posted 03-21-09 05:34 PM EDT (US)
China was the first civ I tried and is still one of my favourite civs. A clan mate(Olio)taught it to me and since then I have been playing china.
1.0 Overall
2.0 Military section
2.1 Banner armies
2.2 Units
3.0 Strategy section
+Village
The Chinese village is a really diverse Building, it allows you to garrison villager,
receive shipments and fatten livestock. All this for just 200 wood quite nice in my
opinion
+ 220 max pop
The fact that china is able to have a 220 max population gives them a huge
advantage over all the other civ
+Banner armies
The fact that you can get unit combos from one batch is a really good advantage. This
means that you are able to make an 3 unit combo army early on
+Strong military shipments
China has one of the best military shipments overall. Enough said
+Strong early mid game
Chinas “golden” age is between 6-11 minutes. During this time china is really
powerful, they are able to overwhelm the opponent with good unit combos and military
Shipments during this time
+Old han reform
A card so OP that it has to be mentioned alone. With this card China becomes a
powerhouse in late game. What it does is that it increases the Hp and attack of the Old
Han banner army with 100 %. But remember that it also increase the cost of the Old han army with 50%,but this shouldn’t be a problem late game when you have the porcelain tower and the Russian factory.
+Useful cards
China has the best cards of all the civs in my opinion. Cards like Old han reform and
New army are game changing. Sometimes you feel that being able to have 25 cards in
a deck is not enough
-Early game
Chinas early game is a big weakness . If the opponent is able to
hit before 6 min its pretty much gg because china has generally a hard time of
recovering from early attacks
-Banner armies
Although banner armies are generally an advantage they can also be too an
disadvantage in a few situations because you can not always get the units that you
would like.
-Villages
Works for you and against you.They have many purposes as an Livestock penn for example.
But in early game if your opponent is able to destroy on of your villages then you will find yourself extremly overpoped
-Cav countering,China has problems in countering cav as they cant go full Heavy infantry or Ligth cavalry(+their ligth cavalry pretty much blows)
Below I have listed cards that are very useful.
Northern refugees- gives one village for every village and Town center. Should be in every deck
9 Qiang-pikemen -Sends 9 Qiang pikemen. Should be in every deck
8 Chu ko nu`s- Sends 8 Chu ko nu. Should be in every deck
7 steppe riders- Sends 7 Steppe riders. Should be in every deck
Sustainable agriculture- villager gather 15% faster from ricepaddies A good card makes it easier to switch from hunts to rice paddies later in the game
Mongolian scourge- Steppe Riders do more damage against Villagers and buildings. Keshiks do more damage against heavy cavalry and Coyote Runners. Iron Flails do more damage versus archers and skirmishers. Useful in almost every situation
Diplomatic intrigue-sends 300 export and reduces consulate relations to 25 export . A very useful card, I have it every deck
Standard army hit points- hit points increased with 15% for chu ko nu and steppe rider .Good card should be in every deck
1000 wood-sends 1000 wood. A really good card. Makes it easy to start an 3 tc vill production or 1 tc+ rice paddy
Territorial army upgrade - Changdao and arquebuiser gets an 15% increase to Hp and attack .Good card 
Double faced armor- Meteor hammer and Ironflail gets an 15% to armor and Hp .Good card
Repelling volley 10% attack for Chu ko nu and Arquebuiser. Increased bonus vs Hi and Ligth cavalry .Good card
New army-All Chu Ko Nus transform into Arquebusiers and all Qiang Pikemen transform into Changdao Swordsmen. Good card can be deadly if shipped at the right time. Optional
Royal mint- villagers gather all gold 25% faster. Good and useful
Refrigration- villagers gather all food 20% faster. Good and useful
Old han reforms -Chu Ko Nu and Qiang Pikemen attack and hitpoints increased by 100%,also increase cost with 50%. Costs 1000 food to ship. Should be in every deck
Manchu Combat -Qiang Pikeman, Changdao, Keshik, and Meteor Hammer gets an 15% increase to attack and hitpoints .good and useful card
Western reforms -Boost attack and hp of every unit with 8% . Should be in every deck
Bonus: Hp increased with 10% for land units
The brits consulate shipments Consist of support units such as the red coat. I personally favour the British consulate because it boosts the hp of the weak Chinese units. Against Aztec the British red coats are nice counter Coyote runners. The 4 spies helps you to handle with merc ff;ers.
Shipments
Colonial age:
British expeditionary company (400 export)Consists of 6 redcoats (musketeers)
2 surgeons (200 export) 
4 spies (400 export)Fortress age :
British expeditionary force (800 export) Consists of 8 redcoats and 1 falconet
5 petards (300 export) Industrial age:
British expeditionary army (1600 export)Consists of 6 life guards and 3 falconets (life guard= hussar)
Imperial age:
Consists of 16 Rogers rangers and 5 falconets (Rogers ranger= skirmisher)
Bonus:-10% villager training time
In late game you want to ally with the Russians primary for their factory and fort wagon. The 4 Cossack shipment in colonial is also quite nice when fighting vs. rifle infantry
Otherwise I wouldn’t recommend to ally with them except if you are playing treaty,
where you really can take advantage of the faster villager training time.
Shipments
Colonial age:
Russian Expeditionary Company (400 Export)consists of 4 Siberian Cossacks (Cossacks)
Blockhouse wagon (200 export)Fortress age :
Russian expeditionary force (800 export)consists of 5 Siberian Cossacks and 1 culverin
Fort wagon (600 export)Industrial age:
Russian expeditionary army (1600 export)Consists of 7 Kalmucks and 3 culverins (kalmuck=dragoon)
Factory wagon (800 export)Imperial age:
Russian expeditionary brigade (2400 export)Consists of 15 Bashkir ponies and 3 culverins (bashkir pony= hussar)
Bonus: +5% resource gathering
I personally think that allying with the French is pretty useless. Their bonus is pretty
useless and their shipments aren’t that great either.
Shipments
Colonial age :
French expeditionary company (400 export)
Consists of 4 Young Gardes(grenadiers)
Crate of food(300 export)Crate of wood(300 export)
Crate of gold ( 300 export)Fortress age :
French expeditionary force (800 export)Consists of 3 Young Gardes and 3 Gendarmes( Currasier)
Industrial age:
French expeditionary army (1600 export)Consists of 5 Gendarmes and 2 horse artilleries
Imperial age:
French expeditionary brigade (2400 export)Consists of 15 gendarmes
Bonus: 10% cheaper banner armies
The German consulate ally is one of the most use fullest alongside brits. The German ally bonus is pretty neat anytime in the game and the trickle shipments are also useful. However their
unit shipments aren’t that great. The 3 doppel soldner shipment in colonial isn’t much to brag
about when you are able to get 6 red coats from brits. Doppelsoldners are also nice counter for Coyote runners I would ally with the Germans
just because of the cost reduce. Shipments
Colonial age:
German expeditionary company (400 export)Consists of 3 zweihander (doppelsoldner)
Food trickle ( 250 export)Fortress age:
German expeditionary force(800 export ) Consists of 3 zweihander and 6 pruissan needle gunners ( pruissan needle= skirmisher)
Wood trickle (250 export)Industrial age:
German expeditionary army (1600 export)Consists of 11 pruissan needle gunners and 2 heavy cannons
Coin trickle(250 export)Imperial age:
German expeditionary army German Brigade (2400 export)Consists of 19 czapka uhlans and 15 pruissan needlegunners
(czapka uhlan=uhlan)
The porelain tower produces a steady trickle of recource of your choice.This wonder doesnt give you any shipment but instead it increases the trickle depending on in which age you built it.
shipment
age2: 3.0 food/s 2.5gold/s and 2.5 Wood/s
age3: 4.5 food/s, 4.0 gold/s and 4.0 wood/s
age4: 6.0 food/s, 5.5 gold/s, and 5.5wood /s
age5: 6.5 food/s, 6.0 gold/s and 6.0 wood/s
The summer palace produces banner armies of your choice. This is usually my Colonial age up wonder because the 400 food shipment gives me that extra push that I need to get my economy rolling.
shipment
age2:400 food
age3:1000 food
age4:1500 food
age5 2000 food
The Confucian academy produces Flying crows. I have never quite find this wonder useful even if it produces one of Chinas most powerful unit
shipment
age2:4 Chu ko nu´s
age3:8 arquebuisers
age4:12 arquebuisers
age5 21 arquebuisers
The temple of heaven gives you an “heal” button. Once you push the heal button it will auto heal all your units for a small time. The wonder also grants your Chinese monk the ability to heal. I usually use this wonder to age up to Industrial age. The heal button is a great ability when you are
in need of refreshing your units in a big battle.
shipment
age2:3villagers
age3:6 villagers
age4:10 villagers
age5 20 villagers
The white pagoda boosts the attack and hp of your Chinese monk and disciples . I personally not use the white pagoda because I find other wonders more useful. It also increases the disciple amount from 5 to 11
Shipment
age2: 4 diciplies
age3: 6 diciplies
age4: 10 disciples
age5: 16 disciples
The Chinese military is trained in so called “Banner armies” (except artillery). The banner armies consists of various units which means that you also can get units that you don’t want.
The Chinese monk is Chinas explorer/hero unit; the Chinese monk is able to build town centres and trade posts. The Chinese monk is able to “freeze” treasure guardians with the stun ability. The Chinese monk also hits critical strikes every now and then. The critical strike does more damage than the regular attack. The Chinese monk is able to turn dead foes to disciples with the passive ability. He is also able to train disciples. There are many upgrades to the Chinese monk at the temple. The Chinese monk also increases the critical hit damage for the disciples.
Disciples costs 80 food and serves many purposes, scouting for example. The Disciple is a light infantry unit, which excels on killing ranged infantry and artillery. The Disciple is also able to turn dead foes into new Disciples. If you are going to use the Disciples more frequently, I strongly suggest getting the tech, which costs 100 food and 100 gold from the temple, which improves both Hp, and attack damage of your disciples. You are only able to get five disciples at a time.
Chu ko nu is a Chinese ranged infantry, which shoots multiple bolts (3) at once. The Chu ko nu is included in the standard and old Han banner army.
microtip: 6 Chu ko nu`s kills a musketeer in one shot
The Arquebuiser is a stronger ranged infantry than the Chu ko nu. The arquebuiser also has more range than the Chu ko nu, which means it is easier to hit n run with arquebuiser than with Chu ko nus. The Arquebuiser is included in the imperial, territorial and black flag banner armies.
Microtip: Five Arquebuiser kills a musketeer in one shot
The Qiang-pikeman is a Chinese heavy infantry. The Qiang pike man has less hp, but more attack than the European pike man does. The Qiang pike man is included in the old Han and Mongolian banner army. Unfortunately, the Qiang pike man does not have a bonus vs. light infantry. This means that a light infantry spam can tear apart the Chinese army in colonial.
The Chang Dao is a Chinese heavy infantry. The Chang Dao is stronger than the Qing pike man is, but he also costs more than the Qiang pike man does. The Chang Dao is only included in the Territorial banner army.
Chinas heavy cavalry is only good vs Rifle infantry and artillery so keep them away from heavy infantry unit. A nice card to have in your deck is the
Iron flails get a better damage vs rifle infantry
Steppe rider (available in Colonial age)The Steppe rider is a Chinese heavy cavalry, which is particularly good at raiding because of its multiplier vs. settlers and buildings. The steppe rider
Is only included in the standard banner army
The Iron flail is a Chinese heavy cavalry which haves a small area damage. The area damage makes the Iron flail great at taking down Ranged Infantry, which has clumped together. They are like mini currasiers.The Iron flail is included in the Imperial and forbidden banner army
The Meteor hammer is a Chinese heavy cavalry with a small-ranged melee attack. The ranged melee attack is useful as it gives the Meteor hammer the first strike. The Meteor hammer has a better base attack than the iron flail. The Meteor hammer is only included in the Forbidden banner army.
The Keshiks is a Chinese light cavalry unit armed with a bow. The Keshiks is very weak units so do not let it go into fights vs. Heavy infantry. The Keshiks is included in the Ming and Mongolian army. I personally not make Keshiks because they are weak and the armies that they are included in are not that useful in my opinion. I think that the Chang Dao and the Qing pike man do a better job as a cavalry counter unit.
The flamethrower is a Chinese siege unit, which shoots fire. The flamethrower inflicts dps (damage per second) on enemy units in its range. The flamethrower costs
170 gold and 170 wood. The flamethrower itself is a little controversial. Some say its useless while other remarks it to be one of the Chinese’s best units. I personally think that the flamethrower is good in certain occasion, for example in a Chinese mirror where the units already are weak. However, vs. civs like Brits, the flamethrowers range and hp is too small to make a threat against longbows etc. You are able to train flamethrower single or in the black flag banner army
Hand mortar is a Chinese artillery unit, which fires from a long distance to it target. Unlike the European mortar and the Japanese morutaru, the Chinese mortar is also able to hit at enemy units. Because the hand mortar only costs 50 food and 90 wood it is quite easy to get many of them. Another thing great about the hand mortar is that they are available in fortress age, which means that you are able to take down forts, town centres without having to worry about taking damage. They are also good at taking down enemy artillery pieces. However, you have to protect them carefully because they cannot take much damage before they die. The easiest way to protect them is by keeping them at the back of your army when you are not using them.
microtip: 7 hand mortars kills 1 falconet in one shot
Flying crows are a Chinese equivalent to the British rocket. You should use the Flying crow vs. massed infantry because it has huge area damage, but be careful because the flying crows range is not that great. You can’t train Flying crows. But they auto spawn from the Confucian academy (wonder) and it’s also possible to get Flying crows from Industrial age shipments
The war junk is basically a Chinese caravel. It is good to explore and fish with. The
War junk costs 300 wood and 100 gold
The Fuchuan is a Chinese heavy warship. The Fuchuan is able to train banner armies
when it is on land. The Fuchuan costs 475 wood and 750 gold
The fire ship is a Chinese warship. The fire shop works basically as a petard. It is good vs.
Docks and other Building on the Shoreline. The fire ship costs 100 wood and 100 wood
In this section I will go trough Chinas basic strat; the basic Chinese contain/rush
I find this strat to be the most useful lest because it actually serves as a core build order for almost all china strategies. Once you learn it, you can easily do almost whatever you want
In this section, I am going to write about the Chinese age up that most people do .I is also going to give you some tips on how to build your base properly.
Start by collecting all the food crates.
After you have collected the food crates, divide your villagers into 2 groups; three in each group.
Then you put your first group of villagers to hunt, while the second group collects the wood crates. All new villagers on hunts.
When the second group has collected all the wood crates, put them all on wood chopping.
You should now have reached your housing limit. Send one of your hunters to build your first village behind or at sides of your Town center. (By building your first village near your town center, it is easier to secure it.). After you have built the village, send your goat there to fatten. (You will need it later)
Now as soon as you have the wood needed for building your second village (200 wood), send one of the wood choppers to build it (your second village should be somewhere near your second hunt)
Put the rest of the woodchoppers on to hunts and send the Northern refuges card
(you should have earned your first shipment by now)When the villager have build the village send it to heard your 2nd hunt closer to your Tc
When the shipment arrives, send the villagers from the shipment to hunts.
-Your goat should now be worth about 100 food, send 2 villagers to kill it. This will give you that extra food you need.
3:30- 5:00 min Transition to Colonial age
-At around 3: 30 ish you should start building on the summer palace (wonder). Put for 4 villagers to build the wonder and relocate your villagers according to which strat you are about to do.
- This is where a few variations happens depending on the strategy. but the common thing for all the strats, which uses standard age up, is that you should build a market and get the water wheel
(Increased wood gathering) and hunting eagle (increased hunting)
Note: You should send your Monk treasure hunting. You should focus mainly on getting wood and food treasures to speed your age up, but gold and xp are good too.
Most of this strategy is written by simia so I would like to give him some credit on that. However, I have also put in things that I find important
The old han rush is an all around rush. Good vs civs tend to use cav more frequently (Sioux for etc). The old han rush allows you to both rush, but also defend. Standard army rush on the other hand is more aggressive.
4 villagers on food, 4 on building wonder, the rest on wood. Remember to make villagers during age up! No need to save any food for armies in colonial, use it all to queue up vills.
You should be able to build an market during transition. I usually get the water wheel and the Hunting eagle
When you hit colonial, take three villagers from the wonder to gather the 400 food you get from age up, and take one villager from the wonder to build a war academy
*If you are going to attack it is advisable to put the war academy in front of your base, later on you should build a village there so you can get shipments to it.
*If you are going to defend a rush I advice putting the barracks behind your wonder, this way it is more protected
If you do it right, you can queue up two Old Han armies as soon as you get the barracks up.
1st shipment is 8 Chu ko nus, second is 7 Steppe Riders, 3rd is whatever resource crate you need most.
NOTE: If u feel safe, it might be more viable to send 700 wood first. This way you can get the consulate and a village up real fast, which will give you a quite nice boost. This however means that you are going to neglect the rush and instead going to pressure your opponent
Keep constant villager production, and make sure to herd and make more villages as you need
population. You want to have 10-11 on wood, and the rest on food until you get about 17-20 on food.
You also want to start switching about 4-5 on gold so that you are able to start training standard armies
Note:
-Against Russia I recommend building more defensively, build a small wall attached to your wonder and go Standard army.AlWAYS HAVE 10 rattan shields in your deck against Russia and go with the Russian consulate ally for Siberian cossacks.Making disciplies migth be worthwhile
-Against Sioux I also recommend building more defensively. Building a small wall attached to your wonder is not a bad idea .This match up is one of the hardest for china so you have to
THE STANDARD ARMY RUSH
This is Chinas Strongest rush, your opponent will struggle vs. you because it gives you so many options; if you are too slow you can easily change it to an raiding strategy which I find to be just as effective as rushing. I would not use Standard army rush vs. Germany, Aztec, Iroquois or Sioux because all four of those tend to spam either cavalry or coyotemen (Aztec) vs you.
Of the four villagers building the wonder, take three and use them to gather the 400 food from the Summer Palace. Take the last one and have him build a barracks.
If you do things right, you should be able to queue up 2 Standard Armies immediately after the barracks is built, and 1 more after the 2nd one spawns.
Keep making villagers, and send them to food first, keeping 5-6 on gold. Then alternate between sending them to food and gold. Ideally, you want about 12 on food, and 8-9 on gold for constant military and villager production. Then maybe send some to wood to build a consulate and a market and villages.
First shipment is always
Note: Split your steppes in to two too groups and raid from two different directions. This will mean that he have to choose what he wants to sacrifice
If you think that you cannot break through your enemy’s base, but you still have the advantage. Just simply
Is an chinese rush which basically involve sending 300 food instead of northern refugees.
You are going to have a flexible villager allocation(due to treasures), but
a simple rule is to have
Good vs;
Japan- japan cant simply deal with a chinese rush that comes this fast. Ship 8 ckn first instead of 7 steppes to take down ashigurus
“Ok” vs;
German- 300 food rush is ok vs Germans because. You are able to get
military a long time before their beloved 9 crossbow shipments arrive.
Destroy their barracks or stable and its pretty much gg.
-Collect the food crates,After you have collected the food crates have
-Try to get some wood or food treasures with your explorer/monk.
-build one village with the wood that you collected. Everybody to food.
One villager should go and heard the second hunt towards your Tc
- Send 300 food shipment and start building Summer palace around
-
Collect the wood crate
-Send 2 villagers forward to build an War academy
-Collect the food crates from age up, you should be able to train one Old han right away
- Villager allocation: 5 villagers on food , 8 on wood
- Send
-Harass and train additional old han armies.
-Build your second village at your war academy so that your shipments can arrive over there
-Third shipment should be
-
-fourth shipment should be
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General tips
- In the temple you are able to train mercenaries and upgrade your monk and disciples.
- Do not get the techs from the villages before you have max villages.
- Always be aggressive when you are playing china (with this I do not mean that you should attack him, instead raid, raid and raid). You have to interrupt your opponent all the time so that you can control the game. That is something I have learned the hard way. Check, Cookiecrisp´s vod part1 and you will now what I mean.
- When playing with china you must counter your opponents unit. You cannot just spam Old Han or Standard armies and hope for the best.
- on maps were herdables appear you should always try to get as many as possible. This is a great advantage for other civs but even a greater advantage for chin because of villages which works as livestock penns. There isnt any better than a fatted cow in colonial
-Always aim for Industrial age as China gets some nice techs and cards there(factory from consulate,Old han reforms and westernization)
-Put ur Qiang pikemen into cover mode when facing ranged attacks,this will make them last a little longer,also put your monk into covermode and mix him with the qiangs. The monk can soak up much damage
¨‘°ºO "All you big boys stay back and let me do my thaaaang"Oº°‘¨
[This message has been edited by ckei (edited 07-08-2009 @ 01:11 PM).]
, keep up the good work!
