How to Get Started as Ma Teng | Early Game Legendary Difficulty Playbook Patch 1.7.1 

Use mods like make them unique

@@valguero0478Modders shouldn't be fixing the game for free, we paid like $70 base game, they are a million dollar company and can't make like 20 more portraits?

balanced gameplay

right for only one of the tiers though but yes that will help too

Abandon infantry return to horse.

Well MTU mod made him unique, so I guess you can try that out

Use the mod from workshop called wu kingdaissance it adds probably 100 new characters minimum

*Dev Update Drop: Me: Well shit, looks like I'm downloading the mod.

@@GeneralHellsing i could never get WU to work fully. Really wanted to see the difference between that and MTU but for some reason it never really worked for me 🧐

@@samsara5214 Weird were you running it with the other kingdaissance mods?Or were you trying to run it with mtu mods

Development: I left Han Sui alone and we are good friends still, and not attacked any Han factions at all but rather go south for the tribes where I had a lot of fun with Qiang hunters since tribes don't have cavalry and non walled settlements. At first it was easy peasy but eventually I learned that miasma debuff is a bitch. Nonetheless my army comp is Ma Teng, his wife and his 1st born daughter (forgot the names). The lvl 10 horse archers with his wife buffs are insane. Also I discovered a cheese strat where you can attack a full garrison town (when it's not an open battle), burn down towers, pelt the low armor units with my archers, then retreat and then load up another battle. Rinse and repeat. In some other total war games your army goes away from the settlement when you retreat but here they stay put and you can just engage again and replenish ammo. So actually a really fun campaign. Then I will go north to help Han Sui with the pesky looters and yellow turban. Liu Bien is at my door as well which is kinda scary.

seems like you have discovered the cycle siege cheese (you can also do it with trebuchets)

@@SeriousTriviaIs it cheese thou? I imagine they probably did just throw all their ammo at something then took a small rest and then went at it again IRL.

he will be next week!

Yuan shu area is gonna be a impenetrable stronghold once you grind liu biao and his vassals into dust thanks to the addition of a lumberyard for Nanyang Strong economy, strong generals in xu huang and ji ling and an heir in sun ce, and a possible vassal and a trade partner in shangyong. And Many allies thanks to his special diplomatic option.

you should then want to ambush them outside that pass. You can either reset you economy by disbanding your troops and wait to properly have a full army or you can try to ambush them outside the pas with the army at hand.

Tax the world ;)

He is next week!

we already did a Dong Zhuo guide. The map change really doesn't affect his start though...

its always been there for polearm versus polearm.

what do you mean? I done this start probably more than five times and I can beat him down every time...you can beat him in the first battle right? if his retreat path is back to his land, then just chase him right away...

@@SeriousTrivia Thank you for the answer! ;) After he rans from a camp and me chase, then win on his territory, there's no movement lelf, both of us stuck on his territory, so what comes next turn is just regret and grief. Instead at the start I rolled some good weapon, recruited Hua Lanli and changed units to the shield and spear ones - that was the only way of continuing my dao of delegating

Stats don’t have that great of a multiplier and honestly will not do a lot for you. Go for the active abilities (especially damage or morale ones). There is a much more detailed character build guide on each class if you search the playlists

with so many factions I haven't played yet I might not repeat one for a while

@@SeriousTrivia That's entirely fair. Just figured I'd ask~

They change them from patch to patch and maybe you were on a different start date?

Then just expand without him bothering you. His first battle is usually the hardest part of this campaign and if he doesn’t attack you in your case then all the better

Yes there is a playlist of all the ones I have done so far and a new one comes out every Wednesday

Split your army and ambush one and show the other to bait him over

It’s your cpu. Load screens and end turns take the most cpu for the game.

@@SeriousTrivia are you sure I have a decent cpu but I am upgrading soon. I just didn't think my cpu and motherboard upgrading will do anything but I'm getting both upgraded

@@SeriousTrivia I also run it on an SSD I hope that isn't the issue. And I would assume it has to be either the motherboard or cpu. I haven't had issues until recently with most this stuff.

It sounds like the cpu most likely because I had similar issues with an old system years back when the cpu burned out

@@SeriousTrivia you think it might be burned out? Hmm I'm upgrading but the one I have now is a B450m Pro-f

it give flat peasantry and percentage commerce. I mean you are really upgrading to unlock the level five upgrades and the last two building slots. Those are just extra bonuses

@@SeriousTrivia so do those bonuses only effect buildings in those unlock slots or the entire commandery?

@@xmixaplix only in that commandery

@@SeriousTrivia nice as I thought 👍

you have to keep an army there or abandon the idea of holding wuwei

@@SeriousTrivia thx for the quick answer, keep up with ur good work :)

I mean the roars are based on Zhang Fei's roar in the novel. If anything the roar from Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber would take inspiration from these roars since it was written much much later

Yes that’s the perfect way to do it or you can even divorce her, move her off and while she is extremely mad at you, use her as marriage bait to get say Cao Ren then just see her leave while you get to keep Cao Ren ;)

That is brilliant, honestly would not of thought about marriage bait, have got over 300 hours on 3k, still don't understand some of the mechanics but always learn something new, when watching your vids..... keep up the great work mate 🙂

He has a mechanic with his unity resource where he can spend unity to take Han land peacefully so it’s not an attack and thus does not hurt his standing

@@SeriousTrivia oof. I should know that since my 1st ever campaign was with him but that was 2 years ago :) thx for the answer. Liu Bei OP :D

nope. You are just allies with Han Sui

@@SeriousTrivia ok then why does the map on the loading screen show them as allies

very good catch! it must be a mistake as you are also not at war with Yuan Shao either

@@SeriousTrivia thank you

You're not a vassal either, so that's really weird. I assume it's to show how he holds the emperor so by default you are technically a vassal? Kind of weird.

If you are looking for naturally great commanderies to carry you then probably Sun Jian would be the way to go. Not many trade partners available for you anyways and most of the southern commanderies are top tier

or I highly recommend Zheng Jiang. Once your war prowess nets you some demand tribute, you don't have to worry about commanderies ever again

@@SeriousTrivia Thank you so much! I'll try both out!

@@SeriousTrivia Ok, so test runs over. Absolutely Sun Jian, no huge issues. Alsmost too easy in some areas (avoid the west for a while lol). However, I tried Gongsun Zan and wow! An excellent fit for my style. Key was ignoring some early game quests and forcing Gongsun Du to the North to attack by rushing the trade port. Once he did attack (and he will, ran that multiple times), wipe him and immdeiately ally with Liu Bei and Cao Cao (if possible, if not Liu Bei may attack and/or Cao Cao will; scheme against you) and work to destroy Yuan Shao (after the other factions blocking). This is a big hand shake with Cao Cao as he love enemies of his enemies lol! Tough battle with Yuan Shao, but with some tactics, ambushing, etc. not so bad. Afterwards, I began allying with those opposing Cao Cao and went to war, eventually after a lot of commandery building (trade ports, horse pastures [bad ass for this faction's leader]), convinced Liu Bei to become a vassal and the rest is history. However, Sun Ce in the southlands is the issue as he was alloowed to grow virtually unopposed. I should be able to contend with him after some more diplomacy, trade deals, and a 6th full stack of legendary generals, along with a slight push further SW. Of course, that was way oversimplified, but...Thanks again ST

if he is no longer there then the background bonus is gone too

@@SeriousTrivia Thanks for your quick reply that explains a lot my campaign was harder after he died and Yuan Shao and his vassals were a pain in the ass 😅

There are a free red reforms that reduce recruitment but I don’t think anything changes upkeep

@@SeriousTrivia What about Hierachial Enfoffement?

@@Jacobs9991 guess there is one lol

It’s optional. If you want to push and eliminate him for good then you should go for it. If you don’t mind him coming back later with a big stack and just want to focus on economic development early then no you don’t want to waste resources and time chasing him

@SeriousTrivia thanks soo much man I was stuck ok back at it now thanks

Just your Qiang units

then don't play like me lol

@@SeriousTrivia Agree. The way you play is really shitty.

@@PrimeChaosVC much like the comments you write I guess lol

@@SeriousTrivia nope you are good at exploting the ai. Thats all. nice tricks though. But not really playing the game. Nice tricks.

@@PrimeChaosVC my stance is that if it gets patched, it is an exploit or else it is just a feature. What is the point of showing honor to an AI when real wars aren't fought with honor or rules. Whatever gets the job done basically.