BroOfTheSun
Warlord
Let's look at their UA, UU, and UB:
UA: Solidarity - Receive a free Social Policy when you advance to the next era.
This is an incredibly powerful UA. It is a free Oracle with each era, and I think this is almost OP. It makes Poland flexible in how you play them; tall, wide, semi-whatever. Anything will work because you can choose the social policy to support the strategy.
UU: Winged Hussar - Heavy Mounted Unit specialized in defeating enemy mounted units. This unit is faster and more powerful than the Lancer, which it replaces. Forces defenders to retreat when it inflicts more damage than it receives. May only be built by the Polish.
Starts with Shock I, Formation I, and Heavy Charge. Combined with Ducal Stable, Barracks, and Armory, you can quickly build up a Winged Hussar to start with March. I put the Winged Hussar in my top 5 best units in the game. They dominate their era. Some downsides are the heavy charge can help an enemy unit escape death, or put your Winged Hussar in a bad position. Also, they do not upgrade to anti-tank for awhile.
Still, a very good UU.
UB: Ducal Stable - Unique Polish Stable replacement. +15% production Production and +15 XP for Mounted Units. Each Pasture worked by this City produces +1 Production and +1 Gold.
Compared to the a regular stable, it gives the extra XP for mounted units (great synergy with Winged Hussar), and it gives +1 gold on pastures. The extra gold is great for early game, since gold tiles are hard to come by. This also works well with early trading, since it makes your city a little more attractive to trade. A very good UB.
The UA, UU, and UB are all really good or great, but I think it's easier to measure Poland when compared to other "OP" civs. So let's look at the Shoshone, since several users have said that they are OP.
UA comparison:
Great Expanse - Founded cities start with additional territory. Units receive a combat bonus when fighting within their own territory.
Great for settling new cities, obviously. It gives you access to start working good tiles around your city when you first settle it. The defensive bonus is nice, and makes the Shoshone a little more difficult to invade.
However, you do not get any economic bonuses with the Shoshone for this. I think Solidarity gets better in late game as well, since SP costs go up throughout the game. My vote Solidarity > Great Expanse.
UB/UU comparison
I think we should compare Pathfinder to the Ducal Stable, since they are both the earlier UU/UB that Shoshone/Poland get in game.
The Pathfinder is a great unit for the early game, and helps you get started. The Pathfinder definitely gives favor to Shoshone in that you can get free techs and faith. I would not say the free culture is great when compared to Solidarity, which does the same thing in giving you social policies (without raising the cost of the next policy).
In the early game, the Ducal Stable's best attribute is the extra gold. So you get some early gold, but nothing too great. Maybe enough to keep you above red, while you're setting up your empire. Overall, I have to say Pathfinder > Ducal Stable.
Finally, Winged Hussar vs. Comanche Rider.
Comanche Rider - 34 Str. 5 Mvmt 200 Hammers, available later than Winged Hussar. Upgrades to landship
Winged Hussar - 28 Str. 5 Mvmt 185 Hammers, available before Comanche Rider. Upgrades to anti-tank
Base Comanche Rider vs. base Winged Hussar (no extra promotions, in neutral territory, on plains) Comanche Rider 34 Str -- Winged Hussar 37.24 (28 + 28*0.33)
Same fight, but in Shoshone territory. Comanche Rider 39.1 (34+34*0.15) -- Winged Hussar 37.24 (is that right...going off memory)
So Comanche Rider slightly loses in neutral territory, and slightly wins in Shoshone territory. With upgrades, I put the Winged Hussar > Comanche Rider.
Looking at the total package, I have to say Poland > Shoshone. I don't think there would be a lot of people to disagree with this. So going back to my point now, where does Poland fit with other Civs? UA, definitely OP. UU, really good, fits well within the game. UB, an ok building to help your economy. Overall, I think slightly OP because of their UA. If it's going to be that good, there should be some tradeoff somewhere. They shouldn't have an awesome UA, and a really good UU and UB.
UA: Solidarity - Receive a free Social Policy when you advance to the next era.
This is an incredibly powerful UA. It is a free Oracle with each era, and I think this is almost OP. It makes Poland flexible in how you play them; tall, wide, semi-whatever. Anything will work because you can choose the social policy to support the strategy.
UU: Winged Hussar - Heavy Mounted Unit specialized in defeating enemy mounted units. This unit is faster and more powerful than the Lancer, which it replaces. Forces defenders to retreat when it inflicts more damage than it receives. May only be built by the Polish.
Starts with Shock I, Formation I, and Heavy Charge. Combined with Ducal Stable, Barracks, and Armory, you can quickly build up a Winged Hussar to start with March. I put the Winged Hussar in my top 5 best units in the game. They dominate their era. Some downsides are the heavy charge can help an enemy unit escape death, or put your Winged Hussar in a bad position. Also, they do not upgrade to anti-tank for awhile.
Still, a very good UU.
UB: Ducal Stable - Unique Polish Stable replacement. +15% production Production and +15 XP for Mounted Units. Each Pasture worked by this City produces +1 Production and +1 Gold.
Compared to the a regular stable, it gives the extra XP for mounted units (great synergy with Winged Hussar), and it gives +1 gold on pastures. The extra gold is great for early game, since gold tiles are hard to come by. This also works well with early trading, since it makes your city a little more attractive to trade. A very good UB.
The UA, UU, and UB are all really good or great, but I think it's easier to measure Poland when compared to other "OP" civs. So let's look at the Shoshone, since several users have said that they are OP.
UA comparison:
Great Expanse - Founded cities start with additional territory. Units receive a combat bonus when fighting within their own territory.
Great for settling new cities, obviously. It gives you access to start working good tiles around your city when you first settle it. The defensive bonus is nice, and makes the Shoshone a little more difficult to invade.
However, you do not get any economic bonuses with the Shoshone for this. I think Solidarity gets better in late game as well, since SP costs go up throughout the game. My vote Solidarity > Great Expanse.
UB/UU comparison
I think we should compare Pathfinder to the Ducal Stable, since they are both the earlier UU/UB that Shoshone/Poland get in game.
The Pathfinder is a great unit for the early game, and helps you get started. The Pathfinder definitely gives favor to Shoshone in that you can get free techs and faith. I would not say the free culture is great when compared to Solidarity, which does the same thing in giving you social policies (without raising the cost of the next policy).
In the early game, the Ducal Stable's best attribute is the extra gold. So you get some early gold, but nothing too great. Maybe enough to keep you above red, while you're setting up your empire. Overall, I have to say Pathfinder > Ducal Stable.
Finally, Winged Hussar vs. Comanche Rider.
Comanche Rider - 34 Str. 5 Mvmt 200 Hammers, available later than Winged Hussar. Upgrades to landship
Winged Hussar - 28 Str. 5 Mvmt 185 Hammers, available before Comanche Rider. Upgrades to anti-tank
Base Comanche Rider vs. base Winged Hussar (no extra promotions, in neutral territory, on plains) Comanche Rider 34 Str -- Winged Hussar 37.24 (28 + 28*0.33)
Same fight, but in Shoshone territory. Comanche Rider 39.1 (34+34*0.15) -- Winged Hussar 37.24 (is that right...going off memory)
So Comanche Rider slightly loses in neutral territory, and slightly wins in Shoshone territory. With upgrades, I put the Winged Hussar > Comanche Rider.
Looking at the total package, I have to say Poland > Shoshone. I don't think there would be a lot of people to disagree with this. So going back to my point now, where does Poland fit with other Civs? UA, definitely OP. UU, really good, fits well within the game. UB, an ok building to help your economy. Overall, I think slightly OP because of their UA. If it's going to be that good, there should be some tradeoff somewhere. They shouldn't have an awesome UA, and a really good UU and UB.