Some China Strategies?

[Chairo Hisui]

Hi There! I've been a stalker on these forums for a long time, and I finally decided to make an account and become part of the community

So as my first topic I want to find out a bit on how to better utilize my favorite Civ, China! Commonly I play as Qin Shi Huang because I like Industrious over Expansive. I always make it a priority to get Stonehenge and The Oracle early on in order to get a cultural advantage over the other Civs, and then build up on a few cities that don't overlap. I don't feel like I'm playing that poorly but I do feel I could be doing better, especially considering I'm only on Warlord Difficulty.

So any suggestions? Tips? Go to China-ness?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I hear that Oracle->Metal Casting gambit followed by a quick forge, get a Great Engineer from running an engineer specialist and using him to lightbulb machinery (don't forget to get archery and hook up iron as well) = very early chokonu = pwnihilation.

 

[Refar]

You definitely want to get ChuKoNu early. Not only it's a cool unit, it also does benefit from Protective.

 

[CCRunner]

Upgrade your early cho-ko-nu's with drill. At drill four, they can get five to eight first strikes.

 

[Chairo Hisui]

Hmm, which ruler is a better choice? I like my wonder-building, but I have wondered if having healthier cities would help me... erm... expand.

 

[reverend oats]

Industrious is just plain better than expansive, especially if you're Oracle-> MC slinging. Health is really not an issue, happiness is the problem.

 

[Refar]

For that slingshot above, IND is better for sure - Cheap Wonders, Cheap Forge...

Expansive becommes better late game, where you start to accumulate all that from everywhere. But with some propper ChoKoNu action you could end or at least decide the game before that happens

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Oracle is dirt cheap anyway, and you can chop the forge. Expansive means cheap workers.

 

[vicawoo]

Expansive is a better REX

 

[licker]

I just played a Qin game going for a cultural vic. (prince, epic, agg AI)

It was pretty easy, even though I maxed at 6 cities for a long while as the entire continent I was on (zara, giligan, hannibul) was jewish and there was no reason to upset anyone.

Protective was great to just sit and crank culture in the big three cities, while the other three spat out the occasional military unit and what not.

gilligan eventually DoWed me, but I was able to just sit tight and wipe his stack (we were at tech parity, around gunpowder). I eventually was able to steel rifles and then upgraded my muskets and gobbled up a few border cities just for fun, but that was actually unnecessary.

I made a pretty big mistake with the AP actually, building it while a jew, otherwise I would have had an easier time staying ahead of those three until I was ready to just stop research and pump culture. Won ~1800AD, which is pretty good for me, but nothing impressive.

Also Zara beat me to the statue of liberty as I forgot to buy copper from someone while building it (missed it by 4 turns). Otherwise that would have shaved a few turns off the end probably.

bit of a ramble, but yeah, seems like Qin is good for some peaceful culturing.

 

[Chairo Hisui]

Yeah, uh... what is REX, AP, MC, and all the other strings of capital letters I'm assuming is shorthand?

This is the first time I've actively posted...

 

[ParadigmShifter]

There's a list of acronyms available from the war academy I think.

REX = Rapid Early eXpansion
AP = Apostolic Palace (Beyond the Swordversion of the UN)
MC = Metal casting
DoW = Declaration of War

EDIT: Welcome to CFC! You'll pick all this lingo up in no time, until then WFYABTA.

 

[Chairo Hisui]

Cute... I think I'm gonna burst a blood vessel trying to figure that one out...

 

[Bleys]

LOL, it can be a bit overwhelming at first, but just keep reading and asking questions and you will be moving up the difficulty ladder in no time.

Are you playing the Beyond the Sword expansion or the basic vanilla Civ IV? It makes a difference because Qin had his traits changed for BTS.

I suggest keeping it simple though. Go straight for Chu's and go conquer your neighbors.

 

[vicawoo]

Klondike bar to the person who comes up with the densest acronym post.

 

[CCRunner]

Cute... I think I'm gonna burst a blood vessel trying to figure that one out...

Want a hint?

Spoiler :

Too bad!
Seriously though, here is a hint...

Spoiler :

Use the search thing at the top. The answer is on the first page. And if you still can't find it...

Spoiler :

We Fear You Are Becoming To Advanced.

 

[JBossch]

Cho-Ko-Nu rush!!!

I know, I know. Its been mentioned but they really rock. The gambit Paradigm shifter mentioned is very effective. Its the same as the "GE to rush mids" gambit only you use the GE to bulb machinery. If you're not familiar with this one I'm sure some thread-searching will turn up some examples. (Or check my Immortal university VI game report at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=275191 for the sloppy/pray for luck version.)

Also, I agree ind vastly superior to exp. Not to hijack, but shouldn't one of their traits be changed to something other than protective? I never pick Mao.

@OP:

Spoiler :

WFYABTA="We fear you are becoming too advanced." The AIs say it in the diplo screen when they won't trade because you have too many techs on them.

 

[Genv [FP]]

I've done the Cho-Ko-Nu rush back when I was a nooby warlord player - Long story short, it's terrifying.

 

[eewallace]

I have used Qin for both cultural and space race victory in BTS. And in vanilla Civ, he was probably the best all around!

With BTS, his protective and industrious traits, along with the excellent pavillion, make for a very nice cultural victory. Because he is so excellent, I haven't even tried Mao. I probably should...

 

[Iranon]

Cho-Ko-Nu are awesome, in my opinion the most powerful UU there is.

Just to show how good: Provided they start on the attack, they can beat Grenadiers cost-effectively and almost equal Cavalry and Riflemen on a hammer-for-hammer basis. Until tanks show up, they are also the only lethal unit that causes collateral damage, and the only one that can damage several siege weapons at once.