Well, Yin got his own way I guess and unic units (as well as other civ differences) are in.

Standing on my knees on the slowly fading burning fires of the battlefield with my sword broken and my armor pierced I raise again my head and look once again on the Sunset, my jaw closes once more firmly and I reflect (- yes, the defeat of my team really affected me )

First of all the option to disable unics is the reason we don't start another Crusade. BUT, the AI souldn't be crippled if we turn this options off. Firaxis said it will not be and that's enough for me.

Now, from what I gather the unics are meant to be little more than a garniture, a nice touch of difference that will not have massive strategic/military impact on gameplay.

Furthermore, as Mark pointed out, we will have to have access to some special resource in order to produce some of the special units (and other things).

I think this will dramatically increase the intraconnectivity of all these features that make CIV the best game in the world. Everything will now be woven into eachother. Military, geo defence, resource management, diplomatic trade, culture (borders). Acheieving this delicate balance that you know will make your civ win in the end will now be even more challenging.

All in all, it could have been much worse.