Total War: Three Kingdoms – Fates Divided — Yuan Shao campaign guide

Opening moves: Armies

Let’s talk about Yuan Shao’s initial armies in your Total War: Three Kingdoms – Fates Divided campaign.

Captain Armory and Lineage

Anyway, open the Captain Armory panel on your first turn and get “Captain Missions.” This doesn’t cost Lineage at all, and it provides you with tasks that can be accomplished:

• Kill soldiers with captain retinues – Lowers the upkeep of your mercenary units.
• Recruit more captain retinues – Adds Lineage points.
• Win battles with captains in your armies – Decreases the recruitment costs of captain retinues.

The Captain Missions are a fairly passive affair. You’re likely to complete these as you progress further in Yuan Shao’s campaign in Total War: Three Kingdoms – Fates Divided. As for Lineage points, you’ll gain more while Yuan Shao is leading an army on the campaign map (+5 points per turn) and from victories in battles (+15 points). Ideally, though, you’ll want to use any excess Lineage points for the following:

• “Secure & Occupy” option after capturing a settlement – This greatly boosts faction support, military supplies, garrison replenishment, and army replenishment in that area.
• Officer recruitment – At only 10 Lineage points per usage, you can quickly have a stable roster of generals.
• “Increase Army Limit” – This perk in the Captain Armory is only available once you reach tier 5 (Honorable) at 300+ Lineage points. It permanently increases your faction’s army limit by three. Get this only once you have a ton of excess Lineage left.

Recruitment drive

Yuan Shao, for the most part, will be striking southwards deep into Cao Cao’s territory. At the start of the campaign, you have three armies:

• Zhang He (with Wen Chou and Xu You) – Just give Xu You more archers to get a full stack.
• Yuan Shao (with Yan Liang and Ju Shou) – Give Yuan Shao another Ye Vanguard Spearmen unit, Yan Liang a couple of saber/spear infantry, and Ju Shou some archers and a trebuchet.
• Yuan Shang (with a Ji Infantry Captain) – Give Yuan Shang some extra melee-type units. Add Guo Tu to the group and give that person some archers (due to having fire arrows unlocked).

There are the next steps as you end your first turn:

• Move Yuan Shang’s army as close as possible to Anping – Julu without crossing the border (so you can still replenish), and switch to ambush stance.
• Get Zhang He’s army to besiege Henei – Huaixian, and bring Yuan Shao as backup. Capture the city, then move Yuan Shao near the coast.
• Deploy another army led by Cui Yan and give him as many archers as possible. It doesn’t matter if you go in the red since your +income assignments should activate next turn.

Note: Since you now have Henei – Huaixian, have Chunyu Qiong conduct a mustering assignment.

Turn 2 to 4

Yuan Shang should besiege Anping – Julu. Although the screen would say that you’ll incur a defeat, winning here is still possible. Just make sure you use the fire arrows of your archers to cause a ruckus among your foes. If you’re having trouble winning this, keep Yuan Shang in ambush stance while waiting for Zhang Yan to advance towards you. However, this would greatly delay your breakthrough moment.

Give Cui Yan more troops (i.e., captains or an officer like Shen Pei). Watch for the army led by Cao Ren/Xu Huang. If it’s visible, go ahead and double team it. If not, they’re probably waiting to ambush you, so have your two armies switch to ambush stance as well.

Yuan Shao will sail across the river to reach Dong – Puyang where Yu Jin’s army is. After besieging it at the end of turn 3, Yu Jin would usually sally forth. Take the Pyrrhic/Close Victory here.

Two things will also need to happen by turn 3:

• Zhang He and Cui Yan have pushed back Cao Ren/Xu Huang.
• Yuan Shang has defeated Zhang Yan. This will allow him to march southwards.

Your moves should lead to Cao Ren and Xu Huang getting trapped in Shangdang – Zhixian. Besiege with Zhang He, and bring Cui Yan and Yuan Shang (march stance) as reinforcements. Again, take the Pyrrhic/Close Victory here to grab the settlement. As for Dong – Puyang, it’s likely that Yu Jin got walloped when he sallied forth. Go and capture the settlement.

Yuan Shao will reach Marquis rank. Likewise, you’ll complete two missions for gold and some campaign buffs. For your Faction Rank, get 1x assignments, 1x trade agreements, and 2x administrators. Make Shen Pei the administrator of Anping (+peasantry income) and Liang Xing for Zhongshan (+industry/commerce).

Okay, the north is (almost) yours, so let’s talk about cruising through Cao Cao’s territories.