Unification of Certain Units

[qadams]

In a different thread, shaglio said:

Regarding trade routes: while Civ 5 uses the terms "Caravan" and "Cargo Ship," so far in Civ 6 we've only seen a "Trader" unit. So perhaps there's only one unit that can be used for both land and sea trade routes.​

I also recall seeing somewhere that Worker units -- now called Builders -- can perform tasks both on land and in coastal waters, so I assume this means Workboats will be eliminated from Civ 6, correct?

I wonder if there might be other instances of combining functions into single entities that previously were handled by diverse units. This seems like a good trend to me, reducing complexity while still retaining functionality.

 

[stiiknafuulia]

One thing that seems to go against this trend, though, is there now being both Missionaries and Apostles. I can't wait for the big religious reveal a month away to get to know why they felt this division to be necessary. Martyrdom has been mentioned as an action for Apostles, but we don't know what it does (presumably kills the Apostle and spread the faith). Otherwise we know nothing about them.

Imo, Work Boats were always annoying to use and felt superfluous in Civ V, so I'm glad if they're removed for Civ VI (one would think so). Although I like the way that Builders work in principle, I suspect I'm going to hunt for desert and build the Pyramids in every game, just to give my Workers an extra charge before I have to build new ones.

 

[stealth_nsk]

It's not a hard trend - they add units there they see fit and remove them there they are not needed anymore.With limited worker uses there's no need in separate workboat (it also increases the calue of sea tiles) and unified trader unit seem to give greater flexibility. Also, it looks like all culter Great People are joined into Great Artist type once again and the type of great work they produce is now individual property (speculation based on several evidences).

On the other hand, we've seen upgraded scout and, as already mentioned, apostles are added on top of missionaries and inquisitors.

 

[King Jason]

Again it's important to note that we haven't seen any naval units in the build U.I. - So while it's entirely possible builders can do their thing on sea resources merely by embarking, I can't recall any specific moment where that was actually confirmed, and the use of work-boats was said to be excluded. That would certainly make the most sense, though.

In the same vein, we don't know that there isn't a "cargo ship" unit. I'd say it'd be possible for Traders to function similar to BE, but for now we just don't know.

 

[AriochIV]

It hasn't been verified, but there was a hands-on report that claimed that Builders do the job of Fishing Boats. Since Builders have become more like Fishing Boats with their limited use, it makes sense to unify them.

In the same vein, we don't know that there isn't a "cargo ship" unit. I'd say it'd be possible for Traders to function similar to BE, but for now we just don't know.

That's a good point, as the build menus are not entirely reliable (we're still seeing Scout, Warrior and Spearman in the build menu for modern-era Xi'an), but if true I think that's a consolidation that makes sense. It was irritating in Civ V to be stuck with land or sea routes; in a world in which any unit can summon boats out of nowhere to embark, it would be nice if traders could choose land or sea routes at will. And I think it's significant that the name and icon have both changed to something that no longer land or sea specific.

I'm not sure that this represents a trend, but I think is rather two individual cases of redundant units.