Underrated UUs/UBs

LiquidSwords

Chieftain
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Messages
30
Location
Toronto, ON
We all love Praetorians and Quechas and think that Hammams and Ihkandas are awesome, but which UUs and UBs do you think don't get enough credit?

For UUs, I'd say Skirmishers don't get enough love. You can get them very early, require no resource, are good offensive and defensively, and they're dirt cheap to boot. I'm playing my first Monarch game as Mansa Musa right now and I'm having a blast with Skirmishers. Honourable mentions go to the Vulture (which is like an early Swordsman in my eyes) and the Hwacha (because I just love siege).

For UBs, I think the Aztec Sacrifical Altar is pretty awesome. I whip compulsively and anything that lets me whip more is welcome. I also like the Viking Trading Post. It has perfect synergy with the UU.

Thoughts? Opinions? Strategies? Death threats? Post them here.
 
I would hardly say that the Vulture, the Sac. Altar and the Trading Post are 'underrated'.... But yeah, Skirmishers are pretty cool.

Why does everyone hate Musketeers? I think they are a great knight defender.
 
A major factor in how useful you think a unique unit or building is is how you typically view uniques. If you plan to win the game due to the boost from using a powerful unique unit, there are only a few really powerful ones like the Quechua, War Chariot and Praetorian that will impress you. If you view uniques as ways of smoothing out your difficulties then uniques like the Dog Soldier, Holkan and Bowman are attractive. If you just want them to be cool then Samurais and Berserkers are also good.

From a pure power perspective, the Phalanx is pretty underrated. It's still only in the second tier of units, but I don't hear people talking about it at all. Probably because its added bonus is defensive rather than offensive.
 
Japanese UB - Shale plant
Allows you to completely ignore coal saving some much needed health in that era, it also adds a good 10% production
 
Cataphracs are a good UU, and for a UB I kind of like the dyke on an archepello map

ps.. oh, and panzers are great too, they can even fight toe to toe with modern armor
 
Vanilla Redcoat - never forget. :')
 
The numidian cav is the most conflictingly rated unit. Many players realize just how awesome and strong it is (top 5 IMO), but many players think it's the worst, or one of the worst UUs out there.
 
The numidian cav is the most conflictingly rated unit. Many players realize just how awesome and strong it is (top 5 IMO), but many players think it's the worst, or one of the worst UUs out there.

How do you use it? It looks fairly weak to me, easily countered and only good for attacking pre-longbowmen stacks.
 
I LOVE the Native American Totem pole. City Defense Three promoted archers that can be upgraded to Machine Guns later on is sweet for my defensive style of play. I crank out as many archers as possible when they become available and upgrade as many as I can afford. If a stack does make it to my cities they have a hell of a time trying to get them.
 
Never see any love for malls. A building that can give +4 :health:, +3 :) and +20% :gold:? Sounds pretty nifty to me!
 
How do you use it? It looks fairly weak to me, easily countered and only good for attacking pre-longbowmen stacks.

It's the fact that it starts with Flanking I and has strength 7.5 vs strength 8 against spearmen. (IE, it actually isn't as easy to counter as regular horse archers.) You shouldn't be attacking longbowmen with it as they come much later in the tech tree. I personally don't think Numidian Cavalry are top 5, but they are certainly a top 10 UU.

I LOVE the Native American Totem pole. ... If a stack does make it to my cities they have a hell of a time trying to get them.

The problem with the Totem Pole is that Sitting Bull has one defensive trait and two defensive uniques. It's massive overkill.
 
I LOVE the Native American Totem pole. City Defense Three promoted archers that can be upgraded to Machine Guns later on is sweet for my defensive style of play. I crank out as many archers as possible when they become available and upgrade as many as I can afford. If a stack does make it to my cities they have a hell of a time trying to get them.

I use it to build Drill Xbows that I upgrade to Drill Riflemen.
 
It's the fact that it starts with Flanking I and has strength 7.5 vs strength 8 against spearmen. (IE, it actually isn't as easy to counter as regular horse archers.) You shouldn't be attacking longbowmen with it as they come much later in the tech tree. I personally don't think Numidian Cavalry are top 5, but they are certainly a top 10 UU.

Well, that's not exactly how it works. If you attack spears on flat land, then it's 5 against 6, which isn't much better than 6 against 8. And if the spear has a lot of other bonuses (like from a city) then a regular HA can actually be better.

edit: for the same reason, i think vultures are underrated.
 
Well, that's not exactly how it works. If you attack spears on flat land, then it's 5 against 6, which isn't much better than 6 against 8. And if the spear has a lot of other bonuses (like from a city) then a regular HA can actually be better.

My combat math is always off. For some reason I can never remember that effects apply to the defender rather than the attacker. Thanks for reminding me.
 
Everyone loves Axes so why not Numidian cav? They are essentially a 2 move axeman with the ability to withdraw.
 
I think the Janissary is underrated. You start off with well-rounded bonuses and can easily add more to create a powerful gunpowder unit well before the rifleman. I don't even bother to upgrade them until I get infantry.
 
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