Hello everyone, this is my first (and probably last) post here, I apologize if I made it in the wrong place. I was giving someone a few tips on Germany's strengths, and that ended up becoming a huge text; so I felt like I should post it here to be of help to more people, and also to feel like the time I put into it was less of a waste haha.
General Info. and Eco: Germany is a unique civilization with very specialized units, all of which are expensive, this is why you cannot use it as you would other civs. It is good to try to get to the fortress age quickly (although you don't necessarily need to go FF), this is because you don't have musks and you shouldn't make dopps in colonial and early fortress unless you have to (for defense against a cav heavy rush or doing a team rush, the dopp rush can be done but it is not very safe). When you hit fortress your first card should ideally be Germantown Farmers, after that you will already be building your 4 mills with a sw (always use the sw to build, they are equivalent to 2 vils, but one of them builds way faster than 2 normal vils, so by doing this you save villager seconds), if there are still hunts continue to gather from them, but build the mills; when you get them up you can make 1 sw from each = 4 sw per build cycle = 8 villagers per build cycle > +1 or 2 tc's and you have up to 10 villagers being produced at once; this will let you make your economy grow explosively until you reach the 20 sw limit, then it will slow down again, but it is a quick burst not to be underestimated. From then on you will be able to make dopps more freely and actually use them on attacks (this is all before 15 min). Most of your vils should be on gold, by the time you are in mid fortress to early industrial you should have some 8 plantations with 7-8 vils/sw's in each (most of your settler wagons go here), the rest go fill up your 4 mills (leave wood to factories until you don't need it); if you manage to get this setup you will literally be able to spam dopps and uhlans without problem.
The normal villager number is also a tricky thing, as Germany, you could potentially have 99 villagers + 20 settler wagons, for a whopping total of 139 villager population that would beat literally any other economy in the game. But this would only leave 61 pop for your army, that is particularly pop heavy, with only the skirm taking up one pop. You don't need that many villagers - can't believe I actually said this -, so you should stick to the 20 sw (always, they also save you wood by potentially having 20 vil pop in a single plantation by filling it with 10 sw) and something between 70 and 80 normal vils; that leaves 90 to 80 pop space for your army, which is much more feasible.
On a final note, trade posts help Germany a lot, especially in the early game, because they have very good shipments in all ages and take more experience to get them, so it is worth it (depending on the map) to let a sw cut some wood before colonial to get that early tp (plus wood treasures, always seek them and gold treasures first with the Germans).
...But it will take some time to get to this level of eco, and even after you do, it is not good to waste resources by poorly managing your units, so this is how you should use each:
Skirmishers: the backbone of your army, they will form your main battle line and advance in front of the others. This is why I recommended going to fortress quickly with Germans, before that you don't really have a good, long ranged infantry to make an army with; it is ok to get some crossbows early on IF you absolutely need to, but try to save the resources and get no more than a few uhlans out before you age, after you hit fortress start massing them, if only for defense.
Doppelsöldners: go hand in hand with the skirmishers, your main army composition should be dopps and skirms. Keep them behind your skirmisher line, but always close by, since they are both small units it is very easy to swap the lines and put them in front of the skirms if they are charged by cav; when this happens, if your opponent doesn't (or can't) stop his cavalry your dopps will eat them up without any issues, after that just bring them back behind the skirms. Aside from moving behind your army to protect your skirms, they (not artillery, in normal conditions) will be your main siege unit; when you reach the (upgraded) walls 15 dopps will blast them up in about 3 throws, after the walls are down you are in "urban warfare", inside a base with a lot of buildings and cramped spaces. This is where they excel, here there can't be too many units firing on them at once, and your dopps have the speed to reach them between the buildings quickly, in this situation they will beat literally anything; light infantry, heavy infantry, cavalry, settlers.... all will go down very quickly. Aside from that, you should use them to get military buildings and factories down, they will do it in about one throw for buildings and 3 for factories. While all that is happening, your skirm line is moving in to provide covering fire, and your uhlans should be wreaking havoc in the farms or getting the odd artillery. Aside from all of this, if during a battle his lines of ranged infantry (HI or LI) get too close to your skirms, you can take out your dopps and send them forward without fear, they will do some heavy damage to the infantry, who will probably retreat, and when they do you also retreat your dopps.
It is also very importante to upgrade them, the veteran upgrade should be a priority since it does a lot for them (but only when you think you will actually start using them, it might be wiser to save the resources if it is still too early), giving much needed staying power, and getting the combo of Solingen Steel + Tilly's Discipline & Zweihander + Arsenal Upgrades (maybe even + Hand Infantry Combat) will turn them into absolute beasts without any speed penalty. I realize this is an investment of 3 (or 4) shipments, but it is well worth it, especially if you reach the late game and have already sent your factories.
Overall, they are amazing soldiers (I even had people tell me they were op after being demolished by them), but you have to use them wisely, if you just march them towards ranged infantry or artillery they will be slaughtered.
Uhlans: serve mainly 2 purposes; in the early game (before your opponent has walls) you will raid with them to great effect, depending on the raids you get you may even win the game right here, they are only behind oprinchniks at killing villagers. I even recommend getting a stable up and making some 5 or 7 more (aside from the 5 you get through the card) during colonial age to keep up the raids on every player. After that, they will be your main artillery and LI killer (although your skirms can also take other LI decently). Upgrade them to veteran as soon as possible; because of their already low hitpoints it is vital to keep them in the fight. They have low hitpoints (although that can be normalized with upgrades and cards) but crazy high damage, so they are even more effective at killing artillery and skirms than other cav, but you can't let them be caught by pikes or musketeers; ride around with them a lot, and only go in for the kill when you have the flank assured. Sometimes, however, it can be advantageous to let your uhlans charge into exposed artillery or LI even if you know they will get some musks or pikes in to defend; you will probably lose a few uhlans, but due to their high damage they might just take out every single cannon and LI, maybe even in time to retreat with some still alive. Always keep in mind that they die faster, but also kill faster, so it can be worth it to take the trade depending on the situation; you will just have to use them a lot to get a feeling about when or not to fully commit (and learn how to use the attack-move key effectively). In the meanwhile (if what the uhlans are trying to get is artillery), your skirm line should be kept almost out of range, taking pot shots at the massed army the enemy has to keep going in circles to protect his artillery.
If you manage to breach the walls, you should send your uhlans to the enemy's farms, and they will destroy villagers almost as fast as opris. You can also take advantage of this by sending a small force of some 5 dopps to make a hole in the wall when the enemy is busy protecting another spot of it, sometimes he will not notice it, and you will be able to charge in a mass of uhlans to kill his economy while a big battle is distracting him in the front lines.
Overall, think of them as a toned down oprinchnik that can also kill artillery and LI very effectively, but is not very durable; although if you get them to imperial czapkas and send both cavalry combat and lipizzaner cavalry, plus arsenal upgrades, that downside will pretty much disappear and they will be a little overpowered. The one problem this can cause though is when the enemy effectively manages to keep you away from his artillery, the uhlans will just not be able to get through the infantry, all the while your are either forced to keep your skirm and dopp force from combat (not ideal), or let them be slaughtered by the artillery trying to move closer so the enemy has to leave a gap (even less ideal). The solution to this can be either culverins (sub-optimal) or...
War Wagons: even more niche than the other units, they cost as much as cuirassiers, but aren't nearly as easy to use. You should not be spamming those, they take up 3 pop space and will put a lot of strain on your economy; instead, mix some of those in with your uhlans, or keep them in front of your skirmisher line. When the uhlans can't reach the artillery, they will have the hitpoints and the damage to destroy it from range while sustaining fire from the defenders, if in front of your skirmishers, they can also absorb a lot of the damage that was meant for them. They are your answer to well defended artillery and Daymios, and it is always nice to keep one or two in front of your line as meat-shields. They die quickly to skirmishers though, so move them away from the front if the enemy doesn't have a lot of artillery or HI.
Trivia: You may not care about this at all, but for me it is nice to know that they represent the Holy Roman Empire and Austria-Hungary in many situations, not just the Prussian German Empire, this is because the game's Ages span a couple hundred years. Uhlans, for example, were mainly a Polish light cavalry unit, and Czapka was the famous hat/helmet worn by Polish Uhlans, Germans also get a shipment of Polish Winged Hussars (sadly without the wings), and there are several direct references to the Holy Roman Empire in shipments.
Hope this helped someone, please leave comments/corrections/criticism below. Farewell!
The normal villager number is also a tricky thing, as Germany, you could potentially have 99 villagers + 20 settler wagons, for a whopping total of 139 villager population that would beat literally any other economy in the game. But this would only leave 61 pop for your army, that is particularly pop heavy, with only the skirm taking up one pop. You don't need that many villagers - can't believe I actually said this -, so you should stick to the 20 sw (always, they also save you wood by potentially having 20 vil pop in a single plantation by filling it with 10 sw) and something between 70 and 80 normal vils; that leaves 90 to 80 pop space for your army, which is much more feasible.
On a final note, trade posts help Germany a lot, especially in the early game, because they have very good shipments in all ages and take more experience to get them, so it is worth it (depending on the map) to let a sw cut some wood before colonial to get that early tp (plus wood treasures, always seek them and gold treasures first with the Germans).
...But it will take some time to get to this level of eco, and even after you do, it is not good to waste resources by poorly managing your units, so this is how you should use each:
It is also very importante to upgrade them, the veteran upgrade should be a priority since it does a lot for them (but only when you think you will actually start using them, it might be wiser to save the resources if it is still too early), giving much needed staying power, and getting the combo of Solingen Steel + Tilly's Discipline & Zweihander + Arsenal Upgrades (maybe even + Hand Infantry Combat) will turn them into absolute beasts without any speed penalty. I realize this is an investment of 3 (or 4) shipments, but it is well worth it, especially if you reach the late game and have already sent your factories.
Overall, they are amazing soldiers (I even had people tell me they were op after being demolished by them), but you have to use them wisely, if you just march them towards ranged infantry or artillery they will be slaughtered.
If you manage to breach the walls, you should send your uhlans to the enemy's farms, and they will destroy villagers almost as fast as opris. You can also take advantage of this by sending a small force of some 5 dopps to make a hole in the wall when the enemy is busy protecting another spot of it, sometimes he will not notice it, and you will be able to charge in a mass of uhlans to kill his economy while a big battle is distracting him in the front lines.
Overall, think of them as a toned down oprinchnik that can also kill artillery and LI very effectively, but is not very durable; although if you get them to imperial czapkas and send both cavalry combat and lipizzaner cavalry, plus arsenal upgrades, that downside will pretty much disappear and they will be a little overpowered. The one problem this can cause though is when the enemy effectively manages to keep you away from his artillery, the uhlans will just not be able to get through the infantry, all the while your are either forced to keep your skirm and dopp force from combat (not ideal), or let them be slaughtered by the artillery trying to move closer so the enemy has to leave a gap (even less ideal). The solution to this can be either culverins (sub-optimal) or...
Hope this helped someone, please leave comments/corrections/criticism below. Farewell!
[This message has been edited by RafaeldeRezende (edited 11-17-2018 @ 04:43 PM).]