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Thread: Germania

  1. #61
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Well, well. :-) Germania was the very first faction I played after I finished my first Roman campaign. I'm quite frankly in love with it, it's got something to deal with every single faction available. The berserkers are wonderful... *drool*

    What's your opinion of Germans fighting in square in defensive battles? I used it often, my grandest victory was when three 20-unit armies attacked me at the same time (one Julii, one Scipii, one Senate) and I simply formed up into a...square? octagon? lopsided polygon? with my 12 phalanxes, stuffed my cavalry into the centre, and simply waited it out while the Roman tossed all they had at me... Admittedly, I lost a lot of men to velite fire, but eventually, after the hastati and principes, routed I just broke up my cavalry corps and destroyed what ranged units they had. A great victory, 3 full-stack Roman armies shattered (when you're playing on huge scale and only 25 men from each army escape, that's shattering) for about 30% casualties on my side. How's that? Go Germania!


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  2. #62

    Default Re: Germania

    Well, that's a well fought battle for you. The Germans seem to be a quite balanced faction but they lack cavalry in the early game and that annoys me.

  3. #63

    Default Re: Germania

    but babrian cavalry are one of the best light cavalry groups and are very good so they dont have a big selection but i love infrantry more than cavalry so it dont bother me
    "Do you have blacks, too?" —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
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  4. #64
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Y'know, littlegannon, that love for infantry of yours is going to hand you some pretty bad defeats one day... I mean, I'm in love with infantry too, but I always have Valens and the battle of Adrianople at the forefront in my mind... You can't rely on barbarian cavalry forever, as good as they are. Though I do agree they rock :-)

    Mmm craterus, I was mildly annoyed by the lack of cavalry too, but I made up for that by concentrating all my family members into my armies and making use of every horse they could give me. Risky, I know, I could lose the core of my faction, but it serves my purposes very well. I only needed to bear with it for awhile, because my Germanic strategy is always to abandon Germania and pour into Italia.

    It's fascinating what an all-family-member cavalry army can do to Roman armies. Never lost a single family member, but I just took huge slices out of their hastati formation after steamrollering their generals, before withdrawing and bringing on the infantry to finish off in the next battle. I kept getting more family members all the time because I kept sending single spear phalanxes against the two-hastati armies the Brutii nuts kept sending up north :-) When I finished with Italy I had about 12-13 family members. How's that for the heavy cavalry :-)

    The one thing that annoys me about Germania (and I mean REALLY annoys me) is the lack of siege weapons. I mean, even the Scythians have onagers. Come on!


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  5. #65
    Humanist Senior Member Franconicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    I do not think that Germania has bad cav. They have barb. cav from the very beginning. This one is much better than everything the Gauls have. British chariots can become a problem but they are in a small number because they are much more expansive. The Romans: I could beat the Roman cav whenever we met. Most of the time they have only General's cav. So these should be your enemys in the beginning. Later in the game you have Gothic cav, and they outperform any opponent. Try and combine Gothic and barb. Let the Gothic attack first and break the line and the barb follow.They will finish the job and keep clear the back of the Gothics.

    You only have a lack of range cav. But your enemys have none and you can easily hire some Scythian HA. They are effective like hell. I had one cav army of Gothics, barbs and one Scythian HA. Unstoppable!!

  6. #66
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Well where range is concerned Chosen archers are good enough for me. My Germanic battles are always fought under the umbrella protection of my archers' fire, except when victory is already a sure thing upon which I let the cavalry leave the umbrella and skewer the fleeing cowards. It seems to me that the Germanic legion does not need a missile cavalry capability in their destined theatre of operations, i.e. the west, which fits me perfectly since as good as HA are, they are only available in the far east, so it may be a little inconvenient to bring up reinforcements when you are in, for example, spain.


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  7. #67

    Default Re: Germania

    Quote Originally Posted by pezhetairoi
    Mmm craterus, I was mildly annoyed by the lack of cavalry too, but I made up for that by concentrating all my family members into my armies and making use of every horse they could give me. Risky, I know, I could lose the core of my faction, but it serves my purposes very well. I only needed to bear with it for awhile, because my Germanic strategy is always to abandon Germania and pour into Italia.
    I tend to use family members quite a lot with limited-cavalry-factions but there is always the worry that there may one day be a "drought" of family members resulting in the fall-apart of your faction but barbarian families tend to recover from losses incredibly well..

  8. #68
    Humanist Senior Member Franconicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Well, in the old days, it was a question of honor that the generals fought in the first line. Remember what Julius wrote in his Bello Gallico? (Although he lied a lot!!) Or Ilias?

    No soldier would follow a general that is not willing to risk his own life!

  9. #69
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Aye, how historically true. RTW is just chock full of that historical sense I love so much. But anyways. It is extremely fun to send all-cavalry armies, especially when the Germans are so virile that they, pardon the expression, are like sows dropping piglets everywhere.


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  10. #70

    Default Re: Germania

    i am a good all round commander but i just find i am better with infranrty and enjoy that more pezhetairoi but i did use gothic cavalry and that
    "Do you have blacks, too?" —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
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    how stupid george bush is !

  11. #71
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Yeah, I'm an all rounder like you, really, though I don't particularly have any preference for either cavalry or infantry. If there's a summary of my battle concept it'll have to be you can only win with both. Which is why Scythia started out as a challenge for me because I kept using infantry tactics at the beginning. Gothic cavalry? I never got it--kept building the wrong temples. >.< Or was that berserkers?


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  12. #72

    Default Re: Germania

    How many beserkers do you get in a unit on large unit settings?

  13. #73
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    24 Iirc

  14. #74

    Default Re: Germania

    I thought it was low, so 48 on huge? They're good men though.

  15. #75
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    True. They are very low. They have 3 hp each though. They have 19 attack and 5 defense. Making them yet another awesome flanker.

    They are like unbalanced stat version of Roman gladiators.

  16. #76
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    With 48 men in a unit and 3 HP per man, it's like 144 unbalanced (both stats-wise and mentally) men charging at you. I bet they could even take down hoplite formations, though I haven't tested that hypothesis yet.


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  17. #77
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    It's not quite a matter of multiplication. The 48 guys can only attack 48 times. I'd rather have 144 men all with 1 hp with equal stats.

    That said, multiple HP means that they can "heal" automatically between battles and need no retraining (ie. lose 2hp per men each battle evenly distributed doesn't show at all).

    They can actually wade through the spears and reach hoplites in melee. However, frontal charging phalanxes still does not prove too wise a strategy.

  18. #78
    Humanist Senior Member Franconicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    I used Berserker as street fighters. There you have only a small line and the number is not as important as the skills.

  19. #79
    Ultimate Member tibilicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Good tatic. I love beserkers great for geting Cohorts in the rear. Burn a whole right throught them.


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  20. #80
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Franconicus, your tactics in this regard is much like mine.

    I use galdiators, arcanii, and berserkers on the walls and in the streets. They are great for those cramped spaces since their individual melee prowess come through and they are less easily swamped by superior numbers.

    Furthermore, those small units pop through the siege tower a lot faster. They also come out of the gatehouse down into the street a lot faster. Nice delivery of high melee power in small package.

  21. #81
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Good point. Never thought of using Berserkers that way, though. I much preferred packing the streets from kerb to kerb with axemen.


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  22. #82
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    What about spear warbands, they are perfect for street fighting provided you don't move too much and have the phalanx roughly the width of the street. Packing units inside each other for maximum exploit effect.

  23. #83
    Humanist Senior Member Franconicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Quote Originally Posted by katank
    What about spear warbands, they are perfect for street fighting provided you don't move too much and have the phalanx roughly the width of the street. Packing units inside each other for maximum exploit effect.
    If you add some chosen archers behind them it tastes even better

  24. #84
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Problem is, you have to get them through the gates first. I had the ill luck of having my spear warbands engage an enemy in their front contesting the breach, while two units pop out from nowhere and slam into their flanks, with a general's bodyguard completing the rout. I sent my cavalry in too late, and lost one barb cav as well to the white flag. Spear warbands are better than hoplites/pikemen in that they have no secondary weapon, so they don't drop spears and spread out to swordfight, but nevertheless they are extremely troublesome to wield as a unit in the streets. Only until the town square do they do nasty things to the garrison.


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  25. #85
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    That's depending on the type of siege. I frankly find the open nature of barbarian towns far more suitable for spear warbands.

    I simply see neat rows of enemy dead when assaulting a barbarian settlement where they tried to make a stand and were mercilessly cut down by spears.

    For civilized settlements, I typically have a barbarian swarm tactic where I have spear warbands with phalanx turned off mixed in with axemen simply swarming through the gates. The spearwarbands then try to engage phalanx when they start tangling with the enemy.

    Also, don't forget that spears clip through walls, thus while fighting at the gates, some spear warbands might be able to "flank" the enemy while out side the town.

    Once you get clear of the gates, then form a nice phalanx and let the killing machine rip.

  26. #86
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    eee, i hate the spears poking through walls trick. It's so cheaty :-P I feel guilty taking advantage of an AI bug.


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  27. #87
    Avid Gaming Enthusist Member avatar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Be aggressive. Do not sit in your forest and wait. Your easiest money makers are west and northwest. This will knock out two thorns in your side and provide the resources to complete the short campaign.

  28. #88
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    True. Those are the easiest. however, the biggest are south. Make a beeline towards Rome is almost must have for any imperial campaign.

    PreMarian troops cannot stand a wall of spearwarbands backed by screechers with flanking barb cav and extra size war puppies.

  29. #89
    Amanuensis Member pezhetairoi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    and if you do it right, there won't be a post-Marian army. Never used dogs myself, though, except when then AI gives it to me, then I'm like, 'but, but I never asked for it!' I do well enough with 10 warbands and four-five units of cavalry of any sort. I'd be a REALLY happy general if someone threw in two units of chosens archers into the bargain. On defensive battles this composition is sure to win you a whole bunch of heroic victories, and even on attack it probably will as well, if you play it on a defensive slant. Otherwise, replace 2 warbands with 2 axemen/night raiders and you've got your warwinning army. Perfect for a Mao army-cheap, spammed and human-waved.


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  30. #90
    Patriot Member IliaDN's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    So, I have decided to take Germans for this time.

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