Useless Units?

[Bolleck]

In Civ3 are not as many units as in many other 4X Games, but there are nevertheless useless Units.

At least Units I never use.

Privateer - Far too weak

Stealth Fighter - Complete waste of time. Stealth Bomber are much better.

Cruise missiles - Ridicules expensive and slooooww.

Paratroopers - Between the Armors and MechInf far too weak, same with the Marines.

Atomic Weapos - Some dirt, but nothing frightening.



Sorry for my bad english.

[Harovan]

There has already been a thread about this, found here. Most useless unit is, without doubt, the explorer. But also others.

[Willem]

What's so useless about the Explorer? Two moves a turn, all terrain as roads, which means it can move 6 squares. That makes it a great unit for sabotaging an enemy's resources. Just park it at the border along with some other units for protection, then when war breaks out, send him in to severe his trade routes to that resource. Or have one or two tag along with an offensive group, and when you see a resource 5 squares away, send him there and pillage the roads. He's going to get whacked for sure, but it will probably be awhile before the AI gets around to building the road again.

[Zouave]

I don't think they can pillage. The reason they are so useless, is because there is nothing left to explore when they become available.

[Aeson]

Explorers can pillage. In a well designed offensive though, 6 tiles isn't much, and you just end up pillaging your own terrain improvements for later on in the turn. In some Jungle/Mountain area's that haven't been improved Explorers might be able to serve a purpose (lead the AI units around in circles), but in general they are quite useless.

[Willem]

In general yes, they are rather useless, but with the right conditions, they can come in very handy. You have to think of them as a special tactis unit, and go beyond their "official" role. Maybe people would find more of a use for them if they were called Saboteurs instead.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Willem
Maybe people would find more of a use for them if they were called Saboteurs instead.

A suggestion for Builder's Glory?

[Spec]

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=43460

[Willem]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph


A suggestion for Builder's Glory?

One step ahead of you! I've created one that can also airdrop, plus it has the submarine attribute, making him invisible to all but Foot Soldiers. It might be a bit much I realize, especially the submarine part. I haven't had a chance to try him out yet. His sole purpose will be to get behind enemy lines and sever the road connections to any resources in reach. Unfortunately, right now he looks suspiciously like a Scout. I haven't come across any good modern day unit graphics for it yet.

BTW, I mentioned in another thread once that a 0 unit, like the Explorer, becomes indestructible with the Hidden Nationality flag on. The AI will never attack it for some reason, so I could wander around at will pillaging his empire until he had nothing left. Now how's that for a useless unit? I don't use it in my own game though, a bit to powerful for my liking.

[Encomium]

Originally posted by Willem
What's so useless about the Explorer?. . .

Because by the time you can build it there is nothing left to explore!!


Unit values in Civ III are such a joke most everyone has Edited those values, especially privateers.

[Thrawn05]

Warrior - Why?

Explorer - Isn't wealth better?

Marines - I had to edit this unit

Paratrooper - See above

Steath planes -
What I did was this:

Stealth Fighter:
Price: 12
Range: 6
Bombard Str: 8
Bombard Rate: 16

Stealth Bomber
Price: 24
Range: 8
Bombard Str: 16
Bombard Rate: 8

As you can see, I flipped the Strength and Rate values for the two units. This makes both units unique. I actually find that both units become very powerful, and best use in conjuction with the other.

[TheDarkCavalier]

All air units are useless, IMHO, I'd better build a couple of MInf or tanks.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by TheDarkCavalier
All air units are useless, IMHO, I'd better build a couple of MInf or tanks.

Ye who gets Modern Armor before anyone else, is king IMHO.

[Spatzimaus]

Here's how I made the Marine and Paratrooper useful again.

First, move the Amphibious Warfare tech to be off of Steam Power (and I made it a prerequisite for Combustion and moved the Ironclad to it) so that it's near the beginning of the Industrial Era. The Marine is now a 6/4/1 unit with the amphibious ability and no resources.

The Paratrooper stays where it is, except that it becomes 8/8/1, can still airdrop, and is now amphibious as well.

Then, do upgrades; Swordsman upgrades to Marine upgrades to Paratrooper.
Well, then I added the Man-at-Arms in the Middle ages in this line and the SEAL in the Modern.
Hey, it sounds like a lot, but it really makes for a useful offensive line.

[MarkosSuckanos]

cruise missles

[korn469]

in my opinion

most useless

Armies...way way way too expensive, first you have to build a 400 shield wonder just to build the 400 shield army, and the 4 cities per army requirment means that you won't be able to spread the cost of the military academy around too much
on top of all of that the victorious army requirment for building the military academy makes even having the oppertunity to build them uncertain

other useless/underpowered units

1) paratroopers: low attack, high cost plus when they paradrop they are a setting duck for one turn

2) explorers: by the time they become available the entire map is already visable

3) radar artillary: a movement of 1?! uh, is that a typo?

4) helicopter: they aren't a force multiplier, they just aren't useful as currently configured

5) marines: low attack value for an offensive unit makes them a bad choice to build

6) nukes: too costly to build, then they have sever consequences for using them, with dubious benefits

too other problems:

1) naval units are too slow especially in the late game, with railroads for land units and the rebasing ability for air units, the pondering pace of naval units just makes them liabilities in most circumstances

2) air units are too weak, giving them multiple moves, better bombard, and the blitz ability would go along ways toward fixing them, that and

FIX THE BOMBARDMENT FAILED BUG AGAINST CITIES!

ps

welcome back uber long time no see