How will special units for each civ balance one another?

[Ilkuul]

This seems quite an important point to me. Will I always have to play the Americans, because they have F15's? Will I be at a serious disadvantage as the Zulus in the endgame, because all I had was Impi's in ancient times? I would hope not!

My own guess is that these special units will have been play-tested and tweaked in such a way that if I choose Zulus, it will be possible for me with my impi's to build a commanding lead in ancient times, so that if I play my cards right I'll be well able to deal with the Americans' F15's when they appear on the scene.

Any thoughts?

[Mister Pleasant]

I had the exact same thoughts. Or maybe impis will have "stinger javelins" in the modern era.

[Bereta_Eder]

Exactly my fears too.

Most of productive warfare takes place in the end game and it's the modern weapons that matter.

All civs must have special weapons for all ages (from ancient to modern).

[Bereta_Eder]

Better still: NO UNIQUE UNITS

[Cyclotron]

Amen to that!

------------------
- Cyclotron7, "that supplementary resource fanatic"

[King Richard]

The special units is definately in! I think this is promising news. This would mean that you'll have to choose your civ with more care than before. If you're the type that likes to go to war early in the game, choose the vikings, Zulus, Aztecs or whatever. If, on the other hand, you like to build yourself up and make war late in the game, choose the americans. It would also mean that you'll have to think through who you'll be better off killing first. These units will probably not be that much better than the others, anyway!

[Bereta_Eder]

I want to be able to chose any civ without any penalties...

90% of the civers would chose Americans (planes) or Germans (tanks) because of superiority in the modern era when you actually need it.

There's nothing wrong with playing the americans or the germans but I wouldn't mind playing the greeks too without PENALTY to my way of playing.

[Nemo]

if each civ has unique units - that ok IF the units have teh same specs. i.e. F-15 has same firepower,defense,bombardment, etc. as teh Mig. this way it will balanced, yet unique to each civ. this is what i am hoping for. i do NOT want things like in Age of Empires where each has different unit capabilities. i do NOT want to have to be forced to be a civ based on my playing sytle, instead of picking the civ because i simply like it. i like to be the americans when i am in a diplomatic mood (i associate it with the UN) and if i want to take over the world i play the germans (i associate it with wwI and wwII). i dont want these units making up my mind for me...that would just piss me off. and that is why i hated AoE. i always played AoE with full tech tree. I hope that there is an option to turn it off if the international equivilant units have different specs.

[King Richard]

Options are always good! We'll probably get SMAC +++, there were quite a few options in SMAC as far as I can remember?

[Derfner]

This is what I hope for in this unique unit thing. First off make it optional, something you select under custom rules. Second make unique units for each age, ie Japanese has Samurai-Ancient, Zero-Industrial. This would be harder for civilizations that went extint and don't really have modern units. Finally they should not necisarily be better, just differant. For instance, a Russian MiG can have a higher defence but lower attack, or a Roman legion could be better but it would cost more. All in all I'm not for unique units, I think a unit workshop would be better.

[Ilkuul]

quote: Originally posted by Nemo on 04-29-2001 12:37 AM if each civ has unique units - that ok IF the units have teh same specs.

RIGHT! I hadn't considered that possibility. Yes, that would be much better: then having the unique units would increase the sense of 'special identity' of that particular civ, without unbalancing the game. I hope they do it that way.
[This message has been edited by Ilkuul (edited April 29, 2001).]

[Zanzin]

I'm divided on unique units. It's obviously a new feature for the Civ series, so we can say that it will either work or it won't. One of the biggest problems is the Zulu example - what kind of modern air units will they have??

The other problem with unique units is that, for example, American civilization didn't kick off until the 16th centuary - so what kind of ancient units will they have?? Not exactly historically accurate.

On the other hand, unique units will bolster the "feel" of your civilization, adding to the atmosphere of the game, which I feel is a veyr important thing.

[Clay Pigeon]

It would be to easy to just keep it all equal and have a winning game.

[Yog-Sothoth]

In my opinion unique units don't fit well in a game with such long timespan as civ. I't work's well in games like Starcraft, but in civ I have the feeling it will be to difficult to balance them well.

I like to make my own history in civ, not replay history as it were. For that I play scenario's.

[OzzyKP]

I don't think the units will unbalance the game, it'll just change things. Strategies will be based on it. Like if you have a strong early game pick Zulus and try to take out the Americans and Germans before you get to the Modern Age. If you have a strong middle game, pick the French (or something) and use their Paladins to wreak havoc. I think this is promising news, the more differences between civs the better. Find the one you like and play. Viva Variety!