New to China...

[KOFRunsVA]

Learning China can someone post good build orders and card progressions?

[britishmusketeer]

viewtopic.php?t=928

[Atomiswave]

http://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?t=928

Good but incomplete guide in my opinion. It doesn't include variations, especially one with crow wonder, which you have to age up with when playing vs rush civs.

[KOFRunsVA]

Thanks brtish

[yurashic]

The main way to play China is fast fortress. Chinese colonial is bad, because China has no musketeers, bad cavalry, no direct economic boom and ages up slowly.

China always starts with 300 wood and 200 food. Send 3 villagers to hunt and 3 others to gather crates, food then wood, then send them to gather wood, the first new villager goes to wood, others to food. Scout the map with your disciple, monk and goat.

In age 1 you have 2 options - 2 villages or a village and a trading post. Build 1 building right away and gather 100 wood for a second one, then gather only food. I prefer building a trading post, but on some maps you can't do that. Send Northern refugees (villager shipment).

Eat your goat when you have about 600 food. When you have 17 (or 16 if you went for the trading post) villagers, age up with the Summer Palace. Put it on the ground with 1 villager and add 3-4 more. Put about 5 villagers on gold to gather 300 gold. Depending on the matchup and on what you scout you can gather 80 extra gold for minutemen. Chop some wood to wall your base if needed. Don't forget to train villagers in transition.

After you reach age 2, send 700 gold and set your Palace to produce Old Han armies. Age up with either the Porcellain Tower (if you are safe) or the Confucian Academy (if you are pressured). Send 700 wood to build a market, a consulate, 1 more village and a war academy. Get the first food, first gold, first all and second food upgrades from the market. Ally with British in the consulate. Send the town center attack card (it is good against crossbow/pike and strelet rushes, it makes you kill enemy infantry with 1 shot instead of 2) or military cards if you are rushed.

When you reach age 3, set the Porcellain Tower to wood to build houses. Set the Summer Palace to produce arquebusier/changdao armies. Make cavalry and arquebusier/changdao batches and send military shipments. Intervention, 10 arquebusiers, 5 meteor hammers, 11 changdao, 9 iron troopers and 9 manchu are must have.

Good luck in your gameplay. :)