How To Be The Best Diplomat In The Three Kingdoms

Get To Know The Basics

Opening up the diplomacy menu presents you with a basic suite of categories.These include such options as War & Peace, Trade & Marriage, and Diplomatic Treaties. The diplomatic actions available to you depend on your faction leader’s current court rank.

For instance, Cao Cao begins the game at the rank of noble and thus doesn’t have access to all diplomatic actions. As the campaign goes on, you’ll find that your toolset expands along with your faction’s land holdings and influence. So don’t be alarmed if the full suite of options isn’t open to you yet. Just level up your court ranking and you’re good to go.

Haggling & Trading

One of the most basic functions of diplomacy is the ability to engage in trade with other factions or vassals. Trade has been reworked for this Total War title, and now allows for haggling.

Each item offered up in a trade negotiation comes with a numerical value attached to it, dependent on the faction leader’s personality traits. If you can present items resulting in a higher value than what you’re asking from the other party, the trade is a go.

For example, if you’re low on military supplies, you can ask your neighbour Ma Teng for some, though it’ll come with a -5 trade value. He will offer up 300 coin as payment, which then bumps up the trade value to +4.

This means you’ll be at -1 in trade total, so you’ll need to bump it up to make him agree to the trade. You can do this by reducing the number of supplies you’re asking for, or add something else to the deal. You can even get it sorted quickly with the Make It Work button, where your side of the trade bar auto-fills with items Ma Teng will accept.

In most cases, the most valuable commodity with which you can barter is regions. If you find yourself lacking allies in a war and you control several provinces, you can often convince other factions to take up arms in your name by offering them one of yours. It’s hard to refuse a shiny new tract of land; plus, this has the added bonus of reducing the amount of upkeep you must pay each turn.

Making Friends

There are two types of alliances in Three Kingdoms: military alliances and coalitions. They differ in many ways, but both require good diplomacy to properly leverage.

Military alliances are formal pacts that make sure you and the other party have each other’s backs. In order to participate in an alliance of this type, all involved warlords must at least have the rank of Marquis. The idea of “shared defence” is central here, in that what affects one faction affects the other.

Members of an alliance are duty-bound to participate in wars together, which can be beneficial for several obvious reasons. However, if you break your oath of allegiance, your faction leader will be seen as treacherous, not just by the faction you betrayed, but by all factions.

If military alliances are a bit too binding for your taste, give a coalition a try.  It’s a relaxed agreement that does not obligate you to participate in other members’ wars. It can be reassuring to know that you won’t necessarily be punished for ignoring a call for help, but remember that it goes both ways; don’t be surprised when Yuan Shu, who is known for being power hungry, betrays you at the most inopportune time.

A big part of the game’s diplomacy is watching coalitions form and dissolve. Seeing which ones become central to your campaign is an important part of emerging victorious. In many cases, keeping up to date on alliances can improve your chances of diplomatic success.

Three Kingdoms makes this easy by including a “group by faction” button in the diplomacy menu that lets you see who is allied with whom at a glance.

Quickies

If you don’t want to get tangled in the weeds of traditional diplomatic negotiations, Three Kingdoms includes a “quick deals” panel that makes it easy to see what factions are open to dealing with you. Clicking the quick deals button brings up a list of trade categories you may or may not be able to participate in, depending on your leader’s current rank.

Choosing one category, like non-aggression pacts, shows the other factions that are in the game and the likelihood that they’ll engage with you in the pact. This way, you can see at a glance that some leaders are open to the idea while others are not sold on it.

You can still engage in a more in-depth negotiation after selecting a potential trade partner, but utilizing the quick deals option is a fantastic way to get a feel for targets. Or if you just want to keep a good percentage of your diplomatic sessions quick & easy.

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