I agree that lack of tech trading and open borders hurts Japan.
Another thing is that in the RFC map Japan is mediocre. You can basically have 1 really good city (Edo), 1 mediocre city (around Hiroshima, which has 1 Rice and 1 Fish), and then 1-2 crappy cities which have no food at all. Compare that to UK + Ireland, which has ~2x as much food resources, but only had about half the population of Japan in history. Japan also lacks rivers (which is geographically correct) which means less commerce and no levees --> much less production.
As a starting point my suggestion would be:
- Give Japan 2-3 more Food resources (maybe 2 sea resources and 1 deer in the north)
- Add 1-2 short rivers in accordance to Japans geography
- Add 1 tea resource
- Let Japan start with Calendar
Did you not read earlier that Japan is supposed to be resource poor?
I do accept Rhye's current placement, because historically, Japan supported a large urban population within its urban centers and the only way to support that in the game is via the resources it has available now.
Resources and conquest aren't the problems Japan has.
For the human, it's interesting goals.
For the AI, it's teching up.
I'm not too sure. First of all though, I would argue that England is a bad example and if anything is too resource rich. Also this characterization of Japan is a bit pessimistic, Edo and Kyouto usually make for a decent pair of cities. But I agree that Kyushu is too food poor and an overall higher population might help. Tea also would be very fitting, but it's not as if Japan is particularly lacking in happiness resources, they have Silver, Gold, Silk, Dye and later Whale.
I would say that Japan suffers in particular because it doesn't have much space to develop cottages. Actually, now that I think about it, their recent further decline in average performance might have something to do with the Ocean changes: iirc there are some Ocean tiles that it works and losing one food on them is quite significant, especially with so few land tiles. If that is the case, map changes would be a good way to address that.
I'd argue that AI Japan's problem with teching comes from the LHs and its unwillingness to trade tech with neighbors.
Making Nobunaga more similar to Mansa might do the trick although without the tendency to peacevassal.
But more than that, I was thinking of a UP that might do something along the lines of tech diffusion.
I don't know if that would be historical though. Nobunaga isn't directly related to Sakoku, but he still represents the Edo period, so making him overly diplomatically active would not be fitting as well. And as someone else already said, Japan was lagging behind in tech until its modernization and industrialization (compared to European civs).
A tech diffusion UP might be a better solution. How about this?
The Power of Modernization: On reaching a new era, you receive all techs from this era already discovered by 2 (or any number) other civilizations.
So it's basically a free one time Internet effect for every era. It could also be limited to the Industrial era onwards but I don't think it would do much harm to have it apply to all eras. The nice thing about this that it allows the AI to catch up, without being too powerful in the hands of the player because you cannot leverage it too get a tech lead.
I also wouldn't be sad to see the current UP go, because it's rather stereotypical, not very historical and often overpowered and encourages the wrong play style for Japan.
As for UU and UB: name and abilities aside, I think a medieval UU is okay for them. I don't think anybody's a fan of the Kaizen/Shale Plant though, so we should think about replacing this.
With my observation from above in mind (lack of land for cottages and reliance on water tiles), maybe something harbor related that boosts commerce and maybe food for water tiles or water resources? That would be rather historical, as the Japanese economy has always relied a lot on fishing and coastal trade. Does anyone know an appropriate name for such a building? Anything iconic?
