Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires: Conquest Mode and Starting Roles Guide

In the Empires spinoff games, you forge your own unification of China. They combine the fast-paced battles with a deep strategy mode that, among other things, sees you managing the diplomatic, militaristic, and mercantile aspects of your chosen kingdom. In the ninth installment of the series, this is called Conquest mode.

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires: Conquest Mode

Choosing A Character In Dynasty Warriors

When you begin a campaign in Conquest Mode, you will be prompted to choose a campaign and a character within that campaign. There are eight different campaigns in the game, with seven corresponding with different historical events in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms timeline. A final campaign with no historical counterpart allows you to pick any officer in the game. Depending on the campaign and the character you choose, you will have different powers and roles in the game.

Rulers are responsible for driving their kingdoms towards victory. They have the final say in most matters and may direct their forces during a battle. They will directly recruit unaffiliated officers while out on a Stroll.
Grand Generals and Tacticians can make most of the same actions as a Ruler but are still beholden to their Ruler’s whims.

Generals and Officers have less power than Rulers but can make a significant impact on the direction of a Kingdom by recommending certain officers and making suggestions during a War Council.
Unaffiliated characters can travel across the land freely, pledge themselves to any Ruler that will take them, and even make a Vagrant Force of their own seize power and become their own Ruler.
It is possible to cycle through these positions (and more positions besides, such as Prime Minister and Emperor) through promotions and relinquishment.

War Council of Warriors

War Councils occur every six months and dictate the kingdom’s direction for the next half-year. The Ruler of the kingdom will have to do two things:

Set a Kingdom Policy
Set some Kingdom Objectives

You only have input on the Kingdom Policy if you play as the Ruler yourself. A Kingdom Policy comprises four points put into four separate categories: Domestic Affairs, Human Affairs, Diplomacy, and Military Affairs. Officers in the Kingdom will carry out autonomous political commands according to the weights of the points allotted to each category.

Kingdom Objectives are chosen from a list of possible goals generated at each War Council. The Ruler is first prompted to select an invasion target, though they are not required to do so at every War Council. They then choose some goals.

For every goal met within that six-month period, you will receive a certain amount of Merit based on the goals set.

If you join a new kingdom as a new officer, the kingdom will have a War Council in the first month after you decide to join. If you begin a campaign within a kingdom, there will be a War Council within the very first month.

It is possible to influence a kingdom’s goals even if you aren’t a Ruler. If you are General rank or above, you can counter a Ruler’s announcement of objectives with your own, and there’s a chance that they will take your suggestion instead. If you are a Ruler and one of your subordinates suggests their own set of Kingdom Objectives, going along with them will increase your relationship with that officer.

Political Commands in Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires

Each month, you will have to choose a Political Command. You can use only one command per month, and once that choice has been made, you cannot revoke it. Commands come under six categories:

Domestic Affairs: Commands that raise your gold and rations intake.
Human Affairs: Commands associated with positions and allegiance.
Diplomacy: Commands that deal with relationships and recruitment.
Military Affairs: Commands that deal with Army Strength, Officer Merit, and Defense Levels.
Battles: Invade another region or defend a region under attack.
Strolls: Interact with other officers and potentially recruit them.
Use these commands wisely to meet your goals and react to what happens on a grand scale.

Invasion Battles in Dynasty Warriors

Invasions are how Rulers conquer China – they will take a force of soldiers into another region and attempt to take it by force. Invasion battles are made up of two distinct phases:

Fortress Penetration
Decisive Battle

In the first phase, the goal of the battle is to take bases from enemies by defeating soldiers within them. In addition, this is when you’ll be trying to enact your Secret Plans to give you an edge and disrupting the enemy’s Secret Plan to prevent them from gaining the upper hand.

You will work with your allied officers to spread out over the map to take the enemy’s bases before they can effectively reconquer them. The important bases to aim for are the Weapon Bases where Catapults, Rams, and Siege Towers are built. These will all attempt to gain you access to the castle in their own ways.

All starting roles in Dynasty Warriors 9

Players can choose their roles at the start of Conquest Mode in Dynasty Warriors 9. Understanding the roles below is essential, as many other roles are just roles below with different names.

Common Officers: After the cannon fodder soldiers, the Common Officers are the lowest-tier playable characters. Many Officers command dozens of soldiers simultaneously, and they are more challenging than their higher-ranking soldiers, but they are forgettable characters. This one is an easy role but not worth all the effort to get to a General.

Generals: They are a little higher than Officers. In War Councils, Generals have more influence than Officers, but you’re in this position to make it to Grand General or Tactician eventually. We recommend you start here.

Grand Generals/Tacticians: If you are familiar with Dynasty Warriors, you know Tacticians, and a Grand General is similar to a regular General in other games. Grand Generals and Tacticians have pretty much the same powers as a ruler aside from setting Kingdom Policies and Kingdom Objectives.Your ruler will likely listen to you if you suggest a Kingdom Policy or Kingdom Objective during a War Council.

Ruler/Emperor/Prime Minister: These are the faction leaders. In war councils, these characters set the Kingdom’s policies and objectives. Most of their decisions are final, and they may direct their forces to do pretty much anything during a battle. While they are out on a Stroll, they may recruit unaffiliated Officers.

You should not start with a Ruler if you’ve never played a Dynasty Warriors Empires game.

Unaffiliated characters: This can be difficult or easy, depending on how you play. If you wish to be a traveler, you can ignore the major battles, you can pledge your sword to whoever you want, or you can even start your own faction.

Only choose this role If you’ve played through the Conquest Mode once and became a ruler. This is more of a bonus role than anything else.
We recommend starting with a General and moving up to a Ruler to learn the game.

How do you gain health in Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires?

If it is completely depleted, you will receive a game over. You can recover your health by using Vitality Powder, for example. When this gauge is filled, you will be able to perform a Musou Attack. This gauge fills as you deal damage to enemies, as well as when you take damage from them.

Is Lu Bu in Dynasty Warriors 9?

Lu Bu is just one of over 80 different characters you’ll be able to play as in Dynasty Warriors 9. Only trouble is, for a good chunk of them, you’ll need to unlock them as you play through the game. Fortunately, this doesn’t require you to go scouring for hard-to-find collectibles or anything of that nature.

Who defeated Liu Bei?

Shu-Han dynasty expected to break the balance of the three kingdoms and outdo the other two kingdoms through the battle. But Liu Bei’s army was annihilated by Lu Xun, a genius officer of Wu.

Who did Guan Yu marry?

During the Battle of Xiapi in late 198, when the allied forces of Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought against Lü Bu, Guan Yu sought permission from Cao Cao to marry Qin Yilu’s wife Lady Du (杜氏) after they won the battle. After Cao Cao agreed, Guan Yu still repeatedly reminded Cao Cao about his promise before the battle ended. …