There have been so many sophisticated arguments over the time why these 3 units are the worst of the worst. Can't see why someone would still defend them.
I'm sure there have been many sophisticated arguments. This isn't one of them.
Here's an unsophisticated but effective argument for why the Panzer and Zero are the worst UUs in the game: two civs that have medieval UUs and UAs designed for pure warmongeringespecially Germany's, which peaks
very early in the gamewill not, if they're played optimally, be around long enough to use Atomic-era UUs. Of course you don't have to play any civ optimally, but it's just clunky design to have a UA that, if used well, will preclude you from seeing one of your units. Tension between uniques can be interesting, like how Ethiopia's UA says "go tall" and their UB screams "go wide," but "oh, you did a good job? sorry, you don't get this unit" isn't really
tension.
This argument does not apply to the B-17, however. The B-17 has decent synergy with the other American uniques (by "decent," I mean that hey, at least it's not in direct conflict with them) and it's also, in a vacuum, a much better UU than the Panzer or Zero (or Landsknecht or Samurai, for that matter). America in general is actually in a pretty good place, I think; they'd be low on my list of civs to change.
In any event, we know that Japan and Germany are going to get another look. I'd be very surprised if they removed any of the UUs (although I guess it's conceivable that they could move the Panzer to the Autocracy tree like they moved the Foreign Legion to Freedom). Instead, I'm hoping forand, having listened to the podcast, think we can expect (at least for Japan)new UAs that make the civs less war-oriented and more likely to actually last until the Atomic era. Hopefully we'll get a more powerful, less soporific Landsknecht, too. And a snazzier Samurai!
Beyond those two, I think Denmark is most in need of attention (something is
seriously rotten with the state of Denmark, ha ha). Most of the other civs are in a decent place in terms of balance and whatnot, although of course I'd change lots of them out of personal preference. First an overhaul of India, then an overhaul of Babylon, new UAs for the Ottomans and China, maybe reworked UAs for Russia, the Songhai, and the Huns. I'd rename the Dutch UA (purely out of fussiness). And then I'd want to tinker with all the old UUsreplace the Ballista with a Forum or something, then spruce up some of the others. It's a pity that the vanilla civs have all these iconic unique units with ultra-bland abilitiesthe Hoplite and Musketeer are particularly disappointing now that we have cool stuff like the Impi, Winged Hussar, and Kris Swordsman.