I'm against changing the Chinese techgroup speed, but I think there is potential in splitting the Moslem techgroup in two - an "Eastern Moslem" and "Western Moslem".
#1- One of the hard things to siumulate in the game is why China stagnated so long despite having so many advantages in the early period of the game. An abusive techgroup modifier is a good way to represent it. China was ahead of the rest of the world in Infra and Naval and abreast of the world in Land and Trade at the beginning of the game (and had been since at least the 11th Century). China proceeded to go *nowhere* for 400 years. A few examples:
* China had the best ocean going fleet in the world in the 1420s (Zheng Ho). By the 1600s the fleet had actually regressed and pirates terrorized the Chinese coast. When the Europeans showed up, their ships were vastly superior.
* Chinese industrial production was closer to being "industrial" than anyone else's around 1450, yet stagnated throughout the period of EUII. Some examples:
-Ming porcelain is still prized so much because Qing-era porcelain was of inferior quality.
-There was a Chinese ironworks founded in Hunan in the 11th Century that was the equal of British ironworks from the 1700s, but that ironworks closed in the 1700s for internal reasons, and was not replaced by anything better, or even equivilent.
* China invented artillery in the 11th/12th centuries, and the Mongols used Chinese engineers in their seiges in the Middle East to speed their conquests, yet China in 1700 was grossly behind the European and Ottomans in this area.
The only way to represent this in the game is to start China out being very advanced, but to make advancement prohibitive. In game terms, China historically did not advance *at all* in Infra, Trade and Naval after 1450, and only modestly in Land. As China does better in the game than that, I would propose we actually increase the techgroup penalty for the China group.
#2- As for Muslims, I think a split of the group into "Eastern" and "Western" Moslem would make sense. The Ottomans and North Africans never feel drastically behind Europe in game terms, yet the Moghuls did. After all, a tiny British effort was able to defeat large Moghul armies half the world away, but Russia and Austria still required massive efforts to beat the Turks who were practically next door. And many countries paid tribute to Barbary pirates rather than go through the effort of fighting them.
How about we try keeping the "Eastern Moslem" group the way it is, and make the "Western Moslem" group closer to Orthodox? I don't like the idea of making things easier for China, however.
