Total War: Three Kingdoms DLC Spotlight Focuses on New Yellow Turbans
Mandate of Heaven, the next big Total War: Three Kingdoms DLC, is due to release on the 16th of January. Described as the game’s biggest DLC to date, it features an all-new campaign set 10 years before the main game, letting players experience the Yellow Turban Rebellion itself. This means the addition of three major new Yellow Turban warlords, as well as some big new mechanics for their rebellious factions. Most of these details have been under wraps since the original reveal, but fans got a better look at what to expect in a recent spotlight video released by Creative Assembly.
Yellow Turban Warlords and More in the Mandate of Heaven DLC
At present, Total War: Three Kingdoms features three Yellow Turban warlords, for those players who own the Yellow Turban day-one DLC; He Yi, Huang Shao, and Gong Du. However, these characters are merely the remnants of the much larger Yellow Turban Rebellion, which was mostly defeated shortly before the start of the main game. The upcoming Mandate of Heaven DLC will let players experience that Rebellion in full; either as one of the imperial generals fighting against it, or as one of the three Zhang brothers. (The original leaders of the rebellion.)
The new Total War: Three Kingdoms DLC spotlight video for Mandate of Heaven gives fans a much better look at what to expect from the new Yellow Turban factions. Not only do they have three new playable warlords, but they have new units, and a much larger new reforms tree. Plus, they have two entirely new mechanics; Zeal and Fervour. In fact, Zeal is actually a new pool resource which all three of the new factions share.
Fervour works similarly to how corruptions work in Total War: Warhammer 2. Essentially, it represents the support for the Yellow Turbans among the inhabitants of any given region. High fervour causes public order penalties for the Han Empire, but bonuses for the Yellow Turbans. Zeal, on the other hand, is a faction resource which Zhang Jue, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang all share. The higher their total Zeal, the greater bonuses to income and Fervour they get. However, if it falls low, it can cause penalties too.
Interestingly, each of the three brothers earns Zeal a different way, and gets a different unique bonus from it. Zhang Jue gains Zeal whenever he takes casualties in battle, and he gets bonus casualty replenishment from high Zeal. Zhang Bao, on the other hand, earns it by attacking foes, and gets offensive bonuses from it. Finally, Zhang Liang earns it by defending against foes, and gets defensive bonuses. All of this will be available once the Mandate of Heaven DLC launches on the 16th of January. As such, fans don’t have to wait long before they can attempt to stage the Yellow Turban Rebellion for themselves.