Actually
Har Har.
Production cost
CS
Moves
ProbablyHar Har.
In other news: I haaaaaaate the Pracinha. The Pracinha sucks. Having a UU come that late sucks in general, we just got done fixing Germany for that problem. Their in-game bonuses suck, mostly on account of the Pracinha historically sucking so hard that it gives us no material to work with. I am completely serious, go and read up on the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in WWII, it ought to be a national embarrassment how pathetic they were.
In light of how awful and stupid the Pracinha is, I was doing more research on Brazilian military history, and I think I have come up with a good replacement: The Amazonas:
View attachment 608335
Amazonas (Ironclad replacement)
unlocked at IndustrializationThe Amazonas was a steam frigate that was the most pivotal ship in the most pivotal battle of the bloodiest war South America has ever seen: the Paraguayan War.
900
64
5
+33% vs cities
"Bronze Ram" (Plague Immunity, +33% vs other melee naval units)
At the Battle of Riachuelo, the Paraguyans launched a night raid against a docked Brazilian naval group, where they employed a combined coastal artillery battery and steamships to ambush the Brazilians. Not only did the Brazilians fend off the attack, but in the confusion, their flagship -- the Amazonas -- rammed and sunk 3 of the Paraguayan steam barges, and singlehandedly disabled 2 more ships. The loss to the Paraguayan navy was almost total, and with the destruction of that portion of their river navy, and the fall of the fort at Humaita 3 years later, the Brazilians and their allies had uncontested naval supremacy for the remainder of the war.
Thoughts?
CS from the Expeditionary Force promotion being based on distance from your Capital.
I knew my inflammatory statements would bring out our resident Brazilian
The Pracinha aren't known for the level of their equipment or training, they became notorious for their elan and adaptability. They went to successfully conquer highly fortified positions and, despite being from tropical lands with little thermal variation, were suffering less from European winter than their northern allies. Some foreign generals even went to say that, to learn how to conquer a city, watch the Brazilians, referring to the Pracinha.
Compared to other UUs out there, the Pracinha is closer to something like the Impi and the Panzer. The former two weren't known for having superior equipment to their contemporaries, quite the contrary, yet surpassed all expectations with their elan or doctrine.
Right now, their position in Brazil's toolkit makes sense, as Radio is about the time in which most AIs took an ideology and new enemies are formed. The Pracinha fits the CV focus of Brazil and is very easy to use for a non-warmonger civ; just mass purchase them with Draft Registration and the gold from the UA and send them to the enemy, no matter how far the enemy is due to their bonus movement and Amphibious promotion. Even better if the enemy is far away, due to the bonus
The timing around Radio is also very convenient due to how important the technology is for Brazil. The technology has an empire-wide buff to tourism modifiers, it has the last yield buff to Brazilwood Camp, it unlocks the Broadcast Tower for major tourism gains and, if Brazil went for Industry (currently the only Industrial policy tree with a WLTKD related bonus), it also unlocks the Broadway for another powerful theming bonus. Their current placement allows Brazil to wage war without having to focus the war oriented bottom part of the tech tree, focusing instead on the upper part that has the world wonders and the cultural bonuses of the Modern Era.
If the Pracinha needs a buff to account for their Modern Era timing, three thematic ones are movement-based ones (e.g. bonus movement in hills and snow, akin to the one from the Pictish Warrior), city conquest ones, and against fortified enemies.
I like this suggestion, as the Amazonas are from a period of time in which the Brazilian Navy had a clear superiority in the region, plus happening during Pedro's reign. However, there is no theme or synergy between this unit and Brazil's toolkit. Brazil isn't themed around navies or oceans (in fact, they are themed around rainforest instead), and Ironclads aren't timed around anything particularly important for Brazil's kit. There is no clear use for this unit in a non-militaristic civ that is clearly focused around Cultural Victory, and a high risk of ending as another forgettable UU in a civ's kit, much akin to Shoshone's Comanche Rider or the Austria's Hussar.
The unit somewhat resembles the discussion I had before about the Minas Gerais, the UU Brazil gets in civ 6. It is also a naval unit, known for starting a naval arms race in South America and even starting an hilarious international conspiracy theory event (same video at 6:23). It is impressive, but still doesn't fit any important role in Brazil's kit or gameplan, and would be a better theme if it were on a mod that implements a more militaristic version of Brazil instead.
For now, I prefer to keep the Pracinha, as they fit a clear purpose and have a great timing for what Brazil wants to do in Modern Era. Yes, they are a late unit, giving them relatively little time to impact the game, but they do affect your plans in Modern Era enough to be a good addition to the civ's toolkit.
CS per adjacent enemy unit when defending, deal 15 damage to all enemy units adjacent to a Unit killed by this unit), representing the fleet fending off an ambush and proceeding to steamroll the enemy in the confusion. My suggestion would be: Production cost CSMoves CS, +1 extra attack and heal 15 HP upon killing an unit that turn)I know, there's a reason why I suggested the Bandeirantes back then as a replacement of the Pracinha. And also, we Brazilians think that the poor preparation of the Pracinha was intentional, as the president of the time, Getulio Vargas, was actually a fascist. It is likely that he went for not actually helping as much as he could get away with, not wanting to cripple the fascist regimes in Europe that he was personally aligned with. So, all the lack of preparation you mentioned wasn't a failure, it was Vargas trolling our northern allies (who apparently never realized it).
Another thing, though, is that the Pracinha didn't seem to realize that either and actually fought as hard as they could. Regardless of their president's leaning, they fought with what they were given and became a mark of the country standing against Fascism, which quickly became a symbol of status during that era.
Personally, I find the tale of the Pracinha as hilarious as it is serious, and popular instructive videos in Brazil don't shy from showing the comical side of it. And about feeling embarrassment, we don't feel that about the Pracinha who fought. We're more likely to feel embarrassment about the president instead, depending on one's political leaning.
I'm not against an unique not being tailored about a victory condition, but the Bandeirantes already fills that space, being a more generalist unit. And I really like the Amazonas, I just don't see it as an improvement over the Pracinha yet, especially in how it fits with what Brazil is doing in the Industrial Era. Being a cultural civ, you're likely to be prioritizing techs like Archaeology and Dynamite (Eiffel Tower); Industrialization is a higher priority to Statecraft civs instead, and is even lower in priority for Brazil if you got the Slater Mill in your Capital, as you then have a factory there already. If you are wonder spamming, which cultural civs are, then chances are that you'll delay Industrialization.
One way I can see the Amazonas seeing good use for Brazil is if you change the unlock to Dynamite, instead of Industrialization. That tech already unlocks the Cruiser and the Gatling Gun anyway, and is a high priority tech for a cultural civ. With the Amazonas there, Brazil gets to have both a superior and complete navy without going out of its cultural plan. That would let the Amazonas have a comparable effect in Brazil's Industrial Era gameplan to what the Pracinha has in the Modern Era.
On the unit's combat merits, I like the idea from Discord, but that will likely need a "heal on kill" as well to work on a melee unit. Brazil isn't likely to go for Authority, so Amazonas will need a built-in heal on kill to pull off that historical maneuver. This is also another reason to have Amazonas unlocked at Dynamite, as you'll want to have cruisers softening those targets in order to pull off that maneuver. Moreover, this is a great UU to have the Breacher promotion as a baseline (+10%
Amazonas (Ironclad replacement)
unlocked at Dynamite
900
64
5
+33% vs cities
"Breacher"
"Riachuelo" (Plague Immunity, gain +35%
Opinions?
Thanks, that helps fill in the context more fully for how the Pracinha ended up in their logistical predicament. Without the full picture of the personalities leading the government, it seemed like a case of "never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity." But it seems this one really can be attributed to malice.
Moving to Dynamite sounds good to me. No arguments there.One way I can see the Amazonas seeing good use for Brazil is if you change the unlock to Dynamite, instead of Industrialization. That tech already unlocks the Cruiser and the Gatling Gun anyway, and is a high priority tech for a cultural civ. With the Amazonas there, Brazil gets to have both a superior and complete navy without going out of its cultural plan. That would let the Amazonas have a comparable effect in Brazil's Industrial Era gameplan to what the Pracinha has in the Modern Era.
On the unit's combat merits, I like the idea from Discord, but that will likely need a "heal on kill" as well to work on a melee unit. Brazil isn't likely to go for Authority, so Amazonas will need a built-in heal on kill to pull off that historical maneuver. This is also another reason to have Amazonas unlocked at Dynamite, as you'll want to have cruisers softening those targets in order to pull off that maneuver. Moreover, this is a great UU to have the Breacher promotion as a baseline (+10%
Production cost CSMoves CS per adjacent enemy unit when defending. deal 15 damage to all enemy units adjacent to a Unit killed by this unit)
Production cost CSMoves Defense. Plague Immune)
CS upon kill, since Breacher already has a comparable aftermath effect. I also think Riachuelo can have the "can move after attacking" and stay on promotion, at the cost of a lower base CS, like 63 or 64 .
CS (+5, same as Foreign Legion) Moves vs ranged attacks) movement in Foreign Territory)
Were stormtroopers able to make use of entrenchments when on the attack?I'm also thinking that, in light of the change giving Germany the Landsknecht UU and removing the Panzer, the lack of any late game unit or building in 4UC is a glaring omission. I am thinking I will replace the Ulfhedinn with a Stormtrooper. That brings it forward by 1 world war, but the image of the stormtrooper was so informative to Nazi mystique and aesthetic that it also feels vaguely WWII. It also gives Germany a UU that didn't suck IRL, and was a real innovation of tactics on Germany's part. German infantry were truly their greatest asset, in both world wars.
Stormtrooper
Unlocked at Replaceable Parts
900
55
2
Entrenchments (+20HP and +20%
Blitz (+1 attack)
Infiltration Tactics (+1
I'm also thinking that, in light of the change giving Germany the Landsknecht UU and removing the Panzer, the lack of any late game unit or building in 4UC is a glaring omission. I am thinking I will replace the Ulfhedinn with a Stormtrooper. That brings it forward by 1 world war, but the image of the stormtrooper was so informative to Nazi mystique and aesthetic that it also feels vaguely WWII. It also gives Germany a UU that didn't suck IRL, and was a real innovation of tactics on Germany's part. German infantry were truly their greatest asset, in both world wars.
Stormtrooper
Unlocked at Replaceable Parts
900
55
2
Entrenchments (+20HP and +20%
Blitz (+1 attack)
Infiltration Tactics (+1
