Just a brief thought that occurred to me the other day: I've always found it interesting that the Chinese have a technology discount, yet this doesn't apply to researching to advance to the next age. In one sense this allows choice for investing between economy, military and defence, but in another sense, it means the minus two hundred food at the start leaves a bit of a sting. I haven't fully thought out the ramifications of this, so I don't have a definite position on it, but I thought it would be interesting to consider as a balance tweak.
The change is as follows: the technology discount starts at 5% in the dark age and now age researches are affected. This means the feudal age costs 475 food, the castle age costs 720 food and 180 gold and the imperial age costs 850 food and 680 gold. (As a side, loom costs 47 gold, a marginal saving). The reasoning is that the awkward Chinese start can leave your economy in a difficult spot and that relative to a Mongol or a Persian, you'll be on the back foot for quite a while, especially if you slip up in the dark age. An age technology discount would certainly ease that pressure and would be in keeping with the Chinese as a civilisation who can avail of advanced technology earlier than their opponents.
The case against is that 25 food is marginal in the dark age and that the savings in the next two ages are actually very substantial for what is already quite a strong civilisation. Where the Chinese are more vulnerable is in 1v1s, but in team games, they would become quite a force, especially under sling. For the Byzantines, their imperial age bonus is a substantial chunk of their bonus whereas for the Chinese this would be a fraction of it. There's also the argument that the Chinese already are economically very strong, just that the average player does not deploy them optimally, making them seem more in need of a raise than they are. Alternatively, reverting to Age of Kings where the Chinese started with minus one hundred and fifty food might be a more proportionate tweak.
Anyway, those are just a few thoughts. I'd be interested to know what you think.
The change is as follows: the technology discount starts at 5% in the dark age and now age researches are affected. This means the feudal age costs 475 food, the castle age costs 720 food and 180 gold and the imperial age costs 850 food and 680 gold. (As a side, loom costs 47 gold, a marginal saving). The reasoning is that the awkward Chinese start can leave your economy in a difficult spot and that relative to a Mongol or a Persian, you'll be on the back foot for quite a while, especially if you slip up in the dark age. An age technology discount would certainly ease that pressure and would be in keeping with the Chinese as a civilisation who can avail of advanced technology earlier than their opponents.
The case against is that 25 food is marginal in the dark age and that the savings in the next two ages are actually very substantial for what is already quite a strong civilisation. Where the Chinese are more vulnerable is in 1v1s, but in team games, they would become quite a force, especially under sling. For the Byzantines, their imperial age bonus is a substantial chunk of their bonus whereas for the Chinese this would be a fraction of it. There's also the argument that the Chinese already are economically very strong, just that the average player does not deploy them optimally, making them seem more in need of a raise than they are. Alternatively, reverting to Age of Kings where the Chinese started with minus one hundred and fifty food might be a more proportionate tweak.
Anyway, those are just a few thoughts. I'd be interested to know what you think.