The Japanese

The Japanese

The Japanese are the second worst civ in the game, only the Vikings are
worse. Why? Because the Japanese have bad cavalry, siege, and archers.
Their fast attacking infantry is nothing special, especially when
compared to a Teutonic Knight. The only real purpose it would be for is
against Elephants (halberdiers), and maybe against a Goths player. The
Samurai are a horrible unit, much like the Vikings Beserk, many unique
units counter them. They are expensive for infantry as well.

In fact, the only really useful thing for the Japanese are the
trebuchets, which I must admit are incredibly powerful. They fire
extremely fast, as well as pack/unpack. For this reason, a Japanese
army should be fast, be able to stop onagers, and should hit with
surprise. When I do play them, I go for about 20 trebs, and watch a
whole town disappear in less than a minute.

Basically, a Japanese army should consist of Samurai, some Halbs, and
cavalry archers. You will need onagers to protect against siege too.
The rest of your army should be trebs, make plenty of them. Trebs,
actually, in large quantities can stop lots of onagers. Just space them
out into two groups and have them focus fire on large areas.

Other than that, good luck, you'll need it. Your eco should be well
diversified.