Iwo Jima
Warlord
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:
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:
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
Special thanks to Seraiel, Elitetroops, Kallikrates and all commentors.
PS: feel free to correct my English )
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
- 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 :
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.
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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