The eleventh installment of the series continues the struggles of the warlords
for power of China in the late Han dynasty through eight available scenarios.
The player can control more than 40 cities, build structures and armies with
the help of hundreds of officers, and decide the fate of China once again.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI uses the whole map of China from a side-
scrolling and rotatable top-down perspective camera. All units, cities, and
structures are viewable throughout the map, not requiring any form of
espionage beforehand as in earlier installments of the series. When the player
decides to end a turn, own and AI units will commence their actions depending
on which part of the map the player is currently viewing.

There are over 800 officers, complete with individual portraits and
biographies, also including other information such as combat skills, blood
ties, and unit specialization. Additionally, completing the tutorial will
unlock several famous historical figures from other periods of Chinese
history, such as Kong Qiu (Confucius).

Officers have statistical abilities which influence how the success rate a
mentioned general may carry out a specific task. The abilities are:
Leadership, War, Intelligence, Politics, and Charisma. Continuously performing
tasks may increase any the primary statistics. In addition to abilities, some
officers may also have specific skills. Skills provide unique active or
passive capabilities for the officer in mention. For example, Zhao Yun has the
“Insight” skill which renders him immune from all enemy combat strategies.

Combat initiates immediately during each player’s turn. During the turn of any
active player, the player may choose to move own units on the map and attack
enemy land units or ships. All opponents may be attacked unless under alliance
or cease fire, during which the player may also move through their territory
freely.

Player actions may reward the player with technical points. These points may
then be invested in the game’s version of a combat technological tree, thus
enabling different strengths for each faction formerly defined only by its
officers. Each branch in the technology tree will upgrade a particular unit
type or defense option.

The eight available scenarios are divided into two different modes. The
“standard mode” allows the player to choose one of the available leaders,
while the “present scenario” mode is the single-player version of the
available scenarios, pre-designating the player to control a specified leader.

Romance of Three Kingdoms XI