Domestics are a vital part of your quest to unify China under one force. Whether you are a fledgling ruler, the top advisor for your force, or even a new general, everyone has to contribute to developing your cities and creating a power base.

Those who have played previous titles are already familiar with developing Farming, Commerce and Culture (in previous games it was Tech). If you've come from playing Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence you might even know the importance of villages. However, Councils remain a very underdiscussed topic, and they are very powerful tools for success.

Here, I will attempt to touch on the mechanics of various things you will run into during the domestic phase of your play and provide hints and tips to get toward your goal of total victory.

This guide, as of July 5, 2017, now has been updated for the Fame and Strategy Expansion Pack (also known as the Power-Up Kit in Asia) and will be referred to as the PUK from now on in the guide.

Every city in the game has these three stats. The amount you can raise them by during a session is based on the GOV stat. You will notice that you can only raise them up to a certain amount based on the Prosperity of the city. Once you max out the three stats, your Prosperity upgrades a level and the maximum increases.

The base max stats of each city are the same: 2000 for Low Prosperity, 4000 for Medium and finally 6000 for High. This is NOT including bonuses added by Tech and Villages. As you get higher, it slows down the progression by cutting the amount gained after doing Farming, Commerce or Culture. As you raise these stats, you will be prompt to build a new facility (unless you put it on Auto in the options). Some facilties improve the amount you gain from raising values, while others have special effects added onto them such as improving stat EXP.

Culture, as stated before, is the Tech skill from previous games. Every 1000 that you raise into this stat allows you to unlock a Tech for the city. All cities have different techs and you can only get two techs per prosperity level. You also cannot change techs after you get them.

Commerce and Farming are the vital stats, as they affect how much Gold and Supplies you recieve per season (four of them per year).

Gold is used for developing your cities and paying your officers' seasonal salaries. Later on, it is also used to pay for Heavy and Elite troops from your cities. If you do not have enough gold in a city to pay for your officers, they will lose loyalty. Remember to check your cities if they will have negative revenue (seen as a negative red number).

Unlike previous ROTK titles, you will receive supplies every season. The main use for supplies is for when you deploy your army, as well as resupplying your army if they reach another of your cities. When you build certain faciltiies, you can buy and sell supplies. Since supplies do not have any deficit, selling supplies can be a handy tool to help out your gold reserves.

Unfortunately you cannot win the game without conquering your competition. Not only do you need strong domestics, but you also must have a strong military to go along with it. Military growth is based on the LEA stat and is broken up between Spear, Horse and Bow. As you improve the numbers for your military, you can unlock the ability to build more faciltiies to improve your military training.

Similar to prosperity, when you raise a type of military unit to its threshold point you unlock the next level. At 1000 points, you unlock Heavy units and at 2000 points you unlock Elite. To deploy Heavy and Elite units, you need to pay gold for each one (10 per Heavy, 20 per Elite). Heavy and Elite units have much higher stats than their Light (Basic) counterparts and also start with higher morale.

There are also special units found from certain villages that act as another upgrade (some units are better Heavy units, and there are some "upgraded" Elite units).

You still do need numbers on your side, as they act much like health points during battle. Fealty is a new stat introduced in ROTK XIII. Improved by the WAR stat, it improves your population growth and troop recruitment rates in a city. Arguably, Fealty is the most important stat as it not only affects the rate you gain new recruits over time but also the amount of gold and supplies you get per season indirectly. It is also the easiest city stat to raise as well, as if your character can duel you can go on Hunting Patrols which always yield a fight versus a Bandit (+10), Bandit Lord (+20) or Bandit King (+30). The PUK adds an option where you can simply scare the bandits off which yields the same amounts if successful.

Now we begin to get into the more advanced parts of domestics. On the surface, councils are there to simulate politics and guide the force or city to grow in certain ways. If you achieve the goals set from the council your officers will gain loyalty (as a ruler) and you will receieve merits (as an advisor, governor or viceroy).

If you haven't realized how powerful and potentially instrumental Councils are to your success by now, then let me preface this by saying that councils are probably some of the most powerful things to manipulate in the entire game.

Most of the brokeness is as a ruler, since you can have Force/District/City Councils by yourself without any reprocussions. Despite the fact that you have limited slots to dictate actions, you can actually manipulate how your force grows through Force Councils. Additionally, the harder the difficulty of the Council goals are, the more loyalty points from officers you recieve.

Early on, this allows you to be able to protect your officers from being poached by other forces by completing simple "Very Hard" Strong Domestic/Strong Military missions. Later on, it becomes nearly impossible to complete Very Hard council goals but here is another important tip: conquering cities (and losing cities) also affect the goals, so you can complete Very Hard Strong Domestic/Strong Military goals by simply conquering enemy cities. This, in turn, boosts the loyalty of your large kingdom, giving you tons of cities and loyal officers.

The PUK allows you to be successful in this as an officer through the Advisor prestige, under the Mastermind level with a special benefit called "Frank Remonstrations" which allows you to force a debate in order to get your proposal passed. Otherwise, you will have to play Politics and make bonds with officers that normally attend the Councils your ruler calls.

Similar to its sister game Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence, there are villages scattered all around China that provide bonuses to the cities around them. Most of the bonuses are only applied to the city they are attached to (by default, if you control all the cities around a village it will always attach to the closest one). The good thing about these villages is that the bonus they provide is in full, so if you placate a village that grants +500 Commerce, the city will gain an immediate 500-point bonus to its Commerce, no raising necessary.

Villages are powerful at all times throughout the game, so don't forget to Placate/Coax the villages from your newly acquired territories. Denying your opponents these villages is also an important strategy to remember. There are boosts for Commerce, Farming, Population, Morale, and Leadership (starting strategy points in Control battle).

The PUK makes them even more important as you can build outposts over villages and empty strategy points. There will be a number next to the name of the control point, which determines which outpost you can build over it. There are 5 levels in all and have different benefits for on-map battles and direct control battles. A level 1 control point has 500 DUR while a level 5 control point give 1250 DUR.

Level 1: Fortified Camp: Improve defense during map battle, increases main camp durability during direct control battles.
Level 2: Music Tower: Restores morale when garrisonned on map, restores morale when garrisoned in main camp during direct control.
Level 3: Infirmary: Restores wounded troups when garrisonned on map, restores wounded troops in main camp during direct control.
Level 4: Depot: Restore supplies when garrisonned on map, restore supplies when garrisonned in main camp during direct control.
Level 5: Guard Camp: 2500 DUR. Changes battlefield to a gate (i.e. Hu Lao).

Touched on previously, there are also special villages that grant unique units. There are six of them in the entire map, seven in the PUK. Unlike ROTK X where you could only have certain units trained in certain locations, placating these villages unlocks the special troop for your ENTIRE force. Special military units have the same stats as their Heavy/Elite counterparts (aside from one of them) but have additional effects. You must also have the prerequsite Military points in order to use these special units (Heavy-based units 1000, Elite-based units 2000).

Strikes are the "critical" attacks, normally seen when you use a unit against their weakness (Spear > Horse, Horse > Bow, Bow > Spear). Some officer abilities also grant strikes.

Eastern Infantry (Heavy Spear)

• Stronger strikes.
  
• Found near Chengdou (Luo).

Armored Infantry (Heavy+Elite Spear)

• Has stats and cost of Heavy Spear, but Elite Spear DEF.
  
• Weak to fire.
  
• Found near Jianning (Louwo).

Qinzhou Infantry (Elite Spear)

• Strikes give morale.
  
• Found near Jibei (Jinan).

Xiliang Warriors (Heavy Horse)

• Stronger strikes.
  
• Found near Tianshui (Pingxiang).

Tiger Cavalry (Elite Horse)

• Strikes drain enemy unit's morale.
  
• Found near Puyang (Juancheng).

Mounted Archers (Elite Bow)

• Has horse unit mobility.
  
• Stronger strikes.
  
• Found near Changan (Qi).

Elephant Riders (Elite Horse, PUK Only)

• Highest ATK of all units (170).
  
• Deals increased damage to gates and structures (180 vs Elite Horses' 60).
  
• Same mobility as Spears and Bows.
  
• Found near Jianning (Tongbing).

As stated before, every 1000 points in Culture you gain the ability to choose a Tech in the city. I definitely recommend not putting this on Auto, as the AI tends to have poor choices in choose which you get. Unlike city facilities where you will always get all of them eventually, you are limited in two techs per Prosperity level (you cannot go back and choose one in a previous level).

POP Rate Growth (S/M/L)
The most important upgrade in a city. As stated earlier in the Fealty section, population growth affects the amount of troops you gain in a city over time as well as your gold and supply gains per season. The center of your power base should be in cities with these upgrades.

Sentiment Boost (S/L)
This adds onto your maximum Fealty score, which also affects your population growth. S gives 250 and L gives 500. There is no M.

Farming/Commerce Boost (S/M/L)
Another key tech upgrade you can find in a city. Super-useful early and a luxury later (especially with the L versions), these raise the maximum value of Farming/Commerce so you can get even more from a city. S raises the maximum by 500, M raises it by 750 and finally L raises by 1000.

Farming/Commercial/Cultural/Training Upgrade (S/M/L)
Improves the gains you get from developing these values. Not extremely useful, but it does allow you to develop a city very quickly if you need to.

Recovery Growth (S/M/L)
Improves the rate your injured soldiers are healed in the city. More of a situational upgrade, if you're expecting to hold out at a location for an extended period of time for defense or for harassing your enemy. Also if you remember to retreat your troops before they're completely destroyed.

Siege Weapon/Troop Discount (S/M/L)
Discounts the amount you pay for Siege Weapons or Heavy/Elite troops. Good upgrade early on, as these are very expensive as a smaller force.

Siege Tower/Catapult Research
Unlocks Siege Towers or Catapults for the city's deploying troops. These siege weapons are really nice for creative strategies in battle, so if you really like the Control battles these are probably the best Siege-based tech to invest in.

Siege Weapon Boost (S/L)
Improves your siege weapons' level. A luxury pick, but nice if you really treasure your siege weapons and want them even more powerful. Good when combined if your officer also has Siege and Weapons skills.

Ship Boost (S/M/L)
Unlocks better ships depending on the level. Having the ability to deploy with better ships when fighting in the Yang, Jing or Ji Provinces is nice, but not really needed. Ideally you would want to fight on land anyway.

Gate Reinforcement (S/M/L)
Gives your gates additional health during Control battles. This also affects the DUR status for the city, making it very hard to capture. S increases DUR by 1000, M increases it by 1500, and L increases it by 2000. Useful for cities that are on the frontlines or in a key chokepoint.

Castle Weapon Boost (S/L)
Improves your castle's defensive weapons. This only applies during Control battles, but it does add quite a lot to your defense.

Hopefully the information and tips I've provided here will help those who are still confused at the systems here in ROTK XIII. What I've touched on is only fairly general and basic things, and hopefully will guide you into conquering all of China.

If there are any errors, please feel free to point them out in the comments. Otherwise, good luck to you and have fun.