It’s true that with the number of armies you’ll be fielding that more involved combat could drag the game down, but that’s what auto-resolving is for. It’s not bad and does its job, but it’s just so boring. Combat consists of you ramming your army at an enemy army like you’re a six year old playing with action figures and the larger army wins. Here you have a handful of formation and size options, and that’s it. You can’t affect the actual combat, but you can build the army as best you can. Usually auto-combat games balance it out with an extensive army building section.
This game has an even more egregious implementation of it. At best it feels like an afterthought with no direct ability to change or even effect the outcome. The game doesn’t bother explaining them though, and they barely effect combat so just go with sounds cool I guess. These words technically all mean something for attacks. Inter-court politics is almost non-existent, which is questionable given the source material. Once you set your court in order, there’s really no need or incentive to change it. Government planning is actually quite extensive, but it’s a one and done kinda deal. Diplomacy is rudimentary and in some scenarios completely useless. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV has none of this however. Involved diplomacy perhaps, some intricate government planning maybe, or some good old combat which never fails. It just means there needs to be something to fill the time. Tiring enough the first time, almost rage inducing the twentieth. So it’s about nine turns where your army is doing nothing but literally wandering in circles, in order to do something most strategy games resolve in a single one. A standard village will have about 45+ hexes, and an average army will capture about 5 per round. Sounds easy enough and the way each faction is color coded makes for easy differentiating between territories. This is done by moving an army through each hex, including the “node” or center hex containing the city/village. See, in order to capture an area you have to capture each hex. The truly soul-crushing number of hexes even at the start really sets the stage for the game. These hexes are where my issues began, right with the basic movement and capture mechanics. Think of Civilization, but on a grand strategy scale. Each village and city area is composed of small hexes, which is where combat and movement takes place. The map is separated into regions, which consist of multiple cities, which are each surrounded by a few supporting villages.
Everything from combat to governor appointments takes place on a single grand campaign map.
ROTTK XIV is a 4X strategy game in the vein of Paradox titles such as Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron.
Still, I feel that other newcomers would feel likewise that this game is far too monotonous and dull, especially given the other options available.
Granted it’s entirely possible issues I had are considered features by series veterans. After playing it however, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV definitely left me wanting. So as a huge fan of both the genre and the story, I was intrigued and excited to try it out. I wasn’t even previously aware this franchise existed, let alone that Dynasty Warriors was its spin-off.
Full disclaimer, this is my first Romance of the Three Kingdoms experience.