You start with one Unit for free, what would it be?

[sylvanllewelyn]

Inspired by this post.

M

Thread 'You start with one Wonder for free. What do you pick?'

Aug 14, 2025

Imagine you could kick off the game in 4000 BC with any one wonder in the game pre-built in your capital.

United Nations and Apostolic Palace are on the table but their associated victory conditions are not.

Projects aren't on the table (no Internet, sadly. And no Manhattan Project, which would be the funniest option conceptually. "We did it! We figured out how to build nukes!" "Great! What's a nuke?" "No idea!").

Which wonder would you choose? (I'm thinking maybe the Kremlin?)

Also, which wonder would be the one that would have the least impact? We'll exclude Space Elevator and 3...

• MilesBeyond
• Replies: 13
• Forum: Civ4 - General Discussions

One free technology had already been done.

Choose one free starting unit.

/////

- no unique units
- settle in place, no moving settler in the beginning
- unit appears in starting city
- coastal start
- standard speed, deity difficulty, shuffle map, no tribal villages, no other optional settings chosen
- random leader
- choose before game starts

/////

- great persons solve economic problems
- siege can reduce defenses
- airplanes for support
- tanks can steal workers
- free settler for faster start
- ship for exploration
- ICBM for LOL's
- missionary for early religion

 

[AcaMetis]

Practical answer: Probably just some kind of Great Person to immediately settle. A tank to steal workers is cool and all, but on a Shuffle map you might be isolated, and against barbs a tank doesn't really do anything that two Warriors can't get done most of the time. Settler is also tempting, but honestly? Boring.

Funny answer, probably all null and void on Deity difficulty: Great Spy to use as an invisible scout/fogbuster, Privateer to loot and plunder some rival coastal city for literal millennia, a corporate executive if that would allow me to spread my corporation to other AIs and bankrupt their economies (until they inevitably adopt Mercantilism), or the real power play: A Bear. That's right barbarians, I'm the 3 crusher of all your hopes and dreams now! That settler isn't going to get sniped by any Wolf this time!

 

[Thrasybulos]

An Explorer, because a free Explorer is the only kind I'd consider getting.

Obviously, a Modern Armor would be GG (why are we talking about stealing workers?? Even Deity AIs would just die to an MA). Of course, if you're isolated, it won't do much for you, but the odds are you're not.

Wouldn't an ICBM make you immune to DoWs for quite some time?

Rather than which unit would give you the greatest advantage, it might be more interesting to consider whether there's an option which would change the way you play?
Early Corporation? (But it's doubtful than an early civ could handle the eco drain...).
On Deity you don't get to found an early religion, but would that be a game plan changer?
A Stealth Bomber would change the way you approach exploratin and early war, but again, would that make the game that different?

no unique units

So we get to choose more than one, then?

 

[Teneight]

I would vote Modern Armor. Even in Iso, just sit back and defend vs barbs until they found cities, then take them over. Beeline to optics-astronomy like normal and ship over a galleon with a modern armor and cause havoc.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

An Explorer, because a free Explorer is the only kind I'd consider getting.

I would get a transport. It's the same spirit but more versatile.

Obviously, a Modern Armor would be GG (why are we talking about stealing workers?? Even Deity AIs would just die to an MA). Of course, if you're isolated, it won't do much for you, but the odds are you're not.

Not attacking cities with it. Okay with cutting off reinforcements and pillaging resources, but I won't throw it against walls and castles. I still prefer mechanised infantry or stealth bomber.

 

[floydmcw]

What about a gunship? It takes care of barbs just fine and moves 4 tiles per turn, you could explore even a Pangea incredibly quickly.

 

[danjuno]

A Bear. That's right barbarians, I'm the 3 crusher of all your hopes and dreams now! That settler isn't going to get sniped by any Wolf this time!

I know it's a joke answer, but fun fact: The bear would get kicked out of the borders of the city it helped found because animals are coded to not be able to enter cultural borders, period. Not even from the same faction!

 

[AcaMetis]

Free movement towards the next target if you ask me .

 

[floydmcw]

Not attacking cities with it. Okay with cutting off reinforcements and pillaging resources, but I won't throw it against walls and castles. I still prefer mechanised infantry or stealth bomber.

I don't think a 40-strength Modern Armor with 2 first strikes, and several promotions, is going to care very much about a longbow in a castle.

 

[floydmcw]

Free movement towards the next target if you ask me .

This is like an Attacko guide. "Bear teleport and an ice archer: All you need to win big at Civ IV!"

 

[floydmcw]

What about a gunship? It takes care of barbs just fine and moves 4 tiles per turn, you could explore even a Pangea incredibly quickly.

There's always something new to learn ... for some reason Gunships can't capture workers, it destroys them!

 

[Qactus]

I know it's a joke answer, but fun fact: The bear would get kicked out of the borders of the city it helped found because animals are coded to not be able to enter cultural borders, period. Not even from the same faction!

I once encountered a barbarian city with a lion inside. Even posted a screenshot of it back in the day:

Post in thread 'Funny Screenshots: Part Deux'

Sep 21, 2013

What's funny about this screenshots you might ask... look closely!

Spoiler :

The barbarians keep a pet lion in their village! Isn't that adorable? I'm sure they feed him the pigs while they enjoy the wine!

• Qactus

 

[danjuno]

I once encountered a barbarian city with a lion inside. Even posted a screenshot of it back in the day:

Post in thread 'Funny Screenshots: Part Deux'

Sep 21, 2013

What's funny about this screenshots you might ask... look closely!

Spoiler :

The barbarians keep a pet lion in their village! Isn't that adorable? I'm sure they feed him the pigs while they enjoy the wine!

• Qactus

Since the city has four archers at size 1 and spawned at the same time as animals, I assume this was Deity (or similar)? In which case, it appears it spawned atop the poor kitty!

I just did a test game:
I spawned in a lion owned by me otop my settler. It could move to any adjacent tile, (having 1) except the one my warrior was standing on.
Once the settler built the city, it couldn't move at all, so I parked it and started moving my warrior around while waiting the results of part 2 of the experiment:
I WBed a Barb city halfway between me with 4 archers and a lion in it. After several turns, the barb lion also stayed put. I changed the AI mode of one of the archers from City Garrison to Pillage and it moved off no problem.

 

[GreedyManul]

What about a gunship? It takes care of barbs just fine and moves 4 tiles per turn, you could explore even a Pangea incredibly quickly.

I second this. The gunship doesn't just move 4 tiles/turn, it also ignores terrain movement costs, which quickly adds up. You won't just explore the map before everyone else, you'll snipe every tribal village out there and harvest an immense amount of techs/gold/free units.

I struggle to think of a better unit than the gunship, outside of say, great people or religious missionaries.

 

[floydmcw]

I second this. The gunship doesn't just move 4 tiles/turn, it also ignores terrain movement costs, which quickly adds up. You won't just explore the map before everyone else, you'll snipe every tribal village out there and harvest an immense amount of techs/gold/free units.

I struggle to think of a better unit than the gunship, outside of say, great people or religious missionaries.

In practice there aren't a lot of tribal villages and it's hard to keep the AI from getting a bunch. I tried a couple times on Immortal (where the AIs start with an extra scout), tropical pangea. Each time I got 5-6 huts worth about $120.

Even worse, gunships can't steal workers. So the best bonus unit is probably the Modern Armor.

 

[danjuno]

Having a stealth bomber at start would be wild.

 

[Qactus]

Maybe a little bit off topic, but to anyone who finds this scenario (i.e. of a gunship or stealth bomber within an old civilization) appealing, I can recommend 1989 SciFi movie "Hard to be a god", in which Earth's technologically advanced future humans observe a medieval society on another planet, quietly and undercover. Which obviously turns out to be not as easy as it sounds. There is also a more recent russian adaptation (after all the source material is a soviet novel by the Strugatsky brothers), which I have yet to see.

 

[Thrasybulos]

Where were you a few years back when I was desperately trying to find the reference to that movie, uh?

All I had were vague memories of something like an Assassin's Creed setup... Took me quite a while to pin it down.

 

[PeterMoss]

A Sid's Sushi Executive if it can build a corporate branch in one of my cities without needing the relevant technologies. We start coastal and can probably net seafood soon. The bonus food is worth the maintenance cost even without the headquarters. Even better if we are able to build more Executives without learning more technologies.

It would be a fun experiment to see what technologies might be needed to make an Executive be settleable and buildable. Any takers?

If we start with Fishing and a seafood resource, I could do with a Work Boat. You can't use it until you have Fishing.

A Worker is also a good choice on most starts.

A settled Great Merchant would also work out.

Give me plenty of food early on and I will build an impressive empire.

If I had to pick a military unit, it would probably be a Mobile Artillery. You can't kill on attack with it, making it not as completely overpowering as Modern Armour, meaning that you would still have to mostly build up supporting military units normally. It would still be overkill by taking down those early 60% cultural defences and wounding the defenders of other civs' capitals, but you would at least have to play mostly normally to be able to capture cities.