The Romance of the Three Kingdoms provides a wealth of information about ancient China for game developers, much in the same way the Iliad does for mythological backgrounds. The book's battles, heroes, and villains inspired Koei to produce an entire series dealing with China's turbulent journey to unification. Now Strategy First dips into the story's pageantry of conquest with Dragon Throne: Battle of Red Cliffs, a real-time strategy game that revisits ancient China and its principle power brokers. Unfortunately, any potential excitement is sabotaged by uninspired gameplay.
After the collapse of the Han Dynasty around 220 A.D., China dissolved from one nation into three states ruled by three unique leaders: Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and San Quan. Each man sought to rejoin the fragments by war and diplomacy, with himself as Emperor. In a stunning act of deception, Cao Cao was tricked into linking all his boats together for stability in rough waters near Red Cliffs, but a fireboat attack destroyed his fleet and nearly killed him in a skirmish that defined the lines of the Three Kingdoms. After the famous battle, each general returned to his corner of China and plotted, and it's at this point you enter the period of conquest to direct troops abroad and oversee the production of materials at home.
Although Dragon Throne: Battle of Red Cliffs is filled with the unfamiliar names and history of China, the documentation does a fine job establishing the series of events that lead up to the political intrigue and bloody conflicts. In addition to the information in the manual, a .PDF file contains even more information about the Three Kingdom's period, but the game inexplicably doesn't provide the Acrobat Reader program required to read it -- just another example of the oversights missed in production of this title.
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The Battle of Red Cliffs, otherwise known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive battle at the end of the Han Dynasty, immediately prior to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. It was fought in the winter of 208/9 AD 1 between the allied forces of the southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan and the numerically superior forces of the. Comments about Battle Of Red Cliff by Su Tung-po Edward Boetel (6/25/2016 1:52:00 AM) The melancholic tone of Su Dongpo as he realizes the fragility of man and the permanence of nature in the River and the Moon. Battle of Red Cliffs (赤壁之戰 Battle of Chibi) was a decisive battle during the standoff of the Three Kingdoms in China. It took place in the winter of 208 between the allied forces of the southern warlords ( Liu Bei and Sun Quan ), and the northern warlord, Cao Cao. Battle of Red Cliffs is available on both Steam and the Oculus Store. At full price it’s around $29 which is a little steep, but it’s regularly discounted at 50% off on both stores, so I’d recommend waiting for a sale. I bought it on the Oculus Store for £7.99 and was happy with the price.
As real-time strategy, Dragon Throne: Battle of Red Cliffs is mostly traditional fare with little innovation. You recruit peasants and send them to work collecting iron and wood to fund the construction of more complicated buildings. New buildings provide different foodstuffs for supporting an army in the field, training areas for soldiers, and standard RTS-like improvements in unit or production stats. Heavy siege weapons can be made for breaching walls and horses provide the added edge via mounted troops. Dragon Throne begins firmly planted on the coattails of other successful games, but wanders off before developing into a solid game in its own right.
Although similar to other games in the genre, Red Cliffs misses a few ingredients in the recipe. Action is incredibly slow, evidenced by peasants who petulantly creep to destinations only to tromp back even more slowly as the game lowers their already torpid speed by 25% when laden. Construction of buildings is painfully slow and production values are no better. Even with the speed option set at the highest level, no sense of urgency or increased productivity is apparent. In one case, the computer, set at normal AI, took a full 20 minutes to attack in a skirmish match, presumably needing the time to muster its attack force of seven troops. Perhaps the pace is intended to discourage 'tank rush' tactics, but it also rules out any chance of a quick match during a lunch hour as well.
Other grievances include a lack of formations for troops and a viable market system. Considering the game is designed in the RTS format and deals with excellent historical strategists, it's ironic that not even the most rudimentary formations can be ordered. A box formation would help protect siege engines, and flanking maneuvers, essential even before ancient China, aren't an option. Melees evolve into 'click-fests' with numbers winning out over tactics nearly every time.
Fortunately, building an unmanageable force takes quite some time, since gold is a rare commodity that arrives once a month, as does the merchant who buys excess stock. Since construction, improvements and training all cost unbalanced amounts of gold, the stockpiling of troops takes unseemly amounts of time. Finally, unintuitive fog of war obscures your own home area behind your walls and grows back rather quickly over explored areas. Shouldn't the general know his own territory like the back of his hand? It seems bizarre that these items were overlooked during the development phase. While the flaws don't destroy the game totally, they drive it into mediocrity and ruin a perfectly viable setting, which is even worse.
Dragon Throne showcases its potential in the graphics and sound areas. While the buildings are rendered in the usual isometric view, each has a distinct feel of the age. Animations are decent, even more so in battle. The archers are especially fun to watch when they release their fiery salvos. Sounds are impressive and the Chinese voices are exotic, if a bit distracting, and background music adds an immersion factor. As for gameplay, a tree of 50 officer skills adds some life to the mostly bland action, and two-mini maps allow you to move between playing areas and require building camps to maintain armies on the march. Even so, the distances involved can make maintaining the home front a bit of a chore.
Had the designers stuck to the formula that produced a generation of Command & Conquer clones, Dragon Throne: Battle of Red Cliffs would modestly stand out with its unusual settings, decent graphics, and minimal contributions to the genre. Instead, the game fails to join the ranks and will slip into obscurity, noted only for its failure to deliver on a simple promise of engaging gameplay. Until Koei decides to add a RTS to their Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, gamers will be better off playing the Chinese in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and hunting down a translation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms instead.
Graphics: Standard isometric viewpoint, but animations are good and the buildings are appropriate to the age.
Sound: The Chinese voices are loud and convincing, but constant subtitles might wear on some players. The background music is relaxing and unobtrusive.
Enjoyment: Gameplay is the torpedo that sinks this torpid vessel. Ponderous building up of forces might accurately reflect ancient China, but it drags the game down. Peasants moving this slowly would have been executed.
Replay Value: After wading through the single player game, multiplayer and skirmish modes add some game longevity.
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Three Kingdoms: Fate of the Dragon, Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, Dark Planet: Battle for Natrolis, Dune 2000, Empire Earth, Dark Legions, The, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, Gangsters 2: Vendetta The Battle of Red Cliff, otherwise known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive battle fought at the end of the Han dynasty, about twelve years prior to the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history.
It was fought in the winter of AD 208/9 between the allied forces of the southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan and the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao. Liu Bei and Sun Quan successfully frustrated Cao Cao’s effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunite the territory of the Eastern Han dynasty.
The allied victory at Red Cliff ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, gave them control of the Yangtze, and provided a line of defense that was the basis for the later creation of the two southern states of Shu Han and Eastern Wu. The battle has been called the largest naval battle in history in terms of numbers involved.
Descriptions of the battle of Red Cliff differ widely, and the location of the battle is fiercely debated. Although its precise location remains uncertain, the majority of academic conjectures place it on the south bank of the Yangtze River, southwest of present-day Wuhan and northeast of Baqiu (present-day Yueyang, Hunan).
Background of the battle of Red Cliff
By the early third century, the Han dynasty, which had ruled China for almost four centuries (albeit with a 16-year interruption, dividing the dynasty into its Western and Eastern periods), was crumbling. Emperor Xian had been a political figurehead since 189, with no control over the actions of the various warlords controlling their respective territories.
One of the most powerful warlords in China was Cao Cao, who, by 207, had unified northern China and retained total control of the North China Plain.
He then completed a successful campaign against the Wuhuan in the winter of the same year, thus securing his northern frontier. Upon his return in 208, he was appointed Chancellor, a position that granted him absolute authority over the entire imperial government.
Shortly afterward, in the autumn of 208, his army began a southern campaign.
The Yangtze River in the area of Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan provinces) was key to the success of this strategy. If Cao Cao was to have any hope of reuniting the sundered Han empire, he had to achieve naval control of the middle Yangtze and command the strategic naval base at Jiangling as a means of access to the southern region.
Two warlords controlled the regions of the Yangtze that were key to Cao Cao’s success: Liu Biao, the Governor of Jing Province, controlled the area west of the mouth of the Han River, roughly encompassing the area around the city of Xiakou and all territory south of that region. Sun Quan controlled the river east of the Han and the southeastern territories abutting it.
A third ally, Liu Bei, was living in refuge with Liu Biao at the garrison in Fancheng (in present-day Xiangyang 888poker online poker. ), having fled from the northeast to Jing Province following a failed plot to assassinate Cao Cao and restore power to the imperial dynasty.
The initial stages of the campaign were an unqualified success for Cao Cao, as the command of Jing Province had been substantially weakened and the Jing armies exhausted by conflict with Sun Quan to the south. Factions had arisen supporting either of Liu Biao’s two sons in a struggle for succession.
The younger son prevailed, and Liu Biao’s dispossessed eldest son, Liu Qi, departed to assume a commandery in Jiangxia (present-day Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei).
Liu Biao died of illness only a few weeks later, while Cao Cao was advancing from the north and, under these circumstances, Liu Biao’s younger son and successor, Liu Cong, quickly surrendered.
Cao Cao thus captured a sizeable fleet and secured the naval base at Jiangling. This provided him with a key strategic military depot and forward base to harbor his ships.
When Jing Province fell, Liu Bei quickly fled south, accompanied by a refugee population of civilians and soldiers. This disorganized exodus was pursued by Cao Cao’s elite cavalry and was surrounded and decisively beaten at the Battle of Changban (near present-day Dangyang, Hubei).
Battle Of Chibi
Liu Bei escaped, however, and fled further east to Xiakou, where he liaised with Sun Quan’s emissary Lu Su. At this point historical accounts are inconsistent; Lu Su may have successfully encouraged Liu Bei to move even further east, to Fankou (樊口; around present-day Ezhou, Hubei).
In either case, Liu Bei was later joined by Liu Qi and levies from Jiangxia. Liu Bei’s main advisor, Zhuge Liang, was sent to Chaisang in to negotiate forming a mutual front against Cao Cao with Sun Quan.
By the time Zhuge Liang arrived, Cao Cao had already sent Sun Quan a letter boasting of commanding 800,000 men and hinting that he wanted Sun to surrender. The faction led by Sun Quan’s Chief Clerk, Zhang Zhao, advocated surrender, citing Cao Cao’s overwhelming numerical advantage.
However, on separate occasions, Lu Su, Zhuge Liang, and Sun Quan’s chief commander, Zhou Yu, all presented arguments to persuade Sun Quan to agree to the alliance against the northerners.
Sun Quan finally decided upon war, chopping off a corner of his desk during an assembly and stating: “Anyone who still dares argue for surrender will be treated the same as this desk.”
He then assigned Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, and Lu Su with 30,000 men to aid Liu Bei against Cao Cao.
Although Cao Cao had boasted command of 800,000 men, Zhou Yu estimated Cao Cao’s actual troop strength to be closer to 230,000.
Furthermore, this total included 80,000 impressed troops from the armies of the recently deceased Liu Biao, so the loyalty and morale of a large number of Cao Cao’s force were uncertain.
With the 20,000 soldiers that Liu Bei had gathered, the alliance consisted of approximately 50,000 marines who were trained and prepared for battle.
Battle of the Red Cliff
The Battle of Red Cliff unfolded in three stages: an initial skirmish at Red Cliffs followed by a retreat to the Wulin (烏林) battlefields on the northwestern bank of the Yangtze, a decisive naval engagement, and Cao Cao’s disastrous retreat along Huarong Road.
The combined Sun-Liu force sailed upstream from either Xiakou or Fankou to Red Cliffs, where they encountered Cao Cao’s vanguard force. Plagued by disease and low morale due to the series of forced marches they had undertaken on the prolonged southern campaign, Cao Cao’s men could not gain an advantage in the small skirmish which ensued, so Cao Cao retreated to Wulin (north of the Yangtze River) and the allies pulled back to the south.
Cao Cao had chained his ships from stem to stern, possibly aiming to reduce seasickness in his navy, which comprised mostly northerners who were not used to living on ships. Observing this, divisional commander Huang Gai sent Cao Cao a letter feigning surrender and prepared a squadron of capital ships described as mengchong doujian.
The ships had been converted into fire ships by filling them with bundles of kindling, dry reeds, and fatty oil. As Huang Gai’s “defecting” squadron approached the midpoint of the river, the sailors applied fire to the ships before taking to small boats. The unmanned fire ships, carried by the southeastern wind, sped towards Cao Cao’s fleet and set it ablaze. A large number of men and horses either burned to death or drowned.
Following the initial shock, Zhou Yu and the allies led a lightly armed force to capitalize on the assault. The northern army was thrown into confusion and was utterly defeated. Seeing the situation was hopeless, Cao Cao then issued a general order of retreat and destroyed a number of his remaining ships before withdrawing.
Cao Cao’s army attempted a retreat along Huarong Road, including a long stretch passing through marshlands north of Dongting Lake. Heavy rains had made the road so treacherous that many of the sick soldiers had to carry bundles of grass on their backs and use them to fill the road to allow the horsemen to cross.
Many of these soldiers drowned in the mud or were trampled to death in the effort. The allies, led by Zhou Yu and Liu Bei, gave chase over land and water until they reached Nan Commandery (南郡; present-day Jiangling County, Jingzhou, Hubei); combined with famine and disease, this decimated Cao Cao’s remaining forces.
Cao Cao then retreated north to his home base of Ye (in present-day Handan, Hebei), leaving Cao Ren and Xu Huang to guard Jiangling, Yue Jin stationed in Xiangyang, and Man Chong in Dangyang.
The allied counterattack might have vanquished Cao Cao and his forces entirely. However, the crossing of the Yangtze River dissolved into chaos as the allied armies converged on the riverbank and fought over the limited number of ferries.
To restore order, a detachment led by Sun Quan’s general Gan Ning established a bridgehead in Yiling to the north, and only a staunch rearguard action by Cao Ren prevented further catastrophe.
Analysis of the battle of Red Cliff
A combination of Cao Cao’s strategic errors and the effectiveness of Huang Gai’s ruse had resulted in the allied victory at the Battle of Red Cliff. Zhou Yu had previously observed that Cao Cao’s generals and soldiers comprised mostly of cavalry and infantry, and few had any experience in naval warfare. Cao Cao also had little support among the people of Jing Province, and thus lacked a secure forward base of operations.
Despite the strategic acumen Cao Cao had displayed in earlier campaigns and battles, in this case, he had simply assumed that numerical superiority would eventually defeat the Sun and Liu navy. Cao’s first tactical mistake was converting his massive army of infantry and cavalry into a marine corps and navy: with only a few days of drills before the battle, Cao Cao’s troops were ravaged by sea-sickness and lack of experience on the water.
Tropical diseases, to which the southerners were largely immune, were also rampant in Cao Cao’s camps. Although numerous, Cao Cao’s men were already exhausted by the unfamiliar environment and the extended southern campaign, as Zhuge Liang observed: “Even a powerful arrow at the end of its flight cannot penetrate a silk cloth“.
A key advisor, Jia Xu, had recommended after the surrender of Liu Cong that the overtaxed armies be given time to rest and replenish before engaging the armies of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, but Cao Cao disregarded the advice.
Cao Cao’s own thoughts regarding his failure at Red Cliffs suggest that he held his own actions and misfortunes responsible for the defeat, rather than the strategies utilized by his enemy during the battle: “… it was only because of the sickness that I burnt my ships and retreated.
It is out of all reason for Zhou Yu to take the credit for himself.”
The Red Cliff![]() The aftermath of the battle of Red Cliff
By the end of 209, the post-Cao Cao had established at Jiangling fell to Zhou Yu. The borders of the land under Cao Cao’s control contracted about 160 kilometers (99 mi), to the area around Xiangyang. Liu Bei, on the other hand, had gained territory by taking over the four commanderies (Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang) south of the Yangtze River.
Sun Quan’s troops had suffered far greater casualties than Liu Bei’s in the extended conflict against Cao Ren following the Battle of Red Cliffs, and the death of Zhou Yu in 210 resulted in a drastic weakening of Sun Quan’s strength in Jing Province.
Liu Bei also occupied Jing Province that Cao Cao had recently lost—a strategic and naturally fortified area on the Yangtze River that Sun Quan claimed for himself.
The control of Jing Province provided Liu Bei with virtually unlimited access to the passage into Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) and important waterways into Wu (southeastern China), as well as the dominion of the southern Yangtze River.
Never again would Cao Cao command so large a fleet as he had at Jiangling, nor would a similar opportunity to destroy his southern rivals present itself again.
Battle Of Red Cliffs Movie
The Battle of Red Cliff and the capture of Jing Province by Liu Bei confirmed the separation of southern China from the northern heartland of the Yellow River valley, and also foreshadowed a north-south axis of hostility that would resonate for centuries.
Battle Of Redcliff Commanders
References:
Battle Of Redcliffe
*This article was originally published at en.wikipedia.org
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