus labor should be delegated for construction as soon as possible. Delegated construction does not require the consumption of copper coins, but the construction time will be three times the normal construction time. When wars are raging and you have no time to take care of the rear, although it is three times the time, it may be the development brought by these delegated cities that can bring you a decisive advantage in the final victory.

The above is the novice guide for “Sanguo’s Ambition 4: Three Kingdoms”. Interested players can refer to this guide. Welcome to join the official Discord discussion: