Requirements: Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties 1.01a
1. About
I was always turned off by the Chinese civ because it forced the player to create units in mixed groups (Banner Armies). So, this mod allows you to train Chinese units individually as with the other civs. In addition, all Home City cards affecting Banner Armies have been modified to affect their respective individual units. The Summer Palace wonder still trains units in Banner Armies, though--I could have changed this, but decided against it.
2. Installation
Extract this archive to your \Age of Empires III directory. This will make sure the files go in their correct directories. Make sure to back up the protoy.xml and techtreey.xml files in your \Age of Empires III\data directory in case you want to remove the mod. DO NOT INSTALL THIS MOD WITH ANY VERSION OTHER THAN TAD 1.01A!
3. Known Issues
There are so many units and upgrades available at the War Academy that it's a bit crammed and confusing. This is compounded by the fact that Chinese unit upgrades are apparently hardcoded so that they cannot be in the first column, which prevented me from lining up at least some of the upgrades under their respective units. However, the upgrades are in the same order as the units.
4. Future Plans
None, unless there are bugs. Please report any bugs you find (preferably by email), so I can look into them immediately. I may make an installer as in my other mod, but don't count on it.
Interesting Idea, but I think Banner Armies is a great bonus of Chinese Army Mustering.
Snake_1501 File Author
Posted on 07/24/08 @ 10:47 PM
it's true that banner armies allow players to make balanced counter-attack groups, but it also limits them to just those groups. training units individually is just as cheap and fast as with banner armies. i've had no problems mustering the large chinese armies that they're known for using this mod.
i guess it comes down to a question of personal taste, really. though one benefit of training units individually is that one can replace just the weak chinese melee units that typically take the brunt of any attack instead of training them with keshiks, arquebusiers, etc. that you already have plenty of.