Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV details Search, Royal Rank and Civil Service, Campaign, Duels, and other systems
Six new playable officers also introduced.
Koei Tecmo has released new information, screenshots, and the second developer diary for Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV, introducing Search, Royal Rank and Civil Service, Campaign, Duels, other systems, and a new set of confirmed playable officers.
By using “Search”, player may find free officers and specialties, and may also earn gold even if officers or specialties cannot be found.
Since recruiting numerous talented individuals before other forces can lead to conquering territories, players should take the initiative in executing searches.
Officers who possess the characters “Insightful” and “Recruiter” have advantages such as shortening the number of days required for search and employ, so assigning officers with these characters to search missions is vital.
—“Employ” found officers as retainers.
—Gifting discovered specialties to retainer officers enable various effects.
Royal Rank, Civil Service
By increasing the scale of the force, a ruler can raise their “Royal Rank”. When the “Royal Rank” increases, the abilities of the force expands such as being able to surround and conquer opponents, and designate the timing to activate optional tactics to troops.
In addition, rulers can appoint retainer officers a “Civil Service” according to their own Royal Rank. When an officer is appointed a civil service, the number of troops they can lead increases and some abilities will increase, but the stipend paid to the officer will also increase.
The stipend of an officer with a “Greedy” character will be doubled, but the stipend of an officer with an “Unselfish” character will be halved, so it is important to balance these costs against money obtained.
An officer’s civil service can be lowered, but the loyalty of that officer will also be lowered so be careful when managing civil services.
—The Royal Rank determines what civil services can be appointed.
—For the first time in the series, a civil rank dedicated to the Yellow Turbans is available.
■ Battle System
Campaign
When the scale of the force increases and the ruler’s Royal Rank reaches “Duke” or higher, the “Campaign” command can be executed.
“Campaign“ is a command that target district units to attack provinces, thereby deploying a large number of units simultaneously from multiple bases. In the latter half of the game, strategies are developed on a provincial scale, changing the thought process to larger scale unit operations.
Regular marches require a single order for each unit, whereas Campaigns can be executed with a single order for all units.
—The dynamic strategy of deploying a large army of district units at once at a province.
Duels
During battles, “Duels” may occur between the lead officers of units.
“Duels” proceed automatically in this game, and the officer with the most health remaining after 5 matches or reduces the opponent’s health to zero wins.
An officer defeated in duels may be wounded, captured, or killed, and the morale of the unit he leads will be greatly reduced. Since a unit is annihilated when its morale reaches zero, a duels defeat may lead to the annihilation of a unit.
Officers with the character “Heroic”, “Duelist”, and “Vigorous” are more likely to encounter duels, and officers with “Duelist” and “Vigorous” characters are advantageous in duels so officers with these character traits play an important role in battles.
—An intense duel between officers who both possess the “Duelist” character.
■ Other Systems
New Officer Creation
Create new officers, whether they are purely fictional or based on historical figures not appear in this game. From basic information such as name, abilities and facial features, to specific settings such as detailed and faces, to doctrine or policies, character, tactics, and formations, players can freely set the details.
—Player can freely create their own original officers.
Settings
For scenario settings, in addition to 3 difficulty levels, settings can be fine-tuned to turn on/off event activation, recovery of injured troops, disasters and length of life, which allows gameplay in various situations.
In settings, graphic quality for smoother visuals and volume settings of various elements can be customizes to suit the player’s gameplay environment.
—Scenarios can be set to preferred situations.
—In the Steam version, the resolution and graphical quality can be set according to PC specifications.
Tutorial
A tutorial that introduces the basic gameplay and game flow in an easy-to-understand manner.
Alongside sworn brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, players will learn the basics of the game through a tutorial-specific storyline.
—Arrows and instruction boards show players what to do.
■ Officers
Xu Huang
Officer of Wei. Served under Yang Feng but was convinced by Man Chong to submit to Cao Cao. His intelligence gave him a pivotal role in many battles. Wei’s subduer of the south.
Yue Jin
Distinguished officer under Cao Cao. Followed Cao Cao since he first raised his army, and participated in numerous battles. Praised as an equal of the famed warriors Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, Xu Huang, and Zhang He.
Zhou Tai
Officer of Wu. Submitted to Sun Ce with his fellow pirate Jian Qin. Rescued Sun Quan when Xuan Castle was attacked by bandits despite being badly injured. Slayed barbarian chief Sha Moke at the battle of Yiling.
Zhuge Ke
Minister of Wu. Oldest son of Zhuge Jin. Since his youth, loved by Sun Quan for his intelligence. Seized power as grand teacher after the death of Lu Xun, but lost popularity when defeated at Hefei. Assassinated by Sun Jun.
Huang Zhong
Officer of Shu. Served Liu Biao and Han Zuan. Under Han Zuan, led a fierce battle against Guan Yu. Submitted to Liu Bei and acted as leader of an army. Following the establishment of Shu, became one of the Five Tiger Generals.
Wei Yan
Officer of Shu. Joined Liu Bei after serving Liu Biao, where his skills were second only to the Five Tiger Generals. Following Zhuge Liang’s death, came into conflict with Yang Yi, and was cut down by Ma Dai according to Zhuge Liang’s posthumous orders.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV is due out for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam on January 16, 2020 in Japan and February 28 in North America and Europe.
Watch the developer diary below. View the screenshots at the gallery.
