The new UUs in Brave New World have some really interesting, novel abilities. With the exception of the Comanche Rider, I think each UU has at least one completely new ability (the Great Galleass being able to make melee attacks is probably a bug, I guess, but it's still pretty cool). In comparison, some of the older unitsespecially the vanilla unitsare looking pretty dull. Which one most deserves a makeover?
Following long minutes of careful research, I give you the contenders:
The Carthaginian Quinquereme is just a Trireme with 30% more base Strength.
The Roman Ballista, similarly, is simply a 25% stronger version of the unit it replaces.
The German Landsknecht isn't even stronger than the Pikeman, just cheaper. Hardly fair to the best European infantry of the late Renaissance (who shouldn't be a Medieval unit to begin with).
The Japanese Samurai is a decent unit (or would be, if its base unit weren't practically useless), but does it do justice to "the best pre-gunpowder warriors since the Roman legions," as the Civilopedia puts it?
The French Musketeer, like the Quinquereme and Ballista before it, is just a scaled-up version of the base unit. Unlike those two, it's not even that much of an upgradea little more than 15% stronger than a Musketman.
The Russian Cossack probably has the most unusual ability of any of these units (and it stacks nicely with the Charge promotion), but it's not very interesting and it's not very good. The Civilopedia calls them "the greatest natural horsemen since the Mongols," but they certainly don't inspire fear the way a Keshik does.
Honorable mentions: the Atlatlist, Bowman, and Hoplite look boring on paper, but (in my opinion) they're made more interesting by the tech options they give youthe Maya and Babylonians can delay researching Archery and Construction, respectively, while still maintaining a strong defense, and the Greeks can practically skip Iron Working entirely. The Mandekalu Cavalry looks quite dull (and weak) on paper, but synergizes nicely with the Songhai UA. I think all of the Atomic-era UUs (B-17, Panzer, Zero) are a bit uninspired, but they catch enough grief already for coming too late to be useful, so I've left them out.
Feel free to vote "Other" if you really hate one of the above, of course!
Following long minutes of careful research, I give you the contenders:
The Carthaginian Quinquereme is just a Trireme with 30% more base Strength.
The Roman Ballista, similarly, is simply a 25% stronger version of the unit it replaces.
The German Landsknecht isn't even stronger than the Pikeman, just cheaper. Hardly fair to the best European infantry of the late Renaissance (who shouldn't be a Medieval unit to begin with).
The Japanese Samurai is a decent unit (or would be, if its base unit weren't practically useless), but does it do justice to "the best pre-gunpowder warriors since the Roman legions," as the Civilopedia puts it?
The French Musketeer, like the Quinquereme and Ballista before it, is just a scaled-up version of the base unit. Unlike those two, it's not even that much of an upgradea little more than 15% stronger than a Musketman.
The Russian Cossack probably has the most unusual ability of any of these units (and it stacks nicely with the Charge promotion), but it's not very interesting and it's not very good. The Civilopedia calls them "the greatest natural horsemen since the Mongols," but they certainly don't inspire fear the way a Keshik does.
Honorable mentions: the Atlatlist, Bowman, and Hoplite look boring on paper, but (in my opinion) they're made more interesting by the tech options they give youthe Maya and Babylonians can delay researching Archery and Construction, respectively, while still maintaining a strong defense, and the Greeks can practically skip Iron Working entirely. The Mandekalu Cavalry looks quite dull (and weak) on paper, but synergizes nicely with the Songhai UA. I think all of the Atomic-era UUs (B-17, Panzer, Zero) are a bit uninspired, but they catch enough grief already for coming too late to be useful, so I've left them out.
Feel free to vote "Other" if you really hate one of the above, of course!
