javidbing
Warlord
I don't like SEAL's, they're too late game for my liking and my late game military strategies uses mainly air units + tanks/infantry anyways so they don't really come into play.
Worst Unique Unit?
- Thread starter Bowsling
- Start date
This still isn't amazing though, as you can't trade with any transoceanic cities until astronomy. So establishing those overseas cities will hurt your economy quite a bit in the short term, which might be worth it sometimes. They'd be fun for a limited war where you raze and pillage an overseas civ before anybody has astronomy.
Due to my playing style I don't like jaguars. They're cheaper and resourceless, but they're weaker than the unit they replace for the purpose of attacking cities. I'd rather my units survive battles, thanks. I suppose they're nice for getting a supermedic or two later on, but my initial warriors do just fine at that.
Otherwise I'd say: Panzers followed by Ballista.
When playing America I like using SEALs for defense, paradoxically. They have extra first strikes and at that point I can produce them with CG3. My attacking gunpowder units were all upgraded to infantry and later mechanized infantry. The only situation where I would use a marine for attacking cities would be against a 1-tile island with only a machinegun or artillery defending.
As for people saying they don't like fast workers. I say... WTH?!
Aren't you the fellow who deliberately avoids hunting, let alone archery, whenever you can?
Probably be less likely to do that with a pro leader, let alone when your civ has the Totem Pole as the UB.
PhroX
Deity
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2009
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- 2,801
For me it's either:
Ballista Elephant - Requires a comparatively rare resource, and it's bonus is sooooo situational. Might be good in MP, but I rarely fight field battles against the AI. It's a pity, as I think the BE's ability is a great idea in principle. Much more interesting that "extra strength" or "free promotion" that most UUs get.
Panzer - Firstly you have to wait ages for it. And when you get it, it no better than a normal tank in 99% of the battles you're going to fight.
Ballista Elephant - Requires a comparatively rare resource, and it's bonus is sooooo situational. Might be good in MP, but I rarely fight field battles against the AI. It's a pity, as I think the BE's ability is a great idea in principle. Much more interesting that "extra strength" or "free promotion" that most UUs get.
Panzer - Firstly you have to wait ages for it. And when you get it, it no better than a normal tank in 99% of the battles you're going to fight.
whitelaughter
Warlord
ah! Yes, that makes a lot more sense. Splendid, will actually have to try Portugal for a change.
Well... I don't avoid it religiously but often enough I dislike having Hunting forced onto me (starting tech or popping it from huts) when the ability to build warriors for garrison and/or upgrading purposes is attractive and Hunting doesn't give me anything immediately useful.
PRO, on the other hand, makes archery units useful enough that I don't mind having to pay a little more for riot control and not being able to upgrade them to offensive units... with 2 free promotions (and 2 free xp in the case of the cow) I usually don't mind supporting my offensive stacks with a fair amount of archery units anyway.
whitelaughter
Warlord
No, I completely misunderstood the Carrack. (Hey, I'm a quasi-real person you only know via the net. Don't expect too much). I was poking people a bit about the War Chariot; I was curious as to whether people would argue that I was being unreasonable (and yes, I am still narked at the ability of a guy with a pointy stick to kill almost anything in this game).Is this post a joke? I mean, naming two situationally incredibly powerful UU's for reactions? Serious question
The Navy SEAL though? Bleah.
helemaalnicks
Warlord
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2008
- Messages
- 234
Sitting bull is protective, and his UB gives +some XP to archers, I'm never to worried about barbs with him, and this makes the dog soldier utterly useless imo. The dogsoldier is total overkill on defensive units, and I think it's by far the worse UU in the game. All the others, I can find a use for, the dog soldier is more like a handicap, I prefer axes with SB.
Joshua368
Warmongering builder
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2008
- Messages
- 3,072
Yep. Say what you will about the Navy Seal... at least it doesn't hurt its civilization!
budweiser
King of the Beers
Dogs are 500lb gorrilas. They can travers the early map with impunity. Nothing can beat them in the field.
Woe to any civ that starts too close to SB. He will steal you worker and pillage your lands while he expands and you stay idle. Enough Dogs will take some cities, but swordsmen aren't too far beyond BW.
Woe to any civ that starts too close to SB. He will steal you worker and pillage your lands while he expands and you stay idle. Enough Dogs will take some cities, but swordsmen aren't too far beyond BW.
blitzkrieg1980
Octobrist
Quechuas in a dual map isn't a situation...it isn't even a game, really. It's a conquest win at 3400 BC.
To answer the question: Ballista Elephants. I've never ever used them.
Just as an aside, I'd like to take this time to tell everyone that I love Ragnar's Berzerkers. They aren't especially useful as themselves on non-island/archipelago maps. BUT, since they retain their Amphibious promotion while being upgraded, they are very powerful. In my current game, I built a ton of CRI/II Berzerkers and upgraded them to Riflemen as soon as I got rifling. Tonight, the heathen continent of Celtia will fall to an endless stream of Combat 1, CRI/II, amphibious riflemen attacking right off the boat!
JonathanStrange
PrinceWithA1000Enemies
I hated, hated the Hittite Cottage Builder. WTH? It built cottages faster? BFD. I'm so glad it was removed several patches back.
Although others have posted this, I cannot bring myself to send out such a valuable unit exploring. If I build a worker, they better be improving my lands instead of taking a vacation!
Are you talking about Civ3 or something? There are no hittites in Civ 4.
I agree. What I'll often do though is send out workers on vacations when there is not much work to do or already enough workers to do it. The point is, I don't really fear using them to "road" a future city because as they move through the fog they can spot barbs in enough time to retreat if necessary. Usually you'd need to send a defender along with any workers outside your territory. It's especially useful if your first expansion city is going to be 10+ tiles away or so.
The era where I tend to be sending them through open border territory is that typical time before lumbermills and railroad are available where my workers suddenly don't have much to do other than build forts in between cities and useless roads. At this time of the game, sending out a fairly useless worker (especially a 3mp one) is preferable to sending out a valuable military unit which might be needed in an attack.
TheMeInTeam
If A implies B...
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2008
- Messages
- 27,995
Jeez, I like them as a UU but I can't say I use them this way. I DO road into fog AFTER animals are gone. If you do it before a wolf or panther you can't see through the trees will eat your faster but unsuspecting worker. As for exploration, I usually just wind up building a scout, military unit, or some other cheap option once i've settled my initial cities and slamming "e", which will map out basically your whole continent. After that I just use caravels or map trades
. On the rare occasion I play a terra map I'd probably use a stronger military unit or invulnerable spy rather than a fast worker.
Exploration is not a worker's ob - but they are good for building roads through hostile terrain as they can move a lot faster than oher workers. If I want to explore, I send a Horse Archer, scout or spy.
Okay, I can see the second point, but I tend to use a single cavalry unit (usually an obsolete chariot that wouldn't do much in an attack any way). I have never tried your first option--generally, I escort workers and settlers outside my territory, and I have never pre-roaded to a spot 10 tiles away from my borders to build a new city.
Maybe it's just because I play smaller maps.
TMIT I don't go crazy with workers! I certainly wouldn't send them to explore the new world instead of explorers. lol
It's true I prefer to use them outside of my territory once animals are gone, which seems to be faster the higher the difficulty. Also, with sufficient micro it's not hard to use them outside of your territory and even be safe from wolves. This is true with any worker though.
I'm not trying to say fast workers have an awesome role as explorers - just they're a bit more suitable than the ordinary worker for use outside of one's territory, and in the occasional situations where they are useful in that way.
Is it just me or do panthers never spawn? In my experience the majority of barb animals are lions and bears, and wolves are far less common. Maybe this is because wolves die faster though, and the bears/lions tend to survive until barb warriors start appearing.
Also, seeing only 1 tile into the trees is ok because wolves cannot move two tiles through trees. Fast workers are actually safest of all in jungles/forests because they can move into a forest tile, see if there is a barb nearby and if so still retreat, otherwise build the road. Like I said earlier, it takes a bit of micro but it's not hard to do.
It's true I prefer to use them outside of my territory once animals are gone, which seems to be faster the higher the difficulty. Also, with sufficient micro it's not hard to use them outside of your territory and even be safe from wolves. This is true with any worker though.
I'm not trying to say fast workers have an awesome role as explorers - just they're a bit more suitable than the ordinary worker for use outside of one's territory, and in the occasional situations where they are useful in that way.
Is it just me or do panthers never spawn? In my experience the majority of barb animals are lions and bears, and wolves are far less common. Maybe this is because wolves die faster though, and the bears/lions tend to survive until barb warriors start appearing.
Also, seeing only 1 tile into the trees is ok because wolves cannot move two tiles through trees. Fast workers are actually safest of all in jungles/forests because they can move into a forest tile, see if there is a barb nearby and if so still retreat, otherwise build the road. Like I said earlier, it takes a bit of micro but it's not hard to do.
