The most USEFUL unit...

TheDarkCavalier · March 8, 2002, 19:00

Not Workers and Settlers (duh), but combat.. for me it's Cossack (I play Russia) a good, fast, overall powerful unit, I use it very long...

ixnay · March 8, 2002, 19:07

I would say I have to use cavalry the most...

steelehc · March 8, 2002, 19:26

For myself, I use cavalry a lot, but I like tanks more, and I like to play on island maps, so I also use lots of transport ships too.

Steele

Worthingtons · March 8, 2002, 19:44

Cavalry are useful but i bloody hate the damn units. Tanks are probably the most useful to me, but I also find Knights very useful, they are cheap enough, Have both good attack and defense and upgrade to Cavalry. I Build a lot Of Knights in the MEdieval times.

Skanky Burns · March 8, 2002, 22:29

I kind of like the Aztec Jaguar Warriors myself. A horde of them rushing at an enemy is sure fun

and easy to build too

Qilue · March 8, 2002, 23:46

Riflemen since they can function as both offensive and defensive and require no resources to build..

nato · March 9, 2002, 00:45

Although I love combined arms, I think the Cavalry are easily the best single unit.

But then you don't want to be a "One Unit Wonder"!

Aeson · March 9, 2002, 01:18

Depends on the situation. I've had games where Scouts were by far the most useful units. Not sure if they fall into the "combat" category, but that's not really the point. Mobile troops are more effective in general, which one is the most useful depends on the map and difficulty settings. For my prefered playstyle though, Impi are the most useful.

senowen · March 9, 2002, 02:30

I'd have to say that the Mounted Warrior of the Iroquois is my favorite unit. Conquer my weakest enemies early and build great cities and a Forbidden Palace and the game is won.

Solver · March 9, 2002, 07:22

I love Knights, build lots of them, then upgrade to Cavalry. Very useful.

However, my favorite unit remains the Immortals.

aahz_capone · March 9, 2002, 10:12

I'm a panzer fan myself. blitzkrieg my way through history. By the time anyone invent mech inf, its too late!

DilithiumDad · March 9, 2002, 11:15

Legionairies are useful for muchof the game. With the 17 patch you can upgrade from warriors (yay!). No need to ever build pikemen. Even in the modern era, cities in relatively secure areas can be defended by elite ancient legions.

Signa · March 9, 2002, 12:59

They absolutly rule. I play a game on the standard world map, get stuck aganist the Iroquoius on the west coast, kill them fast with Archers and Warriors. Then I get my Iron, and tear into the Babs and Zulu with a force of 100,000 legionarys (10 units) and by 400AD. They rule. They tie for the best defense in the ancient era (behind only the vaunted Hoplite) and can take anything down on offense. They are just invunerable until Knights, and even then they are dangerous. I just

the Legions.

Brundlefly · March 9, 2002, 15:42

Well, I'm just barely into the Industrial age in my current game and that's the farthest I've ever gotten, but I have to say that Explorer is the most useful. Not only can you uncover a lot of undiscovered territory but also its ability to move 6 spaces per turn across any terrain make it invaluable as a recon unit to expose enemy troops moving near your cities. In my current game, I am also using them on suicide missions to move quickly into enemy territory onto enemy strategic and luxury resources and pillage them. 50% of the time the AI doesn't even go after them and the other 50% the AI will capture them but the AI doesn't know how to use them fully. All this for only 20 shields per unit.

Anti Spectator · March 9, 2002, 16:01

Is the guy above Joking or what????
Explorers are generally not useful unless in a specialist situation.

I like Cavalry but then again most people do.

Sandman · March 9, 2002, 16:29

Spearman. Cheap, early, upgradable.

Windwalker · March 9, 2002, 17:21

Quote:

Originally posted by Anti Spectator
Is the guy above Joking or what????
Explorers are generally not useful unless in a specialist situation.

I like Cavalry but then again most people do.

LoL... Did you even read that guy's post? He said that he DID use the explorer as a terrorist/saboteur type of unit, which IS a specialist situation...

I may even try that in my next game...

- Windwalker

Carbon Copy · March 9, 2002, 18:56

I'd have to say that Infantry, during the time you get them, are the most useful units you can build.

Cavalry is overrated, and I would attribute most of their success on the AI's incompetence on defense more than any inherent dominance of the unit. Their 3 moves in particular causes trouble for AIs, whose threat radius only extends two squares (and thus it is possible for a cav rusher to conquer AI cities before the city can be prepared for war, something that is unlikely to happen against a human if Multiplayer is ever offered). If you find yourself with a tech lead and are facing off versus muskets or rifles, though, then I guess cavalry are useful

Consider their window of dominance (where their attack value is greater than the highest defense value). Cavalry come with Military tradition, which is not a required tech to advance to the Industrial Age. Riflemen, which have the same defensive rating as cavalry's offense, come with Nationalism, which Scientific civs often get for free when they get their last required Middle Ages tech (and other civs can research it right away prior to Military Tradition, making it possible that cavalry can be outclassed before they can even be built). And once riflemen are in wide use, the age of cavalry comes to a close, except as support troops, doing jobs like pillaging resources or capturing workers or piling into cities to prevent flips. Furthermore, the defensive stat on cavalry (3, IIRC), sucks, so those lowly riflemen, other things being equal, are likely to beat cavalry on both attack AND defense (Persian Immortals, with their 4 atk, will often make cavalry retreat or die when they are on the offensive, too). Plus rifles upgrade to infantry, which are the undisputed kings of the battlefield until Motorized Transportation, and still upgrade once more to mech infantry, which is the end-all, be-all defensive unit.

Velociryx · March 9, 2002, 21:09

I'm firmly with Skanky on that one.

Jaguar Warrior, hands down.

Pound for pound, price for price, you just can' t GET a better unit. (even better, cos you can set your crap, 1-sheld producing cities to making them and still get them in a reasonable timeframe, especially if you stagger production there....set it up so that your fringe towns with lousy production are still giving you 2-3 new Jags a turn...and that to the 1/turn that your GOOD towns are churning out, and the game's over before you even GET any of the fancy-schmancy middle ages units.

-=Vel=-

DrFell · March 10, 2002, 07:58

Jags are less powerful post 1.17 - now they die about 50% of the time when entering combat (because they used to lose often anyway and never retreat when the opponent has 1hp), and if you get iron you can no longer build them. This only really makes them useful if you have a big enough empire to support enough for an attack - and I'd rather build war chariots with that production, you suffer far less losses and they have a long term upgrade path. It's always been the support factor that's killed them for me though, by the time I get enough cities to support enough for a decent attack and build the units, I find myself facing AI cities with a couple spearmen in each.

civman2000 · March 10, 2002, 11:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Carbon Copy
Furthermore, the defensive stat on cavalry (3, IIRC), sucks

What about cossacks? 4 on defense is pretty good for an attacking unit pre-tank

Pius Popprasch · March 10, 2002, 12:16

I like the Knight, out of the non-special units. He will usually face only subpar defenders, unlike the Cavalry.

I haven't tried Jaguars after 1.17 but before they were strong.

faded glory · March 10, 2002, 12:48

I think Conscripts (riflemen

) are the best. Dual use...

cassembler · March 10, 2002, 17:13

Best unit ever: warrior. With the editor, it now has a 9 attack, 12 defense, and a bombard range of 8.

Stock rules though, I find the Hoplites nice [on higher difficulty levels]... If you play defense, you can trigger your golden age as late as the mid-middle ages, but until then, you can rest assured that your empire is safe.

Da_cOmRaDe_MiKe · March 10, 2002, 17:38

i luvs panzers.. addicted to blue color aswell... also dont mind cossacks but hate russian color so i give germany cossacks aswell...

AJ Corp. The FAIR · March 10, 2002, 19:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Feephi
Well, I'm just barely into the Industrial age in my current game and that's the farthest I've ever gotten, but I have to say that Explorer is the most useful. Not only can you uncover a lot of undiscovered territory but also its ability to move 6 spaces per turn across any terrain make it invaluable as a recon unit to expose enemy troops moving near your cities. In my current game, I am also using them on suicide missions to move quickly into enemy territory onto enemy strategic and luxury resources and pillage them. 50% of the time the AI doesn't even go after them and the other 50% the AI will capture them but the AI doesn't know how to use them fully. All this for only 20 shields per unit.

I've never built an explorer before, if it's true you can easily pillage with these units I'll definitely become a devoted user.
Never thought about that, thanks for the tip.

AJ

MarkosSuckanos · March 10, 2002, 19:44

hoplites are great for the majority of the early game.

DrFell · March 10, 2002, 20:49

Actually I just tried the Aztecs again today... the Jag is still pretty powerful.. in fact I managed to kill a whole civ with them and got a leader all by about 1000bc. Looks like I either got lucky or I've improved since I last tried them (on one of my first games I tried the Aztec a couple times, haven't used them since). They get so many elites (and thus good retreat) that they tend to generate lots of leaders.