History VideoGame / TotalWarThreeKingdoms

* AlternateHistory: As Dong Zhuo in the ''Mandate'' bookmark, players can choose not to confederate the Han imperial faction. This allows [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Bian Liu Bian]] (the historical Emperor Shao) to eventually ascend the throne when he comes of age. This ''disables'' the Imperial Favour mechanic as Bian has his own fiefdom and armies, unlike his half-brother Xie.

* ButtMonkey: The Han empire is this, as the faction is unable to recruit troops or build buildings. In addition, any faction who has Liu Xie in their possession can march up to any Han settlement, pay the coin cost and just take over the administration. The situation improved with the introduction of imperial favour, as attacking Han regions too frequently is a fast way of decreasing imperial favour, which incurs some penalties.
** The ''player'' can become this if playing in the Mandate bookmark and remaining within the Divine Empire, as the Han Imperial faction can just march up to aregion and take it over, no ifs and buts on the player's part.

* CultureClash: Yellow Turban factions have a heavy diplomacy penalty with other factions and can't offer any treaties initially. Slowly as they gain in strength, they can start making actual deals with factions. At top level, they are legitimized as much as any warlord or governor faction. Then you have a choice of who you pick as your emperor. Seat a peasant child who seems blessed, seat a noble man's son that started supporting you early in the war, or seat yourself. The former and the latter are treated as illegitimate by every other faction. If you seat the nobleman's son, you gain a diplomacy bonus that completely counteracts the initial penalty. It doesn't REMOVE the penalty as you are still an army led by peasants and revolutionaries undermining feudalism, but the other factions respect you for supporting noble lineage. Also, all heroes of other factions will refuse to join you. You are stuck with Veterans, Scholars, and Healers as your generals.

* DeathByAdaptation: Xun Yu, who was a junior civil servant at the beginning of the game's timeframe, is set up as an EarlyBirdBoss for Zheng Jiang, which means that he usually bites it a few turns into the game. Averted from patch 1.3.0 onwards, which turns him into a unique character and places him in Han Fu's faction.

* TheRemnant: At game start, the main Yellow Turban uprising has been put down, but Huang Shao, Gong Du and He Yi still lead local bands of Yellow Turbans and low public order can cause more to arise. If playing a Yellow Turban leader, your main objective is to reverse this state of affairs.

** Lü Bu and Sima Yi are both extremely powerful in their respective battlefield roles, but are notoriously difficult to keep satisfied in your court.

*** Liu Bei himself has the very powerful option to peacefully take over Han Empire settlements and starts with a strong army surrounded by two natural allies, Kong Rong and Tao Qian, who will mostly [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper get in your way in terms of expansion]] the first couple turns.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Having Kong Rong as a faction leader who focuses on trade is an odd choice, as he is a descendant of Kong Qiu, better known as Confucius, who was famously against trade and the merchant class. Then again, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourses_on_Salt_and_Iron Discourses on Salt and Iron]] during the early Han Dynasty saw Confucian scholars argue in favor of laissez-faire economic policies that promoted private enterprise, while their opposite numbers argued in favor of government monopolies on salt and iron to better fund national defense efforts against the Xiongnu beyond the Great Wall.

** '''Food''': Used for increasing peasant populations in towns and settlements. Food surplus is also needed to maintain military supplies for the troops. Low food supplies will result in decreased public order, troop desertions and peasants fleeing. Food can be obtained from ''farming'', rearing ''livestock'' or ''fishing''.

** The spark that starts the War of the Eight Princes revolves around the regency of the Emperor Sima Zhong and the tricked disownment of the Crown Prince Sima Yu, which allowed the other princes to make their claim.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhhHecSt3LM One of the trailers]] shows Dong Zhuo's army razing the imperial capital of Luoyang and slaughtering civilian stragglers on their retreat to Chang'an.

** In Zheng Jiang's trailer, there is a scene where some farmers are seen growing rice. During this era in Northern China, the staple food of the era was millets as rice wouldn't be introduced to Northern China centuries after the Three Kingdoms era. This is accurately reflected in-game, as farms in the north produced grain while those located in the south produced rice.

** '''Coin''': The main currency of the game. Factions earn this via taxation from the ''peasantry'', ''commerce'' from inns/marketplaces/trade ports and ''industry'' such as mineral extraction or product manufacturing. Coin is also earned from occupying spice depots (found in the southwest) or silk markets (found in the northwest). Coin is spent on the construction of buildings, recruitment of troops and their maintenance. It is also used to pay officers' salaries.

* AutomatonHorses: Averted for once. Cavalry units are slower compared to the previous games and tire out faster, with heavy cavalry receiving heftier penalties. This is actually [[AluminumChristmasTrees quite true to life:]] horses of the period were relatively small, and horseshoes and stirrups were still quite limited in use. Played straight with the Qiang cavalry available to Ma Teng's faction, which are immune to fatigue to highlight their [[BornInTheSaddle steppe nomad heritage.]]

* FriendlyEnemy: AI factions ''really'' value you releasing their generals - seeing a long, bloody war with another large enemy faction but with the player constantly setting their generals free after victory can cause them to have much more friendly diplomatic relations with them than a variety of other factions who've suffered no worse from the player than a territorial trespassing.

* MoralityKitchenSink: The contenders for the Empire are people, with all that entails. Many of the warlords are noble individuals fighting to do what's right for China's people, others are scheming {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s, some are motivated by power and arrogance, and there's a sprinkling of downright bastards in the mix (such as Dong Zhuo and Lyu Bu).

* ButtMonkey: The Han empire is this, as the faction is unable to recruit troops or build buildings. In addition, any faction who has Liu Xie in their possession can march up to any Han settlement, pay the coin cost and just take over the administration.

* RightfulKingReturns: As of *Fates Divided*, warlords with Emperor Xian in their possession are provided with the option of restoring the Han Empire with Liu Xie on the throne.

*** One subset of Trade Resources are the various types of skilled labour: Artisans, Industralists and Entrepreteurs. These are acquired by constructing buildings in commandery capitals.

The first expansion pack, ''Eight Princes'', was released on August 8th, 2019. It covers the starting phase of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Eight_Princes War of the Eight Princes]] (291CE), which led to the eventual downfall of the Western Jin Dynasty and the second division of China, just over a decade after the conclusion of the Three Kingdoms period in the year 280CE and a century after the events of the "Three Kingdoms" campaign. [[note]]Much of the Jin nobility who fled south gathered around Sima Rui, who would establish the Eastern Jin in 318 C.E. with its capital in Jiankang. (today's Nanjing; during the Three Kingdoms period, it was known as Jianye, Sun Quan's capital for his state of Wu. As for Sima Rui, he's only distantly related to the eight princes featured in the expansion. Probably the closest relation was Sima Liang; Rui's grandfather, Zhou, was a full brother of Liang (they had the same mother, Lady Fu)[[/note]]

The second expansion pack, ''Mandate of Heaven'', was released on January 16th, 2020. It adds a new start date: 182CE, the fifth year of the ''Guang He'' era of Emperor Ling's reign, the year of Sun Quan's birth and two years before the historical start of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. It adds the Zhang brothers as Yellow Turban warlords, and adds 3 sub-factions to the Han Empire, led by Emperor Liu Hong [[note]]known posthumously as Emperor Ling of Han[[/note]], Prince Liu Chong [[note]] the last Prince of Chen, and historically assassinated by Yuan Shu in 197[[/note]], and Lu Zhi [[note]] general, government official, and scholar who was mentor to Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan, among others[[/note]] respectively. Tao Qian was also made playable as part of the free patch accompanying the DLC, and owners of ''Mandate'' will be able to play as Liu Chong in the 190CE start date. [[note]]While still alive in 190CE, Lu Zhi is not playable. This is probably because historically by this time, he was in seclusion after being dismissed from service, and surviving an assassination attempt by Dong Zhuo only because he took prior precautions. [[/note]] The DLC also adds unique new campaign mechanics (such as ''Fervor'', which is an abstraction of Yellow Turban influence within provinces), events (including the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_Province_rebellion Liang Province Rebellion]]), and objectives, along with new battlefield units and new unit abilities.

The third expansion pack, ''A World Betrayed'', was released on March 19th, 2020. It adds a new start date: 194CE, the first year of the ''Xing Ping'' era. The expansion focuses on Lü Bu and Sun Ce. For Lü Bu, it has been two years since he killed Dong Zhuo, and he is about to have a showdown with Cao Cao over [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yan_Province Yan Province]]. For Sun Ce, he is bidding his time to break free from Yuan Shu, historically his father's liege, and is about to embark on his own quest to conquer Jiangdong, a feat which historically earned him his moniker of ''Little Conqueror''. At the same time, Liu Bei succeeded Tao Qian as governor of Xu Province. Yan Baihu, a native warlord of Jiangdong, was made playable as part of the free patch accompanying the DLC. The free patch also added unique mechanics for the bandit factions, events and objectives, along with new battlefield units and new unit abilities.

The fourth expansion pack, ''The Furious Wild'', was released on September 3rd, 2020. In lieu of a new start date, the expansion expands the map and adds greater detail to southern China, including differentiating traditionally "Nanman" provinces from others [[note]]Nanman forces have combat advantages while fighting in such provinces, while other forces have penalties[[/note]]. The added Nanman factions are playable in 190CE and 194CE, although there will be Nanman tribes in the 182CE start date. Among the Nanman, four leaders are playable: Meng Huo, Lady Zhurong, King Mulu and King Shamoke. The Nanman tribes have over 25 new units, including animal units, new character artwork, a new Nanman-specific tech tree with keystone technologies that require missions to be completed, a completely new character progression style that uses feats to unlock traits, and unique missions and narrative events designed specifically for their culture. Shi Xie, the Administrator (''tai shou'') of Jiaozhi Commandery from 187CE till his death in 226CE, was made playable as part of the free patch accompanying the DLC.

The fifth expansion pack, ''Fates Divided'', was released on March 11, 2021. It adds a new start date: 200CE, the fifth year of the ''Jian An'' era and the year of Sun Ce's death. The expansion focuses on Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and their climatic showdown at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guandu Guandu]]. Liu Yan, the Governor of Yi Province from 188CE till his death in 194CE and father of Liu Zhang, would be made playable as part of the DLC; those with the relevant [=DLCs=] can also play as Gong Du, King Mulu, Meng Huo, Shamoke, and Sun Ce in the new start date. The patch accompanying the [=DLC=] will also allow Ma Teng and Yuan Shu to be playable in 182 CE, and for those with the relevant [=DLCs=] to play as Liu Chong and He Yi in 194 CE. The patch also overhauls the faction council and mechanics surrounding Emperor Liu Xie.

** '''Veterans:''' A Yellow Turban leader who believes in frugality. They act as Champions and minor as Strategists having high resolve with middling expertise and cunning, low to mid instinct, and low authority. They are philosophers, sorcerers, writers, astolgers, and monks.

* UnfortunateNames: With random name generators, you could end up with someone with the name "Ma Dong" or "Long Wang" or anything that would sound inappropriate if spoken in English language. This is eventually patched that you'll no longer get randoms with such names.
** Dong Zhuo has been the basis of countless dick jokes even before the game was released.

* BadassLongRobe: AvertedTrope - unlike the other character types, Strategists wear robes on the battlefield while everyone wears armour. They also are unable to enter duels unlike all other officer types, and die [[RealityEnsues about as fast as you'd expect]] when they get into combat.

** '''Strategist:''' Wily and cunning masters of plots and tactics, who's plans flow like Water on the battlefield. they give more supplies to the army, and more ammunition to ranged units. They can also Debuff enemy Generals with their wits. As administrators they give benefits to trade. Their traits are all about intelligence, wits and creativity, though also often scheming and underhanded-ness. Their Stat is Cunning.

In May 2021, Creative Assembly announced that it was done working on the game, and the game would no longer receive updates or {{Expansion Pack}}s, with a currenlty unnamed sequel to the game already in pre-production.

In 2021 it was announced Creative Assembly was done working on the game, and would recieve no more updates or {{Expansion Pack}}s, with a currenlty unnamed sequel to the game already in pre-production.

In ''2021'' it was announced Creative Assembly was done working on the game, and would recieve no more updates or ExpansionPack, with a currenlty unnamed sequel to the game already in pre-production.

The fifth expansion pack, ''Fates Divided'', was released on March 11, 2021. It adds a new start date: 200CE, the fifth year of the ''Jian An'' era and the year of Sun Ce's death. The expansion focuses on Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and their climatic showdown at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guandu Guandu]]. Liu Yan, the Governor of Yi Province from 188CE till his death in 194CE and father of Liu Zhang, would be made playable as part of the DLC; those with the relevant [=DLCs=] can also play as Gong Du, King Mulu, Meng Huo, Shamoke, and Sun Ce in the new start date. The patch accompanying the [=DLC=] will also allow Ma Teng and Yuan Shu to be playable in 182 CE, and for those with the relevant [=DLCs=] to play as Liu Chong and He Yi in 194 CE.

The fifth expansion pack, ''Fates Divided'', is scheduled to be released on March 11, 2021. It adds a new start date: 200CE, the fifth year of the ''Jian An'' era and the year of Sun Ce's death. The expansion focuses on Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and their climatic showdown at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guandu Guandu]]. Liu Yan, the Governor of Yi Province from 188CE till his death in 194CE and father of Liu Zhang, would be made playable as part of the DLC; those with the relevant [=DLCs=] can also play as Gong Du, King Mulu, Meng Huo, Shamoke, and Sun Ce in the new start date. The patch accompanying the [=DLC=] will also allow Ma Teng and Yuan Shu to be playable in 182 CE, and for those with the relevant [=DLCs=] to play as Liu Chong and He Yi in 194 CE.

** The achievement for controlling all jade resources is called [[VideoGame/JadeEmpire "Jade Empire"]].

** There is an option on the tech tree [[VideoGame/RomeTotalWar to begin trading]] [[VideoGame/TotalWarRomeII with the Roman Empire.]] TruthInTelevision as the Romans and the Han Chinese did come into contact with another in the era the game is set in, albeit indirectly.