Chinese (Age of Empires IV)

This article is about the civilization in Age of Empires IV. For other uses, see Chinese.

Civilization	Technology tree		Mastery

Chinese
Civilization
Civilization information
Introduced in	Age of Empires IV
Continent	Asia
In-game theme
Difficulty	3/3
Features/Characteristics
Focus	Dynasties, Gunpowder and Taxes
Unique units	Palace Guard Fire Lancer Imperial Official Nest of Bees Zhuge Nu Grenadier
Unique technologies	8
Unique buildings	Granary Village Pagoda

The Chinese are a playable Asian civilization in Age of Empires IV. Much like their predecessors, the Chinese are one of the more complex and difficult civilizations to play, designed for more experienced players. Their civilization bonuses put emphasis on gunpowder and siege units.

Their variant civilization is Zhu Xi's Legacy.

They also appear in Age of Empires as the Shang, Age of Empires II as the Chinese, Age of Empires III as the Chinese, and Age of Mythology as the Chinese.

Civilization overview

“	The Chinese civilization is one of impressive constructions, gunpowder strength, and a dynasty system that provides unique benefits and varied strategies to overcome the opponent. The Chinese civilization in Age of Empires IV is a thriving, unique civilization that grows through their dynasty system over the years 907-1644 CE. They are powerful defenders behind formidable fortifications. The engineering prowess of the Chinese dominated the world for centuries, a trait present in Age of Empires IV. You live through history as Chinese culture, strength, and innovations created ripples across Eurasia, growing your empire as you move through vibrant Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties. Your units speak Mandarin Chinese, a Sinitic language originating in North China.	”
—

Strengths

“	At the dawn of their civilization, the Chinese have a head start with additional Villagers. This lays the foundation for a robust economy, fueling the needs of a great, expansive civilization. City planning is an important growth strategy. A special trait of the Chinese civilization is their dynasty system, which offers several advantages when triggered, like unit bonuses and access to unique buildings. This gives several routes in strategy and ways to leverage all that the Chinese civilization has to offer. The military prowess of the Chinese lies in their mighty gunpowder units. They have access to multiple unique gunpower units, making them a fierce civilization to go up against in battle.	”
—

One of most unique gameplay mechanics for the Chinese is the Dynasty system; when the player builds both landmarks of a relevant age, they advance to the next dynasty (i.e. building both the Imperial Academy and Barbican of the Sun advances the player to the Song Dynasty), but lose the bonus provided by the previous dynasty, though access to unlocked units and buildings is retained. Because of this, advancing to the next dynasty requires complex strategic planning and decision making, especially when building two Landmarks of the same age to advance to the next dynasty may hamper the player's ability to advance to the next age. Since the Chinese can build all of the Landmarks available to them due to the dynasty mechanic, this makes the Chinese less vulnerable to being eliminated by Landmark victory in the late-game, The Dynasties are Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming.

One of their unique units, the Imperial Official, reflects the Chinese bureaucratic government, which has versatile purposes. Economic and military buildings can slowly generate gold based on the amount of resources dropped off and units produced, which allows the Imperial Official to collect taxes for an early trickle of gold. The Imperial Official can also supervise an economic drop-off building to allow Villagers to drop off more resources, or supervise a military or research building to increase unit production or research speed.

In terms of their military, the Chinese are a versatile "jack-of-all-trades" civilization with a wide variety of units. The biggest strength, however, is their late-game when they advance to the Ming Dynasty. With access to wide variety of strong dynasty-related units, combined with their strong and powerful siege weapons and gunpowder units, the Chinese are one of the most formidable foes to face in the Imperial Age. Conversely, due to the way the dynasty system works, this makes the Chinese more vulnerable to early-game rushes or civilizations that can aim for a fast Castle or Imperial Age strategy, although the Chinese have the tools needed to compete economically or defend from early game rushes.

Civilization bonuses

• Great Dynasties: Enter a new Dynasty by building both Landmarks from an Age to provide access to special bonuses, unique units, and buildings.
  • Begin in the Tang Dynasty — increases Scout Line of Sight +30% and provides access to the Village.
  • Song Dynasty — Build both Dark Age landmarks to increase villager production speed by +33% and provides access to the Granary and Zhuge Nu.
  • Yuan Dynasty — Build both Feudal Age landmarks to increase human unit movement speed by +15% and provides access to the Pagoda and Fire Lancers.
  • Ming Dynasty — Build both Castle Age landmarks to increase units' hit points by 15% and provides access to the Grenadier.
• Rapid Fabrications:
  • Villagers construct defenses 50% faster and all other buildings 100% faster.
  • Docks work 10% faster.
• Masters of Gunpowder:
  • The Town Center, Keeps, and Outposts use Handcannon Slits instead of Defensive Arrowslits. However, garrisoning units adds arrows like other civilizations.
  • Chemistry is granted for free in the Dark Age (I).

Taxes

The Chinese feature a unique tax system, in which most buildings generate taxes on various events:

• Whenever a resource is dropped off, 1 gold is generated.
• Whenever a unit is produced, 4 gold is generated.
• Whenever a research is completed, 32 gold is generated.
• Exceptions to this are buildings with no way to generate taxes, Town Centers, and Outposts.
• Influence: Construct buildings within the Imperial Academy Landmark's influence to generate +100% tax Gold at this building.

Taxes are collected by Imperial Officials, with each building having a 20 second cooldown on tax collection. After collection, they can be dropped off at Town Centers, the Imperial Academy, the Barbican of the Sun, the Imperial Palace, and the Spirit Way.

Starting resources

200 food, 150 wood, 100 gold

Unique units

• Imperial Official: Use the Supervise ability to boost work rate of research and military buildings by +150% — supervising economic buildings increases the amount of resources dropped off by Villagers by +20%.
• Zhuge Nu: Light ranged infantry with a rapid burst attack effective vs. light units.
• Palace Guard: Man-at-Arms replacement. Heavy melee infantry that exchanges armor for movement speed.
• Nest of Bees: Mangonel replacement. Siege engine that fires a barrage of rockets, doing Area of Effect damage.
• Fire Lancer: Light cavalry effective vs. siege engines and buildings. Comes with extensive sight range and an explosive charge attack.
• Grenadier: Light ranged gunpowder infantry that throws grenades dealing Area of Effect damage.

“	The Imperial Official is an official produced from the Town Center that collects gold from nearby buildings. Fire Lancer is a cavalry unit from the Yuan Dynasty equipped with a fire lance. Nest of Bees is a powerful siege weapon that fires an immense burst of rocket arrows in an area.	”
—

Landmarks

Dark Age

• Imperial Academy - Buildings within a 14x14 influence area produce +100% Tax Gold. Can also train Imperial Officials at a 30% discount (70 Food, 35 Gold). Serves as a Tax drop-off point for Imperial Officials.
• Barbican of the Sun - Acts as an improved Outpost with extra hit points, and a long range Handcannon Emplacement already installed. Can be upgraded with further Emplacements in later ages.

Feudal Age

• Astronomical Clocktower - Acts as a Siege Workshop. Produces siege engines with +50% hit points.
• Imperial Palace - Possesses a large sight radius. Using the Imperial Spies ability, enemy Villagers, Traders, Trade Ships, Fishing Boats, and Officials are revealed for 10 seconds. Serves as a Tax drop-off point for Imperial Officials.

Castle Age

• Great Wall Gatehouse - Acts as an improved Stone Wall Gate with extra hit points, and a Nest of Bees Emplacement already installed. Also provides all troops on any Stone Wall a +25% increase in ranged damage.
• Spirit Way - Upgrades Dynasty units two and a half times as fast and at a 50% discount. Whenever a Dynasty unit dies, nearby friendly units receive a 20% attack speed bonus for 10 seconds, and heal 20 health over 10 seconds.

Unique buildings

• Village
• Granary
• Pagoda

Unique technologies

• Battle Hardened (Barracks) - Palace Guards hit points +30.
• Thunderclap Bombs (Dock) - Warships receive an additional Nest of Bees attack.
• Imperial Examinations (Imperial Academy) - Imperial Officials' gold carry capacity +40.
• Extra Materials (Keep) - Stone Wall Towers and Outposts repair nearby damaged Stone Wall sections.
• Reload Drills (Siege Workshop, Astronomical Clocktower) - Bombards' reload time -25%.
• Additional Barrels (Siege Workshop, Astronomical Clocktower) - Nest of Bees +1 rocket per volley.
• Pyrotechnics (Archery Range) - Handcannoneer attack range +1.5 tiles.
• Ancient Techniques (University, Spirit Way) - Villagers' gather rate +4% per Dynasty.
• Handcannon Slits (Outpost) - Adds projectile. Increases garrison arrow range to 7 tiles

Changelog

• Originally, buildings had a 30 second cooldown before taxes could be collected from them again. With update 8324, this was decreased to 15 seconds. With patch 11963, it was increased to 20 seconds.
• Originally, Dynasty units and buildings were only available within their respective dynasties. With the Season One Update, once dynasty units or buildings are unlocked, they can be always be built, even if progressing to another dynasty.
• With the Season One Update, the Yuan Dynasty speed bonus no longer applies to siege weapons.
• Originally, the Village, Granary, and Pagoda were unlocked in the Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties, respectively. With the Season One Update, the Village is unlocked by default, and the Granary and Pagoda are unlocked in the Song and Yuan Dynasty, respectively.
• Originally, the Chinese bonus of defenses being constructed 50% faster was secretly 100% faster. With Server-Side Patch 5.1.148.1, it was fixed.
• Originally, Villagers in the Song Dynasty took -35% time to be trained. With Server-Side Patch 5.1.148.1, they take -25% time to train.
• With update 7.0.5861, the unique technology Reusable Barrels was replaced with Additional Barrels
• Originally, Chinese Docks worked 20% faster. With patch 9.2.628, they now work only 10% faster.
• With patch 11.1.1201, Ming Dynasty now grants 15% extra hit points instead of 10%.

In-game dialogue

• Pronunciation - The units start speaking in a form of Early Middle Chinese (pre-Tang) and progress into pre-modern Mandarin (Ming), which accurately covers the whole medieval period.
• Grammar - Voicelines use modern Mandarin sentences. It does not change across ages.
• Vocabulary- There is no attempt to use more archaic vocabulary. In the case of crossbows, an English borrowing (十字弓 - lit. "cross-bow") replaces the native word (弩). It does not change across ages.

Trivia

• The flag of the Chinese features traditional Chinese knotting, the same as the icon of the Chinese civilization in Age of Empires II. The flag also looks almost the same as the symbol of China Unicom (Chinese: 中国联通 zhong guo lian tong), a telecommunication company in China. The term liantong (联通) has become an unofficial term for the civilization among Chinese players.
• Age of Empires IV is the first game in the Age of Empires series where the Chinese Wonder is not the Temple of Heaven. It is also the first game in the Age of Empires series where the Chinese do not have access to some form of mounted archer unit, nor any sword infantry unit, as the guandao-wielding Palace Guard replaced the standard Man-at-Arms.
• Chinese Farms harvest rice, instead of wheat like other civilizations (except the Japanese).
  • In reality, only southern China can grow rice. In contrast, wheat is the dominant crop in northern China after the global climate turned colder and drier, causing rampant mega-droughts that dealt a fatal blow to northern China rice production, which require flooded paddies.
• The time span of the civilization begins in 907, with the end of the Tang Dynasty, and ends in 1644, with the end of the Ming Dynasty.
• 907 CE was not the start of Tang dynasty, but the end of it. After 907 CE, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period began, which was full of wars and conflicts, making it generally considered as one of the dark ages in Chinese history.
  • Ironically, while the Chinese starting dynasty in the Dark Age is the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was considered to be the golden age of Chinese history because China was considered to be the cosmopolitan economic and cultural hub in Asia, when it expanded into Central Asia. The vision bonus for the Scouts, however, reflects the Tang dynasty's westward expansion of their empire.

Gallery

A Chinese city

Imperial Age Chinese City

Enclave of the Emperor

Concept art for the Chinese Market

Concept art for the Chinese Barracks

Concept art for the Chinese Town Center

Concept art for Chinese landmarks

Concept art for the Village, Granary, and Pagoda