Total War: Three Kingdoms: How To Recruit New Characters

One of the biggest changes in how Total War: Three Kingdoms is played is the emphasis on characters and their relationship. Therefore, going about recruiting new Generals and officers for your empire is not only important, but it can also be rather fun. Here’s how you can recruit new and interesting characters for your armies in Total War: Three Kingdoms.

Recruiting from your court
Each faction has a selection of important characters that they start out with. These become part of your court and can then be recruited into armies or given posts in your government. At the start of a new campaign, it is always a good idea to take a look at what characters you have available from the get-go.

Defeating armies
Defeating an enemy in battle can sometimes give you the option of recruiting characters and their retinues to your faction. If they accept, they will join your court and you can give them posts in your government or use them in your armies just like any other character at your disposal. Sometimes they will refuse, at which point you can either let them go or execute them. Keep in mind that executing legendary heroes will affect how other factions and your own Generals think of you. I have had allies turn their back on me for killing someone they revered.

Espionage
In Three Kingdoms, you can send any of your characters to spy on a rival faction. This makes them available for that faction to recruit. If your spy is recruited by your enemy they will start to try and undermine their military from within. With some luck, you can cause a civil war and at that point, any character who rebels will join your faction.

Another way to go about this is to start a smear campaign against an enemy leader. Once they are discredited, they might start to despise their former masters and defect to your faction.

Sending spies into enemy territory isn’t entirely risk-free, though, as the longer they stay there the bigger the chance that they will join their faction instead.

Taking over other factions
Instead of conquering an enemy outright, you can force them into submission through diplomacy. If you make another faction a vassal or force their king to abdicate, their characters will join your court instead.

Wandering heroes
When a faction is destroyed, some of their heroes and Generals will keep on wandering China and might seek employment with you. Keeping an eye on the recruitable list is a good idea since you will sometimes be able to recruit some great characters that way.

Marriage
Marriage is not only good for smoothing over diplomatic relations, but it can also land you some great new characters. Just make sure that you’re the one who will receive the character, otherwise your child is the one joining their faction instead.

So there are the ways you can recruit, steal and marry your way to new characters in Total War: Three Kingdoms.

READ NEXT: Total War: Three Kingdoms Guide: Generals, Assignments, Retinues & Archetypes