Rank the UUs (and civs while you're at it)

[Grimbreath]

My Favorite UU's
1. US Navy Seals just can't beat them on water maps
2. Cossacks are just sick
3. Samurai

Favorite Civs
1. Washington need I say more
2. Catherine
3. Cyrus He is just alot of fun.

 

[dbergan]

Ok, I just crunched the stats. Below are the UUs odds to beat its replacement (ie Praetorian beats a Swordman, etc)

Cossack - 97.10%
Samurai - 94.90%
Panzer - 90.10%
Redcoat - 88.60%
Skirmisher - 80.60%
Praetorian - 78.20%
Phalanx - 75.00%
War Chariot - 75.00%
Immortal - 65.00%
Camel Archer - 62.50%
Navy SEAL - 60.20%
Cho-Ko-Nu - 56.84%
Keshik - 56.80%
Conquistador - 50.00%
Musketeer - 50.00%
Quechua - 50.00%
Jaguar - 27.10%

The list is a bit deceiving. Some units (ala conquistadors, quechua) aren't particularly great against their counterpart, but monsters on other units that usually defend cities. And the Chuck Norris' don't get a chance to show off their collateral damage capability. Also, I didn't take into account that aggressive civs give an automatic +10% to some of their units... the jaguar's don't have that factored in, which would make them slightly more competitive with the unit they are replacing. But I'm afraid that there's no possible analysis that can give the Musketeer any redemption.

And then there's the Fast Workers, which probably aren't going to directly take over any continent... but I'm inclined to consider them the best since they are the only unique unit that you'll use from 4000 BC to 2050 AD. And as someone else said, they can outrun anything.

 

[Koelle]

UUs:
Cossacks: invincible
Fast Workers: more powerful than they seem
Redcoats: killed my Tanks

Leaders:
Cathy - she drives me wild
Ghandi: Industrious and and fast workes work well together
Frederik: He suits my style

 

[GIO888]

UU's for me have to be
Redcoat - unstoppable for centuries, attack and defense
Fast Workers - with the upgrades, your infrastructure build is AWESOME
SEALS - churn these dudes out and watch those lightly defended islands fall!

Leaders
Elizabeth - only drawback playing her is not seeing her in the game!
Washington - Cashola - is this starting to get a bit deja vu?
Gandhi - Bald, yes, but you sure can creep up on your neighbors!

 

[Rast]

UUs:

1) Cossacks (for reasons already mentioned), and
2) Conquistadors - Knights stay viable for a long time on Marathon, the fact that they can fortify means they can attack unsupported by other units and still do alright.

But I don't play for UUs and frankly don't pay much attention to them, probably because my favorite civ's UU isn't that overpowering.

Civs:

1) Washington. Organized + Financial is both extremely powerful and extremely flexible. The early game land grab doesn't hurt your economy as much, ditto the late game land grab when you're pushing for Domination. Organized + Courthouses really minimizes maintenance costs. Cottage spam + bank + market + grocer + supermarket and you're swimming cash. His only real downsides are set-in-stone civics and war weariness (switching to police state will kill your production since you can't rush things and won't get any hammers off all those cottages)

2) Catherine. Good UU, nice traits if you're pushing for culture.

... I used to play as Toku but not since I moved up to Prince - Aggressive isn't nearly as good as financial on the higher difficulties.

 

[Frostyboy]

UUs
-----
1. Chu-ko-no
2. Samurai
3. Praetorian? Haven't tried them yet

Leaders (agressive)
1. Tokugawa

GP-farmer
1. Peter

Financial
1. Mansa Musa, Victoria

 

[jaythewise]

Chu-ko-no or fast worker have to be the most overated unit.

by 1000ad your cities should be fully cottaged up.

Redcoats are the best UU, they smoke cossacks and riflemen...

 

[salty mud]

Does anyone find Catherine strangly 'attractive?'

UU's:

1. Chu-ko-nu
2. Navy SEALs
3. Praetorians

Leaders:

1. Catherine (Russia)
2. Elizabeth (England)
3. Washington (America)

 

[Crighton]

1) Praetorian - start the slaughter early
2) Redcoat - excellent mid game bridge unit
3) phalanx (for when I want to be left alone and not venture out of my empire)

 

[gdgrimm]

Some of the UU's have real value that isn't directly apparent in military terms.

The Fast Worker has already been identified as one.
But the Quecha is another one. If you start fairly isolated from the enemy AI's, the Quecha means you have all the military techs and resources to defend yourself against Barbs up until Axemen. No need to research Archery (perhaps forever, if you have ocean isolation), you can delay Hunting (especially if Camps won't be of value), and the Quecha build for each city is far cheaper than the Archer build, which means more resources available for other things in the early game.

 

[Sisiutil]

Add me to the list of Redcoat fans, mainly because of timing.

I know a lot of people favour early-game UUs for quick conquering, but I prefer to develop, live peacefully, and get way ahead of other Civs tech-wise.

I've played as Liz a couple of times--I like the trait combinations--and each time, the Redcoat becomes available right in mid-game when one or two nearby Civs decide they're fed up and come after me. It's fun watching them mop up hordes of Macemen, War Chariots, and Crossbowmen.

 

[Alcatraz]

I think the best UU is either the praetorians or the cossacks, depending on your playing style/strategy. Praetorians easily dominate the early game and if you enjoy taking out significant parts of the world early on, than Praetorians are the way to go. Their only drawback is their window is somewhat small. Get iron as fast as you can, do as much damage as you can, then secure your borders and build infrastructure.

The cossacks, on the other hand, are great for a player that likes to build up a hefty civilization first and then go to war once their infrastructure is fully developed. They dominate their era, and they stay dominant for a long time. Couple them with the characteristics of either Russian leader and you have a might fine unit.

 

[Thalassicus]

The only disadvantage of Redcoats is their position on the tech tree. To beeline for them, you have to research three techs with relatively marginal benefits (printing press, replaceable parts, rifling) compared to the other techs. I usually am going for Economics, Representation, and Astronomy around the same time, which provide huge bonuses to keep you ahead of the AI's research pace. They're great units once you get them though.

 

[Caradoc]

UUs:
1. Quecha -- help early against raging barbs
2. Praetorian -- no surprise
3. Cho Ko Nu -- agree with dbergen

Civs:
1. Elizabeth
2. Alexander
3. Qin Shi Huang

 

[SkippyT]

UUs:
1) Russian Cossacks ~ Mixed with Caths, Russia will stomp over the world. Cossacks are the most powerful mounted unit, both fast and strong. Love 'em
2) Indian Fast workers ~ Lasts all the game and are fast. I like doing things fast. But still no match for Cossacks!
3) Japanese Samurais ~ When playing the 1000 AD scenario, you gotta have those as your attackers.

Civs:
1) Caths (Catherine of Russia)
2) Lizzy (Elizabeth of England)
3) Hughy (Huayna Capac of Inca...s...land)