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Shu - Act IV
The Three Kingdoms
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[Battle of Luo Castle] (Liu Bei's Forces)
Difficulty: ****
Bonus: If Pang Tong survives the battle, he will arrive as reinforcements 
during the Campaign for Jing.

From the start of the battle Pang Tong will run into trouble and will quickly 
die unless you help him out immediately. It's very difficult to save him 
unless you are riding a fast horse. Once Pang Tong is safe, continue heading 
for the castle. Yang Huai and Gao Pei will ambush Liu Bei while you are away, 
so you'll probably have to backtrack to take care of them. Eventually Zhuge 
Liang will arrive with reinforcements. Pang Tong will mention something about 
trying to capture Zhang Ren and will start taunting him. Zhang Ren will open 
the castle gates and immediately attack. If Pang Tong manages to lure him 
south across the bridge an ambush will commence and defeating him. Once he's 
dealt with take out the remaining generals outside before dealing with Liu 
Zhang.

[The Campaign for Jing] (Liu Bei's Forces)
Difficulty: ****
Clearing this battle will prevent Yang Huai and Gao Pei from appearing as 
reinforcements in the final act.

Xing Daorong should appear to ambush you from the start, but he's little more 
than a speed bump. When he's been smashed help Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun 
eliminate Liu Du. Once the fort is clear you can either choose to take on Jin 
Xuan to the west or Zhao Fan to the north. Guan Yu should arrive at around 
this time to help out. It doesn't matter which one you choose, but as you 
head for their positions Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren will launch a surprise 
attack on Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang will tell everyone to turn back and help 
him, since he can't really defend himself with that silly fan of his. Go 
ahead and do so, if only because if he gets killed you lose the battle. Once 
you've saved his sorry butt, go ahead and clear out Jin Xuan and Zhao Fan's 
forts. Zhao Fan will come to his senses and retreat once his sub generals are 
killed. Once all three outer forts are secure, it's time to take on Han Xuan. 
Note that when you approach the castle gates both Huang Zhong and Wei Yan 
will engage you together. Huang Zhong is pretty tough by himself, but 
together with the spasmodic Wei Yan he's downright nasty. Having archers in 
the area isn't helping matters any. Run away and try to attack them one at a 
time outside the gate. If you try to take them both on you will get 
sandwiched by their attacks. Once they're both defeated Han Xuan should not 
pose any problems.

There is another way to take the castle, and it's much easier that the method 
that I listed above. First defeat all of the generals and sub generals 
outside of the castle. This should cause Huang Zhong to charge out from the 
castle. Do not defeat Wei Yan. Defeat Huang Zhong and there should be an 
event where Han Xuan is about to execute him for failure. Wei Yan will kill 
Han Xuan and both of them will join your forces. Note that this _instantly_ 
wins the battle. Thanks go to Douglas Yee for pointing this out to me.

[Campaign of Cheng Du] (Liu Bei's Forces)
Difficulty: ****

Getting Zhang Liu to surrender is necessary to obtain Shu's fourth ending, 
but most people will usually get the third ending instead because the 
requirements for the surrender are a bit counter intuitive here. I had to 
play this stage over a dozen times to figure out how to do it. While I'm not 
sure as to the exact requirements for his surrender, I've managed to figure 
out a fail-safe method to do it. This method works best if the difficulty is 
set to easy so your allies wont advance too far and spoil everything. The 
trick for getting Zhang Liu to surrender is (A) You must capture Li Yan, (B) 
do not approach Liu Xun until all the other generals are dealt with, and (C) 
when the enemy reinforcements arrive do not defeat Ma Chao until all the 
other generals are defeated. Note that part B is important, as if your own 
allies reach Liu Xun prematurely enemy reinforcements will appear and spoil 
everything.

When the battle starts do not engage Li Yan until Zhuge Liang tells you that 
the ambush area is set up. Go to Li Yan and get him to chase you. He will 
immediately challenge you to a duel, but if you want to get Zhang Liu to 
surrender you must decline (press start). Lure Li Yan to the ambush site. 
When Guan Ping appears turn around and defeat him. You should get the message 
that Li Yan was captured.

Next comes the tricky part. You will need to go into the forest area and 
eliminate all of Liu Xun's sub generals. There should be four in all. Head 
north from the ambush site and move through the forest in a reverse Z 
pattern. You'll know you're on the right track when Yan Yan is the fourth 
general you encounter. Do NOT go near Liu Xun or you will trigger 
reinforcements, which will cause the castle gates to open and Liu Zhang to 
show up. If he ever shows up he will never surrender so keep that in mind. 
When all of Liu Xun's sub generals are defeated go back the way you came to 
Liu Bei's position, then head south to engage Liu Han and Deng Xian's sub 
generals. You should encounter Deng Xian along the way. Go ahead and defeat 
him. When they've been dealt with go and take Liu Han out. Defeat the gate 
captains guarding the nearby gates to open them so you have a way to move 
back and forth. Once all of the officers save Liu Xun are defeated you should 
get a message saying that Liu Zhang is considering surrender. If you don't 
get the message chances are you did something wrong and will have to start 
over. If you do get the message you may want to save your game just in case. 

Make your way to Liu Xun to fight him. Moving towards his position will 
trigger enemy reinforcements (Ma Chao, or Pang De if you previously unlocked 
Ma Chao, along with Ma Dai, Yang Huai, and Gao Pei back at Liu Bei's castle). 
DO NOT DEFEAT MA CHAO/PANG DE UNTIL ALL OTHER GENERALS ARE DEFEATED. If Ma 
Chao/Pang De challenges you to a duel ignore him. Head back to Liu Bei and 
take out Yang Huai near the south entrance of the castle and Ma Dai near the 
east entrance. If Gao Pei defeated the south stronghold captain (which he 
should) he should be arriving shortly by the south gate. Once all of the 
other generals are taken care of, go ahead and defeat Ma Chao/Pang De. If you 
did everything I mentioned you should get a message saying that Liu Zhang 
will surrender. As long as Liu Zhang does not appear in any point of the 
battle things should be okay.

Josh "Doofdork" JeNiro writes in with an alternate approach. After capturing 
Yi Lan head south and fight Liu Han and Deng Xian first instead of Liu Xun's 
sub generals. The reason for this is to prevent Liu Bei's troops from 
engaging Liu Xun early, which in turn triggers the reinforcements 
prematurely. When the south is cleared head back and defeat Liu Xun's sub 
generals. From there you can defeat Liu Xun and the other reinforcements 
before dealing with Ma Chao/Pang De.