Mulan.
1. You are not a lamer.. Phreakdaddy summed up that one… besides lamers don’t know they are !
2. Shang : How can you not play this great civ. I admit I am a Shang freak but then all I generally play are 1v1’s. If you don’t play Shang in a rated 1v1 you generally lose.
Whats good about them :
Well obviously they have 35 hp vills but aside from that lets look at the other issues.
You have it all :
You can rush with axers, slingers, scouts and bowmen, or any combination of them you like.
Double HP walls (don’t underestimate these)
You get all Chariots with nobility & Scythes
You get Camels & Full cavalry
You get full compies
You get most eco upgrades (all the wood and gold & stone ones) (I think siegecraft & domestication is all you miss)
You get all the attack upgrades & most of the armour ones
Full range Guard Towers
You get Cats and Helos
You get HA’s & HHA’s
You get fully upgraded priests for those ELE civs
In summary you get the options to fight any sort of war you would like in almost any age.
Stone : Vills & Clubbers
Tool : Any popular combination
Bronze : The most popular combos are available CA’s & St’s or Compies & ST’s with camels
Iron : Sycthe/Cat, Cat/Hele, HHA/Cat
What amazes me is that even without the cheap vills I would still choose Shang over about 6 other civs… they are so much better than the rest that it is not funny ! (1v1 Remember)