Ranking the Unique Units

[Rowain deWolf]

Some comments to your list:

first off i like your list nevertheless i have some objections.

a) Hoplite is one of the top three UU by me . You have a defence that only get topped by Musketmen, is available right from the beginning and don't need any resources. Additional since they aren't offensive Units you can avoid the early GA.The AI is a bit shy about attacking Hoplites.

With Samurai and Immortals on top i agree Only Greek and Romans have a chance to defend Immo which brings me to the next underated UU the
b) Legion: with its high defence they are hard to stop during an offensive war and good defenders. they can easily finish off those retreating fast Units. So i guess they earn a place in the second threefold together with Rider and Mounted-Warrior.

c) the overrated Units (in my Opinion) are 1)War-Elefants: no bonus exept the Resources which is seldom needed;

2)the War Charriot
yes i've played and won as ; yes i've build some War-Charriots; but NO ihave not fouind any particular use for them; Till the time the horses are connected you can easily build Horseman which have the advantage not to trigger a GA
so down to the bowman with those two

one Unit i don't know is the Panzer. I have not played the Germans yet so i don't know if they are much better than tanks. I only know that in all my Games till now the Germans are extinct before they get their UU .

What surprises me is that you value Jaguar higher then Impi. Aren't Impi the same but with a higher def and a far better Upgradepath? In my opinion they should switch position

Anyway thanks for the lot of work you put into this list

Rowain

 

[Dutchman]

I so agree with you Rowain But I do know that panzers are very good UU's and the only thing why they are on second place with my is because they come rather late in the game and you alwaýs trigger your GA by Wonders, but he then you've got a tank that can attack twice in a round, and it's in the late Industrial age so your factory's are up and running, and if you are at least 3 or 4 tech's ahead of the other civ's, then this has a devestating effect.

 

[Dr HacknSlash]

Having been on the wrong side of an attacking Legion of Legions, I can't believe they belong that low on the list.

I agree with a lot of the comments that Panzer is overrated. I've never had any problems with the Germans. It's the same phenomenon as the F-15: new techs are coming faster at this point in the game, so the advantage doesn't last long--and it's not that great in the first place.

I've never played the English, but I would imagine Man-o-War could be worthwhile in an Archipelago.

My favorite was Immortals, but now that 1.17f puts UU's in the upgrade chain, I would think Musketeers are more advantageous. They can upgrade all the way up to Mech Infantry. Haven't tried them yet, though.

I agree that Samurai rock.

 

[God]

Originally posted by Mavfin
I was able to use this to put my GA when I wanted it...I had missed the Wonders I needed to start the GA for the English, so when I was ready to attack with Inf/Cav/Arty in the Industrial Age, I found an obliging Chinese Ironclad to attack with a stack of 3 Men-O-War, and kicked off my GA at the start of the war, and took over the world...a domination victory on a huge map!

LOL, i tried a similar thing with my war chariots. Hadn't had my GA and didn't even get one when i build j.S Bachs cathedral .
Later early industrial age i was warring Aztecs and it was cavalry vs. riflemen battles. Then i saw a 1 hp aztec cavalry. Right from the begginning i had 2 war chariots, and one died but the other one killed the war chariot and i got my GA.

 

[narmox]

I have to put in a vote for the Panzers.. Don't diss them just cause the AI doesn't know how to use them, otherwise all UU's would be ranked low

Well, in my latest game.. tHe Germans went on a rampage in ancient/middle/industrial ages and conquered a huge continent.. So in my 3rd war against them, I had to fight against hordes and hordes of Panzers. Many many troops died.. (and I won diplomatically )

Anyways. In the hands of a human player, the Panzers ROCK. No other unit has this strength and SPEED until the Modern Armor comes along. I once landed a huge 60-units strong attack force on a 7-cities continent, thinking of a long war to conquer it. about 15 of those units were Panzers, the others were infantry, artillery, cruise missiles, and some mech inf.

Well, I was wrong about the long war. on the first turn, I captured one city. On the second turn, I captured the 6 others, all thanks to the Panzers' mobility.

I would capture one city (rails everywhere btw). Then I'd use the other Panzers to move 2 squares into enemy territory and attack in the same turn. Tanks would be stuck at the city gates, just waiting for a counterattack.. That's the great strength of Panzers.

 

[Tweedledum]

I'm a great fan of the Immortals - I nearly always find myself forced to go to war early just to get some space, and a large force of Immortals can turn the neighbouring civs into dogfood with quite gratifying speed. The only one that comes close is the Mounted Warrior...

OK, both will have trouble against the Greeks and their Hoplites but then again so will all the other early UUs

 

[The Last Conformist]

My vote must go to the War Elephant. As yet, I've only had a single game in which I got both Horses and Iron without a major war and/or expensive trades. (In the one I did get, I got no Salpeter ...)

I must say I'm surprised to see the Rider and the Cossack tied. That extra movement on the Rider as compared to the Knight is huge IMO, and the defense of four makes the Rider harder to kill than any defensive unit before Musketmen. Sure, the Cossack has the same defense, but comes much later, and is much more easily killed by Cavalry than the Rider is by Knights. I'd downgrade the Cossack to just above Bowmen and Impi (better timed GA, generally).

I'd place the Legion just above the Cossack - the enemy has huge problems retaking cities captured by Legions. And I'd definitely place the Hoplite above the Musketeer.