Most worthless unit?

[Monkeyfinger]

ctrl + f ironclad

Not found

You all fail.

And what gives with people dissing the explorer? They're the best medics you can get, for christ's sake, they're mobile, cheap, and so weak that they'll never be called upon to defend the stack they're in.

 

[Saint Sarai]

ctrl + f ironclad

Not found

You all fail.

And what gives with people dissing the explorer? They're the best medics you can get, for christ's sake, they're mobile, cheap, and so weak that they'll never be called upon to defend the stack they're in.

Jeez! you're right. I don't think I've ever even built an ironclad, forgot all about them....

Thanks everyone for posting your thoughts to my OP.

Everyone's opinions have given me something to chew on in my own thoughts about units and how to use them.

I like explorers, they serve a purpose and that trick with the medic promotion sounds pretty good to me.

I usually have a few carriers in my assault forces and they do the job of softening the city defenses.

I should have mentioned that my focus is on the "late game" most worthless unit.

I find some agreement with everyone's opinions on this subject.

Thanks again form making my OP a very informative one, at least for me...

 

[50_dollar_bag]

Explorer should be able to upgrade to an army scout.

Army Scout
Str 8
Mov 2
Starts with Sentry, Commando
Can only defend
Requires Military Science and Rocketry

Why not just make it invisible to most units and remove the strength aspect?

Because really, what can one scout do to an army?
Unless he's Sylvester Stallone or Chuck Norris

 

[elder abuser]

Chariots all the way.....it's quite tough finding a use for them.

 

[Jabarto]

Hm...I've never been a big fan of Machine Gun...

I like machine guns. I find them to be a really cost effective way of guarding cities. I do wish there were an upgrade for them, though (ahistorical as that may be).

And yeah. Iroclads are pretty worthless.

 

[BARBEERIAN]

I'll vote Guided Missile. Absolutely useless waste of hammers.

 

[DrewBledsoe]

Chariots all the way.....it's quite tough finding a use for them.

Huh? Are you still playing vanilla Civ IV? From Warlords onwards, Chariots have +100% attack vs Axemen, making them the axes only early nemesis. A stack of just axes, is mincemeat against a few chariots.

 

[Norbert]

I actually use chariots, and guided missles....but explorers need that land-claim ability. And Ironclads. Let's not forget the unit that's been useless since Civ III.

 

[Rusty Edge]

I prefer chariots as medics rather than explorers. They can gain exp. in mop-up attacks until I attach a GG.

I prefer ironclads for coastal defense until I can upgrade them to destroyers. I'm big on coastal defense, because I don't care to be privateered, pillaged, blockaded or invaded. I think it's easier to sink a galleon full of grenadiers than it is to defend against them.


As for the late game- I never bother with nukes because I prefer a UN ban to global warming.

Haven't used & haven't seen self-propelled artillery used . Im sure they'd be useful if I fought at that stage.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

I prefer ironclads for coastal defense until I can upgrade them to destroyers. I'm big on coastal defense, because I don't care to be privateered, pillaged, blockaded or invaded. I think it's easier to sink a galleon full of grenadiers than it is to defend against them.

*the galleons go around your ironclads, dropping the grenadiers before the ironclads can reach them*

Yeah. I did try defending my shores with ironclads. They're too slow to chase invading ships down.

 

[eXcel]

agree that guided missile is trash, one shot should do >50% dmg to most units, more to some than others. Also should be able to kill units if they are already damaged. Disagree on it needing to have collateral dmg, seems quite overpowered to me, why build mobile artillery?

 

[elder abuser]

Huh? Are you still playing vanilla Civ IV? From Warlords onwards, Chariots have +100% attack vs Axemen, making them the axes only early nemesis. A stack of just axes, is mincemeat against a few chariots.

Yup...probably should have stated that

 

[sargasm]

I like guided missiles. They cost substantially less than a Marine or Paratrooper, meaning you can amass a large amount of them from all your cities, then massacre the defending forces in the city you're attacking, and move your stack in to capture it with little to no damage, meaning they can move on that much faster. It's like causing a lot more collateral damage without waiting for the unit to move all the way across the map. Tactical Nukes and ICBMs do more damage, of course, but Guided Missiles can't be intercepted, or banned by the UN.

 

[RedRalph]

Explorers - pointless
Warriors - you never get attacked that early (at noble anyway). Better to build a worker and wait for archers
Horse archers. Useful for keeping Barbs at bay, not much else
guided missiles should be guided missile launchers or MRLs (Katyushas) instead. It should take say 6 turns to build one in the late game, then it can fire 2 rockets per turn with ranged fire.

 

[Zetetic Apparat]

Nukes. I ban them--always. I want to conquer the world, not conquer a desert. Whatever you can do with nukes I can do almost as well with conventional troops, without the collateral damage, global warming, and long wait time to tech Fission and whatever else you need for nukes.

It's much cheaper (and easier and quicker from a management point of view) to defend using nukes. While going for space or cultural victories I've used a significant nuclear arsenal (with 1 conventional unit/city) to disappear invasions.

 

[PieceOfMind]

ICBM.

Ever since I had about 90% get shot down due to SDI (much worse than the "supposed" 75%), never again... never again.

 

[ShunNakamura]

Am I the only one who likes the ironclad?

Ok, it is slow as molasses however, careful placement and the right promotions/proving the world is round can offset that enough. And they make it a lot easier to guard your coast from enemy frigates[I lose way too many frigates taking on AI frigates].

I also love Machine guns. In their era they can be VERY hard to dislodge and means you don't need to leave behind as many men to garrison newly taken cities[one or two machine guns will hold it well enough]. However, what I do is I time an assault so that I am just beginning to hit them with previous era units that can upgrade into them[usually these are set with Combat Promotions rather than city raider[I use them for cleanup], thus I have with me a good offensive aid that I can instantly convert to a super solid defender].




As for my worthless units-
--- Explorer, I don't play maps much beyond standard size[takes to long in late game turn wise for me].
--- Probably others but not coming to mind right at the moment.

 

[Uberness]

Explorers are great medics.

Iron Clads are good at defending fishing and coastal cities with 1-2 tiles of access to the sea to prevent direct drops and guarding tight inland ocean routes, just have trouble killing anything that doesn't come to them, making them useless for defending large areas. ( altho I believe the circumnavigate bonus gives them 3 movement)
ironclads also have the bonus of not needing astronomy to use, so you can defend fishing without getting sea techs

Chariots unuseful? your nuts.

Machine guns can defend a city without worry of them falling until tanks or massive cavalry/artiliery.

I haven't found a good use for guided missles since I don't think they can kill anything, but can make the diffience in a naval battle when fighting 40 vs 40 or 40 vs 33, course if you attack first the collateral damage will do about the same.

Horse archers can use flanking and harm any incoming catapults in stacks and a good counter to longbows and crossbows.

If you play online warriors can save your life, especially when your sacrificing 2-3 to take down a chariot, or producing one a turn to keep a lone axemen from taking a city until stronger troops arrive, or guarding a worker in a forest.

I can't really think of any unit that doesn't have a purpose, but others are more situational then others, like the ironclad when movement isn't a issue.

 

[Psychlone]

I always thought the machine gun was useless too... until Montezuma launched one of his senseless assaults where he refused to take peace. When facing massive stacks of war elephants and grenadiers even in the modern era, machine guns are AWESOME, especially with lots of First Strike promos so they take virtually no collateral damage.

 

[StuntedAzrael]

Yes, Explorers. I have never build one. No need. I always use archers as medics. They can be easly promoted early in the game.