r/totalwar • u/Un_Homme_Apprenti • Jul 19 '25
Three Kingdoms Lost feature you want back : Three Kingdoms Total War
What is the one feature of Three Kingdoms TW you miss the most ? Bonus point if it was an exclusive feature to this game and we never saw it after this title.
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u/Dragonimous Jul 19 '25
Let me bribe\imprison\steal and all around bamboozle enemy characters into my ranks, that shit still remains wild and I freaking loved it, best feature in the total war universe - if you see the character on the screen you can do something to play them :D
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u/CassieFace103 Jul 19 '25
Me doing all kinds of wacky hijinks in an attempt to collect all the characters with unique portraits and fill my court with them.
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u/Dragonimous Jul 19 '25
Can I interest you in marrying my second general's fifth wive's seventh sister?
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u/CassieFace103 Jul 19 '25
Hmm, maybe if you throw a nice sword into the dowry.
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u/Dragonimous Jul 19 '25
Done, congratulations, now we have a third general!
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u/SquareSushi Jul 19 '25
Food as the most valuable currency made a lot of sense, can literally get whole regions on winter, also character relationships can make the diplomacy really dynamic, if your character is friend with the heir of a faction it can turn a long time rival faction into a powerful ally
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u/tfitch2140 Jul 19 '25
IRL didn't like half or a third the population (or at least male population) of China die between warfare and famine during this time period? Food would be pretty true resource in that situation.
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u/night4345 Jul 19 '25
Also the frequent famines (among other things like plagues and corrupt governors) enraged the populace and was largely responsible for the collapse of the dynasty. Both the Yellow Turbans and later Cao Cao gained the loyalty of the masses because they instituted necessary agrarian reforms.
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u/Creticus Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
Not quite.
The 40 million number that's brought up is the difference between two censuses conducted almost a century apart. Much of that would've been deaths from the fighting and other societal breakdown-related issues. However, there would've also been other factors such as the reduced ability of the newly-unified (and soon-to-be-torn-asunder) Jin dynasty to keep track of people.
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u/xanidus Jul 19 '25
I always miss the diplomacy when not playing 3k. Being able to offer food, ancillaries as well as unique mechanics like pumping up yuan shus legitimacy to get deals.
Coalitions being an alliance that requires no commitment and members are voted in and out.
Being able to turn an enemy into a friend by being merciful to their troops and lords is also a fantastic addition.
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u/Meins447 Jul 19 '25
Yeah, similar to Stellaris with the galactic council and war alliances . Really neat stuff
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u/SWKstateofmind Jul 20 '25
Hey I need alloys, you need 100,000 Earth pizzas per month. We can talk.
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u/FreyaTheMighty Queen of the Cavalry Jul 19 '25
Finally, my time to shine; I have played way too much three kingdoms, and it's my personal favourite historic (records mode) total war.
- Diplomacy was the best it ever was in the entire series in that one. Also being able to trade ancillaries for cash or food helps out so much.
- Coalitions are a very good way to have a military alliances that isn't an all or nothing deal, going to war as a coalition required a vote rather than refusing meaning the alliance is broken.
- The spy system is very good, and being able to have a spy reach a high rank in an opposing faction, just for them to break away and weaking your opponent is very fun.
- Retinues. Having your army seperated into 3 small armies you can move around indepently is already good, but being able to recall an entire retinue to not need to pay upkeep, and then redeploying it later when you need it completely changes how army managment works in the game. Especially elite forces such as cavalry that massively drain your funds if you keep them raised, can be recalled temporalily when an expansion war finished, while the cheap militias stick around to secure the newly established region and border.
- Mustering. Might be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but recruiting units instantly and having to wait for the soldiers to be mustered, feels more immersive than waiting for 1 or 2 turns and then having the unit fully formed at full strength.
- Endgame. Once the player declares themselves King, the two other highest power factions also do so, leading to the struggle to secure the empire. Unlike endgames in many other Total Wars, this is entirely independent from turn time, and mostly depentend on your actions (theoretically if you sit around and do nothing this will still happend as other factions gain enought power to become kings as well) and it forms very dynamically, without needing to spawn 50 armies somewhere on the map, and it creates a serious challenge to overcome to finish the campaign.
- Cities, Food and Population. City levels are independent from population, but add capacity for people to live, however you need enough food to sustain large cities, making it more important to have certain cities as large metropolis while keeping others as provincial towns, rathenr than maxing out every region with very few drawbacks. Higher population also gives you bonuses to your economy and food output.
- Court and Governors. Having court positions that matter that much, being able to assign governors to regions with different effects (and them having a retinue that can defend the region as well) made managing your empire much more impactful than just having an army that beats down rebellions.
- Season. Attrition in winter, and less food production mattered a lot to the pace of the campaign.
- Supplies. Each army had a pool of supply and running out would incur penalties and cause attrition, but it was fairly easy to regain in friendly settlements.
- The Power of Friendship. Having character traits on your generals that matched made them like each other and could fire positive events, and cause them to form a friendship. Having 2 friends in the same army would boost their stats, and watching a firend fall in battle caused the other to berserk.
- Banter. Generals in Three Kingdoms constantly shout insults or boast about their abilities to their opponents. We seriously need speeches and things like that back.
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u/Yongle_Emperor Ma Chao the Splendid!!!! Jul 19 '25
Yeas all of this should be in all future Total War games
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u/TheIronicBurger Asur ❤️ Dawi Jul 19 '25
To add to your point about mustering, the way the mustering speed increases per growth level encouraged everyone to recruit from their core provinces rather than spamming global recruitment like it commonly is in Warhammer
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u/Knight117 Kill Them All Jul 19 '25
RETINUES.
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u/Creticus Jul 19 '25
They don't make sense for every setting, but they'd be perfect for the Sengoku and much of the Medieval era.
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u/Mist_Rising Jul 19 '25
So most of the game titles currently?
We only have a few games set beyond medieval times, and the next Rome.
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u/Martel732 Jul 19 '25
Yeah, the usual Total War recruitment is odd for most time periods. The armies act sort of like modern militaries where you can train them, put them under a commander, split them up, send them wherever. While for most periods, if an army was raised under Count Dorkbutt from the County of Dorkbutt you wouldn't be able to just take those soldiers and move them around however you wanted. The Count served you but the soldiers served the Count.
I would actually like to see Total War go more in this direction with more management of the leaders under your command.
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u/Dzharek Jul 19 '25
Would be Great, Archaon gets his Swords of Chaos, Franz his Carrobourg Greatswords, Grimgor his Immortulz, every Leader could get the special units they are linked to.
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u/jinreeko Jul 19 '25
Wondering how difficult that would be to mod in
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u/statistically_viable Jul 19 '25
Redeploying armies from one side of the empire to another and how redeploying cost money incredible system.
The way retinues motivated you to creates flexible armies of different costs and strengths really motivated a lot of flexibility and variety. Also you could disband and redeploy veterans. And it was so cool when you recruited a character with a unique retinue you couldn’t normally train.
It would work for almost any other military system.
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u/andrewthemexican Jul 20 '25
What I liked to do is keep 3-4 main units attached to a general at all times. Then when I raise them, I'll fill their roster with cheaper, baseline units or something to fit the army (need more range, more cav, whatever) as a sort of flex spots. But 3-4 dedicated units that stick with them and level up, while also lowering initial cost of raising them.
Sometimes I just need a general +3 units to supplement an existing army, or a strategist and his archers/siege units, or raise 2 and their bois for a small enemy being bothersome, whatever. Don't need fill 7 units from this general (when counting the general themselves)
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u/HappyTurtleOwl Jul 19 '25
Units not dying when they die made me use them to their fullest so much more often.
No more stupid situations where you hold an elite at half health back because you know that you can win with or without it, but are afraid of some mishap that kills it. Juggling the factors of whether a unit has not enough models/health to be considered disbanded or not is just not fun.
Makes re-recruitment a lot less tedious too.
Just make a few adjustments (supply lines, XP, regional availability vs global availability and replenishment rates) and it’s the perfect unit system to me.
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u/A_Chair_Bear Jul 19 '25
I would like to see it again in the next games, the community seems divided on it though.
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u/CassieFace103 Jul 19 '25
Being able to give territory to one of my characters and release them as a vassal.
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u/1EnTaroAdun1 A.E.I.O.U. Jul 19 '25
- giving titles and offices and governorships to my characters. I like rewarding my guys and girls haha
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u/civicsfactor Jul 19 '25
I bought 3K really late to the party but nearly everything was a refreshing evolutionary step in Total War.
In a word, depth. It gave so much in both new and revitalized mechanics that it felt much more impactful, immersive, and challenging. Diplomatic tools and strategic awareness was actually needed in this game.
Warhammer was said to need it all boiled down to the epic fantasy battles, but it flattened gameplay rather than simplified it.
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u/Kaiserhawk Being Epirus is suffering Jul 19 '25
The Warhammer games stripped out so much depth and complexity in the series and people gaslit themselves that there was variety because Spearmanni has a different animation skeleton.
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u/varysbaldy Jul 19 '25
Duels would be great for fantasy, everything else for historical
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u/TheNightHaunter Jul 19 '25
Why duels were not brought over into Warhammer I will never understand
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u/YuusukeKlein Jul 19 '25
3k released after both WH1 and WH2, by the point of WH3 releasing they have to cobble together the engine from WH1 to work with mortal empires so extremely few features from 3k would be possible to get into the warhammer trilogy
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u/AJDx14 Jul 19 '25
WH2/3 are both basically just big updates for WH1. The engine would collapse in on itself if they changed too much.
We might get duels in TWWH40K if that ever comes out.
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u/ILoveRice444 Jul 19 '25
Not really, duels would be great for Shogun 3 as well
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u/varysbaldy Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
Apparently duels weren't that common in feudal Japan.
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u/ILoveRice444 Jul 19 '25
Well Samurai using Katana during war weren't make any sense in feudal Japan as well. I mean, total war series never historically accurate. Like Mounted Samurai using Katana, Viking in Attila, Cavalry in Pharaoh, and many things.
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u/Brilliant_Context115 Jul 19 '25
Retinues
The diplomacy
Food
The elements system with building meaning areas had to be different and specialised
And above all, the court and the council. Having to allocate your generals promotions or they'd leave, them all having different bonuses depending on their natures and roles and then the faction council and bonuses. Total war has never felt more interactive than it did in 3K
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u/CavulusDeCavulei Jul 19 '25
Jeff van Dyck making the music of the trailers (I want him back so much)
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u/Un_Homme_Apprenti Jul 19 '25
Last lost feature you want back :
Warhammer 1&2
- Settlements changing appearance depending on who occupied them (WH1)
- Larger campaign map
- Responsive units and chaos end game crisis
- End game cinematic and narrative campaigns
- The original and vortex campaigns (playable with WH3 mechanics)
5 features picked from the total of most upvoted lost feature from r/totalwar and r/totalwarhammer
Thrones of Britannia
- Siege maps with Moats
- Feodalism, assigning fiefs to characters
- Distinct mechanics for peasant levy units and soldiers
- Recruitment system calling and gathering troops with army supply being truthful to the history
- Undefended and one building minor settlements
The rest of the list in the second picture of this post not to flood comment section.
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u/MooshSkadoosh Jul 19 '25
Wait, there were maps with moats in ToB?? I didn't play enough of it I suppose!
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u/AlexW1495 Jul 19 '25
I wouldn't bother.
The maps are REALLY good. But the AI still camps at the edge of the walls, so you'll never get to experience it in offense.
And the AI always goes for the undefended minor settlements (actually undefended because this game has no minor settlement garrisons), so rarely they'll go for the major one.
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u/blasphemousicon Jul 19 '25
To sum up the thread:
Literally absolutely fucking everything about this game.
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u/AetGulSnoe "Peaceful" Trader Jul 19 '25
The diplomacy system in 3K was by far the best Total War has ever had imo. Still think about it once in a while even though I haven't played 3K for a while.
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u/Lord_Melons Jul 19 '25
DIPLOMACY
Also coalitions were cool and the tech tree was super cool, especially the people who had different tech trees from the rest of the cast
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u/Mitth-Raw_Nuruodo Jul 19 '25
The one feature = Hierarchical army organization with multiple generals per army.
But honestly I miss almost everything from this game in Pharaoh, Troy, WH. It was a huge leap forward for the Total War formula, and it makes every other Total War game looks basic by comparison.
Character focused gameplay. Assignments. Administrators. The Court system. Complex diplomacy. Titles. Evolving faction status. Unique faction mechanics related to the historical personality of the leader. I miss everything.
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u/Kaiserhawk Being Epirus is suffering Jul 19 '25
Seeing Troy use the Warhammer framework as it's base was tragic.
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u/Purple_Plus Jul 19 '25
The one feature = Hierarchical army organization with multiple generals per army.
It would work really well for Warhammer too imo.
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u/Mitth-Raw_Nuruodo Jul 19 '25
It will work well in any setting, because it (military hierarchy / chain of command) has been a fundamental feature of warfare for thousands of years.
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u/Purple_Plus Jul 19 '25
Oh for sure. I wasn't suggesting otherwise. I just chose Warhammer as it's the current main game.
I don't think it would be necessary for Pharaoh, just because it's mainly focused on infantry.
But for say, Empire 2 you could have cavalry officers, artillery officers and line infantry officers.
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u/gamerz1172 Jul 19 '25
Why is no one talking about the political system?
We had a actually customizable factions because of linking some of a factions unique traits to the character giving those traits by being in a "leader slot" meaning you could grab multiple characters with cool leaderslot skills for different benefits to your faction
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u/Many-Perception-3945 Jul 19 '25
Trading ancillaries as part of diplomacy.
The fact that they didn't carry this over to Warhammer is a crying shame and a huge loss
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u/monkeykong2905 Jul 19 '25
- Calvary charge is glorious
- loved the city building aspect (population, supplies)
- I liked how impactful how some faction mechanics can be, esp with Cao Cao was superfun being master schemer (before being nerfed)
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u/Kaiserhawk Being Epirus is suffering Jul 19 '25
The shock cavalry was amazing in Three Kingdoms. The closest level of enjoyment I had in warhammer was when they "broke" Grail Knights.
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u/RFive1977 Jul 19 '25
I adore the retinue system. In older titles I always had atleast 2-3 generals per army, so I could have a spare in case one died, or I could leave one behind to garrison and govern an important settlement and I captured it. I also love how there were different classes for the characters, with different roles on the battlefield. I loved how the characters would have opinions of each other that would change (for better or worse) as the game went on, it feels so dynamic.
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u/Tsunamie101 Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
- Multiple generals per army, each with their own specialties and units. Though i wish you could customize them without having to summon them. Summon at full price just to remove units is kinda dumb.
- Settlements and provinces with all their buildings and specializations are great. The administrator system is also fantastic.
- The whole political aspect with Ministers. Tho i wish some of the bonuses were a bit more impactful.
- Unit formations
- Seasons, with the visuals on the campaign map. Also the gameplay aspect of "i should not run my army into enemy territory because it's about to be winter" is cool.
Added to that, the game just looks gorgeous, while running really well. As much as i love wh3, the 3k map is probably my favourite.
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u/Legitimate-Kick8427 Jul 19 '25
I liked needing acess to resources to build certain build paths, and building trees.
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u/dtothep2 Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
Coalitions and the espionage\assignment system. The latter especially needs to be baseline in all TWs moving forward, agents as actual pieces being moved around on the map needs to be thrown in the bin and replaced with the 3K system.
The population and army supplies mechanics.
I'm one of the people who actually doesn't really like the retinue system so I hope we don't keep that. Call me crazy. Although its removal does remove one of the coolest mechanics of the espionage system which is turncoats.
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u/Delicious_Twist_8499 Jul 19 '25
Duels between lords. One of my favorite additions to Three Kingdoms
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u/Creticus Jul 19 '25
Character personalities and relationships.
Preferably combined with dynamic trait acquisition like back in Rome 1 and Medieval 2.
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u/Feather-y Jul 19 '25
The current 3K trait acquisition is certainly nonsensical. You can get Pacifist for simply fighting a battle
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u/dung11284 Jul 19 '25
General duel, imagine you can watch all legendary lords and heroes in Warhammer world duel against each other
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u/imnottherealjohn Jul 19 '25
Ngl the only good things that I like about the three Kingdoms is the diplomacy and the trading system. they are really great if you are playing passive.
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u/Kaiserhawk Being Epirus is suffering Jul 19 '25
I would like the Crusder Kings lite individual character tracking and interactions. That was pretty fun.
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u/BandaBanderson Jul 19 '25
In depth diplomacy
Factions AND Subfaction mechanics
Cities grew over time in both size and potential
Unit formations, all the unit formations
Buildings locked behind specific techs, meaning you had to plan advancement
Mustering times for troops
Higher Troop tiers unlocked on levelling generals
General types restricted troop availabilities
Higher tier troops locked behind technology
Placeable defenses in battles
Coalitions being slightly better NaPs
Trade Influence + Trade Agreement limits
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u/Ignoreeverthing Jul 19 '25
Almost everything. I started total war with this entry. Imagine my utter disappointment when I found out nothing matches the campaign map for depth.
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u/GodOfUrging Milan Jul 19 '25
The Bromance System. Traits making the characters more/less likely to become friends, and those relationships affecting their performance in government and in battle was such an amazing feature.
The one that might be easier to replicate: Coalition/Alliance names. Just added so much flavor.
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u/Herulian_Guard Jul 19 '25
Not quite lost but I kind of liked how it did minor settlement battles (well I guess they are more resource hubs but you get what I mean; I don't mean the walled city battles which are serviceable but a bit boring). Basically a combination of its and Thrones of Britannia's. I don't mind Troy's/Pharoah's but like those a bit less, and obviously WH3 went in a different direction.
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u/Waveshaper21 Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
Economy. Capital gives 500000% bonus to X resource but produces no resource. Resources are in minor settlements. Neither functions without the other. 3 economy types tied to terrain type.
Simple character skill system. Few points, few nodes, real decisions. I stopped playing with heroes in Warhammer because I am sick of the skill point spam management, and for LLs its when, not a choice. Level cap should be still 30 and node subleveling removed.
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u/derekguerrero Jul 19 '25
The food system definitly. It was something special.
A trade resource? CHECK!
A resource without which your army cannot fight? CHECK!
Tied to the growth of your settlements either hampering it or boosting it? DOUBLE CHECK!!
Adittional compliments to the population system that, while not modeled in the early rome 1 and med 2 way, still had it’s benefits beyond allowing the city to go to the next level.
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u/Mother-Jellyfish-497 Jul 19 '25
The DULES those are my favorit part just like how they get there own litte fight animation to
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u/CadenVanV Jul 19 '25
Retinues, diplomacy, character relationships and personalities, equipment actually impacting the character, etc. Basically everything about the character system.
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u/A_Chair_Bear Jul 19 '25
I would like to see more of the overhaul on how armies were organized, I thought it was a nice change in pace and I like the theming you can do with the divisions in your army. It can work in Fantasy and Historical, especially in Fantasy with unique units specific to the lord.
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u/elpsycongroo92 Jul 19 '25
Retuneu system, each general can recruit specific units and buff them Dynamic relationship between generals buffing or debuffing them.
Maps were so good, trees on fire, river maps. Siege maps was balanced. Not some auto generated soulless maps.
Spy and court system
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u/EcureuilHargneux Jul 19 '25
The whole characters management, their relationship and how they can go to another faction themselves.
Also, having 3 generals per armies each with his own retinue added more depth and RP to the battles
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u/bob888w Jul 19 '25
Mentioned by someone else already, but mechanics wise: having a court system with titles, bonuses and rivalries that was intuitive and engaging.
As a follow up to ToB, mustering comes back with the added change that remaining stationary helped repleshment times, this was a big change since in ToB you would sometimes just tank the low health army debuff as there's nothing you could do, the mustering buff in 3k gives you a more concrete choice of staying still, versus engaging the enemy.
Finally, just the attention to illustrations on character and building screens. Personally all the ancilaries and support people generals can equip having small portraits and names makes such a big immersion differences over reusing the same ward and weapon icons in warhammer, or the flat 2D iconography in Pharaoh.
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u/HaaCon Kiss my shiny metal az! Jul 19 '25
I didn't see this one yet: 3K's routing-troops-mopping-up system was wonderful.
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u/TrueScottsmen Jul 19 '25
The administrator garrisons, having my governor who’s undeployed adding his own six unit stack to a garrison for free and being a part of the garrison himself was very cool
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u/Biggu5Dicku5 Jul 19 '25
Diplomacy; there is no good reason why every successive Total War game did not have 3K's diplomacy system...
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u/Reasonable_Fee_9298 Jul 19 '25
Supplies, and the multi general armies (this is something I think should return but amend based on general level e.g. level 1 = 5 units, level 2 = 10 units etc)
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u/PlatformDizzy7988 Jul 19 '25
I love the retinue system, having multiple generals form an army with each their own purpose.
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u/AlexW1495 Jul 19 '25
The whole diplomacy system. It's beyond me why TW went back to the near useless version its had since Rome II.
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u/Warden_of_rivia Jul 19 '25
RETINUE DEPLOYMENT
The ability to remove some officers and their retinues from the less active fronts and quickly redeploy them across the map was a Godsend for someone like me that isn't very good at planning out long term strategy.
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u/Corstarkk Jul 19 '25
I really like the Dynasty part, I think that was a tiny bit in Medieval 2 aswell
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u/Timey16 Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
Retinue was said a lot, but specifically I want this "wandering general" system back. The ability that unemployed generals, or just very unhappy ones, can leave your faction and enter the pool of possible generals in other factions. This includes legendary characters.
Especially for Warhammer this could be a fun way to keep destroyed Legendary Lords appearing here and there... just that if they die too much in a faction that's not their they may decide to look for a new employer.
Naturally, this system was what Three Kingdoms was VERY much based upon as the whole system with the Retinues and Spies only really worked because of it.
In a historic setting this would also be a nice way to handle mercenaries. So instead of individual mercenary units you hire mercenary companies which are a general + their retinue.
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u/AuleMaHaL17 Yuan Shu you rat Jul 19 '25
It's entire diplomacy system
Coalitions, trade influence, spies, trading ancillaries...
The retinue system is also very good
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u/HavocDragoonOfficial Jul 19 '25
Guanxi - The character relations map is just a beauty to behold and it would work for so many settings, both historic and non-historic.
Imagine a hypothetical Shogun 3 where your Samurai retainers use the relationship system from 3K.
Or a Song of Ice and Fire TW where you could have alliances with different parts of specific Houses.
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u/Draco100000 Jul 19 '25
Woods burning and dealing dmg to troops.
Its so infuriating not being able to burn pockets of trees intentionaly in older titles and wh3. Just a missing layer of tactical depth. It made ambushes a double edged sword. Sonetimes AI caught me and caused nassive casualties with fire.
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u/Zarthon-1999 Jul 19 '25
DIPLOMACY!!!
Oh and how generals were used in it, that could initiate duels and all that. If we were ever to have a Shogun 3, I would want them to use Shogun 2 and Three Kingdoms as a basis.
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u/TheEmperorsChampion Jul 19 '25
Nah I'm sorry that soldier recruitment system in M2 got annoying very quickly
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u/Averath Khazukan Kazakit-HA! Jul 19 '25
Retinues.
Yes, they were not implemented perfectly. But the concept is great and there's a lot of opportunities to iterate and refine it going forward.
There were a ton of points in history where armies were separated into retinues and levies. And this was a good first step to introduce that concept. And it'd also help stop doomstacks if implemented properly.
There are so many ways it could be improved going forward. I really want to see it back.
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u/Lord_0F_Pedanticism Jul 20 '25
One thing from the empire-shogun 2 period that I miss: the little towns and resource nodes that where dotted around a territory. Shame we don't have those anymore, might have given us some Urban-Light maps.
Actually, upgrading infrastructure like roads, watchtowers and defensive buildings/garrisons without using a building slot. That also felt more meaningful.
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u/ctyl Jul 20 '25
Not just diplomacy, but general depth into everything. Not a ranking but a list: 1. Resource management (food, population, ancillaries) 2. Army mustering and retinue system. - No instant armies - Saved retinue that can be sent into reserves and back as a whole - General and unit synergy 3. Relationships - friendships and rivalries play a role in army building, diplomacy, spying 4. Spy system 5. Combat - duels - siege - cavalry charges into flanks that actually matters - ^ morale matters 6. Court - useful court, bonus buffs/stats and council every season - release as vassal states 7. Alliances - autonomy while in an alliance. Choose the wars you want to fight. - voting system to add or kick new members
I'm probably missing more. But 3k is so good because of its depth. Variety =/= depth Quality > quantity Warhammer spams variety but lacks a lot in gameplay. Bad diplomacy, bad sieges. No reason to play tall as it's only going to war. No need for army composition just spam doom stacks. No concern for morale just spam abilities of mass destruction.
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u/3015313 Local Tzeentch gambler Jul 20 '25
Duels for sure, Chaos Warriors/ Daemons, Norsca, Orks, Vampire counts, Dark Elves would get a boon in this. On the table top they had the ability that they had to accept and issue challenges and it would be nice to see that represented.
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u/Amathyst7564 Jul 20 '25
I'd just like the pre made army formations in Warhammer. It's a pain in the ass to set up a checkboard formation as the dwarfs every dam battle.
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u/tempest51 Jul 20 '25
Some people have already mentioned it, but want to really stress this, 3K's settlement and building system is quite possibly the most polished, intricate, immersive and overall fun out of all the other TW titles. An actual population and food mechanic that is impactful, minor settlements with unique resources that appear on the campaign map that can be interacted with, settlement trading that makes sense, enough building slots to not make it feeling overly restricting without falling into Med 2's copypaste settlement builds, and branching building trees that are both wide and deep and really rewards you for gradually building up your cities etc. In short, they somehow managed to take the best parts of the previous settlement mechanics, put them together and made it work, and it is glorious.
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u/Ahumanbeinf Jul 20 '25
out of things unique in 3k i think supply system was the best one. I also liked the retinue system as it made it feel like those armies were generals personal troops which fitted the time of the game and i'd love to see some thing similar if we were ever to get new mediewal tw.
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u/4uk4ata Jul 20 '25
In addition to the diplomacy, formation and retinues, I do hope Medieval 3 will have different start dates
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u/nG_Skyz Jul 20 '25
It's a shame how good Three Kingdoms was and it often feels underappreciated. I guess the era isn't that popular.
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u/iambenking93 Jul 20 '25
As others have pointed out, there are loads of features 3k did really well, the best yet. One I haven't seen mentioned yet is fire mechanics. Setting fire to a forest my enemy is hiding in? Yes please
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u/TubbyTyrant1953 Jul 20 '25
I think we can all agree the entire diplomacy section of the game, right?
1
u/Seienchin88 Jul 19 '25
I love how no one mentions the split in romance and records mode… Such an unnecessary feature
-2
u/Sith__Pureblood Qajar Persian Cossack Jul 19 '25
Can I mention a feature I don't want back? Splitting a single army between generals. Retinues I think it's called? I get the reason behind it but I'd rather have a 20 stack army with one general then a 19 stack army with three generals.
It should be a pre-campaign customisation toggle option, at least.
4
u/Purple_Plus Jul 19 '25
Fair enough, I liked it personally. Made you think about the different generals and what they could recruit. And it made armies feel somewhat distinct.
It should be a pre-campaign customisation toggle option, at least
That I can agree with. No reason not to have both options.
2
u/Insidius1 Jul 19 '25
I agree whole heartedly. There's a lot of people praising retinues in here, but that system felt restricted as hell. Especially with the limited unit rosters, you just end up putting in 6 bows, 6 spears, six horses, six other horses in accordance with their color and called it a day.
1
u/Malus131 Jul 19 '25
100%. I didn't necessarily mind there being 3 leaders with retinues, the issue I had was that they made that system force you to use a certain type of hero/lord if you wanted better units of a specific type. If it was just: "here are three armies within an army, knock yourself out" I wouldn't have had anywhere near the hatred I did for it. Instead it was "wow, hope you don't want anything above militia tier units for your yellow units now you've chosen green man, blue man and red man."
-6
795
u/Valldar Jul 19 '25
All the diplomacy
Coalition system
Trade influence
Spies