Talk:Chinese (Age of Empires II)/@comment-70.95.3.247-20170313191854/@comment-31256631-20170328175233

There's a trend in most of the major Chinese wars: when they win, they did it by attrition over a long war; when they lose, they lost by a few decisive engagements. The Chinese don't win via swift, decisive battles (as Rome often does). They win because they have tremendous national power (military, economy, good administration and organization) that their neighbors often couldn't match.

Oh they had heavy armor. Just very, very few troops ever used it (aka, they didn't actually rely on it in battles). Even the elite chinese troops, such as the "plumed forest" royal guards and the "iron hoof" cavalry, rarely wore anything more than what modern RPGs would call "medium armor". This is because Chinese troops valued strategic mobility (after centuries of war against the Xiongnu, Mongols, and Manchus). Heavy cavalry has tactical/battlefield mobility, but lack strategic mobility because horses just can't run far under such a heavy load.

Shaolin (and other sects) monks were not just pacifistic, they were politically neutral. Aka they never took sides in conflict.