Amphibious units

[WeirdoJoker]

that's exactly why I added an ancient age amphibious unit to my mod, without warning, an enemy ship might sail by and drop a unit taking your coastal city

Interesting idea. One my most fun victories was a Domination at Regent while playing the Vikings. Just a Tiny map, but a lot of fun because of the Berserkers. Musketmen fell easily beneath my axe in that game.

 

[Theov]

Interesting idea. One my most fun victories was a Domination at Regent while playing the Vikings. Just a Tiny map, but a lot of fun because of the Berserkers. Musketmen fell easily beneath my axe in that game.

Im playing a lot as the Vikings lately haha
Those Berserkers are fun guys.
The Vikings are SEA too and you can time your golden age perfectly right after the expansion phase and before exploring the world.

 

[Fergei]

that's exactly why I added an ancient age amphibious unit to my mod, without warning, an enemy ship might sail by and drop a unit taking your coastal city

I like this thought a lot as a way to keeping human players more honest, but would prefer for simplicity to just make an existing Ancient or Medieval unit amphibious. But I've no idea what one makes the most historical sense (certainly not anything with horses since they are known to sometimes die with sea sickness). I also don't want it to be overpowered (which I consider swordsmen to almost be given how early they become available). Amphibious archers probably don't make a whole lot of sense either.

The only thing I can think of for the sake of being coherent is giving the explorer an attack of 2.

 

[Theov]

I like this thought a lot as a way to keeping human players more honest, but would prefer for simplicity to just make an existing Ancient or Medieval unit amphibious. But I've no idea what one makes the most historical sense (certainly not anything with horses since they are known to sometimes die with sea sickness). I also don't want it to be overpowered (which I consider swordsmen to almost be given how early they become available). Amphibious archers probably don't make a whole lot of sense either.

The only thing I can think of for the sake of being coherent is giving the explorer an attack of 2.

I find Civ3 very much lacking in units.
You get a bunch in the beginning, and horses and/or swordsmen if you got horses or iron.
The new units only appear in the medieval age really.

I would still go with archers in your case. And the UU that replace them and maybe one or 2 more UU to spice things up.
Archers make a lot of sense, really.
I used crossbowmen, but archers do the same job. They can shoot before they land obviously - so I think they make a strong candidate.

 

[justanick]

One can make Knights Templar a national wonder and make the crusader amphibious. This would only work some time after the ancient age.

 

[tjs282]

Amphibious archers probably don't make a whole lot of sense either.

I would still go with archers in your case. And the UU that replace them and maybe one or 2 more UU to spice things up.

Longbowmen could be amphibious. They were certainly used that way — at least for ship-to-ship combat — by the English navy, as late as the rule of Henry VIII (Mary Rose). That would also fit with the Berserk being a "super-LBM" (even though Berserks should really be available earlier in the tree than LBMs!).

Not to mention, the 'Curragh' and 'Galley' attack/defence animations also show arrows in flight, so clearly those crews have bows on board!

Carracks and Caravels should fire arrows as their fighting-animation as well, IMHO. Even though cannonades would (also) be historically accurate, it always struck me as a little odd in-game, since neither of those ships require Saltpeter to build (and can be built with Astronomy, so potentially before Gunpowder has even been researched).

 

[Fergei]

Crusaders and archers it is, thanks!

 

[Theov]

Crusaders and archers it is, thanks!

Be careful what you wish for...
The first time the AI lands some troops into your unguarded town and takes the plunder, tell me not to reload the save.

 

[Fergei]

In my last game before implementing any of these changes, Theodora of the Byzantines rocked up with 13 Dromons and a huge and devastating coastal invasion in the ancient era (I have boats having a minimum capacity of 3, which reminds me I need to make Curraghs carry 1x unit to see if I can encourage AI use of them). She was like "who needs amphibious units?" as she pummelled my defensive units to 1x health and captured the cities. But I think she is the only AI Civ that would pose such a potential threat from so early in the game without amphibious units.

I've made other increases in difficulty so want to bed those in before expanding amphibious units, but I'll definitely do it as it will also help to overcome the issue of invading islands. Recently I had my navy deposit 30x Med Inf and 30x Pikemen land on a hill (for defensive bonus) on a Viking owned island. They were wiped out even though the Vikings had a rubbish score and only archers, spearmen and horsemen. Definitely room for improvement in the settings to try and avoid situations like that which don't feel particularly credible.

 

[Theov]

The AI wont load a settler on a one-transport ship though bc of the eh... whatyamacallit. Escort.