China in the latest patch

[Porcius]

China always does well under human control. At least until the rebellions start.

Come back in 1640 and tell me how it's going.

 

[Porcius]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
Well.... sorry, I had never played China before, and wasn't sure if it was the result of the latest tech tweaking.

I appreciate the sarcasm. This thread isn't to tout my no-doubt *exceptional* abilities at EU2, but to bring up what I thought may may a valid point. I apologize for my failure to bring up the many glorious conquests of China , but I haven't annexed Nippon yet..... umm, it's part of my master plan or something *cough*. Something like that, anyway.

Either way, that's irrelevant... it just seemed odd to me that China could equal or even excel European powers in tech research, at least before the *big* RR events happen, and be able to colonize so much so early...

Well, China is rich. And that's why it can keep up a little while. Under AI control, China seems to progress fine, too. All the tea (and china) in China goes a long way.

The AI China will even colonize a little, but not as much as it used to. (Early versions often had the Portuguese first encountering the Great Celestial Empire somewhere in Brazil). But all that money and a great explorer at the start give a human controlled China a huge boost forward. If they can hit trade level 3 quickly, they will have a lot of monopolies before the advanced Europeans discover Malacca or Calcutta. That means even more money.

The rebellions will quickly slow you down, so be ready for it. You will need large armies, and you might go bankrupt more than once.

China can be a lot of fun, but gets frustrating pretty quickly - even moreso than Japan, because there's really not a lot you can do about the rebellions. Your event choices are usually either;

A: Lots of rebellions.
B: Suicidal policy choices leading to bankruptcy and lots of rebellions.

But the early game for China is a breeze. I always try to discover Table and set up a colony there.