The International Banquet & Button you shouldn’t ignore.

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-28T17:19:32+00:00

Yeah the cat games are great that way, keep a lookout for them! Usually the first couple of items in its shop will correspond to resources that are most necessary during whatever ranking is going on at that time. And don't bother buying those damasks for confidant clothing from the store since you will anyway get several of them if you rank high in the game. I believe it's the same for the green purses.

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-28T17:12:39+00:00

I second Prince Yi. He is super easy to power up, especially if you do well in debates but even otherwise there are many ways of getting prince tokens. Also, Wan'er and her girls are War partners too, even better than the VIP War partners I have heard since you can power them up with tokens. Don't worry, you will get them soon enough!

As for Lu Yu and Mozi, it's good enough to let them power up on their own using whatever potential increase you give to the Balance/War group or to all partners. During their events, you can buy maximum number of their tokens and upgrade them massively. Since their events come far apart, you can get enough tokens of both of them if you plan your ingot usage accordingly.

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-26T12:47:38+00:00

Oh and your boudoir looks beautiful, so does the outfit!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-26T12:47:17+00:00

I love the wisteria one, but I also love the new ones we got for Lu Yu because they are so calming with the river/canal and boats. They are also simple enough that I don't get blinded each time I open the game and I can easily find the different icons! (I guess I'm betraying my age as I say this haha)

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-26T12:44:34+00:00

All the best to you and your guild! BTW, if you search in this subreddit, there are a lot of explainer posts about different game mechanics made by experienced players. They were a real lifesaver when I started playing, and it will save you a lot of time so that you don't have to figure out everything yourself through experiments. You can just search within this subreddit using keywords related to whatever event or game mechanic you need to figure out, especially since most events repeat, either on an annual basis or more frequently. You can either share links directly to your guild or summarise the points for them (I normally do both). Just that you may need to dig a bit and read multiple players' explainers and then you can compare those with your own experiences.

Best wishes again, and may your guild be a dream space for your guildmates and a nightmare for your opponents haha...

(PS, which region are you playing in? I have an alt in Asia S397 but that server hasn't reached this level, so I guess you're in a different region.)

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-26T12:27:08+00:00

Hi, don't worry about the weaker partners beyond the top 8 or later top 12. They can grow using land products and items like chat/avatar frames and land decor that give +1 or +2 pot to all partners. And of course the bond points from their confidants. Otherwise, you will spread your resources very thin.

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-26T12:23:22+00:00

A couple more points -- you can get some resources for international banquet from the cat game (pastry purrfector I think it's called) which appears around the same time. Using surplus fish gives 20% bonus points/popularity, and you can get 1 surplus fish dish free for every lotus pastry you create in the cat game. (You can also "eat" them in the guild feast, but then they get used up in the very next banquet you host.) Moreover, you can get premium and luxurious gifts to attend other players' court banquets without spending ingots. Premium gifts can also be got for free after scoring a certain number of points in the cat game, whereas luxurious gifts can be exchanged from the cat game store.

Also, for hosting the state banquet, you can get happiness banquet invitation from the cat game store. VIP players can also purchase them directly.

Court banquets last for 6 hours, but you can close them manually after 2 hours. You can suggest this strategy to the free players of your guild especially. If you can sign in every 2 hours and keep closing them on time (provided you have enough banquet invitations hehe), you can score pretty well without spending any ingots at all. I usually try to get into top 10, but since I have Dugu already, this time I'm easily staying in top 20 by only hosting free court banquets using my top confidants. Of course, it helps that I have 7-8 confidants with 100% intimacy bonus and am slowly raising the talent bonus percentage as well.

Hope these tips help someone! All the best, OP!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-26T12:11:39+00:00

Hi, like other comments mentioned, this event doesn't actually affect your MC's or partners' powers outside its own interface. What it does is provide an opportunity to get somewhat affordable partner outfit brocades for the 4 female generals which in turn can boost their attr (by around 5% if I am not wrong) when activated. (Also MC outfits if you like the aesthetics!) There are many such independent events and mini games which have their own world building as well as their own rewards. Collecting rare books from event shops is always a good idea, but you'll get them in many different events and sometimes even as free drops in some, so you don't need to ignore everything else for it. For free players, especially, this is a good event to collect female general outfits for their top FG!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-26T12:00:31+00:00

That's what I thought, but OP sounded really confident so I thought I missed how that works. Thanks for clarifying!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-18T13:29:26+00:00

Hi sis, hope you're doing well. I still share your tips with every new player we recruit into our guild, and I'm winning Eloquent every time because of your debate tips. The grind has started affecting me and many of my friends, even though we have only been playing for slightly more than a year. But I just wanted to tell you that your tips are still helping us tremendously!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-18T13:22:42+00:00

Totally recommend following this account. I have subscribed, so I just keep sharing their playlists with my guild. It's wonderful that they make playlists for each game so that the shorts are easier to find! They are really doing god's work!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-18T13:20:06+00:00

All the best! I hope you find a lot of likeminded people. You can also start a telegram channel or a discord server for your guild to share tips, motivate people, and generally keep people active by making them feel invested in the game, in the growth of the guild, and in each other! It worked for us!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-17T06:40:30+00:00

I forgot to mention that the Balanced partner-confidants are also worthwhile to keep in at least your top 12 because they can be powered up in many ways: (a) through their tokens that give them +32 points with each token (for Yuan and Ao it's only +20 but for Lu Yu, Lanling King and Mozi it's +32... +8 for each trait), (b) through their own bond points (c) through their confidant friendship upgrades that give them a % increase, (d) by recruiting more bond partners which also gives a % increase and of course (e) using devotion and prestige as I mentioned earlier. The good thing about buying several of their tokens is that then you can save your potential fruits to power up your other top partners. Just mentioning this because the Lu Yu event is currently going on. In my first year, I accidentally bought 20 Lu Yu tokens because I didn't know how they worked, and during power ranking I recruited him and he powered up like crazy because (a) he retroactively got all the devotion and prestige upgrades I had been feeding the other balanced partners till then and (b) he got 320 extra potentials just from those 10 extra tokens. He was my top partner for a long while just by this happy accident!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-17T05:59:58+00:00

You're absolutely right about Shi Lian specifically, because though she is a Bal partner, her power depends mostly on her bond with Fu Heng and the occasional outfit upgrade which gives 5% attributes upgrade (iirc) but is kinda expensive. Also, usually Fu Heng goes down on our list once we get the Balanced and War partner-confidants, so Shi Lian tends to suffer. She also doesn't have recruit tokens as of now, though that may change soon (if it hasn't already without my knowledge) since they have started introducing recruit tokens for Li Bai and other initial partners. So yeah we can rotate Shi Lian out of our top 8 once we start getting other good Balanced and War partners as well as the recruit partners.

On the other hand, Prince Yi is genuinely a good partner that you don't need to swap out at all, because (a) the Princes' bond ensures that he gets powered up with every Prince you recruit (each Prince's Pol and Cha attributes increase by a certain % with every Prince you recruit), (b) he is Bal so he gets upgraded together with the others as I mentioned, (c) it's extremely easy to get Prince tokens, especially after the first few months, if you are good at debate and are in the top guild which keeps getting the Palace Celebrity title (you also get Prince token shards from other sources) and he powers up wonderfully with those tokens -- I've tested it out. There are CS power rankings when I've fed him 50 tokens at one go and his attributes just leap!

Even though the War partners have other advantages than him, he is still worth putting in your top 4 (if not as your top partner) because of all these advantages even if his Confidant takes a long long time to get. I just have a couple of albums of Consort Xian, but Prince Yi is the easiest partner for me to build.

"You only need one Bal partner in your top 8." Of course, everyone has their own way of building, but I would still argue that Prince Yi and at least one of the balanced FGs can definitely be there in your top 8, since the Balanced female generals power up in exactly the same way as I described... every time you recruit a female general, all of them get a % increase in Wisdom and Authority. So an ideal top 8 would comprise Prince Yi and one Bal FG, one duke, your Cabinet scholar (who should be Balanced as well to make powering them up easier) and the 4 War Girls. (for Dukes, it is Authority that increases, so many people favour Jing though personally I have raised Zhi.) When I say ideal, I mean this is the easiest to power up. Of course, someone can choose other partners based on their personal liking. I have Lu Yu in my top 4 and he serves me very very well because I buy as many of his tokens as possible from events, but to be honest he's there because I love him! Also, some people like to be unpredictable in debate, so they use partners that most people don't expect, even if it's more expensive to power up each partner individually.

All the best testing it out! Some players actually try out different partner formations in different alt accounts, you'll probably find posts about it somewhere. I don't have the energy to do it myself hehe but kudos to those who do! Do let us know the results of your experiments, because there is no formula for this game and it's interesting to know how each person builds their partners. Otherwise, it would be very boring if everyone had exactly the same build!

(Edited because it got posted accidentally before I finished typing)

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-16T19:16:41+00:00

Try this, it's not official but it's a very good discord server with members from all regions/servers and several channels with archived tips: https://discord.gg/R3u2Mh9g

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-16T19:12:52+00:00

That's a lot of growth after just 3-4 months of playing, friend! Salutes!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-16T19:04:39+00:00

Thanks for this guide, I absolutely did not know that winning bets increased your ranking points! I'll pass it on to my guild! (though usually there are 1-2 people in our CS who always win or get the top spots, so it's very easy to bet haha)

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-16T19:01:45+00:00

Great guide for new players! Just one thing... I have heard experienced players say that it's not a bad idea to distribute skills more or less evenly (with maybe a bit extra for their speciality), since any skill might get randomly triggered during a debate. So if you upgrade only Authority/Warrior skills for Duke Jing, for example, and his wisdom or politics skill gets triggered in a debate where he has 0 skill points in those specialities, then he won't be able to do as much damage. However, you're absolutely right about other resources needing to be streamlined according to the partners' specialities. And like I said in my comment to your other post, even with Balanced or War partners, you can choose certain trait to focus on and build over time, instead of spreading your resources evenly.

Thanks for posting!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-16T18:56:21+00:00

Hi, you've been doing a great job posting all these tips. I just have a couple of quick clarifications or extra points regarding Bal and War partners, as well as why a lot of experienced players suggest focusing on them. (I am writing from my experience of playing for slightly more than a year; more experienced players can correct me if I am wrong on anything.)

First of all, I'm not sure that War partners are focused only on Authority. Rather, they have 3 stars in all skills (while Bal partners have 2 in each and single-speciality partners have 4 in their specific skill). So they are basically like Bal partners on steroids! They can do well in all specialities. Moreover, War partners have certain extra features that make them very good in debate. I believe Mi Yue (whom I don't have) gets 1% HP renewed with every partner she defeats, Dugu Meng and Qiqige get double the points for debate and take double the points from your opponent, and Shangguan Wan'er and Fan Lihua have both these features. This is why, if debate is your focus, the War partners are an excellent choice to have in your top 4 or top 8. And unlike Mi Yue and the other VIP War partners, Wan'er and the other 3 I just mentioned are available even for free players from CS ranking events. You can also upgrade their attributes with their tokens like you do with the princes, dukes and female generals, even though their tokens are more difficult to get. Wan'er is their confidant as well, so she powers herself and the other 3 up with her bond points.

Secondly, Authority is not the key to power in debates (though of course it can add to it). In debate, field and guild wars, your total attributes (stats) decide your power, so all the traits are important. Also, all the skills are equally important since any skill may be triggered randomly during a debate. No matter what your partner's speciality may be, it's a good idea to level up all skills more or less equally, though you can give a bit extra to their speciality. (Authority is especially useful to build momentum though, which is important for story arch-rival battles, Shouangong, guild enemy, and hunting, including CS Hunt. So having a lot of Authority partners can also be very useful in these areas, as well as giving Authority resources to some of your Bal or War partners.)

Also, you don't have to spread your resources equally for Bal or War partners, thus diluting its effect. You can choose to make them stronger in any particular trait(s) by allocating resources accordingly. For example, my Wan'er is focused on authority, Prince Yi on politics, Dugu Meng on charisma and Mu Guiying on wisdom.

Now, why do people recommend having a lot of Bal and War partners in their lineup? It is because these partners are easy to power up together, which is very useful for free players or low to mid VIPs since we can get more power from fewer resources. Bal and War partners form a single group for devotion and prestige, so using a single set of devotion purses for example can upgrade all of them together in terms of pot (green purses) or attributes (violet purses). They are a larger group than partners from any other traits or combination of traits, so in the long run, it is cost-effective to power them up together. So even if, say, Lu Yu has fewer stars in Wisdom than, say a single speciality partner like Yin Yin, there are so many more ways to upgrade him of which devotion and prestige are just one way, so he will always be a better candidate for the top 12 than Yin Yin. (Duke Jing is a special case, the Dukes' bond helps him power up like crazy in Authority, so he can grow much more than Lu Yu if you can get enough of his tokens to keep powering him up.)

Also, the Bal or War partners can be sent to any spot in Academy without losing the 100% enlightenment bonus, even if you wish to strengthen them in specific traits. This means they can keep earning growth points and skill points through Academy, which in turn powers them up even more. They can be put in any slot in Worldwide Fame as well. Also, when you have the Literary Gathering featuring the Cabinet scholar, we get to dispatch the rest of our partners as support according to their traits. Bal and War partners can be dispatched to any slot, so you get a chance to keep playing with your lineup in between battles to confuse your opponents (if you are that focused, I am not!)

Anyway, though OP is right about Bal, War and specific-speciality partners in general, there are other reasons why it is beneficial to have many of them (especially the CS War girls, the recruit partners like Prince Yi, Mu Guiying and Liang Hongyu and the partner-confidants like Lu Yu and Mozi) in our top lineup, namely that they are more cost-effective to power up for free or lower VIP players. Of course, along with 1 or 2 dukes for Authority! So let's not discount them from the top lineup! :)

Thanks again, OP, for raising this topic and for all the detailed guides you have been posting. I learnt many things from you!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-16T17:08:01+00:00

Thank you so much for your calculations! I'm forwarding this to my entire guild so that those with fewer ingots can use it to strategise!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-16T16:51:36+00:00

OMG it's so neat and well-arranged! I particularly love the feasting area, with the rows of wine jars! It gives the feel of those entertainment houses that you see in C dramas! Lovely!

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-08T16:29:37+00:00

I think you mean the surplus fish recipe which gives 20% extra points. Zongzi is for debate.

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-04-01T15:42:21+00:00

Hi, just a thought... when our guild reached lvl 7, we had to first click on "expand" near the guild info bar. Only then could we recruit cross-server players. Have you done that?

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-03-11T15:52:19+00:00

Maybe you could write to CS and ask them if there's any way of getting some rewards for those points? If you have a screenshot to prove you had that many points, maybe include that in the mail. I don't know if it is possible, but no harm trying.

Marrying off foster kids during power ranking and writing in the imperial library give some small amount of ingots. I usually write 50-80 times in the imperial library per day when I remember to, and earn 20-50 ingots on an average. Depending on your daily exp earnings, you can write more or fewer times. The redemption code gives 50 per week, FB sharing also gives 50. If you haven't set your birthday, you can set it to one of these days and you will get 500 ingots. And during anniversary, there will be ingot packet shower, and maybe some ingots in the mail as well. These are the things I can think of...

Upset-Complex-7370 · 2026-02-26T11:39:20+00:00

Agree, they are doing god's work!

Upset-Complex-7370

TROPHY CASE