useless units?

[BohW_RedSlayer]

Well I play the Egyptians and I a find the War Chariot VERY USEFULL....... Ok you need horses, but then build one, attack the enemy -> GOLDEN AGE !!!!, so build the Pyramids.... and have a great start......

 

[Alc0p0pz]

@BohW_RedSlayer, problem with a GA in Despotism is, it's mostly wasted as the +1 shield/gold gets reduced back to 2 ...

As for useless units, in my current game, I've been trying really, really hard to find any kind of use for the Paratrooper (I like their animation ... ) however, they are basically absolutely f*cking useless ...

On the other hand, Helicopters are reasonable for Airdropping (Helicopter's Airdrop can be performed from a city without an Airport) Infantry onto resource and other important enemy tiles so they can be pillaged the turn after.

The other use of Helicopters is to transport a single Infantry to any city on the map simply by loading an Infantry then (R)ebasing the Helicopter. This is useful if the destination city is newly captured and doesn't have adequate defense or an Airport (if an Airport was present in the destination city, units could be Airlifted there en mass anyway.)

So that's my 2 pence worth ...
Paratroopers = Sh*t
Helicopters = OK-ish

 

[Tweedledum]

What about the Scout?

OK, it may not be ENTIRELY useless - the first one can be handy for about 10-15 turns or so - but has anyone ever actually BUILT one ???

Or the Explorer - why bother, by the time you can build one there's nothing left to explore (unless you want to start a war)

 

[Lord_Vetinari]

I always build at least two aditional scouts in the beginning of the game.

 

[Taé Shala]

The explorer can be used to block tiles in foreign countries. The AI won´t see them as an offensiv unit. Use them in bottlenecks. Use them with iron, rubber, coal, horses, saltpeter, luxuries. You can stop an entire civ from getting any resource just by holding this tile with an explorer. If you have to much resources you can trade them one of yours, even when they have it in their own country!
And they can pillage. Move 5 tiles in foreign land and pillage.

for more information look
here

 

[allhailIndia]

I always thought that the explorer was completely useless. However Tae Shala seems to have found an interesting use for it.

I think that catapults and cannons are useless. THey just slow down your blitz attacks

 

[TheNiceOne]

Originally posted by Dinorius R.

To answer your question Shawn, my enemy only had non-stealth bombers. It's hard to believe that my jet fighters would only have a half-and-half chance of nailing those lumbering WWII vintage bombers isn't it? I still don't understand why I didn't see my fighters attempt any defence at all. Lazy fly-boys.

Oh, and I should add I was playing under the much-maligned Patch 1.17f (let them say what they will, but I like stack movement).

I have no idea why your fighters didn't succed. In my last finished game (also p1.17f), France declared war, and started using 4 bombers against the terrain improvements on an island I had close to the French mainland. I stationed two jets there on air superiority missions, and after a few turns, all four French bombers were shot down. 50% success rate seems close to what I experienced. My jets took some damage, but none was eliminated.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Originally posted by allhailIndia


I think that catapults and cannons are useless. THey just slow down your blitz attacks

What do you do if you can`t blitz? Like when you lack horses? Like when you lack the techs for fast units?

Like when you have fewer cities and little money and can`t afford to throw 20 Horsemen against a fortified Leg or Pikeman in a town on a hill across a river?????

I hardly use bombard units unitl Bombers come round or if I have a city that I know will be besieged - they make a good defensive unit. But whenever I can`t go blitz, I need them and they come through for me.

 

[Paalikles]

Originally posted by MikeV

(...)
Helicopters have one advantage over airborne: you can (l)oad an infantry unit into it, have the heli (R)ebase (say, to an airport on another continent), then wake the infantry in the heli and have it available to move/attack right away. Very handy in certain blitzkreig situations.
(...)
Hope this helps,

Finally, I read your post about helicopters...in wich case I though - great, now there is something with a good function...
but then I was about to try...and I could not find the blessed load button...for some reason l (L) didn't work...

Is something wrong, or is that just me...

 

[Pygzilla]

Bombers are great for quick improvements in newly captured High corruption/rebelious cities. disband them in town and you get a shield bonus. You can finish a temple in one turn with one bomber. Makes the peasants happier. with less chance of cultural reversion I think.

 

[Amask]

Artillery is great!!! - I won an emperor game as France because I used about 15 artillery units to weaken each enemy city and then take it with 5-10 infantry-men. Unlike cannons (not mentioning catapults) it has a range of two tiles and is more powerful - exactly what you need.

But I think radar artillery is useless - by the time it appears aircraft completely takes over.