Best/Worst UBs?

the dun is really useless
mausoleum is situationnal : it's the ultimate anti WW weapon, but if you're playing peacefully (like space racing) it's not worth much
Same for the french salon : if you're going for cultural it's one of the best, but if you try to get scientist you're polluting your pool.

On the other end of the ladder, you have the zulu ikhanda : a mini courthouse available before any research is really cool.
And it's not like you wouldn't want barracks in your cities + you have it cheap, since shaka is agressive :lol:. Hard to beat, IMHO.
The terrace and sacrificial altar sound cool (never played).
The english Stock Exchange is great too. More money = more warring ability :). This building gave me all I needed for an easy domination win.
The seowon is good too, although not game changing (faster teching is always good :)).
the roman forum sounds great, although I didn't notice much effect when I played Rome (wasn't focusing hard on GP)
 
i am perhaps the only person who's never yet played the romans so i haven't experienced their UB

Nope, there is me as well. The penalty I pay for playing random every time. I never put too much effort into my GP pool anyway.

Still Terrace, Ger and Ikhanda seem the best although I haven't used Zulus either. I think I would like the Viking's effort but you could guarantee I would get a Pangea map anyway.
 
You guys are kidding. Mausoleum is a good UB. +2 happiness just like that? Sounds perfect for a late game win. And it's available with Constitution, making it very synergistic with an SE Gandhi.
 
You guys are kidding. Mausoleum is a good UB. +2 happiness just like that? Sounds perfect for a late game win. And it's available with Constitution, making it very synergistic with an SE Gandhi.

I'm not kidding.
If you need the 2 happiness at this stage, there must be a good reason (war is the only one I can think of).
Unless you plan on size 25 cities all over the place?
 
I'm not kidding.
If you need the 2 happiness at this stage, there must be a good reason (war is the only one I can think of).
Unless you plan on size 25 cities all over the place?

Why not? Good for space/diplomatic and domination victories. And for an SE.
 
Why not? Good for space/diplomatic and domination victories. And for an SE.

I can't think of a game when I was teching up to Constitution, and still had happiness issues.
There are loads of happiness enhancing resources/buildings.
If you plan to go for space, you need land.
Land = resources.
Resources = happiness.
So I don't need a happiness enhancer if I'm not warring (reducing WW is also the goal of jails, remember;) )
 
I can't think of a game when I was teching up to Constitution, and still had happiness issues.
There are loads of happiness enhancing resources/buildings.
If you plan to go for space, you need land.
Land = resources.
Resources = happiness.
So I don't need a happiness enhancer if I'm not warring (reducing WW is also the goal of jails, remember;) )

More population = more specialists under Representation = get space techs slightly earlier. With all the beaker modifiers in place (including labs), it can make a 1 or 2-turn difference per tech. Not amazing, but still a nice bonus that can even help you win a tight race. The only problem is not getting the production bonus from US, but as long as you have 3 good production cities (that probably don't rely on cottages for hammers) this isn't a big deal. The less productive cities have all the time in the world to build the casings.
 
I'm not kidding.
If you need the 2 happiness at this stage, there must be a good reason (war is the only one I can think of).
Unless you plan on size 25 cities all over the place?
War,execly.

Me, as man allways tend to running specialists economy and wadging Maces/Muskets/greens/riffles wars more happiness is essential.
I look for any source of happiness posible. More happiness = more draft/whipe = more can sustain War wareness which is extrime on higth levels.

I am often spreading multiply religions and buiding cheap temples especially if I am spiritual. Jails are must have buildings in this case and if they give additional +2 happy I am happy ;)
 
More population = more specialists under Representation = get space techs slightly earlier. With all the beaker modifiers in place (including labs), it can make a 1 or 2-turn difference per tech. Not amazing, but still a nice bonus that can even help you win a tight race. The only problem is not getting the production bonus from US, but as long as you have 3 good production cities (that probably don't rely on cottages for hammers) this isn't a big deal. The less productive cities have all the time in the world to build the casings.

$rushing is just too powerful + 1 free hammer towns is what makes commerce cities apt to build the casings. So I simply never went to space using representation.
Could try it for a change.
 
$rushing is just too powerful + 1 free hammer towns is what makes commerce cities apt to build the casings. So I simply never went to space using representation.
Could try it for a change.

You could try converting some cottages to SP workshops. Should help those cities building casings.
 
You could try converting some cottages to SP workshops. Should help those cities building casings.

I do, but only in top production cities.
I want the commerce for science for most of the time the secondary cities build the casings.

Edit : I use the $ rushing this way :
-starting something like a lab or a factory before the apollo is built or before i have the required techs for the next space part
- $ rush on the turn before the tech or apollo is done
- apply overflow (= 1 turn of hammers) to the part
I do this for every part, including the engine and ss chamber.
1 turn of IW city is huge :).
+ I can't have laboratories in every secondary city in due time without $ rushing
+ laboratory will give more science = pay back the commerce I diverted to rush it
 
Sounds like a costly tactic. Do you really have that much money?
 
Citadel useless?? This is insanely powerful. Pick a couple of productive cities with barracks to build it, run theology and then mass your CR3 trebs + a mixture of cats with CR2/accuracy + combat/medic2 + drill 3 promotions (I usually make them half of my army), throw in some pikes and you'll find your opponents' cities soft as tofu salad. Later you can follow up by building some conquisitors, I can guarantee half of the continent can be cleaned up easily.
 
terrace is my favorite UB, so much synergy since you have to rush and are thus very culturally vulnerable.
 
Definitely the Sacrificial Altar. For starters, it's a cheap courthouse - which is awesome on its own (particularly considering that the courthouse is expensive, and one building you'll pretty much always want), especially for a civ that's gonna be focused on taking over big chunks of land. And second, it lets you do absolutely absurd amounts of poprushing without absurd amounts of unhappiness. Science cities can whip in all their infrastructure in a blink of an eye, and military cities can force out absolutely absurd numbers of troops.

Also much love for the Incan terrace and the Zulu ikhanda.

I disagree with the dun being useless, it's a pretty great building if used right, since it effectively gives you three extra mini-UUs, that make you near-unstoppable on hilltops. Guerrilla III crossbows are also great for attacks on tough hilltop cities. You just need to alter your military playstyle somewhat as the Celts to take best advantage of it and the Gallic.

Likewise the Mausoleum, it probably kinda sucks for Asoka but for Gandhi (who really seems to be best-suited to a bloodthirsty warmongering approach) it's very nice.
 
Definitely the Sacrificial Altar. For starters, it's a cheap courthouse - which is awesome on its own (particularly considering that the courthouse is expensive, and one building you'll pretty much always want), especially for a civ that's gonna be focused on taking over big chunks of land. And second, it lets you do absolutely absurd amounts of poprushing without absurd amounts of unhappiness. Science cities can whip in all their infrastructure in a blink of an eye, and military cities can force out absolutely absurd numbers of troops.

Also much love for the Incan terrace and the Zulu ikhanda.

I disagree with the dun being useless, it's a pretty great building if used right, since it effectively gives you three extra mini-UUs, that make you near-unstoppable on hilltops. Guerrilla III crossbows are also great for attacks on tough hilltop cities. You just need to alter your military playstyle somewhat as the Celts to take best advantage of it and the Gallic.

Likewise the Mausoleum, it probably kinda sucks for Asoka but for Gandhi (who really seems to be best-suited to a bloodthirsty warmongering approach) it's very nice.
Eh? The way I see it, Organized is a better warring trait than Philo, as Organized helps you pay for the land you conquer by saving you money. Of course, neither is anything but below-average...

The Dun's so-so. It would be a lot better if it affected a better unit type, and if Guerilla wasn't purely defensive until two promos later. And, honestly, why use a Guerilla III X-Bow? He's not going to typically be attacking anything but melee units, and there you're better off investing in drill and/or shock...
 
The Dun wouldn't be so bad if it didn't become obsolete with Rifling... You'd have quite an effectively army after the invention of gunpowder... all your gunpowder units get free G1 promotion, combined with your Synergetic traits Cha/Spi you could easily dominate post gunpowder during war... just send your SODs Via hill routes whenever possible therefore decreasing the number of units lost during counter attacks and you could easily reach G3 only requiring 4XP there taking down hilled cities easier then other Civs.

But before Gunpowder... the Dun bonuses are quite situational
 
Eh? The way I see it, Organized is a better warring trait than Philo, as Organized helps you pay for the land you conquer by saving you money. Of course, neither is anything but below-average...

The Dun's so-so. It would be a lot better if it affected a better unit type, and if Guerilla wasn't purely defensive until two promos later. And, honestly, why use a Guerilla III X-Bow? He's not going to typically be attacking anything but melee units, and there you're better off investing in drill and/or shock...
Philo favours a specialist economy, which itself favours warfare more than cottages. Spiritual in particular very much favours warfare with its quick civic switches. I've never played Asoka so I don't know, but Gandhi makes a lethal warmonger.

The dun is only really good in the context of the Celtic UU, Charismatic, and an appropriate use of the troops. Sure, you can crank out Guerrilla I archers/longbows to sit in your hill cities and sit pretty but that's ignoring the dun's potential. Guerrilla I is fairly rubbish on its own, and most of that potential is in Guerrilla II. Not only does it give you troops that are near-unkillable on hills, it makes them considerably faster on all but the flattest of continents. The speed is the really important thing, in my view.
And you can make a whole combined-arms force out of fast troops that aren't just completely vulnerable to spears. You can have archers, longbows, crossbows, swordsmen, chariots and horsearchers ALL in your speedy forces racing around the countryside (Guerrilla II troops can often almost keep up with cavalry even over distance).
A couple of small, fast guerrilla 'commando' groups can absolutely wreak havoc behind enemy lines and retreat very safely to hills if they're ever threatened and be an almost unassailable fortress behind enemy lines. Being Charismatic (and with easy exploitation of vassalage/theocracy with Spiritual) you'll also have extra promos coming out the wazoo anyway to make them even more lethal. Seriously, try it some time. I was a total Brennus sceptic too but then I tried it and was pleasantly surprised.

Plus Guerrilla III crossbows are awesome as all hell - great for taking hilltop cities and almost indestructible in their subsequent defence. Plus, they're lethal in the field and fast too!
Besides, Shock reduces your chance that, when you attack, you'll actually be fighting a melee opponent.

Guerrilla promos are not something you'll care about for the majority of your troops, but it gives you great flexibility to do truly dastardly things with portions of your army (as well as better defending your regular stacks).

I use BetterAI though, so it's a less useful bonus against an opponent that just masses archers sitting in their cities.
 
The Norse Trading post is very situational, i know, but the synergy (in particular with the UU) is awsome when applied right (or on the right map?)... otherwise; the Zulu Ikhanda and the Malinese Mint really enhances the respective leaders traits instead of just applying some obscure bonus that might make (more or) less sense.
 
...and? -Oh, yeah... the terrace of course. It's not in very good sync with it's leader (meaning the bonus might just belong to anything/anyone) but it's really handy in reducing two builds to just one... You always build/need a granary, plus the terrace, unlike the monument, doesn't go obsolete with calendar.
 
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