AOE3 Forums

China can be tough to counter especially those Monks and their Disciples if fully carded and upgraded. However, in a recent game I was able to advance on a China player using a combination of hussar to worry the archers (who would start firing at them, thus leaving my infantry alone), dragoons for the cav, and those multi-barrel cannon surrounded with halberds and musketeers with a couple of mortars thrown in as my main force. All this followed by a couple of settlers to build stables, barracks and the occasional artillery foundry as I advanced. Unfortunately just as I was at the Chinese econ my Ottoman and Russian teammates were overrun by the Aztec and Port players on the other team, who were doing essentially the same thing as I was.

Relatively few players use Great Wall of China. Sure it makes the walls strong but there is a drawback – when they are broken they can’t be fixed in time to prevent an opponent from rushing in (the Great Wall card also slows build time tremendously). Also, 5 Port mortars have little trouble with the China walls anyway. The secret is to use that 50 range (longer than anything else in the game but the monitor long shot) to ones advantage as you can keep your mortars beyond the range of the China anti-artillery hand mortars, or even a culverin.

I simply love those long-range mortars. I once won a game on Orinoco simply by sending a handful of mortars to the edge of my the river, far from the battle at the pass, and mortaring half of the enemy base, including the Aztec firepit, to smithereens as he had mistakenly built too close. I guess he liked that scenic river view.

The big problem with China is those flying crows, but a couple of culverins or a hussar raid will often take care of them. Relatively few China players use flamethrowers too, but they are really the secret weapon against massed infantry.