05:52 Apr 04 2011
Times Read: 509
Not sure how well I'd do in an actual military engagement, but when it comes to Romance of the Three Kingdoms I am a strategic god. Or at least the best strategist out of all my friends.
A friend of mine who has ROTK 8 hosted a little 8 man tournament between himself and 7 of his friends, myself included. It started Friday at 4am and lasted till today - Sunday at 8 30ish pm with no breaks and no sleep and fuck was it fun!!!
The only problem was when we fought each other in the beginning. It was damn near impossible to strategize because one team would see where the other was with each turn shift. We ended up having to count off how many officers we used and pass the controller while looking away from the TV when we hit out last officer. Kinda a hassle but that's what happens.
I really took advantage of my characters ability to control the weather this time around. As well as my usual deceptive/betrayal tactics.
Because I'm still hyped up over this I'm gonna give a sped up play by play in phases. We used the scenario where all forces were on the map with all their officers.
The rules were: First one to unify China wins. Anyone in the army of the victor is in automatic second. If we all end up getting killed then the victor is the last one standing.
Start up:
-I formed a band at Lou Yang. The goal was to amass a shit load of money and train my skills while not drawing much attention to myself.
-Jon set up a territory in one of the neutral spots near Sun Jian with a bunch of cheat officers. The ones like Einstein and Paul Bunion. We didn't like it but he did own the game so we had to deal. I made it my personal mission to execute as many as I could through out the game.
-Jermaine (I spelled that right!) Took up the neutral territory right next to Jon just to be awkward. Jake (way too many "J" names) was an officer in Jermaine's force.
-Gabe went to Lieu Bei's army.
-Sharon and Jen went to Meng Huo for the elephants.
-Chad took the empty territory in the north west near Lieu Bei.
Phase 1:
-I spent the majority of the time training and recruiting officers. I didn't get anyone special but at least it wasn't just me. I used the officers and my strategic awesomeness to held He Jin hold out against Cao Cao's constant attacks on Lou Yang. At the end of this phase I trained all of my skills to the point where they go up only a few points per training, got the medicine skill, 30,000 gold and a wife. Though I still had no territory of my own yet.
-Jon beat Jermain and absorbed his force into his growing army. As well as capturing the remaining neutral territories and defeating Yuan Baihu (or what ever the hell his name is). He had Sun Jian's single territory surrounded and was using diplomacy to steal his officers.
-Gabe worked his way up the Shu ranks until he was Lieu Bei's advisor and then began a campaign east.
-Shannon and Jen formed a coup and took over Meng Hou's southern most territory and quickly captured the other two becuase of their poor supply count.
-Chad immediately used diplomacy to steal Lu Bu and Zhang Liao As well as a crud load of generic officers and started pushing north west.
Phase 2:
-Yuan Shao started building up territory in the north. I moved my band onto the Yellow Turban territory and helped them hold off an attack but did so in a way that the Yellow Turbans had hardly any troops. Then I seized power myself then usd my friendship with Cao Cao, He Jin and Jon to form a coalition against Yuan Shao. Our combined forced made quick work of Yuan Shao and I instantly had the largest force in the country.
-After the coalition Jon formed an alliance with me and together we chipped away at Cao Cao's defenses. In addition he forced Sun Jian to surrender, gaining his territory and his officers.
-Because Jon had the brunt of his army fighting Cao Cao, Jermain was able to stage a coup in the southern territory and take a good deal of the cheat adviser officers with him.
-Jake defected to Cao Cao's forces and started working his way up the ranks at Cao Cao's capital.
-Gabe conquered the central region, leaving 1 territory space between the rest of our forces. Then he focused on domestic issued and training. Taking 1st place in largest army.
-Shannon and Jen allied with Lieu Bei and started fortifying their cities while taking over that "1 territory gap" to the south.
-Chad took the territory gap at the north and forced his way east until capturing Lou Yang.
Phase 3:
-Jon and I crushed Jermain's rebellion. I used my character's control of the weather to make it rain heavily - limiting visibility - and sent my main force to rush the center of the map. While I was getting Jermain's attention, Jon snuck his force around the mountains and set up rams to attack the castle gate. The remainder of Jon's forces took out the few officers at the castle and then went sough to get Jermain's main force in a pincer-grip between our allied army. Jon captured Jermain and I captured all of the cheat officers. All prisoners were executed.
-Jake assaulted Jon's main army and did serious damage with fire attacks but his main force was too strong and pushed past anyway, capturing and recruiting a lot of Cao Cao's officers.
-Jen defected to Lieu Bei's army and worked up the ranks until she was governing one of Shu's more advanced souther territories. Shannon attacked the territory and Shannon allowed for herself as well as Guan Yu and Zhou Yun to be recruited into Shannon's force.
-Gabe re-captured the territory by making Guan Yu and Zhou Yun defect again but was unable to push further south due to Shannon and Chad forming an alliance, forcing in on Shu from north and south.
Phase 4:
-I seized Lou Yang from Chad and pushed for an all out assault on Jon's territory with Cao Cao, with Jake leading the attack. In the first battle I used the wind to slow down Jon's fleet while on the river and then unleashed a storm of arrows, capturing more cheat officers who were then executed. In the following battle I intentionally ruined my own ambush strategy and allowed Jake to be captured and subsequently executed by Jon.
-Because of my involvement in the attacks, Jon formed a coalition against me with Chad and Cao Cao. Their first few attacks failed to breach my castle defenses on any of my territories and I managed to convince Sima Yi to defect. On the 4th attack, I asked Jon to duel me "one on one like a man". Jon's character was stronger than mine so he easily killed over half my soldiers. Then I fell back towards the castle. Jon had officers waiting to flank but so did I. My officers used fire attacks to keep the coalition at bay. My main attack unit then circled Jon as he gave chase and captured him before retreating to the safety of the castle. I promised not to execute Jon if he disbanded the coalition. Since Jon is an honorable player, he promised and was free to go. I then turned my attention to Cao Cao and eliminated the remains of his forces.
-Chad and Shanon's forces split Shu between them, recruiting as many officers as they could, including Gabe and then merging both armies together into one massive force with Chad at the helm. Jon and I took over a few territories during the merger process but not enough to make a major impact.
Phase 5:
Jon and I formed an alliance out of fear and both sides prepared for battle.
Phase 6: Jon and I attacked the territory with the most mountains first. Mountains are heaven for archers and we expected the enemy to set up archer defense through out the area - which they did. I then used my magic to make it rain, which destroys the range and accuracy of archer units. Then we assaulted the castle with our cavalry down the quickest path. They moved their ground units to intercept us, then I changed the wind to blow at our backs and launched a fire attack right on their position, effectively forming a wall and doing massive damage to their forces. The archers eventually got in range of the cavalry but by then our spec-ops unit was already beating down the castle gates.
On the next battle I used the wind to expedite our naval fleet accrues the river and straight rush the castle.
I admittedly got captured on the following battle and in order to be released had to ally with Chad against Jon. So I did, but on the following battle I purposely led Shanon's unit into an ambush, getting her captured and then led various generic officers into traps Jon had set up, thanks to a little on-screen code he and I worked out on the spot. The alliance was broken after this. Jon sadly released Shanon without penalty.
The following battle was won by causing a peasant revolt, which led to them opening the gates for us.
On the next battle I used a combination of fire attacks to block off our main advance point. The enemy sent their forces to the edges of the level to defend the accessible paths. I made it rain, washing away the fire and then assaulted the castle before their main force could regroup.
Thanks to our constant victories, Jon and I were able to convince a lot of enemy officers to defect to our side, both standard defection and some during actual battle as part of my strategies.
Our next battle ended in failure due to a combination of enemy elephants and arbalists. Chad executed Yuan Shu who was in my force. But soon after, Yuan Shao assassinated Chad out of revenge and Shanon took over his forces. Gabe took this opportunity to stage a coup with many key officers of Shu in the northwest. Several other officers in the southern territories declared independence as well. Though those rebellions were quickly crushed thanks to Jen and her sick obsession for elephants, Gabe was proving trouble and this only helped Jon and I seize more territory.
During this time I had been building up my relationships with Jon's officers who were governing territories. Jon caught on and canceled our alliance. I then allied with Shannon and helped push Gabe back.
Gabe was injured in a hunting accident with one of his officers and in his weakened state was little match for Jen. I managed to get the finishing hit and captured him. After the battle I promised not to execute him if he served me, to which he agreed.
I then canceled my alliance with Shanon and Gabe used his relationship with the Shu officers to make them defect to my army. Shanon was captured in the process and executed, leaving her force in Jen's hands.
Jen managed to capture Guan Yu and Zhang Fe with arbalists along the river and recruited them back into her force.
I sent Gabe to govern one of my territories on Jon's border, causing Jon to divert resources to that base, which Gabe then raided to supplies. Jen attacked the base which the supplies came from, and I attacked Jen's forces at the far west.
Jon attacked Gabe's territory, capturing him and demanding a trade, Gabe for Zhuge Liang. I declined and Gabe joined Jon's forces. He then formed an alliance with Jen and launched a coordinated attack on my army.
I put Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang and myself in one battle and held back a joint attack with our combined talents. Jon retreated saying I was messing with the natural order of things and Jen's vanguard got annihilated through a combination of heavy rain, lightning followed by wind and fire.
Jon's next attack consisted of Zhao Yu, Zhang Jiao and himself against my strategist force. I let Jon's force beat me to and cross the river, making him think he had the upper hand, I then used Zhuge Liang as a decoy to make Jon hit a rock fall trap at the mountain side. I then hit Jon with a direct lightning attack and captured him, releasing him after the battle.
I use Zhuge Liang as a decoy again but this time have no traps near him. Instead of advancing, Jon pulls his archers onto the mountains. I make the wind blow toward them to reduce archer range from their angle and increase it with my archers who then destroy his forces. Jon retreats to regroup but hits a trap I had set up near the river and is then captured by my flanking units. He is again released. I copied the "seven hardships" thing Zhuge Liang really does, just to be an ass.
I use Zhuge as a decoy yet again and Jon rushes and captures him immediately. But while he was focusing on the capture I had my forces circle his entire advance team. They were destroyed, Zhuge was set free and Jon was captured and released.
Jen got tired of Jon's failings and broke the alliance, attacking him. Jon's force was easily beaten because he had no time to regroup. I took Jon's territory between them and forced Jon into an alliance. He could use the time to regroup but he wouldn't be getting any territory from our victories.
Gabe was leading Jon's force as we assaulted Jen's territory, one by one taking them for my kingdom. She put up a good fight but she had very few talented officers and in the end abandoned her kingdom. Some generic officer took over and was easily crushed with my main force. She formed a band right on the edge of Jon's territory to act as a mercenary.
Jon put everything he had into an assault on my main territory. Absolute strongest and smartest officers, with maxed troops with max equipment plus Jen's band against my force.
Phase six:
I used the wind to slow their advance across the river and set up my archers on the mountains. with the rest of my troops forming a wall near an ambush path, with traps on the other ambush path.
Many of their officers had the medicine skill and were haling themselves as my archers were firing into them. Jen used arbalists to open fire on my ground units, forcing us to retreat.
In an effort to divide Jon's forces, I moved to the front lines and managed to capture Zhou Yu while Jon was fighting one of my generics. Jon's cavalry gave chase, following me down the trap ridden path. Trying to cut me off, the cavalry ran ahead of me and right into two of my traps. My retreating ground units set a fire attack to keep Jen at bay an moved to capture them cavalry.
My surviving archers attacked their units while they were dowsing the fires but thanks to medicine didn't do much. My archers they retreated to the castle and held up there, while I healed them as best I could.
I then made it rain and moved some ground forces behind Jon's advance unit. I was close enough for Jon to see, and his force perused them, hitting a trap and getting encircled, and captured.
Jen set up her rams at the castle gate and tried to take the castle anyway, but was captured.
They all lost the will to play after that and agreed to merge their force with mine, making me China's new emperor!
Its amazing how much shit you can do in that game!!! Long ass journal entry too, but that just shows how fun it was!
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