I've been reading the "best Unique Unit" thread. It was insightful. And I was surprised about the criticism that the Inti Macemen got.
I have one experience playing the Incas. It was in the New World Campaign. I did well in the Andes Trek scenario (attacking Chile, it's a Barbarian scenario). Then I attacked the Portuguese. I lost. And then the Portuguese attacked me in my Capital and I thought that having a Territory Strength of 6 and 75 more population would ensure that I'd hold out. I didn't. They crushed me.
Why did I want to play with the Incas? Apart from the fact that I'm Argentine and they are the closest nation to me geographically. I wanted them because of their Nation Powers. Because Mines make Wealth as well as Metal. That means that when you are making +50 Metal, you are making +50 Wealth simultaneously. It's an awful lot. The most that you can make normally in the first minutes of the game is +30, with 2 Markets and 1 Caravan; The Incas can make +80.
What does it have to do with their Unique Unit? My guess is that the developers made it purposely shitty to balance the insane amout of Wealth that the Incas make. To not make it completely dreadful, they gave Macemen an atttack bonus against Cavalry; but, too bad that Cavalry still has an attack bonus against them.
To this day I'm trying to understand what went so awful in the New World Campaign. I had done very well playing the French; I had fulfilled all of the objectives, or nearly all of them. It can't be that Native American nations have a harder time, because I recently played as the Lakota and did well too (eliminated the French and the Americans). I went as far as thinking that since I was making so much Wealth, the computer thought I was cheating and gave the Portuguese a resource bonus, that was turned into the army that tore me apart.
I have one experience playing the Incas. It was in the New World Campaign. I did well in the Andes Trek scenario (attacking Chile, it's a Barbarian scenario). Then I attacked the Portuguese. I lost. And then the Portuguese attacked me in my Capital and I thought that having a Territory Strength of 6 and 75 more population would ensure that I'd hold out. I didn't. They crushed me.
Why did I want to play with the Incas? Apart from the fact that I'm Argentine and they are the closest nation to me geographically. I wanted them because of their Nation Powers. Because Mines make Wealth as well as Metal. That means that when you are making +50 Metal, you are making +50 Wealth simultaneously. It's an awful lot. The most that you can make normally in the first minutes of the game is +30, with 2 Markets and 1 Caravan; The Incas can make +80.
What does it have to do with their Unique Unit? My guess is that the developers made it purposely shitty to balance the insane amout of Wealth that the Incas make. To not make it completely dreadful, they gave Macemen an atttack bonus against Cavalry; but, too bad that Cavalry still has an attack bonus against them.
To this day I'm trying to understand what went so awful in the New World Campaign. I had done very well playing the French; I had fulfilled all of the objectives, or nearly all of them. It can't be that Native American nations have a harder time, because I recently played as the Lakota and did well too (eliminated the French and the Americans). I went as far as thinking that since I was making so much Wealth, the computer thought I was cheating and gave the Portuguese a resource bonus, that was turned into the army that tore me apart.