Best Unique Unit

[Onionsoilder]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Impis. Sure, it's not the best unit, but it deserves honorable mention. It's 2 and the Mobility promotion makes it an EXCELLENT pillager, and being able to dart in and out of forests make it easy to capture Workers/Settlers.

 

[AmazonQueen]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Impis. Sure, it's not the best unit, but it deserves honorable mention. It's 2 and the Mobility promotion makes it an EXCELLENT pillager, and being able to dart in and out of forests make it easy to capture Workers/Settlers.

Also it makes a great Medic since it can get both Woodsman III and Medic promotions and keep up with cavalry stacks.

 

[KinesongPayaso]

Almost any mounted unit
Immortal, War Chariot, Cossack

Mounted unit, as long it has 2 movements available

I forgot that there are mounted units that only move once, and there are non mounted units that move twice

So, my favourite UUs would be French Musketeers, Camel Archers, War Chariots,
Immortal, Cossack, Conquistador

Panzers come too late in the game

 

[wannabewarlord]

I haven't read through all the answers so maybe this has been mentioned before.
I recently discovered Sitting Bull and I think he's just friggin' awesome as he basically has two unique units. his totem poles make quasi a unique unit out of any archer unit, since it adds 3 XP, which off the bat is an additional promo.

Barracks and Totem Pole = 6 XP on a protective archer that already has 1 first strike and 1 defense promo! this means any archer you pull out of your hat, starts with 4(!) promos. if that is not awesomeness, I don't know what is. Also, the dog soldiers are killer. 4Str + 100% against melee without any resource? can you say gimped maceman at BW time?

Unfortunately the melee bonus is naught against defending archers in cities, but for an early melee killer, dog soldiers are pure gold.

Edit: Imagine additionally a settled GG in the city and Vassalage and/or Theocracy combined with archery unita that you then upgrade to riflemen when the time comes. Can anyone say living fortress?

cheers,
wannabewarlord

 

[Circuit]

I love mounted unit UUs. Especially the CIV Gold Mounted UUs. I find that cavalry tends to be very useful.

 

[Fraxander]

roman's Praetorian...cool...greece's Phalanx too....

 

[dankok8]

Just realized that the OP called the Roman UU "Predatorian"

Serisouly though, it's a great nickname for this things since they have no counter. I usually promote 3/4 with CR and 1/4 with combat/shock. In the early medieval age, I might give some of the combat ones formation as well.

 

[LateGameWarMong]

America's UU should be the stealth bomber with a 75% evasion chance.
Everyone else should get something like a B-52/TU-95 bear, or a TU-160 with no evasion chance.

Nothing in the world compares to our B-2, all other bombers are like our B-52.
Not much compares to the B1-B- sure the TU-160 was a mach 2 heavy bomber like the B1-A, but the B1-B was redesigned for low level penetration of airspace, canards added, terrain following radar, more stealth features, etc.

Heck, since america gets it UU so late, it should get more of them so they can actually make a difference.

A UU carrier- holds 4 fighters, 24 strength(a transport should not = a carrier in strength)
A UU bomber- 75% evasion chance, +1 range +4 strength, remove evasion chance of other civs and change theirs to a Tu-95 model
A UU fighter - F-22 +1 range(cause of economical supercruise), 30 strength, 50% evasion chance, 100% intercept chance. This would not replace the Jet fighter, but would be in addition to it, and more expensive.

Giving the US definite air superiority.
The US being the only one with a stealth bomber could be a game changer late game, particularly with a higher evasion chance1

Or give them an earlier UU- the P-51, sure wasn't "That" unique, but its more unique than our navy seals (The SAS would probably be pissed should they learn of the Navy SEALS glorification is civ) - the P-51 was the longest ranged fighter of WW II- give it +3 operational range compared to a normal fighter, and start with a promotion since P-51 pilots were better trained then other countries pilots who had to rush pilots through flightschool to meet demands.
Heck- make them the tuskegee airmen - they were the best trained pilots of WWII they had really hard training because they either wanted the blacks to drop out, or didn't want the first blacks to do bad - either way, they were legendary in battle - not a single bomber was lost to enemy fighters under their watch.

For that matter, the F-15 has a perfect air-to air combat record, and would do well as an american UU - although it has never faced SU-27 flankers, the biggest threats it faced were mig 23/27's and Mig-29's

German UU should be a U boat too.

China could get a UU infantry/marine - reduced cost because they have billions of people to draft.

Heck, why not give every civ 2 or more UUs.

I'd have to go with Praetorians, I don't mess with rome Until gunpowder because of them, unless I can rush before they get Iron.

 

[W|M]

Definetly Quechua-Conquered 3 civs with it alone.

 

[Happily Aimless]

I've had suprisingly good runs with Japan's samuri units, iunfortunatly its just a hassle to used the leader that I mostly stick with Mongolia. Keshiks paired with Gers and barracks come out of the gate incredibly strong.

 

[gunkulator]

Prets are clearly the best.

Most of the other ones mentioned here are good. The best UUs are early UUs that let you claim an AI capital. Nothing gives you a better edge than 2 capital quality cities.

I've had good luck with Vultures, basically Axemen with 6 strength. You can chop yourself a decent sized army and overwhelm those defending Archers by sheer numbers.

 

[6K Man]

America's UU should be the stealth bomber with a 75% evasion chance.
Everyone else should get something like a B-52/TU-95 bear, or a TU-160 with no evasion chance.

Nothing in the world compares to our B-2, all other bombers are like our B-52.
Not much compares to the B1-B- sure the TU-160 was a mach 2 heavy bomber like the B1-A, but the B1-B was redesigned for low level penetration of airspace, canards added, terrain following radar, more stealth features, etc.

Heck, since america gets it UU so late, it should get more of them so they can actually make a difference.

A UU carrier- holds 4 fighters, 24 strength(a transport should not = a carrier in strength)
A UU bomber- 75% evasion chance, +1 range +4 strength, remove evasion chance of other civs and change theirs to a Tu-95 model
A UU fighter - F-22 +1 range(cause of economical supercruise), 30 strength, 50% evasion chance, 100% intercept chance. This would not replace the Jet fighter, but would be in addition to it, and more expensive.

Giving the US definite air superiority.
The US being the only one with a stealth bomber could be a game changer late game, particularly with a higher evasion chance1

Or give them an earlier UU- the P-51, sure wasn't "That" unique, but its more unique than our navy seals (The SAS would probably be pissed should they learn of the Navy SEALS glorification is civ) - the P-51 was the longest ranged fighter of WW II- give it +3 operational range compared to a normal fighter, and start with a promotion since P-51 pilots were better trained then other countries pilots who had to rush pilots through flightschool to meet demands.
Heck- make them the tuskegee airmen - they were the best trained pilots of WWII they had really hard training because they either wanted the blacks to drop out, or didn't want the first blacks to do bad - either way, they were legendary in battle - not a single bomber was lost to enemy fighters under their watch.

For that matter, the F-15 has a perfect air-to air combat record, and would do well as an american UU - although it has never faced SU-27 flankers, the biggest threats it faced were mig 23/27's and Mig-29's

German UU should be a U boat too.

China could get a UU infantry/marine - reduced cost because they have billions of people to draft.

Heck, why not give every civ 2 or more UUs.

I'd have to go with Praetorians, I don't mess with rome Until gunpowder because of them, unless I can rush before they get Iron.

The B2 is a cool unit, but in the real world, weren't only 15 or so built? Besides, Stealth comes so late that the unit would be practically useless in most games.

IMO (and I know this may not be workable) the American UU should be the Landing Ship (replaces Transport): Same as the Transport in all ways except being somewhat more expensive, AND siege units can bombard/attack from them. This reflects the U.S. expertise in amphibious landings shown in WWII.

Current best UU is the Cho-Ku-No, I think. But I have a healthy respect for Praetorians.

 

[LateGameWarMong]

i beleive 50 B-2's were built, down from the original planned order of 150.
Each B2 is named something like Spirt of *insert state name)
Basically, each state has its own B-2. Although I think through maintenence and that one that crashed, we only have like 30 operational at any given time
They are like 1 billion a peice though

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Prets are clearly the best.

Most of the other ones mentioned here are good. The best UUs are early UUs that let you claim an AI capital. Nothing gives you a better edge than 2 capital quality cities.

I've had good luck with Vultures, basically Axemen with 6 strength. You can chop yourself a decent sized army and overwhelm those defending Archers by sheer numbers.

I can't agree. I like prats and all, but keshiks are ridiculous. You're trading raw strength for UNPARALLELED SPEED (it isn't just mobility, they IGNORE TERRAIN COSTS ENTIRELY), and a first strike.

On marathon, prats are probably better. The moves mean less. On other speeds though, the keshik is more versatile. Combining the first strike immunity granted by flank II with the UU first strike makes keshiks very very likely to damage defenders (and with a strong chance to survive). The ger enhances them considerably, they're never far from a 3rd promo. Even without it, a combat II keshik is just as effective as a sword attacking a city...probably more so except vs spears (while swords are gimped vs axes and more so).

Maces are the first unit the AI makes a lot of that will consistently beat keshiks (spears will too, but the AI doesn't make enough, and with shock it's no gimme there). However xbows and maces are problems for prats too...the point is to use these units before they obsolete, and basically the Keshik has a similar window to the prat, but it moves faster.

Don't get me wrong, I feel the prat is a top UU. What I don't understand is how everyone sings their praises with very minimal attention to the mongol UU, which is also outrageously powerful.

On a side note, I agree vultures are very good. That civ would be scary if gilgamesh had better traits!

 

[gunkulator]

I can't agree. I like prats and all, but keshiks are ridiculous. You're trading raw strength for UNPARALLELED SPEED (it isn't just mobility, they IGNORE TERRAIN COSTS ENTIRELY), and a first strike.

I like Keshiks but the biggest problem I have with them is that you need an expensive, dead end tech to get them that is off my normal tech path. Once you have the tech, Keshiks cost 50 hammers, which is pretty expensive early in the game. If you've beelined to them, that means you don't have bronze working so you won't be chopping them for a while. Prets cost 45 but I can chop them. By the time you get a good enough number of Keshiks, the AI will often have 40% cultural defense. To be fair, I haven't tried the Mongols in a while.

Spears are a counter to Keshiks while the Pret basically has no counter until maces come along. Of course, the AI doesn't build too many spears.

On a side note, I agree vultures are very good. That civ would be scary if gilgamesh had better traits!

Yeah, his traits, starting techs and UB don't go with this UU. Mongolia's all blend perfectly for straight up warmongering.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Shock axes and even normal axes defend a city better vs prats than spears do vs flank II keshiks. You don't skip BW when going for Keshiks. You DO chop them. It's possible to have a pretty decent amount in the 1000 BC area, and like 15 by 1 AD without too much trouble.

Elephants own both UUs before maces...but I think the big problem here is pegging the benefit of mobility in troops. Ridiculous movement speed can be nicer than pure str, especially if it means the AI has less time to churn out defenders or protect its resources.

 

[CCRunner]

I have to say, TMIT is right. I just did a standard Pangaea conquest game in an hour using only keshiks. That movement is just sick.

 

[fyrkka]

Best UU is cossaks or just skirmishers.. cossack just is the very right unit for russia,and i love skirmishers because their very high defence bonus...
there were 21 b-2 ´planes,but 1 of them crashed,so there is 20 now... The b-2 spirits cost 1.9-2bilion dollars. I thinks the U.S should have a b-52 stratofortress as their special unit,it could come when other lands get like jet bombers... B-52 should have some bonuses,like more damage when bombing(cause it carries one hell of a bombload),and some more operational range,from 1-3 more...

 

[Roxlimn]

Agree with TMIT here. Before the patch that removed the -10% city attack, Keshiks were not so good. Without the penalty, they're pretty incredible - every bit worthy of the Great Khan. HBR is a dead end tech, but so is Divine Right, and both those techs are worth researching for two reasons:

1. They open great stuff. Spiral from DR, HAs and Keshiks for HBR
2. They're incredible trade bait. You can regain as much as 4 times or more the beaker cost of HBR in trades because the AI values it so much, and it doesn't always prioritize its research on it.

 

[Jonkenden]

I like the samurai, it's not a big upgrade to macemen but they do get 1~2 first strikes so they do have some form of advantage, not to mention they negate it in others that got it. Still they should have one more

imo.

The phalnax (sp?) are also great, and preatorian are good too. Haven't really gotten to try out any other ones. As for american UU, I'd agree that a P 51 would be a great choice. Ranked as the top aircraft ever made and a soild work record. P 47 would be a nice contender as well.