Civ idea: Tangut

Pre-words:

Just to have some fun with civ crafting ideas. Previously there was some high-quality civ crafting series, which I actually enjoy a lot, but feels like the recent ones are just meh, so maybe I try to put some effort here just to spark a few discussion here and there.

Anyway, there are some philosophy behind my civ crafting, in order of importance

1) Respect the existing civilization -- They are the basis of the game, so it has to be on the number one. I am not going to copy and paste any pre-existing bonus, and I am not going to break down some larger group of civ and make a new civ from there (Except maybe Chinese depending on what do you mean by Chinese, and for me it definitely not include the surrounding nomadic tribes and I will pick them up)

2) Relate to history closely -- Not necessarily be 100% historically accurate, but at least try to grasp a sense from it. I mean, why would you bother to give you civ a name if you just create it from scratch?

3) Have a nice balance in strength -- On the other hand, why would you bother to play an OP or UP civ? Even though some might think this is more important than historical accuracy, I still put it on the third since this is harder to determine though without actually playing it, so I would rather put more emphasis on researching their history first. Not saying it is unimportant though.

4) Create a unique civilization that stands out from others -- This is pretty hard to do with 31 pre-existing civs currently, though I feel like it should not be neglected in creating new civs, and there should be at least one selling point each new civ created.

I still have a few other civ ideas, but maybe I just leave one here first and see if the response is good.

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Tangut (1038-1227): Aggressive civilization

Thanks to their effective military organisations and the profit from trades across silk road, the Tangut empire, or known as Western Xia empire, had dominated the Northwestern China for two centuries. After defeating the Uyghur Kingdom, they stood for themselves against the Chinese Song Dynasty, and formed a three-sided power balance along with the Khitan Empire (Liao) with very limited resources available. They even outlasted everyone when the Jurchen came to distort the balance, only came to the fall under the Mongolian expansion (of course).

The civilisation is designed to be a jack-of-all-trade with no economy bonus. With some cheaper military buildings and very cheap upgrades for all blacksmith techs, they need to play very aggressively and make use of the wide variety of units to fully exploit the bonus, which hopes to create a unique style of feudal play: to have a great mixture of units instead of focusing on one particular unit. In late game, they have good trash for 1v1 setting, and a mobile-mini-Onager is certainly fun to play with

Civ bonus

• Villagers and infantry +3 attack against stone walls and tower
  • In Tangut empire, there is no distinction between a civilian and a soldier, and everyone are prepared to go to war. This bonus helps them defend against a tower rush easier, and to bust down enemy’s stone wall faster.
• Military buildings and blacksmith cost -25W each
  • With a limited economy and manpower, Tangut empire rely on mass conscription to maintain their military power, and in the game they will be played in exactly the same style: Military is the economy. In the game, military buildings refer to Barracks, Archery ranges, Stables and Siege workshops. This is not a very big bonus, but should be enough when you make more buildings.
• Blacksmith upgrade cost gold only (Feudal age upgrades except fletching are essentially free, but they still needed to be researched and it still takes the same amount of time to research)
  • Thanks to the rich minerals available in the Northwestern China region, a wide range of weapons are manufactured, including armour, crossbow, swords and even cannon. These weapons were another source of their military power, and even the Chinese paid respects to their excellent arsenal. Just to get some number, below are the potential savings from each techs:
    • Feudal age: Forging (150F) Scale mail armour (100F) Scale barding armour (150F) Fletching (100F) Padded archer armour (100F) = 600F
    • Castle age: Iron Casting (220F) Chain mail armour (200F) Chain barding armour (250F) Bodkin arrow (200F) Leather archer armour (150F) = 1020F
    • Imperial age: Blast furnace (275F) Plate mail armour (300F) Plate barding armour (350F) Bracer (300F) Ring archer armour (250F) = 1475F

Team Bonus

• Market work rate +100% faster
  • Located at the Hexi Corridor, the main path in the Silk road, the Tanguts rely heavily on trades for their economy. The faster working market means you and your ally can establish the trade line faster and get the slinging techs sooner.

Unique unit

• Boxi (Camel siege unit)
  • One of the most unique unit of the Tanguts empire is the rock-shooting cannon placed on the back of a camel, overcoming the weakness of a normal siege unit: mobility. Historically, they were deployed in a small number due to its cost, but they proved themselves to be effective. In the game, they are essentially a mobile mangonel/onager with more hp but one less range, less armour and slightly less damage. Prepare for the intense Boxi vs crossbow micro!
    • Cost: 100F 135G
    • Elite upgrade cost: 700W 600G
    • Upgraded by: Bloodline, Husbandry, Blacksmith Cavalry armour, Siege Engineer
    • Armour class: 0 Camel Armour, 0 Siege Armour, 0 Unique unit armour

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Unique techs:

• Chinese crossbow: Crossbowmen fire two more arrows with 3P attack
  • The Tangut borrowed the skills of archery from the Chinese and adopted it in their own army. This UT means although they can’t upgrade their crossbowmen to arbalest, but they are still serviceable in the early imperial age for some ranged support.
    • Cost: 300F 300G
• Iron kite: Knight and cavalier deal 5M to surrounding units upon death (blast radius 0.5)
  • Another special troops of the Tangut. These heavy cavalry are so heavy that the soldiers would not fall from the horse even when they died, and the horse continue to deal damages by running around like a kite flying in the sky. A few Iron kites running into an army, especially archers, would be deadly.
    • Cost: 800F 500G

Missing units/techs:

• Barrack: Eagles
• Archery Range: Arbalest, Parthian Tactics, Hand cannoneer
• Stable: Hussar, Paladin, B. Elephants
• Siege workshop: Onager, Bombard cannon
• Dock: Shipwright, Heavy Demolition Ship, Fast fire ship, E. Cannon Galleon
• University: Fortified walls, Keep, Bombard Tower, Heated shot, Architecture
• Monastery: Redemption, Theocracy, Illumination
• Economy: Two-man-saw, Stone-shaft mining

Wonder: Pagoda of Chengtian Temple

Architecture set: East Asian