Three Kingdoms Classic 1.5.0 — Birth of Heroes

Hello.Three Kingdoms Classic 1.5.0, Birth of Heroes, is now live.This update greatly expands the custom-officer system, giving you more freedom to create your own heroes and bundle several officers into content you can share with other players.The IF officers previously included in the base game have moved into optional official packs alongside new heroes. Figures drawn from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and later legends are also available in a separate official pack.River-battle records, tribal diplomacy, AI officer transfers, specialty effects and displays, New Game setting retention, multi-selection controls, and high-DPI presentation have also been improved.

Six Official Hero Packs

Version 1.5.0 introduces six official packs containing 64 heroes in all.

• Heroes of China: 12

• Heroes of Korea: 12

• Heroes of Japan: 9

• Heroes of the Mongol Empire: 6

• Heroes of Vietnam: 4

• Legends & Fiction: 21

The China, Korea, Japan, Mongol Empire, and Vietnam packs carry forward the 38 IF officers formerly included in the base game and add new heroes from each tradition.Legends & Fiction is an optional pack featuring Diao Chan, Guan Suo, Lü Lingqi, Lady Zhurong, Huaman, and other figures drawn from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, later legends, and explicitly fictional material.The separate IF officer option has been removed from New Game setup. Install whichever official Hero Packs you want, then add them to a campaign in the same way as any other custom-officer pack.

Free-Form Custom-Officer Creation

Free Build is now available alongside the existing Balanced creation mode.

• Set Leadership, War, Intelligence, Politics, and Charisma individually from 1 to 100.

• Choose one specialty without tier or stat restrictions.

Starting bonds between custom officers and historical officers can now be saved and edited.Free Build is designed to let you realize any hero you have in mind. Very high stats and powerful specialties can have a major effect on campaign balance.

Custom-Officer Pack Creation and Sharing

Bundle several officers you created into a single pack, export it as a ZIP file, or publish it to Steam Workshop. Workshop items you publish can be updated with new versions later.Packs include officer stats, specialties, portraits, and relationships among officers included in the pack. Names and biographies in official packs are shown in your selected game language.

Managing Imported Packs

Custom-officer packs received through ZIP files or Steam Workshop are installed as complete packs.Imported packs are read-only. Copy any officer you want to My Officers to create a separate version you can edit freely.Updating an installed pack refreshes its roster and relationships to match the new version. Installing, updating, or removing a pack does not change the custom-officer roster of a campaign already in progress.

Campaign Appearance Rules

Choose the heroes for each new campaign under Campaign Custom Officers.

• My Officers: Select officers you created or copied to My Officers one by one.

• Imported Officers: Select official, ZIP, and Workshop packs as complete packs. Selecting a pack makes every officer in it eligible for that campaign.

The screen initially selects My Officers first, then any installed packs that still fit within the campaign limit. Individual officers cannot be added to or removed from an imported pack; deselect the pack or copy the officer you want to My Officers and select that copy separately.When Unaffiliated custom officers is enabled, selected officers who were not placed directly can appear as unaffiliated officers and be found through searches or recommendations. When it is disabled, only officers assigned to a new faction or placed in a starting city will appear.

• The local library can hold up to 2,000 officers across My Officers and imported packs.

• A single pack can contain up to 100 officers.

• A campaign can include up to 500 custom officers across My Officers and imported packs.

When the 500-officer limit is reached, some packs may not be selected automatically. The current total and selection can be adjusted from Campaign Custom Officers.

Local Storage for Custom Officers and Portraits

Custom-officer definitions and user portraits are not synchronized through Steam Cloud. Use a custom-officer pack ZIP or Steam Workshop to move them to another device or keep a backup.Updating the game does not delete existing local custom officers or portraits or overwrite them with files from another device.

Improved River-Battle Records

River-battle records now describe the actual course of battle in greater detail.

• They show the advanced tactic that actually triggered instead of its base command.

• They record both formations, the gain, use, and expiration of tactical marks, and the effects of fire, wind, and rain.

• They show fleet losses alongside troop and morale losses.

• Key events such as fire attacks, promoted tactics, openings, and fleet deployment are used as record-card titles.

The text for Fire Ships, Fire Arrows, calm winds, headwinds, and rain has also been corrected to match the rules that actually resolved the fire attack.

Specialty Effects and Battle Information

The domestic, supply, and troop-support effects of governance-role specialties now properly contribute to the assigned city and to frontline support under delegated defense.Assigning an officer whose specialty lists a City Defender effect adds +3 to that city's garrison morale recovery at monthly settlement.Officer details now distinguish placement effects whose conditions are not met from effects currently active. Battle-effect displays also show activation roles and stacking rules, making it clear that the number of officers shown does not necessarily multiply the effect.

AI Officer Transfers and Force Integration

When the AI changes city officers, it now issues normal transfer orders instead of moving them instantly. Officers take travel time and route risk before arriving at their new post.The AI also no longer selects captives, officers who have not yet appeared, or officers already in transit for conflicting city assignments.When a force submits, future officers who have not yet appeared no longer join the victor early. In the post-Yiling scenario, Liu Shan remains with Shu so Liu Bei's entrustment event can proceed normally.

Improved Tribal Diplomacy

When requesting a tribal invasion, you can select the target city from the strategic map as well as from a list. The required troops and gold, and any reason the request is unavailable, are shown while choosing the target.

New Game Settings and Interface Controls

• New Game remembers your confirmed settings for officer lifespan, battle fatalities, historical events, stat display, unaffiliated custom officers, reincarnated officers, difficulty, anti-hegemon mobilization, AI offensive temperament, and replay recording.

• Custom-officer placement, pack import and creation, officer appointments and rewards, attacks, and automatic redeployment now support drag selection, edge auto-scroll, and select/clear all.

• Officer lists for attacks, appointments, diplomacy, provisions, recruitment, and stratagems now show each officer's current city assignment and office.

• Outside clicks and Esc behavior are now consistent across common dialogs such as Fleet Maintenance, Troop Disbandment, and result notices.

• Fleet Maintenance, Troop Disbandment, and Search no longer use the last city selected on the strategic map as an arbitrary default target.

• Fullscreen display has been corrected for Windows high-DPI scaling so the game no longer appears too small or gets clipped.

Save and Replay Compatibility

Saves from 1.4.0 can be continued in 1.5.0. Saves written by 1.5.0 cannot be opened in 1.4.0. IF officers already present in an ongoing campaign remain in that campaign.Replays that use the previous IF roster continue to play with the roster and rules they were recorded with.

In Closing

This update focused on taking custom officers beyond one-off creations, expanding the system so you can build your own families and factions and begin a new Three Kingdoms alongside heroes shared by other players. Heroes and custom-officer packs you create can be shared through ZIP files and Steam Workshop.If you have been enjoying the game, please consider leaving a Steam review. Your feedback genuinely shapes what we work on next.Thanks for playing, and for telling us what you think.