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Just for fun, I thought I'd run down my assessment of the Unique Units, particularly the new ones from Play The World.
My assumptions are that you're playing Emperor or Deity on a standard size map with 8 civs, so combat is fairly important, and you're frequently strong-arming techs out of other civs in the Ancient and early Middle Ages.
I also assume that while you may have some difficulty obtaining Horses or Iron in the Ancient era, typically by the time Knights show up you've conquered a couple of neighbors and getting both is easy.
I think the ideal time for a Golden Age is the early Middle Ages, just after you switch to Republic. Typically around 300 AD or so.
The earlier the Golden Age typically the better, because it fuels expansion. However, it's a bit of a waste to do so in the Ancient era, both because many of the extra shields are lost to Despotism, and because the extra trade isn't as important when you're extorting tech instead of researching it.
Move 2+ units are also preferable to Move 1 units, both because they get to the front faster, and because of the Retreat ability. Any sustained war needs relatively low attrition in the attacking forces, which means either fantastically better attack than defense (i.e. 3:1), heavy bombardment, or a fast attacker.
A
These units give a serious advantage when they show up.
Arab Ansar Warrior. Move 3 makes a huge difference in time moving through enemy territory, often cutting the time required to overrun an enemy civ in half. Cheaper than Knights, and the loss of 1 defense isn't something you miss at all. Like all Knight UU's, timing of the Golden Age is perfect.
Aztec Jaguar Warrior. A Jaguar Warrior force has a much higher upkeep than a Horseman force, since you need twice as many. Attrition tends to be a lot higher too. However, they're incredibly cheap, are available on turn 1, and require no resources in a period when getting Iron or Horses can be an issue. A Jaguar Warrior rush can occur even before an Archer rush, and is cheaper. They do trigger a Golden Age too early, though.
Chinese Rider. Same benefits as the Ansar Warrior, but more expensive.
Iroquois Mounted Warrior. While it has the unfortunate effect of triggering a Ancient golden age, the Mounted Warrior takes the preferred Ancient attack unit and increases its strength by 50%. Since it takes a long time for Knights to show up, the longevity, strength, and early appearance of the Mounted Warrior make up for the premature Golden Age.
Zulu Impi. Impi are a perfect counterpart to Horsemen, a cheap defensive unit that can keep up, and even retreats if things go against it. Since they're defensive, you don't build as many Impi as horsemen, but they do significantly reduce the attrition of your Horsemen.
B
These units give a nice advantage, but aren't as significant as the A units.
Egyptian War Chariot. Not being able to traverse jungle or mountains can be a problem, but they're cheap, and available well before Horsemen. The main advantage is the same as the Jaguar Warrior, a strong early rush when the enemy has almost nothing but Warriors and Spearmen.
German Panzer. Speed 3 is fantastic with Blitz units. The only reason they aren't A is that they come so late that the game is often decided before they show up.
Japanese Samurai. The extra defense point is nice, though not as useful as an extra attack point would be. Doesn't need Horses, but that's often unimportant.
Mongol Keshik. Cheaper than Knights, with an unimportant loss of a defense point. The ability to cross mountains cheaply is specialized, but can be extremely nice when otherwise a mountain in enemy territory would stop you dead. Doesn't require Iron, but that's often unimportant. Good timing for a Golden Age.
Ottoman Sipahi. 33% stronger than Cavalry for 25% more shields, and the bonus is on attack, rather than the less useful defense bonus of the Cossack. The extra attack helps reduce the attrition rate against Riflemen, which usually show up shortly afterward, but doesn't help much against Infantry.
Russian Cossack. The extra defense point can be nice, since the speed of Cossacks mean they far outrun your defensive units. Timing of the Golden Age is nice, but not ideal.
Scandanavian Berserk. On land, the expense and slow speed of the Berserk make regular Knights a better choice, much as Horsemen are a better choice than Swordsmen. Against Musketeers, they suffer more attrition than you really want. However, on ships, though, they effectively have move 3 or 4 through enemy territory, which is a tremendous advantage, provided the enemy has a fair number of coastal cities. Good timing for a Golden Age.
C
These units give a minimal advantage, or a small advantage and trigger a premature Golden Age.
Babylonian Bowman. Makes a decent Archer rush, since you don't need to mix them with Spearmen, but the window in which they're useful is quite short.
Celtic Gallic Swordsman. 50% stronger than Horsemen for 66% more shields. A Swordsman force does require less upkeep than a Horseman one, and it's possible you may only have Iron in the Ancient era. Unfortunately, the Swordsman doesn't upgrade to either Knights or Cavalry.
Greek Hoplite. Great defensive unit, and very cheap, but you shouldn't spend a lot of time defending. Attack, attack, attack. Hordes of these don't help that much.
Numidian Mercenary. Pretty much a Hoplite that costs 50% more with a nearly useless extra point of attack. A C- unit due to cost, but the extra point of defense does help.
Persian Immortal. Attack 4 makes them seem quite powerful for an Ancient unit, but they're slow, and Horsemen almost always get the first attack and hence eat them up.
Roman Legion. Good defense, not as cheap as Hoplites, but capable of attack as well. Too slow for a good attack unit.
D
These units convey no advantage at all. The only point of building them is to trigger a Golden Age.
Conquistador. Incredibly expensive and weak. The ability to raid into enemy territory isn't all that important, generally only netting you a few workers you would have picked up later anyway. Now and then they might be useful for pillaging a critical enemy resource.
English Man of War. While technically 50% stronger than Frigates, the window between Frigates and Ironclads is often just 8-10 turns.
French Musketeer. The extra attack point is useless, and Musketmen are poor units anyway.
Indian War Elephant. Requires neither Iron nor Horses, but otherwise uninteresting.
F
These units are not only bad, it's nearly impossible to trigger a Golden Age with one.
American F-15. Comes way too late in the game, improves a unit that's virtually useless, and improves Bombardment, which is a role better suited to Bombers anyway. Deliberately triggering a Golden Age with a F-15 is quite difficult.
Korean H'wacha. Which the bombardment strength is reasonably good, the H'wacha shows up just before Cavalry. Cavalry have no trouble at all overruning Musketmen, and only slightly more with Riflemen, and taking H'wacha along negates Cavalry's huge speed advantage. When Infantry shows up, so does Artillery, making the H'wacha obsolete. Worst of all, it can't trigger a Golden Age.
- Gus
My assumptions are that you're playing Emperor or Deity on a standard size map with 8 civs, so combat is fairly important, and you're frequently strong-arming techs out of other civs in the Ancient and early Middle Ages.
I also assume that while you may have some difficulty obtaining Horses or Iron in the Ancient era, typically by the time Knights show up you've conquered a couple of neighbors and getting both is easy.
I think the ideal time for a Golden Age is the early Middle Ages, just after you switch to Republic. Typically around 300 AD or so.
The earlier the Golden Age typically the better, because it fuels expansion. However, it's a bit of a waste to do so in the Ancient era, both because many of the extra shields are lost to Despotism, and because the extra trade isn't as important when you're extorting tech instead of researching it.
Move 2+ units are also preferable to Move 1 units, both because they get to the front faster, and because of the Retreat ability. Any sustained war needs relatively low attrition in the attacking forces, which means either fantastically better attack than defense (i.e. 3:1), heavy bombardment, or a fast attacker.
A
These units give a serious advantage when they show up.
Arab Ansar Warrior. Move 3 makes a huge difference in time moving through enemy territory, often cutting the time required to overrun an enemy civ in half. Cheaper than Knights, and the loss of 1 defense isn't something you miss at all. Like all Knight UU's, timing of the Golden Age is perfect.
Aztec Jaguar Warrior. A Jaguar Warrior force has a much higher upkeep than a Horseman force, since you need twice as many. Attrition tends to be a lot higher too. However, they're incredibly cheap, are available on turn 1, and require no resources in a period when getting Iron or Horses can be an issue. A Jaguar Warrior rush can occur even before an Archer rush, and is cheaper. They do trigger a Golden Age too early, though.
Chinese Rider. Same benefits as the Ansar Warrior, but more expensive.
Iroquois Mounted Warrior. While it has the unfortunate effect of triggering a Ancient golden age, the Mounted Warrior takes the preferred Ancient attack unit and increases its strength by 50%. Since it takes a long time for Knights to show up, the longevity, strength, and early appearance of the Mounted Warrior make up for the premature Golden Age.
Zulu Impi. Impi are a perfect counterpart to Horsemen, a cheap defensive unit that can keep up, and even retreats if things go against it. Since they're defensive, you don't build as many Impi as horsemen, but they do significantly reduce the attrition of your Horsemen.
B
These units give a nice advantage, but aren't as significant as the A units.
Egyptian War Chariot. Not being able to traverse jungle or mountains can be a problem, but they're cheap, and available well before Horsemen. The main advantage is the same as the Jaguar Warrior, a strong early rush when the enemy has almost nothing but Warriors and Spearmen.
German Panzer. Speed 3 is fantastic with Blitz units. The only reason they aren't A is that they come so late that the game is often decided before they show up.
Japanese Samurai. The extra defense point is nice, though not as useful as an extra attack point would be. Doesn't need Horses, but that's often unimportant.
Mongol Keshik. Cheaper than Knights, with an unimportant loss of a defense point. The ability to cross mountains cheaply is specialized, but can be extremely nice when otherwise a mountain in enemy territory would stop you dead. Doesn't require Iron, but that's often unimportant. Good timing for a Golden Age.
Ottoman Sipahi. 33% stronger than Cavalry for 25% more shields, and the bonus is on attack, rather than the less useful defense bonus of the Cossack. The extra attack helps reduce the attrition rate against Riflemen, which usually show up shortly afterward, but doesn't help much against Infantry.
Russian Cossack. The extra defense point can be nice, since the speed of Cossacks mean they far outrun your defensive units. Timing of the Golden Age is nice, but not ideal.
Scandanavian Berserk. On land, the expense and slow speed of the Berserk make regular Knights a better choice, much as Horsemen are a better choice than Swordsmen. Against Musketeers, they suffer more attrition than you really want. However, on ships, though, they effectively have move 3 or 4 through enemy territory, which is a tremendous advantage, provided the enemy has a fair number of coastal cities. Good timing for a Golden Age.
C
These units give a minimal advantage, or a small advantage and trigger a premature Golden Age.
Babylonian Bowman. Makes a decent Archer rush, since you don't need to mix them with Spearmen, but the window in which they're useful is quite short.
Celtic Gallic Swordsman. 50% stronger than Horsemen for 66% more shields. A Swordsman force does require less upkeep than a Horseman one, and it's possible you may only have Iron in the Ancient era. Unfortunately, the Swordsman doesn't upgrade to either Knights or Cavalry.
Greek Hoplite. Great defensive unit, and very cheap, but you shouldn't spend a lot of time defending. Attack, attack, attack. Hordes of these don't help that much.
Numidian Mercenary. Pretty much a Hoplite that costs 50% more with a nearly useless extra point of attack. A C- unit due to cost, but the extra point of defense does help.
Persian Immortal. Attack 4 makes them seem quite powerful for an Ancient unit, but they're slow, and Horsemen almost always get the first attack and hence eat them up.
Roman Legion. Good defense, not as cheap as Hoplites, but capable of attack as well. Too slow for a good attack unit.
D
These units convey no advantage at all. The only point of building them is to trigger a Golden Age.
Conquistador. Incredibly expensive and weak. The ability to raid into enemy territory isn't all that important, generally only netting you a few workers you would have picked up later anyway. Now and then they might be useful for pillaging a critical enemy resource.
English Man of War. While technically 50% stronger than Frigates, the window between Frigates and Ironclads is often just 8-10 turns.
French Musketeer. The extra attack point is useless, and Musketmen are poor units anyway.
Indian War Elephant. Requires neither Iron nor Horses, but otherwise uninteresting.
F
These units are not only bad, it's nearly impossible to trigger a Golden Age with one.
American F-15. Comes way too late in the game, improves a unit that's virtually useless, and improves Bombardment, which is a role better suited to Bombers anyway. Deliberately triggering a Golden Age with a F-15 is quite difficult.
Korean H'wacha. Which the bombardment strength is reasonably good, the H'wacha shows up just before Cavalry. Cavalry have no trouble at all overruning Musketmen, and only slightly more with Riflemen, and taking H'wacha along negates Cavalry's huge speed advantage. When Infantry shows up, so does Artillery, making the H'wacha obsolete. Worst of all, it can't trigger a Golden Age.
- Gus
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