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Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires FAQ
Version: 0.8
Author: Wandrian Wvlf
Created: 06/26/06
Updated: 07/27/06
This FAQ is designed with the American PlayStation 2 version in mind. Most of
the information within this FAQ will apply to other versions although some
content differs.
This FAQ is only authorized for display at GameFAQs/GameSpot and their
affiliates, though linking to it is acceptable.
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Index
Search(Ctrl&F) for the number on the right to go directly to a section.
1-Section Overview                   01A
2-Frequently Asked Questions         02A
3-Updates                            03A
4-System                             04A
-Empire Mode                        04B
-Free Mode                          04C
-Archives                           04D
-Edit Mode                          04E
-Officers                           04F
-Weapons                            04G
-Items                              04H
-Policies                           04I
-Bases/Terrain/Morale               04J
-General Tips                       04K
-Special Battles                    04L
-Individual Stages                  04M
5-Checklists                         05A
6-Secrets & Miscellaneous            06A
-Easy Weapon Upgrades               06B
-Instant Edit Character Training    06C
-Get All Policies in 1 Game         06D
-Unlisted Attacks                   06E
-Have 40 Edit Characters            06F
-Policies Never Fail                06G
-Dirty Tricks                       06H
-My Save!                           06I
7-Credit & Links                     07A
-Contributions                      07B
-Links(English)                     07C
-Links(non-English)                 07D
-Links(official)                    07E
8-Contact Info                       08A
9-Copyright/Legal Info               09A
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01A      Section Overview
Section Overview: Brief summaries of each section in this FAQ.
FAQ: Some of the most Frequently-Asked Questions about the game and their
answers.
Updates: A list of updates and changes made in each.
System: Explanation of the game's very heart.
Checklists: Convenient lists designed to be printed out and checked off.
Secrets & Miscellaneous: All the goodies omitted from official sources.
Credit & Links: Credit to all contributors and links to useful sites.
Contact Info: How to contact the FAQ author.
Copyright/Legal Info: Inexorable evil.
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02A                       FAQ
Q: Why can't I get all the policies?
A: You don't have the appropriate officers in your army. Just hiring every
single regular officer will give you access to most policies, but you also
need to keep in mind which policies are suggested is slightly randomized and
also affected by other conditions. For greater detail on this, refer to the
System section or the Secrets & Miscellaneous section to find out how to
unlock every policy in 1 game.
Q: Are certain difficulty settings needed to unlock anything?
A: No. Contrary to what is usually the case in DW games, you can unlock
every single thing in the game on *ANY* difficulty setting.
Q: I've heard something special happens when a character gets 1000 K.O.s, is
this true?
A: Yes. If you score 1000 K.O.s in a single battle, you get a little medal
appearing next to a character's face in several menus and an extra item slot,
allowing you to equip six items at rank MAX! Also, if done in Empire Mode
you'll get a special scene where your character is congratulated(unless
the character is Ruler/Strategist/Commander; which cannot get the scene).
Q: How do I improve my weapons/why can't I use a better weapon?
A: First off, make sure you've equipped the weapon you want to use in the
pre-battle screen. If the weapon you want doesn't appear in any of the 4
slots, you need to unlock the weapons. Second and third weapons are unlocked
by increasing a smith to 100(level 2) and 200(level 3) respectively. Fourth
weapons are unlocked by increasing a smith to 300(level 4) and acquiring 500
K.O.'s in a single battle(Empire Mode only). Take note of what type of weapons
each smith affects. Bladesmith affects all soldiers using swords, Spearsmith
affects all soldiers with pole-type weapons, and Weaponsmith affects soldiers
using any other sort of weapon.
Q: Why can't I become Emperor?
A: The requirements for becoming Emperor are simply having a minimum of 16
territories, taking your good or evil rating to the maximum, and no other
ruler has become Emperor yet. Avoid using Rest or any policy that is the
opposite of the kind of Emperor you wish to be, they'll set your rating
slightly closer to neutral. Starting from neutral, 5 uses of each evil
policy will make you evil Emperor, but good emperor requires 5 extra uses
of Philanthropy(or *MANY* more of weaker good policies). Evil Emperor has
all the advantages with the only penalty being that the AI can use Local Aid
against you(which amounts to pretty much nothing). Good Emperor on the other
hand, has no major advantages. Sometimes a merchant will sell you a random
item for 500 gold(regardless of it's normal cost), Shui Jing will stalk you
until you've hired all regular officers that haven't been executed, and the
little uncontrollable annoyances(locusts, plagues, et cetera) won't last as
long normally. Defense volunteers will appear regardless of your good/evil
rating, but only on turns you use a good policy.
Q: What are defense volunteers and how do I get them?
A: Defense volunteers means a group of roughly 50 peasants will appear at
a random time in the battle and help fight off any force that invades their
home. However, these peasants are even weaker than privates and are of no
real significance in a battle. As well, it's possible for revolting peasants
to appear in aid of the invader(Local Aid) in addition to defense volunteers
in the same battle! Getting defense volunteers requires using a good policy
during a turn, contrary to popular belief your good or evil rating doesn't
factor into this: a single use of Governance assures you defense volunteers
even if you're evil Emperor!
Q: How do I tell how my good/evil rating is?
A: By which good/evil policies are in Assign. At neutral, you'll have
Governance, Charitable Aid, and Emergency Tax available. If you don't see
Charitable Aid, you're evil and if you see Release you're good. Also, when
your rating reaches far enough to either side your ruler will make a
comment about whether or not The People matter.
Q: How do I unlock all the endings/how do I unlock all scenes in Ending Edit?
A: Each of the first and last scenes is dependent on your status when the
game ends. There's a neutral, good Emperor, evil Emperor, and time limit
exceeded ending. Still working on the other scenes.
Q: How do I unlock more officers/what does "GET!" mean?
A: Unlock more officers by hiring them. Using policies is the most effective
way to get more officers, but don't forget about your officer limit. "GET!"
appears by any officer you've already unlocked in the menus of Empire Mode,
so try to hire officers that don't have it. There are 250 officers excluding
your custom-made ones, and they'll all appear in the game's Encyclopedia when
you're hired them at least once.
Q: Why don't I have any items/how can I get new items?
A: In Empire Mode, items must be produced one at a time. It's possible to
acquire multiple with the Despotism policy, but there's still the matter of
items disappearing after battle. Win or lose, 1 of every item you equip for
a battle will vanish afterwards. You can unlock more items using the policy
Development and acquiring more territories.
Q: I can't unlock all items. What's wrong?
A: Items for every territory are randomized in the Gathering of Heroes
scenario, except the 4 associated with trade policies. In one game there may
not be a single territory that produces Tortoise Amulet, while in another
it may be impossible to produce Dragon Arms normally. However...if you're
being evil, you can use the Rob Grave policy for a chance to get items you
can't produce; but items that can be upgraded will be fixed at 5 if you can't
produce them normally. There's also an infinitesimal chance that a trade
policy will net you an item you can't produce, but the chance is so low that
personally I think it's a waste of time to try.
Q: One of my officers suggested a trade policy and it said I had 10 items
in stock! How do ya like dem apples?
A: It's something very peculiar. If an officer suggests both a trade policy,
Production/Despotism, and they both increase the stock, from time to time the
message will say you have 10 in stock. But a quick look at your actual stock
will show you you only have 9, then if you equip the item in a battle your
stock will go down to 8...So you can't actually get 10 of any item.
Q: How can I unlock fourth weapons?
A: First of all, you must be playing in Empire Mode and have the smith
related to the weapon you want at level 4 or higher(300+). Now with your
level 4+ smith, get 500 kills and win the battle. After saving, you can use
your fourth weapon in Free Mode at any time and the requirements for once
again unlocking the weapon in Empire Mode loosen to only needing the level 4
smith and winning a battle.
Q: What do the unique scrolls available with level 5 smiths do? What difference
does the weight of a weapon make?
A: The scrolls affect your weapon's weight and it's base power(power before
stat bonuses), plus Evo scrolls enable Evolution attacks on third weapons.
Base power is really neligible, you won't see nearly as much of a a difference
between a base power of 1 or 40 as you would with/without an attack bonus
or weight. But if you're a bit of a perfectionist, 25 is sufficient and
anything over 30 is perfection, 35+ isn't worth the effort in the end
unless you pick one up accidentally.
The weight of a weapon affects a few things, which can totally alter the
performance of your officer.
Light weapons attack faster, deal less damage, have less delay on Charge
attacks, and any damage at all interrupts attacks.
Medium is the default weight for most weapons. All but a few attacks will
be able to interrupt your own and there are no real advantages or
disadvantages to be seen.
Heavy weapons attack slower, deal more damage, have an increased delay on
Charge attacks, are difficult to interrupt attacks from, and every bit of
damage adds further delay to an attack. Also reduces the use for Musou Armor,
as arrows cannot interrupt your attacks unless you're frozen or in the air.
Evolution attacks(or Evos) are a special kind of attack exclusive to third and
fourth weapons. When your Musou gauge is full, the last hit of your regular
combo is replaced with up to four more attacks that are very difficult to
interrupt and are treated as Charge attacks. The first two hits of an Evo are
a simple pair of swings, the third is a launcher that knocks enemies into the
air, and the last is an anti-crowd move that sends enemies flying away. Evos
can be ended short by not pressing the button any more(making for a perfect
opportunity for a counter!), cannot have elements, and don't consume any of
the Musou gauge.
It's possible to make a third weapon with better stats than a fourth, but
it isn't possible to gain the guaranteed Musou Rage token that fourths
provide(and ultimately makes them more powerful).
Q: What is Musou Rage and what is this about token/coins?
A: Musou Rage is a very special state you can enter temporarily to become
the ultimate killing machine. Your attacks are faster than if you were using
a light weapon, more powerful than if you were using a heavy weapon, you won't
stagger even when standing still unless hit by a strong attack, your Musou
gauge refills at the start, and you can use a True Musou instead of a normal
one. On the downside, you can only enter this state if you have picked up a
gold token, these are exceptionally rare(up there with Liu Chan) and you can
only keep 1 at a time. However, if you have a fourth weapon equipped one will
appear where your officer stands every 100 K.O.s; something not possible with
other weapons.
Q: How can I get better stats for my weapons?
A: There are two things that affect the quality of powerups you receive after
a battle. Difficulty setting and the Luck stat. For best results, Luck +20
on a weapon and a +20 Seven Star Sash while playing on the Hard difficulty is
recommended. Playing on Chaos would further increase the chances of getting
great powerups, but the inability to make an interim save and the absurd
difficulty make it less efficient in the long run.
Q: What can I get with a DW5 or DW5XL save?
A: All regular characters and artwork pictures 1-96 will be immediately
available, character costumes will be unlocked, and any edit characters you
made in DW5XL's Edit Mode will be transferred.
Q: What about a walkthrough?
A: It would be a waste of time due to the game's nature. The only way to beat
Empire Mode is to conquer every single territory, but since there is a
near-infinite number of possibilities for battles and the gameplay is
non-linear, a walkthrough isn't practical.
Q: Why don't the numbers between Japanese and American games match up?
A: It's something that dates back to 1997, when Sangoku Musou was being
brought out in America. When this was localized, they decided to change the
name to something more marketable...Dynasty Warriors! This was a pure
fighting game though, with only a few of the officers we've all come to know
and love/hate/not care about at that. Then some years later Koei decided to up
the ante and produce Shin Sangoku Musou for PS2, the archetype for the series.
But what kind of name could Koei USA use for this far superior game?
Apparently, just calling it "Super Dynasty Warriors" would be too lame(though
somehow no one's ever complained about SUPER Mario Bros :P) and they decided
to call it Dynasty Warriors 2, even though it was by no means a sequel. Since
then, Dynasty Warriors has always had a number higher than Shin Sangoku Musou
despite the fact that they're the same game and it's unlikely this will ever
change. But for quick reference:
Sangoku Musou=Dynasty Warriors
Shin Sangoku Musou=Dynasty Warriors 2
Shin Sangoku Musou 2=Dynasty Warriors 3
Shin Sangoku Musou 2 Mushouden=Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends
Shin Sangoku Musou 3=Dynasty Warriors 4
Shin Sangoku Musou 3 Mushouden=Dynasty Warriors 4 Xtreme Legends
Shin Sangoku Musou 3 Empires=Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires
Shin Sangoku Musou 4=Dynasty Warriors 5
Shin Sangoku Musou 4 Mushouden=Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends
Shin Sangoku Musou 4 Empires=Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires
Shin Sangoku Musou BB=Dynasty Warriors BB
Q: Why can't I find He Jin or Shui Jing/Sima Hui?
A: They're not normally playable. He Jin only appears in Empire Mode when
you win the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Shui Jing only pops up when you're being
a good Ruler and haven't hired every single regular officer yet. Sadly,
Shui Jing will continue to stalk you and pop up randomly until you either hire
every single regular officer that hasn't been executed or become evil. He Jin
has appeared in past games as a generic officer, but Shui Jing has never been
playable.
Q: What about Fu Xi and Nu Wa/how do I make them?
A: They're a pair of secret characters that only appeared in DW3/XL, named
after ancient gods. The Fu Xi character was a male in red armor that wielded
a very large sword and the Nu Wa character was a female in green that wielded
a small sword and shield. Their weapons and movesets have been preserved in
the character edits since DW4; although it's not fully possible to remake
them down the exact detail. Here are some stats to make your edit officers
resemble them though:
Fu Xi:
male
hair: 1
face: 1
height: 0(default)
width: -15(default)
head: Strategist Robe(red)
torso: Light Armor(red)
legs: Leather Jerkin(red)
motion: broadsword
Nu Wa:
female
hair: 5
face: 1
height: 0(default)
width: -15(default)
head: Sorceress Gown(green)
torso: Light Armor(green)
legs: Heavy Armor(green)
motion: rapier
Q: Did you know that so-and-so's name is wrong?
A; Yes, don't come preaching it to me since I had no hand in it. There are
some officer's whose names aren't entirely correct and other little things
for psychotic perfectionists to gripe about. If you want to complain about
it, do it to someone other than me.
Q: What's so special about YOUR save?
A: Well, it's a great shortcut if you don't mind spoiling the fun of unlocking
every single thing the hard way...For more info on it, check out the data of
it in the Secrets & Miscellaneous section. It's a killer!
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03A                  Updates
NEXT: Unlocking Empire Mode settings, Ending Edit scenes, and perhaps more...
07/27/06: Added checklists, the accidentally-omitted nasty policy combinations,
the Special Battles subsection, Individual Stages subsection, a few more FAQs,
My Save! subsection, and corrected a few things here and there. Version 0.8,
baby!
07/11/06: Majority of work completed. The most basic information that can be
realized with only a few minutes' play is omitted for the moment, to be added
in future updates. That information can be found in the manual :P
For now, the checklists have been omitted. Version 0.5
06/26/06: Began initial work.
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04A                  System
Here, I'll go into detail about the major aspects of the game.
04B            Empire Mode
The real meat of the game. One can always go to Free Mode to play battles, but
it's just not the same without being able to use policies to affect them!
Empire Mode is made up of 6 different scenarios, at first only Yellow Turban
Rebellion and Gathering of Heroes are available. The scenarios are:
-Yellow Turban Rebellion(184 A.D.)
-Dong Zhuo in Luo Yang(190 A.D.)
-Divided Land(195 A.D.)
-Battle of Guan Du(200 A.D.)
-Flames Over Chi Bi(208 A.D.)
-Gathering of Heroes(210 A.D.)
All except for Gathering of Heroes have the majority of territories with
pre-assigned forces controlling them and items in each territory fixed.
Choosing one of the pre-assigned will enable you to unlock pieces of artwork,
start with more than one territory, and all the first items in territories
with pre-assigned forces that can be upgraded start out at 20. If you don't
wish to choose a territory with a pre-assigned force you can start your own
with your edit officers or unlocked regular/generic officers; but you won't
be able to unlock as many pieces of artwork that way and won't get any items
that start out fully-upgraded. Later scenarios except Gathering of Heroes
have fewer officers available, as certain officers are dead at the
start(regardless of whether or not death is enabled).
Once you choose your scenario and force, you have several options to choose
from...if you've unlocked them.
Map: Always unlocked. Choose your map display settings. Pointless since you
can change them at the beginning of every single battle though...
Difficulty: Always unlocked. Choose between the 5 difficulty settings of
Novice, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Chaos. Higher settings give all AI-controlled
soldiers higher stats, more aggressiveness in and out of battle, increase the
odds of getting good powerups after a battle, and decreases your starting
gold.
Time Limit: On by default. When enabled, it will force the game to end after
50 years(200 turns) if you haven't conquered all territories. Also the only
way to get the fourth ending.
Edit Officers: Edit officers that haven't been assigned to a new force will
still appear in the game if enabled. If disabled, only ones assigned to new
forces will apear.
Annex: Set to Ruler by default. Ruler means if a capitol is taken the force is
destroyed and all their territories go to who took their capitol. If on
Isolate, that will not happen unless the Ruler cannot move to another
territory.
Officer Limit: The maximum number of officers for *YOUR* force, 50 by default.
Choices are 6, 20, 50, 100, or 150. Has no effect on AI-controlled forces.
Officer Death: Disabled by default. When enabled, captured officers may be
executed(with no ill effects to the force responsible) and eventually
officers will start dying of old age.
There are a few possible ways to end Empire Mode:
-you conquer all 25 territories(the only path to success!)
-the time limit(50 years) is exceeded(also unlocks an ending)
-your capitol or last territory is taken
-your last officer is executed
-you choose to surrender to another force
Every turn in Empire Mode takes place over an entire season of a year and is
divided up into three somewhat oddly-named phases. You can save during any of
them, although interim saves during battle aren't available on the Chaos
difficulty setting.
The number of orders(actions) available per turn is determined the highest
number of territories you've controlled in this game. Note that your maximum
number of orders and your Ruler's title will never go down, even if you
somehow have been pushed back to defending a single territory.
1: 1 territory
2: 2-3 territories
3: 4-9 territories
4: 10-15  territories
5: 16+ territories
Each territory has a fixed income you'll receive every turn, but you also get
more gold if your Ruler's title is higher. Get a higher title by acquiring
more territory! Interestingly, the AI has some difficulty in gaining titles
but if you let another force control 16 territories they may become Emperor
instead of you.
no title: Any Ruler with a single territory starts out without a title, they
may have some fiscal trouble until they start conquering.
Governor: For a Ruler that has controlled at least 2 territories.
Count: Rulers that have controlled 5 territories may gain this title.
Duke: 8 territories and a nice living wage for your Ruler.
King: 13 territories and likely enough gold to afford whatever you want,
assuming you don't believe it grows on trees :P
Emperor: 16 territories, a good or evil rating to the max, and no other Ruler
has been given the title yet. If you still have monetary issues once becoming
the recognized leader of all of China that even the gods approve of...wow.
Well, unless you're a good Emperor in which case that's completely
understandable.
Each phase of a turn has different things available in it. Also, before you
gain control again there are certain things that happen automatically:
Special Events: If playing in the Dong Zhuo in Luo Yang scenario, you may
see a certain historical event occur...In all scenarios except Gathering of
Heroes you may also get an invitation to a special battle.
Battle Results: You'll see who conquers whom and which territories switch
owners.
Death: All officers that are executed or die of old age will give their last
words, which are curiously always the same regardless of which way they die.
Don't worry about your officers dropping dead from old age too much, it
shouldn't happen until about 254...But from then on, some officers will die
every spring(the season of life that brings death...interesting!).
Defeat: If your force is somehow wiped out, your Ruler will give their regrets
for being unable to unite the land before you progress to the game over
screen.
Other forces' strategy phase: All other forces on the map get to implement
policies and station officers before you can do anything. If you're offered
an alliance and it isn't somehow inconvenient, I recommend accepting the
offer(it's their gold, not yours :D). If you're demanded to surrender, don't;
it's game over! The real bad thing about this is that if you wanted to hire
a certain officer that's loyal, it's possible another force will before you
even get to check on their availability...
Locust hordes: Territories glowing while you see the image have gold lost.
The more territories of a single force a locust horde is in, the more gold is
lost. Locust hordes may last several turns, spreading until they're suddenly
wiped out.
Plague: Troop count for all officers in affected areas drops by 20%. Plagues
may last several turns, spreading to nearby territories each turn. Plagues
will eventually run their course and end.
Flood: Defense of affected areas drops by 1 and affected areas cannot be
invaded on this turn. Usually confined to a handful of areas.
Earthquake: All affected areas have their defense lowered. Can affect
several areas at once.
Snowstorm: All effected areas cannot be invaded this turn. Only affects
northern territories, though on occasion nearly half the map. If all of your
territories are affected, I recommend taking this as an excuse for an extra
turn where enemies can't attack.
Reward from the Emperor: If you've controlled enough territories, you may be
granted a new title by the Emperor.
Commander/Strategist Suggestion: If you've repeatedly used an officer for
policy suggestions in Consult or used Delegate on them enough, they may be
suggested as your Commander or Strategist. You can only have 1 of each, no
officer may hold two titles.
Five Officers: After participating in enough battles, your 5 most-used
officers appear in a scene by your Ruler. There doesn't appear to be any sort
of benefit to this.
A true Dynasty Warrior: If you score 1000 K.O.s in a battle with an officer
that isn't a Ruler, Commander, or Strategist, they'll be congratulated by
your Ruler and show off those same talents...in the same dance that a Ruler
does when starting a game of Empire Mode. The officer you used for this feat
will gain an extra item slot and a 1000 K.O. medal that appears on certain
screens.
Imperial Coronation: If you've fulfilled the requirements, your Ruler,
Commander, Strategist, and 2 random officers will appear in the scene in which
your Ruler becomes Emperor.
Significance of The People: After several years of fighting, your Ruler
will suddenly comment on whether or not The People matter to them. A good
Ruler will care about their people, an evil Ruler will not.
Invitation to special battle: Under certain circumstances, you may be
invited to participate in a special battle. Special battles only allow you to
bring a single of your own officers into battle, but Point Increase is
always equipped(and sometimes another tactic). Winning a special battle will
have certain effects, either a defeated force will vanish and it's regular
officers executed/dismissed, or the force will become less aggressive for
some time. The requirements for each of the 5 special battles varies, it's
only possible to participate in up to 4 of them in one game.
Progress: After you do just so much conquering, from time to time you'll get
a scene with your Ruler and another officer on a horse commenting on how much
progress you've made. The comments are different in each scene, but are mostly
the same regardless of the officer making them.
SUCCESS!: Once you conquer all 25 territories and do what you want with the
officers in the last one you took, you'll skip the ordinary things and go to a
scene in which your Ruler comments on the successful unification of the land.
The two officers appearing beside your Ruler are pre-determined, if Zhao Yun
and Guan Yu are on your force they'll be the ones appearing beside your Ruler.
Now for when you do have control!
Strategy
Planning
Battle
The strategy phase is where you implement policies, station your officers, and
look at the various bits of information on your own force and that of others.
You can do any action as many times as you want, except for choosing policies.
The maximum amount of times you can choose a General's suggestions in Consult,
pick individual policies yourself in Assign, and the maximum number of
policies an officer you Delegate to can pick are determined by the most
territories you've ever controlled. Also note that each policy has it's own
cost, if you don't have enough gold you can't use a policy.
There are 7 functions you can use during the strategy phase.
Consult: Choose 2 policies suggested by one of your Generals. Both policies
are implemented, there isn't any way around this. Takes up 1 order.
Delegate: Allow any officer on your force to use as many policies as they
can. Takes up all remaining orders, officer will use as many policies as you
have orders remaining and your orders will be used up.
Assign: Pick from all unlocked policies yourself and use 1. Takes up 1 order.
Station: Move officers around your territories and/or move generic officers to
General or Lieutenant status. Officers placed in the column on the right will
be dismissed, remember to station them somewhere if you want to keep them!
Info: View various data on your own and other forces.
Forces: View fairly detailed data on any force. Press circle with a territory
selected to view it's Ruler, the Ruler's title, the smith levels for that
force, the total troop count for that force, and who their Commander and
Strategist are(if any).
Areas: View the defense, items, income, and units for an area. Press L1 and
R1 to switch between the two different views. The yellow bars represent troop
counts for units, a full bar in a brighter yellow means 20,000 troops.
Officers: View the rank, troop count, and stats for all your own officers.
Press L1 and R1 to switch between rank&troop count/stats, circle to view all
data for a single officer.
Weapons: View a full list of weapons you've unlocked for your own use this
game. Will only list fourth weapons you've unlocked for *YOUR* use,
AI-controlled soldiers will always use fourth weapons after you have an
appropriate smith at level 4 or 5.
Items: View your current stock of items.
Policies: View the list of policies you can currently use.
Tactics: View the list of Strategy/Special/Tactic policies you have in stock,
for use in battle.
Active: View which other features are active only for this turn;
Invite Attack(provoked force's name in parenthesis), Hard March, Request
reinforcements(ally name in parenthesis), Entice Enemy(officer ready to defect
in parenthesis) and Defense Volunteers.
Allies: View a list of your current allies and how many turns are left for
those alliances. Remember, your goal is to conquer the entire land. This means
eradicating former allies as well so don't get all merciful on them.
Save: Save your progress, overwriting one of your saves.
Proceed: Go to the planning phase now. Don't pick this until you've used up
all your orders, you could always pick some policy like Cause Revolt or
Promote Craft+ or others if you can't think of anything else you could do.
That's about all there is for the strategy phase.
The planning phase is a bit simpler. Your options are:
Invade: Invade an enemy territory with officers in one of your own territories
that has a line extending into it. Location of territories can be ignored if
Hard March is active, but allies cannot be invaded. Win the battle by taking
the enemy's main camp, or by defeating their Ruler if you're invading their
capitol. You lose if you're defeated, your main camp is taken, or time runs
out. Every 1000 troops in your invasion force costs 10 gold. Lastly, when an
invasion is successful all officers that were in the main force will be
relocated to the territory you invaded. Time limit is 30 minutes.
Defend: If one of your territories is being invaded, prevent it from being
taken by fighting for it! Only officers in or bordering a territory can defend
it, unless Hard March is active. Win the battle by taking the enemy's main
camp, defeating their Leader, or letting time run out. You lose if you're
defeated or your main camp is taken. Time limit is 15 minutes.
Joint Attack: Play as one of your own officers to act as reinforcements for
an ally's invasion. Any of your officers can be selected regardless of
where they are, you take command of your ally's force in battle. If the
invasion succeeds, you'll be rewarded with 3000-5000 gold. It is possible
to battle another ally this way. Win the battle by taking the enemy's main
camp, or by defeating their Ruler if you're invading their capitol. You lose
if you or your ally's Leader is defeated, your main camp is taken or time
runs out. Time limit is 30 minutes.
Help Ally: Play as one of your own officers to act as reinforcements for an
ally defending their own territory. Any of your officers can be selected
regardless of their position, you take command of your ally's force in battle.
If the enemy is successfully repulsed, you'll be rewarded with 3000-5000 gold.
It is possible to battle another ally this way. Win the battle by taking the
enemy's main camp, defeating their Leader, or letting time run out. You lose
if you/your ally's Lead is defeated or your main camp is taken. Time limit is
15 minutes.
Info: Same as during the strategy phase.
Save: Ditto.
Skip Battle: Don't participate in any battle this turn. The outcome of all
battles will depend on troop counts and the defense of territories. You'll
go straight to the strategy phase in the next turn by choosing this, unless
your force is wiped out in a battle you chose to ignore. Fortunately, you'll
be warned when one of your territories is being invaded if you choose this
without looking first.
If you choose Invade or Defend, you'll have to choose which officers to
send into battle.
Generals:
up to 3 at start(top slot is the one you play as)
1 reinforcement(negates allied reinforcement General)
Liutenants:
up to 3 at start
1 reinforcement(negates allied reinforcement Lieutenant)
If you choose Joint Attack or Help Ally, you'll only choose which officer of
your own to send as reinforcements.
For any territorial disputes you don't actively fight in, it comes down to
troops counts and the defense of a territory. Invaders have the advantage,
even if they're defeated the defense of a territory drops by 2 and the troop
counts for all units stationed there drop by 2000.
If you choose one of the first 4 options during the planning phase, you'll
proceed to the battle phase after choosing your officer(s)!
The battle phase is composed of three additional parts.
Pre-battle setup
THE BATTLE
Results
The pre-battle setup has the following options:
Preparations: Choose your officer's weapon and item(s) to equip. Only weapons
you have currently unlocked and items in your stock will be available; oddly
you can't borrow from an ally...
Conditions: View victory/defeat conditions for the battle. Note that even when
it isn't listed, taking the enemy's main camp will still bring victory except
in special battles.
Unit Info: View the troop counts, morale, and skills of officers in the
battle.
Tactics: Your equipped Strategy/Special/Tactic policies and your stock.
Empire Mode only.
Options: Change your tactical map display setting and choose the music for
your battle.
Start: GET IT ON!
During battle, your options aren't much different.
Personal: View the stats and equipment of the officer you're controlling.
Unit Info: View a list of all allied and enemy units currently on the
battlefield, including their troop counts, current morale, and skill. Skills
in black can still be used by the AI, skills in faded text cannot be used
until a new battle begins. Indivdual allies can be ordered around from this
menu as well for you micromanagement types(like me XD). If you have the policy
Scout Report equipped, you'll also be able to view the orders that enemy
officers have been given.
Tactics: View a list of equipped Strategy/Special/Tactic policies and
activate Tactic policies by pressing X on them. Tactic policies will have no
effect unless you activate them from this menu! Empire Mode only.
Battle Log: View a log of up to 60 messages that have been displayed on the
bottom of the screen during this battle.
Retreat: Forfeit the battle and run away in shame. A random number of your
allies will be captured as a result of this(even if they weren't before!) and
the battle results in a loss for the side you were on. Empire Mode only.
2P Exit: If two players are fighting, player 2 can exit the battle and leave
control of their officer to the AI.
Interim Save: Save your progress in the battle if any saves remain. The number
of interim saves you can make is determined by your difficulty setting. Novice
and Easy allow unlimited saves, Normal 3, Hard 1, and Chaos none. Won't appear
on the menu if you have no saves left.
Resume Battle: Go back to the battle.
After the battle ends, you go through a few more screens before you return to
the strategy phase.
Powerups: A wide variety of powerups will be acquired randomly, the number of
which is determined by how many bases you personally capture, allowing you to
get up to 12 powerups from a single battle. The powerups you can acquire are
gold(100), weapon attributes, Life up(+10/+20), Musou up(+10/+20),
Attack up(+1/+2/+4/+8), or Defense up(+1/+2/+4/+8). If you lose, you'll only
be given three powerups. Either way though, the quality of these powerups will
increase on higher difficulty settings and if you have a higher Luck stat.
Customize Weapon: If you used a first/second/third weapon in battle, you
likely also received attribute scrolls to customize it with. Your weapon can
have up to 5 different stat bonuses on it, no duplicates; using a scroll with
the same effect that your weapon already has will only lower/raise the
strength of that effect(except for weight and Evo scrolls).
Earned EXP: When a battle is won, all officers on your side that were meant
to participate have their EXP increased and their troop counts lowered on this
screen(according to their personal feats&your actions&troop losses). If a
battle is lost, only the officer you control will gain EXP and several
officers may be captured.
With that done, you'll return to the strategy phase...unless...GASP! You lose
your final territory/officer!
04C            Free Mode
Free Mode...for those moments you want to play without the fun of Empire Mode!
XD
But seriously, it's just a single play of a single stage without policies...
I ask you: where's the fun without betrayals, alliances, and burning everything
to cinders? The control! You can choose which officers the enemy side has as
well, where in Empire Mode you can't...not in the same way at least.
First off, you pick from a list of the 25 territories and up to 5 of the
special battles(must have cleared them in Empire Mode first). Your choices for
stage are:
Battle of Bei Ping
Battle of Ye
Battle of Jin Yang
Battle of Ping Yuan
Battle of Pu Yang
Battle of Luo Yang
Battle of Xia Pi
Battle of Xu Chang
Battle of Chang An
Battle of Tian Shui
Battle of Xi Liang
Battle of He Fei
Battle of Jian Ye
Battle of Chai Sang
Battle of Xiang Yang
Battle of Jiang Ling
Battle of Chang Sha
Battle of Wu Ling
Battle of Han Zhong
Battle of Yong An
Battle of Cheng Du
Battle of Nanman
Battle of Hui Ji
Battle of Jiao Zhi
Battle of Jian Ning
Yellow Turban Rebellion(special)
Battle of Hu Lao Gate(special)
Battle of Guan Du(special)
Battle of Chi Bi(special)
Battle of Yi Ling(special)
After choosing your territory, choose to invade or defend(or which force for
the special battles). This affects how much time you have to clear the stage,
except special stages are fixed at 30 minutes. Just like Empire Mode, the
defender wins if time runs out for a normal stage, invasions give you a half
hour, and defending gives you a quarter of an hour.
Once you've decided which side of the battle you're going to be on, it's time
to choose the other settings.
Difficulty: The difficulty setting, of course.
Conditions: This affects the troop counts for your allied units. Good gives
them a little more, normal is self-explanatory, and bad gives them a little
less. However, the revive count for both sides is fixed to 10 regardless
and the troop count is the same regardless of the rank of officers.
Experience: For crap's sake, choose yes! If you choose no, all officers will
be at rank 16, base stats, only a first weapon with default stats will be
usable, and you won't be able to equip items.
With those settings adjusted, you can now choose the officers for each
force. It's like Empire Mode in this regard as well, except you choose which
officers your enemy uses as well. Also, depending on the difficulty setting
and stage you choose reinforcement officers for one or even both sides may
appear at the beginning of the stage. In certain stages if you set the
difficulty high enough, reinforcements may never arrive(Xu Chang for example).
After those screens you go to the pre-battle screen of Free Mode...Which as it
turns out, is a lot like the one for Empire Mode. Gee, who would've guessed?
Fewer options though.
Preparation: Character, weapon, and items like before.
Conditions: Victory and defeat conditions once more.
Unit Info: A list of all the units that appear at the start of the battle.
Options: Map display and music choices, just like Empire Mode.
Start: Let the battle begin.
Once the battle begins, your options aren't very different either.
Equipment: Nothing changed.
Conditions: Ditto.
Unit Info: Just like it is in Empire Mode.
Battle Log: Likewise.
Interim Save: Nothing new here.
Resume Battle: Sensing a pattern yet? Just curious :P
04D            Archives
The Archives is where you can view different things from the game. Because I
already managed to delay finishing up the first version of the FAQ for such
a needlessly long amount of time, I've omitted the lists and requirements
for artwork. You can get most of the requirements from Greyfox's gallery FAQ
as well, so why not check that out for now? As for the Ending Edit...well, I
don't most of the requirements myself. I'll *TRY* to include them in the first
update as well but I can't make any promises about that. -_-
Officers: View all 48 regular officers from the game. You can view each of
their costumes(that you've unlocked), their weapons(that you've unlocked),
all of their attacks(except horseback), and listen to the majority of their
voice samples. Oddly, the lines they use during the strategy phase of Empire
Mode aren't listed, there are some leftover lines from DW5/W5XL, and the
Special "Character Voice" can't be heard outside of the Archives. That Special
voice sample can be unlocked simply by acquiring all four pieces of artwork
for an officer.
Troops: View all the generic officers and troops in the game, as well as their
attacks, voice samples(generic officers only), and view them in different
colors(except for some troops). Oddly includes troops that were otherwise
removed from this game, such as unique base guards and female troops. Also,
Juggernauts, Wood Oxen, stone soldiers, phantom trooops, and Destroyers don't
appear here.
Gallery: View the artwork and movies you've unlocked, as well as Ending Edit.
Different pieces of artwork have their own requirements to unlock, for now
just check out Greyfox's FAQ for most of the requirements. Ending Edit
appears once you've beaten Empire Mode. To unlock more scenes, play it
differently during Empire Mode. A list of scenes and requirements will
be added in an update(ideally the first :P). Every time you see a new scene
in your ending for Empire Mode and save, it's unlocked for the Ending Edit.
However, it's impossible to put generic or edit officers into your edited
ending(BOO!).
Weapons: View a full list of all weapons you've unlocked for use in Free
More. Includes all customization you've done to first/second/third weapons.
Items: View list of all three types of items you've unlocked for use in
Free Mode, what they've been upgraded to(when applicable), and what their
effect is.
Policies: View a full list of policies you've unlocked for use in
Empire Mode, including their costs and effects. (Production's cost is
unlisted because it's determined by what item you choose)
04E            Edit Mode
Aw...in this millennium, what game is complete without some form of a
character editor? Well, DW4 was...But thankfully DW5E borrows the editor from
DW5XL, which was actually decent! The only changes are that the background is
new, what was Clothing in DW5XL is now Appearance, and there are a handful of
unlisted stats that are determined randomly for your characters. First off, the
options everyone is familiar with. Only your character's clothing can be
changed after you save them and only half the clothing options aren't
available from the start(everything else is available when you start the
game even without a save). Of course you only get 10 slots for characters,
but that's better than nothing(or DW4's limit of 4!).
If you have a save from DW5XL before you make your DW5E save, you can import
your characters from it.
NOTE: Changes made here won't have any effect on Empire Mode saves. The
opposite is not entirely true though, see the Secrets & Miscellaneous
section for details ;)
Name: You can use any name you want(...even profane ones), as long as it's
no more than 10 characters long(meaning 10 letters/numbers/spaces). If you
don't enter a name, your character will be named "Default".
Gender: Choose male or female.
Face: Each gender has 10 different faces and 10 different hairstyles.
Body: Adjust a sliding scale for your officer's height and width. Default
height is 0, default width is -15.
Appearance: Choose your officer's clothing. Up to 6 choices for what to wear
on your head, 10 for your upper body, 10 for you lower body, and 6 different
colors for all clothing. Half of the options are initially locked without a
DW5XL save, they can be unlocked simply by clearing Empire Mode once. This is
the only thing about a character you can change after you save them.
Motion: Choose from 50 different motion&weapon combinations, including one for
every regular officer plus the broadsword and rapier(last remnants of DW3's
acclaimed Fu Xi and Nu Wa characters...which can be effectively remade with
the right combinations :P). In the end this is the most important aspect of
your character, it determines your starting stats and your hidden stats
(such as SPEED! Steer clear of folks like Xu Zhu or Xing Cai's motions unless
you know you'll have a horse for them or like running very slowly).
Voice: Choose from one of 3 voices for each gender.
Save: Exit the editor to return to your list of custom officers.
And annoyingly, there are no less than 4 unlisted stats that you have no
direct control over. These are determined at random when you create an
officer.
Skill: Which skill the officer can use, just like other officers.
Troop/Generic officer/Attack Color: Determines which color is used in
Empire Mode when the officer is a ruler. Blue, red, green, purple, white, or
yellow. It's impossible to have Nanman or Yellow Turban troops as default for
an edit officer.
AI orb: What element the officer's Charge attacks will have when controlled by
the AI. Doesn't apply to attacks with a fixed element(like Lu Bu's Charge 1).
Can only be fire, ice, shadow, or light and all have their advantages when an
allied officer is using them(or dangers when it's an enemy).
Policy suggestions: The three new policies the officer will suggest in Consult
or choose with Delegate. This only makes a difference when the officer is the
enemy or if you're playing a no experience game. If the officer is on the
enemy's force during a battle, they'll stick to policies they suggest if
their suggestions include 1-3 policies of the Strategy/Special/Tactic groups.
If they only suggest 1 or 0 policies from that group, they'll use another
officer's suggestions instead. During the strategy phase, the officer will
influence which policies are used by the force they're on(other than yours)
so you shouldn't be too surprised if some of your officers suddenly declare
their indepedence from you should your eidt officer on an enemy force
suggest Cause Revolt.
Personally, I don't recommend attempting to try to get more than one of these
unlisted stats because the probability of getting more than one
(let alone all!) to what you want...well, let's just say it'd take a really
long time to do and by the time you're finished you'll be bald from pulling
out all your hair in frustration.
After editing your officer(s), press triangle to exit. You'll be prompted to