I know you're thinking of the Monty Python Lyrics, but I am referring to the Chinese civ in Rise of Nations. The Chinese have several virtues that really fit my playstyle.

• Instant villagers that go where you want when you want them, just remember to click the waypoint before hitting 'V.' This fits my game because I like to set up waypoints and use the infinite queue a lot. Now, I can still do the setup, but get a major boost to the econ by having the villagers appear instantly, as long as I have the food. Which leads me to another point: the Pyramids are great for Chinese because they provide more food for instant villagers, but they also provide the +1 city for the border pushing large cities.
• Large cities so they are harder to rush. This is always useful since rushing is risky, but still very dangerous. Also, even during later age attacks, the Chinese cities will take longer to reduce, enabling you to get appropriate defenses in response.
• Large cities so their initial radius enables them to grab resource spots more easily. I like to position my towns so they can grab as many good resource locations as possible. Chinese cities make this even easier. A minor plus, but it fits my style nicely.
• Good early border pushing with those bigger cities. I like to border push (even though I think it's over-rated). The bigger cities are nice for pushing back enemy borders. Helps secure some of that early game key terrain.
• Instant caravans and merchants so you can quickly get your economy up and running and there's no waiting for them to train before setting new waypoints. This is the biggest bonus for me. I also get distracted waiting for that merchant to finish so I can set a new waypoint for the next one. Now I can spend 15-20 seconds in the game to hit 'N', and then RIGHT CLICK on rare, 'B', RIGHT CLICK on rare, 'B', RIGHT CLICK on rare, 'B', on each rare resource I want to send merchants. My rare resources stat goes way up when I play Chinese in team games. This makes the Porcelain Tower an excellent Wonder to get.
• A UU that is actually useful: the Fire Lance line. The Fire Lance line is one of the best UUs in the game, and it comes during Ages where most of the fighting occurs, so it is actually useful. If you have the Pyramids and Colossus you'll also have a bonus to Food and Timber collection which is essential to making large numbers of these very powerful UUs.
• Cheaper science research. The nicest thing about this bonus is you can research SCI2 off of only ONE wealth ruin and prior to building a market. This means you don't have to wait on a market to go CLASSICAL if you are so inclined.

I noticed that I always had better than usual success with them in random civ games, and the above reasons are probably why. So I think I'm gonna start playing them exclusively for awhile to refine my play with them. I like them a lot more than Koreans I think.
posted by Tim at 9:13 AM