Best and worst Unique Unit?

[*Nosferatu*]

For those who play on conquest and/or domination only games have a great advantage with the Seals.

 

[Ogrelord]

Ogrelord:
In wartime, my workers are still out improving my cities, because most of my cities aren't on the front lines. No need for escorts then; anything that could reach them would take several turns, even at move 2; my own cavalry using my road network can shred a force like that easily. I'll trade force-for-force like that any day. The only danger is on the first turn of the war, in a surprise attack. If you're pulling in every worker during a war on the off chance the enemy will throw everything he has into a deep raid, you're crippling your own economy for little gain.

Cavalry?
most war start at classical time, good luck teching up to there. In MP i got rush by someone and she had 5 warriors/5 archers. Roads are easily destroyed and cutting off ressources to.

Everyone say that fast worker advantage is that it's good from ancient to modern time. But can your Civ last that long? after all it's a big juicy target for the other 6 players.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Cavalry?

That's "cavalry" in the dictionary sense, i.e. mounted units, not the Civ4 unit named Cavalry. My point was that a mobile force moving along roads can easily pick apart a stack of attackers, and so as long as the workers stay at least three squares from the border they're safe.

But can your Civ last that long? after all it's a big juicy target for the other 6 players.

Sounds like you're talking about free-for-all multiplayer only, which isn't what this thread was about. In a single-player game, you're not a target for the AIs unless you completely neglect your defenses. And in team-on-team MP, you can still benefit from having one dedicated builder civ on your team.

 

[Marquez]

1. Cossacks
Mostly playing Catherine I would have to agree with the other Russian empire's opinions on this one. I think Cossacks are a great UU. The added 50% against mounted units makes them excellent counters to Cavalry and makes it even easier to mop the floor with Knights if opposing civs are lagging behind in the tech race.

I always build them in cities with Barracks with Theocracy and you can get an added 10% strength and 25% against gunpowder units. If other civs are packing mostly pikemen (never really seen that before) add the 25% against melee instead. Either way that makes it a pretty damn good unit for it's time. The only draw back is that they don't get fortify bonuses but that usually isn't a problem as I bring a bunch of riflemen with them anway.

When I finally get them, I woudn't want to be one of my neighbors because I HAVE to go to war with one of them. I simply can't waste the opportunity to use them. That's usually the time when I make huge land grabs.

2. Redcoats
I know somebody has mentioned them already and I have to agree. I've played with England a number of times and think the Redcoats are another excellent unit.

2 more base power against their counterparts (Riflemen) plus the built in bonuses against mounted and gunpowder units makes them a 20 v. 14 against Riflemen (for example) and 20 v. 15 against Mounted Units. Throw in a Strength and City Defender or Medic promotion and you've got a great attack support unit.

Honorable Mentions
PREATORIANS. I've only played Rome twice so I don't have a ton of experience here. The Preat is a great early unit but I'm just not an early warmonger. What I've found is they seem to be a great deterrence force. Just merely having them in my cities seemed to keep me fairly safe.

Was it really the Preats? I'm not entirely sure but I was never attacked while they were still not obsolete. And this was with me bordering the likes of Genghis, Monty and Isabella (with a different religion). Plus they can still be upgraded pretty much all the way up the line.

PANZERS. With the 50% against armored units it still makes it a very viable option late in the game against Modern Armor.

Least Favored
MUSKETEER. I know it's been mentioned already but I have to agree. The 'upgrade' of this UU doesn't really seem to have many advantages. An added movement and no combat bonuses. It's sort of like a glorified Knight except weaker and I always get Knights first anyway. As I've already hinted at, one advantage of the musketeer is that it can keep up with the Knight. This can be useful when you are trying to intercept rival pillaging parties or take on advancing enemy armies.

However, if you're on the march against a rival civ you are usually toting along a bunch of cats and that still brings the overall army movement to just one anyway, taking away the special ability of the Musketeer. The added movement does make them easier to bring up to the front though. Overall, I just don't feel they really add any distinctive advantage and in my opinion that is what an UU is supposed to do.

As far as fast workers go, I have never played as the Indians so I can't really comment on that. I know there is going to be some disagreement on which UUs are the best and which are the worst. I think it depends a lot on what your personal playing style is.

EDIT: Added the bit about Fast Workers

 

[drjones]

Cho-Ko-Nu! Equally useful on offense or defense and until Cavalry / Riflemen can take anything on. OK, Knights and Samurai can cause them big problems, but even then they are still useful for the collateral damage and will win out in the end.

I agree, I have had a ton of fun with these and the civs they are attached to are decent.

Muskets are a pretty big let down mostly since even if decent rifles come soooo quick that you get maybe 2 made then obsolete.

Also quecha seem more like 'trick' units for gamey early win strategies on duel sized maps. Normally I don't see any action besides barbs till after they are long in the past.

-drjones

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Ironically, without Pearl Harbor, the superiority of carrier fleets over battleship fleets might not have been discovered for a while. Pearl Harbor forced the US to go to carrier fleets. Yes, Pearl Harbor was an air attack, but all the battleships were sitting ducks in their berths. If the US still had battleships left (if they were at sea and were missed in the attack), then the navy still would have been battleship-centric. The only carriers would have been the escort carriers, militaries being notoriously slow to adopt new things.

The Japanese Navy had learnt from the British attack using Swordfish torpedo bombers in Taranto Harbour against the Italian battleships the effectiveness of such a strike and how to design torpedoes for low depth attack. From that and the destruction the German airforce had done the British navy it was clear that ships were in trouble if the air was dominated by a hostile airforce.

Pearl Harbour, Midway and the sinking of the Prince of Wales/Repulse just served to reinforce the message - required as the military historically contains real knuckleheads who are set on keeping obsolete tactics and units. For example how so many countries held onto the cavalry (Britain was especially guilty) during WW1 and AFTER.


My favorite UU? The Redcoat as it is easy to beeline to quickly so you fight musketeers with Redcoats and stays a dominant unit for a fair period of time at a crucial period of the game. That it allows me to pretend it is the Victorian era and the lobsters are conquering the World - even better.

Least favorite UU: The Indian Fast Worker - it may be useful to have, but it is just not interesting. I don't look forward to playing India because of their UU, whilst I will for so many other civs.

As for the discussion re: the French musketeer - I like it as they can rush quickly from one crisis point to another and at Emperor level when you've just been beating up on Spain and then Germany invade on the far side of your empire that is vital. Instead of waiting ages for reinforcements to join the front, the musketeer zooms in so getting busy earlier. Add to that if a musketeer attacks a unit it usually can move far away from that point if in your own empire or in enemy land to a defensive tile - brilliant for reducing losses by counterattack. In my emperor war against Germany my musketeers hit invaders just inside my lands then could fall back far away from invading knights. Result, perfect hit and run with few casualties...they also look good.

 

[Oho]

The reason battleships disappeared are the fact that regular ship artillery became outdated compared to heavy missiles.

No aircraft carrier replaced battleship as the capital ship already in WWII. In the latter stages of the war and there after battleships have really only been used as floating artillery platforms, not primary fighting vessels.

 

[ydejin]

Panzer - can handle mobile infantry, which is a bit unreal

Is that right? I thought Mech Infantry counted as a Gunpowder unit not an armor unit. Panzer's should get a bonus against Modern Armor, but not against Mech Infantry. At least that's my reading of the rules ...

Should lead to some interesting choices as Panzers should be slightly better than Modern Armor when used against armor, but not against anything else. (Although now that I'm looking at it, I see Modern Armor apparently has First Strike, not sure how much this counts for, it might put Modern Armor over the Panzers even when taking on other armor -- (28 + 50% = 42) vs. (40 + First Strike) also I've been hearing conflicting reports on whether or not First Strike works on offense and defense vs. just on defense, anyone know definitively?

 

[CVDon]

Fast Worker. Build your Civ and swamp your enemy with masses of troops. This game was designed to prevent any unit from dominating. Sissors/Paper/Stone so to speak. Military UU gives you a temporary advantage that can be overcome by numbers. Fast Worker never goes obsolete.

 

[Mirc]

Best: Praetorian
Worst: Navy Seals

 

[Will_518]

Best: Praetorian, nothing city can withstand 5 Praets.
Quecha is also excellent.

Worst: Anything from Muskteer onwards are completely useless, they can't make much of a difference to the game, if you're winning you still winning, if you're loosing, by the time you get them the AI would've got much better units.

Though it is really fun to use the late game UUs, and attack any place you want, or even better, meddle in AI Vs AI wars.

 

[jefmart1]

Part of the reason that American battleships were retired is that they used way to many crewmen. The navy found that they could mount missile launchers on smaller ships like the Ticonderoga, automate them, and have like 1/4 or less crew. That means more ships deployable to more places, cheaper to maintain, and a smaller number of sailors; all of which fit the new "model" for the only global superpower.

Theoretically a modernized battleship (Iowa-class) souped up with missiles could take out the entire Italian Navy. Play Harpoon a few times and you can see how powerful they are.

What makes Civ kind of funny is that we assume the unit never "upgrades". Soldiers getting new guns, anti-tank rockets; tanks getting better armor and bigger guns; ships getting better targeting systems and missiles; etc.

The unit is a representation of a type or class of unit over a broad period of time, a composite if you will.

 

[deadcat]

Best UU: praetorians, readcoats, cossaks, panzers
worst: NAVY seals and fast workers