Germania

[Praetor Rick]

Chosen Archers and Axemen? What happened to your Spear Warbands? It's hardly Germania if you don't abuse Spear Warbands. The AI is so bad against phalanx units it's almost comical, and without some elementary tactics, none of the Romans have anything that will stand up to Spear Warbands.

[Bellicin]

Aye, I'm using a fair screen of spear warbands too. Just getting a taste for the higher tier units now that I finally have some big, illgotten towns that can produce them en masse. Agreed on the phalanx, looks sort of ridiculous most battles with the AI charging an odd warband/hastati here and there against my phalanx, only to be reduced to nothing and flee within seconds. The craziest thing I've seen is the clever move the AI does when you try to break out of a sieged settlement: putting his troops in range of your archers and standing still. Once had the Gaul ride forward only their two greatest generals within range to have them slain before the fight, looked rather amusing :)

Speaking of the AI, is it equally bad at VH for combat as at M? I read somewhere that all you get is a rather big bonus for the enemies attackstat and nothing else. Admittedly M isn't much of a challenge but I have some vague memory of the AI only being more annoying (fleeing constantly when it's outnumbered etc) at higher settings.

Kind regards

[Praetor Rick]

I'm far from an expert on the subject, but I don't recall the AI getting any smarter regardless of the combat difficulty setting. They still brainlessly charge headlong into phalanxes and don't protect their flanks worth a dang. They just get enough bonuses to make their terrible tactics marginally effective sometimes.

[Alp Arlsan]

I'm far from an expert on the subject, but I don't recall the AI getting any smarter regardless of the combat difficulty setting. They still brainlessly charge headlong into phalanxes and don't protect their flanks worth a dang. They just get enough bonuses to make their terrible tactics marginally effective sometimes.

Hmm, a controversial post Rick, as far as I know (afaik) they do appear to be more tactically adept. I can also back up my statement not with any proof as such but in my personal experiences I hardly ever got flanked on medium settings, on very hard though every other battle I got flanked, and the AI generally made a pretty decent show of themselves on the battlefield. Of course they still make mistakes and still they bring mindless formamations of units to the field.

[gollum]

Germania are too good really in terms of roster, but unfortunately one does not feel that as their opponent because killer units like the beserkers and the Goth cavalry are tied to temples the AI wont build as he sticks to Freija, due to the small agr. production. The player can fix that later by switching temples but the AI can;t. A dissapointment really unless one mods the roster dependencies. For the player they are all one ever needed - a barbarian faction with phalanxes. Even the Romans seem little.

[Myth]

I was reading the CWB rules for RTW Multiplayer (not that i can play MP anyway). I was curious to see the "max 2 units of Berserkers". Hmmm... OK so I decided to do a little testing. Done on Medium difficulty (so that the Ai units don't get stat boosts and we get the purest results). Basically, Berserkers trounce everything. I'm not talking about equal numbers in troops - just equal number of stacks.

6 units of Berserkers vs 6 units of Spartan Hoplites - a massacre. I charged head on, right trough the phalanx.

6 units of Berserkers vs 6 units of Urban Cohorts - a massacre.

6 units of Berserkers vs 6 units of Egyptian Chariots - a massacre (mainly because the AI doesn't know when to charge and hit-and-run)

This brought new ideas into my head - now i simply must play Germania. The only problem for me is the mid to late game population control. I want to build farms as high as i can so i can get to the higher tier units faster, and so that i can get the necessary income early on when I still lack decent sea trade. But that will probably put me in a massive rioting situation later on, which deters me from continuing with the game. So far though i have ironed out a good start for the faction (for VH/VH)

Turn 1: Dismiss everything but the spear warbands and the cav units you get. The skirmishers and screeching women are too draining on your early treasury for no real benefit. Your Spear Warbands trounce everything anyway. Build roads everywhere.
Turn 2: Build farms everywhere. Get the good anticlaries from your 50 year old Faction Leader to a dedicated general and a dedicated statesman.
Turn 3: Build traders/tier 3 farms. Attack the Britons while selling everything you can to your neighbors.

I'm torn on how to proceed from here on though. Especially if I should use slavery to boom my core towns (they way i do with the Brutii for example). Maybe I should leave a dedicated butcher in my homelands who can cut population down when necessary?

[Shramana108]

I've started playing with Germania, and been at it for a while, but I can't figure this out...

How do you deal with sanitation issues? I thought once I'd taken some Roman cities I'd be able to build aqueducts or sewers, but no. And why can't I utilize colosseums? I keep pushing forward, but my people just keep getting filthier and angrier, and I can't afford to put any more cities on "Low Tax Rate", and Germanic family members/generals have HORRRIBLE management skills.

Is there any way to deal?

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Barbarian factions can upgrade settlements only to the "minor city" level. So, if you take city that is either large or huge then there is no other way to keep population happy than keep the tax rate low or keep a large garrison in the settlement.
You can't build aqueducts and sewers because they are not enabled for the barbarian factions. This is the same reason why you can't use colosseums.

[ReluctantSamurai]

While it's true that you can't build sanitation facilities or colosseum's as a barbarian faction, you can "use" colosseum's if they are already built. The big question is one that every player of RTW struggles with...that of squalor and unrest. And the answer lies in ZPG, or Zero Population Growth.

Seeing as how this thread is for guides to a specific faction, it's not the place to discuss this. If you'd head over to the Colosseum in the RTW Forum, and check the 'Need help in this Game" topic, you'll get a better idea of what I'm talking about. I have screeshots of a recent Dacian campaign (who are very similar to Germania) where I have even the large cities of Greece under control.....all at ZPG.

[Blhurr]

I've been playing a Germania campaign for a few weeks now. My premise is that my german royal family had a Macedonian teacher when they were children who told them great tales of Alexander and his empire. Naturally they were star struck by these tales of conquest and power and wanted it for themselves. The goal of my campaign is to keep the starting cities of the German's (or at least regain them in short order) while also capturing all the wonders of the world. If this wasn't enough my other goal was to ignore the romans if at all possible and strike straight for Macedon to begin the seeds of my new empire as quickly as possible. If this wasn't enough I also decided that I would make an effort to not eliminate any faction. I'm also playing on VH/VH.

I'm at 244 B.C. and it's been a very tough game so far. I don't have time for a lot of description at the moment but here is a summary.

My only allies are the Macedon's themselves which fits my story perfectly. I'm at war with Britannia, Gaul, Greek Cities, and all the romans. I don't have any native level 3 cities, although I've captured Thermon from the Greeks. I had Salona but the Brutii took it back. I've been forced to take the top two cities of the Julii because they kept pummeling Patavium with full stacks and I was completely out of money. I've been selling map information like crazy just to rebuild my spears. I have 3 units of chosen axe finally but that's about it.

On the western front I got as far as Sanbrovium (sp) and Alesia, but I've had to give them up because Britannia and Gaul were beating me up pretty good and I needed those armies in my fight in Northern Italy. The top 5 factions at the moment are Greek cities, Gaul, Egypt, Scythians and myself with Egypt being the top faction far and away. It looks like my spears have really beaten up the romans which is sad because I wanted to be fighting them at the end game but apparently they don't go for the weaker factions they just want to beat up on my germans. I'm very weak in all the german homelands.

My next moves are to take my very weak units against a powerful greek army and try for athens and sparta eventhough Macedon is far weaker and closer. The wonder in corinth is very valuable to me since my empire covers such vast geographic space and they have the wonder that gives you bonus to loyalty but my family can't bring themselves to attack a faction that they've revered since childhood. Nonetheless, if they don't allow me to marry their daughters after I dispense with the greeks I will be forced to take Corinth which I see as being the capital of my eastern expansion.

Gaul is strong and hammering from the west but I wonder how badly they want my weak northern cities. They are hard to get to and flat broke. Britannia is massing once again.

Carolus is my faction heir at the age of like 27 he was easily a 10 star general.

I'll have to sack a few more roman cities, being careful not to eliminate the romans simply because I have no money to finance my war against Greece.

I'm really worried about Egypt. Not because I don't think I can take them but because I really don't want them to be my final enemy. I really wanted to fight a strong Seleucid. That would be awesome, so i wish I knew of a way to weaken Egypt but they are just too damn far away and I have no navy and can't afford one.

The Brutii I have my greek army separated from norther italy with a few stacks and the one city there in the adriatic.

I think my only hope is to develop some sea-faring cities and rebuild a few of these Mare nostrum cities in the image of nice german cities.

I haven't seen Scythia yet but I don't suspect it will be long before they hammer germany from the east. It's been an uphill battle and I've really set some tough restrictions on myself. I don't use any cheese tactics in battle other than having to rely primarily on spear warband which is pretty cheesy. They decimate roman legions like nobodies business.

Anyone have thoughts?

[ReluctantSamurai]

A rather novel approach to Germania:dizzy2: Fighting on so many fronts inevitably drains the coffers fast.

I usually eliminate Brittania straight out to secure my backside...first by kicking them off the mainland, and then sinking their (usually) small fleet, confining them to the Isles. Once I consolidate, I invade and finish them off. With nearly every city being port-capable, I get a tidy income from trade. My eye then turns to Gaul and the Julii.

I'm rather surprised your spears hold up to Roman legionaires. In my games (I play h/h) they don't last long unless there are quick flanking maneuvers by my cav to rescue them. Spears they may be, but they have the weakest stats of all but militia hoplites, IIRC.

In any case, a rather interesting storyline to enact. Good luck with it!

[wooly_mammoth]

Ok, took advantage of some off-time these days and continued my OCD tour through the playable factions of rtw with Germany on m/m.

Here's the situation:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/43130180934962739/5675DE8E9086E8967921C401E2664008EA1D849A/

I've beaten the crap out of Gaul and I'm pretty much a boss, however:

1) my eastern flank is extremely thin and I can't really afford to garrison it properly. Scythia & Thrace are my allies, but the dacians don't like me. I'm forting-up the bridges and forest passes, just in case they get dumb ideas.

2) I'm actually extremely worried about the romans, since they've been free to do as they please. I am just now descending towards Patavium and have a free army to march from Masillia to Mediolanum. Northern Spain appears to belong to the Julii so I'll have to fortify those passes as well and leave an army behind to keep vigil.

My strategy would be to occupy northern Italy and confine the romans there, but instead of invading all the way south I think I'd rather turn for the Balkans and get ready of the Brutii presence there. I don't want those guys to march north undeterred while I'm busy in Italy.

[wooly_mammoth]

Nothing like smashing a roman's face in. XD

https://i.imgur.com/lb40bAO.jpg

The Julii had a motherload of troops for just their starting cities and Segesta (they also had Osca and I think they still have Caralis). I picked my fights in wooded areas and made liberal use of the screaming hags together with surprise bushwhacking from hidden cavalry units. Quite effective against those armored bastards. Their main cities are well developed. I can produce chosen axes and archers from both of them, so now it's only a matter of a little build-up to compliment my gold-chevroned warlords before performing an "Alaric" on Rome. I assume it's best just to push down and conquer the whole of Italy. and then go after the Brutii. For the Scipii I'll probably limit myself to isolating them in Africa. It's a bit of a hassle to maintain a barbarian empire stretching that way as well and I don't have any law or happiness temples to help me.

Spaniards and dacians are swarming like flies around my borders in the west and east. In the west I have a strong garrison and in the east I've set-up a network of fortifications to delay would-be invaders while I gather the skirmish forces stationed through the woods.

[Vincent Butler]

Check Greece, how strong are the Brutii there? My Briton campaign shows Macedon in charge on the map, but Greece is totally controlled by the Brutii.

[wooly_mammoth]

The chart says they own 6 territories right now, so a large part of Greece must be under their control, but I'm not worrying too much about it anymore. They will probably send some armies back in Italy once their cities are threatened, but once I have them I can just jump over to Thermon and from there conquer everything they have.

[Vincent Butler]

Do you just blitz through with Spear Warband? The phalanx gives you a nice advantage over barbarians and even early Roman units. You cover ground quickly, I was just wondering about your strategy. With Germany, though, I guess you have to be fast, because otherwise you will run out of money quickly.

[wooly_mammoth]

Hmm, I don't think what I do qualifies as a blitz. I think blitzers literally go on a non-stop rampage and massacre everything everywhere no matter the odds. On vh/vh. In contrast, I actually like to take my time, develop my economy and get a balanced army out, but if you just sit back the AI bloats up stupidly and with no regard to the rules, turning the conquest into a repetitive chore against endless doomstacks of crappy troops.

With Germania, unless you go full banzai against the romans right from the start (a popular strategy if you look through the topic) it is imperative that you strike first against Gaul and Britannia. Alesia is a lovely city that can serve as the capital of your fledgeling empire as it expands wesward and south. Samarobriva is usually guarded by a huge brittish force but you always have a great advatange when attacking from the south: the area is heavily forested, so if you lay siege from that direction and a relief force attempts to break it, you will always have a thick forest where to lie in ambush. This is how I prevailed both in the gaul and german playthrough. A good ambush not only breaks the morale of their superior numbers like a domino, but the thick forest bogs down the chariots, making them easy pickings even if you don't have spear warbands.

Now, with regard to spear warbands, I don't like them to be honest :(. I think that if you put 20 stacks of spear warbands in phalanx and line them up in column formation, a roman general can moonwalk through all 20 of them stright through the spears, that's how bad they are. I've literally seen big general units trash three phalanx formations in quick succession through frontal charge right into the spears. Given that they are the closest thing to balanced infantry that these guys can field, the rest being shock troops and flankers, I think I will actually have to adopt a different strategy from my usual playstyle if I give up on spear warbands entirely and hence on the idea of a strong core to fix the enemy: strong cavalry charge with archer fire cover to break the first ranks, followed by withdrawing the horses and crashing a tidal wave of frenzied axemen, berserkers and whatever other maniacs may be available. Hopefully, this will be enough to score a rout. Otherwise, there's no way to win a drawn-out fight given that these guys have 0 defense.

As for the economy, I'm actually doing fairly well. As long as I train troops efficiently, not oversizing your garrisons or training too many elite units, I can build up my infrastructure forward and still get a small profit. When money starts pilling up I usually spend it on buildings. There is no need to hoard a vast treasury and get bad traits for your generals. Also, I keep my tax levels quite low. Very low for towns and normal for large towns. I crank them up when I get cities, even if it means throwing a few extra units for garrison.

[Vincent Butler]

Hmm, I don't think what I do qualifies as a blitz. I think blitzers literally go on a non-stop rampage and massacre everything everywhere no matter the odds. On vh/vh. In contrast, I actually like to take my time, develop my economy and get a balanced army out, but if you just sit back the AI bloats up stupidly and with no regard to the rules, turning the conquest into a repetitive chore against endless doomstacks of crappy troops.

strong cavalry charge with archer fire cover to break the first ranks, followed by withdrawing the horses and crashing a tidal wave of frenzied axemen, berserkers and whatever other maniacs may be available. Hopefully, this will be enough to score a rout. Otherwise, there's no way to win a drawn-out fight given that these guys have 0 defense.

As for the economy, I'm actually doing fairly well. As long as I train troops efficiently, not oversizing your garrisons or training too many elite units, I can build up my infrastructure forward and still get a small profit. When money starts pilling up I usually spend it on buildings. There is no need to hoard a vast treasury and get bad traits for your generals. Also, I keep my tax levels quite low. Very low for towns and normal for large towns. I crank them up when I get cities, even if it means throwing a few extra units for garrison.

I was just wondering about the speed, because in 40 turns you have Britain, Spain, and into Italy. Although it seems that I tend to hoard money, I could be faster, but I try to turn a profit almost every turn, so I don't build much unless it is a financial building or a needed military/public order building. At least at first.

Break up enemy formations with berserkers, then hit with cavalry. In essence, use the berserkers like chariots, except obviously you can't run through formations because you lose control of them. Or Night Raiders instead of Cav, I know my brother loved them. The Chosen Axemen are too vulnerable to missile fire, but they are great on a wall.

I keep my taxes fairly high to limit population growth, because population growth leads to squalor, which leads to riots. And barbarians cap out at 12,000 to improve a city, so it maxes out quickly.

[wooly_mammoth]

Actually they cap at 6.000. 12.000 is the next tier.

I have conquered the whole of Italy, begun the invasion of Siciliy and I hold east and central Spain. The Julii still had the islands in the western med, but for some reason decided it would be a good idea to land their last general back on the home beach with only a rable militia force. Interestingly enough, after noticing the strange trade lanes and faction rankings, I realized that the Scipii never invaded Carthage. It's very strange, they couldn't possibly be down to the two cities they still have in Sicily. I've only once seen them do something like this. Back in my Julii imperial campaign, I followed the senate's orders and attacked the carthaginians asap, at which point the Scipii turned eastward and helped the Brutii in the conquest of Greece. I imagine something similar to that may have happened now. This may be Carthage's chance to become badass on the African coast, but unfortunately they'll only have me to fight instead of punny romans.

[Vincent Butler]

Actually they cap at 6.000. 12.000 is the next tier.

That makes it even worse for public order.


I followed the senate's orders and attacked the carthaginians asap, at which point the Scipii turned eastward and helped the Brutii in the conquest of Greece.

Probably, it seems they do that more often than I am used to, then they launch into Turkey. Could be they are just slow, too. That happens occasionally.

[wooly_mammoth]

I'll be in Caen for the next three weeks, so I found a bit of time to say goodbye to rtw for now.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/687146362859080860/2DC7989DCCD6FA2F50AC2FB3D93879A7E90E289C/

In summary, I saved myself from bankruptcy by demolishing non-vital military buildings in the westernmost provinces of the empire (practice ranges and smithies mostly). Now I'm getting much needed money and public order with the greek trade routes and the statue of Zeus. The big race will be for Larissa, because the city is close to reaching 24k and I'd like to delay the reforms as much as possible, since at the moment I field a single army of elite german units.

I've had some really nice battles with this army against the romans. The basic strategy is to have archer warbands fire at will with flaming arrows as chosen axes wind up for the charge. Then follows the tidal wave of armor piercing infantry and heavy cavalry pours from the flanks into anything that doesn't break straight away under the pressure. I've ploughed through 3-4 roman stacks like this with very little casualties even when fighting uphill near Thermon (Brutii tried to reclaim it, and when besieging from the north they get a big mountain to sit upon). So far I've had no need for any other special units except gothic cavalry.

Apollonia is actually the first time that I recall having to make a tactical withdraw. I had occupied it with a spare spear warband army, but then moved this force to hold Thermon as the crack troops hopped into a boat and landed in Peloponessia. The Brutii are not much of a threat, I do not think they hold territories further north than Paionia. The Scipii are invading Anatolia, but I hope to hamper their efforts once they lose Athens, Crete and Rhodes. I need only 8 provinces to win, and if I don't go bankrupt until then I don't think I'm in for any unpleasant surprises.

By the way, I managed to get a zero-point growth and good public order in some major barbarian cities, but roman and greek cities are a bit more complicated.

[Vincent Butler]

I'll be in Caen for the next three weeks, so I found a bit of time to say goodbye to rtw for now.


By the way, I managed to get a zero-point growth and good public order in some major barbarian cities, but roman and greek cities are a bit more complicated.

Yeah, I know how that goes, at 12,000 with High taxes, still 5% growth rate in the Roman cities, really annoying. Taking Corinth helped with the public order, though. If public order in those towns becomes an issue you could always move your capital closer. Then again, that may make your other towns unhappy, though hopefully not too much so. I haven't played much Rome lately, I went to Battlefield Vietnam.

Never been to Caen, I don't think, though I have been to Normandy. I don't remember where all we went, I was eleven at the time, and not paying attention to all the locations that were not immediately associated with the landing beaches. I remember Bayeux and Ste. Marie Église for away from the beaches, and of course Arromanches/Gold Beach, Omaha (our lodging overlooked Omaha) and Utah Beaches, and Pointe du Hoc.

[wooly_mammoth]

And finally managed to win the German grand campaign. It surely has been the most difficult campaign yet, solely due to economic reasons. Some rare moments excluded, I've been on the edge of bankruptcy for most of the 50 years of the campaign. Spear warbands + light cavalry, with the occasional flanking assault from regular axemen has been the way to go, though I did have one elite army (chosen axes & archers + noble cav) with which I conquered the Balkans. I used screeching women for support throughout, but never found any time or need for berserkers/nightraiders/gothic cav. Maybe next time. Though the Scipii survived and started an invasion of Egypt, the romans never made it to the Marian reforms.

Britannia is next. I expect it to be much easier, due to the motherload of trade temples I will build, chosen swords that are an excellently balanced heavy infantry unit and chariots.

[Vincent Butler]

Britannia is next. I expect it to be much easier, due to the motherload of trade temples I will build, chosen swords that are an excellently balanced heavy infantry unit and chariots.

I like Britannia. Their only weakness is a lack of archers.:thumbsdown: Oh yeah, and a normal cav unit. They don't benefit at all from the Marius changes. But I am an infantry general anyway.
I use light chariots in the place of archers, and I don't use heavy chariots. They are more expensive, take two turns, the next blacksmith shop (low on my priority list), have the same defense and not much more attack. Maybe one more hit point, I don't remember. Just don't use chariots for melee combat, break up enemy formations with them and get them out of there.
Also I use slingers, though the trained slingers have less range than the Rhodians or Balearic Slingers. Slingers decimate unarmoured units, and chariots as well. But again, lack of range. Still, I'm sure if you want you could figure out a use for them. Put them in front of your army, you will draw a cavalry attack almost guaranteed.

[ReluctantSamurai]

never found any time or need for berserkers/nightraiders/gothic cav.

Difficulty setting has a lot to do with that.....


I like Britannia. Their only weakness is a lack of archers.

I hate Britannia for the same reason I hate Egypt...can't stand having my generals in chariots. Getting those buggers into towns and cities is absolutely Benny Hill:whip:

[Vincent Butler]

I hate Britannia for the same reason I hate Egypt...can't stand having my generals in chariots. Getting those buggers into towns and cities is absolutely Benny Hill:whip:

True. Not the post-Marius Egyptian general is much better than the chariots. And cav in a city is annoying...chariots in a city is annoying to the third power.

[wooly_mammoth]

Difficulty setting has a lot to do with that.....


Actually, it was the two-turns required to build them that was a turn-off. Nightraiders and berserkers are less effective than chosen axes, nightraiders because they have kiddie-sized axes instead of manly-sized axes and berserkers because you wind them up, point them in the right direction and then they're gone, so what's the point in waiting 2 turns for a unit that's not as useful as a chosen axe when I can get 2 chosen axes? :book2:

I mean, even in a surprinse flanking attack I'd rather have the armor-piercing maniacs cleave their way through the cohorts instead of some painted weirdos going "Boo!".

Gothic cav would have been nice. I actually had 2 units made but they were never engaged in a battle. Noble cav was more than enough for what the romans had around, maybe if they had gone post-reforms things would have been different.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Nightraiders and berserkers are less effective than chosen axes

There are those who would debate that:shrug:


maybe if they had gone post-reforms things would have been different.

Difficulty setting has a lot to do with that:creep:

[Vincent Butler]

Actually, it was the two-turns required to build them that was a turn-off. Nightraiders and berserkers are less effective than chosen axes

The weakness of the chosen axemen, at least in vanilla Rome, is their susceptibility to missile units. The Chosen Axemen in BI had armour, but the Chosen Axemen of Rome do not. My brother said they get decimated. I guess Night Raiders have the same vulnerability, but they intimidate nearby enemy. I think berserkers have the trait "Vulnerable to Missile Fire" or such like, though I don't remember for certain, correct me if I am wrong.

[Marcvs julius]

Gothic cav would have been nice. I actually had 2 units made but they were never engaged in a battle. Noble cav was more than enough for what the romans had around, maybe if they had gone post-reforms things would have been different.

No when the romans get the reforms their defenses againt cavalary get even worse because they lose the triariai, the only spearmen that they got its the auxilia and it is very poor against evrything, with means that cavalary againt post-reformed romans is the best weapon.

[Vincent Butler]

No when the romans get the reforms their defenses againt cavalary get even worse because they lose the triariai, the only spearmen that they got its the auxilia and it is very poor against evrything, with means that cavalary againt post-reformed romans is the best weapon.

Oh, I don't know. Statistically, actually, Triarii are only decent. Auxilia can be better without too much experience, and need only a militia barracks to train instead of an Army barracks like Triarii. Auxilia being spearmen, can hold their own against cav if used right. Put them on guard mode before the cav hit. Don't pit them against good infantry, though. Probably against nothing better than barbarian swordsmen.
It seems spearmen own cav, cav own swordsmen, swordsmen own spearmen. And do NOT put spearmen on the walls, I have learned. But really, the stats of cohort are so high that they can beat cav even without the bonus. Of course, I have yet to play past Medium difficulty.

[RobInconformista]

Actually, it was the two-turns required to build them that was a turn-off. Nightraiders and berserkers are less effective than chosen axes, nightraiders because they have kiddie-sized axes instead of manly-sized axes and berserkers because you wind them up, point them in the right direction and then they're gone, so what's the point in waiting 2 turns for a unit that's not as useful as a chosen axe when I can get 2 chosen axes? :book2:

I mean, even in a surprinse flanking attack I'd rather have the armor-piercing maniacs cleave their way through the cohorts instead of some painted weirdos going "Boo!".

Gothic cav would have been nice. I actually had 2 units made but they were never engaged in a battle. Noble cav was more than enough for what the romans had around, maybe if they had gone post-reforms things would have been different.
I find phalanxes easy to defeat in battle and a problem I've had with Germanic Spearbands is if their flanks are exposed, so I balance the army by using Barb Merc Spears and getting Chosen Axemen is a priority for me, whilst early on I field Skirmishers to give the SWB's some pacy offensive power. Early on, general units have to cover the flanks, but also because the AI tends to string out a long front line, there can be holes punched in it by attacking skirmisher units or peasants with cavalry.

But the point of Berserkers, is later when you face tough units, you need something which can mash through armed units and create the conditions to trigger a rout, so having fast nutters in reserve to commit once the main front lines are engaged is a key tactic. Early on having screechers to boost and demoralise, whilst Skirmishers flank also works. Screechers also can from reserve attack if enemy infantry have been able to flank a spear war band to some extent, before too much damage is done.