The build tree:
The Germanic build tree is the most interesting out of the barbarian factions. You've got access to many different units, including some very hard hitters and plenty that reduce the morale of your enemies. You can get Screeching Women at this level too, but save your denarii for a better unit, besides, the temples to Freyja are rubbish. At their highest level they give you a 1.5% population boost (for what reason God only knows) and only keep this sub-par unit available. If you're still tempted to go after some of these you're probably going to want to destroy the shrine later to build the better shrines to Donar and Woden anyway, so don't bother.
As a town, you have access to the standard and vastly unfair Spear Warband. You should produce these in all settlements at this level, all the time (except for peasants occasionally as needed). I'm not sure how much I can say about this unit. It is miles ahead of everything else you'll come into contact with in the early game, with quite high attack for a phalanx, equal to that of Armoured Hoplites, and benefits from the larger unit size that ordinary Warbands receive. If you can use phalanx units well, you'll dominate with Germania, as a handful of these units can take out entire factions.
At the 2000 pop. level things start to get interesting. Five new units open up for you, three of which are useful. Warhounds are good for their morale penalty and especially good for hunting down HAs as the skirmish special ability doesn't work against them, making them an essential element for taking on Scythia. They may not win a protracted fight with the HAs but once they engage the HAs wont be in skirmish mode allowing your cav to charge in. They've also got a low upkeep and if you think Scythia is too hard to take down, they make a good garrison troop . Barbarian Cavalry is your first cav unit and the only one I'd build a Stable for. They're quite strong for a light cav, though be careful about hammer and anvil charges that send them into your Spear Warbands' waiting pointy bits. Skirmishers are a good unit for barbarians, much better than they are for most other faction, because they've got a decent attack of 9, so can be used to reasonable effect if they get behind the enemy or target an enemy with small or no shield. Unfortunately, most infantry you'll come across in the early game has a large shield, so round the back it has to be. The other units that become available are Axemen and Naked Fanatics, both of which are decent enough, but Spear Warbands are probably more useful to have as your standard infantry at this point. If you were going to use one, make it the Axemen because it's much easier to retrain requiring only a barracks rather than a Woden temple.
Germania's final level is 6000, and this is where you get some of the best units available to barbarian factions. You gain access to Gothic Cav, a solid heavy cav choice, Beserkers that will tear your opponents units apart if you get them there in one piece, long range Chosen Archers, huge attack and armour-piercing Chosen Axes and if that wasn't enough you also get Night Raiders, another fear-inducing unit. This list requires a bit of explanation. Gothic Cav become available at this level, but so does the Barbarian Noble Cav unit. In my mind, there is no place for medium cav once heavy cav becomes available. Sure, you may need a specific temple upgrade to retrain them, but they're so much better that it's really a no-brainer. Beserkers are great units, no doubt about it, but like Chosen Axe, have no armour or shield, making them fall quickly to missiles, even with their two hitpoints, so you've got to use both of these units judiciously. Chosen Axes are good enough to replace your Spear Warbands, but I'd keep a couple of these units around in all stacks for dealing with generals painlessly. Chosen Archers are a great unit that you should take as soon as they become available because they make sieges that much easier. Night Raiders are an interesting choice. Like many Germanic units they take two turns to train, and like Naked Fanatics aren't really terrific units. You can take one or two units of these if you like, but there are much better units to recruit for the cost in denarii and turns. The building that allows you to recruit them is pretty useless too, costing 2400dn and 5 turns for 10% happiness. If you're playing fast you shouldn't need such a measly bonus, especially as your early settlements take so long to grow anyway.
Out of the Germanic units, Beserkers, Gothic Cav, Night Raiders, Naked Fanatics and Warhounds all take two turns to recruit. This is coupled with the fact that they, except for the Warhounds, require a specific shrine to recruit them. In my mind, you can't build these units fast enough, and so I'd argue that your main units should be Spear Warbands, Chosen Axes and Chosen Archers, because you can churn armies of these out in a hurry. You can upgrade the shrines because the experience bonus is nice, but don't feel like you need to wait the time it takes to recruit an army composed of high-turn cost units, when the units that come from the barracks, archery range and stables will get the job done.
Location:
Germania's starting settlements border six rebel provinces and three factions, Britannia, Gaul and Dacia. This provides ample opportunity for early expansion. Your area is quite poor, but Britannia is in easy reach, so securing that valuable sea trade route should really propel you forward. Expand south to take the Roman lands as soon as viable because they'll already have 6000 pop. which will allow you to recruit Chosen Axes and Archers in great numbers which are far better than what they can bring against you. If you take the Julii starting settlements early, you can steamroll the rest of the Romans with little effort.
Opponents:
You will come across Britannia, Gaul and Dacia first. Spear Warbands make these enemies fairly straightforward. Make sure you've got enough cav for Dacia as they get archers early. Scythia are more challenging, but a viable tactic against HAs is for your Warhounds catch them while your Spear Warbands soak up their missiles. Once the Warhounds catch them, have your Barbarian Cav engage them too. I probably wouldn't go venturing into Scythian territory though, you've got better places to expand to. You'll soon come into conflict with Rome, but once again Spear Warbands and Barbarian Cav should be able to take them down with no problems. Spear Warbands really are absurdly strong in the early game.
A little tip: Spear Warbands, like other barbarians, are good at hiding in forests and can be used to surprise enemies. This is especially good for Spear Warbands. You can't hide while in phalanx mode, but when you're not in phalanx mode you'll be hidden. A good tactic is to lure a general or other cav or chariot unit into the phalanx. Try to make them give chase to a cav unit or ranged unit and run behind the hidden Spear Warband. When the charging cav is close enough, tell your unit to drop their spears and observe a handy impaling. |