Best/worst units in Civ 5

[Onacadarfi XXVI]

Post your 3 best/worst units + motivation.

My best

Spearman A good unit avaliable early in the game, that requires no resources and is fairly strong. It's replacements are very good as well. Good if you want to conquer early in the game.

Panzer If you think the tank is good, then the Panzer is awesome. It's additional movement removes the only flaw with the tank.

Hwach'a Although the Turtle Ship is rather half-assed on the offensive, a single Hwach'a can destroy many units single-handedly. The city penalty is hardly making any difference.

My Worst

Lancer Rather weak unit, extremely unpredictable,and with a defensive penalty making it a big waste of production/gold.

Musketman Expensive version of the longswordsman, goes obsolete early, but good if you lack iron. Tercio and Musketeer are good though.

Sipahi The Ottoman empire SUCKS really bad!!! Their trait is historical, yet useless, both units stink, especially the Sipahi. 1 extra sight, are you kidding me!! It's just as useless as the lancer, still even worse. The Ottomans stinks, and needs a big makeover.

 

[Hasire]

lol, kheshik is the best unit in the game. the Sipahi isn't bad. If you can promote it to helicopter it is amazing.

 

[CivOasis]

I think this would be best done by era, honestly.
For example, in the Modern Era, I would say the best units are bombers and paratroopers, because its very easy to take out cities quickly (bomb them to pieces, then jump in and attack next turn). Bombers are decent for combat, too.
Worst units for modern era are probably Jet Fighters (bombers make them more or less obsolete before you can even put them out).
For all eras, though, the scout is clearly the worst unit, because even barbs don't have trouble taking one out.

 

[Glassmage]

Best: Giant Death Robot

Worst: Warrior

 

[TommyVern]

Best

Artillery: Amazingly powerful compared to everything else that's usually on the map at the time you discover.


Worst

Lancer: Don't think I've ever built one.... ever.

 

[ggmoyang]

scout is well suited to their purpose, scouting.
cheap and not slowed down my terrain... its good to know where your oppenent is and what city-states exist.

My best is
Artillery - range 3 and indirect fire. and you can get logistics fairly easy...
Stealth bomber - comes bit late, but really op unit... theres no counter to this except nukes
Nuclear missle - makes job easier by removing cities.

Worst is lancer and anti tank, theres no point on building them.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

+1 sight radius is a huge tactical advantage, don't know why it is mocked. Siphali ability in general is useful.

The KESHIK though? Really? Keshik mobility and high ranged strength tears holes in units an era in front, let alone contemporary/older. It's one of the game's more devastating units!

 

[Sir Lunchalot]

Best: Giant Death Robot

Worst: Warrior

LOL

In fact the only valid answer!!

 

[TheMeInTeam]

LOL

In fact the only valid answer!!

Warriors beat workers and settlers in a straight fight. Scouts too and sometimes even archers.

 

[Dreadnought]

Post your 3 best/worst units + motivation.

My best

Spearman A good unit avaliable early in the game, that requires no resources and is fairly strong. It's replacements are very good as well. Good if you want to conquer early in the game.

Panzer If you think the tank is good, then the Panzer is awesome. It's additional movement removes the only flaw with the tank.

Hwach'a Although the Turtle Ship is rather half-assed on the offensive, a single Hwach'a can destroy many units single-handedly. The city penalty is hardly making any difference.

My Worst

Lancer Rather weak unit, extremely unpredictable,and with a defensive penalty making it a big waste of production/gold.

Keshik Not bad, just underpowered for a civ that leaved a huge historical footprint in Eurasia.

Sipahi The Ottoman empire SUCKS really bad!!! Their trait is historical, yet useless, both units stink, especially the Sipahi. 1 extra sight, are you kidding me!! It's just as useless as the lancer, still even worse. The Ottomans stinks, and needs a big makeover.

I hate to break it to you, but the Sipahi is better than you think; build one or two and cause mayhem in enemy territory. And Janissaries are perhaps the best unit in the game, so you're wrong about that too. The only thing keeping the Ottomans from being one of the best civs is their useless UA.

And Keshiks are ridiculously good, and with Khans make Mongolia one of the top-tier civs to play as.

 

[Sir Lunchalot]

Warriors beat workers and settlers in a straight fight. Scouts too and sometimes even archers.

Yeah, but Warriors can neither build roads nor found cities. And archers can be used effectively for a much longer time than warriors.

 

[Glassmage]

for worst unit it is warrior because scouts are used for scouting and settlers are for settling. The OP is talking about war units I think.

 

[basta]

Best:
Babylonian bowmen: ridiculously OP and cheap--amazing unit.
artillery--awesome 3-tile range; untouchable and deadly
legion--build the road to conquer your enemy--what more do you want?

Worst: lancer, spearman, horse chariot--all weak, mediocre units; I never build them and (lancers aside) spamming defensive archers till you get swords is better in the end.

 

[nnja]

best
Artillery is the game changing unit everyone can build. Able to clear out entire armies from behind the safety of mountains/forests/hill and being 3 tiles away pretty much removes any danger of losing them. Normally avoid bombardment units until this point because i find them too cumbersome to really maneuver and attack but ignoring artillery is never an option.

Keshik/Khan combo is unstoppable. roving armies of death that can't be hurt are a little unfair especially since the ai thinks pikemen can hold defensively against them. They dont even get a chance to touch them keshiks....

Helicoptors deserve a mention as you can clear out armies real quick without worrying about terrain at all. It comes real late and most times the games over by then but occasionally it is fun to sweep out the remaining units in a swift manner

Worst
Fighters/any plane not a bomber are kinda worthless against the computer. Never had a situation where I effectively used them in a way where they were more useful than another unit.

Slingers are fun and look cool but i feel gipped when I play as the incans and build their UU. Not as strong as the other UUs and im usually building cities/infrastructural at the time so a slinger rush never really works well for me.

 

[ShahJahanII]

No one will take this thread seriously untill you move the Keshik to the right list.

 

[Onacadarfi XXVI]

Lol, I didn't say that the Keshiks were bad, just that they were underpowered. It needs more range and ranged strength.

 

[Onacadarfi XXVI]

Removed keshik from the OP.

 

[OmegaKabob]

Best:
Panzer: Tanks are awesome and with extra movement they are amazing.
Immortal (spearman that has double health regeneration that carries along with upgrades, why has no one included this yet?)
Artillery: Pretty much everything everyone else has said about it.
Helicopters: They're awesome in the late game, but they shouldn't have to embark!!!
And I like Rocket Artillery, not having to set it up is useful. They're not necessarily the best but still useful.
...I think I put a little to many.

Worst:
Lancer
Fighters
Slinger

 

[Onacadarfi XXVI]

best
Artillery is the game changing unit everyone can build. Able to clear out entire armies from behind the safety of mountains/forests/hill and being 3 tiles away pretty much removes any danger of losing them. Normally avoid bombardment units until this point because i find them too cumbersome to really maneuver and attack but ignoring artillery is never an option.

Keshik/Khan combo is unstoppable. roving armies of death that can't be hurt are a little unfair especially since the ai thinks pikemen can hold defensively against them. They dont even get a chance to touch them keshiks....

Helicoptors deserve a mention as you can clear out armies real quick without worrying about terrain at all. It comes real late and most times the games over by then but occasionally it is fun to sweep out the remaining units in a swift manner

Worst
Fighters/any plane not a bomber are kinda worthless against the computer. Never had a situation where I effectively used them in a way where they were more useful than another unit.

Slingers are fun and look cool but i feel gipped when I play as the incans and build their UU. Not as strong as the other UUs and im usually building cities/infrastructural at the time so a slinger rush never really works well for me.

Lol, fighters rule!!!! They're really versatile and powerful both on the offense and defence, shattering and unreachable (unless they have AACs...)

 

[SemperFi2382]

Best: Workers/Work Boats, because they build the all important improvements.

Worst: Warriors, since they cost me money.

In all seriousness, my best and worst units really depend on the situation and if you have the resources.