25-01-2002 10:36									#1
	A better idea for a chinese unique unit Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Okay, I'm just making a suggestion, not asking for anyone to go on a "China bashing parade" which people at civ forums do a lot, because everyone besides me seems to hate chinese in the game and in real life on civ forums, and I'm also not asking for any comments on martial arts movies, theres plenty of other crouching tiger hidden dragon discussion forums out there, but I had the idea that first of all, the unique units are not very well blended into the overall game, all of them come in the ancient age, it seems (yes, I know there are some exceptions) which I know has been discussed before, but I would like to reiterate that point, because I'm just now noticing how annoying it is for there to be such flavor in the early parts of the game, but by the end its just blah blah blah same same same...

Anyway, I think a better unit for the Chinese civilization would have been a shaolin monk. No, not a super 99/99/99 fighter who beats all in everything always, something realistic (though I can't guess on the stats). In real life, Kung Fu started out as Indian exercise techniques to get the Shaolin monks in shape back around Jesus' birth. From there, as it was associated with monks, it took on a mystical appearance, evolved into what we know today, and so on. In Japan, there were buddhist monks who actually took up arms on numerous occations to protect the cities of the south from northern bandits. Don't know if this has been suggested before, but this unit would at least represent the Chinese civilization, in the same sort of way the Samurai is an absolute staple of Japan.

	25-01-2002 10:58									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Nope, best & truest unit would be the humble junk. Design inspired by bamboo so the internal hull structure was compartmentalized. More solid and seaworthy than European ships of the same period (through 15th century CE).

Emperor Yung Lo (reigned 1403-24) had the ultimate versions of these craft constructed, "treasure ships" puportedly over 400 feet long and 185 feet wide, each carring a year's supply of grain and growing vegetables (!) below deck (cf C.V.Wedgwood's "The Spoils Of Time"). 62 of these behemoths sailed with uncounted smaller craft on the first expedition in 1405. Chinese sea trade extended from Malaysia, westward all along the southern coast of Asia, into the Persian Gulf, and down the coast of Africa. Dynastic politics ended these journeys in 1432 ... a 60 year jump on Columbus to the New World would not have been unthinkable!

-Oz

	26-01-2002 05:33									#3
	Increase Your PM Length

hmm both sound like awesome new units im partial to the monk but there need to be more than one civ with a navy based UU