Rise of Three Kingdoms Version 5.0 (Sanguo) Update news

Greetings once again, everyone!

This will be the final update to the Rise of Three Kingdoms mod and, for the most part, this update is focused on rounding out various content aspects and squashing the last of the remaining bugs. That is not to say that no new content was added - far from it, in fact. For starters, zen's Skynet Battle AI has been implement, adding a more intelligent battle AI to the mod in an attempt to improve the otherwise excellent quality of the Rise of Three Kingdoms mod. In addition to that, two new units have been added to the mod's roster: Gaya Infantry and the Skin Walkers.

First, we will discuss the Gaya Infantry. During the Three Kingdoms period, Gaya was a notable confederation located in the southern reaches of the Korean peninsula. What is interesting about adding these troops, aside from a more complete representation of Korea in the northern regions of the map, is that the armor the soldiers of Gaya wore were a direct influence on later Japanese designs. They also fought as foot archers, wielding a 1.5 meter long bow, and were highly effective as a military force. They can only be recruited by Goguryeo, in Korean regions, through the Tributary System line of buildings. below you can see an image of the new Gaya Infantry readying themselves for battle.

The other unit added is the so-called Skin Walkers, exclusive to the Nanman faction. Up until now the Nanman did not have a faction-exclusive unique unit on their roster, but now that has finally be rectified. The Skin Walkers represent, essentially, the epitome of the bravery, courage, and tenacity of the people of the Hundred Yue in the face of Han encroachment onto their ancestral lands. Proving their worth by personally killing an adult tiger, these men wear the pelts as a "badge of honor" and serve as an inspiration to the other warriors fighting alongside them. Aside from boasting significant attack and charge ratings, the Skin Walkers are also masters at ambushing unwary foes and have the 'Chant' ability - able to raise the morale of allies while disheartening nearby enemies. below you can see a screenshot of the Skin Walkers in action.

And the last bit of content I would like to discuss is the inclusion of Li Ru as a subordinate of the Liang faction. "How can you add Li Ru, wasn't he also killed when Dong Zhuo was assassinated?" you may ask. The answer, in short, is no. According the historical source Li Ru survived Wang Yun's purge of Dong Zhuo's officials and went on to serve Li Jue. Not only did he never receive any sort of punishment for poisoning the former Emperor Shao, at the command of Dong Zhuo, but he was even promoted to a position within the Imperial palace. Despite not having as much of an integral part of the story as he did in the fictional novel, Li Ru is still one of the better known characters of the age and rightfully needed inclusion.

Additionally we cleaned up some minor bugs, script issues, and other database problems, while at the same time improving various UI content, such as event pictures and 'Historic City' images. All in all this update is, essentially, tying up whatever loose ends remained and finalizing the content of the mod to finally make it "complete". And, so, version 5.0 of Rise of Three Kingdoms is now released and the past 8 years of development has finally come to a close. Thank you all for your years of support and making all of this worthwhile.

The Version 5.0 (Sanguo) Update can be downloaded here and has instructions on how to properly install the patch (point installer at Medieval II Total War folder).

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must have the Rise of Three Kingdoms 4.5 Full Release, RoTK v4.6 Update, and RoTK v4.7 Update installed prior to installing the RoTK v5.0 Update. Also, as usual, the patch is NOT save-game compatible (will break your save-games).

Happy gaming!