More often than not we turn to video games to wow and surprise us. Well, the first time I started up Age of Empires IV, I was surprised at the History Channel-style tone it adopted in the single player campaign, and how boring it felt. I think I live-streamed that particular bit, but I ended up deleting the entire effort since I fell asleep within the first few minutes (how embarrassing).
I didn’t boot up the game for another 2 months but I had an RTS-itch to scratch, hence I started the game again and dove straight into the skirmish mode. For those of you are not aware, Age of Empires IV actually has lesser civilizations compared to its predecessors such as Age of Empires II: Definite Edition, simply because the former should receive more civilizations down the line courtesy of DLCs.
With only three Asian civilizations to choose from (Mongols, Indians and Chinese), I went with the Chinese. Vowing not to fall asleep, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Now, in the course of research to write this article, some guides mentioned that the Chinese are one of the more complex/difficult civilizations to play, and this was my first civilization of choice for my first skirmish match!
The Taxman Cometh!
Throughout the course of the game, I was wow-ed by the mechanics on offer for the Chinese civilization in AoE 4. The first mechanic, in this case, a unique unit, the Imperial Official gave me a WTF moment at the start of the game. Here’s a government bureaucrat, walking around collecting taxes from buildings or supervising buildings to increase unit production or research speed. I was laughing my head off, that’s the Chinese alright!
If you are wondering why this is such a big deal, the Chinese civil service in ancient China was the backbone that gave the Chinese empire stability for more than 2,000 years and like modern day private enterprises, was one way to provide for social mobility in ancient Chinese society. Competition to enter the civil service was high as those who wanted in will have to be admitted to university and pass examinations. In the west, Chinese bureaucrats came to be known as “mandarins”.
Going Through The Dynastic Motions
The other mechanic that wow-ed me and left me a little bit confused during the match was the Dynasty system. One basic gameplay mechanic for each AoE game is the advancement of civilizations through the ages. In AoE 4, you get to steer your civilization from the Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age up to the Imperial Age.
For the Chinese civilization, the Dynasty system adds four different dynasties that you can switch to, and it doesn’t need to be in sequence. This can be semi-independent from the Age advancement mentioned above, and players can switch from one Chinese Dynasty to another by building 2 landmarks belonging to the Dynasty that they are switching to. The four dynasties available are the Tang (which the player starts with), Song, Yuan and the Ming.
Each dynasty provides the Chinese civilization with a bonus (e.g. the Song Dynasty provides a 30% reduction in production time for the villager) and unique units/buildings (the Song Dynasty provides the Zhuge Nu archer unit and the Granary building). Switching dynasties will cause the player to lose the bonus from the previous dynasty but unlocked units/buildings are still retained.
Chinese dynasties in ancient Chinese history are monarchical regimes that ruled over China. More often than not, Chinese history is often divided into periods ruled by dynasties as an convenient manner of periodization. With the long list of dynasties in Chinese history, it’s interesting to note that the change from one dynasty to another is most of often due to 1 of 2 factors, war and usurpation.
A Very Interesting Take on History
It’s pretty cool how a game such as Age of Empires IV managed to incorporate such interesting and important aspects of the Chinese civilization into its gameplay mechanics and to make the Chinese play like no other in the game. I know that my first impressions of the game wasn’t so great, but I’m glad that I’ve given it a second shot.
Age of Empires IV is available on both Steam and Game Pass, do check it out!
