How to Get Started as Kong Rong | Early Game Legendary Difficulty Playbook Patch 1.7.0

New and updated Early Game Legendary Difficulty Playbook to help you get started as Kong Rong in the 190 Rise of the Warlord start for Total War: Three Kingdoms.
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#TotalWarThreeKingdoms #KongRong #EarlyGamePlaybook

[@SeriousTrivia]

Please check out the latest community post to vote on who is next for our early game playbook guide and to check out the April upload schedule!

[@christiandauz3742]

Yuan Shao, Kong Rong, Shi Xie, Lu Bu, Liu Yan, Gongsu Zan and Zhang Yan should all be playable in MOH They start out with no settlements so they should rush to the Zhang brothers and take theirs With the exception of the Mountain Bandit who can ally with the YT and fight Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan/Lu Bu

[@SeriousTrivia]

I mean what is the logic behind they should all be playable aside from providing more content for players. I mean there is no reason any of them should be playable historically speaking

[@christiandauz3742]

@@SeriousTrivia Same thing can be said of the Three Kingdom Founders in MOH. Sun Jian historically served under Yuan Shu his entire life while Liu Bei wasn't independent until AWB CA has never gone 100% history Fates Divided should have gotten more Lords/ Factions to replace dead ones

[@SeriousTrivia]

CA always uses a mix of history and romance portrayal. Like at least you have romance of three kingdoms telling stories of the three main factions fighting during the yellow turban rebellion.

[@christiandauz3742]

@@SeriousTrivia I believe CA should have put more new Lords/Factions in Fates Divided to replace the dead ones (Liu Chong, Yan Baihu, Gongsun Zan and Lu Bu) The replacements can have modified mechanics of the dead factions If CA goes down this rabbit hole expect less Lords/Factions to be available in the next start date Find it strange and insulting that there wasn't a FLC Lord with FD

[@RagnaCr]

Kong Rong player here. If you actually want to stop Liu Bei from taking Langya and Donglai territories, you can trade Langya`s sawmill on turn 1 or turn 2. You can do it by promising stuff like money per turn to Han Empire and then declaring war on Dong Zhuo to cancel it. Or you can just trade Beihai`s farm for it and then declare war and recapture it on the next turn if you feel like playing fare(almost). Liu Bei never tresspasses so he will go to temple instead. You actually don`t lose a trade route, since you can ask Tao Qian for trade instead. This will help to build relations with both him and Liu Bei while also securing trade route with Liu Bei on turn 2, since Tao Qian has only 1 trade route available. I think CA should actually make Han Empire not automatically go into wars when other factions including player declare war on Dong Zhuo to nerf these promising exploits. It`s especially strong on governer factions like Kong Rong and Tao Qian, since they can abuse it on turn 1.

[@XmrcaptainbobX]

If you want to stop liu bei trap his army from expanding early and hell sit a few turns. Then build relations to buy what land he does have giving him barrier land to fight elswhere.

[@oh-ah5919]

10:05 Make Zheng Yan commander - then have Zheng Yan Duel in first battle. At level two, select flexibility skill. {Delegated for video} 12:05 siege Beihai {Delegated for video} 14:28 trade monopoly deal with Han empire by giving stone pig. 18:21 Place Sun Shao on assignment ‘supervise construction’ 18:46 banish Shi Yi 19:40 give Wang Xiu stone monkey 20:18 build tax collector Turn 2 (may require RNG) 22:45 trade with Lou Bei. Offer 1 food for ten turns for a trade monopoly agreement and 112 gold for ten turns. If you can’t trade, consider restarting for better RNG. 25:10 Move army back to Beihai (the city) 26:15 Look to Yao if you would like to do some looping Turn 3 27:33 Build up to small City 27:40 Attack Lean {delegated for video} 28:01 Occupy 28:10 Give Kong Rong Precision skill 28:20 Upgrade trade port 28:55 Offer to Jiang Qiu 1 food for trade monopoly agreement and 51 gold - look to stabilize local area but sell to the south later in the game 30:01 disband all units and recall all generals 32:00 reject proposal Turn 4 32:14 check roster, if you get someone good, adjust, if not, no worries 32:36 deploy your three generals in Beihai 32:57 grab Sino-Roman Embassy reform. Aim to grab all trade and private tutor line reforms and throughout the game. Focus on commerce reforms 34:04 Offer ox item and 1 food to Dong Zhou for monopoly trade agreement Turn 5 35:14 Rush trade post construction and build next tier 35:28 make Kong Rong commander, check all items on your 3 generals to ensure highest instinct for lower recruitment costs. 36:41 Give Wang Xiu general of the left title. 36:55 follow this part of the video 😅 Turn 6 39:02 Reject Lui Bei proposal 39:26 check people of merit for any unique generals Turn 40:20 Move army next to Huang Shao’s border Turn 8 40:40 reject proposals 40:45 Send Sun Shao on supervise construction 41:00 Seige Lean - Dongpingling 41:19 battle thought process 45:00 Occupy. If you need to heal, make Zheng the commander 45:45 look to demolish garden later on Turn 9 47:00 you can accept, not accepted for the sake of the video 47:47 construct farming camp and build livestock corral. Rush both (optional) 48:00 fight rebellion (watch example)

[@finalchronic8255]

Thank you hero.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

Recently started a Kong Rong game and that Taishi Ci event is the bane of my existence. It's extremely unclear what can be done to guarantee it. Had to start the game multiple times in order to get it, and since he's basically the only Kong Rong "exclusive" legendary unique I don't think playing his campaign is worth it unless you get him. The rebel stack spawn isn't based on time, it's based on number of counties you've taken. Specifically, it's the 3rd you take/4th you have. Which, if you just follow the suggested path of Kong Rong peaceful with the Han, means finishing the Behai commandery then the two in Lean in any order. But it can also be done if you go aggressive with the Han early on in order to block off Liu Bei's expansion and claim most of the penninsula for yourself. What triggers Taishi Ci though, is freaking mystery. If you were trying to replicate the events from the book in order to trigger the event, then you'd need to build Behai up to level 4 to get walls, then let them besiege it for at least a turn. Since the whole thing with Taishi Ci and Kong Rong is that he showed up to lend a hand and get a message to Liu Bei when Kong Rong was besieged by rebels. But I've forced these events to happen before and would let them besiege me and nope, doesn't happen. I've also beaten the stack and the event doesn't happen. I know there's an element of RNG here but I'm more concerned with what the trigger is actually supposed to be. Is it the fight? Is it the besieging? I finally got the event to fire on one alternate path where I *didn't* upgrade the city to level 4 because I focused on eastward Han expansion, the rebels didn't spawn on county 4 but county 5 because Liu Bei went west instead of East and took the city of Lean (and I had to take the trade port, THEN the rebels spawned and I rushed my army into the walls, they attacked, I won, and then the event fired off. I kind of desperately want to know what the specific trigger on that is, because I find the vagueness on it extremely annoying.

[@musclesglasses5790]

Kong Rong is my favourite, and I think he is so popular because he lets you just build up your corner of China in peace, relatively distant from all the big dogs and with a loyal ally nearby (Liu Bei, of course), just exploring the game, the mechanics and watching the numbers grow. It's good times.

[@GOML1112]

Relative distance from the big dogs? He's literally a stones throw from Cao Cao Liu bei and yuan Shao

[@JosephJJameson]

I've followed this guide 5 times and never got Taishi Ci event once until I beat the YTR stack, moved my army away back to Dongpingling and let the YTR take Juxian. The second they took the city the event popped to recruit Taishi (you have to recruit him at the court screen)

[@Iacobus90]

You know how much ST likes and cares about a faction when he does all the battles manually and not delegate. Lol Kong Rong.

[@ryannewman4412]

One of my favorite playing tall factions in any strategy game ever. Can't wait to spend a couple hours min maxing like you

[@Iacobus90]

Let´s talk blunt: Kong Rong withouth Taishi Chi its not worthy to be played XD

[@gamegod273]

Somehow. Every time I've played Kong Rong I didn't get Taishi. Didn't stop me from making mad money and shooting the entire world full of bolts though.

[@HaPa4595]

You can still get him in recruitment without event 2 rounds after!

[@dzzykzzy8683]

I do believe that Huang Shao just gives Stalk to his whole faction, it's very powerful.

[@AnubhavB00B5]

It's funny how often as Liu Chong in 190 or Kong Rong in 194 I end up getting the other in my court (Kong Rong getting unlucky versus Huang Shao and Liu Chong being defeated by Yuan Shu before the assassination event) and then crossbow spam all the way to Emperorship. It's good too as neither faction has a big roster and you'll get a lot of mileage out of both of them in the same faction as the other's heir.

[@Darksky1001able]

Kong Rong is someone i want to be like. But this man is a pretty high milestone. Of all the people within the Three Kingdoms, he's the one id want to be under.

[@lewispoma5257]

Everytime I play Kong Rong, I get the yellow turban uprising, get angry, and rage quit, because my army is always at like 50% strength. This is why I've only played him past turn 15 twice.

[@blazezz1101]

When you attack the town at 41:30, you can position your troops instead on the left around the tree area then move the generals to the wall on the left to spot Stalk units. The arrow towers can't hit you since they only have a 180 degree firing arc and you can safely get the Fury of Beihai units in range to take down the enemy units. There's some formula with relative army strength that the AI calculates whether to sally out of the town. The best case scenario is when Huang Shao is in town and refuses to sally out. 2-3 Fury of Beihai units are enough despite the -30% ammo from his Brilliant trait if you specifically target him, Guan Hai, and his one Archery Master unit. He won't have any spear infantry units at this point so the rest can be cleared using your 3 generals from repeatedly charging them down. It's actually possible to siege down Langya city on Turn 2 even with Wang Yun guarding it by converting Kong Rong's starting retinue to 3 Fury of Beihai + 1 Trebuchet. This can delay and even deny Liu Bei from securing parts of Shandong peninsula for himself. It's a rather involved procedure but relies on fighting and routing almost all melee infantry units (and some ranged units) on the city walls by spamming Zheng Yan's Hamstring. The location of the breach made by the trebuchet is important so that the enemy can only come from one direction of the city wall and you have some clear area to retreat for the cooldown. Once it's down, you can capture the arrow towers so the Fury of Beihai units can safely approach to take down Wang Yun and all other units not on the walls.

[@fatalex00]

But Mr trivia said Kong rong was reading books n Sht instead of preparing to defend his city 😮

[@Coordinator010]

Super useful. Ha ha, I just tried Kong Rong for the first time not even a week ago and gave up at the Yellow Turban spawn. He does look like I'd have a lot of fun with him though so I still wanted to try, so this is great timing!

[@zoltanzui9568]

Kong Rongs crossbows actually avoided the range nerf. Even in patch 1.6 + 1.6.1 both versions still had 250 range which was weird because he ended up having better unique crossbows than Uncle Crossbow (Liu Chong), he still does tbh.

[@cabbage2241]

I've tried 4 times now to get the Taishi Ci event to trigger but it still hasn't. Never had an issue before. Something must have changed? Also your pronunciation of all the names is like velvet on my ears.

[@harmonicatreks9937]

Kong Rong: best smile in all of China.

[@celestinomiguelnevesportel9217]

Me: coming here to see a "sure-fire-way" of getting Taishi Ci event to trigger Me after 1h of video: ffs... Anyway great video, learnt some tricks for saving money! Like disbanding the whole army at a good timing ahah

[@ProfWeeb248]

I don't know if anyone said it in the comments already, or if you'll see this comment. But a few days ago, I finally completed a Kong Rong campaign. He was the first faction I tried when getting into the game, so I could take my time building tall and just learning how to tool around with diplomacy and such - first time clear was with Cao Cao, though. Coming back to the game after the 1.7.0 update, I was completely taken off guard by the Yellow Turban Rebellion peasant stack, and it took me a few retries to figure out because my army was generally too far from Beihai to save it or so damaged from delegating (cuz I was being lazy) to really take care of it cleanly. But after my last Kong Rong game, I think I discovered that it's not turn-triggered. So in the game I finally cleared, I just sat in Beihai's capitol while I owned the livestock pens of Beihai and the Lean port town. I was there, waiting for that rebellion to pop up until, like, turn 30+ and it didn't spawn - until I took the capitol of Lean. So I think the YTR peasant stack spawns when Kong Rong takes three territories, as opposed to being an event that happens within a certain number of turns. I'd do more experimenting with it to confirm, but it happened with a few different expansion plans: One game I took the Beihai livestock pens, Lean port, and Langye lumberyard and the YTR stack spawned. Another game, I took the same two first but then went and took the city of Donglai commandery when they spawned. And in another one, they spawned when I went Beihai livestock pens, Lean commandery capitol, and then Dong commandery capitol. There were a few more games where I took the standard three to start (Beihai livestock pens and the Lean commandery), but only one where I waited for a while after taking the first two targets for expansion. So that might be something worth looking into, though I could be entirely wrong and it was all just a strange coincidence.

[@SeriousTrivia]

I can confirm it is when you get three territories

[@Lolavs]

I actually first got into Total War: Three Kingdoms, and the period in general from Many A True Nerd's excellent playthrough as Kong Rong, it was a really unoptimal, but very fun run of the game.

[@dichsedichse]

Perception -1 on murdering taishi ci intensifies

[@fundindylgobrad1598]

Damn i'm just in the middle of a Kong Rong campaign. His faction is probably my favorite, i just love his starting position, management playstyle and machine gun x-bows. Just insanely fun even though he only has a fraction of the content of the main 3 or Yuan Shao. Personally the way i play his start is i B-line the lumber yard so Liu Bei doesn't cut me off. Turn 1 take livestock farm with as little casualties as possible, turn 2 force march in han empire territory, turn 3 take over lumber yard and recruit units to trigger mission. Rush back to Beihai while replenishing. From there beat Huang Shao and the doomstack and take over Lean. From there you can either go back to secure Shandong peninsula or cross the river to take over the valuable salt mine commandery across (riskier but more fun). Might get declared on by Gonsung Zan or Yuan Shao but you can easily just beat their army, release generals and the get a peace, then go secure Shandong. From there you can build tall for a while until you decide to expand again, i like taking over Gonsun Zan and Gonsun Du's lands to form a really nice border on the map. I think it's a nice alternative if you don't want to go south. I play on VH/VH though so maybe it doesn't work on legendary?

[@DefinitelyNotASmartFridge]

Funny, just before this I started a coop campaign with a friend as Kong Rong Great guide as usual!

[@bondzy185]

100% respect for hitting the tones on Beihai.

[@HistoricalWeapons]

Finally a crossbow based faction. Interestingly beihai is near the location of the earliest crossbow archelogical evidence in 650 b.c in qufu shangdong

[@pruetyuttayanon4784]

always love your guide, last time I use your guide for Kong Rong which migrate to south and got a very enjoy campaign cheers!!

[@johanandersson1188]

To my understanding, trade influence of two trade partners is added up and each partner gets their share of the profits accordingly. However, I'm not 100% on this and I also don't know what affects the base trade value that a trade deal gets you. Maybe that's based on size of the nation or smth? It seems to go up in the later portions of the game anyway. Rambling over.

[@willo9372]

Thank you my man. Helpful as ever! Edit: even if i had to face Huang Shao rushing me in the city fight... That was a surprise!

[@Potatoes85858]

Maybe Taishi Ci was killed by a passing army? Or recruited? Although the event probably still spawns if he's in another faction.

[@majestic3992]

Holy fuck. Is Serious Trivia becoming a Kong Rong fan?!

[@SeriousTrivia]

I mean he is extremely strong right now

[@CrumpetsPanda]

I think he's a Fury-Of-Behai fan.

[@cruderaven3424]

Love this series. Always teaches me something new, improving my understanding of the game :)

[@matthewsarson6934]

Kong Rong has always a faction i've loved playing. His mechanics are just purely positive and easy to manage and who does not love free money. I usually move to Nan Hai though. I just wish he had a few more unique officers and MTU won't fix that for his faction so you are left praying a few end up in the recruitment pool.

[@caos950042]

I think the YTR stack that spawns is set to always siege Beihai. Also, the one time I played Kong Rong the Taishi Ci event happened during the siege so that’s something I guess.

[@Dalladon]

I wanted to shares some notes regarding calculating trade value that there is are a few interesting points along the way to note. The population calculation is one I think @Serious Trivia already have uploaded when building tall as Kong Rong, I will reference that there - but in essence it is 1% per 100k population, up to a maximum of 4.5 million population in a commandery. I disbanded Kong Rong's army in a test run on turn 1 - Here there is 300k Population in Beihai (Town) resulting in a 2% raise due to population (at specifically 300k meaning there must be some round-off going on somewhere) for 152 trade influence - the population then rises by 81k if you invade the livestock farm and results in +4% off population (154 without an army and 119 with an army). 100 + 50% + 4% = 154 vs. 100 + 50% +4% - 35% = 119. When the trade port is taken this then adds another 80'ish population, and a rough population of 490k people. 28:28 is visual for 120 trade influence. (100 + 50% + 4% + 1% - 35% = 120) after the army disbands this is 155. Around 47:09 - the trade influence is 192 - population in Lean a turn before is 373k (assumed +4 %) and Beihai has 561k population (assumed +6 %) and there is a 2nd stage of the Monopoly - giving +25% - so the calculation should be 100 + 25% + 50% + 10 % - 35% + 40 % (From event) = 190? On the screen we can clearly see that the trade influence at this point is 192. Now how does that happen? We'll keep that in mind for when the +40% event disappears at 58:53 we are back to 150. So I suggest that somehow the +40% interfereres with the calculaton - Now I cannot say where there is interference, because I am not that smart, but - I suggest that it somehow influences the capital's population bonus (40% of 6% is 2,4% rounded down that would be 2%) which is the closest calculation I can find with the figures I can find searching through this video. At 59:08 the population of Beihai is 200k and Lean is 427k (6-7%) and the rest of the math is the same - thus 147 trade influence. This is the last turn we have of the guide. I don't know if these notes will be useful for anyone - I was only able to spot the anomaly of the +40% trade influence in the video. Else I do believe that watching Kong Rong's Tall Build Guide by Serious Trivia should have you covered for the trade influence. If anyone do possess late game Kong Rong data, where there are a few more parts of the algorithm I'd like a poke so we can maybe test if there are other anomalies (primarily within Reforms or character traits)

[@Senovitj]

As Kong Rong I have fought only when forced to. I now have the Kingdom of Qi with lots of former Gongsun Zan's lands, Yuan Shao's, Yuechi (Taiwan - sailed an army to it and repopulated its towns) and Liu Bei's starting area. Liu Bei betrayed me as I didn't want to support his warmongering on my trade partners. Profit before bros! 😅 The biggest factions are now Shu-Han, Wu, Yan, Qi (me) and my ally Shi Xin.

[@l33tspaniard]

Yeah, Huang Shao’s entire faction seems to have stalk now. It’s fucking awful for both Kong Rong and Yuan Shao 190.

[@edwardmainwood4439]

i feel that it would be more historical if Guan Hai was the one leading the yellow turban army that spawns as part of the event

[@Ideataster]

Hmm, I wonder what I do wrong. Even with the fake charge, the enemy will often just get fed up and rush my army. >.> Good thing there's a retry button!

[@lingbingzheng8127]

I just realized something Master Trivia, one of the default female strategist's face are the same illustration for the face of Sima Wei. :O

[@Aahe42]

Kong rong isn't my favorite faction but he has my favorite units because I love crossbows. I kind of wish faction unique units went to other factions once faction is no longer relevant, or alive like another faction could get kong rong units in 200.

[@drawingnature1522]

very beautiful voice sir. great for commentary.

[@GarretShadow]

Looking forward for more updated starting guides

[@vinhquanghoang8301]

Kong Rong was my fav when his crossbow were gods. Now even with the buffs it still seems weaker than before the nerfs.

[@Shuuchi0676]

For governors in control of the han emperor: what if you play tall until someone else becomes emperor and then you go take their seat before going up to king rank?

[@SeriousTrivia]

I think once someone else already hit emperor the mechanics ends

[@mdtexeira]

I tried that duel with Zheng Yan in the first battle on normal, and he loses every time. I don't know if something has changed. Even when I beat him down to half health before starting the duel, he would beat Zheng Yan by a sliver of health every time.

[@gr8oone007]

I die a little inside every time I watch you disband an army lol

[@ntluck1592]

The problem with Kong Rong's special building is that it replaces the school but does not give FW experience. Trade influence is pretty straight forward imo, at 100% you get the basic amount of trade with no penalties or gains. every point above 100 increases your total trade income by one percent

[@SeriousTrivia]

I don't think this is true. I have done some math when you add an item that increase trade income by 10%. Your trade value does not go up by 10%

[@jvoodoochild2755]

@@SeriousTrivia I’ve given up on trying to figure out 3K formulas. Too many times, as you have encountered in your guides and playthrus, expected effects don’t immediately update, or have unusual triggers (one copper gifts, etc.)

[@elliotblanchfield8432]

Going to miss the migration start for Kong Rong. Always felt very in character to see all the wars going on around you and just peace out down south. I’ll also miss him in future start dates...

[@SeriousTrivia]

this start still can migrate, just after taking care of business at home first. Going south is never a mistake in 3K

[@FlyJakk]

@@SeriousTrivia I am pretty far into my campaign, and decided to venture south. I"m having an issue with military supplies however. I'm noticing my armies won't last more than four turns. So i got rid of all the units- still having issues. Does it have to be Kong Rong? Is he immune to MS attrition or something?

[@Calabath]

Hey Serious Trivia, did the Taishi Ci event start for u, do you have more information on it since I really like him. But can you also tell me if this is the same Taishi Ci from Wu in Dynasty Warriors? Or are they different persons with the same name. I remember you had the option to send him to Lui Bei, historically and in romance, what happens to him after that?

[@SeriousTrivia]

Not on this recording but I have tested this strategy out more than 7 times and for almost all of them he comes the turn after the rebel stack spawns

[@SeriousTrivia]

He was great! He went south and worked for Liu Yao before joining Sun Ce

[@braize6279]

He's the same dude. He lifted the turban siege of Kong Rong by using reinforcements from Liu Bei. So the event is a little off, because Kong Rong technically didn't send Taishi Ci to Liu Bei. (iirc, TC broke out of the siege, went to Liu Bei, then came back to Beihei with the reinforcements) I'm guessing they did this as a way to simulate the actual event, while also being able to give the player the option to recruit Taishi Ci while playing as Kong Rong (which is great that they do this with a lot of the generals even in other factions.) After the siege, as Serious Trivia stated, Taishi Ci joined up with Liu Yao, who he is friends with. About this time was when Sun Ce went on his rampage, and Taishi Ci lost to Sun Ce in a duel, but not killed. Liu Yao was defeated and killed, so Taishi Ci went off to rebuild on his own. Well Sun Ce doing what Sun Ce does, defeated Taishi Ci's new pride and joy. Even though defeated, multiple times, Taishi Ci joined with Sun Ce. Sun Ce greatly admired Taishi Ci's accompishments and acts of heroism, and knew that Taishi Ci had the ability to be great, but was never actually given the opportunity to do so. So Sun Ce gave Taishi that very opportunity. It's a great story, and yes, I may be a Wu fanboi heh

[@DensetsuVII]

Hey I know this is a little tangent but talking bout how the restoring the emperor feature doesn't work for governor factors got me thinking; I did a Cao Cao campaign from the 182 start and maybe I'm just not following the discussions or it was obvious to everyone, but do you guys have any idea how broken the emperor system is if you don't start at 190? In my game, Dong Zhuo never died (by assassination), the Emperorship went directly from Empress He to Liu Bian sometime before 197, but the emperor mechanics NEVER activated, I eventually killed him in battle, passing the emperorship BACK to Empress He, also not activating the mechanics and this was around 200 or so, eventually took Luoyang and abolished the Empire, and THEN after a reload, the Emperor mechanics were back... but I was the Emperor so they didn't really matter. And then AFTER ANOTHER RELOAD THEY WERE GONE AGAIN! I know 182 has always been a little iffy, but I think something particularly needs to be done to reinstate the emperor mechanics for emperors who are of age and not Liu Xian xD

[@earlpanganiban]

Wonder if it's possible to get a Kong Rong-Lady Mi marriage done on turn 1, given that Tao Qian appeared on the list of factions available for diplomacy. If so, that should be a great way to kick off the game with a commander as heir.

[@SeriousTrivia]

you apparently cannot confederate through marriage with her on turn one or your wife for some reason!

[@VasuAmpaipan]

On the Kong's campaign, this is my most peaceful run ever. However Cao is already got a dozen vassal under his hand im just out of an idea how to expand when everyone is loving each other the whole map

[@thatoneguy9843]

I loved my first time playing the game, I played as Kong Rong. However I have read Romance of the Three Kingdoms several times so I was expecting the huge yellow turban uprising right out Beihai. I just expected to have Taishi Chi during the fight and was sadly underprepared.

[@itsjustdom378]

Nice guide. I got a great start so far, about 25 turns in neither Yuan Shao or Gongsun Zan took Pingyuan so I snagged it myself. What is your opinion on joining a coalition with Liu Bei?

[@SeriousTrivia]

Doesn’t hurt

[@Serfdomftw]

I never get Taishi Ci. I still have ass characters, and then after I've taken the 2nd city, I get several people declaring war on me. By Turn ten im at war with like 5 different people. I then have to fight several doom stacks every other turn. Its a bloody nightmare. So many quit campaigns because of that. LIterally have no problems with any other character but Kong Rong.

[@bw1678]

Interesting to know governors can't restore the Han which just seems like a total oversight. I'm wondering if bandit restore the Han is possible at all. It's tricky because you can't save your rank up like a regular Han faction can, and I imagine the emperor runs away easily. But what if you time it real carefully so capturing the city with emperor in it gives you the rank up to king during the same turn?

[@tonymccolley1382]

Is it possible for Kong Rong to go for a "Wider Tall" strategy where you rush Taishan to get Tai Shici and then migrate down to Nanjing, and expand up along the Yangtze River to Changsha, and then claim new counties based on need?

[@SeriousTrivia]

Of course! It would be a nice mix of aggressive expansion and building tall. But do note that if you do expand the AI will see you more as a threat and less willing to trade with you which might lead you to just forming vassals but at the end of the day the trade is going to be a better source of income in the early game

[@vilgefortz3131]

I don't ever get to run trade agreements with others than Han Faction and Liu Bei. Everyone else gives a red text saying, that its not possible untill both factions have borders or a route going (yes, I capturead the port exactly like in this guide). Any advice?

[@SeriousTrivia]

Two things. You have no diplomatic vision of the southern factions who also have the port to trade with you and the second thing is those who do have already traded with someone else. If wait till you come in contact with those southern factions. The shallow changes on the map really messed up a lot of the trade routes

[@scottkelley6709]

Was just trying to figure this out. Thanks.

[@vilgefortz3131]

@@scottkelley6709 There are opportunities very often, just not right off the bat, just watch out every round and you'll be fine. You also better keep updating on max trade routes. :)

[@tazerninja159]

The yellow turban doom stack doesn't spawn until you take both lean provinces

[@joetaylor7917]

I always thought the YT death stack triggered after securing three counties while the Taishi Ci event triggers after securing four.

[@SeriousTrivia]

Taishi Ci had always been the turn after the YT spawn for me

[@tric5122]

did they fix the gov issue w/the 1.7.1 patch ? I just got done playing Ma Teng, and he got the emp early, and when it got time to become emp he didn't have to conquer a sitting one.

[@SeriousTrivia]

hmm I am not sure actually, haven't played a governor faction in a while

[@tric5122]

@@SeriousTrivia I actually liked that aspect of the gov game, even if it was a pain. Also somehow avoided most of the looters by somehow just having great relationships by defeating dong and yuan shu, declaring war on leaders that I made enemy of the han. I wasn't on newbie, but wasn't on legendary either. I did keep 2-3 stacks just in case, but I'm not sure it was needed.

[@gordonfreeman1617]

Does Guo Jia appear in everyone's court now within the first few turns? In my Sun Ce and Liu Bei campaigns, I have seen him appear in my court in first 10-15 turns. Plus, his past is from the Han empire making him not a spy.

[@SeriousTrivia]

I mean there is a good chance for everyone on the 190 start but as you see here, we didn’t get him

[@mediumsized7720]

did they added a patch that randomizes character traits at the start? sun shao for me does not have the stubborn trait

[@SeriousTrivia]

Unlikely are you playing the 190 start? With no mods?

[@mediumsized7720]

@@SeriousTrivia Oh 190 start but Im playing with MTU. I guess it became random because of that

[@ZhugeLiangHD]

Thank you, your strategy helped me lot:') How about He Yi, I know no one love him but need some tips.

[@SeriousTrivia]

He will get his turn when all the base game factions are featured

[@CYimmer]

Sorry to go so off track but is anyone else dealing with the issue in the 190 start where every faction but Looters and Yellow Turbans don't attack Han settlements? It is so odd, I had two starts and both ran into the same issue. No one expands because they don't attack the Han settlements due to it causing a loss in Imperial Favor I am guessing? I am only using basic aesthetic changing mods.

[@SeriousTrivia]

I still see Sun Ce attacking Han in mine

[@Dubro23]

They expand but the IF they loose form battleing is lower than the IF they gain from public order and food. And playing as Cao Cao and focusing everything (the food scheme, the direct attach on IF from the IF menu and using schemes to lower public order) on one faction is the ONLY way to get a faction to low IF, excluding Yuan Shu and Liu Biao because of their faction mechanics

[@sen6516]

I remember your previous guide going for a south migration tactic while the one before that stayed in Beihai too similar to this one. Has anything changed or does south migration just feel a bit too unintended or cheesy?

[@SeriousTrivia]

I mean crossbows got relatively buffed this patch so staying isn’t too hard. Migration is still fine but it was never optimal in my opinion because once you lose your first capital here you end up losing all your trade monopoly and have to reset them which might be difficult since all the AI might have traded by that time.

[@PurpleScoutCookies]

Do you have any tips for playing in Shuo Fang/northwest portion of the map in patch 1.7? Been getting gang banged by 2 full stack looter armies every 5 turns with no possible way to stop it as far as I can tell.

[@SeriousTrivia]

I mean that is what you get being there now...either have an army that enjoy farming those looters or don't go there

[@PurpleScoutCookies]

@@SeriousTrivia damn if only I didn’t suck 😥

[@DeathArrivesQuickly]

I'm not sure why you say that Zheng Yan can win the duel with the 1st army's general, because he can't. Not a single time that I've tried has he won. He loses every single time.

[@SeriousTrivia]

Did you change his weapon?

[@DeathArrivesQuickly]

@@SeriousTrivia Wow, can't believe you actually replied! Hello, and thanks for your content, you have an insane amount of knowledge when it comes to Three Kingdoms, and I really admire that. As to your question, yes, I changed his weapon to the JI. (As a sidenote, I am new to TW:TK, but not TW.)

[@SeriousTrivia]

Give the battleaxe a try (it’s been a while since I made this guide so I don’t quite remember the details but I think I done it before)

[@sleepingsage]

how are we supposed to take the duel at lvl 1? his opponent is lvl 2 with 300 more base melee damage compared to Zheng Yan. I had to concede and do a rematch because he got obliterated in the 1v1.

[@SeriousTrivia]

change your weapon to the battle axe before the fight

[@sleepingsage]

@@SeriousTrivia WOOPS

[@sleepingsage]

@@SeriousTrivia I found that if either you don't want to roll for an offensive ancillary or you're just unlucky, sticking your 3 generals on him and engaging his army with yours until Wang Rao is at 20K-21K hp is the only way to win the duel, and even then it's a toss-up if he evades all of your attacks. very tough duel without heirloom spear or better (which I got on my 3rd restart lol)

[@partypanda4810]

@@SeriousTrivia even with the battle axe and using the ability as soon as it comes up. I still can’t seem to win this battle, I even have my other generals near by for passive buffs. Any other tips to win the duel?

[@vinsonli302]

did Patch 1.7.1 change enough for Kong Rong's faction to justify a new early game strategy guide, or is this guide basically the definitive one?

[@SeriousTrivia]

I don’t think it has any major changes that would affect this start

[@fulmetalmage]

any help with the army composition with taishi chi? i got him but dont know how to make an army with a sentinel (first time playing), since you stated 2 sentinel strategist, or 2 strategist sentinel is good, but you never show it in the guide.

[@SeriousTrivia]

so when I group sentinels up with strategists it is usually for an all range army using their skill that boost ranged damage for whole army. Try looking up a guide series on the channel called art of war. I explain it in that series

[@lujoviste]

hmm i swear he had Taishi Ci as a notable character

[@SeriousTrivia]

only acquired through an early game event which we did not get on this run through

[@chordal9939]

Whenever I do this early game guide with Kong Rong, after I beat back the yellow turban army Tao Qian always comes and takes Dong Puyang before I can get there. What should I do about this?

[@SeriousTrivia]

losing it and taking it back would be the easy solution

[@chordal9939]

@@SeriousTrivia Does that mean I should declare war on him after he takes it and take it from him?

[@SeriousTrivia]

@@chordal9939 wait sorry I thought you are saying the the YT takes it back. So if I correctly understand you, Tao Qian takes the city of Dong from Huang Shao before you can move your army there after fending off that big army that spawns in Beihai?

[@SeriousTrivia]

In that case, let him have it! You can expand either north (and war with Yuan Shao) or even better just keep your starting area of Lean, Beihai, and Donglai and then expand south by sailing there.

[@chordal9939]

@@SeriousTrivia Yeah, thats what I meant, I was a little confused about your reply because of that. Anyway, ill give those other options a shot, thanks for the quick replies!

[@kendallanderson7931]

Is there a lore episode on Kong Rong? Is he relevant enough for that?

[@SeriousTrivia]

there can be although it would basically just cover him as person...not much warlord activities lol

[@kendallanderson7931]

I’d be Interested to know more ab him. I usually just wipe him out, but the fly by made it seem like he was a man of culture and education. Like an Imperial Secretary of Education, or something like that

[@SeriousTrivia]

he is a descendant of Confucius. Was quite famous in his youth for filial piety. Was assigned as the administrator of Beihai twice but lost the city twice to yellow turbans. Then was the grand tutor to the emperor for a few years before getting executed by Cao Cao

[@changweihan5888]

@@kendallanderson7931 believe the story that he was talking about is 孔融让梨

[@changweihan5888]

It's a story about family and pears u can google

[@jvoodoochild2755]

Whenever I’ve gotten Taishi Ci, I usually make him an admin and never deploy whatever retinue he came with With Kong Rong’s possible event to get him, I might consider keeping that starting Strat, using WotR, Night, & flaming Arrows ?Bolts? for those early fights. Loading up on trebs, bolts, or even dragons before suiciding for Taishi Ci to make use of that title (Trebs) or flaming shot (Bolts) or charge negate (Dragons) along with Furies or Oynx Ds Probably not cost effective to keep the strat as oppose to hiring one down the line, but it pains me to fire strats on T1

[@nilsjonsson1133]

I could have sworn that before this patch, Kong Rong started at war with Dong Zhou. Am I misremembering?

[@SeriousTrivia]

None of the governors started at war with Dong Zhuo so you are misremembering

[@nilsjonsson1133]

@@SeriousTrivia No, this is not true. I went back and checked and he definitely did start at war with the Han Empire. Maybe it's because the game has him as part of the coalition on the faction selection screen? I wonder why CA changed the one thing and not the other.

[@evanreign9344]

@@nilsjonsson1133 I was asking about this same thing on a forum and it sounded like the conclusion was "AI kong rong specifically was constantly invading Dong Zhou's core territory, probably keep the AI at least from not doing that."

[@nilsjonsson1133]

@@evanreign9344 Based Kong Rong taking the fight to the tyrant, lmao! Thanks for sharing your knowledge, wise one.

[@crusify_me]

I followed this guide, but after taking the early trade port, I'm unable to trade with DongZhou or other factions down south. Did I mess something up? I'm also using MTU, is that the reason maybe?

[@SeriousTrivia]

It just means they have secured trade partners already

[@crusify_me]

@@SeriousTrivia They both had 0/1 trade routes. If it because they all haven't secured a trade port yet?

[@SeriousTrivia]

Dong Zhuo makes sense because the shallows in the river blocks the trade route. The southern factions I am not sure of

[@svensundin1863]

Awfully late to the party, but something has obviously changed when it comes to trade routes upon securing a trade port. While it was an instant connection to trade ports across the map previously (sans the ones behind shallows in later patches) that is just not the case anymore.

[@ChanchodTierra]

I have a problem that the ports never open trade routes in any faction i played

[@SeriousTrivia]

Are you playing the factions whose ports are blocked by the impassable shallows?

[@edwardmainwood4439]

Kong Rong was never actually a govenor

[@SeriousTrivia]

Neither was Ma Teng. I mean Kong Rong was never a warlord either lol

[@milesdavis607]

Do you know if CA has any plans to give some love to generic generals? I know the game is supposed to focus on the fame-worthy people but if they revamped how generic generals worked I think they'd extend a single playthrough's timeline by at least double

[@SeriousTrivia]

I think the main focus to shift more generic to unique

[@milesdavis607]

@@SeriousTrivia Which I'll never complain about lol. Maybe one day they'll have a small dlc focused on inheritance that would give some flavor to GG.

[@lingbingzheng8127]

Master Trivia, I was just looking up on some stuff with Ma Teng, then suddenly I found this female named Hua Lanli on the image, do you know who she is, is she part of Three Kingdom, who is she?

[@SeriousTrivia]

She is supposedly his wife

[@lingbingzheng8127]

@@SeriousTrivia WHAT?! Where did this idea came from?

[@SeriousTrivia]

fanfiction lol

[@rijalniga.5070]

29:50 what if i have only dong zhuo to trade at this moment. I try to Play but then is no money for 13units

[@SeriousTrivia]

If Liu Bei did a trade deal on his first then you are out of luck and you would have to adapt a bit. Get less expensive units

[@HaPa4595]

Route no. 3 does not work, because everybody already has partners :(

[@andreasaust1510]

often when I liberate a vessel which I created, I cannot trade with them as they "do not have the necessary reform". But as this was a level 1 settlement, next time I raised their settlement from 1 to level 4 before I liberated - but still not possible. The next time I used a strategist as new faction leader because she had the trait (+1 trade agreements) but even then it didnt work! Next time it did work so is it completely random? Also, the level 4 settlement I liberated doesnt even seem to get the reform in the future as now already 50 turns have passed. What am I doing wrong?

[@SeriousTrivia]

First are you playing with any mods because the no reform thing is usually not a Han requirement so it’s weird that you are even getting that

[@andreasaust1510]

@@SeriousTrivia sorry for being off-topic but I am actually talking about a Shi Xie campaign and in this example I took and liberated Jiuzhen. Is that the reason? As for mods, for the most part I am using the same set of mods you have been using lately (MTU,WDG,TUP, etc.)

[@SeriousTrivia]

@@andreasaust1510 It could be an issue with Nanman land being classified as Nanman factions which means they do not start with a reform for trade routes.

[@phoenixviera5476]

after the latest patch, played kong rong 3 times in chaos mode and all got no tai shi ci event. Probbly a bug now ?

[@SeriousTrivia]

I would say 3 times is too little because I have gotten it on this patch

[@phoenixviera5476]

@@SeriousTrivia do u need to let the yellow turban spawn siege you ? their retinue so weak i always wiped em straight on.

[@SeriousTrivia]

I believe they need to spawn, not sure about the siege. You should definitely try it out

[@bali4n1]

I just got him after 3 tries, what did the trick for me was letting them siege my capital. Rush tier 4 city so that it's done in the same turn the doomstack spawns. I didn't get any event, but he was in my recruitment tab the next turn, after they started the siege.

[@aniruddharedij3535]

Please post a 190 walkthrough for Kong Rong (new patch)

[@SeriousTrivia]

You can play him the same way. Not much has changed for him

[@aniruddharedij3535]

It’s fun to watch your walkthrough campaigns. And Kong Rong campaign might turn out more interesting!

[@SeriousTrivia]

Ah you mean a full campaign. Yes I do intend to play him soon actually

[@aniruddharedij3535]

@@SeriousTrivia Waiting for it! Hope to see it soon.

[@tanmayoken159]

Is it still work for 1.7.1? 😅

[@Jguthro]

I can't win the duel in the first battle

[@frogyert6633]

just an enquiry can brilliant stack?

[@SeriousTrivia]

Yes it can

[@ilikecake683]

Generally the pronunciations don't bother me, but "mopoly" got me haha. Well that and "bruant" :L

[@Jguthro]

What the hell TQ took Dong and Yaun Shao declared war on me. Should I flee south

[@SeriousTrivia]

Just fight them. Your unique unit shreds Yuan Shao’s armies who tend to build a lot of units without shields

[@saibala9399]

Somebody please help......... Is MSI GF 65 Gaming laptop any good? Are there any cooling issue's?

[@SeriousTrivia]

specs looks pretty decent for the price, but with laptops overheating is always a concern so it is just something you have to deal with

[@saibala9399]

@@SeriousTrivia Thank you but I thought that MSI is a gaming brand so there will not be any cooling issue... Thank you🙏

[@SeriousTrivia]

I mean all laptops will have cooling issues...especially gaming pc since cpu and gpu both get quite hot and there just isn't enough space in a laptop for proper cooling. I mean I have like a huge fan on my cpu on my desktop and cooling is still sometimes an issue

[@joedudgeon3943]

some years ago I had a gaming laptop that crashed due to overheating fairly often but managed to reduce that by sitting the laptop on a thermal cooling pad I got off the internet they seem to go for about 50 quid

[@mediacedia3719]

lmao ppl actually play him? thanks to you Serious I now cringe at all non commander faction leaders

[@Neax10]

not valid guide anymore. After disbanding the army that turn the enemy came and plundered BEIHAI.

[@SeriousTrivia]

what difficulty are you playing on? I don't think anything was changed on the final patch that should affect this start