Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII Developer(s) Koei Publisher Tecmo Koei JP Date Released 2012 EU Date Released N/A US Date Released N/A Genre: Strategy Game modes: Singleplayer ESRB rating: Teen Platform(s): Windows

Media: DVD

Sangokushi 12 (三國志12) (English: Romance of the Three Kingdoms 12) is Koei’s 12th installment in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. It was released in Japan in February 2012 on PC. Koei has not made any plans to release the game overseas. In December 2012 Wii U and PlayStation 3 versions were released in Japan, but not in Europe and the US. The game is designed to be played on low-end pc’s and features a simple 2D world map, 2D cities and 2D battlefields. The game can also be played on touchscreens and tablets.

481 characters appear in this game, which is a lot less than in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, but all characters do have new (high quality) portraits, which was not the case in XI.

In 2016 it's successor was released; Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII.

Contents show]

Gameplay Edit

The gameplay basically consists of two phases; the managing phase and the battle phase. In the managing phase you build buildings in your cities through which you gain money, food, fame and troops, or through which you can build up your defense, increase your army’s strength, defense, range and speed and research special plans and build siege weapons. The managing phase is turn-based. The battle phase is where you put all your acquired officers, troops, siege weapons and researches into action in hopes of either gaining new territory or not lose any territory. The battles in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII are real-time, but can be paused at any minute to give orders or use special abilities.

Managing Cities Edit

There are four different types of cities: Agriculture, Commerce, Normal City and Big City. An agricultural city raises the effectiveness of farms by 1,5, a commercial city raises the effectiveness of markets by 1,5, a normal city does not raise effectiveness of anything but usually has more building spots and a big city has the most building spots of all city types and slightly raises effectiveness of farms, markets and barracks by 1,2.

In every city buildings can be places on building spots. There are eight types of buildings: farms, markets, barracks, guard stations, plots, smiths, finders and academies. Farms and markets will get you food and money. Food and money is both for your troops, but money is also needed to build or upgrade buildings, creating siege weapons and researching. A barrack will get you new troops. The more barracks you have the higher your draft. A guard station raises your fame, which will attract more officers, but it will also increase your city defense. At a smith you can build rams and catapults, with the latter being the most expensive but the more effective one. Before you can build siege weapons, you need to do a research at your academies. You need to place two Academies in a city to be able to let officers research there. Finally, the finder lets one of your officers recruit new officers or search for valuable items.

Early on it’s recommended to quickly acquire more troops and officers, so you should build a finder in a couple of cities and two or three barracks per city. The remainder of the building spots can be filled up with farms (one per city is more than enough), markets (the more, the better), one or two smiths and two academies in a big city. All cities that are adjacent to enemy territory should have a Guard Station and a Plot.

Battles Edit

Battles inare real-time. A battle can be triggered by deploying an army on an adjacent enemy territory. It is possible for both factions to request reinforcements. Victory or defeat is determined by a number of factors, such as the base strength of the officers involved, their special abilities, officer's LEAD, WAR and INT (which can be upgraded), troop size and army variety. When defending it might be wise to send archers and spearmen into battle. Archers can shoot arrows from your city wall, while spearmen can throw rocks. Enemy attacks are limited to special abilities (Fire) or archers, granting an advantage to defenders, while a city's gate is not destroyed (which often takes a while depending on its strength (Guard Stations) and the enemy's siege power). Horsemen can be valuable when used in quick ambushes on the enemy main camp as they are the fastest unit-type. While being on the attacking side it might be better to focus on siege weapons and infantry. Both of these units excel at taking down the enemy wall.

One downside of the game's battle system is the lack of depth. Pikemen have been removed, the battle maps are usually rather small and on most maps the enemy camp can only be attacked from one or two sides. The battles are further hampered by the 800-second time limit, which makes a lot of battles pretty straight forward. Battles in which one team only has a slight upper-hand over the other, might not even reach a conclusion before the timer reaches 0.

Despite all this, the game is still an enjoyable experience and should get an overseas release. If not retail, then as a download via the PlayStation Store or Xbox Live Marketplace.

Fan-made English Patch Edit

Some fans are currently busy creating English patches for the game. A few have been released already and can be downloaded here:

Trophies Edit

From Japanese to English with the help of online translators.

Trophies: 45

Gold: 2

Silver: 16

Bronze: 26

Name Trophy Type Description Full Domination Platinum Obtained all Trophies. Creator of history Gold Cleared all scenarios Supervise the Chinese Gold Have every general under your leadership at least once. Wang Ki virtue endeared Silver Had over 400 generals under your leadership at least once Tactics and Arrangements Silver Triggered a secret plan Peerless Warlord Silver Beat 200 generals Oryubi Hanzhong Silver Cleared the "Oryubi Hanzhong" scenario Pacified the state Silver Cleared the "Pacified The State" scenario Battle of Tong Gate Silver Cleared the "Battle of Tong Gate" scenario Special Confidence Silver Cleared the "Special Confidence" scenario Battle of the passing officer Silver Cleared the "Battle of the Passing Officer" scenario Lü Bu punitive campaign Silver Cleared the "War to Subdue Lü Bu" scenario Transition Xu Province Silver Cleared the Transition Xu Province scenario Powerful numbers Silver Cleared the Powerful Numbers scenario Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance Silver Cleared the Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance scenario Yellow Turban Rebellion Silver Cleared the Yellow Turban Rebellion scenario Nanao Sengoku Silver Cleared the "Nanao Sengoku" scenario Gathered Heroes Silver Cleared the Rise of Heroes scenario Reincarnation of Nobunaga Hidden Cleared the Reincarnation of Nobunaga scenario Committed Hero Bronze Total troop strength reached 1 million Supreme General Bronze Scored 20 victories Hero Bronze Killed over 100 troops Extroardinary Polemic Bronze Acquired first technique Testimony of an Oath Bronze Witnessed the Peach Garden Oath scene Witness of the Courtesan Bronze Witnessed the Beauty of Diaochan scene Testimony of optimum strength Bronze Witnessed the Battle of the Passing Officer scene Witness Fire Bronze Witnessed the Battle of Red Cliffs scene A Testimony of Gratitude Bronze Witnessed the Table of Expedition scene Majesty of a King Bronze Succesfully recommend an officer Knack of a Soldier Bronze Fire skill used 30 times Free Tactics Bronze Developed all tactics Artificer Bronze Researched all techniques to their max Small "Haou" Bronze Completely routed an enemy force Main Warlords Bronze Had at least 200 generals under your leadership Veteran General Bronze Killed 50 troops Phosphorus Piece Bronze Win your first battle Talented General Bronze Appointed as a military commander Introducing the Strategist Bronze Acquired a Skill Introducing the Politician Bronze Acquired a Technique Introducing the Scholar Bronze Researched a Card Honour of the Warrior Bronze Win a duel Disposition of the Minister Bronze ??? Administration Bronze Upgrade a facility General Candidate Bronze Went to combat training

Selection of character portraits Edit

More portraits are stored HERE.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII Taisenban Edit

In 2014 TecmoKoei released Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII: Taisenban (Sangokushi 12 taisen-ban 三国志12対戦版) which included some new portraits.