Guess the UA/UB/UU of the civs

anandus

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This topic slightly overlaps with New unique abilities discussion and Most Anticipated New Civilization.

Guess the units, buildings and abilities of the now known civs.
(although for broader discussion about UA's one can also have a look at the above topic).

Here are the civs in question and what's already known:
Byzantium:
UA - a 6th belief
Carthage:
- nothing known
Celts:
UA - extra faith when settled near forest
UU - Pict Warrior
Dutch:
UU - a ship that can steal gold from harbours and convert ships.
UB? UTI? UA? - Something that makes marhes fertile
Mayans:
- nothing known

Of course it's hard to guess it all, especially since we don't know what new units, buildings, techs, etc. there will be.

Now these are my guesses (I've omitted what is known):
Mayans:
UA - Faith specialists generate science
UB - Ball court, colosseum replacement, adds extra culture.
UB - Cenote, temple replacement, needs to be build near fresh water, extra faith.
Byzantium:
UU - Cataphract, knight replacement, extra combat strenght.
UU - Dromon, a ship with Greek Fire, don't know what it should replace.
Carthage:
UA - Increased income from overseas trade routes
UU - Numidian Cavalry, horseman replacement, bonus against mounted units
UU - Galloi, strong melee ship
Celts:
UB - Hórreo, a granary replacement, one additional food
Dutch:
UA - Luxury resource tiles generate one extra gold

Of course it is all guesswork and has no proper fundament whatsoever.

So, what are your ideas? Give me your guesses!
 
Byzantium:
Also been thinking for them to have Catapracht and Dromon, that would make a cool holy warriors -type Civ
Also think their unique ability, besides the extra Belief one, will boost their espionage

Carthage:
I always thought that Carthagians were a sort of crazy nomadic barbarian horde, stomping innocent roman legions with their elephants.. I was surprised to found out they were actually a quite peaceful(?) mercantile nation with a strong navy. :lol:
I bet they have

UU: Some sort of naval unit, replacing Trireme. Would have gone with those rampaging elephants but there's already two UUs of our snouted friends
UB: Replaces harbor, all luxury resources that are being worked by city generate xtra gold

Celts:
Unique Improvement, some sort of obelisks or mini-stone henges
 
Dutch UB - Harbor replacement +1 gold from sea resources.
 
With civ 5, it's important to think of a specific playstyle, as the three Uniques are (should be) tailored to fit together.

Byzantium

Additional Faith plus Dromon and Cataphract suits them very well. A Holy Warrior Civ as their distinct playstyle. Don't know what new effect they could give the Cataphract though.

Carthage
Commerce alone - f.e. a gold bonus on trade routes - is boring, as it is a straight bonus without altering gameplay or offering any choices. So I'd combine a gold offering UB (via trade routes) or generating UU (similar to the described Dutch one) with a Unique Ability focussing on Mercenaries, an ability to neglect your military and - when in need - quickly buy them for defense.

Celts
We already know they get Faith from Forests and that they have an early (Swordman replacing?) unique unit, so the third unknown bonus needs to be different from what the Iroquois get. Otherwise, the two civs will be too similar. Maybe a new Fort (Dunn) as a tile improvement so that they can defend them better. I am having difficulty making them distinct from the Iroquois atm.

Dutch
We know they are focused on Marshes (=fertile Coastal Regions) and Sea Travel/Commerce. They look to be a Tall Diplomatic Empire (the unique unit sounds to me as tailored to City states). Depending on what the Marsh thing is (UA or UI/UB), I would guess either a unique bank enhancing the money gain or something related to luxuries (luxuries are more easily gotten over city states when going tall as you cannot settle them all).
 
I suspect a tile improvement that can be built on hills that acts kind of like a Citadel (sort of like the Motte and Bailey from the 1066 scenario)

I suggested previously for Carthage that they have a UA that lets you purchase units cheaper. Combine that with a Cothon (Harbor producing gold), there would be good synergy. The UU would be a Numidian Cavalry. Alternatively, a Quinquereme, Libyan Infantry, etc. are all possible units.
 
For Carthage, I'd have the UA as Numidian Mercenaries, reduction in the cost to purchase units and their upkeep. This is due to the fact that the Carthaginians wielded a mostly mercenary army during all of its campaigns. I'd have the UU as a very cheap galley, to represent the way Carthage could field a large, cheap easy to build fleet (using serial numbers, just think, Carthage outdated Ikea by 3000 years!) during the punic wars. Honestly though I really don't want the Cothon to be the UB. They should dig deeper for something else.
 
Byzantine Empire could get improved walls too. The walls of Constantinople were the most advanced and cleverly designed of their time, and the sole reason why they weren't conquered numerous times by invaders.
 
Do we really need two civs with good walls?
 
1. Carthage. They will probably have a horseman replacement, some devastating cavalry of Elephants or whatever cavalry/spearmen they had in Civ IV. You make those units cost less in terms of production. I like the mercenary option as well.

UU: Horseman sub
UB: Cothon (+2 gold, 50% more trade route yield over water, akin to Arabia)
UA: Mercenary Army. City states gift twice as many units OR cheaper unit purchasing. Works out either way.

2. Byzantium

UU: Catapracht
UA: 6th belief
UB: Hippodrome (Replaces circus. Produces +3 happiness and +2 culture per resource, ala incense/wine)

3. Dutch

UU: Privateer
UA: Tile improvements/gold
UB: ???

4. Celts

UA: Extra faith when settled near forest
UU: Pict Warrior
UB: ??? Dunes or whatever they had in Civ IV were pretty lame. Maybe something that combines a lighthouse and a wall for coastal cities only.

5. Mayan (Culture Civ)

UB: Ball Court, Stepped Pyramids (Extra culture/Happiness)
UA: Mayan Prophets (Settled Great People yield 50% more bonuses)
UU: Some spearman or archer crap that will be useless
 
Typically, there are more civs with 2 uus than others. However, in this expansion, that's hard to believe. Just counting civs that could have them is difficult. I think the Byzantines will have two uus. I think the Mayans and Dutch will not. The Celts and Carthage are somewhere in between. I don't expect the Celts to because no matter what you name their unit, it ends up basically the same (Gallic Warrior, Pictish Warrior, etc.). Carthage, I can think of six possibilities (Numidian Cavalry, Libyan Infantry, Sacred Band, Balearic Slingers, Elephants, and Quinquereme) , but some are relatively obscure and others are hard to find as a niche.

The tricky part is I can't think of any other civs with good options for two UU. The Zulu, Ethiopia, Sumerians, Hittites, or really any other suggestion.
 
I suggested previously for Carthage that they have a UA that lets you purchase units cheaper. Combine that with a Cothon (Harbor producing gold), there would be good synergy.
Hmm.. I must say I like the idea of Carthage being able to have a unit purchase discount. Also the idea of a Cothon makes a lot of sense.
Gameplay-wise good, and historically sound. Should've thought of that before :)
 
Yeah, I've been thinking about this for a long time and that would allow for a civ that plays uniquely, but also fits Carthage. It'll be a maritime civ (Cothon only benefits coastal cities) and it'll reflect the fact that they did rely on mercenary armies, using their substantial wealth to hire armies rather than having their citizens serve.

I'm leaning towards believing they'll give them two UUs, though, just because it'll be difficult to think of many civs with two units otherwise. But who knows?
 
The Dutch could be used to promote the windmill with an UB. Like giving it a food-bonus. Windmill is now a weak (costly) building and I like the view that Unique units/buildings are being used to promote a different strategy. Enhancing diplomacy could work as well, by receiving bonuses for Declaration of Friendships and Defensive Pacts.
 
I wasn't that excited for Carthago for the expansion, but the way you would design it, as a merchant empire with navy and mercenary army, they would be damn cool..!
 
Aw thanks. Someone tell Firaxis ;)
 
From what I've read, i think that the marsh-thing for the Dutch is a unique improvement that can only be built on marshes. I don't think its a UB or terraforming UA.
 
I doubt he's got one, but then again, there's no official source that says it's a UB thing either.

We'll have to wait and see from official sources, no reviewers (who can get information wrong, especially if it's translated badly).

Yeah, I can agree with that.
 
To be honest, after my initial readings about the expansion, I was sure the Byzantines would get some sort of boost to espionage. I'm assuming that's not the case.
 
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