Incas - a bit lame?

[Mad Bomber]

Originally posted by Whoha


wait a minute, thats an advantage that all units from an expansionist civ gets isn't it(or atleast scouts)? So why would that be added into figuring out which is better unit per unit? The Aztecs got to have another trait for that, and if you lump a trait in with the incas units lump a trait in with the Aztec unit.

The ability to not get barbs from huts is an inherent trait that all scouts recieve. As the CS is a scout unit, I see no reason not to consider this fact in discussing relative worth of UU's.

[Plotinus]

[Mad Bomber] The ability not to get barbarians from huts isn't a trait of scouts, it's a trait of the civilisation (part of being Expansionist). The advantage that the Chasqui Scout has over a normal scout is that it can attack and defend. However, as I see it, the main reason a *scout* needs this ability is in case it runs into barbarians. And the Expansionist trait already guards against this possibility, by ensuring that no barbarians will come out of a hut. (The scout might, of course, encounter barbarians of other kinds, but it is more likely to have a warning of them and be able to skirt around them.) In other words, the advantage that the Chasqui Scout has over a normal scout is not an advantage that it really needs: it's certainly not an advantage that makes much difference. To put it another way, the fact that the Chasqui Scout will not spring barbarians from a hut gives it an edge over similar units like the Impi and the Jaguar Warrior, but then the civilisations with those units have two complete traits in addition to the bonuses of those units. Because the Incas' UU overlaps with their traits in this way, I think they lose out overall. I agree with those who think that the similar UUs of other civilisations score over the Chasqui Scout because of this.

[joncnunn]

Incas Scout is great for scouting thru mountains and hills.

Yes, their increased cost resulted in me only building 1 of them compared to normally building 2 or 3 Scouts.

Map I was on though was marginally too poor for me. (By marginally, not so bad that I forsaw being conquered in early game, but bad enough that I forsaw never being able to keep up in techs due to insufficent growth possiblities and I lquit that game in the middle ages.)