Chinese (Age of Empires III)

The Chinese are a civilization in both Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III. The Shang in Age of Empires were also a Chinese civilization.

Age of Empires III
China is one of the three new Asian Dynasties available in the Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties Expansion. They are widely considered to be an offensive civilization due to their strength early in the game and are a popular faction to utilize.

Warfare
Along with a higher population cap, many wonders spawn free units.In addition, the Chinese also train units relatively fast, although these units are slightly weaker than ordinary units. Nevertheless, not all of the Chinese units are weak. The Flying Crow, a form of ballistic rocket, can be spawned with the Confucian Academy wonder. The flamethrower, a devastating anti-infantry unit, can be trained from the castle from age 2.

Economy
The Chinese have access to unique Migration cards which replace the villager shipments. These cards spawn one villager at every village and town center. It also has cards to spawn goats and buffalo in the same way. Instead of the house, the Chinese build villages, which are a combination of a house and a livestock pen. Villagers are even able to garrison in it, and with cards, it can even fire upon enemies. The Chinese are a favourite among many players as it access to an extremely impressive card deck. There is a card that ships an additional Shaolin master. Another card spawns a fully fattened goat and a villager at every village and town center. One card allows irregulars, the Asian militia, to be trained at all villages. The "Confucius' Gift" card allows technology to be research very quickly. The Chinese can also send special banner armies from the home city such as Iron cap Prince's army or Ever Victorious army, but at a high price.

Banner Armies A unique ability of the Chinese is the it those not train units individually. Instead the civilisation recruits Banner Armies, which train a set combination of different units. The Banner armies allow specific sets of soldiers to be massed quickly, however, it is not without drawbacks. Foe example, if the enemy masses large numbers of cavalry, the Chinese are not able to counter this by specifically recruiting anti cavalry units. Also, cheap units such as Chu Ko Nu are often mixed with expensive units such as artillery, negating the advantage of low costs.

The Banner Armies available for recruitment

The Old Han Army: 3 Chu Ko Nu, 3 Qiang Pikeman 255 Food, 180 Wood, available in the colonial age

Standard Army: 3 Chu Ko Nu, 2 Steppe Rider 255 Food, 170 Gold, available in the colonial age

Ming Army: 2 Qiang Pikeman, 3 Keshik 345 Food, 120 Wood, available in the colonial age

Territorial Army: 3 Changdao, 3 Arquebusier 285 Food, 255 Gold, available in the fortress age

Forbidden Army: 2 Iron Flail, 2 Meteor Hammer 480 Food, 350 Gold, available in the fortress age Imperial Army: 3 Arquebusier, 2 Iron Flail 480 Food, 255 Gold, available in the fortress age

Mongolian Army: 3 Keshik, 3 Hand Mortar 495 Food, 270 Gold, available in the fortress age

Black Flag Army: 3 Arquebusier, 1 Flamethrower 170 Wood, 425 Gold, available in the fortress age

History
The faction representing China in the Asian Dynasties is loosely based on the cultural and military image perpetuated of China in the 1500's during the Ming Dynasty. The Ming (literally translated as the 'bright') dynasty was created at the end of the Yuan Dynasty under the Emperor Hongwu, and to reflect China's position as a powerful nation, established trade links with over a dozen overseas countries and a large military based on the Weiso system of organization. Evidence of this system can be found in the Age of Empires III Chinese faction in which units are trained in 'banner armies' as opposed to individual units.

In addition, China's superior knowledge of explosives and gunpowder is reflected in the faction through the early unlocked technology of flamethrowers and arquebusiers. However, to reflect the decline of China's military historically, the faction loses much of its potent gunpowder technology to the Europeans by the beginning of the Industrial age.

Because of this, the China faction must prevent its counterparts from aging up to that stage, because, by keeping these enemy civilizations rooted in earlier ages, China will remain superior. Historically and with semi-accuracy China is able to 'recruit' the help of European allies as they construct customs houses. This gives China access to some of the more basic units of the European civilizations such as Russia or Great Britain.