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Romance of the Three Kingdoms X
A Guide by Greg Hartman
Contact: good_catholic_boy /at/ yahoo /dot/ com
aolim: goodcatholicboy9
Some caveats for contacting me:
-Please do not contact me if you are lame.
-If you are emailing me, please put something in the topic to indicate
that you are asking about this faq.  I am very wary of emails from
people I don't know (you should be also).  You may also feel free to
contact me via my im name, but I have found that I don't use instant
messanger nearly as much as I used to, so email is probably the surest way
to reach me.
-The only language I can speak with any degree of clarity is English.
Please, if you are contacting me, do so in English (although if you
require an answer that is only half-intelligible, German might work also).
Definitely do not bother emailing me in any other language; I won't even
respond.
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Version History
Version .5 (8/11/2005)
-first version - about halfway done with the 1st, unproofread version of
the guide.
-submitted to GameFAQs
Version .55 (8/13/05)
-finished the section on debates.
Version .75 (8/16/05)
-completed the section on the council
-added several frequent questions
Version .90 (8/25/05)
-completed the section on battles
-added an faq or two
Version 1.00 (8/30/05)
-completed the campaign section, only the appendices to go
-added some details in the officer interaction section
Version 1.01 (9/6/05)
-mostly a proofreading update, some minor additions
Version 1.02 (1/15/06)
-added a famous wives section
Version 1.03 (7/26/06)
-i reworked some writing at a critic's request.
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Table of Contents:
I. An Introductory Word
II. Starting a Game
III. Your Character
IV. The Town
V. Interacting with Other Officers
VI. The Council
VII. Battles and Units
VIII. Campaigns
IX. FAQs
X. Appendices
XI. Credits
XII. Legal
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I. Introduction
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 10, like many of the games before it in the
series, can be both frustrating and enjoyable to play.  I say frustrating
mainly because the Romance series has a tendency to throw so many things
at a player at once, whether it be a huge amount of officer names, menus,
or cities.  I intend this guide to be used as a means of becoming better
acquainted with the game without having to learn everything on the fly.
Unlike the game immediately preceding it, Romance 10 allows the player to
control a single officer throughout the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese
History.  There are many new additions since this style of gameplay was
last attempted by KOEI (Romance 8), and many, although not all, of these
aspects were done really well.  I'd recommend the game to anyone who has
really any interest at all in an rpg-styled strategy game.
Finally, I'd like to say a word about this guide in general.  Although the
game is technically a strategy game, some of the information given here
could be considered a spoiler, so be warned if you are reading this before
even picking up the game.  I don't plan on including any item, portrait,
etc lists in this guide in the near future, as these have already been
covered by other writers on this site.  Any other suggestions for
additions will be warmly received.
This guide is based on the American PS2 version of Romance 10.
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II.  Starting the Game
There are 9 different scenarios that are available to play.  The 9th,
which is the usual "everybody is alive at the same time" fictional
scenario is unlocked by completing a game as an officer serving the force
that eventually unites China.
Unlike previous games in the series, however, there are a large amount of
historical events that take place throughout the game to make the
scenarios flow together.  The scenarios are, in order:
1. February 184: "Revolt Awakens Heroric Ambitions" - The game opens with
the Yellow Turban rebellion breaking out and He Jin raising an army to
defeat them.  Liu Bei's force starts out as a rogue army in Ji, while
Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo, Liu Yan, and Ma Teng all have their own cities.  From
the standpoint of troop strength, however, no one comes close to matching
either the Yellow Turbans or He Jin.
2. September 189: "Dark Clouds over the Capital" - Here, Dong Zhuo has
seized the capital and rival lords have sprung up throughout the rest of
China in opposition.  When playing on historical, this scenario is very
event heavy, but there are many different forces to serve or command, so
there can still be a lot of variety.  This is generally my favorite
to play, although I think it is at its best with events turned off.
3. March 194: "Thunder Rolls from the Central Plains" - Relatively similar
to the prior scenario, the biggest single difference is that Dong Zhuo has
been murdered prior to this scenario and that Lu Bu and Sun Ce are rogue
armies.  With events enabled and barring your own interference, both will
quickly seize cities and establish their forces.  Both Cao Cao and Yuan
Shao are quite powerful, and Liu Bei is set to succeed Tao Quian.  Again,
like the scenario before it, this time period sees a great deal of parity
between the rulers.
4. June 200: "Two Powers Collide at Guan Du" - This scenario really is the
turning point in the game from relatively many weak rulers to relatively
few powerfuls ones.  Cao Cao and Yuan Shao both share a great deal of
power and are posed to strike at one another (to Yuan Shao's great
disadvantage, if you have events enabled), and Sun Ce has carved out a
little empire in Yangzhou.  Although Liu Bei has a couple cities under
his control, they are both weak and won't last long against Cao Cao's
powerful army, especially with events enabled.
5. May 207: "A Dragon Rises as Chi Bi Burns" - Probably one of the best
scenarios if playing to see animated events, as several occur quite early
in the scenario.  Cao Cao has conquered the entire north and has set his
eyes on Jingzhou.  Liu Bei meanwhile searches for an advisor that will
be able to lead his army against such a force, while Sun Quan debates
whether to oppose Cao Cao's army or submit to it.
6. July 217: "Tremors of War Shake Han Zhong" - This is really the first
"Three Kingdoms" proper scenario.  Liu Bei, having defeated Cao Cao at Chi
Bi, has since conquered Liu Zhang's territory and set his sights on the
north, while both Cao Cao and Sun Quan have their eye set on northern
Jing, defended by Guan Yu.
7. April 227: "A Struggle between Old Enemies" - The now obligatory
Zhuge Liang vs Sima Yi scenario.  Having lost the Jing province to Wu,
Shu's warlord now turns to the north in an attempt to capture the central
plains.  Sun Quan, although he has gained territory, is relatively equal
in power with where he was last scenario.
8. August 253: "The Lonely Legacy of the Dead" - The final historical
scenario sees Shu on the brink of disaster.  Zhuge Liang's successor,
Jiang Wei, makes his final attempts to push north to seize the central
plains while Shu whithers from within due to Liu Shan's poor rule.  Wei,
although strong militarily, also suffers from internal strife and is not
long for the world.
9. January 250: "Heroes Across Time" - The only fictional scenario in this
installment places every officer from the entire period into a single game
with unlimited lifespans.  The only way an officer will die is if he is
beheaded by another ruler.  A fun scenario, but also one that sees many
rulers unable to manage such large armies with little resources.  Cao Cao
is also difficult to defeat.
There are several ways you can choose to select your character.  The most
straightforward is to simply select the scenario you wish to play and then
pick an officer from that scenario.  Alternatively, you can answer a
series of questions and the game will suggest a character for you based
on your own personality.  Finally, the game has several important officers
prepackaged with scenarios from which you can select.
The final decisions to make are with regard to the games options.  Almost
all of these are self explanatory, so I'll only mention the really
important ones:
Difficulty (advanced or beginner) - On advanced, the AI controlled empires
are more aggressive, build armies more quickly, and generally slaughter
prefects you control.  The manual mentions that playing on advanced also
reduces revenue in your cities, but this is harder to notice.  It also
hides the loyalty ratings of enemy officers, which I think is a very
cool option.
Mode (historic or fictional) - Historical allows officers to behave as
they did in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, whereas fictional
randomizes AI control.  Playing with Historical mode on but events off
maintains historial relations between rulers and officers, but disables
events that would normally occur.
Events (on or off) - With this turned on, important events from the novel
that could not be duplicated with gameplay will occur if specific
conditions are met (for example, Tao Qian falling ill and leaving his
territory to Liu Bei).  This cannot be set to "On" if the game mode is
in fictional.  Leaving this enabled will result in Cao Cao dominating
many of the early scenarios (unless of course you interfere with the
events yourself).
? (Lifespan extensions on or off) - Enabling this command will lengthen
all the officers in the game's lifespans by a good amount.  This can be
unlocked by completing scenario 9 as an officer or ruler of the force
that unites China.
After confirming options, the game will begin.
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III.  Your character
Probably the most important part of the game is understanding your own
officer's abilities.  All of this information can be accessed any time
during the game by pressing circle and picking "self."  The information
is broken up into several different subcategories.  The following
information, however, is always present:
1. Your officer's portrait
2. The force which you serve, and, below it, the district to which you
report.  Every force is organized first into districts, ruled by
viceroys, and then into cities, ruled by prefects.  The first district
is always ruled by the sovereign of the force, and subsequent districts
can have any officer of class 2 or higher appointed to govern as
viceroy.  An individual officer reports first to his prefect, who
reports to the viceroy, who in turn reports to the ruler.  Of course,
every officer owes his allegiance first to the ruler.
3. Your officer's rank.  As I mentioned above, the ranks go in order from
vassal -> prefect -> viceroy -> ruler.  If your officer is free, he
will have no rank.
4. Your officer's class.  This is on a scale of 1-9, with 9 being the
lowest.  Class affects seasonal salary, with class 1 officers obviously
earning the most.  It also determines how many troops you can command in
the field, using the algorithm 11 - (class) = (number of units to
command).  Officers with rank 5 or higher can be promoted to prefect,
and officers with rank 2 or higher can be promoted to viceroy.
5. Your officer's deeds.  Deeds determine your class.  Your officer gains
deeds by satisfactorily performing duties, regardless of whether he is
a vassal or a viceroy.  The better you are at completing your duties,
the more deeds you will gain when you report your successes.  The max
is 60000.
The following is listed when you select the corresponding box from the
top of the screen:
1. Abilities (all abilities are from 1-100, before the application of
any special items.)
A. LDR - How well an officer leads troops in the fields.  Among
the most important of the stats, leadership primarily determines how
effective your troops are in the field, whether it be in a regular
battle or a campaign.  It also affects the drill and order commands
in your city.
B. WAR - How well an officer can fight/how strong he is.  Helps the most
in duels, but also effects how well you can repair the city gates.
The manual claims this also affects how often you are injured in
battle, but I haven't noticed a very strong correlation there.  If
you can avoid duels (which is actually pretty difficult), this stat
is not as critical as you might expect.
c. INT - Arguably the most important stat. The higher your INT,
the more commands you get when debating, the less susceptible your
character is to tactics in battle, and the more often your own
tactics succeed. It also effects your action points in battle, as
well as how well you can use the diplomacy commands and improve
technology in your city.
d. POL - Probably the least important stat.  Political ability affects
how well an officer develops the farmland or marketplace.
e. CHR - How well an officer interacts with other officers.  This
ability affects many of the non-battle tactics, as well as the
diplomacy commands.  It also affects your ability to debate and
improves your chances of building a friendship with another officer.
f. LDR exp - Your experience in Leadership.  Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer.  Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
g. WAR exp - Your experience in War.  Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer.  Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
h. INT exp - Your experience in Intelligence. Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer.  Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
i. POL exp - Your experience in Politics.  Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer.  Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
j. CHR exp - Your experience in Charisma.  Raises by training at a
school or by being instructed by another officer.  Gaining 100
experience causes your stat to raise by one point.
k. Health - Your officer's health.  Decreases from Good -> Weakened ->
Struggling -> Dying -> (officer dies).  As your health decreases,
your abilities lower.  Unless your officer is very old, he will
eventually recover from injuries; otherwise he will die.  Your
officer can treat injuries at a city with an Infirmary or with the
doctor skill.
2. Skills - Skills are divided into 6 Categories: Domestics, Battle,
Tactics, Duel, Debate, and Renown.  A skill that is highlighted is
a skill your officer currently has; a skill that has its name outlined
in blue is a skill your officer has the ability to learn.
Since there are so many skills, I'll use the following format to
describe them:
NAME: (Name of the skill)
EFFECT: (What the skill allows you to do)
LEARNED: (How you learned the skill)
RATING: (is the skill worth learning)
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Domestic Skills
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NAME: Farm
EFFECT: Allows your character to work at the farms for up to 50 days at a
a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve farmland.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 farm experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time.  Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Trade
EFFECT: Allows your character to trade for up to 50 days at a time,
theoretically increasing his ability to improve trade.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 trade experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time.  Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Tech
EFFECT:  Allows your character to work at the blacksmith for up to 50 days
at a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve the city's
tech rating.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 tech experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time.  Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Repair
EFFECT: Allows your character to repair the gate for up to 50 days
at a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve the city's
defense rating.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 repair experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time.  Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
NAME: Order
EFFECT: Allows your character to raise the city's order for up to 50 days
at a time, theoretically increasing his ability to improve the city's
order.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 order experience, befriend an officer who has the
skill, ask him to teach you about politics, and he may teach you the skill.
Cai Yan, the poetess, also teaches the Domestic skills if you build up
your relation with her and have the experience.
RATING: Crap. There is never a reason to develop for more than 10 days at
a time.  Just do the task for ten days, report to your prefect, then get
more money and repeat.
*Note that although these skills are essentially worthless for your
character, if you are a prefect they are quite useful for your
subordinates.  When the computer simulates how well an officer does a
task, having the correct domestic ability greatly improves his success.
NAME: Hire
EFFECT: Hired soldiers come with 50 experience and 50 morale, instead of
30.
LEARNED: Acquire 100 each of Foot, Horse, and Bow units experience,
befriend an officer who has the skill, ask him to teach you about
politics, and he may teach you the skill. Cai Yan, the poetess, also
teaches the Domestic skills if you build up your relation with her and
have the experience.
RATING: Pretty useful, especially if you need to supplement units with
high experience ratings but maintain a high skill level.
NAME: Drill
EFFECT: Training units raises morale and experience above 100.
LEARNED: Acquire 200 each of Foot, Horse, and Bow units experience,
befriend an officer who has the skill, ask him to teach you about
politics, and he may teach you the skill. Cai Yan, the poetess, also
teaches the Domestic skills if you build up your relation with her and
have the experience.
RATING: Well, it's the only way to raise experience and morale above 100
besides fighting in a battle, so it's pretty valuable.
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Battle Skills
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NAME: Charge
EFFECT: Allows your officer to use the charge tactic in battle. Charging
the enemy will sometimes push them back a square (common), sometimes
confuse them (rarely), and sometimes force a duel (almost never).  It
always raises your unit's morale and lowers the morale of the target.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 Horse experience and ask a friend to teach you. Huang
Cheng Yan also teaches these skills.
RATING: Charge is somewhat useful, but really doesn't do much more damage
than a regular attack and takes more action points to use.  Still, this
skill is worth learning.
NAME: Missle
EFFECT: Allows your unit to shoot fire arrows in battle.  Fire arrows do
more damage than regular arrows and have a reasonable chance of setting
the target terrain on fire, causing additional damage.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 bow experience and learn it from another officer.
Huang Cheng Yan also teaches it.
RATING: Among the best skills in the game.  Fire arrows are very powerful,
as are the flames they cause.
NAME: Unison
EFFECT: Allows your unit to bring other allied units when attacking an
enemy unit.  The assisting unit will take no damage.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 foot experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Better than charge.  Unison attacks are worth the action points
they require.  This is one of the better battle skills.
NAME: Settle
EFFECT: Allows your unit to calm a unit that is confused or agitated.
In a campaign, it allows you to use "calm," which does the same thing.
LEARNED: Take part in 5 battles and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Useful in some situations, but hardly essential.  Most units rally
themselves fairly quickly without going out of your way to rescue them with
this tactic.  It's really easy to meet the learning requirements though, so
it's one you're likely to get just by playing anyway.
NAME: Surprise
EFFECT: Allows your unit to attack a unit anywhere on the battlefield,
but only during inclement weather.  In a campaign, it allows you to use
"raid," which does essentially the same thing.
LEARNED: Win 20 battles and learn it from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Not really worth learning.  In a regular battle, the tactic really
only works on a unit that is confused or agitated; otherwise you will
suffer some relatively high casualties.  I've never seen it work in a
campaign.
NAME: Rally
EFFECT: Allows your unit to rally an adjacent unit and raise their morale.
In a campaign it allows you to use "encourage," which does essentially
the same thing.
LEARNED: Fight in 10 battles and learn it from another officer or Huang
Cheng Yan.
RATING: Effective and easy to learn.  If you use it several times in a row
you can really have a big effect on your unit's morale.
NAME: Distract
EFFECT: Allows your unit to use the 'sneak' command in battle and the
'distract' command in a campaign.  I've not had much experience with the
campaign tactic, as I've never seen it work.  Sneak prevents your unit
from being ambushed and ignores zone of control rules.
LEARNED: 10 victories in battle.
RATING: Sneaking is only worth the huge points cost if you absolutely need
to be in a particular spot at a particular time.  This situation rarely
arises.  You won't use this tactic very much.
------------
Tactics
------------
NAME: Blunder
EFFECT: Use in battle to trick two adjacent enemy units to attack one
another.
LEARNED: Gain 200 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Among the best skills in the game, especially when defending.
Blunder does a huge amount of damage on both units and you can use it
several times per turn.  It really is a must have skill.
NAME: Stun
EFFECT: Allows you to use the scare tactic in battle, which delays an
enemy unit's turn and lowers their morale.  The "stun" battle skill does
the same thing in a campaign.
LEARNED: Gain 300 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Although the computer loves to use the scare tactic in battle, it
is not terribly effective.  It uses many action points, so you are
essentially wasting half your turn for the chance to delay your opponents.
There are some instances where it is useful, but not too many.
NAME: Entice
EFFECT: In battle, entice agitates an enemy unit so the commander
disobeys all orders and beelines for the commander that taunted him. It
also makes his unit very vulnerable to the confuse tactic.  A taunted
commander will usually accept an offer to duel.  This skill also allows
the lure tactic in campaigns, which does essentially the same thing, but
works less often.
LEARNED: Gain 400 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: If you happen to be playing as an officer that has high WAR and
high INT, this skill is among the best.  Entice, confuse, duel; or even
entice, duel - both are very effective, assuming of course you win the
duel.  Even if you do not have a high war officer, it is useful to use
this tactic often because it makes the enemy unit vulnerable to other
tactics as well.  This is one of the better skills.
NAME: Confuse
EFFECT: Allows you to confuse the enemy troop in battle, which prevents
them from moving or acting.  The unit will remain that way until it is
either settled by another enemy unit or until the commander regains
control, which usually takes a few days.  During this time the commander
will be very likely to accept a duel. It also lets you use 'discourage'
in a campaign, which, like all campaign commands, almost never works.
LEARNED: Gain 500 tactics experience and learn it from another officer or
Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: A pretty good tactic, but hardly an essential one.  Unless you
have very high INT and the enemy unit is has pretty low INT, this will
rarely work unless his unit is already enticed.  It also uses a lot of
action points to use.  When it works though you are likely to crush the
enemy unit before he can pull it back together.
NAME: Aero
EFFECT: Allows your officer to control the weather and wind.
LEARNED: Gain 600 tactics experience and 400 tech experience and learn it
from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Fairly useful. If you don't mind exploiting the AI, change the
weather to fog and move a ram next to their gate and you can level it
quickly.  You can also use it to set fires when defending, then change the
wind to point towards the enemy.  This is also one of the few ways to
gain wizadry experience without performing a request at the tavern.
NAME: Geomancy
EFFECT: Allows your officer to use the terrain to his advantage in battle
(ie the "pit" and "boulder" commands).  When carrying out search requests
at the tavern, this command reveals the location of the treasure, bandit,
etc for which you are searching when you move the cursor over it.
LEARNED: Gain 600 tactics experience and 400 inspect experience and learn
it from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Among the best tactics in the game.  Pit and boulder are both
excellent tactics to use against enemies, and the ability to quickly find
your goal in searches will save you plenty of frustration and time.
NAME: Maze
EFFECT: Build mazes during campaigns or by marching to a base.  Mazes
confuse enemy units that approach them.
LEARNED: Gain 700 tactics and 400 repair experience and learn it from
another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Not very good. I usually build camps, forts, etc instead of mazes.
-------------
Duel Commands
-------------
NAME: Recover
EFFECT: Use 3 evades to gain health in a duel.
LEARNED: Fight in 5 duels and learn from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Probably the worst duel skill.  Evades are more useful for, well,
evading powerful attacks.
NAME: Shout
EFFECT: Use 3 slices to gain musou in a duel.
LEARNED: Fight in 15 duels and learn from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Pretty decent, but only because it trumps all other duel skills.
NAME: Scare
EFFECT: Use 3 slashes to gain musuo and deplete your opponent's in a duel.
LEARNED: Fight in 30 duels and learn from an officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Slightly better than shout.
NAME: Crush
EFFECT: Use three stabs to hit your opponent pretty hard.
LEARNED: Win 10 duels and learn from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Pretty good, but gets trumped by any other duel special besides
the generic skills.
NAME: Maul
EFFECT: Use 3 strikes to inflict a ton of damage on your opponent.
LEARNED: Win 30 duels and learn from another officer or Huang Cheng Yan.
RATING: Better than Crush, but still trumped by almost anything.
NAME: Parry
EFFECT: Use 3 swings to counter your opponent's attacks for a round.
LEARNED: Win 10 duels in a row and learn from another officer or Huang
Cheng Yan.
RATING: The second best duel skill.  Trumps everying besides the shout and
scare tactics, and will destroy someone that uses maul or crush on you.
NAME: Counter
EFFECT: Use 3 swipes to strongly counter your opponent's attacks for a
round.
LEARNED: Win 30 duels in a row and learn from another officer or Huang
Cheng Yan.
RATING: The best duel skill, but a hard one to learn.  Will mutilate
anyone that thinks about using any attack special on you.
-------------
Debate Skills
-------------
NAME: Awe
EFFECT: Damages the enemy in a debate every turn it is on the board.
LEARNED: Take place in 15 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: A pretty decent debate skill, especially if you know your opponent
is likely to use incite, since even if he uses it and you won't be able to
act, you will still be doing some damage while you wait.
NAME: Plead
EFFECT: Prevents the enemy from using an attack command in a debate when
held in your hand.  If you use it as a regular command it will disarm
your opponent's plead/refute cards.
LEARNED: Win 10 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Also good, especially if your opponent has a lot of attack
commands.
NAME: Fault
EFFECT: An attack command that trumps all regular commands.
LEARNED: Take place in 5 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Relatively useful, but hardly the best command in debates.
NAME: Argue
EFFECT: A stronger version of fault.
LEARNED: Take place in 30 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Slightly better than fault.
NAME: Refute
EFFECT: Counters an enemy's attack command in a debate when held in your
hand.  Disarms the enemy's refute commands when used as a regular card.
LEARNED: Win 30 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: If it isn't the best debate skill, it is pretty close.  If your
opponent uses a very strong attack skill and you're holding this card
you will likely defeat him immediately.
NAME: Incite
EFFECT: Trumps argue/fault and makes your opponent inactive for 2 turns.
LEARNED: Win 10 debates and learn it from another officer.
RATING: Among the best debate skills, unless of course your opponent has
a refute card.  Generally with 2 free hits on your opponent you can do
some serious damage.
NAME: Taunt
EFFECT: Trumps every other command, makes your opponent inactive for 2
turns, and inflicts strong damage in a debate.
LEARNED: Win 30 straight debates (no easy task) and then defeat either
Zuo Ci or Mi Heng in a debate (also not easy). Zuo Ci frequents the Ba-
Shu area, while Mi Heng tends to stick to the Qingzhou area.
RATING: The only card that comes close to matching it is refute, and
that's because refute could potentially turn an opponent's taunt right
back on them.  Generally, one use of this bad boy will mean disaster for
your opponent, unless they refute it in your face.
-------------
Renown Skills
-------------
NAME: Warlord
EFFECT: Allows your officer to use the agitate and destroy tactics against
an enemy city, regardless of your rank and current orders.  Allows you to
use the direct command in battle, which allows you to control another unit
out of turn.  A subordinate who has this skill will offer you advice
during the council if you are a prefect.
LEARNED: Automatically learned if you have 70 Intelligence and 700 tactics
experience.
RATING: Well, most of the renown skills are good, and warlord is no
exception.  The direct command is very powerful, and it's always nice to
be able to freely destroy a neighboring city.
NAME: Hero
EFFECT: Private units are free, since any peon would willingly die for
such a charismatic leader.  As a vassal, you can freely recruit any free
officer you see, regardless of your orders.  As a rogue army, you can
simply persuade a vacant city rather than besiege it. When entering a
hostile city, you can challenge the guard to a debate rather than dueling
him.
LEARNED: Earn 700 fame and then build up a relationship with Qiao Xuan or
Xu Shao and they will teach you the skill.
RATING: A must have skill, especially for an officer with very low war
ability, since it will save you plenty of money bribing guards who would
wipe the floor with you in a duel. It's also very useful not to have to
be ordered to recruit someone as a vassal.  One of the best skills.
NAME: Admiral
EFFECT: Your officer is a better fighter on water, cannot be swept away by
the current, and has double mobility when commanding any naval unit.
LEARNED: Automatically learned when you achieve 500 naval experience.
RATING: Hardly the best renown skill, but very useful if you are fighting
in the south.
NAME: Spy
EFFECT: Your officer leaves a permanent spy in any city he surveys.  Also
allows your officer to attempt to sneak into an enemy city or escape
capture from a bandit.
LEARNED: Automatically learned when you achieve 700 inspect experience.
RATING: Very good skill if you routinely are forced to investigate cities
yourself.  If you are playing as a prefect, however, it is much easier
just to send a subordinate with the skill to do your surveying for you.
Interestingly, if you have the SPY command and a friend gives you
information about an enemy city the game assumes that you have planted a
spy there and the information will be permanent.
NAME: Host
EFFECT: Allows the use of the banquet command in the tavern.  Banquets
raise friendship with all the officers who attend by a good deal, but cost
money and take 10 days.
LEARNED: Automatically learned when you achieve 200 drinking experience.
RATING: Not bad, but hardly an essential skill.  It's not that hard to
build friendships just through talking, especially since officers don't
hang out at the tavern too much.
NAME: Doctor
EFFECT: Lets you use the heal command in battle, which heals some wounded
troops for a small use of action points.  Allows you to heal injured
officers, and makes your own officer recover more quickly from illnesses.
LEARNED: Acquire 400 farm, trade, and order experience and talk to Hua
Tuo.  Yu Ji can also give you a book that teaches the skill, but you must
meet the requirements first.
RATING: Healing soldiers in battle is pretty useful, but the other
abilities given by this skill rarely come in use.  It's not essential, but
nice to have if you have met the requirements anyway.
NAME: Wizard
EFFECT: Allows you to baffle the guards of hostile cities with your
amazing magical abilities, allowing you to enter the city freely.  In
battle, it allows you to use the lightning command, presupposing that you
have the Geo and Aero skills.
LEARNED: Acquire 500 Wizard experience and learn it from either Yu Ji or
Zuo Ci.
RATING: Overrated, although not if you have no other way to enter cities.
Lightning is good, but cheesy.
3. Individual
A. Gender/Age - relatively self explanatory.
B. Years served - the number of years you have served your ruler.  This
has really no effect on your character, but when viewing other
officers, the longer they have served a ruler, the less likely they
are to betray him.
C. Loyalty - loyalty to current force.  Obviously, this does not display
for the controlled character, since you decide how loyal he is.  On
advanced, this also does not appear for enemy officers.
D. Fame - how famous your officer is on a scale of 1-1000.  The higher
this is, the more likely an ruler is likely to employ you if you
apply.  If this is high, there is also a higher chance of the
townspeople assisting you with any developmental task.  It increases
as you complete requests for the townspeople at the tavern, capture
enemy cities, recruit officers for your lord, or go out of your way
and use your own money to improve your city.
E. Friendship - This also obviously only displays for other officers,
and it shows your current friendship level with the displayed
officer.  Friendships go from nemesis -> stranger -> aware ->
acquainted -> friend -> trusted -> close -> oath.  See the section
on interacting with other officers for more information.
F. Orders - Displays if you currently have any active orders.  This is
much more efficiently displayed by pressing the L2 button.
G. Progress - Again, this info is better displayed by pressing L2.
If you are viewing another officer, it will say either "preparing"
or "active," depending on his progress.
H. Spouse - Lists the spouse of the officer.  There is no way to marry
during the game, but if you create a new female officer, you can set
her as your wife and vice versa.  If your wife is not an officer in
the game, she will be located at your house.
I. Oath - Lists the oath brothers of another officer or yourself.  You
can have up to 3.  An oath brother will always join you if he is not
currently employed and will declare anyone who kills you his nemesis.
If your character is to die, you can continue the game as one of
your oath brothers.  Officers can ask to make an oath anytime you
are drinking with them.
4. Biography - Displays your character's biography from the Romance of the
Three Kingdoms novel.
5. Experience - Lists all your experience levels, which are used for
learning skills.  This does not display for other officers.
6. Private Unit - Displays info on your private unit. Note that you can
only have a private unit as a free officer.
A. Type - The type of unit.  See the section on battles for more info.
B. Exp. - The experience of your unit.  Generally, the more the better.
This can be raised by training your unit at the barracks.  Recruiting
will lower it.
C. Morale - The morale of your private unit.
D. Pay - An essentially boolean indicator that shows whether or not you
have to pay your private unit.  A private unit costs 30 gold per
month unless you have the Hero skill.
-------------------------------------------
Some tips on having a succcessful character
-------------------------------------------
1. In most circumstances, stats are more important than skills.  The
most notable exception to this, however, is in debates, where you can and
will get demolished even with 100 INT if you don't have any skills.  This
is somewhat less of a problem in duels, but skills are still important.
2. Focus on learning skills that are worth the time and gold investments.
Most of the domestic skills, for example, are pretty much useless and not
worth actively pursuing unless you are attempting to learn all the skills
in one playthrough.
3. It is very, very time consuming to build stats in this game.  If a
major part of your game is going to be devoted to character development,
I would recommend an officer with abilities relatively close to what you'd
be satisfied with, but relatively few skills.
4. Generally, I find it more fulfilling to play through the game with a
relatively balanced character and trying not to pick up too many skills
throughout the game, but that is personal preference.
5. If your officer has a very poor war but many debate skills, the HERO
skill is practically essential, because it will get you out of some sticky
situations when traveling through China.  With the skill, you can debate
ruffians who would otherwise rob you blind.  There is nothing worse than
losing 100,000 gold to a bandit because you were too cheap to offer him
more than 100 gold not to hurt you (it has happened to me).
6. Choose oath brothers whom you wouldn't mind controlling.  It's not
unheard of for your officer to get beheaded by another ruler, especially
if you switch rulers often.  This is especially true if your officer has
no relatives that are worth while.
7. Learning a debate or duel skill from another officer requires that you
can beat them in either of these tests.  It is best to learn from an
officer you are fairly confident you can defeat, otherwise it will take
a very long time.  If you are trying to defeat Mi Heng or Zuo Ci for the
taunt skill, there isn't much I can say but "good luck."  REFUTE is
completely essential.
**********************************************************
IV.  The Town
Regardless of your character's rank, he will spend the majority of his
time around his home city completing various tasks.  The following are
the facilities present in the various cities in Romance 10:
(Facilities with a * before the name are present in every city.  Those
without the * are only available in certain cities.  See the apendix
section for a chart of facilities and in which cities they are present.
When listing commands, those in parentheses are commands that can only
be caried out by a vassal when he is ordered.  Commands that are in
brackets can only be carried out by the city's prefect. Certain commands
can also only be used on an enemy city.  In these circumstances, I will
indicate as such).
--------------------
Military Facilities
--------------------
*Barracks - Present in every city, the barracks are where soldiers
gather and train for combat.  The following commands are selectable at
the barracks:
1. (Establish) - Draft soldiers to form a new unit.  The cost to form
the unit is twice what it would be to supplement an existing unit
with new troops.  Unless there are special facilities present in the
city, you will only be able create Foot, Horse, or Bow units.  The
higher the acting officer's charisma and fame, the more troops will
gather at his command.  A city of size S can hold 5 units, of
size M can hold 10, of size L can hold 15, and of size XL can
hold 20. (Takes 10 days)
2. (Drill) - Drill a unit at the barracks.  Unless the acting officer
has the DRILL skill, the max morale and experience through training
is 100.  If your officer has high fame, there is a chance that the
troops will be especially well motivated and the increase will be
larger.  The higher your officer's leadership, the better the results.
(Takes 10 days).
3. (Recruit) - Supplement an existing unit's number of troops with new
"volunteers." If your officer has the HIRE skill, he will manage to
enlist better recruits.  In any case, new soldiers require training
before they are effective on the battlefield.  The higher your
officer's charisma, the more effective he will be at recruiting.
(Takes 10 days).
4. [Edit] - Merge or disband current units.  Merging units will average
the morale and skill of the two units.  Obviously, you can only
merge units of the same type.  Disbanded units return to the city's
population. (Takes 1 day).
5. [Upgrade] - Upgrade a unit to the next higher type.  Only certain
units can be upgraded, and require a minimum experience level to do so.
See the section on battles and units for more info.  Upgrading costs
nothing and takes place instantly.
6. Interact - Speak with another officer who is at the barracks.  See
the section on interactions for more info.
7. Observe - Listen to rumors that are circulating the facility.  You
may learn about a city in the region's specialty, about the presence
of a free but undiscovered officer, or you may get a hint about
gameplay.  If a hidden officer is present, you will uncover him and
be given the chance to hire him. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Foot) - A facility relatively common throughout China, the Foot
Garrison allows you to upgrade units from Foot to Infantry when they
reach 300 experience.  There are only two commands present here:
1. Interact - Speak with an officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Bow) - A facility relatively common throughout China, the Bow
Garrison allows you to upgrade units from Bow to Crossbow when they reach
300 experience.  There are only two commands present here:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Horse) - A facility relatively common throughout the land, the
Horse Garrison allows you to upgrade units from Horse to Cavalry when
they reach 300 experience.  There are only two commands present here:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Horsebow) - A relatively rare facility, found only in the more
northern regions of China, the Horsebow Garrison allows you to establish
the powerful horsebow unit.  Like all the Garrisons, your only options
are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Savage) - Another relatively rare facility found primarily in
the southwestern provinces of China, the Savage Garrison allows you to
establish Savage units.  The two possible commands are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Elephant) - A quite rare facility found only in the extreme
southwestern cities of China, the Elephant Garrison allows you to
establish the powerful but unpredictable Elephant units.  The two
possible commands here are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Garrison (Armored) - Another rare facility found only in the southwestern
regions of China, the Armored Garrison allows the establishment of Armored
units (formerly called Nanman soldiers, or Rattan Armored soldiers).  The
only two commands are:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
Machine Yard - Allows the construction of various war machines depending
on the cities tech level.  There are quite a few cities that have this
facility.  The higher the technology level of the city, the more weapons
that can be created.  The following commands are present.
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day)
3. (Weapon) - Outfit a unit with a specific unit.  The cost varies
depending on the weapon being build.  (Takes 20 days).
Shipyard - Allows the construction of either ramships or warships, which
make units fight much more effectively on water.  Relatively common in
the southeast area of China near the Yangtze River, but only in a few
cities elsewhere.  The following commands are present there:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (takes 1 day)
3. (Ship) - Outfit a unit with either a ramship or a warship. (Takes
20 days).
Foundry - Improves the ability of other facilities to improve units or
build weapons.  The following combinations exist:
Foundry + Foot Garrison = Sentinel upgrades at 500 unit experience.
Foundry + Horse Garrison = Tiger upgrades at 500 unit experience.
Foundry + Bow Garrison = Marksmen upgrades at 500 unit experience.
Foundry + Machine Yard = Juggernauts and wood oxen can be built.
Foundry + Shipyard = Warships can be built.
The following commands are available:
1. Interact - Speak with another officer present at the Garrison.
2. Observe - Listen to rumors and/or search the area for undiscovered
officers. (Takes 1 day).
--------------------
Civilian Facilities
--------------------
Home - Your officer's home.  This obviously only appears in the city in
which your character lives.  Visiting your home will occasionally cause
your friends to drop by for some conversation, a debate, drink, or a duel.
Also, forces hostile to your force will periodically send messengers to
your house in an attempt to recruit you or arrange for your betrayal.
The following commands are available in your house:
1. Wait - Stand by idle for anywhere between 1 and 90 days.
2. Resign - Abandon your current force and become a free officer.
3. Interact - Speak with your wife.  Only characters set to have wives