What's the best new UU?

[scy12]

A lot of good ones... I See myself using the most out of Vulture , Cataphracht and Landsknecht but i haven't decied what i would like better , yet.

 

[sneaky]

I think the Cataphract and the Landsknecht are the most obviously strong UU's, but the Holkan, Dog Soldier and Vulture also have their possibilities and uses and the Ethiopian Oromo Warrior could be a force if the Musketman's lifespan is improved.
The East Indiaman (which should have been named Oostindiëvaarder, because an East Indiaman is an English ship) and the Carrack offer, as said, a lot of exploration opportunities and have quite a few bonuses over other ships.

Overall most UU's seems pretty cool and interesting. The only UU's that don't really excite me are the Babylonian Bowman, which seems a fairly boring archer variant and the Khmer Ballista Elephant which is very defendant of Ivory and doesn't have a strong enough special abilities to counter that requirement.

 

[Ajidica]

kataphtract: early grenadier with no city raider promos.comes roughly a 75 turns before chemistry. takes out pikes. whats the question?

 

[TheLastOne36]

kataphtract: early grenadier with no city raider promos.comes roughly a 75 turns before chemistry. takes out pikes. whats the question?

Exactly. Byzantines have became one of my fav now.

 

[ds61514]

Landsknecht is meh. It's terrible against longbows. What defends cities? Longbows. So it's at-best a defensive only unit.

Cataphract is good in a vacuum, but we will have to see how it compares to a cuirassier. You can GS-pop to Military Tradition, you can't do the same for Guilds. If Cuirassier is 13 str + bonus, then the Cataphract is relatively not as impressive.

 

[The Navy Seal]

The Bowman is perfect for early domination.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

Lovin' the Oromo warrior. Those drill promotions can be passed on to riflemen, infantry, mech infantry, etc. Even if the musketeer is as short lived as it always was (which I doubt it will be), the Oromo's unique advantage will last forever.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Cataphract all the way!

 

[Ball Lightning]

Byzantine: Cataphract & Holy Roman Empire: Landsknecht are really good.

 

[Wingman357]

Call me ignorant, but the Landsknecht don't seem too overpowered for the era they're in. They're basically a strength 6 infantry with strength 12 against horses and other melee infantry. Macemen will still beat them quite soundly at modified strength of 14.

If anything the Landsknecht is a good all round unit that will fail to excel against regular era armies. Neither macemen in the field or longbows while sieging. Cavalry and lagging melee units better watch out though!

Edit: Sorry! Nevermind, macemen attack with a strength of 12 (8 + 4). So they're 50-50 for killing each other. Damn those overpowered pike wielders!

 

[phantom59]

Combat I/Cover impis will still beat these guys in the field, but the relative shield costs will slightly favour babylon on open terrain. But they're slow! That just means using a bit more defensive terrain as cover! My impis mostly won't be able to take even his weak border cities, but his landscape is still toast!


Impis can sometimes smash themselves up some knights, but they will have trouble against these guys. A bit scary, unless Byzantium is pillaged into insignificance first!


Ha! It can't even go onto land! My impis will laugh from the shore as they burn down all his windmills and he rages ineffectually on his boats!


Way too late for my impis to care! And slow!


Bit too late, pal! Pikemen beat my impis anyway, so it makes no difference, the only problem for Charley is catching them!


So all I have to do is stick a sacrificial chariot with my impis, then they come out unharmed and can counterattack the expensive wounded elephant next turn? And then go pillage all your ivory? Awesome!


You better pray you can get to my copper before my impis come out, Mr Holkan, or else you're nothing but slow dead wasted hammers against the impi horde!


This makes me sad. These guys scare my impis, and they can't be pillaged away. Even forests won't protect against them, I don't imagine. Still slow, though!


Pfft, like a puny little boat can stop my mighty impi hordes! No you can't come back to land, it's ALL ON FIRE!


Even if this means 6+25% vs melee, it doesn't scare my impis any more than regular axemen, and they're not even aggressive! Nice try, Sumeria!


From this careful analysis, I have determined: Dog Soldiers are by far the best new UU, followed by Cataphracts and Bowmen, then the Holkan, Landknecht and Ballista Elephant.

you cant judge all UUs by thier speed. What is your battle plan? Pillage and run, pillage and run?

 

[Polycrates]

you cant judge all UUs by thier speed. What is your battle plan? Pillage and run, pillage and run?

Ummmmm....yes?

 

[GIR]

Call me ignorant, but the Landsknecht don't seem too overpowered for the era they're in. They're basically a strength 6 infantry with strength 12 against horses and other melee infantry. Macemen will still beat them quite soundly at modified strength of 14.

If anything the Landsknecht is a good all round unit that will fail to excel against regular era armies. Neither macemen in the field or longbows while sieging. Cavalry and lagging melee units better watch out though!

Edit: Sorry! Nevermind, macemen attack with a strength of 12 (8 + 4). So they're 50-50 for killing each other. Damn those overpowered pike wielders!

it is a little bit different.
see this article how combat works: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/combat_explained.php

Correct.. but it is more complicated than that.. the bonus (with exception of Combat x promotions) is always applied to the defender (possibly as a penalty)

so when Landsknecht defends:

8 vs 6*1.50 = 8 vs 9

when maceman defends:

6 vs 8 / 1.50 = 6 vs 5.33

Ofcourse... both would get a defensive bonus in addition.. say defender is in a forest (50%), with no other defensive bonus..

Landsknecht defends:
8 vs 6 * 2.00 = 8 vs 12

Mace defends:
6 vs 8 (the 50% melee bonus neutralize the 50% forest defense)

 

[GIR]

wow, the Carracks looks amazing!

 

[sneaky]

wow, the Carracks looks amazing!

East Indiaman don't look bad either.

 

[DarkSchneider]

I have to go with Cataphract. I mean, we all remember how powerful the Redcoats and the Cossacks used to be. Adding power to an already powerful unit (the knight) certainly seems like the best way to dominate the middle ages.

Also, in a 1 on 1 matchup, the two are resonably balanced, but the knight is more mobile and much better on offense.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I voted for the Catafract, but all new UUs look good.
The Vulture is an awesome unit for an axeman rush and I am curious if the Gilgamesh AI is programmed to exploit this.
However the Babylonian Bowman and the Dog Soldier are good counters.
The Landsknecht seems to be a bit overestimated. Sure, he is good to defend in the field, but as a city defender the Longbowman is better. A Landsknecht in a city has the same strength vs Macemen as a Garrison I Longbowman (and keep in mind that Charlemagne is Protective). They also require Engineering, so it is likely that some of your opponents already have Gunpowder when the Landsknecht is available.

 

[Fraulzar]

Voted for the Holkan. Although it's a humble unit in and of itself (much like the Quetchua) the uber quick arrival speed is its real power. Research hunting on your first turn and you can start spitting out a 4 power, first strike immune unit?! Hell, the opposition might not even have archery yet. Find an enemy capital and stack the rest of the game in your favor!

 

[kristopherb]

Oromo Warrior
there goes my protective first strikes from redcoats

 

[TheLastOne36]

what's so good about the HRE uu?