"Wow i didnt know this unit even exists"

[Shirastro]

I was just watching the tech tree, and noticed few units that i build so rearly, i almost forget they were there.
The first one on my list is definitly "fighter" plane. I played this game a lot, but i honestly dont think i ever build this unit.
Whats the point with the fighter when only few tech later you get an inproved version of it.
Speaking of planes, the same goes for the stealth ones. On the paper they are great, but you get them so late in the game, that usualy by that time you will either be building your last peace of the spaceship, or already conquered pretty much whole world.
Also on my "rarely buit units" list:

Marines
Helicopters
SAM
Chariot
Longbowman (this one i build only in the desperate case when i dont have neither horses nor iron)
Aegis


Do you have any never/rarely built unit?

 

[Oddible]

Marines and Helicopters are specialty units - like Paratroopers. They have a very specific application and therefore one typically doesn't need a LOT of them. The other bonus is that they don't require the resources that other Modern Age units require so if you're strapped for Oil, you are definitely building Marines. Its great fun when their need arises. Typically Archipelago maps - dropping paratroopers and other units across islands is excellent - made all the more essential by the addition of the Conquests unit the TOW. Also great for dropping a handful of troops into enemy territory to take out their resources that may have more units than bombers can destroy.

Fighters, SAM and Aegis have similar functions. If it is that brief moment in time where you have fighters available and no jet fighters and your enemy is bombing the hell out of you, you'll be building fighters. Also, fighters can accompany Aircraft Carriers - just set them to Air Superiority and you'll get some defence for your ships.

Chariot - never build 'em, but if you play multiplayer you will soon be all over the chariot - excellent for an initial rush.

Longbowmen, what can I say that you haven't already said, oh yeah, CHEAP -way cheaper than Knights and cheaper than MI.

I like that in the latest ver of C3C that we are now required to research the Advanced Flight tech (right?) so you don't have to go down that NEVER treaded path in order to use these special forces units.

 

[Mgoering]

Archers and Longbowmen are the ones i only build when i don't have iron AND horses. As soon as i have iron, i'll build Swordsmen. However, I don't when I have horses. The last ground unit that I rarely use are Paratroopers.
The mounted unit i prefer not to use is Horsemen. If I have iron, I prefer waiting to have Montheism and build Knights.
Artilleries are units I don't use often, with the exception of "Artillery". When I capture them, I use them as long as there is an ennemy unit next to it and then, disband it.
Scouts and Explorers are also one I don't build. I usually play with Americans and they have a Scout. This one, with some Warriors, are just enough to discover the map I'm going to use and more. I sometimes build Explorer when another civ doesn't want to exchange its maps.
Fighters, Helicopters and Tactical Nukes are the air ones that I extremely rarely build.
I don't like to build Privateers, Ironclads and Carriers as far as naval units are concerned.

 

[t3h_m013]

artillery is a must... full stop.
i relatively regularly use longbows for any of resourcless wars, beach heads, cheap offense unit (+1 defence for a an offence unit isnt that useful).

marines can be very useful in obvious cases and was loving paratroopers in pacific conquest

 

[punkbass2000]

Longbowmen, what can I say that you haven't already said, oh yeah, CHEAP -way cheaper than Knights and cheaper than MI.

LBs aren't cheaper than MDI. They're both 40 shields. The trade off between them is MDI have 2 defense compared to 1 and the LB have 4 def. bombardment compared to nothing.

 

[Ronnoc]

I rarely use special forces/paratroopers/marines. Never needed them much.

Artillery, besides armour, is one of my chief builds. I have used arty at chokepoint cities, to reduce stacks of attackers to nothing to blunt their attacks. I will have sometimes 10-15 artillery, supported by battleships in pounding attackers.

I am a firm believer in combined arms attacks when on the offensive. I always begin an attack with a heavy arty bombardment, aerial bombing, before moving in with tanks, I usually suffer few losses.

 

[danz]

Longbows are often overlooked, especially by newer players. The +1 defense turns people off, and let's face it, they don't have that certain je ne se qua that knights do.

But they deliver very good bang for the buck.

1) Cheaper than knights, same cost as MDI.
2) No resource requirements.
3) No need to invest in a dead-end tech like Chivalry.
4) Strong defensive bombardment rating.
5) Last but not least, an offensive unit with a defense of 1 will force you to play smarter. Instead of sending out MDI or swords unescorted and losing them to counterattacks, you will stack your longbows with pikes. Result? You will be able to produce more units with less shields and suffer fewer casualties, as your combined-arms stacks will be able to defend themselves very nicely against anything the enemy can throw at them.

The end result is a smarter, more effective military. Instead of sending half a dozen knights, send three pikes, three longbows, and three or four trebuchets. Your win/loss ratio will jump through the roof.

Longbows are not flashy, but along with pikes, they make the best combined-arms militaries for an entire age.

 

[Crimso]

It was only 2 games ago that I discovered that the chariot could be used by all civs. Then I discovered they only had 1 attack and haven't built them since.

 

[Tassadar]

I tryed the paratrooper recently and i play this game since the debut, i find that they are very good to kick in war weariness into a democratic governement.

Just paradrop a bunch of them, on a mountain well inside their cultur and fortify them for a few turn. Within a few turn the ai went into anarchy.

I reloaded and then i just kill the ennemy troop inside my cultur, he stay in democraty many more turn.

 

[gunkulator]

Instead of sending out MDI or swords unescorted and losing them to counterattacks, you will stack your longbows with pikes.

Pikes require iron and if I have iron I'll build MDI. Knights are really quite the bargain. You get the attack of 40 shield MDI combined with the defense of 30 shield pikes, plus you get a 2 mover with retreat - all for 70 shields. Combining two units into one leads to lower support costs too.

That said, the trebuchet is a devastaing unit in the early middle ages and it is definitely worth build a bunch of them along with a couple pikes to defend.

Longbows are not flashy, but along with pikes, they make the best combined-arms militaries for an entire age.

Well, until muskets come along. Then you need trebs to soften those muskets and count on the retreat of knights to keep your army intact. Otherwise, you'll lose those longbows more often than not. This is especially important if you find yourself at war as a Republic where WW from dead units is a killer.

 

[Oddible]

artillery is a must... full stop.

Yes, question to anyone who doesn't build stacks of Artillery - how do you defeat Infantry??? I mean, from the time between Infantry and the time when Tanks come on the scene can be very long especially if there is massive warring going on. Do folks just lose thousands of cavalry to defeat 10 defense infantry??? Personally I use Artys to blunt the enemy infantry so I can walk in with little cavalry loss.

Catapults I almost never build (depends if I am holding a resource very near to enemy territory or something). Cannons I DO build but only to get started on Artys which I upgrade to pronto - also good to blunt the cavalry attacks of enemies.

 

[Tomoyo]

Disclaimer: I do build huge stacks of artillery.

I think the plan for them would be to either ram cavalry into the walls, not fight, or be so far ahead technologically that it doesn't matter.

 

[Taliesin]

In my games (Monarch and Emperor), I generally find it sufficient to expend my large forces of cavalry on infantry until tanks are available. It costs a lot, but usually the cavalry last until tanks, especially if it's a defensive war and I can use the retreat effectively. As soon as I can build them, my prosperous democracy pumps out 2-5 turn tanks in all cities until I have 40 or 50.
I generally don't use artillery until Artillery, and then mostly
i) to place several on chokepoints and resources, in a fortress with many infantry and tanks; and
ii) by using Bombers and Battleships to enact punitive destruction on those that dare to declare war on me.

 

[Aggie]

Artillery is so powerful that it almost becomes lame to use them vs the AI. Effective use of artillery (stacks of 50 to 100 of them) is one of the key tactics to beat the big number of AI units on higher levels. You simply can't capture a metropolis on deity in the modern age without artillery, unless you are prepared to lose 80% of your units in a stack of doom of 40. Effective use of artillery ensures you that you will lose far less troops in a siege.

 

[plastiqe]

I'm a huge artillery fan, ever since the Celts from Age of Empires. Even in the ancient age with catapults I love em. And in the later ages messing up a rivals terrain with craters is so satisfying. : )

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Aegis Cruiser I just remembered about this unit when reading the first post

Radar Artillery I can't remember the last time I built this

Helicopters I never build these

Paratroopers/Modern Paratroopers Do we really need two of these?

 

[magritte]

Well on Regent and Monarch, I find that I generally had tanks by the time my opponents were building infantry. Now that I'm playing on Emperor, I see the virtue of artillery in the age of Infantry. It's painfully slow, though. Cavalry is faster, but costly.

I think the main reason I didn't build artillery, was that catapults and cannons didn't impress me. Granted, stacks of 50 of them would be good, but my economy won't support that sort of force build-up at that point in the game. I'd rather build 30 knights--less gpt, better mobility.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

I always build a few Longbows even if I have Iron, and stack them with MDI/Knights when attacking, because of the defensive bombard. And, since Cats/Trebs/Cannons are wheeled, they are really helpful in rough terrain.
Plus, if you play with Carthage and Greece, you need no Iron

Radar Artillery isn't that rare; anyone who goes for Space victories or 20k city culture will head for Robotics first, often before Ecology. In fact, for a space race I tend to get that first, before Spaceflight sometimes, but always before any other SS part tech, for the Manuplants.

AEGIS - indeed, I never built them. I think I *NEVER* researched that tech (which one is it, btw?). Same for Stealth Planes

Helis, Paras, Marines are useful. Just not always. Helis got a huge boost with TOWs, now you can finally fly in reinforcements that really help.
Before someone asks: Yes, I always build a few TOWs.

I just fail to see why I ever should research the upper branch of the Modern Era.
Any military victory is done with SynFibres. UN, obvious. 100k, better turn off research after Eco and Computers, and rush stuff. 20k, bad luck if you haven't won before Robotics, but at least with the Genetic wonders you should win.

Units I don't use although I have the Tech?
Chariots. NuclearSubs. Tactical Nukes. Cruise Missiles.

 

[zerksees]

Archers - since I rarely attack super early

Longbowman - though I should reconsider this after what I have read here - the bombardment on defense looks pretty good

Explorer - very situational

Chariot - stuck in the jungle

Privateer - Could probably be handy as a diversion in some cases though I don't use them

Paratroopers, marines, helicopters, stealth bombers - all situational and rarely used by me

Knight - why research dead end tech? Build horsemen and upgrade to cavalry. I will build them in situations where they are required (like India GA can be triggered by the war elephant)

I disagree with the "great deal" comment on knights. If your pikeman gets taken out you lose 30 shields, lose a knight and lose all 70. Plus it can be taken by one unit. Combo of pikeman and medieval inf requires two successful attacks to take the tile.


While all of these are on my "rarely built" list, I still consider them if the situation is right. Never say never.

 

[danz]

I disagree with the "great deal" comment on knights. If your pikeman gets taken out you lose 30 shields, lose a knight and lose all 70. Plus it can be taken by one unit. Combo of pikeman and medieval inf requires two successful attacks to take the tile.

Yep, and if you use a LB instead of MDI, your pike is more likely to survive, giving you the most effective combination possible!