You can read this thread to see the reasons WHY I believe China is a good choice for Age of Empire III's expansion (ideas begin on page two of that thread; check all of my replies if you're interested). I won't list the reasons why I believe China is a good choice here. I just want to discuss them as a civilization, not why.

-

-
-
-
-
-
-

Table of Contents:
* Civilization Bonuses
* Chinese Economy
* Chinese Military
* Military Training Locations
* Unique Units
* Unit Comparisons
* Unique Cards
* Unique Technologies
* Royal Guard Technologies
* Civilization Weaknesses
* End Notes

-

-------------------------------------------
Civilization Bonuses:
Home City Ruler: Nurhachu (Kundulun Khan)
Royal Guard Units: Yong Shi and Cavalry Archer.
* Starts the game with +2 settlers but -2 food crates.
* Temples (Chinese version of Churches) will already have access to their unique technologies (they won't have/need the card that grants this).
* The Chinese have more unique technologies than any other civilization in the game.
* Arsenals can train Skirmishers, Grenadiers, and Yiwofengs in Age 3. Academies (Chinese barracks) can only train archaic units. Artillery Foundries can also train Grenadiers (like normal), and Yiwofengs.

(See "Civilization Weaknesses" below, for any concerns of balancement.)

Chinese Economy:
China's economy will start off rather fast with their +2 villager/-2 food crate bonus. They will be able to receive Settlers from Home City shipments, but they will not have access to any of the basic resource shipments (no 300 food/wood/coin shipments). China will also have no access to cards that improved hunting. Their strength will be in gathering from mills, plantations, and livestock pens.

China's economy is suitable for rushing and booming strategies, but may be weak at turtling since they will be using an archaic army in the Colonial Age.

To compensate for China's fast start, unique units will be more expensive to train, making their fast rushing capabilities not so overwhelming to other civilizations. The price of unique units also balances their excellent economy from early game to late game.

Chinese Military:
Regular Chinese units are Crossbowmen, Halberdiers, Grenadiers, Cavalry Archers, Hussars and Skirmishers. China didn't widely use rifles or cannons in their armies until around the 1600's (they already had the technology long before this), and even then, it didn't start to catch on until the 1700's. (They had small arquebus-like weapons during the times that the Europeans had perfected their muskets and rifles.)

They did use rockets though.

China used rockets to defend against the Mongolian hordes, and against the Manchus, so they will have [three] rocket units. The rockets weren't used like the congreve rockets of the British. Instead, the rockets were attached to arrows and launched out of baskets or siege engines. Rockets-arrows were also lit and shot from bows so that the rockets would launch in mid-flight and propell the arrow farther and faster than they would normally go and added to its penetration power. (See "Unique Units" below.)

An AOE3 version of the Chinese gives players a nice, flexible army with lots of counter units. (See "Unit Comparisons" below.)

Military Training Locations: (See "Unique Units" below for unique unit descriptions.)

Home City [Card Only]:
- Huo Che (250 Coin, 4 Pop; Age II)

Academy:
- Zhuge Nu (60 Food, 45 Coin, 1 Pop; Age II)
- Yong Shi (30 Food, 50 Wood, 1 Pop; Age II)
- Halberdier (50 Food, 70 Coin, 1 Pop; Age III)

Stable:
- Hussar (120 Food, 80 Coin, 2 Pop; Age II)
- Cavalry Archer (45 Food, 115 Coin, 2 Pop; Age III)

Arsenal:
- Grenadier (120 Food, 60 Coin, 2 Pop; Age II)
- Yiwofeng (70 Food, 100 Coin, 2 Pop; Age III)
- Skirmisher (50 Food, 65 Coin, 1 Pop; Age III)

Artillery Foundry:
- Grenadier (120 Food, 60 Coin, 2 Pop; Age II)
- Yiwofeng (70 Food, 100 Coin, 2 Pop; Age III)
- Falconet (100 Wood, 400 Coin, 5 Pop; Age III)
- Culverin (100 Wood, 400 Coin, 5 Pop; Age III)
- Mortar (100 Wood, 350 Coin, 5 Pop; Age IV)

Factories:
- Heavy Cannon (No cost, 7 Pop; Age IV)

Unique Units:
** Yiwofeng: Artillery infantry. Yiwofeng or "Swarm of Bees" are equipped with bamboo or iron baskets, which was like a smaller version of the cannon, that had arrows with rockets attached to them. The arrow rockets would shoot out of the baskets like bullets out of a gun would. They have a range almost as long as longbowmen due to the propulsion of the rockets. (See links to articles for more information at the bottom of this thread.)

** Huo Che: Artillery engine. The Huo Che or "fire cart" shoots rocket-arrows at a fast pace (like a faster version of the Yiwofeng) dealing heavy amounts of damage to groups of infantry. -- These units can ONLY be obtained from the home city!

** Zhuge Nu Light infantry. The Zhuge Nu, or Cho-Ko-Nu, was a "repeating crossbow" that fired arrows in a semi-automatic fashion. The weapon was wildly inaccurate, but created a spread effect that shot arrows out much like a shotgun (though fast, like a machine gun). Due to its low pentrative strength (and relatively low damage to flesh), the arrows would often be tipped with poison. The box at the front was the magazine where the arrows would drop down from. According to an article (links are at the bottom of this thread), it was still being used even in recent (Ch'ing) times. (If you've played AOE2, you'll remember this weapon.)

** Yong Shi: Heavy infantry. This spear and crossbow wielding warrior replaces both the pikeman and the crossbowman. These units have lower hitpoints and damage output than normal pikemen and crossbowmen, but are cheap and have the ability to be massed quickly. The way these units work, is that they spawn in melee mode, which is their pikemen attributes. They can be switched to use their crossbows by selecting volley mode. These units, of course, are much like Musketeers.

Their stats are as follows:

First available: Colonial Age
Cost: 30 Food 30 Wood, 1 pop
Hitpoints: 80
Speed: 4.5
Resists: 20% vs Ranged (when in volley mode); 10% vs Hand (when in melee mode)
Melee Mode Attack: 6
Melee Mode Range: 0
Melee Mode ROF: 1.5
Melee Mode Bonus: x5 vs Cavalry
Ranged Mode Attack: 12
Ranged Mode Range: 16
Ranged Mode ROF: 3
Ranged Mode Bonus: None
Siege Mode Attack: 12
Siege Mode Range: 0
Siege Mode ROF: 3
Siege Mode Bonus: None

** Long Zhou: Replaces the caravel. These "Dragon Boats" launch rockets instead of cannons to set enemy ships aflame.

Unit Comparisons:
Since the Chinese have two archer infantry, two spear infantry, and two artillery infantry, I would like to explain their differences as to make them relevant for entry into the game. Even though the Yong Shi plays both roles as spearman and bowman, it should be compared to other units to show why they are still important to the Chinese even though they have units that are better than them.

Yong Shis vs. Zhuge Nus:
- Yong Shi are cheap and train faster than Zhuge Nus can be trained.
- Zhuge Nus are more expensive (cost a little more than Musketeers--60 Food and 45 Coin) and train a little slower than Musketeers.
- Yong Shis have lower hitpoints and attack than Zhuge Nus, but they can be easily massed (like that of the Russian Strelets, except Yong Shis cannot be trained in blocks of 10).

Yong Shis vs. Pikemen and Halberdiers:
- Yong Shis are cheaper and weaker than Pikemen and Halberdiers in melee mode. They stand up better to Pikemen and other infantry in volley mode, but they may still die quickly since they have low hitpoints.
- Yong Shis are cheaper to train than Pikemen and Halberdiers. Massing these units make up for their negative properties.
- Halberdiers are stronger normal pikemen and, but they're slower. They deal more damage against buildings and cavalry than both Yong Shi and Pikemen.

Grenadiers vs. Yiwofeng:
- Grenadiers are better against buildings than Yiwofengs, while Yiwofeng are better against killing infantry.
- Yiwofengs are a little more expensive than Grenadiers and deal less siege damage to buildings. Also, Yiwofengs have a lot lower resistance to artillery fire than Grenadiers, so artillery can easily put a stop to them.

Unique Cards:
* Early Halberdiers: (Level 25) - Halberdiers can be trained in Age 2.
* Improved Rocketry: (Level 10) - Huo Che and Yiwofeng deal more damage.
* Improved Fusing: (Level 10) - Huo Che and Yiwofeng have slightly increased rate of fire.
* Improved Spearmen: (Level 10) - Increases Yong Shi and Halberdier hitpoints and [melee] attack.
* Established Dyarchy: (Level 25) - Cuts the price of "Dragon Storms" and "The Emperor's Dozen" unique technologies. ("Dragon Storms" is now 1000 Coin, and "The Emperor's Dozen" is now 2000 Food.)
* Filial Piety: (Level 25) - Allows you to support +10 population.
* Manchurian Horse Archer Training: (Level 15) - Prequisites: Cavalry Archer shipment cards. Cuts the coin cost of Cavalry Archers by 20% (making them 45 Food, 92 Coin).
* Feather Boxes: (Level 25) - Gives Zhuge Nus an increased shot capacity and grants access to their guard and imperial technologies.
* Dynastic Restoration: (Level 1) - Ships a factory cart to the New World.
* Self-Strengthening Movement: (Level 10) - Prerequisite: "Dynastic Restoration" card. Ships a factory cart to the New World.
* More...

Note: China cannot obtain factory cards. They may only obtain a factory by researching one of their unique technologies. (The upside to this weakness is that China can obtain a total of three factories. -- See "Civilization Weaknesses" below.)

Unique Technologies:
* Tenant Farmers: (1000 Wood; I) - Settler limits on Mills and Plantations increased to 15.
* One-Thousand Spears: (No cost; II) - Allows archaic units to train 10% faster, but move 5% slower.
* Tributary State: (300 Wood; II) - Prerequisite: "Tenant Farmers". Ships three small crates of food, and three small crates of coin.
* Scholarly Exams: (1000 Food; III) - Ships you another explorer.
* Dragon Storms: (2000 Coin; III) - Ships four Guard Huo Che and upgrades all existing Huo Che to Guard status.
* The Emperor's Dozen: (3000 Food; IV) - Prerequisite: "Scholarly Exams". Ships 12 Manchu horse archers.

Royal Guard Technologies:
* Jing Yong Shi: (1000 Wood, 1000 Coin; IV) - Yong Shis are upgraded to Jing Yong Shis with +20% hitpoints and attack.
* Qin Cavalry Archers: (1000 Wood, 1000 Coin; IV) - Cavalry Archers are upgrade to Qin Cavalry Archers with +20% hitpoints and attack.

Civilization Weaknesses:
* The obvious weakness of the Chinese is that they have to rely on mostly archaic units until they reach the Fortress Age.
* Huo Che, China's strongest early-age anti-infantry artillery can only be obtained from the home city. They can ship an infinite amount, but the shipment only ships one at a time, and they cost 250 Coin and 4 population slots each.
* The only gunpowder rifle infantry that the Chinese gets is the Skirmisher.
* With the absense of strong gunpowder support at an early age and level, the Chinese may have difficulty turtling. However, they will definitely have the option to rush or boom.
* Will not have access to any of the basic resource shipments (no 300 food/wood/coin shipments).
* China will not have access to cards that improved hunting (except Refrigeration).

End Notes:
I spent a lot of time on this. Please do not tear down the idea, but rather, find things that you think need an improvement or some kind of addition and let's discuss it.

------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------
Articles on the Yiwofeng:
Yiwofeng: A great article on the Yiwofeng.
------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------
Articles on the Huo Che:
Huo Che: A great article on the Huo Che.
------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------
Articles on the Zhuge Nu:
Zhuge Nu; Link 1: A thread with pictures from the Chinese History Forum.
Zhuge Nu; Link 2: A page with pictures that discusses the Chinese repeating crossbow.
Zhuge Nu; Link 3: A great article on the Zhuge Nu.
------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------
(Thanks to Joeking14 for helping with the articles and information. )

[This message has been edited by Cy Marlayne (edited 12-26-2005 @ 09:14 AM).]