The least effective unit

[Infantry#14]

In you opinion, which 3 units seem to be the weakest in terms of strength and gameplay?

My pick:
1. Crossbowman (More expansive than Longbowman, Maceman can do the same job (except against another maceman))
2. Ironclad (too slow)
3. Musketman (Grenadiers next tech)

 

[futurehermit]

Horse archer and many of the ships (galley, ironclad, etc.)

 

[Elandal]

Every unit is good for something.
That said, there are units I rarely build.. Crossbowman is not one of them while Ironclad and Horse Archer are.

 

[Defiant47]

1. Musketman - unless you're deliberately teching the other way, riflemen and/or grenadiers are right around the corner
2. Crossbowman - a maceman is better than a crossbowman, almost as much as a war elephant is better than a spearman (but the same type of better-ness)
3. Ironclad - the first time I got the ironclad, I started mass producing them because they seemed powerful... then when they couldn't enter ocean squares I realized...

 

[Defiant47]

Horse archer and many of the ships (galley, ironclad, etc.)

Horse archers can be good against an enemy who is ill-prepared against mounted units (without spearmen). Beats an axeman, and is equal to the swordsman.

Galley allow transportation of units across coast tiles, so they are very useful.

 

[flamingzaroc121]

i usually never build X-bows, but if i am protective OR China i will build them and give the drill2 and something else.(i know the Chinese are Protective which makes Cho-ku-nu's better

 

[Bagpuss]

I can't find a good use for Galleys or Ironclads

 

[cabert]

I can't find a good use for Galleys or Ironclads

galleys are the only transportation units for a long time!
And Ironclad are very good for sinking frigates

 

[Bagpuss]

galleys are the only transportation units for a long time!

That's true, but I still can't see a use for them! 2 movement? A settler can manage that without the need to move him to a coast and the cost of building a galley (and once you've built some roads...). Since it can't take him across an ocean...<shrug>. 2 cargo spaces? Again, with the overhead of moving units to the coast it doesn't seem practical to use Galleys for moving an army around.

I might build one to scout the coast of my continent if, as in my current game, I can't seem some of it due to closed borders (Monty). Other than that I don't build any naval units until Caravels (unless you count Worker Boats). Am I overlooking something?

 

[cabert]

That's true, but I still can't see a use for them! 2 movement? A settler can manage that without the need to move him to a coast and the cost of building a galley (and once you've built some roads...). Since it can't take him across an ocean...<shrug>. 2 cargo spaces? Again, with the overhead of moving units to the coast it doesn't seem practical to use Galleys for moving an army around.

I might build one to scout the coast of my continent if, as in my current game, I can't seem some of it due to closed borders (Monty). Other than that I don't build any naval units until Caravels (unless you count Worker Boats). Am I overlooking something?

I had a few AIs down with galley powered invasion tasks
+ on archipelago or island maps, if you want to settle on the good islands, you need the galleys

 

[Defiant47]

That's true, but I still can't see a use for them! 2 movement? A settler can manage that without the need to move him to a coast and the cost of building a galley (and once you've built some roads...). Since it can't take him across an ocean...<shrug>. 2 cargo spaces? Again, with the overhead of moving units to the coast it doesn't seem practical to use Galleys for moving an army around.

I might build one to scout the coast of my continent if, as in my current game, I can't seem some of it due to closed borders (Monty). Other than that I don't build any naval units until Caravels (unless you count Worker Boats). Am I overlooking something?

This is before 1AD, so no Jesus. The settlers can't walk on water, so galleys can be very useful to transport units across land masses separates by water tiles made up of coast exclusively.

 

[ViterboKnight]

Ironclads are underpowered. Steam power should allow them a great speed.

Musketmen are almost useless, maybe a free Drill promotion could make them a little more worthwhile. I really like Janissaries; that's what musketmen should be, IMO; they should have a great advantage against older units.

I like crossbowmen very much. They are as strong as macemen; however, if it's easy to find an enemy with bonus against melee units, it's more difficult to stand archer units. This makes crossbowmen harder opponents to fight against.

Galleys are really useful for expanding on close islands.

I can't find an useful way to use Keshiks. As long as I can see, they are just as useful as normal mounted archers.

 

[Bagpuss]

This is before 1AD, so no Jesus. The settlers can't walk on water, so galleys can be very useful to transport units across land masses separates by water tiles made up of coast exclusively.

I've not seen that situation cropping up very much, but then I haven't experimented much with map types (Fractal and Continents mostly). As Cabert says, it's probably a different story on Archipelago.

 

[cabert]

I've not seen that situation cropping up very much, but then I haven't experimented much with map types (Fractal and Continents mostly). As Cabert says, it's probably a different story on Archipelago.

fractal maps give very often a semi isolated situation, not necessarily to the human player.
What I mean is a large island separated from the continent by a small strip of coastal tiles. If you want to capture the big island, you'll need at least 1 galley.
If you want to conquer it fast, you'll need 3 or 4.

 

[PhilippK]

I can't find an useful way to use Keshiks. As long as I can see, they are just as useful as normal mounted archers.

But they are way faster! Fot them, a hill or forest is just the same as plains, regarding movement.

 

[Ruler]

Horse archer and many of the ships (galley, ironclad, etc.)

If you don't have copper or iron. Horse Archers are the way to go.

About the orginal post. Those are exactly my thoughts.

 

[Bagpuss]

Re: Keshiks

But they are way faster! Fot them, a hill or forest is just the same as plains, regarding movement.

For that reason I've decided that they're not much use in city attack stacks where they're going to limited to the speed of the slowest unit in the stack. They're much better suited to stacking together to create pillagng/anti-pillaging stacks.

 

[futurehermit]

If you don't have copper or iron. Horse Archers are the way to go.

About the orginal post. Those are exactly my thoughts.

Are you serious? Imo if you don't have copper or iron CATAPULTS are the way to go

Horse archers suck at taking cities (especially in warlords where they were nerfed) and why pillage land that you are going to conquer

Catapults ftw!

(btw if you don't have copper or iron you'll usually have elephants. very rare you don't have at least one of these three military resources. even if i only had horses i would still forgo harchers and instead just build archers to defend my catapults )

 

[Softnum]

Explorers are the least useful 'military' unit that you can build. As far as I can tell the only reason they're actually in the game is A) The New World scenario, or B) Renaissance Era starts.

This is usually the time someone comes in and talks about OMG MEDIC EXPLORERS. But I haven' seen anyone actually USE them that way in the SGOTM or the Challenge games, or any game I've ever really seen.

Personally, I think Gunships are about the least useful unit that you can have, after HAs and Ironclads (And a lot of Naval units just because of how the AI plays.)

 

[cabert]

If I should choose a least useful unit, I'd vote for explorer too. And they aren't really military units (no happiness from explorers even when running HR )