Extra Lumberjacks are important, since Chinese start with less wood. Before the player finds the sheep, their Villagers can chop some of the wood near the Town Center, build houses, forage for berries, or a mix of those. Having extra villagers could help to find the sheep sooner, and then the Chinese must set some Villagers (usually all six) to start harvesting them. So the Chinese must start by researching Loom since the Town Center will be idle. Starting with extra Villagers but no food and less wood means that they can't immediately make any Villagers. Under skillful hands, however, the Chinese are a solid jack-of-all-trades civilization that is similar to the Byzantines.Ĭhinese have a much different start-up than other Civilizations. Inappropriate Dark Age micromanagement of the extra Villagers will cause the Chinese to fall greatly behind in the early game. This requires a lot more micromanagement in the early game for the tradeoff to pay off. The Chinese are also known to be incredibly difficult to play properly because of their unusual startup of having three extra villagers, but 200 less food and a 50 less wood. Their Heavy Scorpions are not as good as they could be, since they lack Siege Engineers. However, the Chu Ko Nu and their Heavy Scorpions can do a similar job like the Hand Cannoneer and Bombard Cannon in a somewhat weaker degree. They also lack two important late game gunpowder units such as the Hand Cannoneer and Bombard Cannon. In addition while they can attack and defend about equally well they don't stand out in either as they lack military bonuses. However they can train camels, giving them fast anti-cavalry capabilities that their infantry lack. They are missing both the Paladin and Hussar putting both their heavy and light cavalry at a disadvantage late in the game. The disadvantages of the Chinese is that their late game cavalry is weaker than their infantry and archers. Their unique technology, Rocketry, makes their Chu Ko Nus and Heavy Scorpion potentially deadly and allow them to excel in long range sieging. They have access to all siege weapons except the Siege Onager and the Bombard Cannon. In groups these can provide powerful close range support.
Their unique unit, the Chu Ko Nu, is a crossbowman with a short range but shoots multiple arrows at a time.
#AGE OF EMPIRE 2 STRATEGY FULL#
They have full archer and infantry technologies so foot soldiers will compose the majority of a Chinese army most of the time. In terms of military they have many options. They can also research technologies at cheaper prices, allowing them to divert the saved resources into either more villagers or extra military units. This gives them an edge early in the game as they can gather resources more quickly. They start out with extra villagers and their Town Centers support extra population. 5.2 Disadvantages vs other civilizations.5 Compared advantages and disadvantages.3.3 Strategy changes in Definitive Edition.3.2 Strategy Changes in The African Kingdoms.