Total War: Three Kingdoms – Damage Types and Effects

Other Total War: Three Kingdoms Guides:

• Getting Started.
• Beginner’s Guide (Tips and Tricks).
• Advanced Tips and Tricks.
• Spies & Espionage Guide.
• Zone of Control Guide.
• Administrators Guide.
• Commandery Guide.
• Fortifications Guide.
• Formations Guide.
• Factions Guide.
• Terrain Guide.
• Fatigue Guide.
• Morale Guide.
• Armies Guide.
• Unit Abilities.
• Battle Types.
• Siege Guide.
• Court Guide.
• Duels Guide.
• Unit Types.

Different units armed with different weapons can cause a range of damage types. Understanding these will enhance the effectiveness of your armies in battle, and help you decide which targets are most susceptible to which damage type.

Armour Piercing (AP)

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Weapons, skills and abilities which cause AP Damage ignore a unit’s armour value. AP damage from melee weapons and projectiles may still be evaded, according to the unit’s melee and ranged evasion characteristics.

Base Damage

Base damage is the regular, unmodified form of damage that one unit deals to another. All units have a melee damage – base characteristic, while ranged units also have a ranged damage – base characteristic. These base values do not take into account any modifiers in play, such as bonuses granted by the character leading their retinue, or other active battlefield effects.

Fire Damage

During a siege battle or a town and resource battle, flaming prrojectiles and units with the raider ability may set fire to buildings. As the flames spread, units in the defending army will begin to suffer increasing morale penalties for the duration of the battle. Any buildings that are damaged or destroyed by fire during the battle will require repair or rebuilding after the battle concludes.

Trees may also be set ablaze in any battle type, reducing the morale and increasing the fatigue of nearby units.

Flaming Projectiles

Flaming projectiles, such as arrows and artillery rounds, cause greater standard damage but less AP damage than standard projectiles. They also deal a morale penalty to the target unit, and may set nearby buildings and trees ablaze.

Impact Damage

A cavalry unit’s speed and mass combine to deal impact damage when it charges. Broadly speaking, the heavier the unit, the greater the impact damage, so heavy shock cavalry will deal greater impact damage than medium shock cavalry.

After impact damage has been dealt, the cavalry unit will deal enhanced melee damage for a period, according to its melee charge bonus characteristic. This enhancement fades over 60 seconds, after which the cavalry unit will continue to deal its usual melee damage.