What is the best unit?

There are many different unit types in Call of War - 36, counting aircraft transports. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses, but at the same time, some (Infantry, Medium Tanks, Tactical Bombers) are clearly more likely to be useful than others (SP Anti-Air). Even so, in this sea of units, can we determine one to be "the best", whatever that should mean? That is what this article intends to investigate.

## Ground Rules

Even though this comparison will attempt to be as accurate as possible, we have to set some basic rules as to what will be taken into consideration when judging a unit. The following things will not be considered when analysing:

* Research cost - only the buying cost of a unit will be taken into consideration.
* Buildings required - some flying units, such as Rocket Fighters and Paratroopers require one building to be produced, but also an airstrip or aircraft factory to fly from. This will not count negatively against those units.
* Other units required - Aircraft Carriers are worthless if you have no planes. It will be assumed that any unit can be used to its full capacity and ability.

The following things **will** be considered:

* Doctrine - both specific and general buffs from each doctrine will be considered when analysing a unit. To an extent, the unit will be analysed four times, once for each doctrine.
* Terrain buffs - this should be obvious, but how well terrain buffs synergise with the best use of the unit will affect the rankings.

## Method 1 - Average damage / Manpower cost

The most basic way to analyse a unit is the amount of damage it deals compared the the manpower resource cost of the unit. This is easy, but comes with a number of problems: we have to take into account how many times the unit will deal its damage (compare Infantry to Rockets) and its specific damage to different unit types, it ignores resources other than manpower, and it ignores power factors besides damage, such as health and speed. Still, it's a good baseline.

### Single-use units

* Flying Bomb - 5 damage / 260 manpower = 0.0192 damage / manpower
* Rocket - lvl 1: 6 damage / 520 manpower = 0.0115 damage / manpower; lvl 4: 15 damage / 720 manpower = 0.0208 damage / manpower
* Nuclear Bomber - lvl 1: 585 damage / 7.2k manpower = 0.0813 damage / manpower; lvl 3: 1081 damage / 7.9k manpower = 0.1368 damage / manpower
* Nuclear Rocket - 1143 damage / 8.35k manpower = 0.1369 damage / manpower

### Multi-use units

#### Infantry

* Militia - lvl 1: 1.4 damage / round / 780 manpower = 0.0018 damage / round / manpower; lvl 3: 4.5 damage / round / 1000 manpower = 0.0045 damage / round / manpower
* Infantry - lvl 1: 2.3 damage / round / 970 manpower = 0.0024 damage / round / manpower; lvl 6: 10.1 damage / round / 1550 manpower = 0.0065 damage / round / manpower
* Motorised Infantry - lvl 1: 3.1 damage / round / 1180 manpower = 0.0026 damage / round / manpower; lvl 5: 10.3 damage / round / 1850 manpower = 0.0056 damage / round / manpower
* Mechanised Infantry - lvl 1: 5.5 damage / round / 1300 manpower = 0.0042 damage / round / manpower; lvl 4: 13.1 damage / round / 1850 manpower = 0.0071 damage / round / manpower
* Commandos - lvl 1: 5.6 damage / round / 1300 manpower = 0.0043 damage / round / manpower; lvl 3: 10.7 damage / round / 1650 manpower = 0.0065 damage / round / manpower
* Paratroopers (on ground) - lvl 1: 5.5 damage / round / 1410 manpower = 0.0039 damage / round / manpower; lvl 3: 9.2 damage / round / 1760 manpower = 0.0052 damage / round / manpower

#### Ordnance

* Anti-tank - lvl 1: 2.7 damage / round / 740 manpower = 0.0036 damage / round / manpower; lvl 5: 10.3 damage / round / 1130 manpower = 0.0091 damage / round / manpower
* Artillery - lvl 1: 1.3 damage / round / 1100 manpower = 0.0012 damage / round / manpower; lvl 5: 4.8 damage / round / 1600 manpower = 0.0030 damage / round / manpower
* SP Artillery - lvl 1: 2.3 damage / round / 1400 manpower = 0.0016 damage / round / manpower; lvl 4: 5.1 damage / round / 2100 manpower = 0.0024 damage / round / manpower
* Anti-air - lvl 1 : 1.3 damage / round / 710 manpower = 0.0018 damage / round / manpower; lvl 5: 5.5 damage / round / 1100 manpower = 0.0050 damage / round / manpower
* SP Anti-air - lvl 1: 2.3 damage / round / 960 manpower = 0.0024 damage / round / manpower; lvl 4: 6.2 damage / round / 1400 manpower = 0.0044 damage / round / manpower

#### Tanks

* Armoured Car - lvl 1: 2.0 damage / round / 1100 manpower = 0.0018 damage / round / manpower; lvl 4: 8.2 damage / round / 1500 manpower = 0.0055 damage / round / manpower
* Light Tank - lvl 1: 2.3 damage / round / 1100 manpower = 0.0021 damage / round / manpower; lvl 4: 9.3 damage / round / 1500 manpower = 0.0062 damage / round / manpower
* Medium Tank - lvl 1: 4.0 damage / round / 1400 manpower = 0.0029 damage / round / manpower; lvl 5: 12.1 damage / round / 2100 manpower = 0.0058 damage / round / manpower
* Heavy Tank - lvl 1: 7.8 damage / round / 1700 manpower = 0.0046 damage / round / manpower; lvl 3: 14.7 damage / round / 2300 manpower = 0.0064 damage / round / manpower
* Tank Destroyer - lvl 1: 4.1 damage / round / 1300 manpower = 0.0032 damage / round / manpower; lvl 5: 12.6 damage / round / 1900 manpower = 0.0066 damage / round / manpower