A Strategic Analysis of the Special Units (LONG)

[King of Rasslin]

Austin has the unique ability to disagree with everything in someones post. Will you just agree to a single thing we have said? Military men are NOT idiots. Cavalry has always been the trump card in war. Peasants did most of the fighting in the middle ages, but we remember the knights because of their power.

Making gunpower and melting lead into iron balls is probably easier than making arrows. It probably had to do more with resources than with training. And Civ 3 reflects the need for resources very well.

[Austin]

Sigh, I see little point in continuing a discussion with someone who's answer to the cold hard fact of cavalry vanishing from the battlefield as an effective shock force is some bizarre redefinition of tanks as "horseless cavalry", or the way cavalry was increasingly demoted to peripheral roles as being shock in another form.

Austin

[Jayman]

I think swordmen should upgrade to Marines. That would almost make sense... the spearmen follow the defense track up through Infantry, and the Warriors follow the offense track up to Marines. It'd make Amphibious Assault more worthwhile.

Or for even more fun, make em upgrade to Paratroopers

[vmxa1]

It does seem that a man trained as a swordsmen, could be trained to use other skills and hence upgrade to something, why not all the way up to marines? Nothing upgrades to marine, does it?

[player1]

It looks like in PtW swords will upgrade to Med. Swordsmen and then to Guerilla Fighter.


P.S.
Anyway in my MOD, I upgarde then to Rilfmen.
(and my RIlfmen has attack of 5, so doning that upgrade is costly, but usefull).

[King of Rasslin]

Riflemen should have better offence. They are even with longbowmen (4) for being the strongest unit you can make that doesn't require a resource. I think they should be stronger. 5 is good.

[Karl]

Hello ! first time im posting here.
When considering the best UU I disagree with some of u.

I think in terms of which uu has the ability to change the history, and here a lot of them fails. The panzer for instance will not change anything (If u destroy with panzer u would have done it with tanks as well). I would say to have an uu with special attacking capacity greater then the enemy is much more valueble then an uu defender, since attack works both ways.(attack=defence) The defender can just sit in the city watch all the surroundings get burnt down. But the best uu is the jaguar u r getting fighter scouts for nothing ,and those tigers even trigger goldenages running the woods! (sometimes . Happened to me first time I played! entering a hut out comes 4 barbarians he wins vs all ! ( and dont u just love his laughter!!) I think playing against a human player in the future I would wanna be aztek.

[King of Rasslin]

Movement doesn't increase power or defence. Panzers come very late. On small maps, movement isn't very important at all. On large maps, +1 movement is huge.

Sometimes attack does not equal defence. The musketeer's attack bonus is useless because you will never attack with them. In fact, the musketman is very weak considering how much you pay for them. It should be 3/4 and the musketeer should be 4/4.

[vmxa1]

I confess to not using all of the civs, but nearly all. I can vote for Legionare as they are good on def or off, come early, but not earliest.
Lame is Panzer, F-15 and WanOWar. Too late for the first two and who wants a ship as a UU.
French are not far behind as has been noted too weak for the price.
Impi and Jag Warriors are not favs as they are too weak and too early. Yes they are strong compared to other units at the bottom of the rung such as warriors, but if you want to get elites or Heros, you will have trouble winning fights with the units you will face such as Immortals and Legionares or even Hoplites if you are attacking them. Mounted warriors and other horse type will not be easy wins either for those two units (jags/impi). When you fight with Legionares against all of the early level 1 or level2 types you will be favored to win, including swordsmen.

[Bambul]

That third move of Panzers is very underated by many. It lets them move through enemy territory much more quickly and get 1 turn attacks that only Cavalry and MA normally get. Add their blitz ability which is potentially 1.5 times as many attacks per panzer (due to 3 moves vs 2) and you have the perfect unit to superceed your cavalry forces in the late industrial age.

[bretwalda]

I would put Samurai first.

Balanced firepower (makes excellent armies ) fast (retreat), can defend (even when healing) and its GOLDEN AGE is perfectly timed...
Otherwise I would love Jaguar Warrior, but the GA is way too early... Though I had once a JW army and Heroic Epic when I had only 4 cities nice one.

However this might be because of my playing style: large or huge map, which allows more time for expansion and tech advancement before the first encounter and clash.

Originally posted by Saint Marcus
I personally think that the best UU is the Hoplite. It has a defense of three, for which everyone besides the Romans, have to wait for until they get feudalism. And even then the Hoplite is superior, since it required less shields and no resources. It's my defensive unit of choice until the musketmen pop up, which is well into the middle ages. It may not be as fancy as a Panzer, but certainly a lot more effective considering you can use it from 3000BC till 1200AD, right from the start till well into the middle ages. The perfect unit, simple but effective.

Best UU, in my opinion:

1. Hoplite
2. Immortal
3. Rider
4. Panzer
5. Legion/Samurai

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by King of Rasslin
Movement doesn't increase power or defence. Panzers come very late. On small maps, movement isn't very important at all. On large maps, +1 movement is huge.

Yes it is a very strong unit, but by the time you get it the game is in the bag. You can get by with tanks until you get MA, it really does not matter. I would rather have a UU that came at a point that it could make a difference. That is why I do not like the F-15.

[Mrbigman3d]

I need info about the Scandinavians

Hey whats up? i was wondering, do you have any strategies or unit info for the scandinavians? if you do could you please email me at johndavis18@yahoo.com, you can messege me there to

[Last Conformist]

That's one extreme bump, and it does not even appear to be on-topic ...

[Wrongbutton]

That bump is hilarious!