Qiu
Warlord
Hi, Leoreth and everyone. Here are suggestions about the Japanese Civ in the game. However I am neither a Japanese nor majoring in history. So please be free to correct me.
Aggressive?
In CIV4, the personal traits of the Japanese leader Tokugawa are defined as aggressive and protective. Maybe it is true for Tokugawa himself, but meanwhile I noticed that some people tend to describe it as the national characters of the Japanese and try to link them to the Japanese UP and UHV. Personally I disagree about it.
Among the comments posted on Japanese civ games forum, the Japanese often seems confused and embarrassed for being set as “aggressive”. As far as I know, the thought of Buddhism which highly valued peace and tranquility has deeply rooted in Japanese culture and their national character. And I also do not want to deny that many people tend to describe the Japanese as somewhat warlord-like belligerent and cold-blood guys, due to the bloody past of WWII and Sengoku period, which has been even further exaggerated by some games and videos. But in my opinion that is no more than a small fragment in the long history of the Japanese civilization. The Japanese people also have showed great interest in arts and meditation. So that at lease one UHV before the industrial age should get away from warfare IMO.
Isolationism?
Another personal trait of Tokugawa is “protective” or “isolationism”. Maybe the closed-door policy of the Tokugawa shogunate did deeply impress Europeans in history, but the background is that the shoguns feared the peasants to be converted to Christians, after a huge Christian-background peasant revolt. They thought once the peasants were propagated by Europeans they would lose their loyalty to the shogun. So they forbade foreigners to enter the country except the Dutchs and East Asia neighbors.
However, that doesn’t mean the Japanese were not interesting in foreign affairs in the past, especially for close Korean affairs. I think we can hardly say the Japanese liked to interference Korea or hated to. Perhaps if there is a chance they will go for it and if not they would stay at home. (I don’t think that means the Japanese were more aggressive than others because it is common in ancient world). So some UHV assumptions such as produce x great generals is not much available in my opinion, because it forces player to fight nevertheless there is a chance or not. For the same reason, I think forcing the Japanese absolutely staying at home is also not a good idea. At least in history they had opportunities to control southern Korean.
UHV
As suggested before, there should be one culture-related UHV for ancient Japan. And I do agree the pure culture point goal is boring. As far as I know, the Heian period (AD794–1185) was very important in Japanese history. Buddhism widely spread, and the emperors (tenno) were enthused in building Buddhism temples and wonders. It was a golden age for classic Japanese culture. However, the peasants were made exhausted and the emperors finally lost their power to the local lords (daimyo). Then Japan entered the Federal society and became a shogunate. So why not simulate that story as the first Japanese peaceful UHV? To building certain number of Buddhism buildings - or Buddhism buildings in every city (that is said to be the dream of a certain tenno in history), research literature and build several theatres (at that period Lady Murasaki finished her masterpiece The Tale of Genji), and several Buddhism wonders. By the way, if it is possible to add the Todai-ji (the great east temple) as a new Buddhism wonder? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōdai-ji It is the largest wooden building remained in the world, and holds the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha. I think all that above may help to make a more peace-like Japan in ancient time.
The second and the third UHV, as many guys suggested, should be related to the Meiji reformation. Meiji reformation indeed be very important in Asia and world history, and I think it is quite interesting in the game as well. Please imagine it. At first you had to shudder at your enormous neighbours, and then, after industrialized and equipped with advanced technology, you become strong and stronger and finally are able to crush them
. That’s fantastic. And that is also why I suggested the first Japanese UHV should be a peaceful one. An early expansion (beyond southern Korea) is historical inaccurate and be out of the ability for the Japanese, until Meiji reformation.
As suggested, one UHV could be “to build X factories by xxxx”. It requires the player both to catch up the technology and to expanse, peacefully or through war.
Should another UHV be “adopt the title of the Greater Empire of Japan at ADxxxx”? It requires the player to get several key technologies such as nationalism and fascism and switch to them, as well as to expanse the empire to certain degree. In fact, to some degree the “Greater Empire of Japan” dream even remains now among many Japanese.
UP
The current UP of Japanese civ is the Power of Honor, a concept relating to war. Maybe it originates from the popular samurai-related pop culture, especially in western countries? I don’t think that is unacceptable since the Japanese should fight a lot after the Meiji reformation in the game in my opinion, in spite of what I mentioned before, the Japanese culture is not war-centralized.
My alternative suggestion is “the Power of Humble” . That may sounds ironic when referring to the name of the former UP. As it been said, the Japanese are always humble students. They seem to can be very glad to offer in a spirit of deference or submission toward the stronger one, in order to gain profit. That is also a typical oriental way in my opinion. I remember Leoreth has said that the Japanese civ should get a UP which lowers the cost of their espionage or trade technology. I think this name fits that UP well. Thanks to their humble attitude and diligent study, the Japanese really benefited a lot from others, at first the Chinese and Koreans and then the Europeans and the Americans.
Terrain
As it has been said, the Japanese Islands were greatly enlarged. I don’t think it is necessary to extend it further because the Japanese should be rather weak before Meiji reformation and after that they should fetch foreign lands to grow to a superpower.
Besides, I think Hokkaido (the most north island) should be buffed after AD1860. The colonization of Hokkaido played an important role in modern Japanese history. Currently in game it lacks food resources so could a fish or a cow be added after 1860? (Hokkaido milk and sushi are very popular in Japan)
UB and UU
The Japanese UU is cool, although might be useless in a real world map game. Another option is zero-fighter. It is all up to you.
The shale plants make some problems… even the Japanese seldom know what hell it is…
I noticed a Japanese mod that changed the name to “Kaizen Factory” and the effect remains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen
Thank you for reading. I hope it could be helpful.
Aggressive?
In CIV4, the personal traits of the Japanese leader Tokugawa are defined as aggressive and protective. Maybe it is true for Tokugawa himself, but meanwhile I noticed that some people tend to describe it as the national characters of the Japanese and try to link them to the Japanese UP and UHV. Personally I disagree about it.
Among the comments posted on Japanese civ games forum, the Japanese often seems confused and embarrassed for being set as “aggressive”. As far as I know, the thought of Buddhism which highly valued peace and tranquility has deeply rooted in Japanese culture and their national character. And I also do not want to deny that many people tend to describe the Japanese as somewhat warlord-like belligerent and cold-blood guys, due to the bloody past of WWII and Sengoku period, which has been even further exaggerated by some games and videos. But in my opinion that is no more than a small fragment in the long history of the Japanese civilization. The Japanese people also have showed great interest in arts and meditation. So that at lease one UHV before the industrial age should get away from warfare IMO.
Isolationism?
Another personal trait of Tokugawa is “protective” or “isolationism”. Maybe the closed-door policy of the Tokugawa shogunate did deeply impress Europeans in history, but the background is that the shoguns feared the peasants to be converted to Christians, after a huge Christian-background peasant revolt. They thought once the peasants were propagated by Europeans they would lose their loyalty to the shogun. So they forbade foreigners to enter the country except the Dutchs and East Asia neighbors.
However, that doesn’t mean the Japanese were not interesting in foreign affairs in the past, especially for close Korean affairs. I think we can hardly say the Japanese liked to interference Korea or hated to. Perhaps if there is a chance they will go for it and if not they would stay at home. (I don’t think that means the Japanese were more aggressive than others because it is common in ancient world). So some UHV assumptions such as produce x great generals is not much available in my opinion, because it forces player to fight nevertheless there is a chance or not. For the same reason, I think forcing the Japanese absolutely staying at home is also not a good idea. At least in history they had opportunities to control southern Korean.
UHV
As suggested before, there should be one culture-related UHV for ancient Japan. And I do agree the pure culture point goal is boring
. As far as I know, the Heian period (AD794–1185) was very important in Japanese history. Buddhism widely spread, and the emperors (tenno) were enthused in building Buddhism temples and wonders. It was a golden age for classic Japanese culture. However, the peasants were made exhausted and the emperors finally lost their power to the local lords (daimyo). Then Japan entered the Federal society and became a shogunate. So why not simulate that story as the first Japanese peaceful UHV? To building certain number of Buddhism buildings - or Buddhism buildings in every city (that is said to be the dream of a certain tenno in history), research literature and build several theatres (at that period Lady Murasaki finished her masterpiece The Tale of Genji), and several Buddhism wonders. By the way, if it is possible to add the Todai-ji (the great east temple) as a new Buddhism wonder? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōdai-ji It is the largest wooden building remained in the world, and holds the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha. I think all that above may help to make a more peace-like Japan in ancient time.The second and the third UHV, as many guys suggested, should be related to the Meiji reformation. Meiji reformation indeed be very important in Asia and world history, and I think it is quite interesting in the game as well. Please imagine it. At first you had to shudder at your enormous neighbours, and then, after industrialized and equipped with advanced technology, you become strong and stronger and finally are able to crush them
. That’s fantastic. And that is also why I suggested the first Japanese UHV should be a peaceful one. An early expansion (beyond southern Korea) is historical inaccurate and be out of the ability for the Japanese, until Meiji reformation.As suggested, one UHV could be “to build X factories by xxxx”. It requires the player both to catch up the technology and to expanse, peacefully or through war.
Should another UHV be “adopt the title of the Greater Empire of Japan at ADxxxx”? It requires the player to get several key technologies such as nationalism and fascism and switch to them, as well as to expanse the empire to certain degree. In fact, to some degree the “Greater Empire of Japan” dream even remains now among many Japanese.
UP
The current UP of Japanese civ is the Power of Honor, a concept relating to war. Maybe it originates from the popular samurai-related pop culture, especially in western countries? I don’t think that is unacceptable since the Japanese should fight a lot after the Meiji reformation in the game in my opinion, in spite of what I mentioned before, the Japanese culture is not war-centralized.
My alternative suggestion is “the Power of Humble” . That may sounds ironic when referring to the name of the former UP. As it been said, the Japanese are always humble students. They seem to can be very glad to offer in a spirit of deference or submission toward the stronger one, in order to gain profit. That is also a typical oriental way in my opinion. I remember Leoreth has said that the Japanese civ should get a UP which lowers the cost of their espionage or trade technology. I think this name fits that UP well. Thanks to their humble attitude and diligent study, the Japanese really benefited a lot from others, at first the Chinese and Koreans and then the Europeans and the Americans.
Terrain
As it has been said, the Japanese Islands were greatly enlarged. I don’t think it is necessary to extend it further because the Japanese should be rather weak before Meiji reformation and after that they should fetch foreign lands to grow to a superpower.
Besides, I think Hokkaido (the most north island) should be buffed after AD1860. The colonization of Hokkaido played an important role in modern Japanese history. Currently in game it lacks food resources so could a fish or a cow be added after 1860? (Hokkaido milk and sushi are very popular in Japan
)UB and UU
The Japanese UU is cool, although might be useless in a real world map game. Another option is zero-fighter. It is all up to you.
The shale plants make some problems… even the Japanese seldom know what hell it is…
I noticed a Japanese mod that changed the name to “Kaizen Factory” and the effect remains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaizenThank you for reading. I hope it could be helpful.
