Total War and Peace - a pacifist run of Three Kingdoms: Fates Divided

Total War games are not supposed to be played peacefully. It's right there in the name. Though many other large-scale strategy games offer non-violent victory conditions or playstyles, this series has always been about crushing opponents in the theatre of war. But Three Kingdoms is a slightly different creature.

Ever since the game launched a couple of years ago, players have been trying - and sometimes even succeeding - to play pacifist campaigns. They're possible for the first time in the series thanks to an overhauled and much-deepened diplomacy system, and Liu Bei's Unity mechanic is handy for forging peaceful confederations, providing a further boon. Nevertheless, pacifist campaigns remain very difficult.

But hope is here for all proponents of peace. Three Kingdoms' next expansion Fates Divided, and the hefty update that rolls in with it, give aspiring emperors a suite of new tools to solve problems without poking them with a spear. And we're going to put them to the test.

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