Following on from Creative Assembly’s latest Records Mode live-stream, the studio released a short video about the Total War: Three Kingdoms starting locations of the twelve playable faction leaders. The video focuses on the starting location of Zheng Jiang, the Bandit Queen; one of the two bandit characters in the game. According to Creative Assembly, Zheng Jiang’s starting location is among the toughest, as she starts deep in the north-western mountains.
Zheng Jiang’s Unique Units and Building Chains
The new video about the Total War: Three Kingdoms starting locations also looks specifically at Zheng Jiang’s faction and her special abilities. It gives an overview of her unique Infamy resource, which she can use to increase her prestige, as well as character experience, satisfaction and morale. The video also gives fans a glimpse at Zheng Jiang’s unique units and buildings, as well as her noteworthy characters; Lu Zheng and Congqian.
Zheng Jiang’s first unique unit are the Hidden Axes, a unit of assault infantry armed with twin axes; “Zheng Jiang arms her fiercest bandits with fu axes and deploys them to charge into enemy infantry”. Her second unit is the Fists of the Bandit Queen, another unit of assault infantry who become available for rank 3 and higher characters. This unit seems to fill a similar role to the Hidden Axes, and also wield a pair of axes; “These elite, battle-hardened bandits carry an axe in each hand, and advance ahead of the frontlines to catch their foes unawares.”
Zheng Jiang’s unique building chains are the Bandit Lair, which bolsters replenishment at the expense of income, and the Tribute Hall. Interestingly, Zheng Jiang cannot have vassals. However, she can demand tribute from other factions; the Tribute Hall is a special building which allows her to increase the income from her tributaries.
Total War: Three Kingdoms Starting Locations – Zheng Jiang
Zheng Jiang’s starting location puts her at an immediate disadvantage, as she starts with no territory. Instead, she starts with a single army and must conquer her starting province. Although the Bandit Queen starts surrounded by mountains, she also starts surrounded by enemies; Dong Zhuo to the south, Yuan Shao to the east, and her fellow bandit, Zhang Yan, to the north. Because Zheng Jiang is a bandit, many of the other factions will have huge diplomatic penalties towards her faction. According to Creative Assembly, Zheng Jiang’s initial dilemma will be when Zhang Yan asks her to join his war against Yuan Shao.
Eventually, the mountains surrounding Zheng Jiang’s starting location will be highly defensible, but because they slow army movement so greatly, the mountains also potentially delay the Bandit Queen’s expansion; an expansion which is necessary for her to start acquiring resources and territory.