@king199100 Here you are. At your invitation, I conpile the private discussion between us into a post. Although almost all are thoughts I’ve already posted on other topics.
You want something new that accurately reflects to the military power of the late Qing Dynasty and Meiji Japan, but this presentation method is not suitable for the current civilizations, not mention the balance concerns. They are focus on the 16th centuries Japan and 17th-18th centuries China. Even if there are things from the 19th century, they should not occupy so much.
I’d like to try to introduce New Army Regular and New Army Rifleman to cover the modern troops of East Asian countries.
New Army Regular
- Muskteer-type unit, 1 pop.
- Has an ability like Carolean Charge which fight in melee with swords. The Japanese New Army Regulars would use katana in visual, and the Chinese ones would use dadao (Chinese broadsword) in visual.
New Army Rifleman
- Skirmisher-type unit, 1 pop.
Let the effect of the Meiji Restoration simply be changed to something like a revolution. As the most successful country in modernization in Asia, it’s appropriate that they have this as a new feature of their civilization.
- Cost 2000 or 2400 export instead.
- End Isolation immediately and the Isolation no longer be available.
- In Barracks and Dojos, disable Ashigaru, Yumi and Samurai, and enable New Army Regular and New Army Rifleman.
- Turn each existing Ashigaru, Yumi, and Samurai into 1 New Army Regular, 1 New Army Rifleman, and 2 New Army Regular respectively.
- In Stables and Dojos, disable Naginata and Yabusame, and enable Hussars and Dragoons.
- Turn the existing Naginata and Yabusame into Hussars and Dragoons.
- In Castles, disable Flaming Arrows and Morutaru, and enable Light Cannon (with Japanese crew) and Mortar.
- Turn the existing Flaming Arrows and Morutaru into Light Cannons and Mortars (with a health limit of only 80%).
(The 80% restriction allows the Mortars to be as close to their original stats as possible without a sudden and explosive enhancement due to transformation). - The Daimyos are fully repalced with New Army Generals, but it’s mainly just a change in skin and name, and their trainable units become those units after these changes.
- Remove Shogun Tokugawa, or turn it into just another New Army General.
As for the Chinese, changing the Ever Victorious Army to ship 15 New Army Regulars and 15 New Army Riflemen instead can make it a symbol of the modernized force of the late Qing. Also, renaming the Chinese Imperial Navy to Beiyang Fleet and changing it to ship something Western like 2 Frigates or 1 Ironclad + 1 Steamer. That’s all.
The Qing’s modernization was not a success, so I don’t think they were suited to focus as much on it as the Japanese.
For more, although likely unnecessary, I’d like to redesign Japanese Isolation and introduce Chinese Isolation to replace German ally.
Changes for the Japanese Isolation and the related things other than the Meiji Restoration:
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Shinobi: No changes.
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Monogashira: Ashigaru captain. New heavy infantry replacing Konsha Yamabushi at Consulate in Age II. The (Konsha) Yamabushi should be religious warriors so no longer avalible at Consulate and Shogun.
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Ninjutsu-Zukai no longer avalible at Consulate.
Ninjutsu-Zukai literally means “one who uses ninjutsu (ninja skills)”. Having it is like having a musketeer named “one who uses musket”. It can be removed together with Tokugawa Shogun, something that is neither balanced nor consistent with the world view. We can have a card or other ways to enable Ninja in mercenary buildings. -
Akazonae: New heavy cavalry, trainable in groups of 3 at Consulate in Age IV. Gains additional HP when grouped together.
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Hatamoto: no longer related to Ronin, so would no longer be a mercenary and have a bit weaker stats but still powerful. Get a new skin or keep the current skin if Ronin get a new skin. It’s weird to think that Hatamoto and Ronin are the same thing, particularly in visual. Their identities are significantly different. I personally don’t like mercenaries as consulate units either, which is too different from European allies’ units. We can have a card or other ways to enable Ronin in mercenary buildings.
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Renames Wokou Ronin to Kabukimono (“傾奇者”) and gives it a new, more flashy, glorious skin. The current skin can be given as Ronin’s new skin. Let Wokou be its own unit renamed from the Wokou Pirate instead of the title of all Asian outlaws.
About the Chinese Isolation that replaces the German ally:
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The passive bonus and the trickles of food, wood, and coins are still there.
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Three-Eyed Gunner
A new ranged heavy infantry with a three-eyed gun, firing in bursts of three shots like Chu Ko Nu. Has shorter range than Musketeer and better HP than Arquebusier. Trainable in groups of 5 at Consulate from Age II. -
Langxian Spearman
A new hand heavy infantry with a langxian spear. Strong and quite good attack multipliers against cavalry and heavy infantry, but a bit slow. Trainable in groups of 3 at Consulate from Age II. -
Glaive Cavalry
A new heavy cavalry with a classic Chinese glaive polearm like guandao. Very tanky with decent melee attack, but slow. Trainable at Consulate from Age III. -
Manchu
No longer a mercenary. A bit weaker than the original one but still powerful. Trainable at Consulate from Age III.
Introduce Mongol to replace the current Manchu, please. -
Jingal
A new ranged infantry with a jingal, type of large matchlock gun carried by two soldiers, having a higher attack and longer range than Arquebusier, pretty good against heavy infantry and buildings. Trainable at Consulate from Age III. (The place of button is same as Meiji Restoration)
Redesign the special banner army cards. Some of them will ship consulate units.
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Mandarin Duck Squad (II): 4 Langxian Spearmen + 8 Qiang Pikemen
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[New] Divine Machine Battalion (II): 8 Three-Eyed Gunners + 2 Flamethrowers
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[New] Green Standard Army (III): 10 Chu Ko Nu + 6 Jingals
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Iron Cap Princes’ Army (III): 5 Iron Flails + 3 Manchus
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[New] Feudatories’ Army (III): 4 Glaive Cavalry + 1 Flying Crow
(Representing the army of the Three Feudatories.) -
[New] Chahar Army (IV): 15 Steppe Riders + 15 Keshiks
(Clearly replacing the current Beiyang Army.) -
Emperor’s Army (IV): 22 Arquebusiers + 8 Hand Mortars
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[New] Yong Ying (IV): 8 Meteor Hammers + 14 Changdao Swordsmen
(Representing the Chu Army, Xiang Army, Huai Army, etc.) -
Ever Victorious Army (IV): 15 New Army Regulars + 15 New Army Rifleman
The special banner armies can be selected for spawning at the Summer Palace (or any replacement to remove the wonder features, such as Barbican or Frontier Garrison, etc.) after being shipped. Their units are more and powerful so it will be more time consuming.
Regarding concepts about Asian warship units, outlaws units, and Indian units, I still think my previous topics are of great reference value. Although in that post I advocated the removal of Wokou Ronin and later I was convinced to reserve it by changing it to Kabukimono.