How to beat
Zhu Xi's Legacyas Chinese
Matchup tips
+1 ranged armor is very important if you are playing into Zhuge Nu — way more important than +1 damage for archers or horsemen.
Against Zhuge Nu with archers and horsemen, you want more horsemen than archers. You only need around 15 archers to one-shot a Zhuge Nu, then switch into more horsemen to surround and win fights.
Zhu Xi are better at opening boat plays than Chinese. They tend to have more gold due to cheaper tech up, Meditation Garden resources, and earlier Imperial Official.
Can Chinese make Palace Guard in Feudal Age? No, they require Castle Age. It's a unique thing to Zhu Xi.
Mass Zhuge Nu can hit hard in Feudal timing because China needs Song Dynasty first, forcing them into horsemen which are countered by spearmen.
With the unique upgrade, Zhu Xi's Zhuge Nu match crossbow range and do more damage to spearmen, so mass infantry can't survive against them.
Chinese might consider Astronomical Clocktower instead of Imperial Palace to get free Nest of Bees, which can shut down a Zhu Xi push.
Even when destroyed, the Barbican of the Sun remains as a choke point, allowing Nest of Bees to fire from behind it, because it's a landmark and doesn't disappear.
Zhu Xi's Legacy has looked incredibly dominant on water since their inception, with Meditation Gardens allowing so much income, giving you a pump early on to afford many fishing ships early.
That's what you have to be so careful about as Chinese in this early game. It's so easy to afford those Imperial officials, but they cost wood. They cost food and gold. Food that you need for ships, gold that you need for upgrades and ships as well.
Having the Imperial Academy and being able to produce Imperial officials out of that on top of just not needing to idle out your Town Center gives a villager lead.
If he has any raids coming towards him, it's going to be almost impossible for the opponent to sneak in unnoticed. That's the whole point in this Imperial Palace build. But it does mean if we get into that tug-of-war deep state of the game, whereas infantry comps, you're sorely going to miss the Nest of Bees.
Archers in mass are definitely able to do a good amount of damage up against the knights but Zhuge Nu in mass without the upgrades not so much.
If you react with archers, you're going to face Zhuge Nu. Zhu Xi has been criticized because they can't build archers, but if you can bait your opponent correctly it's actually a big advantage.
As Chinese against Zhu Xi, if you don't go Barbican of the Sun, the Zhu Xi player will have the edge in a long Feudal.
Why didn't he go Imperial Palace? If you go Imperial Palace, you can see more and position your crossbows accordingly. Nest of Bees is not going to do anything realistically against mass Palace Guard.
What buildings do I need in Castle to build armored units? That's a trick question, because Zhu Xi can already build armored units in Feudal Age, and can start building those as they're teching up to Castle.
Zhu Xi's Legacy Unique Units
Zhu Xi's Legacy Landmarks
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