Which unit(s) are useful the longest?

[BrutalusMaximus]

When advanceing in a normal game what units would you say are of the most use for the greatest number of turns?
I am not asking what UU is the top although this is certainly a factor. I am asking which units would you feel stay something you produce once you get them for turn after turn.
What unit has the longest "shelf life" before it is obsoleted and replaced?

 

[MrCynical]

I probably say catapults. You need them for any attack from the classical age to the early industrial age thanks to the ridiculously late appearance of the cannon.

 

[Vatec]

Quechua, hands down. If you've got a tech lead, they remain usefull well past the time you start getting medieval units and only become obsolete once your opponents start upgrading to longbows.

I my most recent Prince Huge Marathon, I destroyed four civilizations before I finally had to start bringing Axemen along to soften up the defenses. Up until that point, it was simply wave after wave of Quechua with Combat I and Cover.

Barring UUs, I would have to say Macemen or Grenadiers. Macemen stick around a long time in order to build up to City Raider III before they switch to gunpowder weapons. And Grenadiers are useful from the moment they're born until the enemy starts upgrading their Riflemen to Infantry and Machine Guns. That can be a =long= time.

 

[DaveMcW]

Workers. .

 

[BrutalusMaximus]

Workers. .

Yes. After workers though.

 

[DaveMcW]

Missionaries.

 

[Kemal]

The warrior I put in my capital to act as military protection usually also scores pretty high on my longest-in-service list, continuing to fulfill the role he was originally created for for thousands of years.

 

[Blazer6]

Settler, Worker

Catapults end up being half good and then half bad before cannons.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Seige units, since bombing down defenses can be easily down with old catapults even in modern age.

 

[DangerousMonkey]

Yes, obviously settlers and workers are the most enduring units in the game, but I think Brutalius meant what military units are most enduring. I'd have to agree completely with MtCynical that catapults are by far the most long-lasting unit due to the almost comicaly late appearance of cannons in Civ4.

 

[Artanis]

Like a couple people have said, Catapults are pretty good. Galleys last a while, since they're the only thing that can carry combat troops (and, IIRC, the only thing that can pillage sea resources) until you get to Astronomy. Cavalry also tends to last a long time for me, as I find that they generally make better Medics than Gunships, and thus leave them on their horses.

As for UUs standing the test of time, Praetorians and Redcoats are reported to last a rediculously long time (though I haven't actually used either myself, hence "reportedly" ). Cossacks also last a good while, being the only Cavalry that can punch through Riflemen (albeit with heavy losses), allowing the Russians to pack an offensive punch for much longer than other civs during that era, and serving as first-rate Medics after that. I haven't seen anything one way or the other about Panzers, but considering that they can go toe-to-toe with Modern Armor*, they probably stand the test of time quite well.



*Note: that "+50% vs. Armored" gives Panzers a tiny bit more Strength than Modern Armor before promotions are factored in. A Combat-promoted Modern Armor will probably still whip a Panzer though.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Cossaks could punch through Machine Guns too, if on open.

 

[Kerrang]

I would have to agree with Catapults being the most useful. Once everyone has even rudimentary defenses in their cities, you will need to have catapults involved in every seige to avoid heavy losses, and you will not have Cannons available for a very long time after you first start producing Catapults.

Other than that, and barring any UUs, I would have to say that Knights seem to be useful for quite some time. I tend to try to research Guilds as early as possible, so that I can get an advantage over the other Civs by bringing Knights on the scene early. The first regular unit that trumps them is either going to be Granadiers, Riflemen, or Cavalry (depending on what is researched), and even once you have other gunpowder units, Knights remain useful until you have Cavalry. I like to keep them in stacks of 5 or more, and use them to attrit the enemy back to the stone age, as well as defend my borders, and seldom use them in city attacks (I use maces and pikes for that) until there is nothing left to pillage.

 

[BrutalusMaximus]

Excellent.

Is there a unit that is worth beelining for because of its lasting value like many of the units above?

And as to Redcoats. I played the GOTM2 and the redcoats lasted FORVER taking out the AI genadiers, even when defending, and holding their own when the AI upgraded to infantry. Just a great unit if the game is not already won or lost by that point.

 

[Firebot]

I beeline to Military Tradition to get Cavalry in many of my games. Cavalry IMO is the strongest unit pound per pound for the mid game, due to it's 2 movement per square movement and insane 15 strength that is unmatched for a long time even when taking on cities until you get rifleman. A squad of cavalry can completly decimate a civ without the need of catapults and those squads become quite experienced as you pillage through. Because of the beelining to military tradition, almost all other cultures rarely have more then musketman as their top defense, and not ready at all for a pure cavalry attack. This era of complete dominance ends very abruptly though once a city is defended by a rifleman, but if you are quick which the cavalry is all about, you should be able to take most if not all civs out of action or made irrelevant. After a few takeovers, my cavalry often also have blitz to make things even faster, backed up by medic specialized cavalry.

I've never been that big on catapults mainly because of the cavalry factor (and I have this thing for 'slow' units). But once cavalry meets its match you simply add in rifleman and catapults/cannons in the mix to weaken the defense, it's just a lot slower then the cavalry rush. You can't really build up catapults as powerhouses in any case as they are more like suicide bombers then anything.

 

[emills]

I would have to say the cossack, even though it is an UU. They can smack anything at their tech level, including grenadiers, riflemen and cannon. They are great when on offence for protecting stacks travelling through enemy territory and just smashing through city defenses.

Cossacks are (IMO) the absolute best home territory defensive unit prior to panzers/tanks. Having all of the promoted (from the prior offensive duty) cossacks stationed around a fully roaded (and if possibly railroaded) territory can react to any invasion force anywhere. They can take on stacks of un-fortified infantry and decimate them before your cities come under fire. What is really nice is that after you attack an invader, you often have enough movement left to get the cossack into a city for protection/healing. Support the cossacks with home defense cannon/artillery and they can handle the higher powered infantry units (except mechinized). If it weren't for tanks, I think the Cossack is better than the gunship, since the gunship does not get the "benefit" of roads and railroads in your territory and cannot react fast enough over long distances.

My two cents anyways. Most of the above applies to cavelry, although standard cavelry need cannon support earlier to handle the higher end gunpowder units.

 

[punchandpie]

I would have to say the cossack, even though it is an UU. They can smack anything at their tech level, including grenadiers, riflemen and cannon. They are great when on offence for protecting stacks travelling through enemy territory and just smashing through city defenses.

I agree, Cossacks are wonderful units, right along with cavarly. I use stacks of them as mobile defense units along my borders as well as using them as raiders into enemy territory to grab workers or destroy resources in enemy territory.

 

[kamigawan]

Agree with catapults, cavalry and macemen. I'd also put in a vote for axmen...they are available nearly right away (bronze working), and no unit has a natural combat advantage against them until crossbows become common, which in prince-monarch is roughly 3-500AD most of the time. I also like infantry a lot...they distance between assembly line and robotics (mech inf) is pretty large. Infantry are a powerful unit for their price and their era, and many types of units can be upgraded to infantry.

ed. I've found quechas become pretty obsolete as soon as the enemy gets bronze. Axmen make pretty short work of them.

 

[tigerden27]

I'm going to throw Archers into the ring. Yeah there are times when you have to upgrade them to Longbowmen or Crossbowmen. But usually they stay the way they are until at least Riflemen, if not Infantry or Machine Gun. Especially for my core city defenders.

After that Catapults are the longest lived for me.

I can't say as to the UUs. I tend to underutilize (forget) them.

For everyone that brought up Workers, Settlers, and to a lesser extent Missionaries I just want to say... ppbbbbtttt!!!!!!

 

[thordk]

i'd say longbowmen. though you rarely build them as archers are good enough and after longbowmen it's not very long to better units.

but did you ever faced a longbowmen with some garrison upgrades in a 60% defense bonus city? they're able to destroy a tank.