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Japanese

Tank Dive fast-attack infantry; anti-UU.

Spawn unit Starting age Kills to Castle Kills to Imp Razes to vill Cap Interval
Samurai (signature Castle UU) Post-Imperial (standard CBA) 300 500 2 80 9 s

⚡ Quick reference

  • Baseline: cheaper drop-off buildings, infantry +33% atk speed from Feudal, CA bonus vs ranged, better fishing. UU Samurai (anti-UU). UTs Yasama, Kataparuto.
  • Requiem v294: starting age Feudal; kills-to-Castle 300; razes-to-vill 2.
  • CBA role: fast-attack infantry; anti-UU.
  • Post-vill: fast Champion/Spear + ranged + siege.
  • Weak vs: Hand Cannoneers, ranged kite.

📜 Deep playbook

🏛️ Standard DE profile

  • Civ bonuses (verbatim):
  • Fishing Ships have +2 pierce armor, +2 line of sight; carry capacity doubled; work rate: +5%/+10%/+15%/+20% Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial.
  • Mill, Lumber Camp, Mining Camp cost -50%.
  • Infantry attack speed +25% starting in the Feudal Age (Feudal Age +25% is the total; cumulative frame rework applies).
  • Galley-line +50% attack.
  • Team bonus: Galleys +50% line of sight.
  • Unique unit: Samurai (Castle UU, anti-UU infantry).
  • Unique techs:
  • Castle Age: Yasama — Towers fire +2 arrows.
  • Imperial Age: Kataparuto — Trebuchets fire and pack/unpack faster.
  • Notable missing techs: no Heavy Scorpion, no Paladin (Cavalier max), no Bracer.
  • Walls: Palisade, Stone, Fortified — all available.

🏰 CBA REQUIEM v294 profile

(v294 numbers: Fandom wiki, retrieved 2026-08-21)

  • Starting age: Post-Imperial (standard CBA).
  • Spawn unit: Samurai (signature Castle UU).
  • Spawn interval / unit cap: 9 s per Castle; cap 80 (consult Requiem v294 table).
  • Kills to Castle: 300.
  • Kills to Imperial: 500.
  • Razes to first villagers: 2.
  • Free starting tech: none listed in the v294 wiki table.
  • Elite trigger / silver-UT unlock: not listed in the v294 wiki table — ask in the Requiem Discord (typically kill-count or raze-count gated in v294).
  • Available buildings / disabled units: per v294 whitelist — Samurai are the sustained spawn; siege access post-villagers is not listed in the v294 wiki table — ask in the Requiem Discord for BBC/Trebuchet inclusion.

CBA role & archetype

  • Primary role: anti-UU dive. Samurai's bonus damage vs. unique units makes Japanese the natural counter-picker into stacks heavy in UU spam (Jaguars, Berserks, Huskarls, Throwing Axemen, Woads).
  • Secondary role: mid-range brawler; can hold a lane vs. generic melee.

🌅 Opening play (pre-villagers)

  • Minute 0–3: rally to the closest contested corridor. Set spawn distance short so Samurai can regroup between waves; do not scatter them individually.
  • Preferred fights: any enemy stack containing UUs, especially melee UUs (Berserk, Woad, Jaguar, Huskarl, Teuton Knight, Konnik dismount).
  • Fights to refuse: massed archer UUs at range (Chu Ko Nu, Plumed Archer, Longbow, Rattan) — Samurai take pierce damage badly without heavy micro.
  • Micro: short patrol, dive on the UU inside the enemy blob. Never A-move into ranged UU balls; wedge through generic front-line first.

⚔️ Kill accumulation strategy

  • Safest kill farms: Aztecs (Jaguar), Vikings (Berserk), Celts (Woad), Goths (Huskarl), Incas (Kamayuk-adjacent) — melee UU civs feed Samurai directly.
  • Avoid feeding: dedicated ranged civs (Mayans, Chinese, Britons) where Samurai bonus is inert and they die to arrows.
  • Anti-cage: never chase a lone runner past the enemy patrol arc; kite back to a friendly Samurai clump before re-engaging.

🏚️ Raze allocation

  • Priority: middle of the queue. Japanese benefit from villagers (their infantry economy is fine), but they are not top-priority (Huns/Persians/siege civs typically take first raze).
  • Feed razes to: Persians, Huns, Turks, Mongols — any civ whose post-villager comp needs the eco spike more than Japanese do.

👷 Post-villager composition

  • Wall order: backwall first, then gate patches. Japanese lumber discount accelerates palisade → stone transitions.
  • Standard build: 2 Barracks (Champion + Halb backup), 1 Siege Workshop for Rams. UU production and Castle research run from your pre-placed Castles.
  • Imperial composition: Elite Samurai + Champion + Halb + Siege Onager / Ram. Add Arbalest only if opponents mass cavalry.
  • Silver-UT priority: Kataparuto if trebs are available in the whitelist; otherwise stack Champion upgrades.

⚖️ Strong against / Weak against

  • Strong vs.: melee UU civs (Aztecs, Vikings, Celts, Goths), Teutons (slow Knights), Bulgarians (Konnik), Burgundians (Flemish militia).
  • Weak vs.: Mayans (Plumed), Britons (Longbow massed), Chinese (Chu Ko Nu), Ethiopians (Shotel-boosted archers), any Mangonel-heavy comp.

🤝 Team synergies

  • Best pairs: Koreans (Onager screen for Samurai advance), Franks (Paladin front + Samurai anti-UU cleanup), Mongols (Mangudai kite + Samurai dive).
  • Conflicts: doubling with another melee-only dive civ (Aztecs, Vikings) leaves the stack helpless vs. mass archers.

🎮 Key micro rules

  1. Always dive to the UU inside a blob — that is the entire reason to have Japanese on the team.
  2. Never A-move past enemy ranged UUs; wedge or feint.
  3. Keep Samurai stacked; single Samurai die to focus fire.
  4. Patch gates before villagers arrive — infantry civs are gate-fragile.
  5. Refuse fights on open ground vs. Mangonel civs; force choke engagements.

⚠️ Common mistakes

  • Chasing raze villagers alone into an enemy castle arc.
  • Ignoring Champion tech tree in favor of Samurai-only spam (Champions round out the wall).

🔒 Version-locked (Requiem v294)

  • Samurai as the signature spawn is a v294 configuration; caps and intervals may shift in later Requiem revisions.
  • Yasama/Kataparuto availability inside the CBA whitelist depends on whether towers/trebs are enabled in v294.