The Strength of Aztec Jaguars

[anandus]

You didn't mention that they don't obsolete with Iron working either. You can still jack them for a good while afterwards.

Indeed, they go obsolete with Metal Casting.
I often delay Metal Casting when playing the Aztecs just to be able to pump out as many jags as (financially) possible. And then (in due time) upgrade them.
Later in the game there's not enough forest or jungle to use, but the heal-after-kill ability makes your units incredibly dangerous (and in multiplayer often throws your opponents' calculations off).

 

[isau]

I agree that the Jaguar is much undervalued.

In addition, what makes the Aztecs great for early policy gathering is they also have a Jungle bias, and there's a Pantheon that provides +1 culture per jungle tile. Combined with the UA and the Honor opener you can rip through the policy tree, and your units don't really have any issue running through the jungles.

FWIW, I think the Aztec culture bonus guards against enemy Tourism, while Poland's does not. Poland probably gets more policies eventually but not by much and some of those policies come really late.

 

[isau]

If you think that then I don't think your doing it right. People always wonder why the AI Monty is usually such a jerk but, that's just how you have to play the Aztecs to get the most out of the UA. You pretty much want to be fighting all the time. Fighting Barbarians, Fighting City States and, Fighting other Civs. It is situational but, all but a few UAs are. If that doesn't fit your play style then I can see how you wouldn't like it that much. However I would urge you to give it a shot sometime it can be very addicting.

Building on this, IMO an ideal way to play them is to pick a close by "victim civ" who you can constantly fight but never actually conquer. You avoid the consequences of actually taking cities or creating global conflict. For whatever reason do-gooder civs who hate war don't mind if the Aztecs feed 2000 years of enemy soldiers to their gods as long as they all come from the same victim.

 

[Cpt Oblivious]

Yes, early UU's are often shirked for their real power, which is both in the early advantage they give you as well as the fact that they upgrade (often) into superior midrange units. The Jag is no exception: You think a Jaguar is scary, imagine the logistical boost alone that a bunch of Swords or Longswords with Woodsman gives, not to mention their ability to self-heal off of kills. Plant their upgrade version in jungle as well, and they're fighting at combat strength of one upgrade higher (at least til Muskets).

It is mirrored in other early unique units as well.
Pictish Warriors are scary enough as is, but they become really terrifying when you realize they become Pikemen with the strength of Longswords when not on defense, and then Lancers with almost Cavalry strength. (Not to mention the no move cost pillaging retained... at lancers this is just... yikes)

Similarly, Immortals are great, but midgame, having Pikes/Lancers with permanent Fountain of Youth healing on them is just daunting.

Likewise, I always shrugged at Slingers until I realized that they turn into Comps and Crossbows who have withdraw before melee, at which point I realized they were a lot harder to get rid of.

Sometimes the best thing to remember about the early UU's is that they don't always "obsolete", they often turn into something even more terrifying than their original iteration.

 

[Babri]

If you think that then I don't think your doing it right. People always wonder why the AI Monty is usually such a jerk but, that's just how you have to play the Aztecs to get the most out of the UA. You pretty much want to be fighting all the time. Fighting Barbarians, Fighting City States and, Fighting other Civs. It is situational but, all but a few UAs are. If that doesn't fit your play style then I can see how you wouldn't like it that much. However I would urge you to give it a shot sometime it can be very addicting.

I don't have fixed play style like most people have. I am adaptable.

The problem is that in ciV that military units are limited. Most civs have 5-6 units early on max (due to limited gold). And later on military sizes expand but then SP costs pretty much skyrocket & a couple of culture here & there isn't that useful. I am not saying that their UA is useless, rather it is a bit on the weak side. I am fine with that though because Aztec UU & UB are one of the best in the game !

And OP : You forgot to mention one of the most powerful thing about Jaguar, they are on the right upgrade track ! Many UUs become useless as they upgrade to bad units. Eg: Camel Archers, Immortals, Keshliks, Horse archers...

 

[Enrico Swagolo]

Only fools hate on the Jaguar. It's not an Ancient Era Unique Unit... It's a Unique Unit of Ancient Era, Classical Era, Medieval, Reneissance, Industrial and Modern.

ALL the three unique promotions remain after the upgrade. You get free Woodsman (tier 3 promotion), +25 HP for kill (can't get any other way), and more strength in woods (can't get any other way). Properly leveled Jaguar is going to become the best melee unit in the game.

You don't NEED to spam it very early either. They obsolete at Metal Casting, so you can safely build your economy and only then create upgrade them into Swordjaguars, and even later into Longjags. Severely underrated. I'd understand if it had no unique promotions or bad ones, but it gives you THREE insanely useful abilities while fitting greatly with Aztec UA.

 

[King_Course]

The Jaguar is an excellent unit, making the ends of the Jannisar meet the Minuteman. The tradeof is often just as good as the UU it was derived from. I'd rather have an upgraded Jag than a Janissary or a Minuteman.

Problems: They are warriors, if you want them longterm you will be building 4-6 warriors, which is not something you'd usually do so early. They don't last long as is, as Spearmen and horses and axethrowers soon make life difficult for them. As melee units, you will lose them during the game, but they are great as long as they last.

You can actually research Iron Working, and still buy/build Jaguars. This opens up for the possibility of building heroic epic, and then adding 3-4 Jaguars to your army for the long term investment into these units.

It's what works best I think, a couple of jags and maybe an archer for barb hunting early, get Heroic Epic early and build the remainding jaguars then.

 

[anandus]

[...] Swordjaguars [...] Longjags [...]

Love these names! It has something very cool about it.
Swordjags, Longjags, Musketjags, Riflejags, etc.
Yeah

Problems: They are warriors, if you want them longterm you will be building 4-6 warriors, which is not something you'd usually do so early.

Well, if you build them instead of scouts, you'll get to that amount a lot sooner.

 

[BUDISMYBUDDY]

Agreed. i have played a lot of games as the Aztecs and Woo!!! the Jags are insane. Especially since they stay with you the entire game i make sure to build at least 10-15 of them even if i can't afford it cause you can always get tribute from CS and since war is a most as the Aztecs your gonna be getting gold from capturing cities, pillaging and peace deals. It is definitely a really fun civ to play as and i recomend people who like to war to go for it. Other fun waring civs are the Huns and of course Mongols

 

[lindsay40k]

Quite. A pile of Jaguars isn't an economic burden; they're leverage for sacrificing CS influence to gain culture, strong units and great generals. Just need to get the hang of juggling tribute so you don't run out of money before the next payday

 

[Karmah]

I LOVE jaguars !
Nothing like a good old warring aztec game after a boring brazilian game !