While I understand that Beijing is the Modern capital of China, the southern part of the country has historically been (and currently is) where the majority of the Chinese population is concentrated.

1. Move Chinese start to an area closer to the Yangtze (maybe to Nanjing or Chang'an).
2. This would not only allow for greater historical accuracy, but then it would also make sure that the Chinese start isn't SOOOOOOOO dangerously close to the Mongols.

Any opinions?

What we call Chinese culture today originates from the fertile plains between the Huang He(Yellow River) and Chang Jiang(Yangtze River.) They should indeed be further south, but not much. It would also be nice if they weren't one tile off the coast....

I've kinda thought so too, bu there's no Iron in south or central China for making all the spear/pikemen to greet the Mongol hordes with.

I've played around with having China start at the bend of Huang He where there is by default a mountain (Xi'an). It is a pretty powerful location with access to the pig and the rice and plenty of hills and forests, and I think China could do well, but when the AI starts there they end up placing their next few cities in all kinds of horrible places (for instance a tile away from the ocean), and expanding in all the wrong directions (south and west).

Good to see you playing China, I'm from Beijing. :)

Actually, our civilization was born alongside the Huang He and Yangtze river.

Good to see you playing China, I'm from Beijing. :)

Actually, our civilization was born alongside the Huang He and Yangtze river.

So wich tile should be the most acurate starting spot? I want to be able to build the forbidden palice in beijing.:)

I agree to batigoallover.

While I understand that Beijing is the Modern capital of China, the southern part of the country has historically been (and currently is) where the majority of the Chinese population is concentrated.

1. Move Chinese start to an area closer to the Yangtze (maybe to Nanjing or Chang'an).
2. This would not only allow for greater historical accuracy, but then it would also make sure that the Chinese start isn't SOOOOOOOO dangerously close to the Mongols.

Any opinions?
Well, it's not like Beijing wasn't the capital of many historical Chinese dynasties too. It first became the capital in 722 BC under the State of Yan. However, many other cities have been capitals of China at one point or another. There are four cities which are traditionally seen as the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China: Beijing, Nanjing, Luoyang, and Xi'an (=Chang'an). Any of those cities would make an appropriate capital, but for game purposes Xi'an or Nanjing would be optimal. If I had to choose, I would place it at Xi'an and edit the terrain so it isn't such a crappy city location.

I vote for Luo Yang! The seat of power in the han dynasty.

The idea has been sugested before, the same way of thinking could be aplied to Japan. Kyoto is a historical capital of Japan, but currently it's Tokyo. Rhye isn't going to change it.

Ya. Rhye's never gonna change it.

Maybey he will to protect the mongols? In my games when I play the chinese, the mongol capital always fal in the culture of my capital. Ussually in a few turns it flips to me. Spelling the end of the mongols.

Yeah, SPELLING the end of the mongols. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Man you should had known......... what a spelling! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, SPELLING the end of the mongols. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Man you should had known......... what a spelling! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I actually prefer Beijing--also I ALWAYS move it one plot over so it's on the coast. Why? Because it usually ends up being in the center of my empire anyways, after I take Mongolia, expand northward into Manchuria, and build the silk-road--I actually always do build the silk-road by about the 14th century--and occasionally take Japan. If the capitol were moved to Xi'an or Nanjing, I'd just end up moving the capitol northward eventually anyways. I don't see the point in moving it southward, especially for the AI. If you moved it south, the AI would be more influenced to expand southward, and this would ruin the game. Right now the AI expands evenly south and north, and I like it that way--it actually usually ends up being a modern China in the end due to this.

If the AI actually expanded as far north from Beijing as it does south, that would not be a modern China at all (Běijīng in Chinese means "Northern Capital"). I hardly ever see the AI China with any cities north of Beijing. Also, I've never seen any Chinese cities in the jungles of Indochina, even when the Chinese empire is sprawling and even before the Khmer were added to the game. I don't see what's wrong with moving the capital to Luoyang or Chang'an, which are actually in central China.

When I play as China, I would always edit myself to start around the bend of Huang He (Luoyang/Kaifeng) and go from there but I'd always let the AI start at Beijing instead.

The thing is where the Chinese civilization started isn't where its capital is today. RFC's handling of this situation isn't consistent, some civs start where they historically spawned: Egypt, Japan, Arabia, and Mongolia while others start where their present capitals are: India, China, Germany, Spain, America. I guess Rhye just went for the gameplay aspect instead of being strictly historical, which is understandable.

i used a compromise between gameplay and history.
When I say history I mean also weighing the capital with the number of turns it has been capital. In this view, Beijing was a capital for much more turns than any other. Not the same for Tokyo, which has become capital only in the most recent centuries. Germany was a tricky one, since there was no other strong candidate other than Berlin.
There can't be consistency, as the Turks, as you can see, cannot start from Istanbul, the capital that should be with this kind of rules.

Byzantines!!!

Germany was a tricky one, since there was no other strong candidate other than Berlin.
Well, you could make a strong case for Vienna with its history as the capital on the HRE (and later Austria) which (at least in my view) Germany represents in game. Not to say I would take it over Berlin though.

I actually like the location of Beijing as the capital for China. The only problem I can see is that its (seemingly) inevitable conquest by the Mongols almost always seems to trigger China' collapse in my games (they occasionally collapse before), but that would likely happen anywhere. I do like playing based around Beijing when I play the Chinese.