Top Civs for Each basic units

I made a list about which Civ I had the best of each basic unit types (I skipped Navy, Petards and Siege Towers out of lazyness). I didn't consider Team Bonus by the way (except for their own civ).

I thought it would be interesting to add a "Jury Prize" for civs which had unique perks, even if they are not the 2nd best. "Jury Prize" brings something unique, convenient and favors specific tactics. (for example, Mongols ended up with Jury Prize for Rams, Onagers and Scorpions because of the speed boost from Drill). On the other hand, "Best" is for raw stats and/or cheapness.

So here is my list :

Infantry :

Militia-line :

Best : Goths (dirty cheap from feudal) & Malay (even cheaper for post-imp). Even if they are not the best 1v1, their cheapness makes them perfect to fill militia-line standard purposes.

Jury Prize : Malians. Basically removes archers from the list of Militia counters. Less good than huskarls, but cost even less gold. Also excellent for rushes.

Spear-line :

Best : Japanese. I didn’t choose Byz’ because cost is not that much a factor for trash units IMHO Japanese Halb are very high quality ones !

Jury Prize : Slavs. Trash unit with splash damages. What else ? Yeah free tracking :-)

Eagles :

Best : Mayas. Tankyness is so sweet.

Jury Prize : Aztecs. Sorry Incas, but Aztecs are better in direct combat as well as raiding.

Archery :

Archer-line :

Best : Mayans. So cheap. So cheap. So cheap. Can even wreck buildings on top of this.

Jury Prize : Britons. Could have been the best, but a tiny bit more situational. Unique range advantage.

Skirm :

Best : Viet : No real challenge here given that cost is not that much a factor for trash units IMO.

Jury Prize: Byz : Because cost still matters a bit, especially in feudal Age and there is no tremendous Skirm advantages for other civs.

HC :

Best : Portuguese : Gold reduction + Ballisticness is huge.

Jury Prize : Turks. HP and creation speed matters, but instant availability at Imperial age is the reason for this jury prize.

Cav Archer :

Best : Huns. Even with missing armor, they’re still so much cost effective, and have the best for Cav archer rush.

Jury Prize : Magyars. FU, extra damage, extra range. That’s a whole Age of blacksmith upgrades on top of Huns’. Very pop efficient in Imp Age. They might even beat Huns’ cost efficiently… once you paid for all upgrades.

Cavalry :

Knights :

Best : Franks. This one is clear, but they have only convenience or minor advantages compared to standard FU Pal

Jury Prize : Berbers. Sure, they are arguably less good than FU Pals. But they have some perks that no other civ has. They are arguably the best during castle and early imp, and they don’t cost a ton of gold to upgrade. They are even probably able to fight FU Pal more or less cost efficiently…

Scouts :

Best : Magyars and Berbers and Turks. I know I said that cost wasn’t that important for trash units, but other scout bonus are rather minor (Burmese) or balanced by a missing upgrade (Malians and Mongols). So all that remains is discount. Magyars has the best discount for scout rush, Turks for early imp (and gold saving is sweet, especially for Turks), Berbers for Late game. I guess they’re more or less equal.

Jury Prize : Malians. Arguably, missing 15hp from hussars is a bit annoying for an unit supposed to act as a meat shield. Nevertheless, Malians Light Cav can 1v1 anybody’s Hussars. The selling point for me is that increased damages even makes it valuable against units with a bit if melee armor, which is not the case for hussars. Malian light cav can almost 2v1 FU Paladins, and almost 1v1 FU champ (who are supposed to counter trash !). So basically, Malian Light cav are much more versatile. Also a bit cheaper to get FU.

Camels :

Best : Indians. Almost as much damages as Malians’ and as much HP as Saracens’, plus they have armor and damages to buildings. Indian camels even make good tea. Nevertheless, they are expensive to upgrade…

Jury Prize : Berbers. They are as cheap as Indians are expensive. They can regenerate if you want, but that’s just icing on the discount cake.

Battle Elephants :

Best : Khmer. Elephant are slow, but Khmers', not that much. And they do incredible damages. No protection against monk could hurt though.

Jury Prize : Burmese. These ones work even better as arrow sponge, and they act as mini-rams against buildings. Burmese half-cost faith is also a huge bonus. Burmese elephants might be tactically better than Khmers’, even if they don’t have the same destructive potential.

Siege Workshop :

Rams :

Best : Celts. Incredible arrow sponges with improved damages, and faster production.

Jury Prize : Mongols. Because fast Rams is efficient and fun. They don’t have an edge until Imp, so I think celts are a bit better.

Onagers :

Best : Celts. Increased survivability with better damages and faster production.

Jury Prize : Mongols. Drill is so convenient. Require micro-management to be optimal.

Scorpions :

Best : Khmers. Deals more damages than celts’, and increased range is really handy.

Jury Prize : Mongols. Drill is so convenient, once more.

Bombard Cannons :

Best : Portuguese. FU + ballistic + lower gold cost is a very nice set. Probably the best against units.

Jury Prize : Turks. The higher range is noticeable. Free chemistry + HP + Faster production complete quite well the Turkish package.

Trebuchet :

Japanese : Increased firepower with incredible convenience. May even be used to counter mass siege.

Jury Prize : Britons. Wins you every Treb wars and is better at dealing against units than any other treb.

Monks :

Best : Aztecs. Hard to kill, even surviving onager shots and FU.

Jury Prize : Spanish. Because nobody expects Spanish inquisition.

So, what's your opinion ?