Reviews: Unique Units

[Rebel Fighter]

Hello, fellow Civ fans! (This is my first post, by the way. )

After playing Civilization 5: Gods & Kings for many hours, I've begun to learn about the new civilizations and their unique units - both the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I realize "first impressions" are usually never an entirely accurate critic - and we all can agree that opinions are subject to change - but I just wanted to help the Civilization community out a little bit with my findings. Tell me what you think after you read it. This is still a work in progress, so bear with me! I'd greatly appreciate any comments, corrections, or suggestions! Also, feel free to give your own opinions about the new unique units.

(Note: All text in red are inferior values to the base unit that a unique unit replaces; all text in green are superior values to the base unit that the unique unit replaces)

v1.0 : Included Carthage, Netherlands, and Celts.
Plans for updates: Add the Mayans, Byzantines, the Huns, Austria, Ethiopia, Sweden, and Spain (they will be in separate posts because of image limitations).
v1.1 : Added the Mayans.
v1.2 : Added information on African Forest Elephant regarding its benefit of not needing a strategic resource.
v1.3 : Fixed error on Atlatlist regarding comparisons. Changed rating to compensate.
v1.4 : Added the Byzantines.
v1.5 : Changed rating for Cataphract.

EDIT: I forgot to add the Tercio and the Conquistador unique units into the poll. Is there a way that I can restart the poll and add them in?

Here we go!

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Carthage: Dido of Carthage

Unique Unit 1: African Forest Elephant (replaces Horsemen); 100 , 14 , 3 , N/A

Tech: Horseback Riding
Resource: N/A
Upgrades to: Knight
Notes: No defensive terrain bonuses, Can move after attacking, Penalty attacking cities (33%), Feared elephant, Great Generals II
Comments: The African Forest Elephant is kind of a mixed package. Although it has some advantages over the Horsemen unit which it replaces, it also has several disadvantages. While it has +2 , does not require Horses [strategic resource], creates Great Generals more quickly through military skirmishes, and strikes fear into enemy units giving it a small combat bonus, it also has -1 compared to the Horsemen and, quite importantly, it requires +25 to make. Is it better than the Horsemen? Not exactly. Although the African Forest Elephant packs a bigger punch with its higher and increased combat effectiveness, it will take longer both to build and to move about the battlefield. Essentially, its a "tank" version of the Horsemen, if you will - stronger but slower. However, because it does not require Horses [strategic resource], you will be able to make more of them, although it will take longer to build each in comparison. I would recommend escorting this unit with the bulk of your army rather than try and sneak past enemy lines with little support. Use them to soften up positions after your ranged units have taken their shot, then charge in with the rest of your military force to finish the job. If you use them right, these African Forest Elephants will be sure to strike fear into your enemies for many turns to come.
Rating: 7/10

Unique Unit 2: Quinquereme (replaces Trireme); 45 , 13 , 4 , N/A

Tech: Sailing
Resource: N/A
Upgrades to: Caravel
Notes: Cannot enter deep ocean
Comments: If you ever wanted to dominate the seas early on, the Quinquereme is your answer. It has +3 over the Trireme unit which it replaces, making it the strongest naval melee unit in the game until the Caravel is unlocked. Any ships you encounter will be at quite a disadvantage, and cities on the water with several exposed coastal tiles will fall fairly easily to your might. I would recommend using this unit mainly as an offensive or defensive weapon against other enemy ships. It can be used effectively against cities when in large numbers, but the city must require - I would say - a minimum of 3 tiles to be captured easily. If there are enemy archers defending the shores, you may have more of a problem. Still, for what it's worth, this upgraded Trireme will prove your status as a naval superpower in the beginning stages of a match.
Rating: 8/10

- - -

Netherlands: William I

Unique Unit: Sea Beggar (replaces Privateer); 150 , 25 , 5 , N/A

Tech: Navigation
Resource: N/A
Upgrades to: Destroyer
Notes: Converts defeated ships, Coastal Raider I, Coastal Raider II, Heals outside of friendly territory
Comments: The Sea Beggar is more powerful and more efficient at raiding coastal cities than the Privateer, which it replaces. With its promotion that allows it to heal every turn even when outside of friendly territory, your Sea Beggars will be better equipped for long voyages at sea as well. I would recommend using this unit to defeat and convert injured ships after your ranged ships have laid down heavy fire, or to harass cities to get . You can also use them to capture cities of course, but I would strongly suggest using ranged ships if you can to do the majority of the damage first. Overall, this is a decent - although a bit underwhelming - unique unit. Even so, feeling like a pirate has never been so much fun! Yargh!
Rating: 6/10

 

[Rebel Fighter]

Celts: Boudica

Unique Unit: Pictish Warrior (replaces Spearman); 56 , 11 , 2 , N/A

Tech: Bronze Working
Resource: N/A
Upgrades to: Pikeman
Notes: Foreign Land Bonus (20%), No movement cost to pillage, [Earns in combat], [No 50% bonus vs. mounted units like basic Spearman]
Comments: The Pictish Warrior is the epitome of religious warfare in Gods & Kings. It has a 20% bonus when fighting outside of friendly territory - great for offensive rushes and showing others who's boss. It has no movement cost to pillage, which means you'll be able to pillage enemy lands more often than not, providing you with some extra . It will also gain in combat, which is a huge plus. The Pictish Warrior isn't without its disadvantages, however. Even though it replaces the Spearman, it does not retain the 50% bonus against mounted units. This means your civilization will be more vulnerable to enemy horsemen in the Ancient and Classical eras. I would recommend using this unique unit offensively against enemy units and cities early on before it gets obsolete. Be extremely aggressive with this unit if you want your to skyrocket. For a religious civilization, the Pictish Warrior is the perfect compliment.
Rating: 9/10

 

[fuzzatron717]

You are good reviewer and I will enjoy reading your futher reviews and P.S warm welcome to civfanatics

 

[Dreadnought]

Keep up the good work!

 

[Harv72b]

Well written and very well formatted. Thanks for the work you put into this!

 

[Babri]

Great post OP. If would love to read more about the rest of the UUs.
Regarding African elephant, it is a fair UU but I think Companion cavalry is much superior to it because it has same strength while has 5 . And I don't see why so many ppl luv Sea Beggars. They are just an average UU IMO, not really game changing like Keshliks, janissaries & battering rams.

 

[Bakspatel]

Nice review, I'm curious about your review of the other UU's.

I've had difficulty choosing for the Dromon and Sea Beggar but ended up in voting for the latter. Dromons are just awesome, not just because of their ability (who doesn't want to burn down barbarians and other hostiles with fire?) but also because of their usefulness. They can be an excellent early-supportive unit for your terrestrial units. Extremely useful in the beginning when you are still being bugged a lot by barbarians and so can use them to keep them under pressure until ground support arrives to clear out the encampments. Quite handy for gaining some promotions if you intent to use them as frigates later.

The reason why my vote went to the Sea Beggar is because its due to them that I started to love sea battles in G&K. Building up some barracks and other stuff in your coastal city, giving them those extra promotions and with cover of Frigates start to attack and bring down the coastal settlements. They're excellent units in attacking the coast while you have units attacking from mainland. It is also always fun to capture ships from the enemies and effectively increasing the size of your navy. And on top of all of that, every promotion is being saved when its being upgraded to a destroyer - if you can get your promoted Sea Beggars and Frigates upgraded your navy becomes an indestructible force.
Interesting, the poll displays that I'm not the only one that likes the Sea Beggars despite the many complains about it ('Just a Privateer with extra promotions').

 

[Naresh]

Great post OP. If would love to read more about the rest of the UUs.
Regarding African elephant, it is a fair UU but I think Companion cavalry is much superior to it because it has same strength while has 5 . And I don't see why so many ppl luv Sea Beggars. They are just an average UU IMO, not really game changing like Keshliks, janissaries & battering rams.

Sea beggars aren't game changers (which I prefer UU to be)
but they start with 2 promotions and can heal outside of friendly territory. They get a huge heads up on any kind of military other nations will have at that period of time

 

[wobuffet]

Regarding African elephant, it is a fair UU but I think Companion cavalry is much superior to it because it has same strength while has 5 .

You're not taking the -10% Feared Elephant into account though, which makes the African Forest Elephant unambiguously stronger than Companion Cavalry. And keep in mind that the Feared Elephant mechanic decreases adjacent enemy units' strength even it's engaged in combat with a unit other than the African Forest Elephant.

I wonder if the -10%s stack...

 

[wpfossil]

I like the Korean Turtle Ship. It's very durable and has 36 strength. Good coastline defender.

 

[Hpuk]

The extra hammers really kill the African Forest Elephants for me, it's hard to get a sizeable amount of them to use before unlocking chivalry.
You are not even winning any combat strength since they only have ~16,6% more combat strength, but cost ~33% more hammers to build.
You could build 4 horsemen for a combined combat strength of 48, or 3 elephants for a combined strength of 42, all for the same 300 hammers.
Once you upgrade to knights, they lose the small combat strength bonus, so you'll be left with even less military power compared to just building regular horsemen.

I'm also wondering why the fear ability doesn't carry over in upgrades, considering the Maori Warriors' fear ability does.

 

[Bonci]

I'm also wondering why the fear ability doesn't carry over in upgrades, considering the Maori Warriors' fear ability does.

It makes sense because in this case it's the elephants themselves that cause fear and not the result of a "special training" (dancing and shouting profanities?) like for the Maoris.

 

[Rebel Fighter]

Thanks for the support, everyone!

~~~

Maya: Pacal

Unique Unit: Atlatlist (replaces Archer); 36 , 5 , 2 , 7 strength , 2 range

Tech: Agriculture
Resource: N/A
Upgrades to: Composite Bowman
Notes: May not melee attack
Comments: The Atlatlist is a decent early unique unit. While it is just as strong as the Archer which it replaces, you only need 36 to build it compared to the Archer's 40 . Not a big difference, but it can help quite a bit when playing on Epic or Marathon speeds. It is also available at the beginning of the game with no techs required to research it in advance. This means you can protect your homeland easier and faster, and you can even try a daring rush against an unsuspecting enemy. I would recommend building a lot of these cheap units early in the match so you can upgrade them to composite bowmen later on. Soon, all shall fear the war cries of the Atlatlist!
Rating: 6/10

 

[Babri]

You're not taking the -10% Feared Elephant into account though, which makes the African Forest Elephant unambiguously stronger than Companion Cavalry. And keep in mind that the Feared Elephant mechanic decreases adjacent enemy units' strength even it's engaged in combat with a unit other than the African Forest Elephant.

Companion cav Vs African Elephant

• +2
  [*]Significantly cheaper
• Doesn't have fear promotion
  [*]Has GGI instead of GGII.

To me CC is clearly superior, however Elephants has its uses. I'd rate CC 9/10 & elephant 7/10.

I wonder if the -10%s stack...

No it doesn't stack. Moreover it doesn't carry over when upgraded to knights.

 

[Babri]

Please correct it. Atlatlist is only 10% cheaper, costing 36 instead of archer's 40. I would rate it 7/10. If it would be as cheap as u mentioned then I would probably rate it 8.5/10.

 

[thadian]

+1 for the sea beggar. This ship has caused me to come back and win games i was about to quit.

 

[Dreadnought]

Where's the love for Caroleans?

They are literally insane.

 

[Harv72b]

Where's the love for Caroleans?

They are literally insane.

They're farking awesome, but at least on Emperor & below I generally have several units already promoted to march by the time the Caroleans become available.

/Voted for Dromons because they can be such a game-changer in the ancient era. So can the battering rams but I mostly play watery maps.

 

[Carl5872]

Celts: Boudica

Unique Unit: Pictish Warrior (replaces Spearman); 56 , 11 , 2 , N/A

Tech: Bronze Working
Resource: N/A
Upgrades to: Pikeman
Notes: Foreign Land Bonus (20%), No movement cost to pillage, [Earns in combat], [No 50% bonus vs. mounted units like basic Spearman]
Comments: The Pictish Warrior is the epitome of religious warfare in Gods & Kings. It has a 20% bonus when fighting outside of friendly territory - great for offensive rushes and showing others who's boss. It has no movement cost to pillage, which means you'll be able to pillage enemy lands more often than not, providing you with some extra . It will also gain in combat, which is a huge plus. The Pictish Warrior isn't without its disadvantages, however. Even though it replaces the Spearman, it does not retain the 50% bonus against mounted units. This means your civilization will be more vulnerable to enemy horsemen in the Ancient and Classical eras. I would recommend using this unique unit offensively against enemy units and cities early on before it gets obsolete. Be extremely aggressive with this unit if you want your to skyrocket. For a religious civilization, the Pictish Warrior is the perfect compliment.
Rating: 9/10

I think I'm failing to grasp the strengths of this unit. I never really see pillaging as overly useful. On one hand, if youre invading to conquer, you don't want to pillage because it will damage the land you intend to keep. I also don't see a purpose in DOWing for the purpose of pillaging because of the negative diplo penalty. If youre DOW'd without wanting the war, I would imagine you would just turtle up until the AI lost interest, and the pillaging doesn't come in handy.

Regarding the faith, that is useful early on to get your pantheon, and to help speed up the founding of a religion. I don't think you would get too much really since you need 600 for a religion, and youre getting around 10 faith per kill, each kill will give you under 2% towards that goal. I suppose it would stack nicely with the culture from honor for barb kills.

The foreign lands bonus is nice though +20% in foreign lands to facilitate early rushes.

Am I missing something here?

 

[Drawmeus]

I pillage relentlessly on offense. Punishes them if they do manage to hold onto the city, gets me some gold, and I generally have a few workers around to clean up the mess by the time the city is out of Resistance.