A lot of people dismiss the Germans because their ability Furor Teutonicus seems only useful in the early game; the ability essentially gives a 50% chance of converting a barbarian unit to the German military when they sack a village.
Useless? I have been experimenting with them on a large Terra map with Marathon game length, Emperor difficulty (I find that I am not good enough to be competetive on large maps if I go Deity or Immortal without using the cheap ICS strategy, King difficulty is too easy). My neighbours were Romans and Greeks, the two civs who are often argued as being superior starting civs. The German Landsknecht being just a cheap pikeman with no bonuses; Greek Hoplites, Companion Cavalry, Roman Legions, and Roman Ballistas.
The benefit is that I didn't have to build any military units until I hit Catapults. Instead I focussed strongly on buildings with wonders as a secondary focus; making sure to get my favourites - Stonehenge, Machu Pichu, and Chitzen Itza; +8 culture, -75% culture cost to territory growth, and +50% Golden Ages.
Military - yes it was bloated and I was constantly in the red, but I managed to profit due to all of the cash I was gaining from plundering barbarian villages, more than enough to support my military. Sure enough, the Romans and Greeks grew very powerful early on, but France, Siam, Persia, and the Turks also were mega powers. My military was too much for anyone to declare war on me. I had LOTS of Spearmen, which only cost 10 to upgrade to Landsknechts.
Eventually the barbarians on the main continent had run out, my warriors were far away exploring surrounding islands (which I began to colonize due to the healthy environments on them). My military soon fell down the ranks to 5th. Then the Greeks and Romans declared war on me. They blitzed in and began destroying my border cities; and about half my army. However, I just kept pumping those cheap Landsknechts out and they could not break past my walled cities. I went peace with Rome once the Turks declared on them. Then I began taking Greek cities, and effectively took over about 2/3rds of their Empire at the time of peace. Due to focusing on buildings earlier, I was able to handle the large number of puppet states entering my empire. Greek military stands no chance against the German once the middle ages hit. My core cities (on marathon) were pumping out landsknechts in under 10 turns each.
The German Furor Teutonicus proved to be very useful due to all of the military units I didn't have to build for 400-500 turns or so. Instead acquiring all sorts of early buildings such as walls, happiness and production buildings. This particular playthrough is also proving to be more fun than any other I have played so far since getting the game. The war is over and I am now using my generals for Golden Ages, so I ended up on the top of the pile in terms of economy and production, France and Turkey still have more population, but I am almost tied with France for land now. I have also explored a good portion of the new world, no one else has yet arrived. I am behind in science, but not by much; I reached the renaisance about 40 turns after the most advanced civ did. This is much greater success than I had with the Romans, the Chinese, and the French when playing under similar conditions on Emperor difficulty.
For a seasoned civ player, these settings are very fun:
Civ - Germans
Difficulty - Emperor
Map size - Large
Length - Marathon
Number of Civs + City States - default (adding too many will decrease space for barbarians, especially if playing a Terra map like I am doing).
Map - Terra, this map type has all main civs starting on the main continent, and the others only inhabited by Barbarians and City States; I find this map type keeps the game interesting once the age of exploration hits.
Strategy:
Just acquire military units from barbarian villages; focus on building
1. Monolith,
2. two workers per three cities
3. Settlers if happiness is enough
4. Production structures
5. happiness structures
6. Walls/Castles (particularly when economy is exceptionally poor, as these buildings have no upkeep)
7. Science, should build a library as soon as a city hits 8 if one is not already present.
8. If economy is doing well; or there is lots of gold in the coffers, then Research Agreements - I was able to manage about 7 or 8 of these in my playthrough so far.
Useless? I have been experimenting with them on a large Terra map with Marathon game length, Emperor difficulty (I find that I am not good enough to be competetive on large maps if I go Deity or Immortal without using the cheap ICS strategy, King difficulty is too easy). My neighbours were Romans and Greeks, the two civs who are often argued as being superior starting civs. The German Landsknecht being just a cheap pikeman with no bonuses; Greek Hoplites, Companion Cavalry, Roman Legions, and Roman Ballistas.
The benefit is that I didn't have to build any military units until I hit Catapults. Instead I focussed strongly on buildings with wonders as a secondary focus; making sure to get my favourites - Stonehenge, Machu Pichu, and Chitzen Itza; +8 culture, -75% culture cost to territory growth, and +50% Golden Ages.
Military - yes it was bloated and I was constantly in the red, but I managed to profit due to all of the cash I was gaining from plundering barbarian villages, more than enough to support my military. Sure enough, the Romans and Greeks grew very powerful early on, but France, Siam, Persia, and the Turks also were mega powers. My military was too much for anyone to declare war on me. I had LOTS of Spearmen, which only cost 10 to upgrade to Landsknechts.
Eventually the barbarians on the main continent had run out, my warriors were far away exploring surrounding islands (which I began to colonize due to the healthy environments on them). My military soon fell down the ranks to 5th. Then the Greeks and Romans declared war on me. They blitzed in and began destroying my border cities; and about half my army. However, I just kept pumping those cheap Landsknechts out and they could not break past my walled cities. I went peace with Rome once the Turks declared on them. Then I began taking Greek cities, and effectively took over about 2/3rds of their Empire at the time of peace. Due to focusing on buildings earlier, I was able to handle the large number of puppet states entering my empire. Greek military stands no chance against the German once the middle ages hit. My core cities (on marathon) were pumping out landsknechts in under 10 turns each.
The German Furor Teutonicus proved to be very useful due to all of the military units I didn't have to build for 400-500 turns or so. Instead acquiring all sorts of early buildings such as walls, happiness and production buildings. This particular playthrough is also proving to be more fun than any other I have played so far since getting the game. The war is over and I am now using my generals for Golden Ages, so I ended up on the top of the pile in terms of economy and production, France and Turkey still have more population, but I am almost tied with France for land now. I have also explored a good portion of the new world, no one else has yet arrived. I am behind in science, but not by much; I reached the renaisance about 40 turns after the most advanced civ did. This is much greater success than I had with the Romans, the Chinese, and the French when playing under similar conditions on Emperor difficulty.
For a seasoned civ player, these settings are very fun:
Civ - Germans
Difficulty - Emperor
Map size - Large
Length - Marathon
Number of Civs + City States - default (adding too many will decrease space for barbarians, especially if playing a Terra map like I am doing).
Map - Terra, this map type has all main civs starting on the main continent, and the others only inhabited by Barbarians and City States; I find this map type keeps the game interesting once the age of exploration hits.
Strategy:
Just acquire military units from barbarian villages; focus on building
1. Monolith,
2. two workers per three cities
3. Settlers if happiness is enough
4. Production structures
5. happiness structures
6. Walls/Castles (particularly when economy is exceptionally poor, as these buildings have no upkeep)
7. Science, should build a library as soon as a city hits 8 if one is not already present.
8. If economy is doing well; or there is lots of gold in the coffers, then Research Agreements - I was able to manage about 7 or 8 of these in my playthrough so far.
-Insert Inspiring Quote-
