Some unique units.

[Zanteogo]

Back to the initial topic, how do people feel about the units that lose all their power by upgrading, should they be changed or should they remain as they are?

I think all UU should retain at least part of their abilities when they upgrade.

 

[Babri]

I wish that they would lose their specialty on upgrade.

That would be unfun IMHO. UU abilities carrying over gives more flavour to civs. Once your UUs are obsolete you can't replace them completely. This makes them sort of a precious resource that you don't want to throw away.

 

[Zanteogo]

That would be unfun IMHO. UU abilities carrying over gives more flavour to civs. Once your UUs are obsolete you can't replace them completely. This makes them sort of a precious resource that you don't want to throw away.

Agreed.

 

[Der_Zorn_gottes]

I don`t like it. It give some civs not only a unique unit, but a unique unit line.
It makes early UUs even more stronger, if they can keep the benefit around.
Also, it opens the way to a cheesy tactic where you build an UU with the purpose of never using it, just to upgrade it to a stronger following unit with the unique promotion.

 

[Funak]

I don`t like it. It give some civs not only a unique unit, but a unique unit line.

The idea was to get rid of the "some civs" by either making no promotions carry over or making all promotions carry over (first one is probably close to impossible however)

It makes early UUs even more stronger, if they can keep the benefit around.

As I have mentioned earlier, there are some clear disadvantages to early UUs, first of all, they usually go obsolete a lot quicker (I mean think of the difference between how long a swordsman last or how long a musket lasts).
Early-game is also usually the best time to expand, so wasting time on war or building units to just stick around and cost maintenance (not to mention strategic resources) usually isn't that nice.

Also, it opens the way to a cheesy tactic where you build an UU with the purpose of never using it, just to upgrade it to a stronger following unit with the unique promotion.

Later era units tend to have more powerful promotions, they also start with more experience due to better barracks. Also, keeping an army standing around is going to cost you a fortune, both in maintenance and in upgrade-costs.


Note that I'm not saying that your opinion is wrong or anything like that, I'm just trying to tell you that it's not as simple as you make it out to be.

 

[Epaminondas II]

I don't think the Pictish warrior is a huge problem. Being able to grab an early pantheon->religion is really all Boudica has going for her, none of her unique pantheons are really that stellar as the game goes on. I kind of view the faith generation from the pictish warrior as more a part of her UA than the uu itself as without it her ua would be absolutely terrible.