Which UU is the best???

[sparkyal]

I think I need to go with SEALS and Panzers. In my games I'm usually catching up with the AI until that point so blast them with Panzers s great. Or if I'm USA I like the SEALs for obvious reasons (although after you can build mech INF they disappear...bad idea).

so, those are my two.

sparky

[matthew_mccabe]

could someone tell me what this skull is that nbugog has for his avatar. i see it on the military information page (or whatever), by the pictures of leaders in the game, but have no idea what (or who) it is

[proviisori]

It is the Barbarian symbol

[Older than Dirt]

Fast workers are beloved by us warmongers too - they're not just for builder peacenicks. They are great for building roads fast so troops can advance and destroy and for chopping to build axemen for early rushing nearest civ or 2. They move so fast that you can use them as scouts or explorers rather effectively.

[Azuarc]

Some UUs are great because the upgrade units you're going to be using anyway...Praetorians, Redcoats, and Cossacks are decent examples of this, but the best of them is of course the Fast Worker.

However, if you are willing to play your game towards getting them, I think one UU that has gone highly unmentioned in this thread in the Cho-ko-nu. An archery unit with collateral damage and a healthy amount of first strikes? Not only is it likely to survive an otherwise even match due to the initial outlay of damage, but it hits everything ELSE too.

[sparkyal]

The only hink I don't like about the Cho-ko-nu is it's realtively short life span. Soon after I have then, i soon have Elephants and then macemen.

sparky

[Blake]

However, if you are willing to play your game towards getting them, I think one UU that has gone highly unmentioned in this thread in the Cho-ko-nu. An archery unit with collateral damage and a healthy amount of first strikes? Not only is it likely to survive an otherwise even match due to the initial outlay of damage, but it hits everything ELSE too.

Archery units are, by nature, lame at attacking.
A CKN on offense is basically an expensive catapult with slightly higher strength but poorer promotions. And requiring Iron, which isn't even on the tech path to Machinery.

The CKN isn't all bad, it's definitely quite hard to counter, catapults are pretty easily destroyed once the escorts are gone, but a CKN is itself an escort unit. However they'll still get destroyed pretty effectively by catapults, especially in the open.

Given the choice, I'm typically going to prefer getting construction quickly, even as China.

[Azuarc]

The key advantage is the first strikes. Without those, yes, the Cho-ko-nu is pretty worthless. Considering collateral damage itself is a sort of first strike when attacking, ideally the xbows will finish off their opponent before they get a chance to do anything. Considering the highest strength an opponent should have in that age is 8 (elephants, praetorian, maceman,) and those units have no advantage to archery, they make great defensive stack killers or open field killers, and aren't worthless for attacking cities if you have 1 or 2 cats to bombard first.

The real pain is getting to machinery in any kind of timely fashion. If you can pull that off, (and of course have the iron to build them,) they're quite exceptional imho.

[allybhoy]

Originally posted by DeyReepher
Praetorians get eaten up in multi-player play by Axemen upgraded with Shock. It's rare to find a player that picks Rome in MP Ladder games.

Cossacks are pretty deadly, especially in MP Renaissance starts. However, there is a counter towards them. When facing a stack of Cossacks in multi-player, I'll cat them once and hit them with Cavalry upgraded with Flanking II. Though Cossacks have the vs. bonus against mounted units, the Flanking II plus the natural withdrawal the Cavalry already have give Cavalry a total of 60% withdrawal. Using this method, I will lose a catapult and about 3 Cavalry for every 2 Cossacks. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.

Ohh, I just noticed Ancyrean picked up on the Flanking as well. Flanking and Sentry have to be my favourite promotions on Mounted and Naval units.

On Naval units such as Galleons, after Flanking I, it opens up the way to Navigation I (+1 movement) which is great if you want to boat drop an opponent.

By the way, I highly recommend people try out some multi-player and maybe join the Ladder if you get tired of the AI. We're looking to grow and you'll find a vastly different gaming experience.

How dfo I get to play multi? I wanna, know i'll get thrashed, but would love to have a go

[sparkyal]

Well, in my first game as China, my CKN's I'm still using against rifelmen. Sounds siully? Yup, I decided that CNK's were glorified catapults so i never build any of those, so I sent in the CKN's, sosften up the defenders and then comes the cavery which clear out the city. So far it works well. but now that I can't build that unit anymore they are getting a bit more scarce. Now I'm building ART.

Anotehr good UU? what do you all think of the Skirmishers? My wife played a a game (yes it is possible) and went to war against MM and the skirmishers killed her. what's been your experience?

[Nikolai]

I think I'll choose the fast worker. I'm no war guy mostly, and the time I go to war ingame varies too much for me to have to rely on one special kind of unit. But then it'd have to be one of the later ones.

[Arrian]

I totally agree with Blake re: the Cho. It's a "meh" unit. Crossbowmen are kinda pricey in general. So it's an expensive catapult with (as Blake mentioned) crappier promotions.

-Arrian

[mutax2003]

Cho Ko Nu is better than crossbowman at killing melee units, such as maceman. Therefore, China is one civ that will defend well against Japanese samurais (maceman unit) in medieval period.

[SebP]

if you get cho ko nu or even crossbowman real early (for example with traditional farseer + GE rush to machinery) their big advantage is that they have no counter at all before middle ages. and you can get them that much earlier than macemen which require civil service AND machinery

i tried it out with mao on my first emperor game and it worked out quite well. than patch 1.62 came out and since i had relied too much on early chopping it was back to monarch for me


the best ui for me would be samurai (but maybe that's only when including the aggressive combat 1 bonus) or quecha against monarch+ ai, .
i don't rely on getting iron in time for praets. i guess immortals and especially skirmishes could be very strong but don't have too much experience.

[Guynemer]

I have eternal love for fast workers (long life, multiple uses), praetorians (hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast), and skirmishers (uber-defenders and sneaky attackers).