How to best play China

[Coffee]

Just getting into Vic 2, and I'm trying to play China. I understand I need to westernize as quickly as possible, and the best way to do this is to pillage Indochina and Korea because of the research points you get from conquering. However, what is the best way to go about this? What should I focus my budget on, where should I invade first, any information about China for a beginner.

[Lembley42]

I would not start with China. Not because it is difficult to play (it is not) but because you don't learn how to play the game really. Once you know that, those questions are clear for you.

But despite that:
1.) Getting military reforms for those Research points you mentioned

2.) Increase literacy by using your National Focus to promote Clergy and set Education at 100%. Once westernized this besides Research points is also your main priority (Research points techs + Biologism + National Focus techs to pump education and thus research)

3.) Set adminstration at 100% until your national administrative Effiency (see budget) is close to 100%, then set to 30% (else you will get tons of useless bureaucrats).

Bear in mind that the Infamy limit is 25. Go above and you will be attacked by all AI nations basically. While this isnt a huge issue as you can beat all of them, it is super annoying.


Playing China is just trying to westernize as fast as possible, then becoming unstoppable and breaking the game. The game is not meant to model nations like China well so they just stupidly explode in points and the game is over before it begins. Fun for a few minutes, but very boring fast. You will see what I will mean.

[Coffee]

Originally posted by Lembley42:

I would not start with China. Not because it is difficult to play (it is not) but because you don't learn how to play the game really. Once you know that, those questions are clear for you.

But despite that:
1.) Getting military reforms for those Research points you mentioned

2.) Increase literacy by using your National Focus to promote Clergy and set Education at 100%. Once westernized this besides Research points is also your main priority (Research points techs + Biologism + National Focus techs to pump education and thus research)

3.) Set adminstration at 100% until your national administrative Effiency (see budget) is close to 100%, then set to 30% (else you will get tons of useless bureaucrats).

Bear in mind that the Infamy limit is 25. Go above and you will be attacked by all AI nations basically. While this isnt a huge issue as you can beat all of them, it is super annoying.


Playing China is just trying to westernize as fast as possible, then becoming unstoppable and breaking the game. The game is not meant to model nations like China well so they just stupidly explode in points and the game is over before it begins. Fun for a few minutes, but very boring fast. You will see what I will mean.

Thank you for the information. Should I focus on funding education after I westernize or beforehand? It's difficult to set it at 100% while also keeping the military budget sustained in order to keep the troops equipped to go fight the surrounding countries.
Also, which military reform is the most worthwhile to get first? The imported weapons?

[a.k.a DMDonahue]

you don't need to stay funded at 100% military all the time

Originally posted by CuriousCoffee:

Originally posted by Lembley42:

I would not start with China. Not because it is difficult to play (it is not) but because you don't learn how to play the game really. Once you know that, those questions are clear for you.

But despite that:
1.) Getting military reforms for those Research points you mentioned

2.) Increase literacy by using your National Focus to promote Clergy and set Education at 100%. Once westernized this besides Research points is also your main priority (Research points techs + Biologism + National Focus techs to pump education and thus research)

3.) Set adminstration at 100% until your national administrative Effiency (see budget) is close to 100%, then set to 30% (else you will get tons of useless bureaucrats).

Bear in mind that the Infamy limit is 25. Go above and you will be attacked by all AI nations basically. While this isnt a huge issue as you can beat all of them, it is super annoying.


Playing China is just trying to westernize as fast as possible, then becoming unstoppable and breaking the game. The game is not meant to model nations like China well so they just stupidly explode in points and the game is over before it begins. Fun for a few minutes, but very boring fast. You will see what I will mean.

Thank you for the information. Should I focus on funding education after I westernize or beforehand? It's difficult to set it at 100% while also keeping the military budget sustained in order to keep the troops equipped to go fight the surrounding countries.
Also, which military reform is the most worthwhile to get first? The imported weapons?

[Ahsoka Tano]

tiannamen square protest

[Coffee]

Originally posted by >:P:

tiannamen square protest

Thank you China very cool

[KillerTaco69]

As China what you want to do is focus on westernizing ASAP. To start off set your education budget to maximum and use your National Focus points to encourage clergymen until you reach 2% minimum in every state. Declare war against other uncivilized countries like Burma and Korea to take land from them and use the armies of your substates to do all the fighting for you.
Raise troops but place them within your borders and in Beijing to crush any rebellions that might occur. Also accept every offer of western military missions even if they raise militancy. Once your finances stabilize you can begin to increase your administrative budget. You'll notice that as China you'll be making tons of money even if your tax efficiency is relatively low because of all the tea and silk you'll be producing.
You can set taxes to maximum for your pops at the beginning but you should consider decreasing them as the game goes on to try to keep militancy under control.
As for reforms, select imported weapons first above everything else and then I recommend selecting foreign training methods. After that I recommend focusing on economic reforms such as education and financial reforms to increase your education and administrative efficiency. Before westernizing, your own troops should be used for nothing more than fighting rebels. For foreign conquests you can take control of your substates' armies and have them do all the fighting for you.