General Information[]
Han, at its start, is a Confucian Zhongyuan Celestial Empire, seated as the current ruling Chinese Dynasty of its time in the China subcontinent of the Asia continent. The empire exists at the start of the timeline year 2, with cores, bordering Korean Muist kingdoms to the east, Tengri steppe hordes to the north and northwest, Bon Qiang and Kham west, uncolonized native land southwest, Animist Shanyue southwest, Hindu Sa Huynh south, Mahayana Khmer south, waters of the South China Sea south and East China Sea east.
The Han dynasty will be temporarily be replaced by the Confucian Xin dynasty between January 10, 9 and October 5, 23, then lasting for a couple of centuries until splitting into the Confucian kingdoms of Shu, Wei and Wu in 220. Han will re-appear after hundreds of years from Confucian Jin in 947, only to be swiftly annexed into Confucian Song in 979, losing cores and never appearing on-map again.
Called "Han" on-file
Decisions[]
Chinese Technology Reform (until 750)[]
- Requirement(s):
- Effect(s):
Strategy[]
As Han, you'll start as the Emperor of China, easing your ability to create tributaries alongside the unique Meritocracy and Mandate mechanics if Mandate of Heaven is active. You start far from the conflict between the Romans and ☀ Parthians, surrounded by militarily weak nations, allowing for easy expansion. Be wary, as a disaster will trigger if you do not ally or make Xianbei a tribute, as well as any other nomadic nations that find themselves at your border.
Militarily, there are no serious threats, and Han surrounded by weak, divided states. Han is the second largest nation in the world, behind the Romans at the time. On top of that, Han starts with one vassal, Southern Xiongnu, which is a very small and militarily weak country. However they can be very useful, it is a good idea to feed them Mongolian land and annex them later.
Roman-Parthian War[]
Han is already an extremely strong country. However, the modifier "Inward Perfection" gives room for improvement. Almost all nations neighboring Han don't have much of an army, so you don't need much of an army either. Have at max 40 regiments and you will have a stronger army than your neighbors, without spending too much money.
Because you have to wait 118 years to invest in new technology, you WILL fill up your monarch points, if a negative event pops up, choose to lose stability or monarch power than losing prestige or legitimacy.
While you're already a strong nation, the "Inward Perfection" modifier lowers the maximum amount of diplomatic relations to 0 making it so that you would need diplomatic points to have military access. Enacting the "Diplomatic Policy" will increase the max amount of diplomatic relations to 2. While you could conquer the world without having a single ally for the entire game, a coalition of 4 to 6 nations against you could become a problem. To minimize those chances, you should always have at least 1 ally.
Opening Moves[]
At the start of the game, you should rack up to 40 regiments and then conquer Xianbei as fast as possible as they will ally Yarkand, and declaring war on them then would put you in a 2 front war (you need all of your 40 regiments to destroy Xianbei's army as they have at least 18 regiments hiding in the fog of war, while Yarkand has at least 14 regiments hiding in the fog of war). If you didn't conquer Xianbei in time, no worries, Yarkand will end up broke by rebels and most of their provinces will defect to Sarig Yogir.
Conquering Korea and Japan[]
If Goguryeo doesn't have any strong allies, conquering Goguryeo should be easy. Keep in mind that if you directly take Jeju, you can't core it resulting in a permanent over-extension (until you tech up). To avoid this, simply vassalize Mahan and diplo-annex them.
While it may be tempting to directly take territories in Japan, remember that you can't core it. To core territories in Japan, simply vassalize Nakoku and diplo-annex them.
If you follow this strategy, by 180 AD, Manchuria, Korea, and Japan would fall under Han control and you would not have any over-extension.
Conquering Indochina[]
First off, if you're conquering Indochina, vassalize Funan as soon as possible, either through war or diplomacy. After you vassalize Funan, fabricate claim on one of Khmer's territories, and then declare war on Khmer. DO NOT full annex them as they will give you heavy over-extension. Instead, take advantage of the fact that Funan has cores over several territories in Khmer, and have them cede Funan cores and the 2 territories that would be isolated from the capital after Khmer cedes Funan their cores. Then declare war a second time on Khmer and full annex them. When you diplo-annex Funan, you gain cores on all of their territory, and a further southern border. After that, fabricate a claim of one of Sa Huynh's territories then declare, you should easily destroy Sa Huynh. If you follow this strategy, then you should be able to conquer all of Indochina within 30 years.
Conquering Tibet[]
Allying Pyu is a MUST if you want to conquer Tibet. Keep in mind that if you attack in the winter, you will suffer heavy attrition. Therefore it is recommended that you siege the provinces as soon as possible, also to conserve manpower, use the big armies only to fight, ALWAYS detach enough troops to siege.
Also, Tibet and Mon might ally, you also want to have allies around Mon. Following these steps, you should be able to conquer Tibet within 5 years.
Conquering Xiongnu[]
The strategy for conquering Xiongnu is easy, because they constantly suffer revolts. The best time to strike is when at least 3 provinces are occupied by rebels. Using that strategy, Xiongnu should fall within 5 years.