Immortals rush, wtf?

[Arrian]

The Romans and Persians are two civs I will go out of my way to hurt or destroy in the very early going. Don't let them get iron! That's suicide. A targetted strike of warriors, archers or even swordsmen (depending on how hard Caesar/Xerxes has to work at getting iron hooked up) is the way to go.

Personally, I fear the legionary more than the immortal, because I can kill the immortal by attacking it (horse/sword, as described above). The legionary is... well, have you ever seen Full Metal Jacket? There is a character called "Animal Mother." That's the CivIII legionary. One tough sonufa*****. They die hard.

Generally, it is best to cripple or kill any civ that has an ancient UU. I tend to try and avoid Babylon until I have a large horseman force that I can unleash on them (thus killing them quickly, so their golden age doesn't help them). I will try to avoid very early war vs. the Aztecs as well, but no longer fear them once I have horses 'n swords. I avoid Greece like the plague until Chivalry.

To answer the original question, no, the Immortals aren't unbalancing. Powerful yes, unbalancing no. Like most of the other UU's, it gets a +1 bonus to 1 stat (+1 offense from standard swordsman). The key with immortals is that they are slow. Build some horsemen and run rings around them.

-Arrian

[Inverse Icarus]

if i had to pick a UU i hated to fight (this seems the way the threadjack is going), i'd have to say the Impi or the Samurai.

The samuari is 4/4/2 for christs sake. Thats BETTER than a pikeman, and with it's two moves, you cant hope to retreat from a failing attack!

Same with the Impi. It's movement of 2 basically neutralizes horsemen (i prefer horses over swords most of the time).

[vmxa1]

I don't think the Samurai belongs in the discussion with Legionare and Immortal as it is a Medevial unit and essentially a Knight, so of course it is better than a pikemen.

[Binnacle]

*blinks*

I am shocked none of you did'nt mention this before..'Push and Plunder?' C'monnn, Easiest way to deal with Persia, Rome, Iroqoise and any other resource requireing UU is to take simple horsemen and rush towards their supplys of Iron/horses/ect and pillage the roads, meanwhile playing defense on your borders.

Avoid their UU's like the plague while your doing this though..Afterward just focus on their UU's, knock'em down, wave after wave of horsemen will suffice, and then all they'll have is puny archers which your hordes of horsemen will eat.

[Cyclotron]

Uber, what is interesting is how the two traits you find impossible about the Samurai are the ones that the Knight already has... you talk about their attack and movement, which are no different from that of a knight. Given what you find abhorrent about the knight, wouldn't you be more scared of, say, a Rider than a Samurai?

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by cyclotron7
Uber, what is interesting is how the two traits you find impossible about the Samurai are the ones that the Knight already has... you talk about their attack and movement, which are no different from that of a knight. Given what you find abhorrent about the knight, wouldn't you be more scared of, say, a Rider than a Samurai?

if i said attack i meant defense, sorry. a defense of 4 (a knight has 3) is better than a pikeman.

[Hagbart]

I think the Immortals are balanced, in this case the AI just did a good job.

[jshelr]

"Later on i have about 13 cities....."

You felt unprepared when attacked. I just wanted to add that I've literally not had 13 cities before stopping to build an attacking force for ages on a standard map. The AI expand too long and it leaves them ripe for plundering. I think what you did here was REX too long.