Three Kingdoms Classic news & patch notes

Hello everyone.

Update 1.3.1 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

This update improves the tools and interface used to create and edit portrait packs.

A grid preview closer to the actual in-game display has been added, while editable officers are now organized by category and sorted by name, making it easier to find specific characters. The range and capacity of user-created portrait packs have also been expanded.

Text input and keyboard controls have also been refined. We fixed an issue where game hotkeys could activate while composing Korean text or entering characters, and made keyboard navigation in search fields and popup screens more consistent.

On Windows, BGM playback now uses less memory, improving stability during longer play sessions.

This update also adjusts diplomatic relations during war, fixes internal city IDs appearing in recent events, and revises Zhang Lu’s starting forces in the Red Cliffs scenario.

The main changes are as follows.

Portrait pack editing has been improved.

• Added a grid preview that more closely reflects how portraits appear in the game.

• Organized editable officers by category and sorted each category by name.

• Expanded the range and capacity of user-created portrait packs.

• Improved error handling so that a problematic preview file no longer prevents the entire editing screen from being used.

Text input and keyboard controls have been improved.

• Fixed an issue where game hotkeys could activate while entering text in officer information, enfeoffment, prisoner disposition, realm name, and search fields.

• Improved arrow-key navigation between search fields and search results.

• Standardized keyboard navigation for popup tabs, lists, and scrolling.

Windows BGM playback has been improved.

• Reduced the amount of memory used during BGM playback.

• Improved stability during extended play sessions.

Diplomatic relations and localization have been improved.

• Diplomatic relations between factions at war now gradually decline to reflect their hostile state.

• Fixed an issue where internal city IDs could appear in recent events and other dynamic text.

• City names are now displayed according to the currently selected language.

The Red Cliffs scenario has been adjusted.

• Yang Bai and Zhang Wei now begin as officers in Zhang Lu’s faction.

• Hanzhong’s starting troops have been increased from 20,000 to 28,000.

We will continue reviewing your reports and feedback as we improve the game’s stability and usability.

If you have enjoyed the game, please consider leaving a Steam review. Your feedback is a valuable part of our ongoing development and improvements.

Thank you for playing Three Kingdoms Classic and for sharing your feedback.

Hello.

Hotfix 1.3.0+4 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

This hotfix resolves issues where turn progression could appear to continue indefinitely after pressing the Proceed button, as well as an issue that could interrupt the game at the end of a round in certain save files.

The main changes are as follows.

Turn Progression and Full Delegation

Fixed an issue where automatic progression would not resume when Full Delegation was re-enabled immediately after loading a save.

Turn preparation, notifications, autosaving, and manual progression continue to operate under the same rules as before.

Round-End Errors in Some Older Saves

Fixed an issue in some Warlords save files where an officer could reference a force that did not exist, causing an error at the end of a round.

When an affected save is loaded, invalid affiliation data will now be safely recovered. Round progression will also continue even if an officer references a force or city that no longer exists.

Improved Windows Audio Responsiveness

Reduced instances where input or screen updates could briefly freeze while background music or sound effects were being changed on Windows.

Audio playback and shutdown processing have been moved away from the main interface thread so that native audio operations no longer block the game screen.

macOS Steam Workshop Fix

Fixed an issue on macOS where Steam Workshop initialization could fail, preventing portrait packs from being used.

The macOS version has been replaced with a newly built and signed version as part of this hotfix.

The save and replay formats have not changed. Save files created with previous versions can continue to be loaded and played normally.

If turn progression still stops or the game closes unexpectedly after updating, please report the situation and include the affected save file. The information you provide is extremely helpful in identifying and resolving these issues.

If you have enjoyed the game, please consider leaving a Steam review. Your feedback is a great help in the continued development and improvement of the game.

Thank you.

Hello everyone.

The New Face update for Three Kingdoms Classic, version 1.3.0, is now available.

The main focus of this update is officer portraits and user-created content.

All officer portraits included with the game have been comprehensively polished, with improvements to character direction, gaze, and on-screen composition. For players who prefer the previous artwork, a Classic Portrait Pack is also available through Steam Workshop.

We have also added a User Content Hub where players can create and manage their own portrait packs or publish them to Steam Workshop. Portrait packs created by other players can be subscribed to and applied in-game, while custom officers can now use up to 200 user-provided portraits.

Steam Deck support has also been substantially expanded. The compact layout has been improved for the Steam Deck’s 1280×800 display, and gamepad and Steam Input controls have been refined across multiple screens. The compact layout originally introduced for Steam Deck is also available on desktop, reducing the space occupied by the UI and allowing more of the map to remain visible.

An in-game editor has also been added, allowing officer stats to be changed during an active campaign. Alongside this, the update introduces officer disposition, troop disbandment, anti-hegemony coalitions, and other strategic features, while improving field battle AI, Lure tactics, famine management, scenarios, maps, saves, replays, and overall performance.

The main changes are as follows.

Portrait and user content features have been expanded.

• Comprehensively polished the officer portraits included with the game.

• A Classic Portrait Pack is available through Steam Workshop for players who prefer the previous portraits.

• Added a User Content Hub for creating, installing, and managing portrait packs.

• Portrait packs can be published to Steam Workshop, and packs created by other players can be subscribed to.

• Subscribed portrait packs can be applied and updated from within the game.

• Portrait packs can be imported from or exported as ZIP files.

• Increased the custom portrait limit for custom officers to 200.

• Custom biographies can now be written for custom officers.

How to Apply the Classic Portrait Pack

Hello.

Update 1.2.1 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

This update adds Continue Research, which remembers the field and officer used for your most recent research and lets you conveniently queue the next stage.

We have also resolved focus and shortcut conflicts in the keyboard controls beta and improved keyboard navigation across major screens, including attack, transport, offices, diplomacy, and prisoner disposition. The custom officer registration limit and the success rates of stratagems used through custom officer traits have also been increased.

The main changes are as follows.

Continue Research

• You can now select and queue the next stage of research based on the field and officer used for your most recent project.

• An officer will not be available for Continue Research if they have moved, been captured, become unable to act, or if that research field has already been completed.

• When loading a save from an earlier version, research officer history will begin recording from the first research completed after updating.

Keyboard Controls Beta Improvements

• Improved number key, arrow key, and Enter controls for troop allocation, logistics transport, reinforcement dispatch, and siege assignments.

• Expanded keyboard controls for map views and city list navigation.

• Space can now advance the turn even when focus remains on the city officer list.

• Fixed an issue where number and letter keys entered in the officer search field could be interpreted as list shortcuts.

• Q and E can now move focus to the previous or next entry in the officer information list.

• Improved initial focus and confirm/cancel behavior across major dialogs, including offices, recruitment, rewards, policies, diplomacy, audiences, prisoner disposition, and titles.

• Research result reports and completion confirmations can now be closed with Enter.

• Fixed an issue on macOS where keyboard focus could be lost after switching out of fullscreen mode.

Custom Officer Improvements

• Increased the maximum number of registered custom officers from 50 to 100.

• Increased the success rates of stratagems used through custom officer traits.

Gameplay and Usability Improvements

• City selection lists for forced conscription and food requisition now show the lingering penalties currently affecting each city.

• City officer lists now display military, logistics, and economic appointees and sort them by assigned role.

• Adjusted the width and text layout of battle and transport dialogs to reduce clipped content.

Combat Rules and Morale Adjustments

• A side that correctly reads the enemy command and gains a favorable matchup now receives morale compensation.

• When a heavily outnumbered force achieves an exceptional casualty exchange, part of that day’s morale loss is offset.

• Fixed an issue where successful critical hits were not properly reflected in combat morale.

• Morale compensation from matchups, casualty exchanges, and critical hits can only offset that day’s morale loss down to zero.

• Even after fighting effectively, a force that suffers heavy losses will not gain additional morale, keeping morale changes consistent with the actual battle outcome.

• Defenders in unoccupied territories without an assigned officer no longer receive matchup combos or certain morale rewards.

• As a result, unoccupied territories without an officer are now somewhat easier to capture.

Text Improvements

• Refined several officer speech bubbles and report messages to read more naturally.

• Reduced cases where dynamically assembled reports could appear repetitive or awkward.

Save Compatibility Notice

• Save files from version 1.2.0 will be automatically converted to the current format.

• Save files written again in this version may not be compatible with version 1.2.0.

• If you plan to roll back to an earlier version, back up your original save files before saving in this version.

We will continue to improve keyboard controls and the overall flow of the game.

If you are enjoying the game, please consider leaving a review on Steam. Your feedback helps support the game’s continued development and improvement.

Thank you.

Hello.

The Three Kingdoms Classic 1.2.0 update, “Gathering of Heroes,” is now available.

This update introduces two Gathering of Heroes scenarios in which officers from across every era appear together. In addition to the standard territorial setup, players can choose a randomized setup that changes each faction’s starting position and scale.

Combat now includes a matchup combo system that builds an increasing advantage when favorable matchups are triggered in succession. Troop damage, critical hits, and combo effects have also been improved. Keyboard controls and text scaling have been added, alongside changes to the economy, offices, save files, replays, and late-game performance.

The main changes are as follows.

New Gathering of Heroes Scenarios

• Added “Gathering of Heroes: Contest for the Realm,” featuring 25 starting factions.

• Officers from every era appear together, with officer lifespans disabled and historical events turned off.

• The number of starting officers now scales with territory size to reduce the early salary burden on larger factions.

• Added “Gathering of Heroes: Rise of the Warlords,” in which 44 factions each begin with a single city.

• Minor and frontier factions also take part in Rise of the Warlords.

• The New Game menu is now divided into Historical and Fictional scenario tabs.

Randomized Territories in Gathering of Heroes

• Gathering of Heroes scenarios now allow players to choose between the standard setup and a randomized setup.

• Randomized setup redraws each faction’s starting territory and overall scale.

• Players can reroll the result or restore the standard setup.

• Starting resources are also adjusted according to each faction’s conditions.

• Initial officer loyalty is determined using factors such as relationships with the ruler and individual traits including honor and ambition.

Combat Rules and Balance Overhaul

• Added a matchup combo system that accumulates an advantage in troop exchanges when favorable matchups are triggered consecutively.

• The side with fewer troops receives a larger matchup combo bonus.

• Correct counters have been adjusted so that, under ordinary differences in strength, they do not result in a disadvantageous troop exchange.

• Revised matchup calculations and combat results across field battles, set-piece battles, and siege battles.

• Retuned siege command matchups, post-breach AI behavior, and how numerical superiority affects siege victory rates.

• Adjusted the effects of special commands related to fire attacks and logistics.

• Improved troop damage, critical hits, and matchup combo effects.

• Improved consistency between displayed morale, matchup logs, and actual damage results.

Persistent Combat States and Battle Presentation

• Supply Disruption is now a persistent status that applies pressure to food supplies and morale for a set period.

• Improved the visibility of Confusion, Fire Attack, and Supply Disruption during combat.

• Reduced disruptive combat pop-ups and shifted more information to status badges and panels.

• The live combat log now shows why the AI selected a particular tactic.

• Improved management of the defending officer roster during battle.

• Added Advantage, Even, and Disadvantage difficulty presets to Battle Training.

Keyboard Controls — Beta

• Number keys can be used to select menus, commands, officers, and cities.

• Enter confirms selections, while Esc closes the current screen.

• Arrow keys move through lists, Q/E switches tabs, and Tab cycles through cities.

• Keyboard controls are supported across major screens, including attack, reinforcement, food supply, prisoner disposition, offices, diplomacy, and siege assignments.

• Keyboard navigation has also been expanded for New Game setup, additional officer placement, Battle Training, and Settings.

• Keyboard controls can currently be enabled as a beta feature in Settings.

• Full keyboard controls are listed here:

https://threekingdoms-classic.web.app/en/controls/

Text Scaling and Screen Layout Improvements

• Added text scaling options: Default 1.0x, Large 1.25x.

• Enlarged UI scaling can now also be used in windowed mode.

• Improved overflow and layout issues on battle and settings screens when larger text sizes are enabled.

Economy and Office Management Adjustments

• Increased player gold income by 12% on Standard difficulty.

• Reduced office upkeep costs across the board.

• On Standard difficulty, fief contributions further reduce the burden of office upkeep.

• Added budget limits to prevent the AI from granting offices beyond a faction’s economic capacity.

• Improved target selection and monthly reports for imperial fiefs.

• Fief factions now evaluate foreign tribal invasions independently.

Performance and Stability Improvements

• The previous 1.1.2+6 hotfix addressed severe slowdowns that could occur in late-game campaigns with large numbers of officers.

• Further improved processing so that long-running campaigns with many officers maintain more stable progression and interface responsiveness.

Save and Replay Changes

• Save files can now be deleted directly from the Load Game screen.

• Save files from version 1.1.2+6 are automatically converted to the current format.

• Save files written again in this version cannot be loaded in version 1.1.2+6.

• If you plan to roll back to an earlier version, back up your original save files before saving in this version.

• Replay files have been moved to a local-only storage location.

• Existing replays are automatically moved to the new location when the game starts.

• This change does not affect Steam Cloud synchronization for save files.

Other Content and Usability Improvements

• Spectators can now view faction information and officer counts.

• When an officer is executed from the officer details screen, their final words are now displayed.

• Adjusted the color balance, composition, and facial framing of numerous officer portraits.

• Improved layouts across several screens, including coalition attack targets, research reports, and automation settings.

We will continue to improve new ways to play, combat quality, and the stability of long-running campaigns.

If you are enjoying the game, please consider leaving a review on Steam. Your feedback helps support the game’s continued development and improvement.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hotfix 1.1.2+6 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

This hotfix addresses performance slowdowns that could occur as the number of officers increased during the later stages of a campaign.

If you are enjoying the game, please consider leaving a review on Steam. Your feedback helps support the game’s continued development and improvement.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hotfix 1.1.2+4 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

This hotfix ensures that command matchups in field and siege battles are applied consistently to actual combat results. The AI has also been improved to consider the current battlefield situation and the opponent’s recent actions when selecting commands.

Morale information has also been revised so that the battle screen more accurately reflects officer command capacity and research effects. We have also improved attack-route indicators, officer placement screens, research completion reports, and several other interface elements.

The main changes are as follows.

Field Battle Balance and AI Improvements

• Reduced the excessively high evaluation bonus previously given to Flank Pressure.

• Field battle AI will no longer repeatedly select Feint Breakthrough based only on the opponent’s formation. Higher bonuses are now granted only when the relevant enemy command has actually been observed.

• Frontal Assault, Crossbow Attack, and Double Envelopment now also consider the opponent’s recent command history when being evaluated.

• Added evaluation penalties for repeatedly choosing the same action or selecting a command with an unfavorable matchup.

• Fixed an issue where the AI could retreat even when withdrawal was unnecessary simply because all available combat commands received low evaluation scores.

• Corrected AI formation choices to follow the circular matchup between Long Snake Formation, Square Formation, Fish Scale Formation, Crane Wing Formation, and Long Snake Formation.

Siege Battle Balance and AI Improvements

• Before the walls are breached, clear matchup relationships now apply between the attacker’s Siege Engine Deployment, Guard, and Wall Assault commands and the defender’s Hold the Walls, Sortie, and Crossbow Fire commands.

• Hold the Walls counters Wall Assault, Crossbow Fire counters Guard, and Sortie counters Siege Engine Deployment.

• When Sortie correctly counters Siege Engine Deployment, deployment is interrupted and one siege engine is guaranteed to be destroyed.

• Guard now advances completed siege engines toward the walls to inflict sustained damage. Crossbow Fire is the effective counter to this command.

• When the required conditions are met, a defending Sortie is displayed as a Night Raid.

• Fixed an issue where a Night Raid led by a high-Intelligence officer could perform worse than a standard Sortie. Except when countering Guard, Night Raid now functions as the stronger action.

• After the walls are breached, a separate matchup system applies between the attacker’s Flank Infiltration, Counterattack Suppression, and Inner-City Assault commands and the defender’s Hold the Gate, Gate Counterattack, and Crossbow Fire commands.

• Flank Infiltration breaks through Hold the Gate, Gate Counterattack intercepts Flank Infiltration, and a prepared Inner-City Assault defeats a poorly timed Gate Counterattack.

• The frontline-width limit previously applied only to Inner-City Assault now also applies to Flank Infiltration and Counterattack Suppression. This prevents very large attacking forces from using supporting commands to wear down defenders without meaningful restriction.

• Urban Combat Fatigue, Cornered Resolve, and Breakthrough Congestion now activate according to the troop ratio and the defenders’ remaining strength. Siege victory rates now increase progressively with the attacker’s numerical advantage.

• Defenders with extremely low troop strength or morale will continue to avoid reckless Gate Counterattacks that could cause an immediate collapse.

• Defending AI now considers the attacker’s six most recent commands rather than only the last action. Repeated Flank Infiltration will prompt a Gate Counterattack, while repeated Inner-City Assaults will cause defenders to return to Hold the Gate.

• Fixed a loop in which defenders of a faction’s final city repeatedly selected Retreat, only for the action to be replaced with Hold the Gate each day.

• Reduced the excessive tendency for defending AI to select Hold the Gate after the walls are breached. Crossbow Fire and Gate Counterattack will now be selected and executed when appropriate.

Combat Information Improvements

• The morale gauge on the battle preparation screen now displays effective morale after accounting for an officer’s command capacity.

• Combat morale increased through research effects can now exceed 100.

• Reduced discrepancies between the morale shown on screen and the value used in actual combat calculations.

Alternate-History and Custom Officer Placement Improvements

• Added a notice explaining that alternate-history officers are bonus content that reinterprets figures from outside the official histories of the Three Kingdoms according to the game’s rules.

• Expanded the explanation that alternate-history officer attributes are values used for gameplay balance and role differentiation, and do not represent historical superiority or evaluations of achievements between individuals, nations, or eras.

• Improved the initial placement screen for alternate-history and custom officers so that the officer list and current selections are easier to review.

Interface and Usability Improvements

• Enlarged the research completion report window to make longer descriptions easier to read.

• When an attack route passes through multiple cities, the attack arrow now begins at the final allied city along the route rather than the route’s original starting point.

• Adjusted the facial positioning and zoom levels of several Mongolian officer portraits.

Fixed Issues

• Fixed an issue where the faction-collapse achievement might not unlock correctly immediately after the player’s own faction was destroyed.

• Fixed an issue where morale bonuses from research were still capped at 100 in both the interface and combat calculations.

• Fixed an issue where morale shown on the battle screen did not reflect the officer’s actual command capacity.

• Fixed inconsistencies between siege command descriptions and the matchups applied during combat.

This hotfix uses the same save and replay formats as version 1.1.2+3. Existing save files can be loaded without conversion.

We will continue to identify and address issues affecting combat balance and game progression.

If you are enjoying the game, leaving a review on Steam would greatly support its continued development and improvement.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hotfix 1.1.2+3 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

This hotfix resolves an issue that could cause the game to become stuck at around 92% on “Preparing to Start” when Steam Cloud was enabled. Replay maintenance no longer delays game startup or the replay list, and replay files have been removed from Steam Cloud synchronization.

We have also reduced save times in large campaigns, adjusted target selection for policies that can affect multiple cities, and strengthened the morale reward granted to defenders when a Sortie counters the attacker’s siege-engine construction.

The main changes are as follows.

Startup and Replay Responsiveness

• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to become stuck at around 92% on “Preparing to Start” in environments using Steam Cloud.

• Improved startup and replay-list responsiveness so the game no longer waits for replay maintenance to finish.

• Replay files have been excluded from Steam Cloud synchronization to improve startup and cloud-sync stability. Replays are now stored only on the device where they were created.

Save Performance

• Removed an unnecessary second integrity scan of data that had already been validated immediately before saving.

• Reduced save times in large campaigns with long histories and substantial amounts of data.

• Full validation is still performed when loading save files from disk and when checking older data formats.

City Policy Target Selection

• Policies that can target multiple cities, such as Relief, no longer select the current city automatically.

• Players must now explicitly choose the target city before executing the policy.

Siege Counters and Morale Adjustments

• Increased the defender’s fixed morale reward from +0.90 to +2.00 when a Sortie counters the attacker’s siege-engine construction.

• The attacker’s -1.20 morale penalty, cancellation of siege-engine construction, and troop-loss rules remain unchanged.

• This adjustment strengthens the defenders’ ability to continue fighting after correctly countering siege-engine construction, including after the city gate has been breached.

This hotfix uses the same save and replay formats as version 1.1.2+2. Existing save files can be loaded and saved again without conversion or a separate backup.

We will continue to identify and address issues affecting game progression and responsiveness.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hotfix 1.1.2+2 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

With this hotfix, major decisions such as claiming the imperial title will remain under the player’s control, even while governance is delegated to the AI.

We have also improved defensive AI behavior after a gate is breached and fixed several issues affecting game progression, including turn reports, rebellion notifications, and troops retained after diplomatic submission.

The main changes are as follows.

Imperial Accession Decisions

• When governance is delegated to the AI, it will no longer automatically claim the imperial title.

• When the conditions for claiming the imperial title are met, automatic progression will pause so that the player can decide whether to ascend and choose a realm name.

Improved Siege Defense AI

• After the city gate is breached, the defending AI will now respond based on the attacker’s recent offensive patterns.

• It considers recently used tactics such as flanking infiltration, Night Raids, and siege engines instead of repeatedly issuing the same command.

Stability Improvements

• Unread turn-start reports will no longer disappear after saving and restarting the game or visiting another screen. They will resume when the player returns.

• Fixed an issue where the outcome and damage report were not displayed when a city changed factions due to a rebellion.

• Fixed general notifications appearing over victory or defeat sequences.

• Fixed an issue where troops could incorrectly disappear after a faction submitted through diplomacy.

• Fixed discrepancies between the displayed and actual effects of imperial fiefs.

• Improved imperial fief reports so that multiple reports are displayed sequentially instead of overlapping.

Improved Custom Officer Relationship Editing

• Improved the process of editing family and sworn-sibling relationships for custom officers.

• Changing a relationship for one officer will now automatically update the corresponding relationship for the other officer.

• Historical officers can no longer be selected when configuring relationships for custom officers.

Save Compatibility Notice

• Save files from the previous version, 1.1.2 Build 1, will be automatically converted to the current format when loaded.

• Save files created in this version may not be compatible with earlier versions.

• If you plan to roll the game back to an earlier version, please back up your existing save files before saving in this version.

We will continue to identify and resolve issues that affect game progression.

Thank you.

Hello everyone.

Update 1.1.2 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This update expands the siege system by allowing players to assign troops to different roles and account for prolonged encirclements, night raids, and sorties by the defending force.

Custom officer features have also been expanded. Players can use their own images as officer portraits and configure birth years, family relationships, and starting bonds. Multiple new factions can now be created and populated during new game setup, while eligible free officers may establish independent factions during a campaign. New challenge achievements have also been added.

In addition, this update improves save and load stability, the History Book, AI attack decisions, the display of other factions’ strategic turns, diplomacy, research, map usability, and historical scenario data.

The main changes are as follows.

The siege system has been expanded.

• Added a dedicated screen for assigning siege troops to different roles.

• Assigning more troops to a role strengthens the corresponding command. However, the additional benefit gradually decreases beyond a certain point.

• Added the Encirclement command, which allows attackers to maintain a siege and place pressure on the defenders’ morale and supplies.

• Encirclement can begin when the attacking siege commander has at least 88 Leadership, the attacking force has at least 1.3 times the defenders’ troops, and the walls are still standing.

• To maintain the encirclement, the attacking force must continue to have at least as many troops as the defenders.

• A successful encirclement places morale pressure on the defenders, may cause desertions, and increases their food consumption.

• When the defending sortie officer has at least 85 Intelligence and the walls are still standing, the standard Sortie command is upgraded to a Night Raid.

• Night Raids are effective against siege engine deployment and encirclement, and have a higher chance of breaking an encirclement than standard Sorties.

• However, if the attackers choose Guard, the troops carrying out the Night Raid may suffer heavy losses.

• Both Sorties and Night Raids can disrupt enemy siege engine deployment. A critical result can also destroy a deployed siege engine.

• When the defenders carry out a Sortie or Night Raid, they have a chance to break the encirclement.

• Adjusted battle flow and morale changes before and after the gate is breached, reducing the excessive losses previously suffered by the defenders.

• Added formation recommendations for siege situations and limited formation changes to once per round.

• Improved officer assignments for attacking and defending roles, as well as the AI’s siege decisions.

• Historical city fortifications are now divided into walls, approach routes, and crossbow facilities, requiring different siege strategies for different cities.

• Corrected the Bow Enhancement research effect so that it applies to the defenders’ crossbow fire rather than siege attacks.

Custom officer features have been expanded.

• Custom images can now be imported and used as custom officer portraits.

• A custom officer’s birth year can now be set directly.

• Family relationships and starting bonds can now be configured.

• When family relationships are changed, the birth years of family members are automatically adjusted to match the selected relationships.

• The attributes of an existing custom officer can now be redistributed.

• The campaign appearance of alternate-history officers and custom officers can now be configured independently.

• During new game setup, multiple new factions can be created at the same time, and alternate-history and custom officers can be assigned to each new faction or city.

New features have been added.

• Eligible free officers can now declare independence and establish new factions.

• When declaring a new state or ascending as emperor, players can select a preset realm name or enter a custom one.

• Due to the character limit, custom realm names cannot currently be entered in English. Custom input is supported only in Korean, Chinese characters, and Japanese.

• Vassal factions now consider their available troops, food supplies, and city defense capacity when deciding whether to attack or support one another.

• The vassal management screen now shows estimated monthly treasury contributions, reduced administrative burden, and the troops, food, and officers under autonomous control.

• When an officer comes of age or automatically joins the player’s faction through family or clan relationships, an adviser notification is displayed.

• Fixed an issue where turn progression was not properly reset immediately after ruler succession.

Save, load, and History Book features have been improved.

• Expanded save recovery when an error or unexpected shutdown occurs during saving.

• Improved the recovery stability of damaged or older replay data.

• Fixed an issue where replay errors could affect normal campaign saving.

• When loading a large save, the progress screen now appears before data processing begins, reducing cases where the game appears to have stopped responding.

• Optimized game startup and replay processing speed.

• Added playback speed controls to the History Book.

Save and replay compatibility notice

• Saves and replays from previous versions are automatically converted to the current format when loaded in 1.1.2.

• However, saves and replays written again in 1.1.2 may not be readable in earlier versions.

• Before reverting to an earlier game version, back up the original saves and replays before saving them in 1.1.2.

AI and turn progression have been improved.

• Improved how the AI selects officers to join an attack and officers to remain behind to defend the city.

• Adjusted AI troop management so that departure cities are less likely to be left excessively vulnerable.

• Improved the processing speed for searching recruitable officers during the later stages of a campaign.

• The display of other factions’ strategic actions can now be set to Slow, Fast, or Skip.

• Selecting Skip omits the intermediate presentation and displays only a summary of the major results.

New challenge achievements have been added.

• Added a challenge achievement for unifying the realm without conducting any research.

• Added a challenge achievement for unifying the realm without using recruitment or forced requisition.

Diplomacy, research, and map usability have been improved.

• Diplomatic targets can now be sorted according to different criteria.

• Improved the readability and wording of diplomatic outlook information.

• Improved the sorting and candidate list for officers assigned to research.

• The research report screen now makes it easier to identify the assigned officer and the research result.

• Adjacent unoccupied cities can now be conquered directly through the quick-action menu.

• Selecting an allied or friendly city under attack now allows reinforcements or allied relief forces to be sent directly through the quick-action menu.

• The reason recruitment cannot be performed is now displayed more clearly.

• Adjusted the map label position for Shouchun.

Scenario and historical data have been expanded.

• Added a direct road connecting Hanzhong and Wudu.

• In the Red Cliffs scenario, Lady Fan now appears as an adviser to Zhao Fan’s faction in Guiyang.

• Added era-specific city characteristics for Luoyang.

Other issues have been fixed.

• Fixed an issue where the same officer could be assigned to both battle and domestic duties at the same time.

• Fixed an issue where the status of deployed officers could remain incorrect after a battle ended.

• Fixed several progression issues involving sieges and the creation of new factions.

• Fixed an issue where important turn notifications and rebellion-related guidance could disappear after saving.

• Improved overall stability during long campaigns and save and load operations.

This update focuses on expanding siege warfare beyond direct gate attacks by combining troop assignments, prolonged encirclements, Night Raids, and defending Sorties.

Custom officer and new faction features have also been expanded to provide greater freedom when creating personalized campaigns. Save stability, AI, turn progression, map usability, and UI convenience have been improved at the same time.

Thank you to everyone who reported issues and shared suggestions during play.

We will continue to expand strategic choices while improving the stability of long campaigns.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

Update 1.1.1 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This update allows players to place enabled alternate-history officers and custom officers in selected cities before starting a new game.

It also improves faction color selection, quick-action input behavior, mountain battle guidance, and several scenario progression issues.

The main changes are as follows.

Initial placement for alternate-history and custom officers has been added.

• Enabled alternate-history and custom officers can now be placed in selected cities before starting a new game.

• Officers left unassigned will remain in the discoverable officer pool and can be found through officer searches as before.

• At the start of the game, each officer’s affiliation is determined by the faction that owns the selected city.

• Officers placed in an unaffiliated city will begin as free officers in that city.

New faction setup has been improved.

• Players can now directly choose the map color used by a newly created faction.

New game and UI flow have been improved.

• Quick-action menus now pass unhandled key inputs back to the parent screen correctly.

• The position and direction of officer guidance in mountain battle operations have been adjusted to match the actual selection area.

Major progression issues have been fixed.

• Improved performance when a large number of prisoner disposition records are waiting to be processed.

• Fixed an issue in the Fall of Shu Han scenario where an unintended surrender judgment could occur for a player-controlled Shu faction after an automatic capture.

Other changes

• Renamed the Engineer Escort command to Guard.

• The command’s role and behavior remain unchanged.

This update focuses on giving players more freedom when starting a new game with alternate-history and custom officers, while making new faction setup and early game flow more natural.

Thank you to everyone who reported issues during play. We will continue to prioritize problems that affect new game setup and long-term campaign progression.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

Hotfix 1.1.0+3 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This update focuses on restoring missing Steam achievement checks and resolving several progression and UI issues found after the 1.1.0 update. It also makes the Cautious AI aggression option available when starting a new game.

The main changes are as follows.

Steam achievement detection has been improved.

• Fixed an issue where some Steam achievements might not be detected or synchronized correctly.

• When an existing save is loaded after the update, the game will recheck its current progression data and attempt to recognize previously missed achievements.

• There is no need to manually play back a replay for this process.

• Achievements whose past completion cannot be verified from the current save may still require the condition to be completed again.

The Cautious AI aggression option has been added.

• New games can now select Cautious as an AI aggression setting.

• Cautious AI places greater emphasis on defending its departure cities and maintaining sufficient troop reserves before launching an offensive.

Battle and operation flow issues have been fixed.

• Fixed issues involving follow-up waves and defending officer assignments during multi-wave attacks.

• Fixed an issue where a flanking attack could begin from the wrong city.

• Improved mountain battle guidance so that it more accurately reflects the actual battle rules.

UI and notification flow have been improved.

• Improved city quick actions and the office appointment flow.

• Fixed cases where dialogue notifications related to rebellions, prisoner escapes, hazardous officer reassignment, and diplomatic reinforcements could appear more than once.

This hotfix primarily addresses achievement recovery and several issues that could affect battle progression or repeated notifications.

Thank you for reporting these issues. We will continue to prioritize problems that affect progression, saved game states, and achievement completion.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

The first minor update for Three Kingdoms Classic, 1.1.0 — Legacy of the Battlefield, has been released.

This update extensively overhauls the command systems for siege battles, gate battles, and mountain battles. Reinforcement calculations and commands have also been separated more clearly from the main force, allowing each formation’s troops and operational results to function more independently.

We have also added Faction Legacies, which represent the historical elite units associated with different factions, along with nine new alternate-history officers including Gyebaek, Kim Yu-sin, and Yeon Gaesomun. New AI aggression settings and expanded effects for offices and noble titles have also been introduced.

At the same time, we have improved late-campaign performance and resolved multiple progression issues involving battles, full delegation, spectating, saving, and loading to provide a more stable experience during long campaigns.

The main changes are as follows.

Siege battles, gate battles, and mountain battles have been extensively overhauled.

• Siege and gate battles now use dedicated command systems built around deploying siege engines, providing cover, attacking walls or gates, and defensive sorties aimed at destroying enemy equipment.

• Once a wall or gate falls, the available commands shift to gate assaults, flanking infiltration, counterattack suppression, and corresponding commands for the defenders inside.

• Mountain battles have been rebuilt around the relationships between securing high ground, flanking maneuvers, controlling supply routes, and achieving battlefield objectives.

• Players can directly assign officers to battlefield roles and review each officer’s suitability for the selected duty.

• Officer traits are now connected more directly to assigned roles in siege, gate, and mountain battles, with expanded combat effects and recommended deployments.

• Battle damage, critical-hit feedback, screen effects, and combat logs have been improved to make the situation easier to understand.

Reinforcement command and combat calculations have been overhauled.

• Reinforcement commands could already be selected separately, but some troop, morale, and damage results were previously combined with the main force.

• The main force and reinforcements are now calculated separately, allowing each unit’s troops and command results to be reflected more independently.

• The effects of the formation and operation selected for reinforcements are now applied separately from those of the main force.

• In field battles, reinforcements can perform coordinated attacks or protect the main force.

• The selected formation affects reinforcement morale retention, damage sharing, operational effectiveness, and pressure on enemy morale.

• In siege battles, reinforcements can assault walls, provide covering fire, launch relief attacks, or disrupt supply routes.

• An officer from the main force can be appointed to counter enemy reinforcements.

• Reinforcement results are displayed separately on battle cards and in combat records.

Faction Legacies have been added.

• Eight Faction Legacies have been added: Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, White Feather Soldiers, Formation Breakers, White Horse Volunteers, Danyang Soldiers, Vanguard Crossbowmen, Liang Province Cavalry, and Dongzhou Soldiers.

• Historically appropriate Legacies are assigned according to the faction and period of each scenario.

• Each Legacy provides different effects in field, mountain, gate, and siege battles, influencing attack, defense, morale, pursuit, retreat, and capture results.

• A Legacy can be inherited by conquering or peacefully integrating the faction that possesses it.

• The effects and historical background of owned Legacies can be reviewed from the faction information and operations screens.

• If a troop-class system is introduced in the future, Faction Legacies are planned to be expanded into unique formations representing each faction.

Late-campaign performance and progression stability have been improved.

• Reduced processing costs caused by city panel calculations and map arrows during the later stages of a campaign.

• Improved display stability while zooming or interacting with the map.

• Refined the layouts of the operations console, battle participant lists, load menus, and combat logs across both smaller and wider screens.

• Fixed several issues where the command screen could remain locked after stopping full delegation, completing an autosave, closing a battle preview, or finishing background planning.

• Improved loading support for save files with partially missing replay information.

• Stabilized save and replay recovery behavior on macOS.

Campaign AI and difficulty have been adjusted.

• New games now allow players to select Balanced, Aggressive, or Chaotic AI aggression.

• AI factions now assess defensive gaps in their departure cities and the troop limits of simultaneous offensives more carefully before attacking.

• During prolonged stalemates, AI factions can combine recovery, troop movements, secondary fronts, and breakthrough preparations to change the strategic situation.

• AI factions can now proclaim an emperor when they meet the required conditions, with the event recorded through an in-game report.

• On Hard difficulty, when the player establishes a dominant position, major rival factions that are falling behind may receive limited increases to gold income, food income, and natural troop growth based on the strategic gap.

• Defeated armies now distribute retreating troops toward safer rear cities more effectively.

• Morale and prisoner outcomes in battles against undefended cities have been adjusted to behave more naturally.

Officer transfers and deployment have been improved.

• Added a transfer command that allows officers to be sent directly to another city.

• Relaxed the restriction that required players to leave a fixed number of troops behind when launching an attack.

• Improved the handling of deployed and remaining garrison troops, making attack preparation more flexible and consistent.

Nine new alternate-history officers have been added, including Gyebaek, Kim Yu-sin, and Yeon Gaesomun.

• Gyebaek, Kim Yu-sin, and Yeon Gaesomun have been added as new alternate-history officers.

• Li Shimin, Huo Qubing, Qi Jiguang, Ögedei, Tolui, and Jebe have also been added.

• The new officers have received unique traits and effects that interact with other traits.

• Portraits and historical data for several new and existing officers have been improved. Pang Tong’s portrait, which received considerable player feedback, has also been renewed.

Officer traits, offices, and noble titles have been reworked.

• Officer trait tiers and effects have been comprehensively rebalanced, with descriptions revised to match their actual behavior.

• Offices now provide different benefits depending on whether they relate to the economy, defense, logistics, or diplomacy.

• Command offices reduce the maintenance costs of garrisons and deployed armies.

• Marquis and duke titles provide effects related to loyalty recovery, public order, garrison morale, or logistics.

• The costs and contributions of offices and fiefs can now be reviewed in the monthly finance screen.

• Officers who have accumulated sufficient merit but have been denied promotion for an extended period will first express dissatisfaction. If the situation continues, their loyalty may decline.

• AI assignment of city officials and the ordering of office candidates have been improved based on merit and role suitability.

New game selection and Battle Training have been expanded.

• A map has been added to the faction selection screen for new games.

• Players can select a city on the map and begin as the faction that controls it.

• Battle Training now includes attacking and defending scenarios with step-by-step guidance for siege battles, battles outside the walls, mountain battles, standard field battles, and gate battles.

• Players can configure whether guidance is shown, whether both sides receive reinforcements, whether reinforcements are controlled directly, and whether siege-engine research requirements are applied.

Spectator mode and full delegation have been improved.

• Playback speed controls have been added to spectator mode.

• Campaigns currently being spectated can now be identified in save slots and replay lists.

• Full-delegation progress can be viewed through a panel at the bottom of the screen.

• The progress panel can be switched between three sizes.

• AI attack orders and battle progress are now shown on screen during full delegation.

Audio settings and Windows sound have been improved.

• BGM and sound effect volumes can now be adjusted more precisely.

• Simplified the audio controls in the settings screen.

• Fixed an issue where sound effect volume could differ from the selected setting in some Windows environments.

• Adjusted the overall volume balance of battle and UI sound effects.

A web save editor has been added.

• A web-based save editor has been added, allowing save files to be edited directly on your device.

• English save editor: https://threekingdoms-classic.web.app/en/save-editor/

Major progression issues have been fixed.

• Fixed an issue where command input could remain locked after stopping full delegation or completing an autosave.

• Fixed an issue where outdated processing results could overwrite the current screen state while delegated battles or battle previews were being cleaned up.

• Fixed inconsistencies between attack arrows, pause state, and the progress panel during spectator mode.

• Fixed an issue where players could not choose a successor when their ruler was executed while held prisoner and no designated heir existed.

• Fixed an issue where save files with missing replay information could fail to load.

• Improved achievement detection and retroactive checks for existing save files, allowing some previously missed achievements to be recognized.

This update places significant emphasis on improving late-campaign performance and the stability of battles, delegation, spectator mode, saving, and loading, while also giving each battle type and officer assignment greater strategic meaning.

Thank you for all the reports and suggestions sent while we prepared our first minor update. We will continue to prioritize progression-blocking issues, save-related problems, and performance concerns that become noticeable during long campaigns.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

Hotfix 1.0.4+6 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This announcement covers the cumulative hotfixes applied gradually from 1.0.4+1 through 1.0.4+6.

During these updates, we stabilized battle and reinforcement flow, recovery after stopping full delegation or loading a game, campaign ending presentation, desktop UI, and Windows audio behavior.

We also fixed a succession issue where an incorrect ruler could be temporarily appointed when both the ruler and a potential successor died during the same turn.

The main changes are as follows.

Battle and reinforcement flow have been improved.

• Improved cases where battle resolution and defending officer assignments could become inconsistent during consecutive waves of attacks.

• Refined commander matchups and tactical decision-making in formation battles.

• Improved the screens and guidance flow for reinforcement and relief requests.

• Fixed an issue where the reinforcement arrival dialogue for the next battle could appear prematurely on the current battle screen.

• Fixed an issue where the same reinforcement dialogue animation and sound effect could repeat whenever the screen refreshed.

• Improved the display order of reinforcement, retreat, and advisor dialogues so they no longer overlap.

• Strengthened the transition back to the next round and command screen after a battle ends.

Full delegation and loading flow have been stabilized.

• Fixed an issue where command buttons could remain locked after stopping full delegation.

• Delegated battles will no longer proceed before the player confirms the reinforcement notice.

• Improved cases where round progression and screen state could become inconsistent after loading saved data.

• Fixed an issue where elements from a previous screen could remain visible after loading or transitioning between rounds.

• Campaign settings and display preferences are now preserved after saving.

• When saved data and replay information do not match, the game can now load more safely after confirmation.

Tutorial and first-entry guidance issues have been fixed.

• Fixed an issue where a tutorial overlay could block input before its target button was ready, preventing progression.

• The full screen is no longer blocked before the position of the highlighted target has been determined.

• Added a confirmation button inside the first-entry military advisor guidance panel.

Campaign ending presentation and progression have been improved.

• Enlarged officer portraits during campaign ending dialogue, making it easier to identify the current speaker.

• Fixed an issue where the command menu and progression button could remain disabled after the final remaining ruler surrendered through diplomacy.

Ruler succession issues have been fixed.

• When a ruler and multiple officers die naturally during the same turn, all scheduled deaths are now processed before the successor is selected.

• Officers scheduled to die during the same turn are excluded from the ruler succession candidate list.

• Fixed an issue where an officer who was also about to die could temporarily become ruler, causing succession to occur again immediately afterward.

Desktop UI and performance have been improved.

• Improved map interaction and rendering performance during the later stages of a campaign.

Audio and Windows stability have been improved.

• Refined the playback flow for seasonal background music and sound effects.

• Adjusted the use and overall volume balance of battle and campaign ending sound effects.

• Improved cases where audio playback could become unstable in some Windows environments.

• Reduced the possibility of audio-related errors occurring when the game closes.

This cumulative hotfix focuses on stabilizing issues that can directly affect long campaigns, including battles, reinforcements, delegation, loading, campaign endings, and ruler succession, rather than adding new content.

As separate announcements were not published for each build, the accumulated changes have been summarized together here.

Thank you to everyone who reported issues during play. We will continue to prioritize problems that block progression or affect saved game states.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello,

Update 1.0.4 for Three Kingdoms Classic is now available.

This update focuses on helping players assess their faction more easily and manage officers and supplies more efficiently through the addition of Strategic Advice and expanded domestic-management assistance.

We have also revised Yuan Shao’s forces and the portraits of the Yuan family in the Guandu 200 scenario, while improving battle flow, save and load functionality, UI usability, and overall progression stability.

The major changes are as follows.

Added Strategic Advice.

• Added Strategic Advice, which provides an overview of invasion risks, offensive opportunities, diplomacy, recruitment, and scheme-related situations.

• This makes it easier to identify the major risks and opportunities facing your faction.

Improved domestic administration and officer management.

• Food required for research is now shared across all cities in the faction instead of being taken entirely from the city where the assigned officer is stationed.

• When automatically recruiting prisoners, an officer from the city holding the prisoner will now be prioritized as the recruiter.

• Officers who have already been targeted by Sow Discord are now excluded from the candidate list, reducing duplicate selections.

• Cities with known rumors are now prioritized in the talent search target list.

• Advisors can now propose officer redeployment plans for the player to review before applying them.

• Automatic redeployment has been adjusted to avoid moving key officers unnecessarily or leaving cities with too few personnel.

• Automatic food redistribution now prioritizes frontline cities and cities with larger armies.

• The placement of several major historical officers, including Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and Sima Yi, has been adjusted so they can be discovered in more historically appropriate regions.

• The application and display of official posts and ranks have been reorganized.

• Fixed an issue where conflicting official post information could be displayed simultaneously or outdated posts could reappear.

• Fixed an issue where officers already recruited in existing save files could revert to an undiscovered state after loading.

Improved battle flow and battle information.

• Fixed an issue where the game might not proceed to the next battle after multiple consecutive player-controlled battles.

• Fixed an issue where prisoner handling and follow-up battles could wait on each other after a battle, preventing the player from controlling the map.

• Expanded battle command descriptions and result information to make the causes of major troop, morale, and gate damage easier to understand.

• Improved the process of reviewing participating troops and officers on the attack preparation screen.

• Fixed an issue where the battle command card destruction effect was displayed on the wrong side when a critical hit occurred.

• Adjusted the display direction of opposing officer portraits so they face each other more naturally.

• Battle Training now remembers the selected guidance option, reducing repeated instructions.

Revised the Guandu scenario and historical data.

• Expanded the roster and deployment of Yuan Shao’s forces in the Guandu 200 scenario.

• Adjusted the initial administration and frontline balance of Yuan Shao’s forces.

• Added Yuan Shao’s unique governance trait, Four Generations, Three Excellencies.

• Updated the portraits of Yuan Shao, Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, Yuan Shang, and other members of the Yuan family with a more consistent style and orientation.

• Standardized the Xiaopei region as Pengcheng and corrected Wan’s province assignment to Jing Province.

• The City Information screen now displays the province to which the current city belongs.

Improved the UI and general usability.

• Improved readability across battles, diplomacy confirmations, officer redeployment, the Settings window, and the City Information screen.

• Most pop-up windows can now be closed with the right mouse button.

• Reduced excessive repetition of the same notification sound during consecutive officer conversations.

• Adjusted sound transitions during seasonal changes to make them feel more natural.

• Auto-save slots can now be viewed alongside other save files on the Load screen.

• Fixed an issue where unselected bonuses could remain applied when editing a custom officer.

Improved save data and progression stability.

• Fixed an issue where the game could close if the results of background turn processing no longer matched the current game state.

• Improved the stability of auto-saving and returning to the game immediately after the end of a turn.

• Strengthened the loading process to prevent certain state information from being lost when loading save data containing an ongoing battle.

• Fixed an issue where the assigned military officer could take an additional turn to update after a city was occupied or an officer was moved.

• Added a safe mode and customer-support diagnostic tools for cases where startup problems occur repeatedly.

Since the game launched on July 3, I have released five hotfixes and four minor updates in approximately one week. Every encouraging comment and detailed report made me want to bring improvements to the game as quickly as possible, and I continued working at a much faster pace than usual.

However, update 1.0.3 introduced a serious issue that could cause the UI to stop responding during multiple consecutive battles. By focusing too heavily on rapid implementation, the update did not receive sufficient verification before release, and this resulted in a problem that disrupted gameplay. I apologize to everyone who was affected.

This has prompted me to reconsider how future updates should be handled. Rather than implementing changes as quickly as possible, I will prioritize thorough verification and stable releases. I will continue to carefully review your feedback and reports, but even if this means longer intervals between updates, changes will be released only after the necessary testing has been completed.

I will also take a moment to catch my breath and adjust the development pace. I hope you will understand this as a necessary step toward improving the game steadily and reliably over the long term, rather than adding as much as possible within a short period.

Thank you sincerely for all the interest, support, and valuable feedback you have shared during the first week since launch.

Hello everyone.

Update 1.0.3+1 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This update focuses on adding a new tutorial scenario and Battle Training so that new players can more easily learn the flow of the game. This version also introduces macOS support, and we have improved several issues that could affect gameplay flow based on player reports.

The main changes are as follows.

A new tutorial scenario has been added.

• Added a beginner-friendly scenario set during the Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184.

• Players can follow Liu Bei’s rise and learn the basics of early faction management and battle flow.

• The scenario is designed to guide players naturally through basic progression, major commands, and entering battle.

• The guidance flow has been improved so that new players can more easily understand the main systems.

• After completing the tutorial guidance, players may continue playing the Yellow Turban Rebellion scenario if they wish.

• Due to the nature of the early 184 setting, some areas on the map remain vacant. If you have suggestions or feedback about this part, please feel free to share them.

Battle Training has been added.

• Added Battle Training, where players can practice different battle types.

• In the current version, field battles and siege battles are supported.

• Players can practice battle flow and command selection separately from the main campaign.

• Additional battle types will be supported gradually in future updates.

macOS support has been added.

• Starting with this version, Three Kingdoms Classic can also be played on macOS.

• The macOS version can be installed and launched through Steam, just like the Windows version.

• As this is the first macOS release, unexpected issues may occur depending on the environment.

• If you encounter launch or display issues, please report them with your macOS version and device information.

Battle guidance and battle UI have been improved.

• Added battle command card previews and improved command matchup information in tooltips.

Major bugs have been fixed.

• Fixed an issue where officers discovered or recruited during play could return to an undiscovered state after saving and loading in some scenarios.

• In particular, this affected officers such as Sima Yi and Sima Lang in the 191 scenario, where officers originally belonging to the undiscovered officer pool could be incorrectly reverted during loading after being discovered or recruited.

• Adjusted the field battle “Regroup Forces” command so that it is only available in the intended formations.

• Reduced cases where siege technique effects could cause excessive wall damage in certain situations.

• Fixed an issue where, after deposing the Han emperor and choosing the Han state name, the Han court could still appear to remain active.

• Fixed an issue where high office grants under the Han court preservation regency route could be applied differently from the actual authority level.

• Fixed an issue where the ruler holding a king title could appear as a candidate in the imperial clan enfeoffment list.

Visual presentation and usability have been improved.

• Refined the layout and text flow of officer speech bubbles.

• Adjusted officer portrait size and border presentation in domestic, diplomacy, recruitment, and military support screens.

• Improved the flow of the appointment selection window, advisor speech bubbles, Han imperial aid confirmation, and officer information checks.

• Added stage-based artwork for research cards and visual effects for research completion.

• Added siege battle illustration assets for the Jiaozhou region and some additional battle presentation assets.

• Officer death records are now added to the recent events list, making it easier to track changes in the war situation and officer status.

This update focuses on lowering the early entry barrier through the new tutorial scenario and Battle Training, while also improving overall gameplay stability.

Many of the fixes and some of the added content in this update were confirmed and reflected based on actual player reports. Thank you to everyone who sent detailed feedback.

Since launch, we have been prioritizing confirmed issues and improvement suggestions. We will continue to respond as quickly as possible to issues that directly affect gameplay flow and save stability.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

Hotfix 1.0.2+2 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This hotfix primarily addresses a startup stability issue found in some Windows environments after the 1.0.2+1 update.

In some environments, the app could close without an error message shortly after the PlaySimulation Studio logo, when moving into the initial screen. In this build, we adjusted the related Windows audio handling path to reduce the chance of the app closing immediately after startup.

The main changes are as follows.

Windows startup stability has been improved.

• Reduced an issue where the game could close without an error message shortly after startup in some Windows environments.

• Adjusted the internal cleanup order related to audio handling during the startup screen transition.

Historical proper noun notation has been corrected.

• Some city names, officer names, and officer courtesy names have been reviewed and corrected.

• Some city names have been changed as follows.

  • Yangping → Xiangping

  • Guyuan → Shuofang

  • Anyi → Hedong

• Some officer names have been corrected.

  • Wei Yao → Wei Zhao

• Some officer courtesy names have been corrected or removed where there was not enough reliable basis.

  • Gao Su: Xiaozhe → Xiaoze

  • Guo Si: Aduo → removed

  • Meng Da: Zijing → Zidu

  • Wei Guan: Boyi → Boyu

• In Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, city names, officer names, courtesy names, event names, and place names have been reviewed more broadly.

• Proper nouns that could appear awkward due to automatic-style translation have been improved.

This hotfix focuses on improving Windows startup stability and the quality of historical proper noun notation, rather than adding new content.

We again ask for your understanding regarding the frequent updates. Since launch, we have been addressing confirmed issues by priority, and we will continue to respond quickly to issues that directly affect stability or gameplay flow.

Thank you for playing and for sending reports.

※ Note

In some Windows environments, the game may be blocked from launching by Smart App Control or other security policies.

If you see the message An application control policy has blocked this file. (0x11c7), please check the Smart App Control settings in Windows Security.

If you are using a managed PC, such as a company or school device, and cannot change the setting directly, please try running the game on another Windows PC where Smart App Control is not applied, or try launching it again on the same PC after some time has passed.

We are also separately preparing to apply formal code signing to reduce this issue.

Hello everyone.

We would like to provide information regarding a launch blocking issue affecting Three Kingdoms Classic on some Windows environments.

We have confirmed cases where the game may be blocked from launching with the following message:

An application control policy has blocked this file. (0x11c7)

First, this does not mean that the Steam installation files are damaged or that the game executable is a malicious file.

Based on what we have confirmed so far, this appears to be caused by Windows Smart App Control, SmartScreen, or an application control policy applied to the PC blocking the game executable.

Cause of the issue

• When Windows runs an executable file, it checks factors such as digital signatures, publisher information, file reputation, and security policies.

• Three Kingdoms Classic is distributed through Steam, but the Windows executable itself does not yet have formal code signing applied.

• In some Windows environments, this may cause the file to be treated as a new or insufficiently trusted executable.

• In Windows 11 environments with Smart App Control enabled, or on PCs with company, school, or security policies applied, the game may be blocked from launching rather than simply showing a warning.

Why this happened after the 1.0.2 update

• This issue does not affect all users and has only been confirmed in some Windows environments.

• The 1.0.2 update included several changes, such as custom officers, new faction play, and fixes for battle transition freezes. As part of the update, the Windows executable was also replaced.

• When the executable changes, Windows treats it as a new file that is different from the previous version.

• As a result, even if the previous version launched normally, the newly distributed executable may go through security and reputation checks again.

• At this point, we believe this is not caused by a specific gameplay feature in the 1.0.2 update, but by some Windows environments blocking the newly distributed executable due to security policy checks.

Planned response

• We are currently preparing to apply formal code signing to the Windows executable.

• Once code signing is applied, Windows will be able to verify the publisher and integrity of the executable, which should reduce the chance of blocking by Smart App Control or SmartScreen-related systems.

• However, code signing is not a simple file change. It requires certificate or signing service verification, build pipeline integration, signature verification, and redistribution through Steam.

• We will proceed as quickly as possible.

Temporary check

• Please check whether Smart App Control is blocking the game in Windows Security.

• Path: Windows Security > App & browser control > Smart App Control settings

• If Smart App Control or another application control policy is enabled, it may be preventing the game from launching.

• After changing the setting, please try launching the game again through Steam.

• If you are unable to change this setting directly, or if you are using a managed PC such as a company or school device, the game may be difficult to launch on that PC for the time being. As a temporary option, please try running the game on another Windows PC where Smart App Control is not applied, or try launching it again on the same PC after some time has passed. Smart App Control appears to consider both the signature status and reputation of new executable files, so the block may be eased over time as more normal launch cases are recorded.

Because this is a security-related issue, we will not treat it lightly and will proceed with a formal response.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Hello everyone.

Update 1.0.2+1 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

The biggest addition in this update is custom officers and new faction play.

Players can now create their own officers and use them in campaigns and new faction play. Created officers are also preserved in saves, loads, and replay records. When starting as a new faction, the faction’s map color is also saved and maintained after loading.

The main changes are as follows.

Custom officers and new faction play have been added.

• Added a custom officer feature that allows players to create and manage their own officers.

• Created officers can be used in new games and new faction play.

• Custom officer names, abilities, gender, portraits, traits, and basic narrative information are reflected in the campaign.

• Custom officer information is preserved in saves, loads, and replay records.

• When starting as a new faction, the generated faction’s map color is saved and maintained after loading.

• Added male and female portrait assets for custom officers.

• Available traits during custom officer creation now vary depending on the officer’s total ability score.

City information and forecast tooltips have been improved.

• Added forecast tooltips for key values in the city detail panel.

• Players can more easily check the reasons behind changes in economy, agriculture, public order, logistics, morale, food, manpower, and troops.

• Additional explanations have been added so that players can better understand not only current values, but also why upcoming changes may occur.

Faction policies and domestic balance have been adjusted.

• Added the Military Expansion policy and the Logistics Maintenance policy.

• Large factions can now manage front-line maintenance and supply burdens through policies.

• Policy costs and effects now scale more naturally as a faction grows.

• Office maintenance costs in Standard mode have been reduced so that early and mid-game finances are not overly constrained.

Deployment, battle, and operation UI have been improved.

• The attack formation screen now shows officer traits that affect battle more clearly.

Major progression issues have been fixed.

• BGM and sound effect volume settings are now preserved after restarting the app.

• Fixed an issue where siege command buttons could become locked when an open-field victory led directly into a siege battle.

• Fixed an issue where a completed battle screen or status effect popup could remain after battle ended.

• Fixed an issue where command UI could become locked when final ending conditions and battle interactions overlapped.

• Fixed an issue where major commands and domestic menus could be incorrectly disabled when no city was selected.

• Fixed an issue where the command menu could appear locked after a faction policy dialogue had closed.

• Fixed an issue where life-extension treatment events could remain for officers who were already dead, departed, or fully treated.

• Fixed an issue where the result dialogue for automatic officer reassignment could be delayed or missing.

• Fixed an issue in the Han court preservation route where regency title grants could remain as repeated candidates.

• Reduced cases where reincarnated officer reveals could show the same portrait repeatedly within the same reveal group.

This update adds custom officers and new faction play, while also focusing on making city management and operation flow easier to understand.

Since launch, we have been moving quickly to reflect issues and improvement suggestions as they are found. We ask for your understanding regarding the frequent updates.

There are still areas to improve, but we are reading your feedback as carefully as possible. We will continue refining the game so that it becomes more stable and more enjoyable.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

Update 1.0.1+2 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This is a minor update focused on improving battle flow, siege battle AI, some officer data, UI usability, and final ending-related issues.

The main changes are as follows.

Officer traits have been added and adjusted.

• Unique traits or battle traits have been added to some major officers.

• As a representative example, Dong Zhuo has received a new unique trait, Tyrant.

• When Dong Zhuo participates in battle as the commander or a deputy officer, this trait affects enemy morale damage, retreat pursuit losses, and pursuit capture chance.

Siege battle AI has been improved.

• The tendency for AI to repeat certain commands during siege battles has been reduced.

• Depending on wall condition, morale, and the battle situation, the AI now selects siege, defense, standard attack, and disruptive actions more flexibly.

Officer data and ability balance have been adjusted.

• Some officer abilities and data balance have been adjusted.

• Xiahou Dun’s War value has been reviewed and updated.

• An issue where late Wu officer data was applied differently from the intended settings has been fixed.

• Some officer ability distributions have also been cleaned up.

UI and control usability have been improved.

• Major command menus can now be used more naturally even when no city is selected.

• Small window mode at FHD or lower resolutions has been adjusted to work properly.

Final ending-related issues have been fixed.

• An issue where the control flow of the final ending screen could become misaligned in certain situations has been fixed.

• The process leading to the ending screen after the final battle or post-battle handling has also been reinforced for better stability.

This update is not focused on large new content additions. Instead, it focuses on refining battle and siege battle flow while reducing display and control issues that could interfere with play.

We apologize for the frequent updates shortly after launch.

At this stage, we are quickly reflecting issues and feedback found during play based on priority. We will continue to proceed carefully, focusing on stability and meaningful improvements so that frequent changes do not cause unnecessary inconvenience.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

Update 1.0.1 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This is the first minor update after the official launch. It focuses on helping players understand their faction’s current situation more clearly and make better decisions about long-term management through improvements to the strategy screen and faction policy system.

We also reviewed the starting diplomatic relationships in several historical scenarios, reducing or removing ceasefires that were preventing early wars and faction conflicts for too long.

The main changes are as follows:

• Improved the strategy console.

  • Adjusted the information layout so that finances, active policies, and key management status can be checked more quickly.

  • Refined the wide-screen layout so that major panels do not stretch excessively.

  • Improved summary displays to make the current state of the faction easier to read at a glance.

• Expanded the faction policy system.

  • Organized faction policies such as Standard Administration, Public Order Stabilization, Tax Increase, and Fiscal Austerity so that players can choose an operating direction based on the current situation.

  • Policy previews now show not only monthly gold and food costs, but also effects on public order, economy, agriculture, prestige, city efficiency, morale recovery, and loyalty pressure.

  • Improved safeguards to prevent duplicate policy changes or abnormal immediate switching while a policy is already active.

• Adjusted financial pressure.

  • Reduced early financial pressure on Standard difficulty so that early management is not overly locked into gold shortages.

  • Added the Fiscal Austerity policy, which lowers fixed expenses but places pressure on city management efficiency, garrison morale recovery, and some officer loyalty.

• Improved the Public Order Stabilization policy.

  • The policy no longer focuses only on recovering public order.

  • During the policy period, economy, agriculture, and prestige bonuses may now be applied intermittently.

  • This makes the benefits of choosing a public order-focused policy more apparent.

• Reworked starting diplomacy in historical scenarios.

  • Reviewed starting ceasefire relationships in several scenarios, including the Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition, Warlords, Xu Province War, Battle of Guandu, After Red Cliffs, King of Hanzhong, After Yiling, and Wuzhang Plains.

  • Reduced or removed long-term ceasefires with weak historical basis or those that overly restricted early scenario development.

  • Relationships closer to historical cooperation were reorganized as alliances, while buffer relationships were adjusted into shorter ceasefires.

  • Diplomatic relationships around the northern frontier, Jing Province, Jiangdong, Nanzhong, and Liaodong were also reclassified based on historical context and gameplay flow.

• Added a long-term campaign option.

  • Added an unlimited officer lifespan mode for alternate-history play and long campaigns.

  • This option allows players to continue a campaign without being constrained by historical death years.

• Improved offices and titles.

  • Adjusted office and title assignment paths related to preserving the Han court and regency authority.

  • Improved the consistency between authority rewards and individual office displays.

• Improved several abnormal flow cases.

  • Reduced abnormal attack decisions that could occur when bypassing empty cities.

  • Improved cases where recent event reports could appear out of sync with the current game state after loading a save.

This update is not focused on large new content additions. Instead, it aims to make faction management clearer and improve the early flow of historical scenarios.

We will continue improving balance and usability based on player feedback and play records.

Thank you for playing and sharing your feedback.

Hello everyone.

Hotfix 1.0.0+5 for Three Kingdoms Classic has been released.

This update focuses on issues found after the official launch, including initial language selection, turn progression stability, and battle input behavior after transitioning into siege battles.

The main changes are as follows:

• Improved initial language selection on first launch.

  • If no language setting has been saved yet, the game now checks the Steam launch language first.

  • If Steam language information is unavailable, the game will then refer to the operating system locale.

  • If neither matches a supported language, the game will start in English as before.

• Improved turn progression stability.

  • Turn progress commands are now better protected from being processed repeatedly while a round is already being resolved.

  • This reduces cases where manual input, delegated progress, or automated progress could overlap.

• Fixed battle input issues after siege transitions.

  • Additional safeguards were added for cases where battle interactions could remain active immediately after transitioning from open battle to siege.

  • This should reduce cases where battle commands or dialogue states become blocked or overlap after the transition.

• Reinforced battle command tutorial display.

  • The battle command guide now appears more reliably in supported battlefield types.

• Fixed a narrow-screen battle UI issue.

  • Status effect badges in battle are now less likely to overflow their available space.

Thank you for the bug reports and feedback after launch.

The language selection issue and the battle transition input issue both had a direct impact on the early play experience, so they were handled with priority. We will continue reviewing reports and improving the game through further updates.

We have released a hotfix addressing several display and stability issues found after launch.

Steam achievement integration has been improved. Campaign endings, special events, major battles, and progress-based achievements should now be recorded more reliably.

Battle-related handling has also been improved. This update fixes cases where allied reinforcements, defender arrival reinforcements, and late troop recall handling could become inconsistent between the battle display and actual battle resolution. Recent operation reports have also been adjusted to reduce cases where outdated battle information could remain visible, and the report area should now display more reliably on wide screens.

Rebellion cutscenes now use the same dark map focus presentation as disaster cutscenes. Cities affected by rebellions will still remain highlighted for clarity.

Localization has been updated as well. In Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, some research menu, research effect, and research progress/completion report text could still appear in English. These have been corrected. Additional missing research and achievement-related text has also been added for Japanese and Chinese resources.

Existing save files remain compatible. Please continue to report any issues you encounter while playing. Thank you.

Three Kingdoms Classic is now available!

The Windows version is available first. The macOS version will be added once its release preparation is complete.

Three Kingdoms Classic is a turn-based grand strategy game set in the turbulent era from the late Han dynasty to the end of the Three Kingdoms period. Through cities, officers, warfare, diplomacy, supplies, and domestic commands, the game portrays the rise and fall of rival factions.

Players can take command of a faction and aim to unify the realm, or use Spectator Mode to watch AI factions wage wars, form diplomatic ties, and shape their own version of history.

Based on the feedback we received during the playtest, many parts of the game have been adjusted and expanded.

In particular, we focused on battle presentation, officer availability in later scenarios, dialogue and titles, UI flow, Spectator Mode, balance, and quality-of-life improvements.

The battle system has also been reorganized. The former field battle structure has been refined, with Meeting Battles and Outside-the-Walls Field Battles now more clearly distinguished. Formations, tactical choices, battle logs, and battlefield information displays have also been improved to make battle results easier to understand.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the playtest and shared feedback.

Short comments, detailed reports, bug reports, and notes about inconvenient parts of the game all helped improve development. While not every suggestion can be reflected at once, we will continue improving the game step by step after release.

After launch, we plan to continue working on the following areas:

• Bug fixes and stability improvements

• UI and readability improvements

• Spectator Mode quality-of-life improvements

• Battle and diplomacy balance adjustments

• Additional event and record-related content

• Quality-of-life features based on player feedback

If you encounter any issues or have feedback, please share it through the Steam Community or the in-game contact/feedback channel.

Thank you for playing Three Kingdoms Classic.