What's your favorite Unique Unit?

[GePap]

So, the question is straightforward enough.

Personally, mine is the Praetorian, the only UU that influences my choice of civs.

Not only does it come into the game early enough to matter, its a huge boost over regular swordsmen, and remains an effective unit up until the age of riflemen.

So, what does everyone else think?

[Lancer]

Yup, same here.

[Theben]

Generally UUs don't affect my choice, but probably the Navy Seal, only b/c it's the most badass UU. If I was to say most useful I'd pick either Samurai, Praetorian, or the Chinese crossbowman. The NAtive American Dog(?) soldier is good b/c it doesn't need copper or iron. If the Impi was like that I'd pick it for being an excellent armed scout.

[Quillan]

I'm going to have to give the nod to the fast worker, here. The praetorian is my favorite military UU, but the fast worker stays around longer than any other, and makes an impact up until the point where you cannot possibly build another improvement.

[Velociryx]

I second the fast worker, with the Praetorian coming in a reasonably close second.

Fast worker = resourceless. Available to be built from turn 1, useful for a larger % of the game than any other unit out there.

Praetorians are strong, no doubt, but a) require a specific resource that you may or may not have, and b) are right expensive (tho IMO, you get your money's worth there, on account of their relatively long shelf life).

Fast Worker.

-=Vel=-

[Nugog]

Re: What's your favorite Unique Unit?

Originally posted by GePap
Personally, mine is the Praetorian, the only UU that influences my choice of civs.

With Cossacks a very close second.

[inca911]

I'd add the Skirmisher and Quencha to the list as well. An early conquest of a rival's city is a huge boost to the early game.

[DaShi]

The Samuri was awesome when the Japanese were Agg/Org. Easiest conquest civ.

[Unimatrix11]

Yeah, i just came around to realize the chinese strong crossbowman in a MP-game. I bit my ass, when i realized too late what a strong unit i hardly used at all.

[KMadeleine]

Originally posted by Velociryx
I second the fast worker...
Fast worker = resourceless. Available to be built from turn 1, useful for a larger % of the game than any other unit out there.

thirded. some of my games i never fight a war at all, so they're the only UU that would do me any good. ok, maybe a resourceless axe or sword would help vs barbs but i'll take my chances there. if i do go to war, FWs help as a corp of engineers to get my entire army to the destination faster. and when i capture ordinary workers they instantly transform into fast ones by magic! that is way too spiffy.

[Dis]

praetorian. the reason seems simple enough. It's an offensive unit we use anyways to take over cities. Buffing this unit just makes taking over cities that much easier. Much better than a defensive unit. Defensive uu's just suck

As for the Dutch naval uu, it's okay, but nothing too special. But I like the Dutch for other reasons.

As for fast worker, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the speed only apply when entering into terrain such as hills and forest (I think even jungle knocks out all their movement), so wouldn't their effectiveness be based on how many of these terrain types you have? And if the tile is far away, you may end up expending all your movement points anyways. It's still hard to judge how much benefit from this unit.

[Quillan]

Yes, it does, but how many mines or windmills do you build on hills? How many lumbermills do you build or forests do you chop? How many roads go across forest or hills in a typical game? Every one of those squares saves you one turn. In a typical game it adds up to a HUGE turn advantage.

[joncnunn]

I'm thinking I really like the Ethopian UU. I almost never build regular Muskets, but I built a lot of that UUs for those first strikes even though I wasn't planning a war. (Rifles that used to be the Ethopian UU retain their bonsuses.) As it turned out I did get involved in an unwanted war shortly thereafter, and those UUs really helped out.

[Kuciwalker]

The fast worker is nearly useless on slower gamespeeds (esp. marathon).

[Velociryx]

I dunno if I agree with that, Kuci....on the surface of it, I see where you're going....more turns overall, so the individual effect of the fast worker's efforts is going to be lessened per capita, but if one proceeds from the notion that military units gain MORE power on the slower speeds, then the fast worker's ability to move into a forested tile and chop military units out pays handsome dividends indeed (giving you said units that much more quickly, enabling you to mount an offensive before the opposition can mount a viable defense and putting you on the map that much quicker).

I agree tho, that in general, the slower speeds see a blunting effect on their abilities, I'm just not sure I'd call 'em useless. Turn Advantage is turn advantage, and it's still the most powerful ally you've got.

-=Vel=-