Most worthless unit?

[kazapp]

My vote is for the grenadier: Once one of the most powerful units for its time, I don't think I've built a single once since BTS came out. I tend to get infantry before I can even build grenadiers, so there is really no point in them.

The grenadier is useful precisely against people that only builds riflemen and no grenadiers.

 

[tomaalimosh]

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

If you have no copper and you found horses in an early marathon raging barbarian game, chariots are the only way to stay alive. even if you have copper or iron, they are still by far the best way to deal with axemen.
I mean... you have the paper/scissors/rock thing with axemen, chariots and spearmen. (btw, I've seen barbarian spearmen in bts!)

so... I wouldn't put chariots on the list.

The ironclad is also ok in marathon games, if you want to protect your fisheries.

 

[kazapp]

Explorers should have some sort of land-claiming mechanism ("I claim this land in the name of Spain"), which would make them more useful since you can put them on caravels.

When fortifed, they exude cultural border influence the same as a new city with zero culture, and act like a city for purposes of where any civ can have settlers found a new one (not within two tiles of him). The explorer is acting as a placeholding outpost until proper settlement can occur.

A rival can usurp the claim, but it would be an act of war (enter the borders and eliminate the explorer). The natives (barbarians) can also kill the explorer and destroy the "outpost."

A good suggestion: a proto-city with +1 Culture output.

As it is, its very seldom worth scouting new continents with Explorers: it will lose against most Barbarian units of the time, it can't take cities, it can't even open goody huts as these are by this time always guarded by a Barbarian.

Mind you, the Scout is far from useless - it's specifically Explorers that aren't worth building (or upgrading to)

 

[Horace]

I wouldnt mind explorers being able to set up Civ 3 style colonies to claim resources

 

[Gelvan]

the explorer is not completely useless if you upgrade it to woodman II - because the, he has the ability to move two forest squares, which ONLY the explorer can do. this is helpful to protect newly produced catapults on the way from your city to the battlefield.

 

[kazapp]

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

Actually, with BtS Ironclads have become less useless.

Now that any invading navy needs Ships of the Line, the speed difference is only 1 Move instead of two between the Ironclad and the next slowest unit.

In Warlords and before, the Ironclad should have gotten an extra Move, so yes, it was useless.

But now I'd say this is fixed, even though the Ironclad itself remains absolutely unchanged.

 

[Mesousa]

When a guided missille is used up in its attack, does it result in the same increase to war weariness as when a normal unit was destroyed?

 

[Ethric]

Guilded missiles should be able to pick their targets, I mean they ARE GUIDED missiles

Ahahaaa, indeed. They are CALLED guided missiles, but they aren't really. Thus should do collateral damage.

 

[SlipperyJim]

I will agree with the Jaguar. How worthless.

Cheap Swordsmen that don't require any resources to build and have easy access to the Woodsman promotion line, all the way up to Woodsman III for two First Strikes and bonus healing? That sounds pretty good to me. Yeah, the Strength penalty (compared to regular Swordsmen) is annoying, but that's why they're cheap.

If you think Jaguars are worthless, you're not using them properly. Crank out a horde of them and go nuts all over your opponents. Beeline Iron Working to maximize the carnage.

That said, the value of Jaguars is a bit situational. On maps without many forests or jungles, they'd be worth less. (Not worthless, just worth less.) However, on a map that's choked with green leafy things, Jaguars are very nice. On a Rainforest map, the Jaguars are almost overpowered!

 

[DemonMaster]

Guided missiles being useless. I was totally crippled in my last game by Saladin. He started the war by using alot (alot, alot, alot) of missiles from subs, he destroyed my entire destroyer navy and most of my other ships that was at sea at the moment. Then he went home to reload, he got back a couple of turns later to bomb me some more. Oh, should I say that he bombed my oil resources with those "worthless" guided missiles, and he did that over and over again, until I got some destroyers out (from an ethanol company city, I had no uranium) and I could protect the waters around my oil resource.

For the most worthless unit, I must vote for the explorer (I sometimes use them for medics, but not often), except if you play on the terra map (the one with a undiscovered continent) where he can be good (with some proper promotions).

 

[spiffamoo]

My vote goes for the explorer too. Play on standard maps, and there isn't much left to 'explore'. Letting them claim territory seems to be a great idea. Logical and useful.

 

[Slax]

I wish that cannons came a little earlier. I find I am using catapults and trebs with units from the later eras all the time.

 

[aronnax]

Ironclads, rather build 2 Frigates or tech to the next level. They are just too slow to be of any use

 

[Goldngram]

I use explorers as medics. build them from the city with red cross and they can heal and you dont have to waste a promo on a solider. Explorers become fantastic 1500 years after you can get them =)

 

[RomanHoliday]

I have always hated how the Ethiopian starting unit was an Explorer. Now reading these posts, maybe I'll find other uses for them.

And I can't believe that there are people out there who hate Machine Guns. Early heavy defenders. Only a few in a border city and it's safe from whatever stack comes my way.

 

[peter450]

I think the guided missile should not be a buildable unit, when you build a sub or missile cruiser it should come fully loaded, (a reason to actually get these units, or make them a worthwhile inclusion/purchase), once you've fire'd one or all the missiles, you simply need to station the unit in a city an the missiles are replaced at a rate of one for every 2 or 3 turns the unit stays in that city

 

[ezwip]

I would vote the explorer. It still serves its purpose but I can usually bully the other factions into giving up their portion of the map early so I rarely make one.

As for the carrier I like it. I'll throw it in a stack with battleships, transports, destroyers, and subs. Send that out to raise and pillage any competitors coastal towns. Those planes can be sent to a carrier from the other side of the map. That to me makes it worthwhile because I don't need to stack artillery. I can just throw a spy in a submarine and pull up. He will take down the defenses and then the planes can pound the units inside. Send a couple of marines in and that's it the town is looted. I usually have to leave the one marine that raised the town behind so I'll steal a small island off the mainland as a supply/troop drop zone. I love a strong navy if you diss a carrier you are silly. Also, in real life carriers are fragile. You shouldn't be able to put your carrier against a battleship ya know what I mean? The battleships and destroyers are there to guard it.

 

[Thalatta]

And I can't believe that there are people out there who hate Machine Guns. Early heavy defenders. Only a few in a border city and it's safe from whatever stack comes my way.

I didn't say I hated Machine Guns, I just never build them. I prefer to try to kill incoming stacks before they reach my cities. (This is why I never play Protective leaders...)

I don't mind Explorers - they're best on a Terra map, I rarely build them and I usually disband them if my unit costs are going up, but they can be worth saving for things like the medic situation.
Jaguars are fine. As has been explained repeatedly, their loss of strength has a pretty decent tradeoff. They're unique units, rather than strictly better (like Praets). Obviously, they shine on some maps, but on those they don't, just make Axes.
Good point about Ironclads - I would have chimed in on them, but that's because I haven't had to mess with Ship of the Line much. (I had some highly promoted Privateers that I used instead. I love Privateers...)
Grenadiers are another unit I never build in SP, though I'm sure I would in MP. I also rarely bother to build archery units (Crossbows are the most common) or Spears.

 

[Ekmek]

I'm all for an explorer that can claim land...anyone have an idea how to do that? or maybe give it the ability to make roads or forts...or something.

guided missile with collateral could be better, personally I've been thinking about giving them hidden nationality so they can attack targets without war declared. a punitive strike ability might make them worthwhile.

 

[leckig]

explorers as medics.... I dont like that idea. It is much easier to promote an archer quickly and later attach a general to it and even though you can keep promoting it earlier. I never produced a single explorer, but I think they are not able to attack, so they pretty much cannot be promoted, right?