The worst unit overall

[Portuguese]

I don't une ANY unit I can't use again and again.
(apart from ICBMs some times...)

 

[Hades]

I think the fire power of MA alone is sufficient. For bombing, I prefer stealth bombers over radar artilleries. I have once lost 87 radar artilleries to a lone longbowman because I forgot to guard them at the end of the turn. That's what I don't like about them.

 

[Phillip_martin]

I voted for Explorer as regrdless on how useless a UU is (with the short shelf life MoW high on the list) at least it can trigger a GA. I snuck in a space race victory when playing a GOTM as America due to an F15 trigering a GA late in the game.

As with a lot of respondants I have never in a game built in serious numbers:
Privateers
Air units other than fighter/jetfighters and bombers
Sea units other than transports, battleships when available
Paratroopers
Marines
Radar Artillery which IMHO is the most useless of all.

 

[hbdragon88]

Some of those can easily be tweaked to give you the advantage:

Privateers: I tweaked the A/D rating to 15/17 (yes a bit insane) to give it the uppercut advantage against most pre-Modern Age ships.

Paratrooper: I gave them the same A/D rating as regular infantry, gave them two moves (so you can parachute and still attack) and made 'em upgradable.

Marines: Use them before you can build MIs and MAs and overrun a civ.

 

[bobgote]

Marines can be build earlier than tanks depending on how you choose to learn the techs. They're very handy in taking an island civ. I think marines should be available a lot earlier tho, to be historically accurate. They should come in with riflemen or earlier, of course not with the machine guns, maybe there should be 2 types of marines....

 

[Phillip_martin]

hbdragon88,

As for tweaking I am one of those weirdos that rarely plays a game away from the "out of the box" plus patches version.

As for Marines, even if they did come in earlier as bogote suggests a Veteran Marine against a Fortified Regular Rifleman with no other modifiers, still only has a 50/50 changes of winning. As it is with Infantry to contend with forget it!

 

[scooblerboy]

offense, or it can be used for both, thats what i do

 

[hbdragon88]

Eariler I read that Marines can take on Infantry and win, but not against Mech Infantry or Modern Armor.

I think that Marines should be a UU which only the Americans build. According to what I know, isn't the U.S. the only civ that has the Marines? Other countries just have a navy, army, and air force.

 

[scooblerboy]

yep, but marines can be a huge advantage

 

[bobgote]

Originally posted by hbdragon88
I think that Marines should be a UU which only the Americans build. According to what I know, isn't the U.S. the only civ that has the Marines? Other countries just have a navy, army, and air force.

Nope, you're wrong. I know that many other countries have marines. I know that great britain had royal marines in the Napoleonic wars, probably well before then. I'm uncertain as to whether this was the first occurance of marines.

 

[Bismarck]

Originally posted by bobgote

Nope, you're wrong. I know that many other countries have marines. I know that great britain had royal marines in the Napoleonic wars, probably well before then. I'm uncertain as to whether this was the first occurance of marines.

Yes, the UK had one of the world's earliest "modern" marine forces. However, the concept of an elite force trained to launch amphibious attacks dates back to ancient times.

Here's a link to a page on the French Marines, founded in 1622 - long before the US existed

http://wwwusers.imaginet.fr/~cairn/acolonia.htm

 

[Tweedledum]

Originally posted by hbdragon88
isn't the U.S. the only civ that has the Marines? Other countries just have a navy, army, and air force.

I wouldn't tell that to the Royal Marines in Britain. They wouldn't like it, and you don't want to upset them...!

 

[hbdragon88]

Ok ok I am very naive so is forgiveness not an option?

 

[XOVER]

Since originally reading the Explorer thread, I now build a few for pillaging enemy lands.

You can't airlift them, though. You have to ship-to-ship transfer them, if you've got the ship network set up, assuming you're waging war on another continent.

 

[hbdragon88]

Explorers, I read, are not pointless. They are good for military use. Read the article about Explorers in the War Academy. They can recon, pillage, and do more!

 

[pesoloco]

Originally posted by sabo10
privateer

I use privateers quite a bit. I use them to sink those pesky foreign galleys that don't think twice about trespassing into my territory, but the second I drift into theirs...they're all upset.
So I use the privateers to get rid of them so I don't have to start a war.

A unit I don't ever use is the Cruise Missile. They hardly do any damage and you have to guard them or they will be captured or destroyed like workers and catapults.

 

[billindenver]

Originally posted by pesoloco

A unit I don't ever use is the Cruise Missile. They hardly do any damage and you have to guard them or they will be captured or destroyed like workers and catapults.

Their biggest virtue is that they can sink ships or finish off units. E.g., I'll use bombers or artillery against foreign ships straying too close to my shores, but all they can do is weaken, not sink, the ships. Once down to 1-2 hp, the cruise missiles will sink them. Arty and bombers won't.

 

[hbdragon88]

Originally posted by XOVER
Since originally reading the Explorer thread, I now build a few for pillaging enemy lands.

You can't airlift them, though. You have to ship-to-ship transfer them, if you've got the ship network set up, assuming you're waging war on another continent.

Explorers are useless, I have discovered. The article I read that I said about said that you could use them for recon and/or pillaging, but you can't! And it also said that they are non-military so they won't get asked to leave. Well I moved an Explorer into China's territory and they told me to get out! I have to wonder when the article, "Using Explorers Revealed," was written. Before v1.17f?

And pillaging lands constitutes war, too - even with explorers!

 

[Portuguese]

Man-O-War should be winning...

Explorer is rarely usefull, English boat make us think that Firaxis don't like the Queen...

 

[hbdragon88]

Well my guess is that more people are frustrating at the Explorer's inability to do much than the Man-O-War's small advantage over regular Frigates.