UU's should be available to 3 or 4 civilizations; not just one. With so many civs in play (especially after expansions), the UU's are not seeing enough playing time. So instead, derive the civs' uniqueness (and strategy) from the COMBINATIONS of UU's they get.
Example (using Civ5 civs): Mongolia gets horse archers, keshiks, hussars, and Cossacks. Atila gets battering rams, siege towers, horse archers, and keshiks. Rome gets siege towers, hoplites, and legions. Greece gets hoplites, legions and quinqueremes. Carthage, India, and Siam all get the same elephant. Denmark, Sweden, and Russia all get ski troops.
A side benefit of this is that Militaristic CS can gift more UU's, because more UU's are out there. The game has a much richer mix of UU's this way, as different civs appear on the map together. Plus things like Tercio-vs.-Tercio combat start to happen.
Other benefit is, you get more mileage out of your game art. The artists spend the same amount of time drawing a spearman or a Zero, yet the latter gets almost no playing time.
Example (using Civ5 civs): Mongolia gets horse archers, keshiks, hussars, and Cossacks. Atila gets battering rams, siege towers, horse archers, and keshiks. Rome gets siege towers, hoplites, and legions. Greece gets hoplites, legions and quinqueremes. Carthage, India, and Siam all get the same elephant. Denmark, Sweden, and Russia all get ski troops.
A side benefit of this is that Militaristic CS can gift more UU's, because more UU's are out there. The game has a much richer mix of UU's this way, as different civs appear on the map together. Plus things like Tercio-vs.-Tercio combat start to happen.
Other benefit is, you get more mileage out of your game art. The artists spend the same amount of time drawing a spearman or a Zero, yet the latter gets almost no playing time.
