Which is the most useless unit?

[benjai]

Which unit do you think is the most pointless/useless in the game? I've never built a phlanx or some of the weaker boats. The camel archer and skirmisher also look pretty weak...

 

[SlipperyJim]

Camel Archers rock, especially if you were unlucky enough to draw the "No Horses" card....

My vote is for Ironclads. Okay, they're tough, but they can't leave the coast. Furthermore, by the time I can build Ironclads, I'm almost to Destroyers.... Every other unit in Civ4 has its uses (Explorers make good field medics, for example), but Ironclads are a total waste of hammers.

 

[benjai]

oops...I put Explorer down a second time when I meant to put Spy...

 

[strategywins]

I chose explorer. Usually by the time I can train one I have my exploring done with warriors or scouts. I never build Ironclads either.

 

[Landmonitor]

Try the Earth 1000 AD scenario as a European or Asian Civ and you'll find explorers are very useful. I'm sure the same is true for a Terra map, and with Barracks + Theocracy or Vassalage, they come out as Woodsman II/Guerrilla II if you choose. Pretty sweet, plus they are the only useful unit a Caravel can carry. I'd have to agree with the Ironclad. I can only see that being useful as a defensive boat for about one research period, then, garbage.

 

[Artanis]

Definitely Ironclads.

 

[Sidhe]

Well from an mp and sp persepctive I'd say none of the above, try having no explorers in a renaisance start mp game. All of the units have a use at some time or another, I'd take a lowly warrior with 4 or 5 promotions over an axeman with none for the simple reason that I can promote it to an axeman with 4 or 5 promotions and that goes for most of the units here. Answer is they all can have a vital role to play in a sp at some time or another, explorers are usually redundant by the time they appear but don't the spanish get the conquistador UU in place of explorers? they aint bad? And in MP I'd say a skirmisher is a real pain if you don't know how to defend against them versatile too, good in both defense and attack. As for the rest well phalanxes are somewhat useless if your opponent has bronze but 5 or 6 against a 2nd city in the early game and it's toast. Nope I can envisage a use for all these units. That'll be the paper scissors rock thing.

 

[SlipperyJim]

Explorers arrive too late for most exploring, which is a shame.

The exception for me has been Terra, which is my favorite map-type anyway. The first civ to the New World can reap some huge benefits, and that means sending Caravels ASAP. However, as Landmonitor mentioned, Caravels can only transport a very small selection of units: Missionaries, Spies, Great People, and Explorers. So load up your exploring Caravels with Explorers and map the New World! Eventually, your Explorers will probably be killed by roving Barbs, but Guerrila 2 / Woodsman 2 promotions can really prolong your survivability.

In the late game, Explorers still have a use: Field Medics. They're cheap units with great movement, and you can send one or two with each stack. Build the Explorers in a city with Barracks and one of the following: Theocracy, Vassalage, and/or the Pentagon. That gives you 6 (or more) xp, which is just enough to take Combat 1 & Medic 1.

 

[Artanis]

but don't the spanish get the conquistador UU in place of explorers?

Conquistadors replace Explorers in Civ3. They replace Knights in Civ4

 

[b-dubb]

Build your explorers in Red Cross city and with 10xp (if you got pentagon) they start with Medic I, then you can get Medic II and March (not sure if it allows healing OTHERS on the move too...) and one more promo (I usually take Geurilla II). With a 6xp-8xp setup you can still have Medic I, Medic II, and March. Very useful!

 

[Wodan]

Are they THAT much cheaper? Why wouldn't you want an additional [insert your favorite combat unit here] with Medic than an explorer?

Wodan

 

[b-dubb]

They are cheaper, but they wont defend in a stack and can move easily stack to stack across a battlefield in foreign territory (through hills and forests too). I ALSO use other types of medics, but explorers are the best medics IMHO.

 

[Boppo]

I've actually been using Ironclads. If you play an Epic or Marathon game they can be around for a bit before Destroyers come along. They are great for killing all of the AI built Caravels and Galleys that come out when you go to war with them.

 

[Wodan]

Not sure I buy moving a medic from stack to stack (the assumption from the beginning is that each stack already has a medic) or even rushing an additional medic to the front as a late build.

I guess maybe if you're in a hurry and send off the stack without its medic, you can rush build an Explorer medic cheaper and send him off to the front; he has the movement to get there quite easily.

Though... aren't Medics ineligible for the free Combat I that Aggressive Civs get? So, you have to pay "full price" for your Combat I, which is a prerequisite for Medic I. That would be another reason to use a melee or infantry unit for your medic.

Wodan

 

[frankcor]

I vote for crossbowmen. They cost as much as longbowmen but without the city defense skill or macemen without the offensive skill.

Then again, I never build ironclads unless frigates and galleons are wreaking havoc on my fishnets.

 

[biratets]

Scout, a.k.a Puma feed. It always gets eaten by animals or beaten by barbarians. Always.

 

[Rameau's Nephew]

No musketman option? Okay, then I vote Ironclad. The window of usefulness is just too short.

 

[xonixs]

i voted for submarine. I never built them

 

[Landmonitor]

Musketmen are really good if you hit gunpowder early. Prime example (don't know why it keeps coming up in this subject!) is the Earth 1000 AD as a European power. If you're the Holy Roman Empire, you can easily chop build the Oracle in Munich (I think its Munich, anyway, where Munich would be roughly) and get gunpowder right off the bat. Don't trade it, smash the Byzantines AND France very quickly. Games almost a foregone conlcusion at that point.

 

[MetHimPikeHoses]

I almost voted for ironclads because they are almost completely useless, then I remembered that crossbowmen are even more useless. Build a longbowman for defense, or build a axe or mace to attack. Crossbowmen are are about as useful as a man's nipple.