Battle of Guandu

[Evalis]

I've been trying to beat the 196 AD Large map scenario with Yang Feng (White Wave Army) via rescuing the emperor and achieving a diplomatic victory.

My initial efforts were focused on taking back Luo Yang and holding off cao cao until I could build a force to take Xu Chang. During this time I moved west to take out Li Jue, declaring war on whoever Zhang Yang, Yuan Shao or Liu Bei asked me too. After taking Chang An and decimating most of Li Jue's cities, I turned back on Cao Cao, and managed to make a sneak attack against Xu Chang, finally taking back the emperor! I nestle him in Chang An and switch to revival. Cao Cao soon defected after he wasted his armies trying to take his city back. Unfortunately Yuan Shao (and his vassal Gonsun Du) Declares war on me and Sun Ce soon follows (taking his vassal Lui Chong with him). Both of those vassals cost me any chance at the election vote and I get overrun.

Holding off cao cao I think was the right move.. since he fails to kill Lu Bu and Liu Bei gathers power instead. Unfortunately Yuan Shao, unapposed, grows monstrous. I don't think I have the army to appose them both (even defensively), though I'm open to suggestions. Any tips on this?

 

[Kenjister]

Hmm, I'm thinking that actually you should of let Cao Cao take back Xu Chang, and regain most of his former power. Due to the way the scenario is set up, the only one who can oppose Yuan Shao is the one who controls the whole of the Central Plains. As long as the central plains remain divided, Yuan Shao will dominate.

As such I think it might of been better for you to let Cao Cao grow a bit, and fall into war with Yuan Shao while you sweep downward into Han Zhong and Shu. Once you take Cheng Du, then you'll have a good powerbase conquer from in the mid to end game. Come to think about it, that's sorta like the Longzhong Plan (what Liu Bei followed in real life), except for with 4 kingdoms.
I find Yuan Shao relatively easy to take down in the late game once your heroes are all promoted and troop strengths are roughly equal. Usually you won't be able to get a diplo victory unless you're on the verge of conquest.

As for defensive tips, I didn't get a chance to open your save, but Xu Huang has amazing defensive capabilities. If you promoted him down the resilient path, he'll be extremely strong in all types of city combat. Add Defense promotions on top of that and you have an invincible hero in cities. If you get him to that level, just find a way to keep the collateral to a minimum and you should be fine. If I'm not mistaken, Xu Huang can't get Defense IV, making that his biggest weakness. On the other hand, if the RNG was nice enough to give you an S level Archer general, that should be enough to hold one city. Collateral would still be the biggest problem though, and most of the good defensive generals belong to the major powers.

Note: if you can grab Ma Dai, Cavalry is quite good for city defense! Immunity to first strikes helps with drill crossbows and you can usually counterattack well since you'll be healing massively with the Logistics promotion.

 

[Evalis]

In the large scenario Xu Huang is stolen by Cao Cao on turn 1, and none of my random heroes had vigor - it was a rough ride. About giving back Xu Chang though.. you might be right. I don't think Yuan Shao or Sun Ce were declaring war on me at all.. they were declaring war on cao cao and I was just silly enough to provide him protection through vassalage. I'll give this another go in the next patch ^^;

 

[Kenjister]

Oh, ouch... why is it that whenever your Cao Cao you fail to capture Xu Huang, and when your Yang Feng, he invariably surrenders? Ahh, the mysteries of the RNG...

You inspired me to try a Yang Feng game though, so I'll be sure to double check all my strategies.