Unique units form City States

[Malak]

Hi, I'm playing Japan Empire, i have created some kind of "museum" of unique units which military city states have given to me through a few eras.
Is it normal situation that city states give me unique units? or is it a bug?

 

[ToothedBomb]

Militaristic City States all have one special unit they can gift you. In this case I see the Shoshone cavalry, the American Minuteman and the Songhai horses. If you hover your cursor over the City State screen, you can see which unit they can offer.

E.: Oh, and after finishing the Patronage tree I think City States can also gift Great People like Khans and Venetian Merchants.

 

[Alziel]

It's not a bug - Militaristic City States have given UUs since G&K came out.

Each Miiltaristic City State will give you one type of Unique Unit from a Civ that isn't in the game that you are currently playing.

To see which Unique Unit the CS will provide you with, hover over the word 'Militaristic' on the City State's panel.

To get the Unique Unit you must be Allied with the Militaristic City State (being Friends is not enough), you must have any required resources (e.g. Iron for the Samurai or Horses for the Companion Cavalry etc), you must know the Technology that provides the unit and the unit should not be obsolete.

As long as you fulfil all these criteria the Militaristic City State will always gift you the Unique Unit. If you don't meet one or more of the criteria, you will get a random non-unique unit instead.

All City States can grant Unique Great People (Khans, Merchants of Venice) if you have the required Policy from the Patronage tree. This is random though - you won't always get the Unique Great Person and it also does not matter if the Civ that normally gets that unit is in the game (for instance you may still be gifted a Khan when Mongolia is in the current game - or even if you yourself are playing Mongolia).

Hope this helps!

 

[Depravo]

Well, it helped me even if it didn't help him. Cheers, Alziel.

 

[dragonxxx]

Anyone know how often the CS gift great ppl, after you fill the patronage tree?

 

[Alziel]

Well, it helped me even if it didn't help him. Cheers, Alziel.

Glad to know that I still have my uses! You're more than welcome.

Edit: In answer to dragon's question - it's completely random as far as I know. But I could be wrong!

 

[black213]

Anyone know how often the CS gift great ppl, after you fill the patronage tree?

It feels random, that's all I can say.

 

[Johnpecan]

Anyone know how often the CS gift great ppl, after you fill the patronage tree?

That's the greatest mystery in Civ 5

 

[bcaiko]

Unfortunately, Militaristic citystates tend to be useless in the late game aside from providing a vote in the World Congress.

They really ought to provide two unique units: one from the early/mid game and one from the mid/late game.

 

[Yzman]

Unfortunately, Militaristic citystates tend to be useless in the late game aside from providing a vote in the World Congress.

They really ought to provide two unique units: one from the early/mid game and one from the mid/late game.

They still provide units even if they are past the time when they supply the UU. I don't see how that makes them useless.

 

[Kidies]

I got Giant Death Robot from CS in the late game, so how useless can they be?

 

[dragonxxx]

Getting XCOM, Mobile Sam and other nice things is not something I'd call useless ...

And about the great ppl gifted, is there really no research done on the subject?

 

[player1 fanatic]

I always consider military citiy states as production boosters.

Giving units while you can produce buildings in your cities.

You will be suprised how many units you can get during the game.

 

[MarshalN]

The unit they give isn't random even when it's not a UU. I keep getting the same unit from the same city-state as long as I haven't researched the next tech for their next unit. In a recent game Valetta kept giving me gatling guns and nothing else (until I moved up in tech). Not the greatest, but when you just need a few extra units for defense it's not bad.

 

[ToothedBomb]

Unfortunately, Militaristic citystates tend to be useless in the late game aside from providing a vote in the World Congress.

They really ought to provide two unique units: one from the early/mid game and one from the mid/late game.

I agree. I always delete/gift the units they give me, because they're weak. Most of the time they don't even get any promotions. I'd rather build my units myself then.
UU at least have some benefit to them usually.

 

[bcaiko]

They still provide units even if they are past the time when they supply the UU. I don't see how that makes them useless.

Useless might be overstating it, but when off their UU peak, Militaristic City-States go back to the reason nobody liked them in Vanilla - they aren't very useful.

I agree with ToothedBomb that the random unit the City-State will grant is often not a unit I would otherwise want and - even when it is - doesn't come with the promotions you'd expect (why am I getting a Longswordsman without a promotion for a Barracks and Armory?). Sometimes the gift will even eat a strategic resource at a time you don't want it to, and you can't predict which unit is coming your way when you're off the UU peak.

There's no question that Militaristic City-States are much better now than they were in Vanilla. And getting something like a free GDR in end game is a feel-good moment. But that doesn't change the fact that for most of the game their utility is poor compared to any other type of City-State. A slight buff is called for, IMHO, even if what comes is just more transparency as to what units the City-State gives.