Total War: Three Kingdoms – Zone of Control Guide

Other Total War: Three Kingdoms Guides:

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

Zone of Control

All credit goes to CA_OtherTom!

All armies and settlements have a range at which they can engage with enemies militarily, known as the zone of control. This is indicated by the black-ink radius that appears around when they are moused over or selected. An army or settlement’s zone of control cannot be entered by a neutral or enemy army without attacking it directly.

Armies can freely enter the zones of control of friendly armies and settlements, and will automatically join any battle against an enemy triggered within that zone of control as reinforcements. Using this rule of proximity, multiple armies can band together in battle against common enemies, both offensively and defensively.

An army in ambush stance is hidden from other factions, as is its zone of control. If an enemy army enters an ambushing army’s zone of control, the ambushing army’s controller will be given the option to initiate an ambush battle, provided it is not spotted first by the enemy army. See the Ambush entry for further detail.

Battles involving an enemy army which occur within a settlement’s zone of control, but are not a direct attack on that settlement, will cause the settlement’s garrison, and any army stationed within the settlement, to sally out and join any friendly forces in battle.

An army stationed within a settlement that is attacked directly will join the garrison force in defending the settlement from within.

When a settlement is attacked, any friendly armies outside the settlement but within its zone of control, will join the ensuing battle as reinforcements.

It is possible for an army to become trapped in an enemy zone of control, perhaps because other enemy zones of control are overlapping, and there is nowhere for the army to move. If this should happen, the only way out is for the army to attack an enemy target; it must literally fight its way out.