Brainstorming Remaining Uniques

[Boris Gudenuf]

Looking at the previewed US, it seems at least one of the UU's is really strongly tied to the leader choice. The same could be said for Cleopatra's UA.

So I think some leader speculation is needed. For example:

England (Victoria) - Redcoats (since we got Frigate replacements in V)

- Except that the 'Red Coat' pre-dates Victoria by about a century and a half. They overlap, since the Brits didn't adopt the 'khaki' uniform color until more than half-way through Vicky's reign.
Note, though, that while the Rough Rider as an American UU is directly associated with TR, the P-51 is definitely NOT. Therefore, direct correspondence between Uniques and Leaders is not necessarily a guiding factor.

And, frankly, I hope the Uniques aren't 'set in stone' yet, because the 'Rough Rider' and P-51 are particularly Un-Unique American Unique Units:

Everybody built high-end piston-driven fighters in 1944 - 46. Except for range, there is nothing that makes the P-51 unique compared to Germany's Fw-190D, Britain's Spitfire XX-series, or the Soviet Union's La-7. Also, unless they dramatically change aerial warfare, who cares about fighter aircraft? It's the bombers that do the Dirty Work.

'Rough Riders' (to be precise, the First US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment) were semi-regular light cavalry that, in fact, fought their only battles on foot. ALL the US cavalry since the 1850s could fight on foot, and the Russian dragoons had been doing the same thing since Peter the Great. No Big Deal.

By comparison, there are just a few of the units that are Really Unique to America:

Rangers - Colonial and twentieth century: heavily armed Scouts that have the capabilities of very, very good infantry, paratroops (in the modern era) and scouts.
Pioneers – Settlers that can defend themselves. - And how useful is That in Civ?!
Marines - only one other nation ever managed to put multiple Divisions of troops ashore against hostile forces: Britain. The US Marines can do amphibious assault, have their own air force, and the US military has been doing assault landings since Vera Cruz in the Mexican War!
B-17 - representing the fact that only Britain (again) ever developed a massive bomber force with the logistics, training, formation flying, pathfinder and specialized ordinance capabilities to deliver 'knock-out' blows to entire cities. Nobody else ever came close: the Luftwaffe made single raids that terrorized Rotterdam, Guernica, and Stalingrad, but their only long-term air assaults - against London and Moscow - were fiascos.
Supercarrier - the massive, modern floating air field, nuclear-powered and even capable of launching satellites. Again, nobody else has built anything quite like them.

I sincerely hope that the developers spend a little more time on the Uniques. It's hard enough 'boiling down' a civilization into 3 - 4 particular abilities or peculiarities: it's really bad if the 'peculiarities' you pick aren't particular to the civilization in question.

 

[Erudain]

Japan 2 UU are probably the usual ones, the samurai and the zero....unique building, maybe they bring back the shale factory from Civ4?

 

[Calyxx]

- Except that the 'Red Coat' pre-dates Victoria by about a century and a half. They overlap, since the Brits didn't adopt the 'khaki' uniform color until more than half-way through Vicky's reign.
Note, though, that while the Rough Rider as an American UU is directly associated with TR, the P-51 is definitely NOT. Therefore, direct correspondence between Uniques and Leaders is not necessarily a guiding factor.

And, frankly, I hope the Uniques aren't 'set in stone' yet, because the 'Rough Rider' and P-51 are particularly Un-Unique American Unique Units:

Everybody built high-end piston-driven fighters in 1944 - 46. Except for range, there is nothing that makes the P-51 unique compared to Germany's Fw-190D, Britain's Spitfire XX-series, or the Soviet Union's La-7. Also, unless they dramatically change aerial warfare, who cares about fighter aircraft? It's the bombers that do the Dirty Work.

'Rough Riders' (to be precise, the First US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment) were semi-regular light cavalry that, in fact, fought their only battles on foot. ALL the US cavalry since the 1850s could fight on foot, and the Russian dragoons had been doing the same thing since Peter the Great. No Big Deal.

By comparison, there are just a few of the units that are Really Unique to America:

Rangers - Colonial and twentieth century: heavily armed Scouts that have the capabilities of very, very good infantry, paratroops (in the modern era) and scouts.
Pioneers – Settlers that can defend themselves. - And how useful is That in Civ?!
Marines - only one other nation ever managed to put multiple Divisions of troops ashore against hostile forces: Britain. The US Marines can do amphibious assault, have their own air force, and the US military has been doing assault landings since Vera Cruz in the Mexican War!
B-17 - representing the fact that only Britain (again) ever developed a massive bomber force with the logistics, training, formation flying, pathfinder and specialized ordinance capabilities to deliver 'knock-out' blows to entire cities. Nobody else ever came close: the Luftwaffe made single raids that terrorized Rotterdam, Guernica, and Stalingrad, but their only long-term air assaults - against London and Moscow - were fiascos.
Supercarrier - the massive, modern floating air field, nuclear-powered and even capable of launching satellites. Again, nobody else has built anything quite like them.

I sincerely hope that the developers spend a little more time on the Uniques. It's hard enough 'boiling down' a civilization into 3 - 4 particular abilities or peculiarities: it's really bad if the 'peculiarities' you pick aren't particular to the civilization in question.

Good point about the redcoats only barely overlapping with Victoria - they really are more of a Napoleonic War era unit. I also like your unit suggestions quite a lot, particularly the Supercarrier and Marines.

I will disagree about the P-51, though - that plane was extremely important. Other countries may have built similar planes, but the range of the P-51 allowed it to escort long-range bombers, which was key. It also was able to fly higher than other contemporary piston planes, and could even beat the early German jet aircraft in dogfights.

I also think the Rough Rider is a pretty poor representation as a unique unit - if they didn't go with Teddy Roosevelt, it would be laughable. That is why I am convinced that the leader choice will factor into at least on unique aspect (UU, UA, etc.)

 

[Hakan-i Cihan]

Ottomans - 2UU's Jannissary and Akinci (instead of Sipahi) - UB Tekke (building of sufi orders, so either a cultural or religious bonus).
As for the UA I have 3 different options:

• Bonus towards siege units.
• If vassals are in something related to it, since Ottoman Empire had large number of vassals with the most notable: Khanate of Crimea, Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania.
• Enderun, the palace school. (Bonus toward science or culture)

 

[Cerilis]

Actually, I would be delightfully surprised if every civ had a completely different approach than in civ5. For example, instead of a warring Oda, you got industrial Meiji, or "Dichter und Denker" Frederick instead of "Blood and Iron" Bismarck, or a civ that was rather peaceful in civ 5 gets a warmonger leader in 6, etc.

 

[Jewman]

Actually, I would be delightfully surprised if every civ had a completely different approach than in civ5. For example, instead of a warring Oda, you got industrial Meiji, or "Dichter und Denker" Frederick instead of "Blood and Iron" Bismarck, or a civ that was rather peaceful in civ 5 gets a warmonger leader in 6, etc.

That would be awesome. Meiji Japan that instantly becomes a monster after industrialization would be awesome. UB shale factory could reduce cost of infantry by a lot, then supplemented by zero UU and a military engineer support troop UU that adds a unique boost to infantry. Maybe a UA that gives a combat advantage to fighting less technologically advanced countries and a defensive bonus to more advanced civilizations with a hidden agenda that they like conquering technologically backwards neighbors and resent more technologically advanced civs.

 

[blackcatatonic]

Tinfoil hat theory time: Oliver Cromwell for English leader, with a New Model Army UU

In all seriousness though I'd be perfectly happy with Elizabeth and Longbows again. Although what I'd really love is Edward III and Longbows. I feel they are trying to choose different leaders this time and we've never had Edward III before. But more realistically I think it'll be Vicky.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Tinfoil hat theory time: Oliver Cromwell for English leader, with a New Model Army UU

In all seriousness though I'd be perfectly happy with Elizabeth and Longbows again. Although what I'd really love is Edward III and Longbows. I feel they are trying to choose different leaders this time and we've never had Edward III before. But more realistically I think it'll be Vicky.

Victoria, Steam/Factory UB, Dreadnought UU (I know it's a bit late in the timeline but work with me here).

 

[Haig]

I definately want to have an Ironclad unique unit and Battleship unique unit.

The ones mentioned in this topic would be great:
Dreadnought for England replacing ironclad
Yamato for Japan replacing battleship

 

[Krajzen]

Actually, I would be delightfully surprised if every civ had a completely different approach than in civ5. For example, instead of a warring Oda, you got industrial Meiji, or "Dichter und Denker" Frederick instead of "Blood and Iron" Bismarck, or a civ that was rather peaceful in civ 5 gets a warmonger leader in 6, etc.

I'd love if not a single leader of Civ5 was coming back in Civ6.

Mongolia - Kubilai instead of Genghis
Japan - Tokugawa Ieyasu instead of Nobunaga
Rome - Traian instead of August
Greece - Cleistenes instead of Alexander
Indonesia - Hayam Wuruk instead of fatman
India - Lakshmibai instead of overrated hippie
Persia - ruler of Islamic eras like Nader Shah
Ottomans - Roxolana (crazy but would be so cool)
France - Louis XIV instead of Napoleon
Germany - Frederick
etc
I'd leave only Catherine because she was impossibly cool.

Unfortunately it looks like Genghis and Gandhi (meh) return again, yawn. Cleopatra and Qui Shi Hunag are also not very interesting (I'd prefer Hatshepsut and Taizong). At least America is lead by badass Teddy instead of extremely bland (in civ5) Washington.

 

[historix69]

The Yamato and Musashi were historical battleships in WW2 built by Japan. They were the heaviest battleships ever constructed.

Due to change of focus on aircraft carriers in naval warfare, they were almost never used and therefore can be seen as a waste of resources. WW2 was the age of aircraft carriers, not battleships.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I'd love if not a single leader of Civ5 was coming back in Civ6.

Mongolia - Kubilai instead of Genghis
Japan - Tokugawa Ieyasu instead of Nobunaga
Rome - Traian instead of August
Greece - Cleistenes instead of Alexander
Indonesia - Hayam Wuruk instead of fatman
India - Lakshmibai instead of overrated hippie
Persia - ruler of Islamic eras like Nader Shah
Ottomans - Roxolana (crazy but would be so cool)
France - Louis XIV instead of Napoleon
Germany - Frederick
etc
I'd leave only Catherine because she was impossibly cool.

Unfortunately it looks like Genghis and Gandhi (meh) return again, yawn. Cleopatra and Qui Shi Hunag are also not very interesting (I'd prefer Hatshepsut and Taizong). At least America is lead by badass Teddy instead of extremely bland (in civ5) Washington.

Ghingiz Khan has to be leader of the Mongols. Kublai was a good leader, but some would claim he was a great Chinese leader. That doesn't seem fair, but I still have to give the nod to Grandpa for game purposes. (Of course I'd say the same thing about Hannibal and Carthage, so . . . )

 

[CultureManiac]

French Unique Ability:
Vichy France - Be granted a small piece of your country to administer if you surrender

English Unique Unit:
Soccer Fan - Causes economic damage in foreign cities

American Unit Ability:
Weapon of Mass Destruction - Allows declarations of war for no legitimate reason

Aztec Unique Ability:
Montezuma's Revenge - All foreign troops in your territory lose hit points every turn

Chinese Unique Building:
Alibaba Headquarters - All trade routes to this city become worthless when goods are found to be fake

 

[Cerilis]

French Unique Ability:
Vichy France - Be granted a small piece of your country to administer if you surrender

English Unique Unit:
Soccer Fan - Causes economic damage in foreign cities

American Unit Ability:
Weapon of Mass Destruction - Allows declarations of war for no legitimate reason

Aztec Unique Ability:
Montezuma's Revenge - All foreign troops in your territory lose hit points every turn

Chinese Unique Building:
Alibaba Headquarters - All trade routes to this city become worthless when goods are found to be fake

Are we...are we going to make a list of anti-PC uniques...?

 

[Veras]

I'd love if not a single leader of Civ5 was coming back in Civ6.

Mongolia - Kubilai instead of Genghis
Japan - Tokugawa Ieyasu instead of Nobunaga
Rome - Traian instead of August
Greece - Cleistenes instead of Alexander
Indonesia - Hayam Wuruk instead of fatman
India - Lakshmibai instead of overrated hippie
Persia - ruler of Islamic eras like Nader Shah
Ottomans - Roxolana (crazy but would be so cool)
France - Louis XIV instead of Napoleon
Germany - Frederick
etc
I'd leave only Catherine because she was impossibly cool.

Unfortunately it looks like Genghis and Gandhi (meh) return again, yawn. Cleopatra and Qui Shi Hunag are also not very interesting (I'd prefer Hatshepsut and Taizong). At least America is lead by badass Teddy instead of extremely bland (in civ5) Washington.

As much as I would love to see a lot of new leaders, there are some that just can't be replaced, like Genghis Khan.

But I'd love to see some Indian emperor or mahajara insted of Gandhi, some french absolutist king instead of Napoleon, etc.

 

[Dragonflow]

Actually, I would be delightfully surprised if every civ had a completely different approach than in civ5. For example, instead of a warring Oda, you got industrial Meiji, or "Dichter und Denker" Frederick instead of "Blood and Iron" Bismarck, or a civ that was rather peaceful in civ 5 gets a warmonger leader in 6, etc.

Could be interesting to see some new approaches.
England lead by Victoria with a focus on industry and commerce would be quite a departure from the usual navy oriented England we've had.
Greece could get somebody like Pericles with a focus on naval warfare and wonders. Maybe make the Trireme a Greek UU rather than a ship everybody can build.
For Germany it'd be nice if Firaxis could get out of Prussia for once. Nothing against Frederick but maybe somebody from an earlier period like Otto I would be cool. Instead of the usual warfare focus Germany could be focusing on culture and religion this time.
Rome could get somebody from the Republican period like Cicero, Marius, Sulla or Pompey with a focus on build strong city-state alliances.

Quite a few possibilities out.

 

[ehecatzin]

Aztec Uniques:

UA: Sacrificial Captives - Gain Faith every time you kill a unit.
UU: Jaguar Warrior -No movement penalty on forest and jungle, heals after killing a unit.
UU: Pochteca - Envoy replacement, can extract tribute from CS.
UI: Floating Gardens - Generates extra food and habitability,can be built on swamps and lakes.

Agenda: Garland Wars - Will Vassalise neighbooring CS, will denounce you if you are friendly with them.

The Aztec had a nice flavour in Civ5, culture on kill is nice, but let's face it faith on kill suits them better. The Jaguar is a classic that must come back. The Aztec Empire drew a lot of its resources from extracting tribute from subjugated City States, The Aztec merchant class acted as spies and diplomats as well, and I think it fits the envoy system like a glove, you could demand tribute from CS and gain a casus belli if they refuse, and if you have already allied them or vassalize them you can keep on extracting tribute with your envoys.

The floating gardens were a great UB, but I always thought it would work better as a UI, (half of Tenochtitlan was built using the same technique) besides it would look great on the map and help on freeing district tiles.

 

[j51]

Oh man, you're all coming up with so many great ideas!

I'd especially love to see a French field artillery unit to represent Gribeauval and Napoleon's genius in that regard. Also a Marshal unique General would be a cool way to include Napoleon (They could look like him!) along with a different leader, say Henri IV (le bon roi).

As for Rome, a Consul great person would be really neat alongside the requisite Legion and the, presumably now a unique, Colosseum. It could function as both a Great General and City Governor (a la Endless Legend's heroes.)

I'd love to see more unique Great People in general: How about a Great Philosopher for Greece (replaces Scientist)? Also I'd imagine the Hoplites will return and hopefully we'll see an Agora.

I'm assuming Russia will always have Cossacks, but, yeah, hopefully, we'll see a T-34 or Streltsy too. Also, using an Ostrog as a unique Fort that than can claim adjacent tiles or something would be really cool.

For Persia, I loved Light In The East's idea of having them able to manufacture unique carpet luxuries. I would also love to see a unique cataphract-related unit and a, hopefully, a Sassanid leader (Khosrau, or Shapur).

Germany could use for some non-military stuff: How about some kind of researh university or teching lab?

As for the UK, I'd like to see both longbowmen and redcoats, with their naval power represented as a bonus for all naval units.

 

[Dragonflow]

A Consul UU is also an idea I had once. An idea I had was that the Consul should reflect the fact that there were always two.
So here's an idea for the Consul UU.
Consul (Great General replacement): Whenever Rome generates enough point for a Great General they receive two Consuls instead. One is identical to a normal Great General while the second one randomly receives the traits of any other possible type of Great Person.

 

[bite]

it will be interesting to see if all the UU,UB,UA is based of the leader or the civ more generally