Re: DLC expansion Ideas
These chapter packs sound like an awful idea and remind me of the failed mini-campaigns for Warhammer. Despite Three Kingdom's commercial success, I doubt many potential customers will be interested in paying a generous sum of money to play the same game with repositioned warlords and a great amount of scripted events. They can quickly become very repetitive and will lack the necessary original content to justify the high price. Initially, I thought that the DLC policy will be divided into "lord" and "race" packs, with the former consisting of famous leaders centered around southern China and their special units, while the latter would add non-Chinese people.
Regarding the "race" packs, I would argue that "Mongolia" and "Korea" are guaranteed, as they are very easy to implement, map-wise, while Three Kingdoms has sold remarkably well in South Korea. "Vietnam" and "Japan" are also strong candidates, but I am a bit more skeptical, as adding them to the campaign map would not be very easy. However, both cultures would be welcome by the fans, thanks to their exoticism and the fact that Japan is extremely popular on a global scale. Tibet, on the other hand, seems very unlikely, not only because of political reasons (which are a bit exaggerated), but mainly due to its general obscurity.
For the expansion, similar to what Fall of the Samurai, Napoleon and Attila were to Shogun, Empire and Rome II respectively, the Warring States seem absolutely certain. After the Romance of Three Kingdoms, the period leading to the first unified Chinese Dynasty is easily the most popular one and, from a warfare perspective, does not demand a radical modification of the game's mechanics. Although it could be announced in 2020, I doubt it will be released before 2021.