虎蹲炮——中国文明应有的特色火药单位，人类历史的首次炮骑兵尝试
Dear Age of Empires II developers, community managers, and all players who love this game, today I want to delve into a regret that has lingered in the hearts of many Chinese civilization players: as the civilization that invented gunpowder in history, China has always lacked a unique gunpowder unit that truly fits its positioning in the game. This absence not only contradicts historical facts but also exacerbates the balance dilemma of the Chinese civilization to a certain extent. Today, the solution I want to propose is to introduce a unique unit with profound historical heritage and balance value for the Chinese civilization – the Hudun Cannon.
各位帝国时代2的开发者、社区管理员以及各位热爱这款游戏的玩家们，今天想和大家深入探讨一个一直以来萦绕在很多中国文明玩家心中的遗憾——作为历史上发明火药的文明，中国在游戏中却始终缺少一个真正贴合自身定位的特色火药单位，而这种缺失不仅违背了历史事实，更在一定程度上加剧了中国文明的平衡性困境，今天我想提出的解决方案，就是为中国文明引入一款兼具历史底蕴与平衡价值的特色单位——虎蹲炮。
Players familiar with Age of Empires II all know that the Chinese civilization has always had an extremely awkward balance problem: in low-rank matches, China is often weak. The initial advantage of +3 villagers is difficult for new players to utilize; instead, they often fall into passivity due to the pressure of resource allocation in the early stage. The lack of unit coordination and clear core gameplay in the late stage makes it difficult for low-rank players to achieve impressive results with China. However, in high-rank matches, top players can fully leverage China’s economic advantages, cheap technologies, and flexible unit combinations to make it an almost unbeatable strong civilization. This polarization puts developers in a dilemma when adjusting the balance of the Chinese civilization – a slight buff will make the high-rank China completely unbalanced, while a minor nerf will make the low-rank China even worse. What’s more regrettable is that as a “nominal gunpowder civilization”, China still has no accessible regular artillery or exclusive unique gunpowder unit. The reason behind this is not difficult to understand: the long-range suppression power and strong siege capability of regular artillery, once granted to China, will undoubtedly make the already strong high-rank China even more powerful, completely breaking the game balance. On the other hand, when China faces civilizations with artillery (such as the Turks, Portuguese, etc.), it will fall into a dilemma where it is difficult to fight back. This suppression can often not be compensated by operations, especially in the late stage. When the enemy’s artillery is formed, China’s infantry and archer clusters are easily devastated by large-scale damage, while China has no effective countermeasures. More importantly, as the civilization that invented gunpowder and first applied it to the military field, the lack of a complete gunpowder unit system for China in the game is itself contrary to historical facts, and also makes the “gunpowder characteristics” of the Chinese civilization meaningless.
熟悉帝国时代2的玩家都知道，中国文明一直存在一个非常尴尬的平衡问题：在低分段对局中，中国往往是偏弱的存在，+3村民的初始优势对于新手玩家而言难以发挥，反而会因为前期资源分配的压力陷入被动，单位协同性不足、后期缺乏明确核心玩法的问题，让低分段玩家很难用中国打出亮眼表现；但到了高分段，顶尖玩家却能充分利用中国的经济优势、廉价科技以及灵活的单位组合，将其打造成近乎无解的强势文明，这种两极分化的表现，让开发者对中国文明的平衡性调整陷入了两难——轻微的buff会让高分段的中国彻底失衡，而微小的nerf又会让低分段的中国雪上加霜。更让人遗憾的是，作为“名义上的火药文明”，中国至今没有可使用的常规火炮，也没有专属的特色火药单位，这背后的原因其实不难理解：常规火炮的远程压制力和强大攻城能力，一旦赋予中国，必然会让本就强势的高分段中国如虎添翼，彻底打破游戏平衡；可反过来，当中国面对拥有火炮的文明（比如土耳其、葡萄牙等）时，又会陷入难以反击的困境，这种压制往往不是依靠操作就能弥补的，尤其是到了后期，敌方火炮成型后，中国的步兵、弓箭手集群很容易被大范围杀伤，而中国却没有有效的反制手段。更重要的是，作为发明火药、最早将火药应用于军事领域的文明，游戏中中国缺失完整的火药兵种体系，本身就与历史事实相悖，也让中国文明的“火药特色”变得名不副实。
When it comes to ancient Chinese gunpowder weapons, what we first think of may not be heavy artillery used for storming cities, but light gunpowder weapons that are more suitable for field warfare and focus on large-scale personnel damage – this is also the core difference between Chinese gunpowder weapons and European gunpowder weapons. As early as the Tang and Song dynasties, China had already applied gunpowder to the military. From the initial fire lances and hand cannons to various light artillery in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the development of Chinese gunpowder weapons has always focused on the core of “practicality in field warfare”. Among them, the most representative is the Hudun Cannon improved by Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty. This light artillery, born in the mid-Ming Dynasty, was initially used to counter the dense infantry formations of the Japanese pirates. It was lightweight (only about 21.5 kilograms) and could be carried or dragged by one or two soldiers without complex transportation equipment, making it very suitable for combat in complex terrains such as field battles and mountain battles. In terms of power, the Hudun Cannon could fire a hundred lead shots with one main lead ball, forming a large-scale splash damage, which had a devastating effect on dense infantry clusters. Its “tiger squat” design also made it more stable when firing, with far higher accuracy than other light gunpowder weapons of the same period. From a historical perspective, the Hudun Cannon can be called the first large-scale applied light field artillery in human history, and even the prototype of the early horse artillery concept – its high mobility allowed it to move flexibly with cavalry and infantry legions, achieving the tactical effect of “strike and withdraw”. This forms a sharp contrast with European heavy artillery, which focuses on siege and has extremely poor mobility, and also perfectly fits the application scenario of Chinese gunpowder weapons in history.
谈及中国历史上的火药武器，我们最先想到的或许不是用于攻城略地的重型火炮，而是更贴合野战需求、主打大面积杀伤人员的轻型火药武器——这也正是中国火药武器与欧洲火药武器的核心区别。早在唐宋时期，中国就已经将火药应用于军事，从最初的突火枪、火铳，到后来明清时期的各类轻型火炮，中国的火药武器发展始终围绕着“野战实用”的核心，其中最具代表性的，便是明朝抗倭名将戚继光所改良的虎蹲炮。这款诞生于明朝中期的轻型火炮，最初被用于对抗倭寇的密集步兵阵型，它重量轻便（仅约21.5公斤），可由一两名士兵携带或拖拽，无需复杂的运输设备，非常适合野战、山地战等复杂地形作战；在威力上，虎蹲炮可发射百枚铅弹搭配一枚主铅球，形成大范围的溅射杀伤，对密集的步兵集群有着毁灭性的打击效果，而其“虎蹲”的造型的设计，也让它在发射时更加稳定，精准度远超同期的其他轻型火药武器。从历史定位来看，虎蹲炮堪称人类历史上首次大规模应用的轻型野战火炮，更是早期炮骑兵理念的雏形——它的高机动性的特点，让它能够跟随骑兵、步兵军团灵活转场，实现“打了就走”的战术效果，这与欧洲重型火炮侧重攻城、机动性极差的特点形成了鲜明对比，也完美契合中国历史上火药武器的应用场景。
Since the Hudun Cannon has a profound historical heritage, why do we suggest introducing it into Age of Empires II as a unique gunpowder unit for the Chinese civilization? The core reason is that it can accurately make up for the balance loopholes of the Chinese civilization and inject new gameplay dimensions into the game. As we mentioned earlier, one of the biggest disadvantages of the Chinese civilization is the lack of effective countermeasures when facing civilizations with artillery, and the design of the Hudun Cannon can exactly solve this problem – we can position the Hudun Cannon as a light mobile artillery, inheriting its historical high mobility, allowing it to shuttle flexibly on the battlefield, avoid the pursuit of enemy melee units, and at the same time, rely on accurate shelling to specifically restrain enemy artillery units and dense infantry clusters. However, to avoid the Hudun Cannon being too overpowered and breaking the game balance, we also need to set clear shortcomings for it: as an early “mortar-like” weapon, the range of the Hudun Cannon should be equivalent to that of the Heavy Onager. This means that when facing the Heavy Onager, it often needs to approach a certain distance and is likely to only achieve the tactical effect of “one-for-one”; but when facing artillery, it can gain an advantage through its mobility. At the same time, the Hudun Cannon itself has low health and armor, and can be easily restrained by anti-cavalry units, clustered long-range units (such as archers, Zhuge Nu), and cavalry units. Moreover, its siege capability is extremely poor, and its damage to buildings such as city walls, arrow towers, and castles is greatly reduced, so it cannot replace the siege role of regular artillery. Such a design can not only make the Hudun Cannon the core compensation unit for China to counter enemy artillery but also limit its strength through clear shortcomings, forming a balanced cycle of “restraining artillery and clustered infantry, but being restrained by many units”. Its high mobility can also create a unique “horse artillery” tactical gameplay for China, making the late-game gameplay of the Chinese civilization more abundant, no longer limited to the traditional combination of infantry and archers, and at the same time, making China’s identity as a “gunpowder civilization” more worthy of the name.
既然虎蹲炮有着深厚的历史底蕴，那为什么我们建议将它引入帝国时代2，作为中国文明的特色火药单位呢？核心原因，就是它能够精准弥补中国文明的平衡性漏洞，同时为游戏增添全新的玩法维度。如我们之前所说，中国文明的最大劣势之一，就是面对拥有火炮的文明时缺乏有效反制手段，而虎蹲炮的设计，恰好能解决这一问题——我们可以将虎蹲炮定位为一款轻型机动火炮，延续其历史上的高机动性特点，让它能够灵活穿梭于战场，躲避敌方近战单位的追击，同时凭借精准的炮击，专门克制敌方的火炮单位和密集步兵集群。但为了避免虎蹲炮过于超模，打破游戏平衡，我们也需要为它设定明确的短板：作为一款早期的“迫击炮”类武器，虎蹲炮的射程与重型投石车相当，这意味着面对重型投石车时，它往往需要逼近到一定距离，大概率只能实现“一换一”的战术效果；但面对火炮时，它可以凭借机动性取胜。同时，虎蹲炮自身血量和护甲较低，会被反骑单位、集群远程单位（如弓箭手、诸葛弩）以及骑兵单位轻易克制，而且它的攻城能力极差，对城墙、箭塔、城堡等建筑的伤害大幅衰减，无法替代常规火炮的攻城作用。这样的设计，既能让虎蹲炮成为中国对抗敌方火炮的核心补偿单位，又能通过明确的短板限制其强度，形成“克制火炮和集群步兵，但被多种单位克制”的平衡循环，而其高机动性的特点，也能打造出中国独有的“骑炮兵”战术玩法，让中国文明的后期玩法更加丰富，不再局限于传统的步兵、弓箭手组合，同时也能让中国的“火药文明”身份更加名副其实。
Combining game balance and historical restoration, I put forward a set of design ideas for the Hudun Cannon here for developers and players to discuss and reference. As an exclusive unique unit of the Chinese civilization, the Hudun Cannon can be unlocked in the Castle Age, and the training building is the Castle. This not only conforms to the unlocking logic of unique units but also avoids it being too strong in the Feudal Age and the early Castle Age. In terms of cost, considering that it is a light artillery, it does not need to consume stone (stone is mainly used for heavy siege weapons). At the same time, combined with the design positioning of horse artillery, it is recommended to adopt a resource model of food + gold, specifically set as 120 food + 90 gold. The training time is set in a reasonable range to ensure its mass production feasibility and prevent China from easily forming scale suppression in the late stage. In terms of panel values, the Hudun Cannon needs to highlight its fragility, with low health and armor to avoid it becoming an overpowered unit that is “both tough and powerful”. Its movement speed needs to be slightly faster than that of regular artillery but slower than that of cavalry units, fitting its historical positioning of “high mobility but not extreme speed”. The range is equivalent to that of the Heavy Onager, fitting its role of medium and short-range suppression. In terms of attack, the basic damage and range splash damage need to be set to adapt to the needs of countering dense infantry, and at the same time, increase targeted damage bonuses to infantry and siege weapons to strengthen its core role of countering infantry and artillery. The damage to buildings is greatly reduced to completely eliminate its possibility as a siege weapon. In addition, a unique feature “Crouching Fire” can be added to the Hudun Cannon to reduce its suppression power: after firing a shell, a white bar will appear on the unit, and the white bar will recover only when the unit is stationary (it takes 1.5 seconds to fully recover the white bar). Once the white bar is fully recovered, it will disappear, and the Hudun Cannon can fire again. In terms of upgrades, the Hudun Cannon can obtain a certain attack bonus through blacksmith shop upgrades, but cannot upgrade armor, nor can it enjoy the upgrade effects of regular artillery, further limiting its strength to ensure balance.
结合游戏平衡与历史还原，我在这里提出一套虎蹲炮的设计思路建议，供开发者和玩家们讨论参考。虎蹲炮作为中国文明的专属特色单位，可设定在城堡时代解锁，训练建筑为城堡，这样既符合特色单位的解锁逻辑，也能避免其在封建时代、城堡时代初期过于强势。成本方面，考虑到它是轻型火炮，无需消耗石料（石料主要用于重型攻城器械），同时结合炮骑兵的设计定位，建议采用肉+金的资源模式，具体可设定为120肉+90金，训练时间设定为合理区间，既保证了它的量产可行性，又不会让中国在后期轻易形成规模压制。面板数值上，虎蹲炮需凸显其脆弱的特点，血量和护甲设定在较低水平，避免它成为“又肉又能打”的超模单位；移动速度需略快于常规火炮，但慢于骑兵单位，贴合其“高机动但非极速”的历史定位；射程与重型投石车相当，契合其中近距离压制的角色。攻击方面，基础伤害和范围溅射伤害设定需适配反密集步兵的需求，同时增加对步兵和 siege武器的针对性伤害加成，强化其反步兵、反火炮的核心作用；而对建筑的伤害则大幅衰减，彻底杜绝其作为攻城武器的可能性。此外，为减弱虎蹲炮的压制力，可给虎蹲炮增加一个专属特性“蹲姿射击”：当发射一枚炮弹之后，单位会显示一个白条，白条在单位静止时恢复（白条恢复满需要1.5秒时间），白条恢复满了，白条即可消失，虎蹲炮此时才能再次射击。升级方面，虎蹲炮可通过铁匠铺升级获得一定的攻击加成，但无法升级护甲，也不能享受常规火炮的升级效果，进一步限制其强度，确保平衡。
In fact, the reason why we suggest introducing the Hudun Cannon is not only to add a unique unit to the Chinese civilization but also to solve the long-standing balance dilemma of the Chinese civilization, restore its historical positioning as a “gunpowder civilization”, and inject new vitality into the gameplay of Age of Empires II. This unit has both profound historical basis and can accurately meet the needs of the Chinese civilization. It will not make China too overpowered in high-rank matches, nor will it allow low-rank players to have more tactical choices. What’s more, it can make the Chinese civilization no longer fall into a passive and helpless situation when facing artillery civilizations.
其实说到底，我们建议引入虎蹲炮，不仅仅是为中国文明增加一个特色单位，更是希望能够解决中国文明长期以来的平衡性困境，还原其“火药文明”的历史定位，同时为帝国时代2的玩法注入新的活力。这款单位既有深厚的历史依据，又能精准契合中国文明的需求，既不会让中国在高分段过于超模，也能让低分段玩家拥有更多的战术选择，更能让中国文明在面对火炮文明时，不再陷入被动挨打、无法反击的局面。
Finally, I would also like to hear the opinions of all developers and players. Do you think the setting of the Hudun Cannon is reasonable? Do the values need to be adjusted? Or do you have better optimization suggestions? You can leave a message in the comment area to discuss. I hope our suggestions can be adopted, so that the Chinese civilization can truly have its own gunpowder characteristics in Age of Empires II, and this classic game can continue to glow with new vitality.
最后，也想听听各位开发者和玩家们的想法，大家觉得虎蹲炮的设定是否合理？数值上是否需要调整？或者有更好的优化建议，都可以在评论区留言讨论，希望我们的建议能够被采纳，让中国文明在帝国时代2中，真正拥有属于自己的火药特色，也让这款经典游戏能够持续焕发新的生机。