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I am pot
 
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When the 'whats your fave unit' threads came about, I was going purely based on experience (and I beleive we all were). I'm inclined to think persia and india are going to see the greatest increase because of their UU bonus and I think there will be a couple that read weaker. Vanilla only first.
Little defination... I'm breaking this into unit strength as read by the military adivsor divided by the shield cost of the unit. This should give a good indicator as far as how much a unit costs compared to the power level the AI will read it as.
So just for interest, you can tell which unit will read the biggest power increase (atleast military comparisons between civs)... Give you a bit of insite on how they are reported as well. All units are assumed veteran
Aztecs:
warrior 1-1 10 shields, or about 1.2 /shield cost
Jaguar Warrior 1-1 15 shields, or about 0.8 /shield cost
The jaguar warrior is actually read as 66% the strength per cost as a normal warrior (meaningfully, their 150 worth of production will read as 66% less than what 150 shields of normal warriors would show). So a warning if you ever are playing the aztecs... Your military will be read as weaker by the AI's then what the actual amount of shields invested may show and reversely, they will be more powerful than what your military advisor may suggest...
Babylonians
Archer, 2-1 20 shields, 1 / shield cost
Bowman, 2-2 20 shields, 6 per health, 24/20 = 1.2 / shield cost
For a Babylonian, you're bowmen have the same ratio as the warrior... Be sure to exploit that! The AI will read this as 120% the strength of a normal archer
Romans
swordsmen = 1.0667 shield/cost
legion = 3/3 = 9 per health, 36/30 = 1.2
The Roman legion is read the same as the warrior @ 1.2 per shield costand will be read as 112.5% the strength of a normal swordsmen (editted this. Math error)
Persians
swordsmen = 1.0667 shield/cost
immortal = 4/2 = 10 per health. 1.3333
Theres the bigger increase I was looking for  That would be 124%, our biggest increase so far.
French
Musket 2-4 60 shields (FYI, swordsmen and muskets actually have the same power rating) .5333 per shield
Musketeer 2-5 60 shields is .6 per shield
Looking at about 112% of the regular musketman. This does not include the musketeers new found ability to bombard in conquests.
In vanilla, this unit is 3-4 not 2-5 which is 124% the strength of the regular unit.
India
Valid for conquests only. The Indian elephant is a very unique special unit... Being one of the very few that increase hit points... Which is going to inflate it's power by quite a bit. Might also explain why India seems alot more aggressive. There is no change in vanilla/PTW, but C3C will have some alterations as it receives a bonus point of health.
knight 4/3 cost 70. 11 per health or 0.62 per shield
War elephant 4/3 cost 70, 11 per health or .78 per shield
Works out to 125% the strength of a normal knight.
Greece
spearman 0.8 per shield
Hoplite 1-3 or 1 per shield.
Another one that will read 125% that of it's base unit. I'm begining to think this formula was used when they designed UU's.
Russia
Cav 6-3, 80 shields. .75 per shield
Cossack 6-4 80 shields = .80
It will read as 107% that of a normal Cav... I also beleive thats the shortest increase in the game isn't it?
Japanese
knight we've already got at 0.62 per shield
samurai is 4/4.. about .0686
110% that of a normal knight
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The others?
There are a few that this comparison won't make a difference... Since movement is ignored in power calculations. The biggest increase in power will be here, but since other 1 movement units read the same power, it's a silly comparison. Bombard and ship increases go here too as they don't make much sense.
Germany, China, and the Zulu all recieve a bonus to movement therfore their power reading will not be altered by the UU. America's UU I have no clue how to try calculating that.
Egypt
Another one of my favorites
Chariot = 1/1 cost of 20. Looking at about 0.6 per shield cost, being one of the lowest read units I've seen.
War Chariot = 2/1 cost of 20. strength of 20 cost of 20... 1 per shield cost.
Egyptian War Chariots are read as 166% stronger than a regular chariot (didn't see that coming). Admittadely this doesn't mean much as a war chariot simply reads the same as an archer.
Iroquios
Horsemen 2-1 30 shields, .666 per shield
Mounted Brave 3-1, 30 shields. about .9333 per shield
Looking at about 140% stronger than the regular horsemen. Unfortunately, the swordsmen for the same cost reads stronger than the horseman anyway. I'd be really wary of an Iroquis with horses reading the same strength as you with Swordsmen... If they are even strength with you, odds are they have more braves than you have swordsmen.
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sweetP
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Very interesting take on this Pot. I'll be sure to keep some these civs in mind when my military advisor says we have an average military compared to...
I notice that you've used the wrong stats for the Cossak. In C3C, the cossak has the same stats as the cavalry, but with blitz. Thus the cossak would have the same power rating as the cavalry, as I don't think blitz gets counted into the equation anyways. Your stats are correct for PTW and Vanilla though.
As you said, the AI discounts speed entirely. But speed is perhaps the most important characteristic of any unit. Unlike attack and defense attributes, the speed rating of a unit is not matched in a ratio against another unit's. Speed is absolute. It doesn't help much for your swordsmen to have an extra attack point if they're going to be facing mech infantry in a metro. Nor are Hoplites going to have a (reasonable ) chance of taking down a tank. A Unit with three speed has three moves no matter what the enemy unit's speed is. Also, the faster an offensive is conducted, the fewer casualties you are likely to recieve, giving another reason to value speed. These reasons are why i have always loved the Rider and the Panzer; both give a huge boost, no matter what type of defense the AI may mount against them.
I'm not sure if the AI understands all this about speed. On the one hand, its obvious that speed is not counted in the power ratings. On the other, it seems to me that the AI will often continue building cavalry when it could be building infantry, showing that it does seem to appreciate the speed bonuses, despite having to produce a decidedly inferior unit to take any advantage of it. Ironicly, in this particular case it would actually be better for the AI to continue producing Infantry when it's in a war. Just goes to show, the smarter you make the AI, the more ways it will find to mess up. :p
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Emulator of Otto von Bismarck, Master of realpolitik, May he rest in peace.
But the liberals should be careful of screaming too loud ... of conspiring too well ... of undermining us too thoroughly. Because if they succeed, if they do get what they insist they want, then the result may well be something they never conceived ... "They have made a desolation, and they call it peace." ~Tacitus~ ... but a peace controlled by our former enemies.
--Tosk
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Squadron Leader
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Wibble!
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I am pot
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At the current equation you have an army full of Egyption chariots being much better (in the comps conculation) then an army of knights which might be more expensive but at this point 70 shields is acceptable, on the other hand there attack is twice as good as the chariots attack is and their defense three times better then the chariots.
Not quite true there, f-15.. I think you may have missed the point.
An equal amount of production of warchariots appears much stronger than that production in kinights. Lets say your army is made up of 4 knights... Ignore the ost of the army. Those 4 knights cost you 280 shields (70*4) to produce. The same amount of production applied to warchariots would produce 14 warchariots (20 *14 = 280). We'll assume veterans:
4 knights = 16 health * 11 per health for a knight (4*2+3) = 176
14 warchariots = 56 health * 5 per health (2*2 + 1) 280.
280 worth of shields produce towards knights shows a power of 176... Far weaker than the 280 that 280 shields towards warchariots makes.
For interest... the same amount into warrios = 28 warriors *4 (health) * (1*2+1) = 336
If we had the same cities and I made 28 warriors while you made 4 knights... My military is going to show up in the military advisor as almost twice the strength of yourself (you'd be told you were weak compared to me and I'd hear i was more powerful. Whether or not 4 knights could kill off 28 warriors is a different discusion.
The key reason for posting this information is to show that If you're being told you have a much weaker military than an AI, you might all and all, have a scenario like this and be able to get away attacking the 'more powerful' AI.
Reversely, next time you're producing units, remember that producing 28 warriors is going to make you look alot more powerful than if you have 4 knights. You look alot more powerful, therefore the AI backs off on it's agressiveness towards you. You'll bve amazed with what you can get away with in diplo chats with AI's that read themselves as weaker than you. The only disadvantage to this is unit support may start catching up to you.
I love playing as the Ottomans mainly because of the UU (Sipahi - 8.3.3.) which is lethal when in armies as it then has 4 movement, only matched by modern armour.
Riders, cavalry, panzers, and modern armour all have the three movement. The ottoman unit doesn't really get a movement boost. I'm just doing up the other civs now, but because of the price increase, the ottoman sipahi isn't as special as I would have thought.
It is interesting to see how little speed is actually valued by an AI... how often do you see horsemen or chariots ever used outside of special units?
On the other, it seems to me that the AI will often continue building cavalry when it could be building infantry, showing that it does seem to appreciate the speed bonuses
Not quite true. The AI reads units as offensive and defensive. In the industrial age, infantry and cavalry are the only two units... If the AI feels it needs defensive, it builds infantry. If it feels it need offence, it will build cavalry. If the resources for the cavlary aren't there, it'll goto the next in line offensive unit... The guerilla. Which is why you see AI's building guerillas when they have the capability of building infantry for the same cost.
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Wibble!
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I am pot
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Wrong
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I am pot
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And the PTW Civs. Some of these will be... interesting? PTW saw the UU's messing around with the cost as well, which is something they were reluctant to do in Vanilla
The Arabs
knight we've already got at 0.62 per shield
The arab ansai is 4-2 with a cost of 60 works out to .667
Works out to about 108% that of the knight. Better than the cossack I guess?
The Mongols
errr, read above? In my opinion, this is the worst UU so far.
The Carthiginians
This ones a bit weird, I'll double compare.
Spearman (already calc to .8)
Swordsmen (already calc to 1.06)
Numidean Spearman 2-3 30 shields. 0.9333 per shield
Looking at about a 116% increase from the spearmen, but it's 88% that of a swordsmen. More than likely, a Carthage player is actually going to read weaker than what his military actually is.
The Celts
Will look similar to the Aztecs.
Swordsmen are 1.06
Celtic swordsmen will be .8, which is 75% that of the regular swordsmen. A Celtic player will appear weaker than they actually are!
The Koreans
umm ya.. no clue what to compare here. Any good experiences with the Hwach'a? The early lethal bombardment could have some amazing effects, but the limited range would kinda suck.
The Spanish
Once again ummm ya. There really is nothing to compare this unit to and because of it's movement, it'll view weaker than it should. Actually, it'll read the same strength a swordsmen, but with a cost of 70 will give this unit the lowest strength per shield ratio yet... A whopping .457! 3 warriors will read as more powerful than this unit.
The Ottomans
Cav 6-3, 80 shields. .75 per shield
Sipahi 8-3 @ 100 shields is a .76
101%, I kinda expected this with the cost increase. A stronger unit like this should have better survival odds and ultimately become elite more frequently. Hard to judge the unit on this alone.
The Vikings
I'm going to do this one as a double compare as well, since the longbowman is a silly unit in many ways.
Longbowman 4-1 cost 40. .9 per shield
Medieval infantry is 4-2 cost 40... which is 1 per shield.
The bezerk is 6-2 for 70 shields. 0.8 per shield.
I couldn't take into consideration the ability amphibious assault ability, but I'm only really concerned with how the AI reads the power rating on this. The same amount of shields invested in Bezerkir are going to show as 80% the stregnth the same cost in Medieval infantry and about 89% the strength of longbowmen.
Next will be c3c.
Hehe, the Indians have the only Knight worth building! The Firaxians should have increased the cost of War Elephants to at least 75, maybe 80... They're rapidly becoming my favorite now, so I won't complain...
The only other knight that compares will be the rider
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