This guide will look at the People's Republic of China. This is one of my favourite nations to play as in the game as it has plenty of action from the start, a solid economy and awesome production capibility that rivals the two superpowers.

China is essentially the 'third' superpower in the game and can give any NATO or Warsaw pact a run for its money. Although it does start with some serious problems, this guide will show you how to turn this nation into a superpower that will rival the USA and the USSR.

It is 1949. China has just emerged from a bitter civil war between the Republic of China and the Communist Party of China led by Mao Zedong, starting in 1927 and ending in 1949 with the Communist Party taking over mainland China and the Rupublic of China's juristiction/soveriegnty restricted to the island of Taiwan. Both states still claim to be the only legitimate government of China today (interesting fact: only a dozen countries actually recognise Taiwan as an actual state at this time due to Chinese economic and political pressure).

China starts off with a population of around 500 million (the largest in the game ahead of India with around 300 million) and shares borders with the USSR and Mongolia to the North, North Korea and Taiwan to the East, North Vietnam to the South and India and the 'Stans' to the West. China also starts off with two colonies of Tibet and Uyghuristan.

Economy
China starts off with a surpuls of $110,247 million, the second largest surplus in the world behind America. This will definately come in handy in building up the economy.

Resources
China starts off with a supisingly large stockpile of resources. However, it does not produice nearly enough to become self sustaining with demand outstretching production on Agriculture, Water, Timber, Oil, Metal Ore, Electricity and Consumer Goods with production outstretching demand on Coal, Industry Goods and Military Goods.

Research
China only starts off with three researched technologies; Mass Production, Basic Electronics and Amour Designs Level 3. China does however start of with three research slots which means that you can research three technologies at at time.

Military

Army - China's army starts off at a reasonable size with a heavy reliance on infantry and uses mainly outdated US, USSR, Japanese and German gear. There army includes: 95 Infantry Regiments, 25 Recon Regiments, 14 Tank Regiments, 7 Anti-Tank Regiments, 100 Artiliery Regiments and 88 Anti-Air Regiments.

Air Force - China starts off with a tiny air force which includes mainly outdated WW2 planes of Japanese, American and Russian designs. Their air force includes: 7 Intercepter Squadrons, 1 Tactical Bomber Squadron, 2 Stratigic Bomber Squadrons, 1 Patrol Squadron and 2 Transport Squadrons.

Navy - China's navy is large in size but only has a few actual warships. Their ships are mainly outdated British designs. Their navy consists of: 1 Destroyer, 3 Frigates, 15 Patrol boats and 35 Transport ships.

Fabrication facilities - China starts off with 14 Land Fabrication Facilities, 1 Air Fabrication Facility and 6 Naval Fabrication Facilities. This is a decent amount to start with and it will allow you to produce more than most of your neighbouring states.

Foriegn Affairs
China starts off on very good terms with all of the Warsaw Pact and thier allies in Asia and South/Central America. Because China is a Communist State they naturally have very bad relations with the US, NATO and their allies. China also starts off at war with Taiwan but this automatically ends after you press the play button.

Strengths

Economy - China's economy has the second largest surplus in the world (behind America). This will be instrumental in expanding resource production and the military, and will allow you to buy most of your technologies from the USSR.

Army - China's land army starts off quite large compared to most of its neighbours (except Russia, obviously). This will come in very handy as there will be plenty of fighting from the start.

Navy - Although they lack warships, China has many transport ships which will be very useful for amphibious invasions (I'm talking to you Taiwan).

Foreign Affairs - China's very good relation with the USSR and the Warsaw Pact will mean easy access to advanced technologies and unit designs at a discounted price. Also, good relations with Russia will mean greater security from attacks from NATO.

Resources - There are plenty of natural resources in China that are ripe for exploiting.

Weaknesses

Resources - China starts of with a lack of production in most areas especially in agriculture.

Air Force - China's tiny air force is worrying and will need improving.

Navy - The lack of warships China starts with means that there are not enough ships to protect the transports.

Population - China's huge population is a constant drain on your resources early on.

Before pressing the play button I would advise you to follow these steps to get a good start:



First, the economy - On the economy screen I would lower the taxes on the lower classes and raise the taxes on the higher classes, this will increase the happyness of the people. Also, greatly increase your spending on your infastructure, healthcare and education to ensure faster building times and increases satisfaction among your people.

Next, resources/production - The first thing you should do here is to build plenty of Industrial factories until production reaches around 6 million. This will be enough to support the massive building programmes later on. You should also build a few Consurmer Goods factories and some Timber facilities to meet the growing demand. The final thing to do here is to increase the price of power, petrol, timber and agriculture to lower demand for the time being (you can lower these later on when prduction increases).

Next, research - I would advise not to research anything yet as pretty soon you will have enough money to by all the tech you need at a discounted price from the USSR. When your production has risen significantly in all areas then research non tradeable technologies. As you progress through the technology tree you will unlock Chinese unit designs. These are pretty good on the whole (plus they give China's army its owm identity) and I would advise that you research them when you can.

Next, military production - For the army I would start producing units straight away as you will need them to fight immediately. I advise that you concentrate on producing fast, amoured units like tanks and armoured recon (you can't build tanks at the start so buy some designs from the USSR and Europe).
For the navy I would hold off on production for a while as you don't immediately need them (you can't produce warships unti you have the right tech anyway).
For the air force I would adsvise that you buy some designs from Russia and start producing some Stratigic bombers.

Finally, foreign affairs - I would get an alliance with all Warsaw Pact members and their allies excluding the USSR (I don't like them moving troops accross my land). The countries you should ally with are: Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Albania, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, North Korea, North Vietnam, Venezuela and Haiti (and the USSR if you want greater security). These alliances will grant you security against foreign aggressors (*cough*USA*cough*).

In the early years war and production will be China's focus so concentrate on these two areas first.

Production - Once you have a good supply of Industrial Goods I would advise that you concentrate on building Aircraft Fabrication facilities, Consumer Goods facilities and Oil. These will keep the population happy and provide the necessary war materials that you will need.

War - There are two fronts that China has to focus on immediately.

The first is in North Vietnam: The war is already underway when the game starts with the Vietkong counterattacking the French forces in and around Hanoi. You don't have to help them but they will lose without Chinese intervention. If you decide to help North Vietnam then you MUST take the port of Hai Phong as quickly as possible as the French, and later European forces, will use this to disembark their merchant marines. Once you take the port, the French will have to land their troops way down in the south which will give you time to gather your strength.

Sometimes Laos will declare war on North Vietnam. If this happens then crush them as the French will only have a token force stationed there. Once you secure all of North Vietnam, your next target will be the village of Vinh.



This village lies at the narrowist part of Vietnam with the only road linking the North to the South and will serve as an excellent defensive position. Don't forget to use your warships and patrol boats to block the ports into Vietnam as they will automatically destroy the French merchant marines coming in to drop off troops. From here all you have to do is build up a large force and overwhelm South Vietnam (do it quickly as the French tend to muster a HUGE army in the South otherwise.

The Korean Peninsular: In June 1950 North Korea will invade the South. In my experience they generally win on their own but they may need a little support if there is too much resistence. I tend to deploy a small strike force at the border to help if needed. If the war drags on then I advise that again you take the ports along the coasts to stop the Americans from landing their troops.

These wars will take up most of your time so I would advise you to stick to fighting and concentrating on military production unti you win.

Military production - While fighting in Vietnam and/or Korea I strongly suggest that you constantly build units. For you army I advise that you build mainly fast, mechanised units like tanks and armoured recon to carry out swift and deadly attacks on the enemy. For air I advise that you focus on Stategic Bombers to weaken settlement defences. And for the navy I would focus on building warships and patrol craft.

Research - While fighting it out with the French and/or Americans I strongly advise that you keep buying technologies from the Russians to unlock more modern units to use in your wars.

By now you should be making plenty of money and have a strong enough military to take the fight to anywhere/anyone you want. Its really up to you from here on out. Move the Peoples Republic of China in any direction you like and thank you for reading.

I welcome any constructive criticism so please comment if you have any.