Key factors for UUs and UBs.

Iwo Jima

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I've read good UU and UB guide here in Academy, but today I came to some new thoughts. I think several moments are also important, when you consider UU or UB and try to compare different civilizations. This post is for Unique Units(UU). Next one will be for Unique Buildings(UB) if you'll like my approach )))

log of changes:
Spoiler :
30.05.2015
- changed term "game breaker" to "overpowered"
- changed list of overpowered UUs in "Strength" chapter, "Strength" column revised
- added text, describing risks of depenedence on resource
- "Legacy" chapter expanded and revised, "legacy" column corrected
- "+/-" column recalculated
- "Totals" hidden to spoiler, because of article still under discussion

1.06.2015
- added text about upgrades into "Legacy" chapter

Teal color in my comments is for personal use, just to mark things that I consider to insert in future updates







KEY FACTORS FOR UNIQUE UNITS

1. Dependence on resources.

It is important, is the UU depend on special resource or not? If your UU depends on Horses, Copper, Iron or Ivory, you are in a weak position. You could be lucky to get resources you need near your cities, but it's not unusual, to paly with Tokugawa and find Iron only on different continent. So, all UUs that are Melee and Mounted Units have this disadvantage. With exception of Quechua, Dog Soldier, Holkan, Jaguar, Camel Archer. Note, that Samurai is even worse than usual Maceman, because it needs only Iron (and not Copper), while Gallic Warrior is better than Swordsman, because it requires Iron or Copper (not only Iron). On the other side, Unique Archery Units (except Cho-Ko-Nu), Gunpowder Units, Siege, Armored, Naval Units and indian Fast Workers have advantage.

Also, resource dependance is not only about early access to your UUs, it's also about how secure your production of UUs, because you can lose you resource via spy operations, pillaging or conquering territory. Even via sea blockade or pillaging road.

You also should take into account little, but not negligeble time and production expences for building worker, mine(or fort) and a road. (Not often, but it is possible, that you even need to build a settler and galley)



2. Strength

This topic could be discussed, but I write my own view. Some UUs are really overpowered in comparison with other units of their era, some have very slight influence on its time. Common veiw of some experienced players here, that the most notable units here are Quechua, War Chariot, Cataphract, Cho-Ko-Nu, Oromo Warrior, Samurai, Hwacha, Immortal, Praetorian, Conquistador. Special gamebreakers are Carrack and Fast Worker, they do not have special fighting abilities, but have significant influence to the game.

All other UUs a little bit stronger than common versions, but do not break the game. The most weak UUs are Bowman, East Indiaman, Holkan and Berserker.


3. Universality or specialization

The ability to complete different tasks is advantage, while narrow specialization is disadvantage. Good UU should be good in defence and offence(like Conquistador), have bonuses against different types of enemy units(like Landsknecht), or have some abilities of other units (like Impi, fast as cavalry). So, Bereserker is very specialized unit, while Janissary is jack-of-all-trades. All other units with special bonuses against unusual unit types have advantage for this factor. Here, East Indiaman is better than Carrack, because it could be not only a transport vessel, but a warship also.


4. Mass production

How many UUs you could build for a reason? If you can build a lot of UUs and it has a sense, then its an advantage of this UU. Every gamebreaker UU is good to build in huge numbers. It can be a backbone of your army, or even the only unit in it. All other UUs are good for multiplying too, with the following exceptions. Usually, you don't need a lot of Galleons. And you need even less amount of East Indiamans(EI), because they have one more cargo space. Although EI has higher combat ability, its very unusual to use them in naval battles. Also, I have not seen mass uses of Ballista Elephants and Bowmans.


5. Age of origin

Since, speed is very important in Civilization game, then faster access to your best units could by significant. So, I could value early UUs more than late UUs, although late UUs could change current of game too. So, Indian Fast Worker and Quechua are real leaders. And Navy SEAL is looser here. Early rushes with War Chariots and Immortals should be a bright illustration here.


6. Lifespan

How long your UU could be effective in the game? Or how soon you should upgrade it or disband? Indian Fast Worker here is the real leader, it works during the whole game. All UUs with rised strength can be effective longer, than their analogues: War Chariot, Praetorian, Skirmisher, Cataphract, Conquistador, Cossack, Vulture. Also, UUs with additional first strikes: Samurai, Oromo, Cho-Ko-Nu.

Long life could be for Carrack, because of special option to ignore bordes. So, you could use carracks to ship your spies even in late game. Panzer is still effective even against Modern Armor. Redcoats are not bad against Infantry or SAM Infantry. You could wait also with upgraiding Skirmishers to Longbows. Special ability to ignore terrain cost could make useful Impi and Keshiks as scouts and pillagers in later game. Although, you'd better upgrade Impi, because it saves Mobility. Ballista Elephants could live until you have opponents with weak cavalry.

Very special conditions for Janissary. Their lifespan could be very shot, if you are late with this unit, and all opponents have no oldfashioned armies. But its also could be very long, if you playing on Terra Map and have a whole continent with lowtech barbarians. You could also finish your game significantly before you achieve you late units, so late units have risk of zero lifespan. Navy SEAL and Panzer have the maximal risk.


7. Legacy

Some UUs have additional promotions or abilities, that can be saved when you upgrade your UU. So Quechua, Jaguar, Gallic Warrior, Berserker, Impi, Oromo and Samurai have their advantage. It seems, that the most useful legacy has Oromo (2 free promotions - Drill I, II), also Quechua(Combat I) and Numid. Cavalry (Flanking I). Legacy of Berserker(Amphibious), Gallic Warrior (Guerilla I) and Jaguar (Woodsman I) useful only in specific conditions. Impi has very useful Mobility, but since all of his upgrades have speed 1 until Mechanized Infantry, this legacy will be unused for a long time. Samurai has Drill I, but since Tokugawa has PRO trait, any upgrade of Samurai will be gunpowder unit with Drill I. Navy SEAL have additional promotion (March), but alas, it has no upgrades.

Another point to think of legacy of UUs is their upgrades. So, for example, Impi (or Holcan) upgrade into Pikeman, useful, but not very attractive unit. So, your big and mobile army of Impies will be not so useful after upgrade during Medieval. So, this is "minus" factor in valuation of Impi. Still Longbow is very good upgrade for Bowman and Skirmisher, Skirmishers could wait with upgrade much longer, than Bowmans (this is also counted in factor of lifespan). Some units, have two ways to upgrade. All Medieval infantry could be upgraded into either Riflemen or Grenadiers, so you can decide, what is more useful. For, example, offensively promoted Samurai could be upgraded into Grenadier, while defensively promoted Samurai is better to be promoted into Rifleman. Also, this is another reason, why Carrack beats East Indiaman. Carrack could be upgraded from scouting/transport vessels into combat Fregate or even Attack Submarine, while Transport/Half-Combat Indiaman transforms into only Transport, losing two of his previous abilities (high strength and ignoring borders).




And the final table for UUs with my evaluations corrected by forum members:

Spoiler :
UUs | Res. dependence | Strength | Universality | Mass Prod. | Age of Origin | Lifespan | Legacy | +/-
American_Navy_Seal | + | ++ | + | ++ | -- | + | - | 7/3
Arabian Camel Archer | + | + | - | + | + | + | - | 5/2
Aztec Jaguar | + | + | -- | + | ++ | + | + | 7/2
Babylonian Bowman | + | + | + | + | + | - | - | 5/2
Byzantine Cataphract | - | +++ | - | ++ | + | ++ | - | 7/3
Carthaginian Numid.Cav. | - | ++ | ++ | ++ | ++ | + | ++ | 11/1
Celtic Gallic War. | -+ | - | + | + | ++ | - | + | 6/3
Chinese Cho-Ko-Nu | - | +++ | ++ | +++ | + | + | - | 10/2
Dutch East Indiaman | - | + | + | - | - | + | - | 3/4
Egyptian War Chariot | - | +++ | - | ++ | ++ | ++ | - | 9/3
English Redcoat | + | ++ | + | ++ | - | ++ | - | 8/2
Ethiopian Oromo War. | + | +++ | + | +++ | + | +++ | +++ | 15/0
French Musketeer | + | + | ++ | ++ | + | + | - | 8/1
German Panzer | + | ++ | - | + | -- | ++ | - | 6/4
Greek Phalanx | - | + | ++ | ++ | ++ | - | - | 7/3
Holy Roman Landsknecht | - | + | ++ | ++ | + | + | - | 7/2
Incan Quechua | + | +++ | + | +++ | +++ | + | ++ | 14/0
Indian Fast Worker | + | +++ | --- | +++ | +++ | ++++ | n/a | 14/3
Japanese Samurai | -- | +++ | - | +++ | + | +++ | - | 10/4
Khmer Ballist Eleph. | - | ++ | - | + | + | + | - | 5/3
Korean Hwacha | + | +++ | - | ++ | + | + | - | 8/2
Malinese Skirmisher | + | + | - | + | ++ | + | - | 6/2
Maya Holkan | + | + | - | + | ++ | - | - | 5/3
Mongolian Keshik | - | ++ | - | ++ | ++ | + | - | 7/3
Nat.American Dog Sold. | + | + | - | + | ++ | - | - | 5/3
Ottoman Janissary | + | ++ | +++ | ++ | + | --/++ | - | 9+2/1+2
Persian Immortal | - | +++ | + | ++ | ++ | - | - | 8/3
Portuguese Carrack | + | +++ | - | + | + | + | - | 7/2
Roman Praetorian | - | +++ | - | +++ | ++ | ++ | - | 10/2
Russian Cossack | - | + | - | ++ | - | ++ | - | 5/4
Spanish Conquistador | - | +++ | ++ | +++ | - | +++ | - | 11/3
Sumerian Vulture | - | ++ | - | +++ | ++ | + | - | 8/2
Viking Berserker | - | + | - | + | + | - | + | 4/3
Zulu Impi | - | ++ | + | ++ | ++ | + | + | 9/1


TOTALS

Spoiler :
Please, NOTE! Since this article is under hot discussion and all rankings are very debatable, here is the first variant of 10 "best" UUs. This chapter will be updated, when most of participants come to common view.

While not all factors are equal, I calculated "pluses" and "minuses" just for simplicity. So, as you can see, 10 of 34 UUs have 10 or more "pluses".

The leaders are

Oromo, very strong and stable middle-game unit with fast access to most promotions and without notable disadvantages. Keeps half of his first strikes even after upgrade.
Quechua, the earliest unit, able to fight with archers, also without "minuses"
Fast Worker, all-time unit, with the only "minus" - he is a worker, and it's all that he can do. And he is real game-breaker due to additional speed.

The rest, "lucky seven", are

Numidian Cavalry
, strong early half-cavalry/half-axeman with useful legacy. Just be lucky to find Horses early.
Praetorian, very strong and very straightforward early unit, that is strongly needed Iron.
Conquistador, middle game extreme cavalry with defense bonus. You have a several ages to find Horses.
Samurai, medieval game-breaker, which gain his experience very fast, just have some Iron.
Cho-Ko-nu, another medieval gamebreaker with collateral attack. Awesome in big stacks. Also needs Iron.
Impi, fast all-terrain early unit for different purposes, that keeps his Mobility after upgrade. Needs Copper or Iron
And Janissary, middle game winner, if you research them early or if you have a barbarian continent to conquer. The only unit in this "lucky seven", that does not need special resource.



Special thanks to Seraiel, Elitetroops, Kallikrates and all commentors.

PS: feel free to correct my English )
 
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1. Dependence on resources.

It is important, is the UU depend on special resource or not? If your UU depends on Horses, Copper, Iron or Ivory, you are in a weak position. You could be lucky to get resources you need near your cities, but it's not unusual, to paly with Tokugawa and find Iron only on different continent. So, all UUs that are Melee and Mounted Units have this disadvantage. With exception of Quechua, Dog Soldier, Holkan, Jaguar, Camel Archer. Note, that Samurai is even worse than usual Maceman, because it needs only Iron (and not Copper), while Gallic Warrior is better than Swordsman, because it requires Iron or Copper (not only Iron). On the other side, Unique Archery Units (except Cho-Ko-Nu), Gunpowder Units, Siege, Armored, Naval Units and indian Fast Workers have advantage.

Most players here don't play Earth 18, or from which scenario you got that Tokugawa only finds Iron on another continent.

2. Strength

This topic could be discussed, but I write my own view. Some UUs are real gamebreakers, some have very slight influence on the game. Real gamebreakers: Navy SEAL, Cataphract, Numidian Cavalry, Cho-Ko-Nu, Redcoat, Oromo Warrior, Landsknecht, Quechua, Samurai, Hwacha, Keshik, Janissary, Immortal, Praetorian, Cossack, Conquistador, Vulture and Impi. Special gamebreakers are Carrack and Fast Worker, they do not have special fighting abilities, but have significant influence to the game.

All other UUs a little bit stronger than common versions, but do not break the game. The most weak UUs are Bowman, East Indiaman, Holkan and Berserker.
Your list of gamebreakers needs to be overhauled. Landsknechte have the nickname "Landcrap" , Numidians are worse than real Horse-Archers if fighting Archers early, the Cataphract has no Firststrike immunity and Knights are generally weak units, because they can't ignore the city-defenses like Cuirrassiers and therefor often die. The Navy Seal also comes so late, that it imo can't be described as a gamebreaker, also see 5.. I also don't see the Impi as a gamebreaker. Ok, he can follow Horse Archers and gives them a weak defense against Spears and a better defense against other mounted, that it already though.
I also really miss Immortals and Mansa's Skirmisher. Not listing War Chariots is also a :nono: .

3. Universality or specialization

The ability to complete different tasks is advantage, while narrow specialization is disadvantage. Good UU should be good in defence and offence(like Conquistador), have bonuses against different types of enemy units(like Landsknecht), or have some abilities of other units (like Impi, fast as cavalry). So, Bereserker is very specialized unit, while Janissary is jack-of-all-trades. All other units with special bonuses against unusual unit types have advantage for this factor. Here, East Indiaman is better than Carrack, because it could be not only a transport vessel, but a warship also.

This paragraph is ok, but a paragraph over the upgrades of a UU would be better imo.. Landcraps aren't really good, but Oromo Warriors or Samurais passing their Firststrikes on towards the next unit is very nice imo.


4. Mass production

How many UUs you could build for a reason? If you can build a lot of UUs and it has a sense, then its an advantage of this UU. Every gamebreaker UU is good to build in huge numbers. It can be a backbone of your army, or even the only unit in it. All other UUs are good for multiplying too, with the following exceptions. Usually, you don't need a lot of Galleons. And you need even less amount of East Indiamans(EI), because they have one more cargo space. Although EI has higher combat ability, its very unusual to use them in naval battles. Also, I have not seen mass uses of Ballista Elephants and Bowmans.

Ok.


5. Age of origin

Since, speed is very important in Civilization game, then faster access to your best units could by significant. So, I could value early UUs more than late UUs, although late UUs could change current of game too. So, Indian Fast Worker and Quechua are real leaders. And Navy SEAL is looser here.

I'd combine this paragraph with 2., as strenght also comes from the availability early in the game.

6. Lifespan

How long your UU could be effective in the game? Or how soon you should upgrade it or disband? Indian Fast Worker here is the real leader, it works during the whole game. All UUs with rised strength can be effective longer, than their analogues: War Chariot, Praetorian, Skirmisher, Cataphract, Conquistador, Cossack, Vulture. Also, UUs with additional first strikes: Samurai, Oromo, Cho-Ko-Nu.

Long life could be for Carrack, because of special option to ignore bordes. So, you could use carracks to ship your spies even in late game. Panzer is still effective even against Modern Armor. Redcoats are not bad against Infantry or SAM Infantry. You could wait also with upgraiding Skirmishers to Longbows. Special ability to ignore terrain cost could make useful Impi and Keshiks as scouts and pillagers in later game. Although, you'd better upgrade Impi, because it saves Mobility. Ballista Elephants could live until you have opponents with weak cavalry.

Very special conditions for Janissary. Their lifespan could be very shot, if you are late with this unit, and all opponents have no oldfashioned armies. But its also could be very long, if you playing on Terra Map and have a whole continent with lowtech barbarians. You could also finish your game significantly before you achieve you late units, so late units have risk of zero lifespan. Navy SEAL and Panzer have the maximal risk.

Here you miss some very important units I listed above already, like Immortals. You also should point out imo, that being AGG or PRO allows to promote units to the 2nd promotion (Shock, Cover) while coming freshly out of a Barracks-city.


7. Legacy

Some UUs have additional promotions or abilities, that can be saved when you upgrade your UU. So Quechua, Jaguar, Gallic Warrior, Berserker, Impi, Oromo and Samurai have their advantage. Navy SEAL have additional promotion (March), but alas, it has no upgrades.

This should be more detailed imo.

And the final table for UUs with my values:

Spoiler :
________________________Resource_dep.___Strength___Univers.___Mass_Prod.___Age___Lifespan___Legacy_____+/-

American_Navy_Seal___________+____________++_________+___________++________--______+__________-________7/3
Arabian_Camel_Archer_________+____________+__________-___________+_________+_______+__________-________5/2
Aztec_Jaguar_________________+____________+__________--__________+_________++______+__________++_______8/2
Babylonian_Bowman____________+____________+__________+___________+_________+_______-__________-________5/2
Byzantine_Cataphract_________-____________+++________-___________++________+_______++_________-________7/3
Carthaginian_Numid.Cav.______-____________++_________++__________++________++______+__________++_______11/1
Celtic_Gallic_War.___________-+___________-__________+___________+_________++______-__________+________6/3
Chinese_Cho-Ko-Nu____________-____________+++________++__________+++_______+_______+__________-________10/2
Dutch_East_Indiaman__________-____________+__________+___________-_________-_______+__________-________3/4
Egyptian_War_Chariot_________-____________+__________-___________++________++______++_________-________7/3
English_Redcoat______________+____________++_________+___________++________-_______++_________-________8/2
Ethiopian_Oromo_War._________+____________+++________+___________+++_______+_______+++________+++______15/0
French_Musketeer_____________+____________+__________++__________++________+_______+__________-________8/1
German_Panzer________________+____________++_________-___________+_________--______++_________-________6/4
Greek_Phalanx________________-____________+__________++__________++________++______-__________-________7/3
Holy_Roman_Landsknecht_______-____________+__________++__________++________+_______+__________-________7/2
Incan_Quechua________________+____________+++________+___________+++_______+++_____+__________++_______14/0
Indian_Fast_Worker___________+____________+++________---_________+++_______+++_____++++_______n/a______14/3
Japanese_Samurai_____________--___________+++________-___________+++_______+_______+++________+________11/3
Khmer_Ballist_Eleph._________-____________++_________-___________+_________+_______+__________-________5/3
Korean_Hwacha________________+____________+++________-___________++________+_______+__________-________8/2
Malinese_Skirmisher__________+____________+__________-___________+_________++______+__________-________6/2
Maya_Holkan__________________+____________+__________-___________+_________++______-__________-________5/3
Mongolian_Keshik_____________-____________++_________-___________++________++______+__________-________7/3
Nat.Anerican_Dog_Sold._______+____________+__________-___________+_________++______-__________-________5/3
Ottoman_Janissary____________+____________++_________+++_________++________+_______--/++______-________9+2/1+2
Persian_Immortal_____________-____________++_________+___________++________++______-__________-________7/3
Portuguese_Carrack___________+____________+++________-___________+_________+_______+__________-________7/2
Roman_Praetorian_____________-____________+++________-___________+++_______++______++_________-________10/2
Russian_Cossack______________-____________++_________-___________++________-_______++_________-________6/4
Spanish_Conquistador_________-____________+++________++__________+++_______-_______+++________-________11/3
Sumerian_Vulture_____________-____________++_________-___________+++_______++______+__________-________8/2
Viking_Berserker_____________-____________+__________-___________+_________+_______-__________+________4/3
Zulu_Impi____________________-____________++_________+___________++________++______+__________++_______10/1

Needs to completely reworked, it's unreadable. Use the "Table-tag" and | to seperate the disciplines or make a screenshot from a table you made with any program.

TOTALS

While not all factors are equal, I calculated "pluses" and "minuses" just for simplicity. So, as you can see, 10 of 34 UUs have 10 or more "pluses".

The leaders are

Oromo, very strong and stable middle-game unit with fast access to most promotions and without notable disadvantages. Keeps half of his first strikes even after upgrade.
Quechua, the earliest unit, able to fight with archers, also without "minuses"
Fast Worker, all-time unit, with the only "minus" - he is a worker, and it's all that he can do. And he is real game-breaker due to additional speed.

The rest, "lucky seven", are

Numidian Cavalry
, strong early half-cavalry/half-axeman with useful legacy. Just be lucky to find Horses early.
Praetorian, very strong and very straightforward early unit, that is strongly needed Iron.
Conquistador, middle game extreme cavalry with defense bonus. You have a several ages to find Horses.
Samurai, medieval game-breaker, which gain his experience very fast, just have some Iron.
Cho-Ko-nu, another medieval gamebreaker with collateral attack. Awesome in big stacks. Also needs Iron.
Impi, fast all-terrain early unit for different purposes, that keeps his Mobility after upgrade. Needs Copper or Iron
And Janissary, middle game winner, if you research them early or if you have a barbarian continent to conquer. The only unit in this "lucky seven", that does not need special resource.



PS: feel free to correct my English and to teach me how to make tables here )

Agan missing Immortals and War Chariots. Look at the units I named above and check if you got all of them.

I like the article btw., not that you get me wrong because of all that critique.
 
Most players here don't play Earth 18, or from which scenario you got that Tokugawa only finds Iron on another continent.

True. But several last times I played with Toku and Khan I had my strategic resource on the other side of my continent. Even if you settle there, the long distance could kill your economy, so this could be very big problem, especially for those absolutely non-economical leaders.


Your list of gamebreakers needs to be overhauled. Landsknechte have the nickname "Landcrap" , Numidians are worse than real Horse-Archers if fighting Archers early, the Cataphract has no Firststrike immunity and Knights are generally weak units, because they can't ignore the city-defenses like Cuirrassiers and therefor often die. The Navy Seal also comes so late, that it imo can't be described as a gamebreaker, also see 5.. I also don't see the Impi as a gamebreaker. Ok, he can follow Horse Archers and gives them a weak defense against Spears and a better defense against other mounted, that it already though.
I also really miss Immortals and Mansa's Skirmisher. Not listing War Chariots is also a :nono: .

It seems, that you combine all factors that I tried to divide :D

The strength of landsknecht is their universality - combo-bonus against mounted and melee. But they are not overpowered. 6+100% of Landsknecht in all cases not better than 8+50% of common Maceman. And with City Raider I, II, III Maceman is better always! On the other hand, Samurai extremely overpowered unit, that gains 2-3 firststrikes (and it means, that he even negates firststrikes of well-promoted Longbow)

Numidians have additional promotion, so pure comparing with common Horse Archer not so bad, if you add, for example usual Combat I. So, 5+10%=5.5 while HA has 6. Not a big deal. But their anti-melee bonus allows to move fast without anti-spearmen support.

Immortals and War Chariots are strong units, but not ultimate, as for me. You'd better assault cities with axemen or swordsmen, or even spearmens, due to CR promotions. But Immortals I value more. Here is my personal point of view, and I open to different opinions.

Navy SEALs is very specific unit, but I included it and tried to analize it for this post will be complete. Navy SEAL have all traits of gamebreaker (first strikes and march make him very solid and hard to kill), but their main disadvantage, their age of origin. So, I noted it in another chapter.

Impi is not overpowered, he just more universal. So, he recivied pluses in another column.

Term "game-breaker" I use here mainly for considering pure strength. So, part of traditional gamebreakers, such as Impi gets their "pluses" in another factors.




Here you miss some very important units I listed above already, like Immortals. You also should point out imo, that being AGG or PRO allows to promote units to the 2nd promotion (Shock, Cover) while coming freshly out of a Barracks-city.

I believe, most forum readers know UU and UB guide, so they know all combining effects of UUs and Leaders.


This should be more detailed imo.

Probably, I just should add, that the most useful promotions are from Oromo (Drill I, II), Quechua (Combat I) and from Numidian(Flanking I). All other promotions not so good, and more situational. Moreover, Drill I from Samurai have no effect to legacy, because Gunpowder Units of Toku will have Drill I due to PRO trait.


Needs to completely reworked, it's unreadable. Use the "Table-tag" and | to seperate the disciplines or make a screenshot from a table you made with any program.

Thanks. Done. Hope, reading the table will help to make clear some moments that I hadn't wrote.


Agan missing Immortals and War Chariots. Look at the units I named above and check if you got all of them.

Try to convince me. At last, Immortal and War Chariot are solid middle-ranked UUs, and even a couple of pluses don't move them to leader positions.

I like the article btw., not that you get me wrong because of all that critique.

Thanks. I'm OK with critique, because this is one purpose of writing analitics.
 
Are you joking? War Chariots and Immortals are regarded as the strongest UU past the Quechua! A War Chariot is almost like a HA but costs only half as much, and we've seen people conquer complete maps with Immortals only. Ofc., Praets are stronger, but they're also slower and need far more tech. A 3000 BC WC / Immortal rush is a tactic to succeed even on Deity. Don't underestimate the power fo speed on normal or quick speed. Even on Marathon, those units are great, but the faster the game, the more they are superior. They also can fork, which Axes and Swords can't.

And you can't compare a promoted Numidian against an unpromoted Horse Archer... If promoted equally, the HA's lead against Archers gets even bigger.
 
Sry, but as I see and can read the new table, there are some horrible mistakes in it, like making the Jaguar a good UU, while he's actually a weaker Swordsman that is only good for Workerstealing on forested maps. Also Numidians are tremendously overrated.
Gallic Warriors however are great. Have you ever played on a map with many hills-cities with Guerilla III promoted GWs? They can get that promotion with only 4 XP, so one fight after they're out of the Barracks. Kaitzilla lately conquered a poor, Large / Deity / Marathon / Highlands map with them before 1 AD. Giving the highest rating to Oromo's also won't get much people to agree with that.

On which difficulty do you play CIV?

[EDIT]

And on which settings are you playing?
 
Cossacks have no raised strength anymore since Warlords, I think. Only vs. other mounted units which is not such a big deal.

I don't think that the resource (in)dependence is a major factor. The most powerful UUs are early and so one will need a little luck anyway because horses so far that they cannot be claimed with the capital or next city seriously reduce the power of war chariots and immortals. I have not played many early rushes since I moved to Emperor and then Immortal, partly because many factors have to fit together and it often seems safer to expand peacefully and conquer later with e.g. cuirassiers.

But for me the most powerful (game breaking) UUs are probably: Quechua, War chariot, Immortal, Praetorian. Maybe Vulture and Gallic warrior as well.

Others seem mainly annoying when one has to fight them but they are not very useful for rushing and conquering cities: Impi, Dog, Skirmisher.

Slight but useful boost compared to the normal unit: Keshik, Berserker, East Indiaman, Cataphract, Conquistador, Redcoat, Oromo (I have not much experience with them), Janissary. Probably Carack but on many maps they will be almost irrelevant

I think I played Samurais and Chokonus mainly on Warlords or vanilla. Problem here is that Togus traits are so bad I never want to play him. The Hwacha was great on Warlords (could really devastate typical AI stacks) but not a big deal with the change of siege warfare.

And I generally have a problem with medieval units. On normal speed one has to get them uncommonly early with some kind of (usually very situational) slingshot because they are somewhat expensive and one usually needs siege anyway as soon as the AI has longbows (with their combined defense bonuses in cities) and often 40+% cultural (or even walls/castle). To me the best of the medieval UUs seems the Berserker. This is also map-dependent but the 10% extra city attack, CI without any promo and of course the amphibious option make them often quite successful even without siege.
 
I must agree with Seraiel. A rating system that rates Immortals and War Chariots on par with Phalanxes and below impis, jaguars, musketeers and landcraps is ridiculously flawed.

Why would the 4 strength, 2 move, 35 hammer impi be rated higher in strength than a 5 strength, 2 move, 30 hammer war chariot? And What's up with +2 legacy for the impi? Are you aware that the mobility promotion is useless on 1 move units that the impis upgrade to?

Quechuas, Immortals and War Chariots are in a league of their own, followed by Praets and Vultures. Fast worker also ranks very high, but can't be compared with the others because it is so different.
 
OK, guys. Thanks for critics. I'm sure, that you have diffirent experience with CivIV game so our point of view could differ. And I do not pretend for the final truth. To be constructive, please value by yourself the most debatable UUs, such as War Chariot or Immortals. But I ask to try to evaluate them not generally, but by all key factors.


Are you joking? War Chariots and Immortals are regarded as the strongest UU past the Quechua! A War Chariot is almost like a HA but costs only half as much, and we've seen people conquer complete maps with Immortals only. Ofc., Praets are stronger, but they're also slower and need far more tech. A 3000 BC WC / Immortal rush is a tactic to succeed even on Deity. Don't underestimate the power fo speed on normal or quick speed. Even on Marathon, those units are great, but the faster the game, the more they are superior. They also can fork, which Axes and Swords can't.

As for pure strength(2st column), I rate Immortals equally with Numidians. (Very Good (++), but not Excellent(+++)). They have similar mechanics and their main advantage is speed and universality, so you can mass product them without any support.


And you can't compare a promoted Numidian against an unpromoted Horse Archer... If promoted equally, the HA's lead against Archers gets even bigger.

Not correct. Numidians always have one additional promotion. Typical mounted unit has 1 or 2 promotions at start. So, there are some variants.
1 promotion: HA with Combat I (or Flanked I) vs Numid with Flanked I, II
2 promotions: HA with Flanked I, II vs Numid with Flanked I, II and Combat I.
in both variants Numid not significantly worse. And if you remember, that Numid gains experience very fast, due to CHA trait and Anti-Melee ability, then you'll see, that average Numid has even more, than one additional promotion.


Sry, but as I see and can read the new table, there are some horrible mistakes in it, like making the Jaguar a good UU, while he's actually a weaker Swordsman that is only good for Workerstealing on forested maps. Also Numidians are tremendously overrated.

I'm OK to lower Jaguar strength from + to -. He is really weak unit. Maybe weaker, than Gallic.


Gallic Warriors however are great. Have you ever played on a map with many hills-cities with Guerilla III promoted GWs? They can get that promotion with only 4 XP, so one fight after they're out of the Barracks. Kaitzilla lately conquered a poor, Large / Deity / Marathon / Highlands map with them before 1 AD. Giving the highest rating to Oromo's also won't get much people to agree with that.

Yes, it seems Gallic should have +, while Jaguar -. Although I value Woodsman III much higher than Guerilla III.


On which difficulty do you play CIV? And on which settings are you playing?

Usually, Emperor on Terra. I don't like specific maps, just because Civilization is a game about Earth for me. So, I need ocean, several continents, all types of landscapes.

Gallic could shine on Highlands, but it only proves, that they are very specialized units. Not universal. But univerality of Gallic is that he is good in both, offence and defence. So, Gallic in Hill City a little bit worse than Longbow, but could defend it very well. Jaguar, for comparison, mainly scout or defence unit.

Cossacks have no raised strength anymore since Warlords, I think. Only vs. other mounted units which is not such a big deal.

I think Cossacks should be lower from ++ to +. Agree.


I don't think that the resource (in)dependence is a major factor. The most powerful UUs are early and so one will need a little luck anyway because horses so far that they cannot be claimed with the capital or next city seriously reduce the power of war chariots and immortals. I have not played many early rushes since I moved to Emperor and then Immortal, partly because many factors have to fit together and it often seems safer to expand peacefully and conquer later with e.g. cuirassiers.

Resource dependance is not only about early access to your units, it's also about how secure your production of UUs, because you can lose you resource via spy operations, pillaging or conquering territory. Even via sea blockade.

I should insert this text to main post. Thanks ))


But for me the most powerful (game breaking) UUs are probably: Quechua, War chariot, Immortal, Praetorian. Maybe Vulture and Gallic warrior as well.

Others seem mainly annoying when one has to fight them but they are not very useful for rushing and conquering cities: Impi, Dog, Skirmisher.

Slight but useful boost compared to the normal unit: Keshik, Berserker, East Indiaman, Cataphract, Conquistador, Redcoat, Oromo (I have not much experience with them), Janissary. Probably Carack but on many maps they will be almost irrelevant

I think I played Samurais and Chokonus mainly on Warlords or vanilla. Problem here is that Togus traits are so bad I never want to play him. The Hwacha was great on Warlords (could really devastate typical AI stacks) but not a big deal with the change of siege warfare.

And I generally have a problem with medieval units. On normal speed one has to get them uncommonly early with some kind of (usually very situational) slingshot because they are somewhat expensive and one usually needs siege anyway as soon as the AI has longbows (with their combined defense bonuses in cities) and often 40+% cultural (or even walls/castle). To me the best of the medieval UUs seems the Berserker. This is also map-dependent but the 10% extra city attack, CI without any promo and of course the amphibious option make them often quite successful even without siege.

try to analize, what advantages do you find in your favorite units


I must agree with Seraiel. A rating system that rates Immortals and War Chariots on par with Phalanxes and below impis, jaguars, musketeers and landcraps is ridiculously flawed.

Why would the 4 strength, 2 move, 35 hammer impi be rated higher in strength than a 5 strength, 2 move, 30 hammer war chariot?

As for pure strength, I rated Phalanxes low (+). And Immortals medium (++). Maybe I should rise War Chariot from + to ++, but not higher.

I believe Impi, Immortal, War Chariot are quite equal. All have speed 2, Immortal has good anti-units ability, War Chariot has pure strength risen and Impi has access to City Raiders I, II, III and more mobile.


And What's up with +2 legacy for the impi? Are you aware that the mobility promotion is useless on 1 move units that the impis upgrade to?

True. This legacy could be usuful only for generals or Modern Era units. Should be + instead of ++.

Quechuas, Immortals and War Chariots are in a league of their own, followed by Praets and Vultures. Fast worker also ranks very high, but can't be compared with the others because it is so different.

Fast Worker is completely different. The same is true for Naval Units too. But somehow we should evaluate them, or otherwise the approach would be incomplete.
 
I believe Impi, Immortal, War Chariot are quite equal. All have speed 2, Immortal has good anti-units ability, War Chariot has pure strength risen and Impi has access to City Raiders I, II, III and more mobile.
CR promoted impis are worth nothing really. An unpromoted war chariot has better odds vs. archers in cities than a CR2 impi. An unpromoted war chariot has greater survival odds than a CR3 impi, thanks to retreat odds. A C1 war chariot has greater victory odds than a CR3 impi. And as mentioned, the war chariot is cheaper to build. There's no comparison between these units, war chariots are leagues ahead of the impi.
 
CR promoted impis are worth nothing really. An unpromoted war chariot has better odds vs. archers in cities than a CR2 impi. An unpromoted war chariot has greater survival odds than a CR3 impi, thanks to retreat odds. A C1 war chariot has greater victory odds than a CR3 impi. And as mentioned, the war chariot is cheaper to build. There's no comparison between these units, war chariots are leagues ahead of the impi.

Hard to believe. Can you show some calculations as supporting of your words?
 
Forgot the aggressive C1 bonus for impis. Changes it slightly, but not much. C1 war chariots still beat CR2 impis. C2 war chariots vs CR3 impis depend on the city. CR3 impi might sometimes be ahead of a C2 war chariot, if the city has very low tile defense. The more defensive bonuses the city has, or the more promoted the defender is, the more favor for war chariot. A hill city with 20% cultural defense is enough to put C2 war chariot ahead.

The CR3 impi is stronger than a C3 war chariot only when attacking unpromoted archers in non-hill cities with 0% cultural defense. Give the city 20% cultural defense, or CG1 promotion to archer, or put city on hill, then C3 war chariot comes out ahead.
 
Forgot the aggressive C1 bonus for impis. Changes it slightly, but not much. C1 war chariots still beat CR2 impis. C2 war chariots vs CR3 impis depend on the city. CR3 impi might sometimes be ahead of a C2 war chariot, if the city has very low tile defense. The more defensive bonuses the city has, or the more promoted the defender is, the more favor for war chariot. A hill city with 20% cultural defense is enough to put C2 war chariot ahead.

The CR3 impi is stronger than a C3 war chariot only when attacking unpromoted archers in non-hill cities with 0% cultural defense. Give the city 20% cultural defense, or CG1 promotion to archer, or put city on hill, then C3 war chariot comes out ahead.

How do you calculate this?

You also forgot, that Impi has access to Cover, and Cover is better, tham CR I.
So, Impi with one promotion has 4+Combat I+Cover = 4+35%=5,4, while War Chariot with Combar I has 5,5. Very close.

More over, IIRC, when defender is well promoted, you should subtract attacker bonuses from defender bonuses, and in this case Impi is much greater, because he has more %, that will be substracted.
 
How do you calculate this?
There are some combat odds calculators around. Or you can use worldbuilder.

You also forgot, that Impi has access to Cover, and Cover is better, tham CR I.
So, Impi with one promotion has 4+Combat I+Cover = 4+35%=5,4, while War Chariot with Combar I has 5,5. Very close.
Not correct. The cover promotion is subtracted from defender bonuses. Combat promotions are not subtracted, they multiply your own strength.

In the case of C1+cover impi vs fortified archer in a non-hill city with no cultural defense bonus, we have 4.4 vs 4.5 (archer would have +75% from city and fortification bonus, the cover promotion is subtracted from this to give archer a total modifier of +50%). Victory odds for impi are 30.38%.

C1 war chariot vs same archer is 5.5 vs 5.25 (3*1.75) giving 65.22% victory odds to war chariot. That's more than twice of your impi. Unpromoted war chariot is 5 vs 5.25, with victory odds 34.78% (survival odds 41.4%), which is still better than C1+cover impi.
 
Good guide made for good reading.
 
There are some combat odds calculators around. Or you can use worldbuilder.

Indeed. Forgot about that. What calculator do you use? I afraid, I can find some old ones.


Not correct. The cover promotion is subtracted from defender bonuses. Combat promotions are not subtracted, they multiply your own strength.

In the case of C1+cover impi vs fortified archer in a non-hill city with no cultural defense bonus, we have 4.4 vs 4.5 (archer would have +75% from city and fortification bonus, the cover promotion is subtracted from this to give archer a total modifier of +50%). Victory odds for impi are 30.38%.

C1 war chariot vs same archer is 5.5 vs 5.25 (3*1.75) giving 65.22% victory odds to war chariot. That's more than twice of your impi. Unpromoted war chariot is 5 vs 5.25, with victory odds 34.78% (survival odds 41.4%), which is still better than C1+cover impi.

Exactly correct. I just couldn't expect that 4.4 vs 4.5 gives 30% of victory. Its against intuition :(

upd: forgot about firststrike and that War Chariot negate it. Thanks!


Good guide made for good reading.

Thanks. I just tried to consider not only combat abilities, because the game is not only about combats. :spear:
 
What calculator do you use? I afraid, I can find some old ones.
I use worldbuilder. I have a save for testing combat odds with AI cities set up with different fully fortified defenders, then just add units to check the odds.

Exactly correct. I just couldn't expect that 4.4 vs 4.5 gives 30% of victory. Its against intuition :(
Combat odds often are. There's almost always a jump from 35% to 60% when you pass the defender in adjusted strength. You hardly ever see victory odds between 40% and 60%, except exactly 50% when fighting with equal strength. Also, the relationship between strength and combat odds is not nearly linear. It would seem that a war chariot is only 25% stronger than a regular chariot, but in practice the war chariot will often have twice as good odds as the regular chariot, which makes it a really good UU.

The same is true for the strength difference between Numidian Cavalry and regular Horse Archer. When fighting archers in cities, the regular HA will often have double victory odds compared to the Numidian, and greater survival odds despite the extra flanking promotion on the Numidian. Sometimes even much worse than that. Against protective archer in hill city with 20% cultural defense, the regular HA has 22% victory and 38% survival odds, while the Numidian has only 4.5% victory and 33% survival odds. If you aren't fighting melee units, the Numidian is really a huge downgrade compared to a regular HA.
 
Difficult to take this very seriously when half the UUs in the game are called "real gamebreakers", and this include the NAVY Seal (which comes so late that almost all games are over aaaages ago), and War Chariots and Immortals are called "middle ranked".

War Chariots and Immortals are fantastic. In general, the earlier a UU is available, the better it is, especially when it has genuine great advantages like the War Chariot and Immortal. Late UUs or UBs often have zero impact on the game. Doesn't matter much if you get an Artillery with 100 :strength: if it's only available after Future Tech 10 :D
 
elitetroops already gave a lot examples, but in general, I don't find it good, that you let us do your work, like when you suggest that we should compare certain units in all categories you give. It's your wish to categorize UU in certain categories, not ours, and if your categories lead to severly flawed perceptions, you need to adjust the weight with which every factor gets rated. It totally doesn't matter what's in theory, in the real game, War Chariots and Immortals own they era hardcore. They have 2 moves (something that i. e. isn't even mentioned in your ratings, though it's a major factor) , so they can threaten 2 cities at once, making the AI sometimes move defenders from one city to the other which leaves them on the open field, where they're easy to slaughter. War Chariots and Immortals are definitely worthy of a +++ in STR.

Test those things out yourself, if you don't have the War Chariot and the Immortal right after the Quechua, and Praets on par with WCs / Immortals or slightly behind them, noone will take this guide serious. Go the way of "weighting the categories" is your best bet. It may be nice to judge UUs with more than 1 category, but if the date at which the unit comes has the same weight as it's dependancy on metal or it's combat str, something is completely wrong, because in 95% of the games which end with Cavalries and Airships, the Navy Seel doesn't even exist, therefore he must be rated below the worst UUs of the game.
Same with Oromo, when that guy enters the game, Egypt, Persia and Rome have already taken so many cities of the map, that they have several times the power of Oromos could ever bring. Most units won't even give a better ranking than the standard-non-UU War Elephant imo., because Elephants and Catapults own everything until including Pikes. Or for example, Praets + Cannons are way better than Oromo's + Cannons, because with Cannons, it doesn't matter if the clean-up-unit has a little extra STR, though the way cheaper Praets probably even are on par with the Oromos because they have CR.

Also, categories like "versatility" are imo. only of very little importance, because every player can mix his troops for a great SoD. What does it matter that the Landcrap is one unit against everything? It helps in very specific scenarios, where a Knight i. e. would get a Pike while the XBow gets a Knight as a defender, then, the Landcrap is good, because he can own Pikes aswell as Knights, but this is more a theoretical example than that it actually happens in the game.

Regarding the argument that WM3 is better than Guerilla 3, it's not. WM3 has advantages when attacking units on Forest tiles, Guerilla 3 when attacking hills, how many cities do you know are on Forests and how many are on hills? Also, 50% retreat is much more than 2 additionial Firststrikes.

And I don't want to come of as arrogant, but you said we have "different" CIV experience. It's also that we have more experience on difficulties higher than the one you play, so Immortal + Deity, so plz accept this critique, it's really with the best intentions which are, that your guide doesn't get 1 or 0 star ratings once it's finished.
 
I use worldbuilder. I have a save for testing combat odds with AI cities set up with different fully fortified defenders, then just add units to check the odds.


Combat odds often are. There's almost always a jump from 35% to 60% when you pass the defender in adjusted strength. You hardly ever see victory odds between 40% and 60%, except exactly 50% when fighting with equal strength. Also, the relationship between strength and combat odds is not nearly linear. It would seem that a war chariot is only 25% stronger than a regular chariot, but in practice the war chariot will often have twice as good odds as the regular chariot, which makes it a really good UU.

The same is true for the strength difference between Numidian Cavalry and regular Horse Archer. When fighting archers in cities, the regular HA will often have double victory odds compared to the Numidian, and greater survival odds despite the extra flanking promotion on the Numidian. Sometimes even much worse than that. Against protective archer in hill city with 20% cultural defense, the regular HA has 22% victory and 38% survival odds, while the Numidian has only 4.5% victory and 33% survival odds. If you aren't fighting melee units, the Numidian is really a huge downgrade compared to a regular HA.

Anyway, I believe, that Numidian is very good unit, because of fast gaining exp. Also, numidians much better kills enemy stacks, 'cause they do not fear spearmen. This task is nearly impossible for pure HA.

Difficult to take this very seriously when half the UUs in the game are called "real gamebreakers", and this include the NAVY Seal (which comes so late that almost all games are over aaaages ago), and War Chariots and Immortals are called "middle ranked".


OK. It seems I should use word "overpowered" instead of "game-breaker". I commented question about Navy SEAL in main article and below.

War Chariots and Immortals are fantastic. In general, the earlier a UU is available, the better it is, especially when it has genuine great advantages like the War Chariot and Immortal. Late UUs or UBs often have zero impact on the game. Doesn't matter much if you get an Artillery with 100 :strength: if it's only available after Future Tech 10 :D

Yes, therefore one of the key factors is age of origin. And all early UUs there have +++ or ++. On the other side, if you somehow play in Modern Era, then you should know, that NavySEAL significantly better usual marines, while old Panzer could tear apart even modern armors.
 
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