If you’re looking to learn more about the Chinese civilization in Age of Empires 4, then we’ve got you covered with this guide where we’ll be walking you through all the information you need to know about this civilization.
Age of Empires 4 Chinese Civilization
The Chinese civilization is probably the most diverse civilization in Age of Empires 4 when it comes to unique technology and units.
The Chinese civilization starts from the year 907 and runs all the way till 1644 CE in AOE 4. Its difficulty level is 3 stars, so it’s more catered towards somewhat experienced players rather than newbies.
The main focus of this civilization is on its unique military gunpowder units which come with free Chemistry tech in the Imperial Age.
The unique traits of this civilization are Dynasties, Gunpowder and Expansion.
Unique Units
The Chinese civilization has the following unique units:
- Zhuge Nu: Repeater crossbowman effective vs light units.
- Fire Lancer: Light cavalry unit effective vs buildings.
- Grenadier: Throws grenades capable of doing area of effect damage.
- Nest of Bees: Fire a barrage of rockets, doing area of effect damage.
Civilization Bonuses
The Chinese civilization has the following civilization bonuses in AOE 4:
- Villagers construct defenses 50% faster and all other buildings 100% faster.
- Enter a dynasty by building both Landmarks from an Age, providing access to special bonuses.
- Chemistry technology granted for free when advancing to the Imperial Age (IV).
- Docks work 20% faster.
Here are some useful tips to progress further in the game. The first useful source to earn gold from taxes is the building of the Imperial Academy.
The other choice is Barbacana del Sol which is a quite useful defensive building. This allows us to have map control and defense of the base against the Russians.
So, both buildings are quite useful for you guys, as they both help you to unlock the Song Dynasty.
AoE 4 Chinese Civilization Dynasties
To start Dynasties in the Chinese civilization, you need to construct both Landmarks in an Age.
These Dynasties come with great bonuses, buildings and units. Starting these Dynasties will be quite expensive, but it’ll be worth it in the end due to the immense benefit they’ll provide to the civilization.
The Chinese also tend to choose between the two Landmarks to develop. However, the Landmark that was not chosen can be constructed later in the game.
You aren’t forced to start dynasties in the game, but progressing without them will be extremely challenging.
An important thing to note is that each time you progress into a new dynasty, you lose the bonuses of the previous one.
So make sure you’re ready to enter the new dynasty before you construct the landmarks for it. So, the players cannot unlock the two dynasties at the same time.
Tang Dynasty
The first dynasty that the civilization will begin Age of Empires IV is the Tang Dynasty. The benefit of this dynasty is that it grants Scouts a 30% greater line of sight.
When you’re starting out in the game, most of your map will be undiscovered, meaning you’ll have to go discover it yourself. This added line of sight bonus will help tremendously in doing that.
Song Dynasty
Once you construct both Dark Age landmarks, which are the Barbican of the Sun and the Imperial Academy, you’ll progress into the Song Dynasty.
The bonuses for this dynasty are:
- Villager production time reduced by -35%
- Unique building: Village
- Unique unit: Zhuge Nu
This dynasty provides 35% faster villager creation. Zhuge Nu is an interesting ranged unit and the Village Unique Building, which increases the population limit by 40. This dynasty allows us to generate an economy faster than our foes.
Yuan Dynasty
Now to progress into the next dynasty, you have to build the Imperial Palace and Astronomical Clocktower. Doing so will lead you into the Yuan Dynasty.
The bonuses for this dynasty are:
- Villagers, Officials and military units gain +15% speed
- Unique building: Granary
- Unique unit: Fire Lancer
At the Granary building, villagers can drop off food. This will improve the farm gather rate of nearby villagers by +15% (stacks with other Granaries). It also generates tax each time a resource is dropped off.
Also, you can unlock Fire Lancers, which is a light cavalry unit with a powerful area attack
Ming Dynasty
Finally, if you construct the Great Wall Gatehouse and Spirit Way, you’ll progress into the Ming Dynasty.
The bonuses for this dynasty are:
- Military units gain +10% health
- Unique building: Pagoda
- Unique unit: Grenadier
At the Pagoda building, a Relic can be placed which will generate 50 food, wood, gold and stone every 30 seconds. Also, we can unlock the Grenadier, which is an artillery unit with great strength and power.
Chinese Tech Tree
The first change that you’ll see within the main tech tree of the Chinese civilization in AOE 4 will be within the Town Center. The “Imperial Official” will be introduced, whose job it is to gather tax (gold) from buildings.
This official can also be tasked with improving a building’s efficiency. A downside is that only a certain number of officials can exist at once.
The Imperial Official is by far one of the most important unique units that exist in the Chinese civilization.
Moving on from that, you’ll have the Barracks. The only difference between this Barracks and a generic Barracks is that it has a Palace Guard, and Battle Hardened Tech.
The Palace guard is a unique unit that is a tough infantry with good damage. It moves faster than Men-At-Arms but with reduced armor. It’s countered by Crossbowmen, Knights and Lancers.
Battle Hardened Technology is a unique technology to the Chinese in Age of Empires IV that increases the health of the Palace Guards by +30.
Now as for the Dock, they have the same generic units but they’re all renamed. Their unique technology, which is researched in the Castle Age is Extra Hammocks.
With this tech, junks of the Archer Ship type gain additional crew, allowing them to fire two more arrows in each volley.
The Archery Range is where you’ll find the Zhuge Nu and the Grenadier unique units, which will be unlocked by the dynasties. And as for the Fire Lancer, you’ll find it in the Stable.
Finally, the Siege Workshop is practically the same as the generic workshop, but it has the Nest of Bees (unique unit) instead of the Manganal.
The Nest of Bees is an innovative field weapon capable of firing a barrage of rockets to damage defensive positions and clumped enemy troops. It has a good area of effect damage against most targets but very slow movement speed, and it does not perform well if surrounded.
Within the Siege Workshop, you also have three unique technologies. These are Reusable Barrels, Reload Drills and Pyrotechnics.
Reusable Barrels decrease the cost of Nest of Bees by 25%, Reload Drills decrease the reload time of Bombards by 33% and Pyrotechnics increases the range of gunpowder units by 20%.
