this isn't really a question it's really my encounter with the situation...

I was China and I had managed to grab the hanging gardens in the 3rd turn, meaning that I could churn out figures and army every turn, I thought I had military sorted.So I didn't bother upgrading my units

My opponent then upgraded her units and started attacking me (I didn't really count her as a threat as she only had 1 army figure and 2 scouts) and using her flight tech started to had towards my capital.

But I had just managed to win by using a tech victory. This is prime example of how deceiving looks can be. But the more experienced players out there probably haven't ever encountered this.

Culture can counter a military person w/ the culture cards. Such as the "Manipulate or remove other figures" making that opponent build another unit and start over w/ their persuit to attack you. They would have done better w/ Steam power and teleport to a water tile nearest to your capitol city.