Most devastating unique unit in the game:

[General Malaise]

My vote goes to Arabian Camel Archers.

Played most of my games as England. Just trying out a few different civs. Looking down the list of unique units, there's loads of them that are simply rubbish. Tried China last go, their unique bowmen were good(but their 2 shots aren't Logistics, so you still need to earn that promotion to take it forward - unlike Lonbows that keep Range when uprgraded)

England gets two awesome ones, but the Camel archers are much more devastating than Longbows. Not only do they have a more powerful attack(21 opposed to 17), they can move 4 spaces, and move after attack. Doesn't matter that they don't have the range of the Longbow - they just step in, take their shot, and step back out again.

I got attacked by Poland, repelled him fairly easy, just as I was building these things for the first time. I went after him with 4, thinking I'd need a few more to take cities. They were so fast at leveling them, I had to rush a Pikeman up to capture it. Just awesome.

Firghting Siam next, I killed so many of his Elephant Warriors, I felt sorry for him.

Devinitely give these a go again, they're just too powerful

One odd thing about them. They upgrade to Cavalry. It still shows all your now useless ranged promotions. I'll soon find out, but hoping Logistics and March are still effective(they show as there).

Just imagine when they're Giant Death Robots, with 2 attacks, heal every turn, and can move after the attacks!

[just.nuke.em]

Keshiks > CA, and are more vesitiles. That additinal movement makes it so you can literally fight in almost any terrain without taking damage.

[Matthew]

Keshiks are better on paper, but as a package I prefer Arabia by far. Camel archers are nearly as good as keshiks, but you also get op bonuses like bazaar, desert bias start, double oil.

Where as Mongolia gets a meh city-state bonus and a khan which is useful but nothing to support empire infrastructure.

[just.nuke.em]

I guess I look at it in terms of how fast it takes each unit to conquer the world before they become obsolete on a large map. Keshiks do it much faster, and the gold can be made up with other things or by keeping your cities small. Since the world is going to burn, money isn't that important if you army is invincible.

[zxcvbob]

Keshiks+khan are better than camel archers (even if the CA's have a great general too), but Arabia is an overall much better civ than Mongolia.

Logistics and March work on upgrade, and March in particular is awesome on cavalry units. I'm pretty sure they don't stack with Blitz and Repair so don't waste upgrades on those when you get tanks.

[ForevaNoob Wonemorturn]

So true. Not enough being the most beautiful and subtle UU around, camel archers have also one of the best civilizations to back up their magic.
With units like those, even Civilization, the game, can be easily roleplayed...
And if you really want to fully enjoy it:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=85949525

[zxcvbob]

If you're going to rampage with keshiks or camel archers, be sure to build at least 2 plain old horsemen while you still can to capture cities until you can build lancers. (2 in case one gets killed, and so one can heal in a city while the other is fighting) Pikes, longswords, and muskets can't keep up.

If you're really lucky, a militaristic CS will give you a knight or elephant.

[Orxan]

Originally posted by stevethebarbarian:

My vote goes to Arabian Camel Archers.

Played most of my games as England. Just trying out a few different civs. Looking down the list of unique units, there's loads of them that are simply rubbish. Tried China last go, their unique bowmen were good(but their 2 shots aren't Logistics, so you still need to earn that promotion to take it forward - unlike Lonbows that keep Range when uprgraded)

England gets two awesome ones, but the Camel archers are much more devastating than Longbows. Not only do they have a more powerful attack(21 opposed to 17), they can move 4 spaces, and move after attack. Doesn't matter that they don't have the range of the Longbow - they just step in, take their shot, and step back out again.

I got attacked by Poland, repelled him fairly easy, just as I was building these things for the first time. I went after him with 4, thinking I'd need a few more to take cities. They were so fast at leveling them, I had to rush a Pikeman up to capture it. Just awesome.

Firghting Siam next, I killed so many of his Elephant Warriors, I felt sorry for him.

Devinitely give these a go again, they're just too powerful

One odd thing about them. They upgrade to Cavalry. It still shows all your now useless ranged promotions. I'll soon find out, but hoping Logistics and March are still effective(they show as there).

Just imagine when they're Giant Death Robots, with 2 attacks, heal every turn, and can move after the attacks!

what are you talking about chinese bowman are too op.once they especially upgrade them to machineguns they shoot twice GG

[Everything]

Wrong best unit in the game is Impi.

[KalkiKrosah]

I was just about to mention camel archers. I believe the Mongolian horse archers are the exact same thing but weaker and available in an earlier eras. Worth trying out. Just one odd thing about horse archers: they do not use up the horse resource, but camel archers do use up horse resources. Go figure.

And Assyria should be mentioned. Their siege towers can level a city in 1 turn if you bring a couple archers/composite Bowman and 2 siege towers. Personally I find them to be much better than Mongolian battering rams.

And as far as traditional melee units the Kris Swordsman and the Impi are some of the best. Unique promotions are always nice.

[lukebaird84]

Anti-tank gun

[tamas.]

I personally love the Janissary UU, the healing is just too good, and so is the extra damage and promotions.

[Soteria]

Originally posted by KalkiKrosah:

I was just about to mention camel archers. I believe the Mongolian horse archers are the exact same thing but weaker and available in an earlier eras. Worth trying out. Just one odd thing about horse archers: they do not use up the horse resource, but camel archers do use up horse resources. Go figure.

They both replace the knight. You're correct that keshiks are slightly weaker, but being faster, earning exp 50% faster, and producing generals more quickly I think more than makes up for it--especially since Khans also have 5 movement and heal neighboring units.

[General Malaise]

Originally posted by Matthew:

Keshiks are better on paper, but as a package I prefer Arabia by far. Camel archers are nearly as good as keshiks, but you also get op bonuses like bazaar, desert bias start, double oil.

Where as Mongolia gets a meh city-state bonus and a khan which is useful but nothing to support empire infrastructure.

It's a tough call. I've looked up Keshiks(never tried them). I don't think they are better on paper. Their attack is 16, as opposed to 21. For that they get 1 more movement(5 instead of 4).

What makes them interesting is gaining promotions 50% quicker, so get to Logistics sooner.

Both good, and I'll probably try them next.

I suppose best Unique Unit for me, is the one that allows me to take cities in The Medieval Era. All these would do that. I've had great success with Longbows, but Camel Archers were better in this regard.

[General Malaise]

Originally posted by ✬Orxan ✬:

Originally posted by stevethebarbarian:

My vote goes to Arabian Camel Archers.



Just imagine when they're Giant Death Robots, with 2 attacks, heal every turn, and can move after the attacks!

what are you talking about chinese bowman are too op.once they especially upgrade them to machineguns they shoot twice GG

Pretty sure this is wrong. I played as China in my last game. I don't think they did have 2 shots when they were upgraded. You have to take a Logistics promotion to keep the 2 shots(Longbows do keep Range).

Obviously, having 2 shots - they will get promoted quicker.. My 6 to 8 Longbows usually have Logistics promotion before I upgrade them to Gatlins, and they take a more defensive role.

[Matthew]

Originally posted by stevethebarbarian:

Originally posted by Matthew:

Keshiks are better on paper, but as a package I prefer Arabia by far. Camel archers are nearly as good as keshiks, but you also get op bonuses like bazaar, desert bias start, double oil.

Where as Mongolia gets a meh city-state bonus and a khan which is useful but nothing to support empire infrastructure.

It's a tough call. I've looked up Keshiks(never tried them). I don't think they are better on paper. Their attack is 16, as opposed to 21. For that they get 1 more movement(5 instead of 4).

What makes them interesting is gaining promotions 50% quicker, so get to Logistics sooner.

Yeah they are weaker, but both will start to pale going into industrial with stronger enemy cities and great war infantry. So for exploiting their window of effectiveness, keshik has a slight edge. Faster promo's means getting the op upgrades as quickly as possible and the +1 move makes it much easier to move in, shoot, and move out in terrain where there are hills/jungles. The khan general further reduces any downtime.

All together, keshiks have the potential to start sweeping up the map at a much quicker pace.

The reason I say "on paper" is conquering is only half the equation. Mongolia has nothing to support conquest, so this faster map sweeping doesn't mean much if you are drowning in unhappiness, have no gold, etc. Arabia has some very powerful empire bonuses which do support.

On a side note, there is a potentially odd strategy with Civs like Monglia which don't actually involve taking/keeping cities. The ultimate offense is also a great defense. You can play a relatively peaceful game with them and if you start near aggressive neighbors, you can repel any attacks with ease, raze border cities, etc. Then after your aggressive neighbors are significantly weakened with low investment on your part, you can continue your "peaceful" game.