Total War: Three Kingdoms – Eight Princes DLC Heroes – Sima Liang
On the 8th of August, Creative Assembly will be releasing their Eight Princes DLC, the first Chapter Pack DLC for Total War: Three Kingdoms. (Together with the Dynasty Mode Free-LC, announced earlier today.) Eight Princes features its own campaign set 100 years after the base game. In this campaign, players will be able to play as the eight princes themselves; eight new playable faction leaders. Sima Liang is traditionally seen as the first of the princes. He was also the first to meet his end during the period of civil war.
Sima Liang in the Total War: Three Kingdoms Eight Princes DLC
“When Emperor Wu died, Sima Liang – fourth son of the great Sima Yi – was denied the regency by the scheming Yang Jun, eager to maintain control over Emperor Hui for himself,” explains Creative Assembly; “Honourable and eager to avoid conflict, Sima Liang retired to his estates until, following a coup, Yang Jun was overthrown. Sima Liang was finally given an opportunity to help restore order. It was not long before the ambitious and fearful Empress Jia issued false orders to Sima Wei – Sima Liang’s great nephew – declaring Sima Liang a traitor and ordering his capture. Tragically, the tempestuous Sima Wei had Sima Liang executed after his capture, the first casualty of the War of the Eight Princes. One cannot help but wonder what might have been had Sima Liang made a stand…”
Known in Total War: Three Kingdoms as “The Rightful Regent,” Sima Liang is one of two Champion-class faction leaders, alongside Sima Ai. His campaign starts in a very precarious position, and indeed, Sima Liang’s starting situation is deemed “Very Hard”. This is because the game begins with Empress Jia having declared Liang a traitor. As such, you will start already at war with Sima Wei. Moreover, Sima Liang has a highly restrictive play-style thanks to Jurisdiction, his unique resource, detailed below.
Sima Liang has access to the Imperial Guards, a heavily-armoured sword infantry unit with defensive shields. He also starts with two noteworthy characters; Sentinel-class Sima Cui and Commander-class Sima Ju. Finally, his character traits help him to amass forces quickly and support armies without a huge territory. His entire faction benefits from a -1 mustering turns bonus, as well as a -10% retinue upkeep cost. Finally, his faction has -15% corruption than normal.
The Mechanics of Domain and Jurisdiction
Sima Liang has a very different play-style to any of the factions in the base game. Essentially, he has a limited cap on the number of commanderies he can control. This is due to his “Domain” style of government. This mechanic represents his loss of influence due to the actions of Empress Jia. He can increase his maximum domain size by gaining Jurisdiction, which he can generate in two different ways. Firstly, he can gain it through his unique Judiciary building chain. Secondly, he can gain it by convincing other factions to join him in a unique “Cooperation” vassalage deal. This latter aspect forms the core of Sima Liang’s playstyle. Although he may not have many commanderies himself, he will ideally sit in the centre of many vassal factions operating under his control.
Sima Liang in the War of the Eight Princes
Sima Liang, the fourth son of Sima Yi, became Prince of Fufeng when the Jin Empire was founded by Emperor Wu. He lost this position some twenty years before the start of the War of the Eight Princes, when he saved the life of a subordinate by claiming fault for his defeat by Xianbei rebels. However, Emperor Wu had a high opinion of him, and as a result, he was given the task of monitoring the behaviour of the other princes. Years later, when Emperor Wu wrote his will, he named both Sima Liang and his father-in-law Yang Jun as regents.
However, as the emperor lay dying, Yang Jun disposed of the will and had a copy made which named him as sole regent. He also had Sima Liang sent to a post in Xuchang, far from the capital. Emperor Wu died before he departed, however, and Yang Jun, fearful that Liang would stage a coup, decided instead to have his soldiers kill him. Sima Liang quickly fled the city for Xuchang, before he could be captured.
Sima Liang Becomes Regent of Emperor Hui
Yang Jun met his end in 291, when Empress Jia Nanfeng staged her own coup against him and his family. As a highly respected prince, Sima Liang was invited to become regent to Emperor Hui, together with Wei Guan. As regent, he quickly moved to appease the supporters of Yang Jun. He promoted and enfeoffed hundreds, all while he and Wei Guan attempted to restore order to the imperial government. During this time, the pair grew worried about the temperament of Sima Wei and attempted to remove him from his military post. However, Sima Wei was able to sway Empress Jia to intervene. Shortly thereafter, two of his subordinates named Gongsun Hong and Qi Sheng spread a lie to the empress; that Sima Liang and Wei Guan were plotting to depose her.
Empress Jia was already unhappy with the regent and his ally. After all, their attempts to control the government were foiling her own political machinations. As such, she had an imperial edict written and sent to Sima Wei, ordering him to arrest both Wei Guan and Sima Liang. Both men chose to surrender without a fight when soldiers came for them. However, instead of merely apprehending them, Sima Wei chose to have them murdered. Fearful of the ramifications of this act, Empress Jia immediately turned on Sima Wei. She claimed that he had forged the edict himself, and as a result, the prince was abandoned by his soldiers, arrested, and put to death.