Tweet
After mulling around some of the tidbits dropped so far on unique units and just some of the possibilities, I think I'm more confused than when the first glimpses were given out. Mostly about conquistador... the Jeff Morris interview talks about Conquistadors and partially explains the odd stats, but then it talks about tech tree and prerequisites and such. It's possible that when he says "gunpowder" he just meant saltpeter, so conquistador would be cavalry with one less strategic resource requirement and one less attack point... but then really, Spain's getting shafted in my opinion. Samurai lose one requirement and gain a +33% boost to defense... conquistadors lose one requirement too and lose 16% of their attack power. It's possible--dare I dream?--that Firaxis decided to nerf cavalry and 5/3/3 is now the base A/D/M, but I doubt it.
What if they honestly WERE moved to a different part of the tech tree... say, astronomy or navigation? Now THAT would be a VERY unique unit, and a worthwhile gamble (though in a cutthroat MP game, still likely to be mediocre compared to some of the godlike ancient UUs)... if Spain beelined for them, they could likely get their conquistadors quite a ways before anyone reached military tradition (navigation is 5 techs in, if I remember correctly; military tradition is 7), plus netting all sorts of other benefits from the "builder" techs along the way (although they would miss out on musketmen unless they traded)... all in all, they'd have a nice-sized peak right in the middle medieval era, but then they'd genuinely be penalized once everyone else got cavalry on the field, as opposed to all the existing civs who simply lose an advantage when their UU falls obsolete. It would be nice if they made a few of the new UUs more along these lines (and fortunately it looks like they might), in my opinion; as it is, only a select few UUs are actually all that unique. Heck, I'd like to see them revamp a few of the existing UUs this way too... too many are either unbalancing or worthless.
What if they honestly WERE moved to a different part of the tech tree... say, astronomy or navigation? Now THAT would be a VERY unique unit, and a worthwhile gamble (though in a cutthroat MP game, still likely to be mediocre compared to some of the godlike ancient UUs)... if Spain beelined for them, they could likely get their conquistadors quite a ways before anyone reached military tradition (navigation is 5 techs in, if I remember correctly; military tradition is 7), plus netting all sorts of other benefits from the "builder" techs along the way (although they would miss out on musketmen unless they traded)... all in all, they'd have a nice-sized peak right in the middle medieval era, but then they'd genuinely be penalized once everyone else got cavalry on the field, as opposed to all the existing civs who simply lose an advantage when their UU falls obsolete. It would be nice if they made a few of the new UUs more along these lines (and fortunately it looks like they might), in my opinion; as it is, only a select few UUs are actually all that unique. Heck, I'd like to see them revamp a few of the existing UUs this way too... too many are either unbalancing or worthless.
Comment