China
Qin (Unifier)
Uniques and adjacency effects read from the game data.
Victory focusDominationCulture
Kit at a glance
Qin (Unifier) turns China outward: his melee units can spend themselves to convert adjacent barbarians into his own units. He lacks the base Qin's Builder and wonder bonuses but keeps China's stronger eurekas and inspirations, the Great Wall and the Crouching Tiger.
Opening: the first 60 turns
Qin (Unifier) opens like any China — Scout, Slinger or Warrior, Settler — but his leader ability gives a reason to keep a few extra melee units early: a melee unit standing next to barbarians can spend itself to convert them into your own units. That makes cheap Warriors a kind of currency, so park two or three on the edges of your territory instead of rushing to clear every outpost. Research Bronze Working and Masonry early; Masonry also unlocks the Great Wall, which belongs along the border you plan to push from. This persona does not have the base Qin Shi Huang's extra Builder charges, so improve tiles at a normal pace and let China's stronger eurekas and inspirations do the accelerating. By turn 50–60 aim for four cities, a small army padded out with converted units, and a clear first target.
Unique to this civilization
Unit
Crouching Tiger
Technology: Machinery
Adjacency effects
No adjacency bonus — standard district rules apply.
How to play it
Keep a few cheap melee units near barbarian outposts and convert only when the barbarian is worth more than the unit you spend. March the enlarged army at a neighbor early, while barbarians are still common, and keep finishing wonders for China's eurekas and inspirations.
Victory paths
Domination is the natural line. The leader ability is purely military and front-loaded, so it is worth the most in the Ancient and Classical eras, when barbarians are common and a converted unit is a real share of your army. Use that early surplus to take a neighbor's cities before the walls go up, then let the rest of China's kit carry the long game. Crouching Tigers arrive with Machinery as a hard-hitting ranged unit with a range of one for the medieval follow-up. Culture is the sensible second path because China's civilization ability still applies: every wonder you finish grants a random eureka and inspiration from its era, and Great Wall segments along the frontier earn Culture from adjacent segments after Castles and Tourism after Flight. If the early wars stall, settle the borders, line them with the Great Wall and turn the capital toward wonders and Theater Squares rather than forcing a war you can no longer win.
Synergies: city-states, wonders, policies
For policies, Agoge speeds up the Ancient and Classical melee units you will be spending, and Discipline adds combat strength against the barbarians you decide to fight rather than convert; God of the Forge is the matching pantheon for the same reason. Among governors, Victor's Garrison Commander promotion protects the frontline city, and Amani's Emissary promotion bleeds Loyalty from nearby foreign cities, which softens border towns before and after a war. The Terracotta Army gives every unit you currently own a promotion level, so build it after a round of conversions has filled out the army. For city-states, Kabul doubles experience from battles your units start, Akkad lets melee and anti-cavalry units hit walls at full damage, and Preslav adds Loyalty for each Encampment building, which helps conquered cities stay put.
Weaknesses and counters
Everything unique about this persona depends on barbarians being around, so a map with few of them, a game with barbarians turned off, or a neighbor who clears every outpost first leaves him as China with no leader bonus at all. Each conversion also removes the melee unit that performs it, so spending a Warrior you needed on a weak barbarian is a net loss; convert only when what you get back is worth more. Because barbarian pressure is usually heaviest early, the ability's value is front-loaded and the later army has to be built with ordinary production. Opponents counter by walling early, keeping their units clear of your stacks, and simply outlasting the first push. Common mistakes are leaving an outpost alive next to your own cities in the hope of more conversions until it pillages your tiles, and expecting the base Qin Shi Huang's Builder and wonder bonuses, which this persona does not have.
Similar civilizations
Related guides
- Domination: Building Cities That Feed a WarHow to lay out an empire for conquest in Gathering Storm: which cities become production cores, where the Encampment goes, the four classic attack windows, siege composition, holding conquered cities, and when to stop fighting and win another way.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Which Civilization Should You Play? Picks by Victory TypeThree to four leader picks for each victory type — science, culture, domination, religion, and diplomacy — with the reason each one teaches that victory well, plus flexible all-rounders and a guide to matching a civilization to how you actually like to play.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Early District Planning: The First 100 TurnsHow to read city sites for future adjacency, decide between settling for yields now or reserving tile clusters, and know when a planned layout should be abandoned.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- City-States and Envoys: Where Your Influence Should GoWhere envoys come from, how to spend the first handful, which city-state types match each victory plan, how to win and keep suzerainty against the AI, and when conquering a city-state is the right call.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
Last reviewed: 2026-10-03